Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1919)
THE MORXIXG OREGOXIAX, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6. 1919. LIVING COST TARGET OF FEDERAL LEADERS Wilson, Cabinet and Depart ment of Justice to Act. PROFITEERS TO BE HUNTED FreMdent Will Deliver Special Mes sage to Congress on JEco nomic Conditions. WASHINGTON'. Auc. 5. The decision of EMrector Julius H. Barnes, of the jram corporation, to maintain the jerov eixm:nt guarantee on wheat at $2.26 a huhhel ;i a "reserve protection fcrainst a hisrher price later was one o:' the moves' today by povernment auencies working to reduce the coat of living and allay the country's nn rest. Two other decisions were reached to dny. President Wilson decided to ad dress a message to congress recom jnendinsr additional legislation to aid in reducing: the cost of living; and asrents of the department of justice wore ordered to ferret out all hoarders of necessities nnd profiteers throughout the country. They are to be prosecut ed under the fo-d control act. At the conduction of a day's activity Yy the president, the sub-committee of the cabinet appointed by Attorney (jeneral Palmer, and by the attorney general himself, announcements .were made of these immediate steps to ' be taken, and of the government's. wheat policy. Readjustment Im Pledged. Tn a statement showing- why the price of wheat would rise but for the government guarantee, Director Barnes promised a readjustment of flour prices at the expense of the national treasury a. authorized by congress, if later de velopments indicated a world .price for wheat lower than the guaranteed basis. Immediate steps will be taken by the grain corporation to sell standard ex port flour in every community of the country in carload lots at a price not greater than ?10 a barrel, Mr. Barnes announced. This rprlce, he added, is lower by $1 a barrel than any price ruling during- the last four months. Using figures described as coming from the rain corpo rat ion's own pri vate sources, .Mr. I'.arnes predicted a shrinkage of "probably 400, 000, Ouu bush els" in the wheat production for North America, 25it.ooO.000 bushels of which is in the L'nited States, from the June forecast, and a further shrinkage in Kuropfan wheat and rye production" of 8uo.0u0.000 bushels outside Russia. Palmer Telia I la dm. The high cose of living was not dis cussed at today's cabinet meeting, but .Attorney-General Palmer. trfter the meeting, conferred with the president and presented memoranda stating what the government was doing and what it proposr-s doing under existing laws and possi ble a ddi tional laws to cope with the situation. Attorney-General Palmer declined to disclose what remedial laws were sug gested to the president or to go into the details as to how the department would proceed under the existing laws, beyond saying that "operating under the Lever act" did not mean the func tions of the food administration would be assumed by the department of jus tice Dou bt was expressed by some legal authorities as to a penalty provided for profiteering by the food control act, al though penalties are provided for rang ing: from $5000 to $10,000, or from two to four years imprisonment or both, for hoarding and other violations. Attorney-General Palmer said it was his be lief and hope that immediate results toward reducing the cost of living couid be obtained tli rough prosecuting under existing laws. 'Wilson to Take Hand. Secretary Tumulty said after Pirector Barnes had left the president that no statement would be forthcoming from the white house tonight beyond the mere announcement that the president "will address a message to congress as i soon as he has time to write it." Director Barnes in making public his statement regarding the world wheat situation said that the wheat crop in the United State's is not short, and that 1,000.000.000 bushels are as sured. There was no warrant, he said, however, for statements that the price has been inflated. He announced defi nitely that as far as he could see there was no hope for a reduction in the near future, and that he would not sell wheat at a price below the guarantee. Figures were given by .Mr. Barnes on the world price as follows: Average tann price to American Tanners under puarantpe, S'J.uii a buphel. A vera cf tarra price in the l'nited King dom during thrt lat calendar year, $2. IIS. Average f.irni prioe for f mir hi r prod uc inc countri.