VOL, jLVIII. NO. 18.321 Entered at Portland Ores on) Postofrice as Scond-Cla?s Matter. PORTLAND, OREGOy, FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 1919. PRICE FIVE CENTS. SECTION BY FIRE AIR PATROL REPORTS 25 FIRES IN VALLEY SHIPYARD DEMOCRATS IN TEXAS PROPOSE NEW PARTY TO FIGHT LIVING COST PROSPERITY BLAMED FOR RISING CARFARES ALIEN GOLD, SENT FOR MUNI TIONS, UPSET FINANCES. FOOD GETS G CENTS AS LIBEL PLAXE FLYIXG OVER WILLAM OXE . FACTION FIGHTS TREND TOWARD SOCIALISM. ETTE LOCATES BLAZES. WILSON -TO MEET SOLDIUS OH TREATY Senate Committee Will Discuss Peace Pact. WOMEN HCED HIGH Northwest Box Company Wiped Out by Flames. LUMBER YARD SWEPT AWAY Columbia Shipbuilding Plant 1 Suffers -Some Damage. LOSS !S OVER $50,000 rtailroad Trestle CaTes In, Carrying Firemen Down; One Man Seriously Hurt. , Parnate estimated at about $50,000 was wrought by a fire early last night which destroyed the plant of the North west Box company, Montgomery and Water streets, and spread to the lum ber j-ard of the Portland Lumber com pany. The Portland Lumber company sustained the heaviest loss, .as nearly an acre of lumber was aflame when the fire was at its height. Two firemen were injured, one seri ously, while combatting the . flames. Chris Christensen, attached to engine No. 1, is believed to have sustained fractured skull when he fell backward from a blazing trestle, alighting on his head, 30 feet below. He was rushed to a hospital by the Ambulance Service company. Rail Trestle (ar In. George Asher, a fireman in truck No. 2, received a badly lacerated wrist from falling timbers when the trestle caved In. He was taker first to the police emergency hospital and later rushed to St. Vincent's hospital. The fire started in the plant of the Northwest Box company, which lies adjacent to the Portland Lumber com pany. A watchman of the latter com pany said he saw a heavy blaze shoot kyward and in another instant the entire factory was burning. The fire is believed to have been started from a 'cigarette "which was dropped into a pile of sawdust at the rear of the box factory. Shipyard Firm Singed. The lumber storage yard of the Co ijmba River Shipbuilding company, lo cated north of the lumber yaroV suf fered a slight loss, the fire communi cating to adjacent piles of lumber and also causing slight damage to the of fice building of the ship company lum ber yard. The steam plant of the Northwestern Electric company, which uses waste from the lumber mill for fuel. - was threatened, but suffered no damage The Northwestern Electric company sustained a loss through the burning of a number of cable lines. The first alarm was turned in at about 7 o'clock, and in less than half an hour 2S lines of water were fight ing the roaring and spectacular blaze. Nine engine companies, three truck companies, and two fireboats were used in fighting the fire. Bis Trestle I nil apses. The railroad trestle on which the tracks were carried into the lumber yard was destroyed, and was a roaring mfrno when the firemen arrived on '.he scene. Lines of hose were centered cn the fire from the trestle, and it was in this work that the firemen were engaged when the trestle went down. Seventeen firemen were on the trestle when it started crashing to earth, a mass of flames, but all except Christensen reached a point of safety before the final collapse. Police had trouble in handling the thousands of persons who gathered at the fire and who attempted time after time to break through the fire lines. When the cable lines and electric wires fcesan falling into the roaring furnace, the crowds quickly surged back to Joints of safety. Flames Controlled In Hoar.' Within an hour from the time the fire fighting apparatus arrived the fire was under complete control, although till burning fiercely directly under neath the fallen trestle. By a liberal application o water tha lumber yard of the Multnomah Fuel company was saved from any direct damage. Burning cinders dropped on the roof of a rooming house on Front street two blocks distant and started a small blaze which firemen quickly extinguished. Lloyd K. Wentworth, secretary treasurer of the Portland Lumber com pany, arriv-ed at the scene during the early part of the fire. He estimated the total damage to all plants would reach in the vicinity of 50,0)0. Damage Hard to Figure. Fire Chief Grenfell said that the direct damage to the plant of the Northwest Box company and the de stroyed lumber would not exceed $13. 