13 TIIE 3IORMXG OREGOXIAX, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1919.
it crrmnrt titogmm
ESTABLISHED BY HENRY PITTOCK.
Fnblished by The Oregonian Publishing Co..
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31. J. Bidwell.
United States has been their "good
thing" and now they have lost it.
They are going to the land -where
turnip soup and black bread are the
chief articles on the bill of fare,
though as martyrs to the cause of
the proletariat-they may be received
Into the favored inner circle of bol-shevism.
It will be interesting to learn how
they adapt anarchist principles to
bolshevist practice, for they believe
in no government, while the soviet
governs so much that It regulates all
the details of daily life. But reds of
various shades are highly adaptable
when their daily bread Is at stake.
not work from the top of the pile
like a civil service employe. Inci
dentally it might seem handling
money is the cleanest and easiest job
going, yet it is a safe guess the man
in a bank likes it as well as a pastry
cook likes pie.
BA1X.RO AD S BLOCKADE BAWMII.I.S.
There is a general call from poll
ticians, economists, business men and
friends of suffering humanity for In
creased production as the best means
of reducing the cost of living.
This demand comes to the lumber
men of the Pacific northwest in the
shape of a flood of orders from the
east and abroad., -
They ran their mills full time to
supply this demand until they found
that they were being smothered in
their own product.
The reason was that delivery
steadily got farther behind produc
tion. This was due to failure of the rail
road administration to supply cars
enough to haul lumber away as fast
as it was cut.
' Buyers, impatient to have their
orders filled, bid against each other
for preference in shipment. Up goes
the price of lumber, and with it the
cost of living, for though we don't
eat lumber, we usb it in many ways
and its cost enters into the cost of
what we eat and wear and of the
houses we live in.
Then the railroad administration
is in part responsible for the high
cost of living, and Attorney-General
Palmer ought to prosecute Director
General Hines.
The proof is available in reports
of the West Coast Lumbermen's as
sociation. During the week ending
December 7 orders were booked for
90,479,722 feet, but production at the
125 mills reporting was only 76, 819,
216 feet or 11.67 per cent below nor
mal, and many mills, having more
orders than they could ship, were out
of the market. "What would have
been the use of producing more
when they were able to ship only
60,122,984 feet, of which 42,720,000
went by rail? The mills would only
have buried themselves In their own
product.
The week ending December. 14
was better in one respect, worse in
another. More mills retired from the
market, for only 119 reported and
others must have refused orders, for
while the whole world clamors for
lumber, new business accepted fell
to 61,587,972 feet. Trying to catch
up, the mills produced 77,921,114
feet or 7.13 per cent below normal.
But this exceeded shipments by
about 50 per cent, the latter having
decreased to 55,681.369 feet, of
which about 40,000,000 feet were
shipped by rail and shipments fell
about 10 per -cent behind new business.
The railroads have blockaded the
lumber industry, for the latter
can deliver no faster than the rail
roads transport its product. The
source of the trouble is not lack of
cars and engines, but lack of effl
ciency. There are probably enough
cars in the country if they were kept
moving and moved faster. But many
empty cars stand on tracks, and
trains spend twice the numbfr of
days In covering the distance to San
Francisco.
The boasted efficiency of govern
ment operation of railroads Is a
myth. It disappeared when the spur
of competition was removed, when
executive officers ceased to feel the
necessity of showing good results to
the directors. The languor of bu
reaucracy has fallen upon the rail
road forces, and kicks cannot arouse
them.
Congress cannot act too soon on
the bill to put the railroads again in
the hands of men who have some
personal interest In good service to
both the people and the owners.
American industry is ready to move
full speed ahead, for there- is world
wide demand for all that it can pro
duce, but it can move no faster than
the railroads can carry its product
away from the factories. When this
is the situation, the people cannot
view with patience the spectacle of
President Wilson giving heed to the
plea of the American Federation of
I-abor and the railroad brotherhoods
tbat this exasperating state of af
fairs be continued for two years. The
Plumb planners ask that government
operation be tried thoroughly, but it
has already been tried and found
wanting.
GAME COMMISSION" AND MR. F1M.KY.
No great difficulty should be ex
perienced in composing the uproar
over the dismissal of State Biologist
Finley. Mr. Finley says he desires
to have the privilege of resigning.
The members of the commission, so
far as they have expressed them
selves, are willing. There should be
no objection, also, to an impartial
investigation of the facts. The gen
eral public wants to know them, and
it should know them before it passes
judgment.
Commissioner Warren says he will
be satisfied to let the misunderstand
ing rest on the basis of incompatibil
ity of temper. Commissioner Flelsch
ner says that the condition" had be
come "intolerable," and there was
no alternative for the commission
but to release Mr. Finley. The gov
ernor upholds the right of the com
mission to control its own employes,
and remarks that, so far as he is
concerned, the "incident is closed."
Evidently the commission is not
well disposed toward Mr. Finley,
since the action dismissing him was
unanimous. Nevertheless, it must
be conceded that its action was sum
mary, and it should be reconsidered,
and Mr. Finley permitted to resign,
as he desires. He does not insist
upon his re-employment by a com
mission which does not want him,
and presumably others will not so
Insist. Nothing satisfactory can
come of it. Of course the commis
sion might resign; but, when one
looks at its personnel he is inclined
to wonder who can take their places
that are more likely to please the
public, including the sportsmen. It
must be said that pleasing the
sportsmen, and all of them, is quite
a Job. It can't be done; or at least
it has not been done by any com
mission The Oregonian knows any
thing about. We find ourselves
speculating on whether Mr. Finley
would get along any better with an
other commission. He is a naturalist,
and more or less of a law unto him
self, and strongly inclined to his
own ways, ideas and Ideals.