-, I'nut-d States. Canada. Arjren t.na and Australia., producing 1 .."U0,0OO,00u bushel. $ l.!4. Averupe grower price (iarcely guaranteed) oi" Kuru'f'. I ." cunsumiiic rouii tries produc ing hU).iMHi.OiM buslu'it., $3.75. A era re t all vv heat growers, w eijih ted tnonlinir to the size of their contribution to the tinal rroi) of the wuriJ, works out an averape world proffer price of $:;.4t. A r b n t in a w heat, with longer voyage and hi sr tier freight rates, the Barnes' statement .said, costs delivered tn Kurope fully 5 cents mure than American wheat delivered in tiurope. l'riee Theory l-'nulty. There is no support for "the theory of intimate relation and influence be tween wlvcat price and other foods." the statement said. figures were pre sented to bea r out Mr. Barnes" con ten t ion. Britain, France and Italy," the statement con t in ued. "all have artif i ciail y reduced f lour and bread prices, buying their raw material at the world's price and absorbing the loss by rational taxes. Any sale of wheat or flour by us at reduced prices to them would on 1 y save their national treas uries, while depleting ours, without any possible reduction in the bread price to their people which is already fixed." Mr. Barnes also gave figures to Fhow the relation of the price of wheat to the price of brtad and contended tli at bread now was the cheapest item in the diet. If all other foods were at the same rate as bread, the annual cost of food for each person would be about $o or a total national food bill of $3,000,000,000 instead of $ 1 S.OoO.000, - irOO. Senator tutz Parker. F. E. White, vice-president of Armour Co.. today before a senate investigat ing committee on the high cost of liv ing in the District of Columbia, denied bis company was profiteering o"r us in g unfair methods in the distribution and tale of meat. He declared the com pany had made no profit on Us beef business this year. v !r. White denied also that his com pany participated in exorbitant profits in eggs, declaring thai the company's a veraare. protit was not more than 2 or 3 rrnts a dozen. T'ie witness told the committee that HORLI CK'S THE CRiGINAL P.I ALT ED AIOLK yesterday his firm sold meat at a loss of from one to one and one-half cents 1 a pound in eastern cities. Mr. White said the high cost of living was as serious to business nteresta as to the people. He said the cost to his company of production and distribu tion had greatly increased, labor costs alone having advanced 134 per cent in four years. "fiood Meat Co mew Higher." Members of the committee asked why meat prices were higher in Washing-ton than elsewhere. Mr. White replied that his company sold a better grade of meat to this city than to other east ern cities, because of a demand here for higher grades. Mr. White charged the federal trade commission with withholding from the public that its investigation had shown the packers profits to be only 5.6 per cent and added that there would not be the present agitation against the pack ers had those figures been announced. He told the committee that the con sumer was to blame in part for the present high cost of living. He said the retailer advances his prices with each advancing market and held the prices up just as long as his customers per mitted him to do so. Mr. 'White told the committee that letters received by Armour & Co. in dicated that the producers were opposed to federal regulation of the packing in dustry. Pre. dent Anked to Act. A resolution directing the president to "employ means directly within his A ETKRA.V DR'r;;iST DIES AT &OLTI1 llKXU. x -,-. ---r yr. - - - . F. I... Van Slype. N. F. L,. Van Slype, aged 66, widely-known druggist of Ore gon, died at the home of his son-in-law, O. H. Springer of South Bend, Wash., July 31 frrn acute kidney trouble. The funeral was held at South Bend, but the body was taken by Mrs. Springer to Dtrfur, Or., for burial August f. Mr. Van Slype was engaged in the drug business in Portland for a short while, but is better known in eastern Oregon, having made his home at The Dalles, Condon and Imfur at various times. Mr. Van Slype was born in Holland October 19, 1 852. He married Huttie Van Wynen in Detroit, Mich., in 1SR5. and soon after came to the Pacific coast, where he has lived for 30 years. He is survived by his