Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 1918)
10 THE MOKXIXG OREGOXIAX, FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1918. ufie (Dittrontnn hllrLWB. OKF.CaON. klatoro at portimnl (Oncol) Poatafflee aa ao-oi4-ciaaa avail ntitrr. ukfcripiioa ria iaariab:y Im advaace: Br Xai.. Tar. Son-tar tn- M l-t. ooo roar. ... . . .I."" I- r. Sunday Incu-to-l. ! month. ... -1 y. n1 if lnc.u'lt. tort mnntha.. 2 Jj 9. Sun4.tr ln-.ut4. ono moalB.H.. r. -tn.jMt hun4r. on rr Ii.jr. witnnuc hua-lay. : month.. ... X -i J'i r. without HmUf. thro Banlhl... 1." j l'a.y. wttAoul ianlAjra ooo moatb . "oa.'r. r 1 ' h'ia-iAr. ono yoor 2 50 fcuaiij aa4 arooh'r it Crrlor I Ia."r. on'lar lnc.n1o-l. ono roar. . . . .$ r. Citt'uy Innu.l 1. ono monta..... .' 1-oi.jr, viiiwut uniiv. oa roar. ...... T I -a: r. witr.oot fiunlAi. ihrM montba... l.lV Xvaj.j. w.thout aaUajr. aa moalb Haw to Himll e.a 1 noot.frlea maaoy ar- r. spr-oa ordor or poraonal fhork aa roar Uwal oaaa. btampa. cn:a r mrroney ara at awnora rt (iivo poatnffk.- addroaa ia full. iac.a-iiiia eoonty and atata. roM Kataa 11 la 14 paaoa. 1 rout: 1' to .1.1 p-oo. i coata: 14 la 4 Boar, a coata: - ta pint 4 coata: I la Ta paaoa. aoata; T ia S2 pacta. coata. t'oroifa nootaso. doablo ratoa Eavotora Roalaaoa Of fl Varroo A Coak Ma. Bruanic aulldlag. Saw Tor: Vorroa Conk.tn. Motor bul.dlna. Chlcajro: San rrmar.aco roproaoatalKra. R. J. Bldwoll. 12 afarkac atroot. UrMBEl OF THE AVHOC1ATED rIM. Tha Aaaoclatod Proa la axctsalralr n tlt'l ta l.ia uao for rapabucatloa af ail aa diopotrhoa cro-tttad ca It ar aot atbor viaa rrodttod In this papor. and a:ao tbo local ara Dtibtia'io'l horoia. A.i rivhra f ropubllcat:oa af apaclai dla- patc-noa borota aro a:o rooorvod. PORT LAND. rRIDAT. JAN. 4. 11, A GREAT CAME ENDED. There Is reprinted elsewhere In The Oregonian today an article from the Ku-lcm Capital Journal which Is wholly . sympathetic with the cause of Oregon and Portland In the movement of freight In the Pacific brthwest. But the. article raises Inquiry as to the reasons for the discrimination against Portland In the past. This Inquiry It Is well to answer. There are two railroads which fol low the water grade to Pacific tide water: The Spokane. Portland & Se attle, commonly known as the North Bunk Road, and the Union Pacific The North Bank Is owned Jointly by the Northern Pacific and Great Northern. They are In themselves rival railroads and their main Inter cats are on Puget Sound. Every rival railroad seeks the lone haul and the main haul. The Great Northern did not willingly turn traf fic over the North Bank and thereby divide equally with the Northern Pa ciftc when It could set the whole haul Itself. The Northern Pacific followed the same policy. The selfish lntere.it controlled as It does in all bustne and 1 litre t Sound profited. The tendency In Utter years has been for severance of railroad and steamship Interests. This has been due larsely to Governmental ob stacles. The northern roads. Includ ing the Milwaukee, had simply con tract arrangements with steamship line. The Union Pacific did not have such connections. The channel from Portland to the sea has not until very recent years been at adequate depth. When Port land came Into position to deal fully with ocean-borne commerce. It found Puget Sound firmly established. Reg ular steamship lines beget or Influ ence tramp service. Seattle was for tunate In the possession of a far-seeing Independent ship broker who ob tained options on tramp steamer pace early In the movement of Rus sian war materials. Probably due both to the Govern ment obataclea heretofore mentioned and to the scarcity of bottoms, the Union Pacific tied up with the Seattle broker who had the option. It -wanted the freight. lie also had dockage leased c4 Pugct Sound, and freight that went over his docks to the ships he had chartered paid him toll. That Is the reason that l'nion Pa CifiC freight destined for Russia was permitted to lie In Portland yards awaiting transshipment by rail to Seattle the ship broker demanded his dock tolls. It was the era of profiteering and Tortland had a hard game to buck. Railroads and ships were out to make II they could and each sought only Its own Interests. The short haul and the cheap haul was bottled by a parity rate system based not on the cost pr ton per mile to move freight, but upon Indefinite qualities such as reason ableneas" and "non-dtsciimtnatlon The water grade argument was Ir relevant and Immaterial to the pe culiar method of adjusting rates adopted by the Interstate Commerce Commi v,on- There was thus nothing very mys terious about the discrimination gainst Portland. The Northern road.' In the beginning overlooked the water grade and built the more expensive transmountaln systems. Then to pro tect their Investment they combined to occupy the north bank of the Colum bia so as to exclude any rival. They o. operated the North Hank road that It was not a competitor of themselves, but of the L'nion laclflc. They met the Union Pacific on Its own ground nd they held, with the aid of a rate parity, their own business In the north. The Union Pacific was forced by this rivalry Into the northern roads' territory. It was all a great financial game In which the shrewdness and cold, calculating Judgment of James J. lltll overcame the danger of the cheap water grade which rose against the northern road s Investments as the Columbia River harbor ap proached Its deep-sea status. The situation has been changed within a few short months. The Na tional Interest Is now the paramount Interest. The National Interest Is such that It Is not concerned with the volume of traffic over this railroad