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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1920)
8 THE 3IORXIXG OREGOXIAX, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 1920. ittormng S)r gmtiah KT ABI.ISilt:i) BY 1IKNRV I- PITTOCK. Published by The (jreKonian Publishing Co.. Sixth Street, i'orlland, Oregon. C. A. MORDEX, E. B. PIPER, Manager. Editor. The Oregonian ! a member of the Asso ciated I'ress. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for publica tion of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited Id this paper and also the locjl news published herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. Subscription Rate Invariably In Advance. (By eMail.) really, Sunday included, one year 8.00 Dally, Sunday Included, six months .... 4.23 Dally, Sunday included, three months.. 2.-3 Ially. 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Steger building. Chicago; Ver ree & Conklln, Free Press building, De troit, Mich. San Francisco representative. R. J. Hldwell. 80LVLNG A TROUBLESOME QUESTION. The Oregonian is unable to see how two commissions will solve the difficulties and meet the wants of the sportsmen. The proposal is thai one board shall have control over all gtme Interests and the other shall look after the commercial fisher- men. If it were possible thus to make a simple division of authority all might be well. But It Is not. It Is obvious to the most casual inquiry that confusion and trouble will re sult between the two bodies, unless each is assigned at the outset to a definite domain. How can it be done? Let us take Rogue river. From'the reaches of the upper Rogue comes a most insistent demand that there be two commissions, and that the sportsmen have complete control of that stream. Obviously it will be necessary, in that event, to make the pa 1 11, 5 board the superior authority. The warfare between the cannery men and fishermen of the lower Rogue and the sportsmen of the upper Rogue might thus be ter minated by complete victory for the sportsmen. That is the goal to which the spokesman of southern Oregon at Salem, and others who have been heard in previous years, have been aiming. Let us not say that th,e anglers of the Rogue have no deserts. Un doubtedly they have. But the Idea that a great fishing industry must be exterminated to give the sportsman his holiday, on the Rogue, or any where, is untenable and unthinkable. It should not be done and it will not be done, unless the people of Oregon abandon the fair and de liberate judgment of the year 1918. They will not deprive of useful and honest employment many hundred men, and they will not knowingly subtract many thousands of edible fish from the sum total of the al ready diminishing food supply of the public. The case of the packers and fish ermen on the Columbia and other streams of Oregon also merits proper and appreciative understanding and action. For the Columbia river alone, the industry contributes many mil lions of dollars annually to the wealth of state and nation. Last year there was distributed among the fishermen of that great stream, in pay for the salmon which they" took from the water, more than $5,000, 000. These fishermen have families to support; they are In the main American citizens, and the fraction, large or small, who are not citizens must under the law In due time be come citizens. The packers are engaged in a legitimate occupation, contributing their share of taxes, supporting by considerable sums the policy of fish propagation and accepting and dis charging the responsibilities and duties of citizenship. They have become involved in the dispute over the fish and game affairs through charges by some of the sportsmen that they have been unduly favored by the present commission, and the proposal, which has somewhat the aspects of a threat, comes from southern Oregon that all public sup port of hatcheries for their benefit be withdrawn. There can be no good reason why it should be withdrawn after propagation has been carefully and successfully fostered through many years. By wise methods the salmon industry has been rescued from a condition of anemia and bankruptcy until it is now stable and flourishing, and it can do the state no good, but much harm, if -It shall be injured and diminished. If there is truth to the contention that the pack ers have had more than their share which remains to be demonstrated the remedy does not lie in re prisals, but in a methodical and pro portionate assignment to them through proper authority of that which Is their due, no more, no less. The plan for two commissions is fatally weak in its failure to offer any method of co-ordination and regulation between them. The 'pro ject of one commission, with two branches, one for the packers and commercial fishermen, and the other for the sportsmen, is more hopeful. The legislative committees have by a large majority reached that con clusion, and the outlook is that the legislature will be favorably disposed. Governor Olcott has said that it would be acceptable to him, so that now at least one phase of a trouble some question bids fair .to be ad justed. The workers at the Bethlehem steel works who have been laid off because they find that they can maintain by working less than half time a standard of living that suits them,v and who consequently refuse to work more than about three days a week, are doing, if they only knew it, a disservice to their fellow work ers. Others who have striven for higher wages have done so on the ground that they not only have the right to a living, but to an Improved standard of living; the public gen erally, growing impatient with loaf ers, is likely to overlook the fact that these men elect idleness be cause they are content with primitive ways and lack ambition and know nothing of thrift. The example of Russia is still before us. In that country, for example, it was shown ree.