Mr. Finley will not be lost to Ore
gon upon his retirement from the
commission. He knows too much
about the fauna of the country, espe
cially birds; it is his life. This re
markable knowledge is an asset to
him and to the state, and It should
be used, and doubtless it will be.
Meanwhile, we have no doubt that
the commission will consent to an
amicable adjustment of the whole
affair.
RULES FOR OTHERS XO FOLLOW.
In a foreword to the first of a
series of "messages of five nations to
the American people" to be pub
lished in the New York Independent,
President Wilson says:
Men today are blessed with a new cur
iosity about their governments. Every
where they are demanding that the doors
behind which secret policies have been
incubated be thrown open and kept open
henceforth. The doors that do not re
spond to the keys the people .hold will
be battered down and free passageways
erected In their stead.
Autocratic srovernments of the past have
lived by -concealment; rree governments
must live by understanding. In the new
day that is dawning only those govern
ments that have no secrets from their
peoples can long endure.
The American people In particular
have "a new curiosity" about their
government. They have acquired a
ew interest in the respective con
stitutional powers of the president
and senate. They would like to know
what "secret policies' were incu
bated behind the doors which shut
on Mr. Wilson and his confidential
adviser. Colonel House. They are
interested in the reasons which. ata.de
the virile Garrison give place to the
spineless Baker; the astute McAdoo
to drop the railroads like the hot end
f a poker as soon as the war ended;
also In the reasons for reversing
Garfield's decision on the coal strike.
They are not likely to learn, for
now, as in the past, "autocratic gov
ernments live by concealment." If
the Wilson administration had
chosen to "live by understanding,
"free governments must," how
different might have been the course
f recent history! There would have
been no partisan appeal to the voters
in the fall of 1918, the president and
the senatej or its foreign relations
committee, would have . conferred
and agreed on the general policy to
be pursued at the peace conference,
some senators would have gone to
Paris as peace delegates, the treaty
might long ago have been ratified
and the league of nations might al
ready have been a going concern.
If all makers of fine phrases ana
promoters of beautiful ideals, among
whom President Wilson is pre-eminent,
would only practice what they
preach, what a beautiful, happy.
peaceful world this would be. un
happily, they too often lay down
principles for others only to follow
TIIE LAST LOXG, SAD LOOK.
Emma Goldman . and Alexander
Berkman were no sooner released
from prison than they went to Chi
cago, chief haven of refuge for alien
revolutionists tinder the sheltering
wing of "Bir Bill" Thompson, and
held a meeting of SOOO or 4000 vocif
erous and odorous reds at 60 cents
a head- When the speeches had
wrought up the audience to the re
quired pitch of enthusiasm, a collec
tion was taken, and donations were
liberal. The couple must have netted
about $8000 on that evening's work.
When they were on the ferryboat
which took them to Cilia island pre
liminary to deportation, we find this
description of them:
He wore a green waterproof overcoat,
a silk muffler and a light green hat and
carried a cane of cherry -wood. Me had
several suitcases filled with new clothing
purchased for the Journey. She wore a
new tailored suit and handsome furs.
.Those two glimpses of them doubt
less explain why, as Miss Goldman
jtood on the ferryboat, she "took a
long and serious look at the fading
skyline of New York," and why.
when two friends closed in with her
and Berkman, "all four, embracing
each other, wept bitterly."
THE tTMWRITTEN LAW.
If George Chenoweth is not insane.
and not likely to go Insane, and kill
somebody else, he should, of course,
be released from the state hospital
Dr. Griffith, the superintendent,
thinks that he should be discharged
and has so recommended to the
board of control. Probably it will
be done.
Chenoweth was not sent to the
asylum as punishment for killing
Syndham, and he cannot and should
not be kept there a day longer than
the period necessary for his complete
restoration to normality. The cure
has been most speedy and satisfac
tory, for it is the testimony of the
authorities that he has shown not
the slightest sign of mental aberra
tion from the first hours of his In
carceration. The assumption is rea
sonable that he was sane when he
got there. It is also reasonable that
he recovered at the moment he was
acquitted by the Curry county jury
on the ground of emotional insanity.
Or was it Just insanity? WHether
emotlorfal or not it was sufficient
to excuse his deed in the eyes of his
neighbors, constituting a Jury of his
peers.
Here is a case of the unwritten
law, expressed in frontier justice that
ignores and defies the written law
and justifies the right of private
vengeance. Syndham had despoiled
a member of Chenoweth's family,
called upon by the father- to repai
the wrong by marriage, the repro
bate refused, and Chenoweth killed
him. These are the bald facts, as
we recall them. The act was sun
ported by community opinion, by
custom and finally by the courts.
How else can we account for the fact
that twelve men readily accepted the
transparent and threadbare theory
that Chenoweth was crazy? He was
not crazy, except as any man. mad
dened by his wrongs and passionate
ror revenge, commits an- act which
in his cooler moments he would not
have committed.
let it must be said that the law is
at fault when it fails to take in hand
all perpetrators of homicide, no mat-
ter what the provocation, and deal
with them sternly. It is true enough
that Syndham deserved punishment,
fciuiipB ueam. .out it is not true
that the right rests with any private
citizen to inflict it. For its own pro
tection society must insist that crime
is an offense against the public and
must be dealt with by the public.