as opposed to that railroad, or with the movement of freight over this dock to the exclusion of that dock or wtth the entrance or clearance at this or that port of ocean-borne commerce. The National Interest de mands thsf freight be moved by the cheapest and most expeditious route, that deliveries may be prompt and that coal and equipment be not d voted to wasteful or unnecessary purpose. The railroads, too. are a unit so tar as revenues are Involved. The northern railroads will gain no addi tional revanuea by routing freight over their own lines. Revenues are rnoled. Tnere Is no outstanding rea son why the shortest and most eco nomical routes should not be used to their full capacity. The hospitality of the people of THnmark has been taxed almost be yond endurance by the great Influx of foreigners since the war beran. This has now reached the point where there are not enough lodging accom- rnrx-tatlon to go around, and Denmark Is tn a poaltlon to appreciate tne pre- liens. In the unanimous opinion of dleament of a man whose relatives oVorvlng travelers. Professor George were welcome for a visit, but who c. Whlons. of Harvard, who was a turned tt into a visitation, Ther has I been such a shortage of building ma tertals that even the normal Increase of population could not be provided for. and now there Is serious talk of amending a law passed In 1STS and empowering the Government to expel foreigners, so as to permit wider ap plication. The law was originally In tended to reach persons who might be undesirable from a political stand point, but conditions of life have be come such that It Is now necessary to consider the law from the stand point of housing accommodations and food. Panes are becoming tired of sleeping on the floor while the best bedrooms are occupied by unwelcome guests. TWO GREAT NEKI, The testimony of all observers who have returned from the battle front Is that the American soldier Is well provided with creature comforts: but be never has enough of two things, viz.; letters and tppacco. "Write letters," adjures Congress man Johnson, who was there and who knows, "and then more letters. The boys think there must be something the matter with the mails, for they know that they are not forgotten and there roust be somewhere on, the way long letters from the folks at home, or from friends. "I hate to say anything unpleasant about the valiant French; but their tobacco Is vile and expensive. Let the boys have plenty of the real Amer ican article, and they will be happy. I mean the real American article, both In tobacco and letters." Here and there we hear of good women who think that the soldiers should not be allowed to smoke. Well, nqfv, we would as soon think of de priving all worthy members or tne W. C. T. U. of their tipple of tea, or coffee, as a lusty American soldier of bis cigar, or cigarette, or pipe. . THE DIFFERENCE. The avowed purpose of the Govern ment In taking over the railroads of the country was "unified control, The deeper significance of its action Is that it was desirable, and even necessary, to make lawful a policy of railroad operation which the law had made unlawful. Unified control Is but another name for a great National railroad pool. Yet pooling by railroads has been made a criminal offense. The public, through It Government, Insisted on competi tlon among the railroads; It made war on combinations; It fought all trusts: it would consent to no mergers. An Illustration of the practical re suits of "unified control'.' or National pooling Is the abandonment of the scheme of wasteful competition prac ticed by the railroads between Port land and I'uget Sound. Three rail road systems use the same tracks each of Ihem ran three pnssenger trains each way. or nine In all. Now It is proposed to perform the same service with four trains, under a plan of enforced co-operation. The equip ment of five trains Is released for other service and their operating cost Is wholly eliminated. The public will be the gainer if It shall get the service. Shall it be. said that the Nation was wrong when It Insisted upon mainten ance of the competitive system, ai though It also assumed the right to fix rates? Hardly. The essential difference is that there Is now a pool "unified control" wholly In the public Interest. A pri vate pool, or a pool by private or seml-publtc corporation, whether se rrct or public, would be primarily In a private Interest, and against the public. There Is therefore no Impli cation that the Government may do n Illegal .thing. thougB It forbids oth era to do It. It Is logical, lawful and laudable for the public to do that which It may to prevent an individual or group of Individuals frim doing. A public monopoly and a private monopoly represent the difference between right and wrong. COI NTT AGENT!. It Is a serious question whether the United States Ix-partment of Agricul ture will be able to realize Its desire to have "a county agent In every agri cultural county In the United States by February 1. I9H." but there Is no harm In trying. It is not always easy to find a man equipped by nature and education for the duties of Ambassa dor from the Government to the men who till the soli. The movement sue gests, however, that a new profession Is only now In Its' infancy, and It fur nlshes another reason why young rrren In agricultural colleges should per sist In their studies. There will soon be a big demand for their services. In a recent article In the Oregon Countryman, the official publication of the agricultural and home eco nomics clubs of Oregon Agricultural College. W. S. Kaddcrly points out how rapid has been the development of the county agent system In the United States. It Is only six years since the first agent was appointed In a Northwestern state, although the plan had been In effect In the South for several years. In the fiscal year 1)11-113 five county agents were selected In the West and Northwest, but the number by June SO, 1917. had Increased to M2. covering practically half the counties in thirty-three states.