-tl-.- tb-rt wrtTns in 1 9 1 it re. I year to produce a railroad car, in 1918 It took 41.5 men, working at 300 per cent of the former wage. to produce a car. "Whatever the wage may be, nothing but increased pro duction can make it substantially higher in its relation to the cost of living. IMPORTANT. IF" TRUE. If we were to offer a guess as to what will be the "important com munication" President Wilson will send to the democrats at their cele bration of the memory of the Immor tal Jackson, it is that he will an nounce that he is not a candidate for a third term. If we were to hazard a second guess, it is that he will phrase a complete and entirely satisfactory (to him) vindication of the presidential stubbornness in refusing to offer any concessions or compromises on the peace treaty. We are encouraged to make a third guess that the assembled demo rats are to be told where they are to stand in the coming campaign. We venture nothing at all when we formulate another guess that he will mention the republican majority in the senate if he mentions it at all in no complimentary terms. We guess our guesses now when the guessing is good. We guess be cause we do not know. Nobody knows (except himself) what is in the presidential mind. That is what makes the presidential mystery al ways interesting, not to say perplex ing. We offer a final guess that none of our previous guesses is worth very much, being only guesses about in scrutability itself. A REVOLUTIONIST IN THE SKXATE. The paper famine may have some good results after all. Senator Jones of New Mexico having proposed penal postal rates on newspapers of more than a certain size. Senator Smooi came back with a proposal to stop printing newspaper and magazine articles and letters and telegrams sent to senators In the Congressional Record, remarking that every page costs nearly $60 and that "we have men now scouring the country daily in order to pick up paper wherever they can at almost any price that is asked for it." But it was reserved for Senator Thomas to make a genuinely revolu tionary suggestion. He said: I think It would be a very good idea to quit printing the Record altogether. My Impression is that that would be one way In which we could curtail the output nf senatorial oratory; in fact I do not know of any other way in which it could be done. His objection to the Jones scheme was that the scarcity seemed to af fect only the legitimate press, that no complaint came from the S00 red publications, some of which have Jiourly editions, and that the "scarcity of print paper is largely due to the fact that so much of it is consumed in propaganda against the govern ment." The senate must have been horri fied at the thought of suspending the Record until it realized that Mr. Thomas must have been joking, for he went on to announce that he wished to have published a number of letters from coal operators airing their grievances against the railroad administration. But if his plan could only be adopted, we should be re lieved from several burdens at the same time. There would be no Rec ord to induce somnolence, there would be a perceptible decrease in output of senatorial oratory, the red press would be choked off and the paper famine would be relieved. Mr. Jones' scheme was later rejected, but why, oh why! does not congress adopt that of Mr. Thomas? TIIK STRUGGLE BEHIND THE SCENES. While a struggle goes on before the scenes to win over enough demo cratic senators to bring about ratifi cation of the German treaty with reservations, another struggle goes on behind the scenes which will de cide whether the democratic senators shall break away from control by President Wilson. It is closely con nected with the other struggle, for, if the president' should lose behind the scenes, he would most probably lose In front, democrats would com promise with republicans on reserva tions and the treaty would be ratified. Behind the scenes Senators Hitch cock and Underwood contend for democratic leadership, left vacant by the death of Senator Martin. The former temporarily fell heir to the position as chairman of the foreign relations committee,. and is the medi um through which the president communicates his wishes to his party in the senate. He does not wholly possess Mr. Wilson's confidence, for no man who has ever opposed the president is ever fully forgiven, and he had favored prohibition of travel on armed vessels and had proposed an embargo on shipment of arms'to belligerents. Though he has loyally supported the president during the war and during the treaty contro versy, those evidences of independ ence have not been forgotten. But his position as chairman of foreign relations has made him leader in the fight for the treaty and has brought him closer to the president. It also suggests