daughter, Mrs. O. H. Springer, and two brothers and two sisters in Holland. power to relieve the- people from the high cost of living and continuing a general indictment of the democratic administration, was introduced by Hep. resentative Kiddick, republican, Mon tana, today. "Six primary causes" of high costs were set forth in the resolution, as fol lows: Government extravagance and waste, purchase and hoarding by the war department of vast quantities of food and clothing, export of large amounts of necessities of life, contin ued inflation of currency under the federal reserve act, encumbering fed eral payroll with hordes of unnecessary and unproductive employes and failure and refusal of the administration to enforce federal statutes prohibiting combinations in unfair restraint of trade. Senator Gronna. republican. North Dakota, said inadequate production was partially to blame for conditions, add ing that if everyone began working 14 hours a day instead of- eight condi tions would improve. Labor Im Blamed. Senator Sm ith. democrat, declared labor was demanding double wages for working half time and that one of the worst examples of wage "profiteer ing" was to be found around the cities and the railroads. Congress, he added, "must have courage enough to tell labor so." Enactment of legislation limiting profits was advocated by Senator John son. In the house Representative leroe, democrat, of Missouri, again blocked plans of leaders for a recess by in sisting that the house consider his measure directing the federal trade commission to investigate the rising prices of shoes. RACE RIOTERS INDICTED Chicago Grand Jury to Continue De liberation; Today. CHICAGO. Aug. R. Twenty-five cases involving 30 persons, black and white, alleged to have participated in the race rioting last week, on charges of mur der and assault, were prepared today for presentation to a special grand jury tomorrow. Seven indictments, naming 14 negroes, including two women, were returned today. Twelve indictments, naming 17 ne groes, were voted yesterday. The county commissioners tody voted 100.000 to the sheriff for pay of special deputies and other expenses in cidental to suppression of the riot spirit and J30.000 to the state's attorney for use in his investigation. The 6000 state troops, as well as po licemen and deputy, sheriffs, continue on guard duty in the negro districts. FIVE POSTMASTERS NAMED ApKintments for Milton, North Bend, Ontario. Banks, Huntington. ORKGOMAN NEWS Bl'REAU, Aug. 5i The following presidential post masters were named for Oregon: S. Bruce Shangle. Milton ; John T. Mo Uuire. North Bnd: John K. Gregg. On tario: Henry J. Atlee, Banks; Ferry P. Looey, Hun tin ct on. James Benedict of Sand Point was to day ajfpointed census supervisor for the first Idaho district and Edward Goddard of Mountain Home for the second district. 98,497 Americans Overseas. WASHINGTON. Aug. 5. G n e r a 1 Pershing - cabled the war department today that on July 31 a total of 98,417 troops were still overseas. S. & J-L, green scamps for cash. Holman Fuel Co., Main 353, A S353. Blockwood. ihort slab wood. Rock Springs and Utah coal; oawduaU Adf. SHANTUNG PROVOKES UPROAR IN SENATE Japan's Claims to Province As sailed as Pdonstrous Wrong. LEAGUE BITTERLY SCORED Storm Is Forecast.for Today When Secretary Lansing Relates Ver sailles Negotiations. WASHINGTON' - , today m the senates consideration of the treaty with Germany. rwi pub,ic hearing of the foreign relations committee issues of the leaeLe controversy started a dispute Jduredv.n an uproar 'l ln th. . S SvP. "I"" a" a"ack on the Shantung provision by Senator Watson, repub lican. Inoiana. developed a series of sharp exchanges. series of The committee's clash over the league rew out of the examination of Norman Davis. a financial adviser to the Ver- fn eharrf?nference- and centered . he?ted discussion of the attitude of President Wilson toward supp Wing UoenCmmittee With adeute informa Chairman Lodge, replying to a sug gestion that the president be asked VrCwn r the comm'ttee. declared Mr. Wilson .ever had offered to do such an offer had been made but the committee majority had ignored it. Once the subject of the league had been raised, league opponents gave a foretaste of what may develop when .Secretary Lansing appears before the committee tomorrow by keeping the witness under a running fire of ques tions