- The total number or agents In the forty-eight states was 1280 at the close of 191. In addition to whom there were 438 women agents, making a total of i:8 agents In 1217 coun ties In the United States. The Ideal county agent, however. Is more than a practical farmer, because It Is required that he shall overcome certain prejudices which still exist. and that he shall do his work without creating the Impression that he Is dic tating to the farmers of his district In the management of their business. Superior diplomacy Is called for In man who must be a leader rather than driver, and whose success depends upon ability to arouse genuine Inter est tn his work. He ta a kind of Am bassador and teacher and physician and father confessor rolled Into one, but his methods must be wholly per suasive. There Is no compulsory at tendance law for his school. I-ack of tact Is quite as likely aa lack of sclen tiric knowledge to destroy his useful ncsa. It is to the credit of Coos County that It was first In Oregon to co-op- erate with the state and the National Government In the employment of an gent. who. named In 1913. Is still on the Job. War emergency appoint ments In recent months have largely Increased the number In the West. There Is pfc-nty of work for the right men. Opportunity will beckon from more than one direction to young Amer- mtxpbe of the Red Cross comml-1 sion which visited Russia last Sum mer, believes that notwithstanding present unsettled conditions ther Russia will offer quite aa attractive openings as South America, and he makes a plea for the study of th Russian language as a preparation for a great work. In the same man ner In which Spanish Is now beln studied by an Increasing number. N effort is made to minimize the dlffi cultles of Russian, but these In them selves will operate as a sort of selec tlve process, since the youth who Is able to overcome them is likely to make the kind of man who will solv other complex problems that will arise. Those, on the other hand, who study Spanish chiefly because they have been told It Is the "easiest to learn." and who habitually folio line of least resistance, are more like ly to fail In anything they may under take. TAGGING THE CO AC SHOVEL. If a shovelful of coal a day will keep the enemy away, there will be no dissent from the proposition that It Is the duty of every American to save It. It Is upon the assumption that every pound of fuel will count In our war-winning plans that Dr, Garfield, the Federal fuel adminis trator, has designated January 30 as tag-your-shovel day." The purpose of the new movement Is educational It will be well worth while if it Im presses upon an appreciable number of people the aggregate Importance of economies which are individually minute. If 6.000.000 families in the United States were persuaded to curtail their domestic coal consumption to the ex tent of ten pounds a day apiece the saving In 100 days of Winter would be 2.500,000 tons. There are perhaps that many families to whom such a saving would be possible, and it would be a boon to the country In many ways. It would be reflected in the labor and transportation situation and In the pockets of the consumers them selves. It Is the Idea of the fuel ad ministration that this can be accom plished without Inflicting hardship upon anyone. ' There is quite general agreement that most Americans keep their houses too warm. Dr. Garfield says that 68 degrees Is best. In normal cir cumstances, for health. But Inatten tion to details of furnace manage ment Is also wasteful and expensive, Insulation of furnaces and pipes has been found to pay. Heating only those rooms which are In use Also saves fuel. Householders are asked to avrlte to the makers of their fur naces for' practical directions for run nlng economically. It also should be remembered that, except in those communities which are blessed with water power, care in the use of elec tric lights also saves coal for the Na tion. Saving gas saves coal, too. The economies asked for are only such as we ought to practice even if we were not at war. One good thing about them is that the people will be the chief beneficiaries. To those who already have taken measures to cut down their coal bills the lesson does not apply, but the number of those who have not done so is very large. HOW 'OT TO PREPARE. The story of delay In equfpping the Army with machine guns and rittes Is a story of prejudice against the Lewis machine gun and of determination to adopt the Browning gun; also of Jealousy for Its authority on the part of the Ordnnnce Bureau and or time consuming effort at perfection at the cost of speed and volume of produc tion as to rifles. The Ordnance Bureau's record as to the .Lewis gun was given by its In ventor. Colonel' Isaac N. Lewis, who proved his disinterestedness by offer ing to surrender his share of royal ties, amounting to $2,500,000, to the Government and stating that both of his sons are at the front with General Pershing. Ho said that when the first model of his gun was built in 191 he offered it to the Chief of Staff, giving up all rights whatever in the Invention." In- 1912 he asked that be presented to the Bureau of Ord nance, but when the Signal Corps had rrangod for Its use In the maneuvers of that year. General Crozier entered a protest which barred Its use. He then went to Belgium and or ganlzcd a company to manufacture the gun. In the following year Colo nel Lewis retired from the Army and went to Belgium to find that his com pany was planning to build a factory at Liege and was really in the hands of the Germans. He and some Belgian associates bought the stock and ousted the pro-German president and manag Ing director. Then he went to the Small Arms Company at Birmingham, England, and within forty-eight hours had closed a contract for the exclu sive manufacture in Europe. His gun had been tested with American, Brit Ish. Russian and Belgian ammunition. He returned to the United States on February 1. 