00. This estimate did not include the damage suffered by othr concerns idjacent to these two plants. Flames were kept from spreading Into the main plant of the Columbia Kiver Shipbuilding corporation largely through the work of the shtpyard fire lepartment. which got into play almost .s soon as the plant was threatened. Shipyard workers dropped all other ork to man the yard apparatus and light the encroaching flames, which -hey held in check until the city de fiartmtnt thifted its attack to their aid. Lightning; Blamed for Most Out breaks In Timber Belt: Men Rushed to Fight Flames. SALEM, Or.. Aug. .14. (Special.) Lieutenant Kiel, following his return here late this afternoon from a flight as far south as Eugene, reported more than 25 fires in the timbered districts along , his route. The largest fire is said to be raging in Linn county, while others are reported in Benton, Lincoln, Polk and Marion bounties. State Forester Elliott said tonight that in most instances the fires were set by lightning Sunday, and a number of them are now receiving attention at the hands of the various county su pervisors. It is not believed by Mr. Elliott that any of the fires are of a serious nature, with the possible ex ception of the one located on Crab tree river, in Linn county. ALBANY, Or., Aug. 14. (Special.) Bald Peter, located in township 13 south, range 2 east, is the scene of the latest rorest fire to break out in the Santiam forest today. It is also feared that Green Peter, a butte ad joining Bald Peter, may also be afire. Forest supervisor C. C. Hall has ordered a fire fighting crew to take charge of the blaze and is hurrying supplies to them. Bald Peter is located in the Ham mond Lumber company's holdings and is 36 miles east of Albany. It is re ported that 60 acres have already been burned out and there is rear or tne fire spreading. ROAD BONDS VOTED GOOD Marion County Securities to Be Sold lo Local People. SALEM, Or., Aug. . 14. (Special.) Marion county's market road bonds in the sum of $850,000, voted at the spe cial election held on June 3, have been approved by a Boston bond house, ac cording to a telegram received here to night. It is the plan of the authorities to sell the bonds to local people as fast as the money is needed, probably through the Marion county banks. It is not likely that extensive work no the market roads here will begin be fore next spring, although provision may be made to get construction under way in the more traveled districts this fall. THREE ACRES-YIELD $1040 Returns From Garden Valley Pear Orchard Held Only Fair. ROSEBURG, Or., Aug. 14. (Special.) A three-acre pear orchard in Gar den valle, belonging to Dr. H. W. Watrous. produced 796 boxes of fruit that graded 93 per cent No. 1. The orchard is nine years old and has had excellent care, and this year's crop is counted a fair example of what any fruit tract of like variety and size, with good cultivation, should produce. The 796 boxes weighed approximately 16 tons, and the pears were bought by a cannery at J65 per ton. The orchard yielded the owner $1040, practically $350 to the acre. HOOD GASOLINE IS - LOW Shipment From Portland Erroneous ly Delivered En Route. HOOD RIVER, Or.. Aug. 14. (Spe cial.) Unless fuel is received tonight, a gasoline shortage will limit Hood River valley motoring tomorrow. A carload of gasoline shipped from the Portland station of the Standard Oil company Monday to the local dis tributing plant was erroneously de livered en route and as a result tanks of all local garages were emptied to day. Garage men conserved their stocks for convenience of transient tourists, and operators of local motor delivery and bus service were told to lay in a supply. BRITISH PLIGHT SERIOUS Increased Production Only Hope; Empire Said to Be in Peril. LONDON". Aug. 5. (Correspondence of the Associated Press.) Increased pro-du-tion is England's only hope for de creasing living costs in the opinion of Britain's food controller, G. R. Roberts. Addressing a meeting of Yorkshire food committees. Controller Roberts de clared: "I cannot honestly hold out any hopes that prices will be any lower this win ter. Without