Insofar as society refuses or neg
lects to do its duty by and for
itself, . to that extent It weak
ens its own authority and prestige
ana is less efficient and trustworthy
in the performance of its duty to do
justice, or see that justice is done, to
all its citizens.
Two men quarrel, and one kills the
other. He pleads dementia, or self-
aerense or other easily manufactured
justification, and the jury in a ma
jority of cases, frees him. Back of
it an is the feeling, conscious or un
conscious, among the great body of
citizens, that a personal controversy,
een wnen it nas tragic conse
quences, between two citizens is
their own affair. , In no other way
can the American tolerance of homi
cide, and even of outright murder,
be explained. What's done cannot
be undone. It is a dangerous and
fatal philosophy, not to be corrected
by panic-stricken outbursts for cap
ital punishment, but only by a stern
and general purpose to see that the
law has its way. Education in effi
cient and fundamental morality is a
public need in America.
Those who envy the bank em-
rjlOVeS for thft rhrlRfmna hnnTie nmw.
For loo the fact that the bank clerk
many year the easy-going - old pulls out in stress of work and does
AMERICA TO GRUBSTAKE ECROPE,
Constantly discussion revives of
the part which the volume of paper
currency issued during the war, and
of the national debts incurred, plays
In the level of prices. This discus
sion always reverts to the ratio of
the gold supply to paper money in
circulation, the changes in which
during the war point to enormous in
flation. The volume of paper cur
rency is so enormous and is so con
stantly changing that no reliable fig
ures are available, but the relation of
gold supply to bonded debt is a fair
indication. In 1914 the ratio of the
world's gold supply to the debts ot
the big nations, according -to E. S.
Van Dyck, was 1 to 3. At the end
of 1918 It was 1 to 15, and addition
of contingent debts would make it
1 to 26. In the United States it was
1 to 12 on June 30, 1919, as com
pared with 1 to B a year before.
New production of gold was so far
from restoring the safe ratio that
the annual yield is only S'-a per
cent of the annual Interest on the
world's debts.
The natural conclusion is that cur
rency is no longer secured by gold,
but circulates by fiat of the several
governments, and that the increase
represents inflation, which produces
high prices. European governments
found that war required an amount
of circulating medium greater than
was permitted by the prevailing ratio
to gold, and they issued it as a war
necessity. Their people accepted it
under the influence of patriotism
and of confidence in victory , and in
the collection of a huge indemnity
from the enemy. But the effect of
this large supply of money was that
merchants asked higher prices and
consumers willingly paid them.
During the same period down to
1917 the United States greatly in
creased its volume of currency. The
federal reserve banks gathered al
most all of the nation's gold supply
from the several thousand little res
ervoirs of the national banks Into
one big reservoir. This change per
mitted issue of a great volume of
new currency, espeoially through the
rediscount system, but until the
United States went to war there was
a fundamental difference between
this new currency and that of Eu
rope. Every dollar of new American
money represented production of
useful commodities and "much was
re-invested in increasing production
New European money was expended
on things which were to be destroyed
or to be used in destroying wealth
produced in former years. The dif
ference resembled that between t
man who mortgages a house fot
$10,000 and squanders the mdney on
high living and a man who re-invests
the money in a productive profit
able enterprise. The one has a debt
with nothing to balance it; the other
has a debt balanced by a good credit.
America began to accumulate the
former class .of debts in 1917, but
their ratio to the gold supply Is far
lower than is that of Europe's debts
and their ratio to the national wealth
is well within the margin of safety,
namely, the ability of the nation to
pay both principal and interest.
There has been a further increase
of circulation through the use of
checks and other bank paper. Which
represent either cash deposits or
loans for use in production and dis
tribution of useful commodities. This
form of circulation is several times
as great as that of paper money in
this country and has come into much
greater use in Europe under pressure
of the war.
The result has been a practical
divorce between . gold and the cir
culating medium of Europe,. but the
worse that could be said of the sit
uation in the United States is that
their relations have become some
what strained. In fact, conditions
indicate that this country has much
more gold than -it can conveniently
use as a basis for circulation, - for
federal reserve notes, representing
actual transitions in useful commo
dities of equal value, have small nee
of gold security, and our possession
of a huge stock of gold is an ob
stacle of Europe's recovery from ths
war's effects and consequently to ex
tension of our foreign trade. That
effect is demonstrated by the stead
fall in the exchange value of Euro
pean money, not excluding even the
English pound, which has hitherto
been proverbial for stability.
Several remedies have" been sug
gested, but they are either imprac
ticable or inadequate to cure the disease-
One is bimetalism, but that
would Vequire maintenance of a
stable ratio of value between gold
and silver, which has proved im
possible. It would also require In
creased production of silver, when
present production is far below the
needs of that metal's present uses.
Moreton Frewen gives the annual
total of these needs as 620,000,000
ounces, while the director of the
mint gives the present world's pro
duction as only 157,000,000 ounces.
Increased production of gold would
help, but that requires some form
of governmental aid to fill the gap
between the mint price of $20.67 an
ounce and the estimated cost of pro
duction at an average mine of $33.33
an ounce, and the effect of such aid
would be slow and utterly inade
quate.