1917, to try once more to Interest the Government. He re turned to the Government two checks for 117,700 which he had received as royalty on 35J guns made for the British government but taken over by the United States. The letter was never acknowledged, and General Cro xler "advised In strong terms that 1 be not accepted." He wrote another letter insisting on Its acceptance, and the checks were accepted but were never acknowledged by the Govern ment. Colonel Lewis wrote a letter to Sec retary of War Baker on December 11 last renewing his offer of the gun without royalty to the Government. He stated that 40,000 Lewis guns re malned undelivered on orders of the War Department, and he offered to turn over all his share of the royal ties. He stated that 70,000 of his guns had been supplied to the armies of the allies, and had "met every military requirement under a grilling test of more than three years of daily service on the battlefields of Europe, that 2000 a week were being added to the number, that 18.000 were In use on the British tanks, and that ten of the twelve Zeppelins brought down by the British had been brought down by the Lewis gun, He told the Senate military com mittee that General Crozlers opposi tion to his gun was due to personal and professional prejudice, and said the General was "absolutely . auto cratic" and was the center of a ring of "officials In the War Department loyal to a bureau chief at the expense of the country." The delay of the War Department In purchasing any machine guns was detailed by A. E. Borle, president of the Savage Arms Corporation, which manufactures the Lewis. In February he offered his company's facilities to the War Department, but was told they would not do anything until the tests slated for about the first of May had been made. The department however, cava aa order, for ISO 3 on April 12. After the test about May 1 an order for 2000 was not given till Jane 18, another for 4400 on June 22, and a third for 12,000 on July 26. He could have begun delivery at the rate of 1800 a month about the middle of April, but the department Insisted on a change of caliber, by which It suf fered a loss of about 10,000 guns. About the middle of April the Savage Company was asked by the Ordnance Bureau to make the Brown ing machine gun, but refused, and Mr. Borle said the Browning was simply a gun "on paper." He said the Bureau's attitude toward' the Lewis gun had always been one of suspicion and doubt. The net result of this prejudice against a machine gun which has been tried in every battle of the war and of this desire to substitute one which exists only on paper, though it Is held superior by manufacturers and ex perts. Is that time which should have been spent In equipping the Army has been wasted In tests. In changing ma chinery and In controversy, and that there are many companies in canton ments which have .never seen a ma chine gun. The French, whose failure to com plete the Panama Canal was due largely to their inability to combat the diseases which mowed down the workmen, have learned their lesson to such purpose that they are well in the lead in measures, to preserve the health of their armies, and the French sanitary department Is an Important part of the flshtlng force, its function being, among other things, to exter minate Insects to which the transmis sion of germs is attributed. The pres ent comparatively low death rate In hospitals is more striking when the figures of other wars are considered. In the Crimean war, for example, there were 303,000 soldiers who had been on the battlefield, and more than 00,000, or 64 per cent, were In hos pitals at some time, only a quarter of them as the result of wounds. In the Russo-Turklsh war, 200,000 men had typhus, and half of these died. The Bulgarians lost more men in the two Balkan wars from typhus than from all other causes combined. Losses to the British and French from this dls. ease in the present war have been negligible. Discussing Its attitude toward the railroads and railroad rates In a self gratulayng mood, and professing to find in certain expressions by The Oregonian support for its contentions, the Evening Journal reaches this tri umphant climax: la such words Tha Oregroniaa admits that tho Journal was not a "liar, not a "falsi- er. not a "railroad baltor. It may be cheerfully conceded that pproval of The Oregonian is a con summation greatly to be desired by he esteemed -Journal. But we feel bilged, nevertheless, to deny that the peciflc admissions cited by our con temporary have been made. There is consolation in the an nouncement that destruction of Ger man submarines exceeds construction but it should not blind us to the fact that more ships of each of our three principal allies were sunk in the last week than In any recent week, or to the necessity of speeding up produc tion to offset the loss. The greatest need is ships this year to shorten the war. while Germany in desperation is