increased production we shall never get rid of the burden of h1 :h prices. Without the co-operation of e ery class in the country we may start to write the decline and fall of the British empire." u CHRISTY TO WED MODEL Pretty Widow Who Posed for War Posters to Become Bride. NEW YORK. Aug. 18. Howard Chandler Christy, illustrator and artist, took out a license here today to marry Mrs. Nancy May Palmer, a young widow, formerly of Poughkeepsie, who for eight years has been his favorite model. Mr. Christy and his first wife, who was Miss Mabel Thompson, daugh ter of an army officer, were divorced in Zanesville. O.. last June. Mrs. Palmer posed for several of Mr. Christy's war posters. 3 DEAD IN AIRPLANE CRASH Children Victims When Machine Hits Fence at Langley Field. BALTIMORE, Aug. 14 Three chil dren were killed in Patterson park to day when' an airplane of the SSth aero squadron, stationed at Langley field. Vs., crashed into a fence behind which were several hundred spectators. even were injured. FULL PUBLICITY TO BE GIVEN No Information Brought Out to Be Kept From People. COL. HOUSE MAY TESTIFY President's Advisers to Be Sum moned if Executive Does Not Yield Information on League. ' WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 4. President Wilson's offer to talk over the peace treaty with the sentte foreign rela tions committee finally was accepted today. At the suggestion of republican members and by a virtually unanimous vote the committee decided to inform the president it would be glad to meet him at his convenience to go over disputed points in the treaty and the league of nations covenant. At the same time the committee voted to call additional witnesses and continue its hearings. Tonight the president set 10 o'clock next Tuesday for the meeting and wrote to Chairman Lodge that in line with a suggestion by the committee he would not consider the discussion confidential in nature. In notifying Mr Wilson of the committee decision. Senator Lodge had written that members did not desire to be bound by secrecy. The president chose the White House as the place of meeting, although the chairman had left the way open for him to come before the committee at the capitol, if he preferred. Tumulty Issnes Statement. The letters were not made public, but Secretary Tumulty issued this state ment: "The president received Senator Lodge's request for an appointment to meet the foreign relations' committee to discuss the treaty of peace. "Of course, .the president welcomes this opportunity to meet the foreign re lations committee and has fixed Tues day morning at 10 o'clock as the time for a meeting at the White House. The unprecedented condition of the confer ence as set by Senator Lodge in his letter to the president fits in with the president's own preference as to pub licity, so that the people of the country may be put in possession of all. the in formation he has about the treaty of peace." Mr. Lodge told the president' that it was assumed by the committee that nothing said at the meeting, would he Concluded on Page 3. Column 37) ! zvF 1 " l uVs "see.- ve.e Paternalism, Prohibition, Suffrage, State-Owned Railways, All to Be Fought. FORT WORTH. Tex.. 'Aug. 14. Many Democrats of Texas, dissatisfied with tlw present democratic" party leaders and principles,-conferred here today to formulate plans for party reconstruc tion. Two factions participated in the con ference, one advocating the formation of a new party, to be known as the "American party." and the other headed by former Senator Joseph W. Bailey, urging reformation within the old or ganization. Former Governor James E. Ferguson delivered the keynote address to the faction terming itself "The American party." after which a set! of principles was adopted. "Old -time democrats." was tlve slogan taken by the other faction, which was to hear former Senator Bailey late today. "The platform" of the American party expressed opposition to the league of nations as at present con stituted; opposes national equal suf frage and prohibition; demands prison terms for trust formers and urges re turn of the railroads to their owners. The entire American party conven tion adjourned at 3 P. M. to at'.end the "oid-time democratic" "rally and hear Senator Bailey , speak. In addressing the- American party, former