The world needs to put increased
value against the money that is in
circulation. That can be done in
but one way by increased produc
tion of useful commodities, which
means labor. The market is unlim
ited, for Europe and large parts of
Asia" are on short rations, in rags,
short of houses and fuel and of tools
and machinery with which to work.
Europe is In the position of a west
ern man, honest, industrious and
healthy, who has gone broke. He
has suffered a nervous shock, and
his doctor prescribes plenty of physi
cal exercise and good, wholesome
food. He asks the storekeeper for a
grubstake to go prospecting and
agrees to give the storekeeper a half
interest In any mineral he discovers.
It is up to the United States to grub
stake Europe by selling on credit
food, raw materials, tools arid ma
chinery with which to make goods
to be sold in payment and exchange
for more goods. The articles thus
produced will increase the volume
of commodities - to set against the
volume of currency and will thus
reduce prices. It will increase each
nation's wealth, and thus establish
more credit to set against its debt.
The work and the better food pro
cured will steady each nation's
nerves and clear its brain, putting It
in condition to reject the crazy
schemes of bolshevism and to rely
on the one safe panacea for its ills,
which Is work just plain, honest.
day-to-day work-
For Americans, this is no mere
matter of sentiment or idealism. It
is just plain business. The fortune
of war has made the United States
the world's banker, and Europe has
all the- qualities to make it our best
client. It has been our best cus
tomer, and will remain so with ou
help; if we refuse help, an awful
void will appear in our totals of for
eign trade, which will be reflected in
industrial depression at home.
is up to us to grubstake Europe, ex
tending credit enough to carry
along until it begins sales, or over
one season, then gradually givln
more credit as production and sales
grow. If we do-not thus help Eu
rope to swim ashore, it will pull us
down with it or at best we shall have
hard pull. There is some senti
ment in the case, but both business
and sentiment point the same way.
BY - PRODUCTS OP THE TIMES
Aatkors Hsst Start at Bottom. Says)
One Who Has Succeeded.
Octavus Ttnv r!nhn. who rather "It required three times he normal
i. v,i , ,,i.t force of men to keep the city water
George .eroaanurst maae a piay n"i,V,r rHv who r-ame in
of one of his stories, disagrees with
It
Those Who Come and Go.
The effort of the'Ttallan govern
ment to atone for the omissions of an 1
educational system of the past by
making provision, in connection with
its other reconstruction activities,
for establishment of a national insti-
ute for instruction of illiterate
adults furnishes a striking example
of official recognition of the need of
education to increase not only the
productive capacity of a people, but
their individual happiness and their
usefulness as citizens. Our trade
commissioner at Rome reports to
the department of commerce that
free education will be offered to all
demobilized soldiers now classified
as "illiterate." It is a movement of
no small moment, and it is a revela
tion of the idealism of the people
that a considerable part of the
necessary funds is to be supplied by
a draft or the profits of the national
opera. A share of the money paid
by lovers of music for their pleasure
win be devoted to opening the way
to higher enjoyment of life by the
great masses of the people.
Up-to-date Eskimos are experi
menting with the concrete igloo as
a substitute for the ancient one of
snow. They even have a housing
problem in the Arctic.
Hot air expands to several times
the size of cold air. On that basis.
Seattle should be able to make a
truly extraordinary showing in the
coming census.
Irvin S. Cobb, who holds that writ
ing Btorlea and writing plays are
very different. Mr. Cobb once said.
It's like laying bricks and laying
eggs it sounds alike, but the proc-
sses are different." Mr. Cohen- says
it's all the same.
There is no- basic difference." Mr.
Cohen tells the New York Herald,
between the writing of fiction, writ
ing for the stage, writing for the
films or any other sort of writing.
It is all a case of starting at the
bottom and working up. The idea of
any one who expects to succeed start
ing at the top is piffle. It simply
can't be done.
"In the first place, it isn't sound
logic. The bottom Is a mighty good
place to start. In my own opinion.
it is the only place to start if- any
one expects to have the bedrock
foundation.
There are very few, if any, except
here and there a rare genius, who
have started at the top and remained
there, and if we look deeply enough
we will find that even a genius has
had a foundation to begin on or else
he isn't at the top. I sold my first
story early in 113, after writing
more than a hundred which did not
sell.
"I have had several of my friends
ask me to give them rules and regu
lations for writing a play, to which
I reply: 'Don't! Wait until the man
agers send for you and flash an ad
vance royalty check in your face,
Then, when you have revived, tell
them directly that you won't touch
a typewriter without 150 per cent of
the weekly gross and permission to
play the leading role. All of which
will prove that I am not a play
wright. but only a writer of fiction.'
'Two propositions on the social
question that the Christian church
generally accepts are unsound and
outworn." eays The Christian Regis
ter (Unit.) of Boston. "They come
together In two sentences of a state
ment by Dr. John McDowell, who
speaks with authority for the Presby
terian .church: "Both the laborer and
the capitalist should bear in mind
tbat brotherhood, not wealth, is the
only secure basis of human society.
It is not the function of the church
to determine the form of social or
ganlzation; it is its work to influence
the spirit of it.' Wealth is as surely
in the foundation of human society as
brotherhood is. The intelligent use
of it is as vital to well-being as the
sentiment of good wilL How can we
get along without wealth? Its neces
slty is absolute. How can one ex
press his brotherhood, indeed, except
by the proper use of his goods in be
half of his kind? . . . The other
error is equally absurd. The spirit
must assume form. It cannot float
around like a pleasant fragrance. The
Presbyterian spirit surely has neve
lacked form of organization. Their
system of doctrine is the best fo
mulated In Protestantism. Their pol
icy is the farthest removed from neb
ulosity. So in every phase of life
the spirit craves a form and is naught
until It finds a sound body."