him as head of the party. Despite his covert antipathy, the president supports the Nebraskan's claims as a necessary means to hold his party in line on the treaty. Hitchcock's rival for the leader ship is Senator Underwood, whose colleagues recognize his brains and fighting skill through need of these qualities in parliamentary combat witli Senator Lodge. He has taken a gradually more aggressive part in the debate' ahd has admitted his approval of some of the Lodge reser vations. While not openly antag onizing the president, he has 'shown a degree of independence which con trasts with the docile obedience of Hitchcock. Under his guidance the democrats might break away from White House dictation, arrange a compromise on reservations and ratify the treaty, leaving the presi dent to decide whether he would ac cept ratification in that form or be come solely responsible for the dire confusion which would follow his refusal. This course of the Ala baman is the more probable because the demoralized state of foreign ex change has caused Europe to cancel orders for cotton. Panic has struck the cotton states, and they are press - ing for settlement of the treaty con troversy in order that their foreign market may revive. Selection of Underwood would thus betoken breaking away from presidential dictation by democratic senators and defeat for Mr. Wilson in his fight for unqualified ratifica tion. As intimations have come from the allies that they are ready to give taeit nwnt -to some of the- Lodce in a form so modified as to remove any objection from that 'quarter would deprive Mr. Wilson of any valid reason for refusal to accept them. Formidable insurrection against the president in the senate is an evi dence that his power and influence are waning. That process may be traced back to the day when by call ing for a declaration of war he was forced to repudiate his policy of pacifism and unpreparedness. It was hastened by his clinging to a parti san administration when the people had forgotten party in their zeal for war. It was much accelerated by his call for a democratic congress, and republican victory was a stunning blow. His conduct of the peace negotiations and his attempt to dic tate to the senate have arrayed against him the senators' loyalty to their own house. His contemptuous remarks about senators have aroused personal resentment, which would cause even fellow-democrats to take secret delight in his discomfiture. His term, is nearing its close, and those who turn aagainst him have little to lose In the way of rewards or to fear in the way of punishment, for the . patronage has been dis tributed. If Underwood should win and should compromise on the treaty. Mr. Wilsons most signal failure would be the work which he hoped to make his most brilliant success. Therefore he is compelled to strive his utmost for success of the unloved Hitchcock. VANDALISM. The destructive propensity ex hibited by those who have practically destroyed the Trails club cabin on Larch mountain is perhaps not com mon enough to destroy one's faith in mankind, or serious enough to fortify belief in' the doctrine of total de pravity, but it is annoying. It is a little early for stories of the kind to be gin to come in; these are usually reserved for the opening of the out ing season, when we hear complaints from owners of private grounds desecrated by picnickers, from farm ers whose trees have been broken down and whose roadsides have been strewn with the litter from - lunch baskets, and from sundry travelers discommoded by the practice of us ing signposts as targets. In a given body of men and wom en there is always a certain small percentage who are either openly destructive or just thoughtless of the rights of others. But the propor tion is fairly constant; it is observ able in about all the strata of society; there is nowhere that we can go that the anti-social pest has not been there before us; and no monument is so sacred as to be immune. There is fortunately a law and a fairly ef fective law enfefrcement body to pro tect the national forests, else these would have been burned down long ago. But in a thousand other ways and places, the work of vandals still goes on. There Is nothing to do about it except wait for favoring opportunity and make an example or two. It is to be regretted, but only to have been expected, that evidence sufficient to convict should have been lacking as to the Larch mountain incident. Yet occasionally a vandal leaves a trail. It is in the interest of all who vol untarily contribute to the public convenience, and to the beauty of road and dell, and also of all who enjoy the benefits of these, that so far as possible the practice shall be curbed. One vandal in a hundred citizens can make himself a nuisance to the other 99. PRODUCE MOKE TO EARN MOKE. In calling upon its members em- ployed in the Standifer shipyard "to i increase production so as to make operation possible and profitable under the increased wages," the boilermakers' union has taken a long step to remove a fruitful cause of wage disputes. Of necessity, em ployers must sell goods before they are manufactured and when they j name a flat price, must calculate on the cost of labor according to con- j ditions at time of sale. If they are i called upon to pay more, their profits which are their wages shrink and may disappear. If they get more, better or more diligent work, they will be inclined to pay more, and some strikes will be avoided. 