Governor Ferguson declared the meeting of national importance inas much as the movement to return to paternalism and socialism in state and federal government would spread all over tlve United States. The former governor assailed Sena tors Culberson and Sheppard. declar ng if they had followed the mandate of th people of Texas woman's suf frage would never have been sub mitted to the states. "The time has come," he said, "to curb the growing tendency for the government to do everything and man age every man's business for him. wlvether he wants it or not: This party stands for more personal liberty and proper representation in government" TURKS KILL BOY SCOUTS Twenty Creek Lads Give Lives in Vain Effort to Save Leader. LONDON. Aug. 14. Nicholas Avgeri dis, a scoutmaster, and 20 Greek Boy Scouts have been murdered at Alain, Asia minor, by, TurKs, according to Greek official source. Avgeridis was tortured before he was killed and the Boy Scouts lost their lives in endeavoring to save him. MILLIONS NEEDED FOR NAVY Roosevelt to Ask for Funds for Re pair of Vessels. WASHINGTON, Aug. 14. Acting Secretary Roosevelt soon will ask con gress for an additional appropriation of about $15,000,000 for use in repair ing naval vessels. Repair work in prospect, particular ly that on battleships formerly used as transpoits. will' keep the yards' busy for Is months. LOOKS AS IF THE WAR IS OVER. Meeting Next Tuesday Is to Launch Campaign; PUBLIC MARKET UNDER FIRE Bakers Asked to Explain Why Bread Should Go Up. SIMPLE BUYING IS URGED Club Leaders Say Part of Present Trouble Due to Fancy Pack ages and Goods. From all indications the present ruler of this nation, known by the familiar initials of H. C. of L.. is going to sit up and view Portland activities with alarm. He will have sufficient cause, too. for the women of this city are determined something must be done to put housekeeping expenses down. A meeting was called yesterday afternoon at the central library, but owing to the short notice given, few women attended. Another has been se for 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon at the same plaoe. and bakers will be in vited to attend and present their rea sons for the proposed increase in the price of bread. City Commissioner Bigelow. Mrs. Goorge McMath of the price fixing board and J. A. Eastman, master of the municipal market, will also attend. They were present yes terday afternoon and informally put forth their views. Bigelow Defends Market. Commissioner Bigelow defended the public market, which has been held to be failing in its purpose by charging higher prices than other places. "The primary object of the market was to benefit the consumer." he said. "If we are unfair to the producer, the consumer will soon be Just as badly hurt, for the .former ' will be driven away to places where he can get bet ter prices. . "We set the maximum prices, and if we didn't things would be much worse. The general public has no Idea what a fight we have to put up to keep the -farmers down to a maximum as It Is." Watchers Are at Work. Mr. Bigelow. said that yesterday he put two people to work making daily reports on the market and that as they are known only to himself, he believes he will get fair and accurate lists of figures. Mr. Eastman pointed out that one reason for high market charges is that the men there have to put In Just as much time tending their stalls as gro cers do in stores, and" this is just as (Concluded on Page 3, Column lV) ' Professor Irving Fisher or Yale Says Remedy Simple: Merely "Stabiyze the Dollar." WASHINGTON. Aug. -14. Haled be fore the bar of the federal electric rail way commission today. J 1,000.000.000 in foreign gold was arraigned by Pro fessor Irving Fisher of Tale university as the chief culprit not only in bring ing American trolley- lines to. bank ruptcy, but In sending prices generally skyrocketing to undreamed of high levels. - The flood of bullion, he said, came before the war. sent over to meet pur chases in the United States by bellig erent powers. With the first appearance of the golden invader, he said, prices began to leap skyward, even prices on articles wholly unrelated to the war The result of the gold importation has bier, a depreciation of the Ameri can dollar, so far as its purchasing power was concerned. Professor