ready for any sacrifice to prolong the war. Whenever the Russian troops are removed from the influence of German nd Bolshevik! propaganda, they re main true to the allies. This Is the case in France, Macedonia and Meso potamia. The disastrous effects of mental poison on the allies could not be better illustrated. It Is worth many big guns and army corps to the Ger mans. For that reason no naif loy alty should be tolerated. Someone is trying to Justify the hat check graft with the suggestion that It ought to be worth a quarter to be assured that someone else is not go ing to wear the hat away with him. But it is the coinpulsdry feature that Is vexatious. A man wants the privi lege of losing his hat, along with other rights that he sees slipping away from him. . No man can foretell what will hap pen In Russia these days. The Bol shevikl may Imitate their prototypes, the Jacobins of 1793, by rallying the Nation to drive the invader from Rus sian soil, and by starting a propa ganda in Germany similar to that v hich brought forth a lot of mush room republics. If the spirit of the Russian troops, who ask only for boots and bread to go on fighting, could be absorbed by the Bolshevikl, what a difference it would make in the war! News that the German soldiers are dressed in warmer clothing than those of the United States should stimulate knitters all over the country to still greater endeavors. It Is all the same to that Chinese on the selective, list and under sentence of death. His is the one valid excuse of the year. A few more earthquakes will give the people of Guatemala faint Idea of the situation of those who live in the war zones. Government Is buying small sizes of Oregon prunes, ' probably so the boys will eat so many and not so much. If Governmental control eliminates the tackhammer man, who will set the styles at the small stations? The heatless day Is not as far off as somj suppose, if care is not exercised In the use of fuel now on hand. The fuel administrator of Califor nia is a bargain man. He 'cut the price of coal 76 cents. Our idea of nothing to worry about is what mince pies will have In them If the Nation goes dry. - What's the use of praising, and then disqualifying with a "but"? Cofltrol of sugar next will sweeten the Nation In its adversity. Junk Is the easiest to conserve, and Junk" embraces much. As Colonel Disque would remark to the loggers: Spruce up! How many daughters ara conserv ing their, mothers. I . of BaJIetla af National Geographic Society. Viscount James Bryce, former Brit Ish Ambassador to the United States, in a recent communication to the Na tional Geographic Society, gives a sue clnct idea of the size and physical characteristics of Palestine, which Is now under the protection of the Brit Ish Empire, since the occupation of Jerusalem. A part of Viscount Bryce's communication Is issued by the society today from its Washington headquar ters in the following war geography bulletin: "No country has been so often or so minutely described by travelers of all sorts of tastes and Interests as Pales tine has been; and this Is natural, for none has excited so keen an Interest lor so long .a time and In so many nations. As we have all at some time x or other read much about the country, it may well be thought that nothing now remains to be said about Palestine, except Dy archaeologists, whose ex plorations of the sites of ancient cities are always bringing fresh facts to light. But if all of us have read good deal about the Holy Land, most of us have also forgotten a good deal, and our Ideas of the country Ideas colored by sentiments of reverence and ro mance are often vague and not always correct. "It may, therefore, be worth while to set down In a plain and brief way the salient Impressions which the coun try makes on a Western traveler who passes quickly through it. The broad Impressions are the things that remain In memory when most of the details have vanished, and broad Impressions are Just what an elaborate description sometimes falls to convey, because they are smothered under an Infinitude of details. O 0 o "Palestine is a tiny little country. Though the traveler's handbooks pre pare him to find it small, it surprises him by being smaller than he expected. Taking It as the region" between the Mediterranean on the west and the Jordan and Dead Sea on the east, from the spurs of Lebanon and Hermon oni me nuiiu ivi me ucacu u. i cceioiioua on the south, it is only 110 miles long and from 60 to 60 broad that is to say, it is smalleV than New Jersey, whose area Is 7500 square-miles. "Of this region large parts did not belong to ancient Israel. Their hold on the southern and northern districts was but slight, while In the southwest a wide and rich plain along the Mediterranean was occupied by the warlike Phllis tines, who were sometimes more than a match for the Hebrew armies. Israel had. In fact, little more than the hill country, which lay between the Jordan on the east and the maritime plain on the west. King David, in the days of his power, looked down from the hill cities of Benjamin, just north of Jeru salem, upon Philistine enemies only 25 miles off. on the one side, and looked across the Jordan to Moablte enemies about as far off on the other. o o o "Nearly all the events In the history of Israel that are recorded In the Old Testament happened within a territory no bigger than the state of Connecti cut, whose area is 4S00 square miles and Into hardly any other country has there been crowded from the days of Abraham till our own so much history that Is to say, so many events that have been recorded In the annals of mankind. "Nor is it only that Palestine Is really a small country. The traveler constantly feels as he moves about that It Is a small country. From the heights a few miles north of Jerusalem he sees, looking northward, a far-off summit carrying snow for eight months In the year. It is Hermon, nearly 10,000 feet high Hermon. whose fountains feed the rivers of Damascus. "But Hermon Is outside the territory of Israel altogether, standing In the land of the Syrians; so, too, it is of Lebanon. We are apt to think of that mountain pass as within the country, because It also is frequently mentioned In the Psalms and the Prophets; but the two ranges of Lebanon also rise beyond the frontiers of Israel, lying between the Syrians of Damascus and the Phoenicians of the west. 