Martin Ready, who came in from the
reserve yestreday and penned nis
name on the book at the Benson. "The
snow was about shoulder high and
ten horses were needed to break
through with some supplies. The ice
kept accumulating in the canal and
would pile up near the gates, and
we had. to keep opening the gates
every little while and keep the
screens cleared. Down here in Port
land, where householders have been
letting the water run day and night
through the faucets to keep their
pipe from freezing, they did not ap
preciate the fight the men were mak
ing out there at the headwaters to
ee that the city supply was not cut
if." Mr. Ready, who has been batcn-
Ing In the reserve, lost his entire sup
ply of potaotes. They were in a tent
and some goats got In and ate them
all. "It's a srood thing the goats got
he spuds," says he, philosophically.
'for otherwise the frost would have
ruined them." The goats, however,
did not eat his stock of dried onions.
When the termometer hit 14 below
last Saturday out in Washington
county, Alfred H. Davies, locating en
gineer for the United Railways, de
cided it was time to declare a vaca
tion. Accordingly he and his merry
men swung transits and levels and
grub on their shoulders and hit -the
back trail, six miles on foot, six miles
by sled and four miles by auto, to
Timber, on the Tillamook line. While
with the 20th engineers in France Da
vies carried the star and wreath of
a master engineer, senior grade, and
ranked everyone not decorated with
a Sam Browne belt. All of his crew
were in service during the war. four
being second lieutenants. Deer were
plentiful where the party operated.
v htle they were running a line in
an open clearing a doe ran into the
open, surveyed them in perplexity and
leisurely departed.
Housewives will be interested to
learn that they will not have to wor
ry about sugar shortage when it
comes to preserving peaches next
Bummer. The sugar shortage may be
acute, but that isn't the question, for
it is the peach crop which promises
to be short. The peach orchards have
had the time of their lives in the cold
weather. Leslie Butler, banker and
orchardist of Hood River, who ap
peared at the Benson yesterday in an
O. D. shirt, says that while the apples
are okeh, the peach trees were badly
damaged. At least this is the present
supposition. Tests are now being
made to ascertain the extent of the
damage on the peach trees. Mr. But
ler says the trees have probbaly been
so severely injured that they will
have to be cut off close to the ground
and get a fresh start. This means
a shortage of peaches next summer.
SAVETD THE OREGON NEWSPAPER
United States Needs a Moses as I
Never Before.
Pendleton Tribune. i
What is the matter with us? What !
has become of our boasted resource- i
fulness? What Is the matter with
our government? What has paralyzed
our leadership? Where is the man
who will show us the way to a so- j
lution of our difficulties? If ever
vision, and a high order of wisdom
nd courage, were needed in the
United States, they are needed now.
Who will be our Moses?
Two Vices Do Not Equal One Virtue.
Arthur Perry in the Smudge Pot.
An acquaintance some time since
started chewing gum to break him
self of the cigarette habit and now
ha3 both of them.
The Man Who Succeeds.
The Dalles Chronicle.
Men who like their jobs are eo in
terested in their work that they
haven't time or inclination to think
about unrest or take part In unrest
demonstrations'.
Something; That Cannot Be Done.
Blue Mountain Eagle.
Folks live too far apart. In this
country It takes two big beef hides
to buy a pair of shoes. The folks
who raise the hides and the folks
who make the shoes are too far apart.
Let's move in a little closer.
Needed Everywhere.
Medford Mall-Tribune.
So we need in Medford a Miracle
woman. Not one of them, but sev
eral, one at least in every neighbor
hood. We need more hospitality to
strangers, more human interest in
our neighbors, particularly our new
ones, and particularly our women
It isn't a matter of pink teas and
evening parties. It a a matter of com.
mon good will and human feeling and
ordinary thoughtf ulness. Sounds
simple. Nevertheless, its a job for
Miracle woman.
Old Horse Has Understudy.
Monmouth Herald.
D. Calbreath's old horse has now
reached the age of 30 years and Mr.
Calbreath recently bought another
horse, the purchase being made of
T. J. Alslp.
Hlllsboro . "Rips' Poor Guesaers.
Hillsboro Arsrus.
Hlllsboro' s Rip Van Winkles should
take a trip down the highway to
Portland. Those who predicted we
should always wade in the mud were
poor guessers.
Wives Who Embroider.
Myrtle Point American.
Wive really ought not to put In
more than half time embroidering
pansies and things on lingerie when
husbands have only one night-gown
and no buttons on that.
More Truth Than Poetry.
By James J. Montague.
ON WITH THE DANCE!
These New Dances, at Reformer.
When the human race rssldsd in the
tree-tops
And our forbears were bmc mere
abysmal brutes.
With an anthropodlal loathing for nil
forms and styles of clothing
And a savage, porcine appetite for
roots.
All the youths would get together In
the moonlight
And, responding to a vaguely fait
romance.
Execute entrancing tangoes under
neath the spreading mangoes;
For the earliest urge of natuae was
to dance.
When the student f the cuneiforms
of Cheops
Bends his head above the closely
written tiles.
Now and then he fondly lingers o'er
the brickbat that he fingers.
Studies out the pictured hieroglyph
and smiles.