Fisher asserted. At the same time, its price or the actual amount of gold it con t'nej1 y weight remained fixed, he added and today Its buying power is one-third of what it was in 1906. and llt. f WHat " in the sprins of The remedy Is easy, the witness de clared. Stabilization of the dollar by regulation of the price of gold in ac cordance with the price of fluctuations was possible, he said, through the sys tem of dollar values worked out "by government economists "WHO'S WHO" BOOK ISSUED Prominent Men of Northwestern Stales Are Lis-tcd. With listings of the names of hun dreds of th more prominent business ?Js,.Pr0u8Sl,IJal men of northwestern states, the 1918-1919 edition of Who's ""hy has just come from the press and is being distributed.' Com pilation of the work was. for the most part, done by Dr. C. W. Parker Of Port land. Portland and Oregon are well rep resented in the reference volume. sefrh SJTk'8 brif "graphical sketch of the men listed, and is pro fusely illustrated with large and small cuts of the subjects. The front sec tion ot the edition distributed here is devoted to sketches of men resident In strictly northwestern states, the body of the book carries listings for north ern states as far east as Minnesota. CITY RAIL LINES PROFIT Seattle Municipal Street Car System Earns 9808 Net. SEATTLE. Aug. 14. Net profits of f.hoS .(SI were earned in the first three operating months by Seattle's newly acquired municipal street-car lines, ac cording to a report issued by Superin tendent Thomas Murphine. In addition Superintendent Murphine declares additional cars are running and considerable money has been spent for improvements and additional track has been laid. AIR PATHFINDERS DELAYED Flyers to Start From Mineola Today if Weather Permits. MINEOLA. N. Y., Aug. 14. The flyers connected with the pathfinding air squadron who expected to get away to day on the first leg of their cross-continent tour were balked by unfavora ble weather conditions. They will start tomorrow if the weather will permit. INDEX OF TODAY'S NEWS The Weather. rESTERDAYS Maximum temperature. 83 aegreea; minimum. 5S degrees. TODAY S Fair and warmer: Saturday, fair ana continued warm; gentle northerly winds. Foreign. Roumanians to quit Hungary with loot say reports. Page a. Pr0M?"" n"r re' pcet ln Turkey. says .111. Page 7. Campaign against bolsheviki in Russia costs Britain SoOO.OUO.Ouu. Page 3. National. House committee considers new railroad problem proposal. Page 2. Attorney. general hopeful of early price re- Iier. Page 9. President Wilson to discuss peace treaty with senators. Page 1. IomcM tr. Restive democrats in Texas propose forma tion of new party. l'age 1. Andrew Carnegie's funeral is held. Page 8. Washington warns Mexico to protect Amer icans. Page it. Ford Bets 6 cents damages in libel suit against Chicago Tribune. Page 1. Flood of foreiBn gold Is blamed for rising car tares. Page 1. Pacific Northwest. Proposed power plant at Celilo couid dwarf all others. Pajte 6. Three serious forest fires rage near Eugene Page 8. Three thousand Elks attend Klamath Falls convention. Page 17. Fugitives from state asylum believed to be headed east. Page 6. Airplane forest patrol reports 23 fires ln Willamette valley. Page 1. Sports. ' Benny Leonard-Lew Tendler match hangs fire. Page 13. Western team defeated ln Chicago trap shoot. Page 15. Pacific Coast League results: Portland 7. Oakland 6: Seattle 5. Vernon 4: Sacra mento 8, San Francisco 2; Salt Lake 5 Loa Angeles 1. Page 14. ' Commercial and Marine. Coarse grain prices decline sharply on locai board. Page 2o. Food seizures cause unloading of corn, in Chicago. Page 23. Stock market weakened by professional Belling. Page 2. Public docks commission approves Improve ments extending harbor facilities. Page 22. Port commission to have dredge Columbia patched up to save costs. Page 22. Portland and Vicinity. County treasury leaks like sieve, says John W. Kaste. Page 12. City attorney's office holds pre-war tele phone rate to be legal now. Page 16. Mother asks to serve out son's $3 fine Page 16. Shipyard section menaced by S0O.O0O fire in nearby plants. Page 1. Portland women iaunch campaign against high living costs. Page 1. Weather reputt, dta aud forecast. Pace - $1,000,000 Asked From Chicago Tribune. NINTH BALLOT BRINGS