'Perhaps it Is because the maps from which children used to learn Bible geography were on a large scale that most of us have failed to realize how narrow were the limits within which took" place all those great doings that fill the books of Samuel and Jungs. Just In the same way the classical scholar who visits Greece Is surprised that so small a territory sufficed for so many striking incidents and for the careers of so many famous men. 'Palestine is a country poor In nat ural resources. There are practically no minerals, no coal, no Iron, no copper. no sliver, though recently some oil wells have been discovered In the Jordan Valley. Neither are there any arge forests, and though the land may have been better wooded In the days of Joshua than It Is now, there Is little reason to think that the woods were of trees sufficiently large to constitute a source of wealth. A comparatively small area Is fit for tillage. "To an Arab tribe that had wandered through a barren wilderness for 40 weary years, Canaan may well have seemed a delightful possession; but many a county in Iowa, many a depart ment in France could raise" more grain or wine than all the Hly Land. "There Is one stretch of fertile. level land 20 miles lonfr and from three to six miles wide the Plain of Esdraelon. But with this exception It Is only In bottoms and on the lower slopes of a few valleys, chiefly from Bethel northward and along the shore of the Bay of Acre, that one sees corn fields and olive yards and orchards. Little wine Is now grown. "Such wealth as the country has con sists In Its pastures, and the expression, a land flowing with milk and honey,' appropriately describes the best it has to offer, for sheep and poats can thrive on the thin herbage that covers the hills, and the numerous aromatic plants furnish plenty of excellent food for the bees; but It Is nearly all thin pasture, for the land Is dry and the soil is mostly shallow. The sheep and goats vastly outnumber the oxen. Voody Eashan, on the east side of Jordan, Is till tha region where one must look for the strong bulls." IN OLD VIRGINIA. (To the officers of the United States Ena-ineers' Reserve Corps, who left Portland Sunday for Camp Lee, Vir ginia.) When the sun comes up in old Virginia, As the flowrets lift their heads. Please think of me as wand'rlng In the paths where mem'ry treads. When the sun goes down In old Vir ginia, While the village church tell chimes A welcome, cheering anthem, Will you think of me sometimes? When the moon shines full In old Vir ginia, , Where the dew perfumes the air. Will you remember ever Your old friend 'though she's not there? When the stars have set In old Vir glnla. And for us no longer rise. Will you then greet me kindly In the realms beyond the skies? ALYCE ROSALYEE RUSTUNG. Lara-rat City la World. ABERDEEN. Wash, Dec. TO. (To the Editor.) As to population, which Is the largest city In the world? F. H. McCREADY. New York, Size and Character Palestine. RAILROAD WASTE MUST CEASE Much Car Shortase Can Be Relieved by Kail Vmc of Water Grade. Salem Capital-Journal. The Oregonian yesterday had an edi torial on the railroad situation In the Northwest that Is commended to Direc tor McAdoo or those under him who will have charge of such matters for perusal and digestion. . It presents Portland's case in an unanswerable argument and Incidentally it arraigns the management of the railroads run ning into the Northwest for gross mis management. While the whole country had been suffering from an unpre cedented car shortage, the manage ments of these roads, which control the stock of the North Bank road, have, Instead of using that road, hauled most of their freight over the mountains to Sound ports, it requiring double the number of cars to do this that would have been required had they used the North Bank road. From Spokane to Portland this Is a water-level, road. ver which the largest loads can be hauled at the lowest cost. Naturally one would think they would use this road to capacity and haul only what it icould not over the high Cascade Range. Instead of doing this. The Oregonian asserts the water-level road has not been used to exceed one-tenth of its capacity. Conservation of cars should be the railroads' first thought and everything else should give way to it. Shippers are urged to load cars to capacity, to unload them promptly and to do all in their power to assist in holding the car shortage down to a minimum. While urging this. It appears the roads were not practicing what they preached, but instead were deliberately hauling cars over a route requiring longer time and so keeping them out of use. The old hymn says: ' Goa moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to per form," and the railroads certainly pat tern after this plan. They do things that are essentially foolish, and they keen on dolnir them, to their own dis- advantasre and the Injury of the public. It is hoped the