relating to provisions of the cove nant. It was when Mr. Davis declined to pose as an expert on the subject fL; Jl rePly a que8tin. suggested that the president be consulted, that I. commission members clashed over Mr. Wilson s course in the matter. Lansing to Be Questioned. Under present plans the questioning of.tlc secretary of state tomorrow will be in open session and It is ex pected he will be asked to disclose many features of the Versailles nego tiations, with the league covenant and the Shantung agreement occupying a prominent place in the discussions The senate adjourned tonight until Thurs day so tomorrow's committee meeting may be uninterrupted. Senator Watson, in his senate speech declared the treaty provision giving Japan control in Shantung province was "as monstrous a proposition as has ever been proposed to civilization" and said he could not vote for ratifica tion If the Shantung section remained unamended, and if J a nan nv nr. definite promise of returning the uiuvince to L.nna. in reply to a ques tion from Senator Borah, republican, Idaho, as to what sort of declaration from Japan would be satisfactory, the Indiana senator said it would have to be one providing for withdrawal of Japanese forces prior to the senate's action on the treaty. Japan'M Claim Ajuiailed. Japan's claim to the province. Mr. Watson asserted, was based on one wrong heaped upon another, while the history of Japanese interests in China gave the lie to Japan's protestations of gcod faith in her promise to withdraw. benator Hitchcock, democrat, asked to what court China could bring her claims should the treaty and the league of nations fail. In that case, Mr. Watson replied. China would have to fall back on the moral support she always had received here and elsewhere in past times "when we had an American for president who thought of America first." Senator Lodge said he understood that within two hours of signing of the treaty at Versailles, the Chinese dele gates had offered to sign if assured they would have the right to bring the Shantung case before the league later, but that "even that was denied them." l.odftr to Sound Keynote. The objection that the special de fensive treaty with France violates the federal constitution by binding con gress to declare war in-certain circum stances was expressed in a resolution introduced during the day by benator Newberry, republican, Michigan. It would direct the judiciary committee to rive an opinion as to whether there are constitutional obstacles to ratifi cation. Senator Lodge gave notice today that he would address the senate next Tues day on the league. As the leader of the opposition to acceptance 01 m covenant in its present form, he is ex pected to sound the keynote of the fight against unreserved ratification. TUa dtarrnnpnl from Tokio regarding Japan's intention In Shantung reached Washington too late to receive the attention of senators tonight. It is expected to have careful consideration, in view of President Wilson's repeated statements that the complete facts in the case would place the Shantung settlement in a new light. TOKIO, Aug. 6. (Via London.) Viscount Uchida. the Japanese foreign minister, in a statement issued today, declares that Japan does not intend to claim any rights affecting the ter ritorial sovereignty of China in Shan tung. He promises that the Japanese troops will be withdrawn immediately after an agreement is concluded with China. Japan, moreover, the foreign minister's statement adds, is con sidering the establishment at Tsin Tao of a general foreign settlement in stead of a purely Japanese settle ment. ADDICTS GET DRUG RATION Reputable Physicians Authorized to Keep Victims Alive. WASHINGTON. Aug. 5. Hundreds of letters from persons suffering from in curable diseases and from aged persons addicted for many years to the use of drugs, pitiful in their supplications that rules governing the sale of narcotics be modified, led . Commissioner Roper today to issue instructions to collectors of internal revenue whereby such per sons may obtain drugs on prescription by a reputable physician that the drug is needed to maintain life. Collectors are warned by Mr. Roper to exercise every reasonable precaution to prevent the aged and infirm from becoming the means whereby unauthor. ized persons might engage in traffic In narcotics. 