RESULT Both Sides Assert They Are . Satisfied With Verdict. COURT DEFINES ANARCHIST Judge Tucker Holds Paper Has No More Privilege Than Person in Making Comment. MOUNT CLEMENS. Mich.. Aug. 14. A Jury tonight awarded Henry Ford cents damages against the Chicago Tribune for calling him an anarchist. Orvy Hulett. foreman of the jury, said that they "took nine ballots that I can remember." The first one. according to Leonard Measel. -another Juror, stood 8 to 4 in favor of awarding Mr. Ford some damages. Attorney Alfred J. Murphy, for Mr. Ford, said: Tne important issue in this ase has been determined favorably to the plain tiff. He has been vindicated. "Money damages was entirely subor dinate and were not sought by Mr. Ford. He stands not only vindicated, but his attitude as an American citizen has been justified after a trial which raised every issue against him which ingenuity and research could present. His friends are entirely satisfied." Victory, Says Tribune Counsel. Weymouth Kirkland. f counsel for the Tribune, said: "We consider it a victory for the rea son that Attorney Alfred Lucking, in closing for Mr. Ford, stated that any thing less than substantial damages would be a defeat for his client." The Jury spent three months hearing the testimony and arguments. Judge James. G. Tucker, instructing the jury, held that a newspaper has no greater privileges in making comment than has an individual. The end of the great suit, which began three months ago. came when the lawyers and spectators had about made up their minds that they were ln for a night of waiting and watching, with a mistrial as the probable out come. Jury Out Ten Honrs. The jury had been out 10 hours when a resounding double knock was heard on the high old-fashioned door of the jury room. Some of the lawyers had not yet re turned from dinner nor had Judge Tucker put in an appearance. Bailiff Kellcy went to the door and then hur ried to Walter Steffens, the court clerk, and whispered: "They're ready to report." Mr. Steffens got Judge Tucker and the absent lawyers on the telephone and in 10 minutes all was ready. Mr. Hulett was plainly laboring un der suppressed emotion as he rose and faced the court. "Have you reached a verdict, gentle men?" asked Judge Tucker. "We have." replied the foreman. "You may deliver it.' Mr. Hulett first gave a directed ver dict of no case against the Solomon News company, which distributed copies of the Tribune of June 23. 1916. con-, taining the libel. Text of Verdict. The award against the Tribune was then given and the clerk recorded the following as the verdict: . "you do say upon your oath that the said defendant, the Tribune company, is guilty in manner and form as the sa,id plaintiff hath in his declaration in this case complained, and you assess the damages of the said plaintiff on oc casion of the premises over and above osts and charges by him about his suit In this behalf expended at the sum of 6 cents damages and you find that the defendant. Solomon News company. Is -not guilty as directed by the court." The jury acknowledged the verdict as correct and hurried from the courtroom. None would discuss their deliberations in detail. The whole proceedings were over with astonishing brevity. The whole scene did not require more than five minutes. One juror later stated that for six hours the ballots stood 8 .to 4 to glv the plaintiff an award. Then two of the four joined the majority. The re maining two held out until nearly 8 o'clock, when they surrendered, and the knock sounded on the door. Ford Aot Present. Mr. Ford was not in court. The Tribune was represented by Captain Joseph Med ill Patterson, one of ttve publishers. ' ' The Jurors were heard from fou times during the day. twic- for their meals, once for an additional instruc tion from Judge Tucker and once whea they asked for a copy of the alleged libelous editorial, headed: "Ford Is an Anarchist," on which the suit is base. The courtroom was orowded while the court was charging the jury and a fair crowd remained hour after hour, hoping to bcpresent when a verdict was reached. The air was electric with suppressed excitement. . It was a quiet jury. Henry Kelley, bailiff for 13 .years, said it was the quietest cne he had ever handled. Judge Tucker gave the several defi- iCou'cusd on Pae Column