new administration will get busy and put a stop to sucn iooi proceedings as hauling thousands of tons over a mountain range when there water level route around it. Be sides, The Oregonian points out that these roads, when docks at Sound ports were congested, hauled freight over the North Bank road to Portland and. nstead of putting It on ships there, allowed it to wait until' the docks at Seattle were partly cleared, when It was reloaded on cars that were badly needed elsewhere and sent to Seattle to be loaded on ships, Instead of having the ships come to Portland. Portland has spent millions to open a channel to the sea for the bieerest freighters, and she has it. Apparently for some reason known only to themselves the railroads have united in trying to force freight out of Its natural channels, which would send it to Portland, and to route it to Seattle and Tacoma. Neither Oregon nor Port land has had a fair deal, and It is high time criminal discrimination against both be ended. With the roads under Government control this may at last be accomplished. MUSIC APPRECIATION IS LACKING Correspondent Finds San FraAlsco Indifferent to Great Organist. SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Jan. 1. (To the Editor.) By some curious trick, fate is playing a practical Joke upon the city of San Francisco. -It has a fine auditorium, the finest organ on this continent, and the most renowned oreanist that ever visited America. Mr. E. H. Lemare. the organist referre to, plays programmes that even th neonle of San Francitfco should un derstand. But they don't. I have bee to two recitals given by Mr. Lemare, and the attendance has been lamenta ble. The newspapers seem to lose sight of this artistic agency, and rarely there a criticism of a' recital. Yes terday the newspapers did not prin a notice of the programme to be played in the afternoon. The least they might be proud of is the fact that the city has such an organist. But what art. anyway? 13 not San Irancisco the birthplace of the "jaxz"' band? city addicted to that type of mental elevation is in the last throes of ar tistic obliteration. Portland is not far from here. I has a fine organ and a splendid audi torium. Why not try to have Mr. Le mare give a recital? In a city like Portland, so inferior in population. have no doubt that the auditorium will be packed to the doors. It is clear that San Francisco does not appre ciate such an artist easily supreme in this hemisphere as Mr. Lemare. A final word: Let those who wan to see ar- remarkable performance go to see Signor Antoli in Pagliacci and Signor Salaar in "Alda." MOSES BARITZ. Soldier's .Family Allowance. CONDON, Or.. Jan. 1. (To the Edi tor.) If a man is drafted, having 1 wife and children, will the Govern ment give $15 per month to the wife and 7.o0 to- the oldest child and 5 per month each to the other children if the soldier gives J15 per month out of his wages? WKMEK. The soldier must allot one-half his nay. but not less tnan io. ir tnere be a wife and one child, the additional Government allowance is $25; if wife and two children, $32.50, with $5 per month additional for each child. By child Is meant an unmarried person under IS years of age. Question of Citizenship. PORTLAND. Jan. 3. (To the Editor.) Kindly advise me the nationality of child whose father and fathers an cestors were Americans but wnose mother was English and who was born n England, afterwards moving to this country and continuing to reside here, and oblige, lwcoamsau, If at the time of the child's birth the father was an American citizen, then the child is an American citizen. Proud of His Boy. By James Barton Adams. I've got a boy somewhere in France an' I wish I had a dozen more to help to make them Fritzies dance to music of the battle roar. The only boy we ever had, our output havin" mostly run to eirls. but them same girls, Degaa are true blue patriots, every one. They wear the Red Cross on the breast, an emblem they are proud to wear, and each one does her level best to help our soldiers over there, an" every one of them Is sore because they cannot face the Huns, because they cannot go to war and do their bit behind the guns. They feel that fate has done 'em dirt deprlvin" them of that same chance by doomin' them to wear the skirt In stead of double-barreled pants. When our boy baby happened I slopped over in my daddy glee, circumference of my hat seemed shy, my clothes too tight a fit fur me. I pranced 'round till his mother said 'twas silly me a-actin' so; I'd gone demented in the head, an' mebbe hadn't fur to go. We watched the little tike grow up to be a active, husky boy an" we both thought our pleasure cup was filled with pure paren tal Joy. His education was the best his daddy's wad of kale could buy an' at the graduation test no feller student stood so high, an' all tho sportln' critics said that as a football artist he sure took the champion gingerbread, the emblem of supremacy, an' now the boy s over there a-doin of his patriot bit where roars of cannon shake the air an' hostile rifles sharply spit, an' I will bet mv head aerin a rotten squash size of the same he'll be In at he finish when that Kaiser he-wolf Jumps the I I In Other Days. Twenty-five Years Asa, From Tha Oregonian January 4, 1883. . Salem The capital city is onoe mora in its biennial tumult. Although the active work of the legislative session is not yet on, Salem Is the busiest of places, not only all day, but away IntOj the night. D. B. 