In the figure of a shuddery eon of
Cairo
And a quaking little Alexandrian
minx.
Though the lines are dark and dim.
he has discovered that the
shimmy
Co-existed with the pyramids end
sphinx.
There were dancers in the days when
Father Noah
Loaded all his little pets aboard
the ark.
As he drifted o'er the waters It's a
cinch his sons and daurhters
Did the dip and glide and trot from
dawn till dark.
Miss Salome spent her little lifetime
dancing
The waltz, the sink, the hug she
knew 'em all
And there eurely was a jazzer at the
feast where old Belshazzar
Read the warning that was written
on the wall!
Do not think that we are citing his
tory's pages
In a low attempt to Justify the
Jazz,
But we're here to tell the nation that
this form of recreation
Always will exist, because it al
ways has.
We could prove that now thaf-liquor
is abolished
Dancing's lost its last legitimate
excuse.
We could wax quite misanthropic on
this salatory topic
But it wouldn't help a bit
1 so what's the use?
The great Cahokla mounds, near
St. Louis, the most Imposing work
of the lost race of mound builders.
are doomed to disappear, announce
the Kansas City Star. Efforts to pre
serve them have proved unavailin
and now the whole area in which they
stand is to be turned into an in
dustrial site.
When an attempt- was being made
to interest congress in their preser
vation back in 1913, Gerard Fowke,
curator of the Missouri historical so
ciety, wrote of the mounds:
The Cahokla mounds are the most stu
pendous plies of earth ' ever erected by
human hands solely as a monument or
temple site. The countries of Europe
willingly would spend large sums to pre
serve ruins or remains which scarcely
would be noticeable. If placed near the
Cahokla mounds. We have In them the
culmination of the work of the mound
builders. It Is among their worke that
the most magnificent cathedral Is among
our buildings. The Cahokla mounds should
never he disturbed by pick or shovel.
The great "Monks' mound," which
stands in the center of the group, is
1080 feet long, in fact 280 feet longer
than the great pyramid of Egypt.
Its base covers almost 16 acres.
There are in all 75 mounds. The pur
pose of their construction, as well
as the race that built them, long
has been a puzzle to scientists and
archeologlsts.
After a lifetime of effort, Fred
Ramey, who owns the land on which
the mounds -are situated, has given
up the attempt to interest the legls-
Seattle really should muzzle the latures of Missouri or Illinois or con-
Judge A. D. Leady of Canyon City
1 making his home art the Multnomah
while submitting his teeth to a den
tist. "Canyon City is about 100 miles
south of Pendleton and is in a won
derful stock country," says the visi
tor. "I came out Just prior to the
cold spell, but do not think the stock
suffered any there as the stockmen
were well provided with feed and
shelter. There is a large amount of
work being done on the John Day
highway which will bring Portland
120 miles nearer by automobile than
by the Columbia river highway and
will be the means of much overland
auto travel coming that way." The
judge thinks that the John Day high
way will be finished next autumn.
Dr. W. P. Chisholm of Gold Hill,
registered at the Hotel Portland, has
an overseas record and was commis
sioned a captain. Be that as it may,
the' doctor is one of the most enthusi
astic miners in southern Oregon, the
mines being his hobby while medicine
Is his profession. He has one mine,
the Little Tom, in the Ramsey can
yon district, which is a fine copper
ledge. In the past 10 years the doctor
has spent $30,000 on this copper prop
erty and his optimism is shown by
the fact that he still considers it a
great prospect.
Rev. Mark A. Matthews until after
the censtrs. Why, the good man
would drive all the prizefighters out
of town!
Secretary Lane In resigning - of
course emphasizes that he is on the
best possible terms with the presi
dent. That's part of the court eti
quette. That Umatilla hunter who fired
into the bushes, thinking to kill a
bobcat, and killed a friend,, is
close to a charge of manslaughter.
A Frenchman is putting the third
dimension Into the screen, and some
time that may get into a fellow's
pocketbook Christmas time.
Before the Christmas fund is ex
hausted, set aside a few dollars for
doing good to some one who other
wise might be overlooked.
The world certainly must be grow-
ing Detter. roniana garage men
are pushing a campaign to have
glass swept off the streets.
The simplest solution to the prob
lem of how to- keep out the Japanese
picture brides would seem to be to
keep out the bridegrooms.
People are shocked when a woman
gets up In court and tells brazenly
of her phllanderlngs, but they read
it just the same.
If the exchanges with Mexico are
only notes, we thank heaven that
diplomats don't write letters.
Regular Mayflower weather in the
east for Mayflower time, and that's
where it belongs.
Many are learning it is cheaper to
burn fuel all night than to pay for
frozen pipes.
Do it in the morning, even to mail
ing your packages. If you can.
gress in their preservation. He in
tends selling the land to a firm which
seeks a factory and industrial Dlant
region. Ana with the sale the
mounds, like the race that erected
them, will pass away.
During the recent war many cures
of heart wounds were effected, the
soiuier in one case naving been in a
hospital for four months with a bul
let In his heart. When a bullet touches
the brain recovery is not rare, pro
vided that only the outer portion ot
this important organ be injured. In
the anatomical museum of Harvard
university may be seen a drill, four
feet long, which was blown, through
the entire brain of a mechanic, de
stroying the sight of one eye; yet the
man recovered, and subsequently even
proved capable of earning his living.
Bank robberies in outlying city
districts have become so frequent
that one president adopted a sugges
tion from his son and cashier, form
erly a lieutenant in the A E. F.