300 0 Men Wait Strike Signal. WINNIPEG. Man.. Aug. S. R. E. Bray, a returned soldier and Winnipeg strike leader, on trial here for con spiracy, declared that he had a fully organized band of 3000 to 4000 men ready to tak up arms at a given signal on June 10 last, according to testi mony offered in the court today by Detective W. H. McLaughlin of the Northwest Mounted police. irTfV ""'"a to send important information repeatedly asked for. Sen SJrJ 'ttman. democrat. Nevada re- iiu tuai in niH adii TURKISH CRUELTIES TOLD ALLIES MUST WATCH TO PRE VEM BRUTALITY, WARNING. British Naval Officer Says Condi tions in Prison Shocking; Old Regime Is Feared. (Copyright by the N'w ToHt World. Pub lished by arrangement.) LONDON, Aug. 5. (Special Cable.) "Nothing: but constant watch by entente authorities can prevent a return to the old regime" so writes Vice-Admiral Sir A. Calthorpe, hign commissioner at Constantinople, in one of a series " of reports dealing; with the appalling prison conditions which the allies found existing in Turkey after the armistice. On December 7, 1918. Commander C. B. Heathcote Smith visited the cen tral prisons In Stamboul, where over 400 persons were then confined He describes what he found. "No one in prison had tasted food for the previous 24 hours, and when I asked them if they had had enough to eat, temporary pandemonium reigned as they collected around the prison director, screaming out: 'He steals our food. It is he'who sells our rations and now when you have left he will have us beaten. "These prisoners were merely a mob of half -naked, lousy human beings, with shrunken, wasted bodies and raven ous eyes, gradually dying of starva tion, cold and disease brought on by neglect-" It is added that facilities for wash ing were given only every three or four months, and the beating of prison ers was a common occurrence. EXTRADITION WRIT DENIED Man Accused of Murder 17 Tears Ago Not to Be Sent East. S4CRAMENTO, Ausr. 5. Application by the crovemor of North Carolina for "BAYER CROSS" , ON GENUINE ASPIRIN "Bayer Tablets of Aspirin" to b sea. nine must b marked with tn. aafatjr 'Bayer Cross." Always buy an ua brolten Bayer package which contains proper directions to safely relieve Head ache. Toothache, Earache, Neuralgia. Colds and pain. iandy tin boxes of 11 tablets cost but a few cents at drug stores larger packages also. Aspirin is the trade mark of Bayer Manufacture of Monoacetlcacldester o Salicylicaeid. Ad v- B 9 I I I I Ktt. stseh. Btmpla Yon will en Joy a cup of NO RAY A TEA Closset & Devers - Portland L'inui nMiiuMiiiiuiuiiMuiHiiuHiMniiiiiuiiiiiMiiiiiiiHiinMnuHiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiu Live and So that the public may know We have en tered into no agree ment against Union Labor Our store is NOT picketed. All of our watchmakers and jewelers are Union Watchmakers and Union Jewelers. We do not believe the Union is asking anything out of reason and we are there- 1 fore complying with its terms. STAPLES, The Jeweler FiHiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiniintiiiiiiiiiifnsiiiiiiiiiiK limii miiuiiiiiiih iiiiiiuiiiirniiiriiiMiiiiniiiiiniiiiiirl the extradition of Horace B. Witt, of Randsburg:, Cal., on a charge of mur der, was dented today by Governor Stephens. Affidavits presented by Witt said the shooting:, out of which the mur der charpre jyrew. occurred in Monroe county. Tennessee, 17 years ago, and not in Chrnke county. North farolina. it- X-' im r i '. .wimijusi, hiji urn i , ' .w .i u. 1 1 nui ma ii i ,i a mimwwmww ; .. j. r. tl.M- miam r i (- fin ,-itf '-- I "ii '"' i ftsi is 'i.if ii j iiiiiiiiti ftm iiiiiwuii riSMiweaiifc 'n.rii' m' TODAY TOMORROW Positively Stops Thursday at Midnight A picture of smiles, tears and human appeal that goes straight to your heart COMING FRIDAY Dorothy Dal ton in "OTHER MEN'S WIVES" "GOD'S HANDIWORK A Remarkable Scenic Mutt and Jeff . Cartoon Let Live as alleged. Witt said he killed two men In performance of his duty as con stable. A telegram received today from Georee K. Home, chief of police of Los Angeles, said Witt's arrest and deten tion at Bakersfield. Cal.. resulted from Information furnished by W. K. Mann, a HI iifi Mill H I j A - t Los Anpeles policemtn. Witt alleged in his affidavit that Mrs. Witt married Mann while Witt was in Alaska, several years agro. Phone your want ads to The. Orego- n ian. Main 7070. A lit 9 5. Li AUwm : It: .. i