'McBrlde. of Portland. and others, including Peter Wallace, have filed articles of incorporation for a Sturgeon-freezing plant to be erected near Kalama. Major-General Sir John Stuart White, who Is to succeed Lord Robert a commander-in-chief In India, has been 38 years In the British army. Clara Morris gave a brilliant per- formance of the discarded wife ia "Odette" at the Marquam Grand last night Dr. Bernard Daly, representative of Lake and Klamath counties In the Leg islature, is visiting a few days In Port land. He says his constituents tn Lake County are eager to have the Legisla ture pass a bill enabling that county , to bond its indebtedness. .Half a Century A no. From Tho Oregonian Jaauary 4, 1SB8. New York At the last meeting ot the Lyceum of Natural History Dr; Henry Wurtz read a valuable paper oni the important discovery of new prop erties of aluminum and Professor C. F. Chandler exhibited a sample of more than 100 ounces of platinum mined In Oregon. Secret political societies are beinr unearthed in Paris and the press has been placed under a new and more rig orous censorship by Napoleon. Riots have been reported in several places.. Napoleon is growing old, his son 'is feeble and the popular will Is showing Itself. France appears to be on the eve ot a change. Washington Senator Corbett has in troduced a bill in the Senate to pro vide for the Issue of gold notes In place of legal-tender notes and to fa cilitate specie payment. A pamphlet has recently been issued, in, San Francisco pointing out the fu ture for a big shipbuilding programme for Oregon and Washington ports. The pamphlet points out that Oregon flr and spruce would be lasting if put into, vessels and that Iron has recently been mined in Oregon. WHERE RED CROSS' ASSET LIES Free Will Support Brings Home Suffer ing; Humanity's Needs. PORTLAND. Jan. 3. (To the Editor.) "A Willing Giver," in The Oregonian January 1, tells the public that he is not quite sure that our great charity, the American Red Cross, is built on correct lines. He evidently would pre fer to have a per capita tax levied and so have it administered by the Govern ment, in an, efficient manner, save the metal needed for buttons and let the good women have more time to devote to knitting stockings and sweaters. The writer likes efficiency as well as A Willing Giver," but he is also of the opinion in fact is sure of It that the American Red Cross' is as thoroughly administered as any Government de partment could possibly be, because It is a labor of love. Let me give 'A Willing Giver" a lit-' tie bit of ancient history. It is thlst that when that adorable woman, Flor ence Nightingale, was consulted at the. first Geneva convention of the Red Cross relative to the financial question, she said this: "In order to bring home, to everyone . the needs of the suffering of humanity,' we must awaken the spirit of charity, sympathetically, spiritually and hon estly." The widow's- mite, the millionaire's millions are equally welcome, and cor rectly so. The more people who give,, the greater will be the soul asset, and this is true spiritually, and the great, object of all Red Cross societies. Since the devastation of France and Bel gium by the brutal Prussian govern ment the British people from all parts of the earth have given over $80,000, 000 to their Red Cross. At the same time the British taxpayer hands over to his government $75,000,000 each month to feed and clothe bleeding France and Belgium and other suffer ing nations. We Americans and those of the British cult, I think, feel that our moral nature still rings true to its metal and will continue to do so to the end of time. When my friend "The Willing Giver" returns from the, front, when he has seen. all that the Red Cross Is doing in this great trag-., edy, when his mentality has under gone the great war strain, he will come back to us with a clearer recogni tion of the soul asset, the true Bplr- tuality that hedges around the great American Red Cross. . GEORGE POPE THE SERVICE FLAG. Beautiful the flag of service That drapes the temple wall. Sweet expression of mother love For sons who heard the call. TIs a symbol full of meaning And filled our hearts with love. As, we tacked It to the railing With stars and Stripes above. 'Christian men are saved for service, The pastor long had taught. Amazed was he when all young men. Seemed with the spirit fraught. Though dear our noble sons to us We give them to the state. And praying for their safe return. In trustful patience wait. Those boys of ours are men of God, They bear the Christian name. They fight for human liberties And not for worldly fame. They have left their places vacant To right the world s great wrong, We see them marching to the front To make the great cause strong. With honor roll and service flag. Our mem'ry holds them dear, And when our laddies cross the top The whole wide world will cheer. service flag; O, emblem true; Stir thou our hearts with pride, Teach us to love our country more For which our fathers died. D. A. WATTE RS. When Physical Examination la Made. PORTLAND, Jan. 3. (To the Editor.) (1) After the questionnaire is returned how soon Is the registrant called for . examination? (2) If the examination is passed, how soon are men called to camp for train ing? (3) In case exemption is claimed on account of dependents, how soon wlll men be sent to training? READER. (1) He Is called for physical exam- inatlon only if he has been placed In lassl. Notices are sent out very soon after final classification instructing the registrant In class I to appear - lthin five days before a designated xamining board. (2) The next draft will not be called ' before February 15. (3) If his claim is allowed, he will ' be given a deferred classification and will not be called -into service until preceding classes have been exhausted X