In France the son acquired a whole
some respect for the little steel and
concrete "pill boxes" used with such
murderous effect by the Germans. So
the bank now boasts a steel "pill
box" of its own. It replaces a large
window and Is located in a strategic
corner, where the guard's high-power
riot guns command every part . of
the interior and all exits.
Answering "High School Inquirer1
as to whether Villa is a bandit or i
revolutionist. T. K. H. in the Chicgo
News states it thus: When he has
from five to fifty men the genial
Pancho is a bandit; when his force is
from 1000 to 3000 he is a rebel, but
when he has from 10,000 to 50,000 men
he is a great revolutionary chieftain.
He has been in -turn all three and
may be again though now be seem
to be sagging from rebel to bandit.
But it is a matter of legs, largely. If
his legs hold out and he has already
lost eight he may yet march to th
"Let 'em come " says Charles G.
Miller, manager of the Marion at
Salem. Mr. Miller referred to the
members of the legislature, who have
been summoned to assemble in the
statehouse and in the lobby of the
Marion on January 12. There is prob-
bly more legislation arranged in the
Marion than in the statehouse. Mr.
Miller is at the Hotel Portland, ac
companied by Mrs. Miller.
Rev. Henry J. Harding of Skamo-
kawa. Wash., has been etorm-bound
at the Multnomah for the past week.
He arrived from Seattle the morning
of the storm, where he had been at
tending a church conference. Arriv
ing here, the minister could not pro
ceed home as the Columbia was full
of ice and no boats were navigating
the mighty stream.
J. W. Thompson, who is connected
with the lumber plant at Warner, Or.,
but who insists on registering "city"
at the Hotel Portland, was bragging
around the lobby yesterday that the
cold weather diun t affect his auto
mobile and that he has the only car
that Is getting through. It is air-
cooled instead of water-cooled.
George F. Paterson and J. P. Smith
of Willamina, have arrived at the
Perkins. During the storm the road
to Tillamook, which has its "out
through Willamina was deserted, no
traffic trying to make the trip
through the coast range.
Representing about 400 shippers,
John L. Craib of Seattle. Wash., is
attending th6 poultry show and is
registered at the Multnomah. Mr.
Cralb Is manager of the Washington
Co-Operatlve Poultry & Egg asso
ciation and this is said to be the
largest aaeoctatlon of the kind in the
Pacific northwest.
L G. Ross. M. D., health officer
for St. Helens, county seat of Co
lumbla county. Is at the Seward, ac
companied by Mrs. Ross. The doctor
is in the city to attend the annual
health conference.
Good Swap.
Oregon Labor Press.
Workers made no mistake when
they traded the burnished brass foot
rali for a clear head.
Mean Thieves.
Ad. in Cottage Grove Sentinel.
"I know where my walnuts on the
old Veatch place went to. and I also
know where my peaches went to last
year, and I am finding It too expen
sive to supply luxuries to these par
ticular parties in such quantities. If
those who are stealing my stuff will
ask me I will.be pleased to supply
them with a reasonable quantity for
any family and 1 will thereby ease
heir consciences and at the same
time get my name recorded in. the big
ook upstairs.s I have been, as pa
tient as I can and the next time this
happens someone, and I know who
hat someone Is. is going to have his
ouse searched by the constituted
uthorlties."
The Firm Foundation.
Warrenton News.
A nation of home-lovers of men
and women who believe that the spot
of mold under their feet is sweeter
than any other In the world Is to be
feared only by the aggressor. It is
the truest type of internationalism
and the only one that can bring prac-
ical results.
Just Previous.
Eugene Register.
Thus far a dismal failure has been
scored by the goose bones and vari
ous other infallible signs that pointed
to a hard winter.
'Infant Industry."
Woodburn Independent.
Two small Schafer children while
delivering the Portland Journal Tues
day evening lay down in the snow
and fell asleep. They were found at
11 o'clock that night in South ood
burn almost covered with snow and
in an exhausted condition.
The Cheerful Widower.
Roseburg News.
Nothing makes women more in
dignant than to observe a cheerful
widower.
Even the Dona!
Condon Globe-Times.
Colby Clarke s dog Rolfe is a re
publican and has ideas of his own
He comes down town every day with
Mr. Clarke, and takes great delight
in carrying home a newspaper pro
vlded It is The Oregonian. He abso
lutely balks at the Journal, and will
not carry it.
Mr. and Mrs. Frank R. Prince of
Bend. Or., are at the Multnomah for
a brief visit. Mr. Prince is connected
with one of the big lumber mills in
the central Oregon metropolis.
M. E. Atkinson, a shingle manufac
turer of Hollywood, Wash., is at the
Multnomah. There is a spurt on in
the shingle business, owing to the
revived building industry.
H. C. Stegeman registers at the Per
kins from Liberty Bond, Wash. Like
its namesake, the town has a world
of resources and assets back of it
and is 100 per cent American.
W. R. Lebo, who was one of the
star witnesses in the recent govern
ment case against the so-called ce
ment combine, is registered at the
Benson fromTacoma.
A. F. Tallman. son of Joe. of Pen
dleton. is registered at the Imperial
Joseph Tallman Is an old-timer in
Pendleton, where he has been in the
drug store business for ages.
S. B. Wilkins of La Grande, one o
the few stockmen to come to - Port
land since the storm, is among th
arrivals at the Perkins.
W. R. Warner of Cleveland, O.. who
an automobile accessory mfn-
JAY WALKING COMMON PRACTICE
The Girls Will Have to Dress.
A coal famine would put most of
he New York musical shows out of
business the first thing.
Somebody Ous;ht to Catch Them.
Those Mexican bandits are so good
at catching people, why not get some
of them up here after the reds.
There's Always Something.
Just as peace was within our grasp
we go and threaten to start another
war by deporting Alex Bergman and
Km ma Goldman to some formerly
friendly nation.
(Copyrlcht. 1!19, by The Bell
Syndicate. Inc.)
Rather Discomfiting.
By Grace E. Hall.
Oh, how oft in meeting strangers or
In glance from stranger's eve.
Have I felt a query pressing for intel
ligent reply
As to when and where, in other
sphere, we had a meeting last
I can almost grasp the gist of con
versation that was passed:
Tet a veil seems intervening and a
haze obscures the view.
'Til I 'only sense a meaning and the
cloud I can't see through.
Many a time a look in passing stirs
emotion In my brain.
And my thoughts go racing backward
to untangle memory's skein.
Tet though careful Is my tracing of
each face In memory's book.
I can find no strong resemblance to
that passing, piercing look;
And I've gone away and marveled o'er
a mystery so complete
Why my soul should seem responsive
to a stranger on the street!
Sometimes, too, comes conscious feel
ing that a scene I'm acting in
Has been lived, and Is appealing from
a past that's ancient dim;
Comes the certainty within me that
In other time and place.
I have met these self-same people and
have viewed them face to face:
That the same emotions touched me,
in those aeons gone before,
A3 are tugging at my heart-strings
aye, I even sensed them more!
Not a mystic, not a dreamer, not a
follower of fad.
Yet somehow I'm forced to ponder
o'er these feellnKS t have had:
Can it be re-incarnation, and In ages
long remote
Have I seen these people passing
when perhaps I was a iroat?
And if such were once my station and
my sad pre-human plane.
Then who knows but in the future I
shall be the goat again?
Una Should Be Enforced Against
Pedestrians as Well as Autolxts,
PORTLAND, Dec. 18. (To the Edi
tor.) I have been quite Interested i
articles from time to time concerning
traffic and ithnk. like the "Kx-Gob
whose good letter was in The Ore
gonian December 16, that one-wa
traffic would be ridiculous. It is
not the traffic alone that needs regulation.
I think the pedestrians of Portland
are the limit. Just try, some of you
who read this, and see how far you
can walk on the right-hand side of
the sidewalk through the business
sections of the city before coming
face to face with someone who won
ders what ails you because you hap
pen to be on the rlKht-hand side of
the walk. You miKht as well move
over where you belong while a Port-
lander.
The walking public pays absolutely
no attention to the semaphores ar
ranged for their safety in crossing
streets. I go into town on a Rose
City car and of the 30 or 40 people
getting off at Fifth and Washington
only a very, very few wait for the
signal to cross in safety.
Why are not the street-crossing
laws as rigorously enforced for pe
destrians if they are intended for
them, too, as they are for the people
who drive automobiles?
When the driver of a machine runs
over some poor "boob" who had no
business in the middle of the street
at that time, he of the j.uto is rushed
to the jaiL while the one who is really
at fault goes on his way if he cn.
The people of Portland simply "Jay
walk" to their hearts' content; no
laws or regulations bother them. I
say that pedestrians wh- do not com
ply with the laws made for their
safety should be dealt with Just the
same as those who disregard the traf
fic laws. "Pinch" them. It Is not the
laws that a at fault, it is the people
themselves. Everything possible Is
done to safeguard them, and until
they themselves value their lives
enough to comply with city laws no
one-way traffic nor police on duty at
all hours of the day or night is going
In Other Days.
Twenty-Five Years Asro.
From The OregcmlRn of December 19. 1S!M.
London. A Tokio dispatch says
Japanese captured llai Cheng Decem
ber 13. The Chinese garrison num
bered 5000, the Japanese forces only
1500. The Chinese retreated with
trifling losses.
Washington. Another resolution
providing for union with Canada
made its appearance in the senate
today, havint been introduced by Mr.
Gallinger of New Hampshire.
Preliminary work on the erection
of the new coal bunkers In lower
Albina is in progress.
The first gate in the canal at Cas
cade Locks is to be placed in posi
tion this week.
The 3d regiment, P. N. G., bas re
ceived from the state $6421 in the
past two years.
presidency of the Mexican republic, j family.
I ufacturer, is at the Benson with his I to keep tome of them from being
I ... , -1 l i, 1 1 1 -) TVT1."1? T I.' r l? w a n l-f
INTERESTED READER.
Descent of Property.
GOLD HILL. Dec. 17. (To the Edi
tor.) (1) Is there a law In Oregon
that provides that in the case of the
death 'of the huBband the wife re
ceives only one third of his estate
case there is no will? Do his people
receive the rest? (2) What provision
is made in case there are children?
(3) If their money Is in a Joint ac
count in the bank, does not that be
long to the widow? SUBSCRIBER.
1. In the absence of a will and of
children all the property goes to the
widow.
2. All the property descends to the
children except the widow's dower,
which is a life interest in the Income
from one half of the estate.
3. Yes.
His Reply Is Blnnt.
Boston Transcript.
Miss Passe (playfully) I'm older
than you think I am. Mr. Blunt I
doubt U.