1 It is no reflection on labor unions or on worlunen In general to say that some men work no harder or longer than is just necessary to hold their Jobs and get a living. That is not a trait of workmen in particular but of some kinds of human nature. If a man of that type thinks that his job cannot easily be filled, he will be less diligent than he would be if he knew that another man was ready to step into his place. If his wages are raised, he may imagine that he can loaf one day a week and still live, though his absence may disorganize a whole gang of men and seriously diminish the aggregate output. There are certain expenses in fac tories called overhead charges which continue undiminished whether they produce up to their capacity or be low it or are entirely idle. The smaller the output, the larger Is the proportion of these charges which must be borne by each unit of pro duction and the smaller the margin available for wages and profit; the larger the output, the smaller is this proportion and the larger is this margin. If when a workman pro duces more, the employer tries to "hog" the addition which he has made to this margin, that employer injures himself by removing the in centive to Increase production. If a workmen loafs on the job or takes a day off, he injures himself by reduc ing this margin. If all employers and all workmen were wise and would deal squarely and openly with each other, objections to piece work and stopwatch efficiency systems would disappear. Those objections are caused by the desire of some em ployers to push production to the highest notch and then ' to reduce wages on piece work to a figure which they consider enough for the men to have, or to the rerusal of some workmen to do an honest day's work or to work by the piece lest they be obliged actually to earn their wages. Most disputes arise over division of the margin mentioned. They would be avoided if employer and workmen would get together, lay all the facts , on the table, agree on the division and then stick to it. Many employers arrive at this division by means of a piecework scale, rising or falling with the price of the commodity, or by profit-sharing or by paying a bonus. Their methods may not be perfect, but they are a recognition of the right principle that the interests of emplover and workman are mutual, that neither can prosper at tbe PTncnw of the other. Fight- arbitration laws are not made for such employers any more than laws against burglary are made for honest citizens. Those laws are made for people who by secrecy and by stand ing aloof from each other arouse suspicion that the other fellow is grabbing more than his share, .that is, that he is taking out more than he puts in. Those who keep alive discord be tween employer and workman pro pagate the idea that there is some magic in industry by which great fortunes are drawn out by men who do no work. Nothing can be taken out of an Industry that is not first put in. Overhead charges include such recognized items of expense as interest on borrowed capital, Insur ance, repairs and depreciation, man agement and selling expense and must be earned by workmen and managers together. These, together with cost of material, labor and man aging ability, are put in, and no more can be taken out. The bolshevists of Russia, have tried and miserably failed. Output has decreased to the point where workmen get a ration which barely k?eps them alive, though their day's wages may be a bale of paper as big as their thighs. If people would only clear their heads of a lot of stock phrases about capitalism, the proletariat, corpora tions, the class war, and get back to the original, simple facts of produc tion, very little would remain of the labor question and they would, throw the writings of Karl Marx in the furnace. A valuable aid to extension of Portland commerce with Japan is a special export section of the Ore gon News, a Japanese newspaper published In Portland by T. Abe. It contains an article on "Portlftnd, the Port of the Future," by Sydney B. Vincent, publicity director of the Chamber of Commerce, which has been translated and is published in Japanese, and is illustrated with scenes of Portland harbor and in dustries; also an article in Knglish on "The United ;'tates and Japan," by William D. Wheelwright. Plans were arranged by Mr. Uehara, the publication's expert on exports for this section and for distribution of 5000 copies among the chambers of commerce of Japan, which will cir culate them among the exporters and importers of that country. The com mercial opportunities of Portland will thus be made known to the men in Japan who are directly engaged in the trade which Portland wishes to foster. NO more effective form of advertising could be devised. Southern Oregon lost a big man in the death of Dr. Bernard Paly. His career is part of the record of that section of the state. He did his best for- it and died comparatively young only 62, and that Is the pity of it. Oregon needed him in more ryears to come. Reports are coming that estimates of damage by the recent cold period are too high. While there must have been some loss, by spring the buds wiil be swelling and blooming and Oregon will have a good crop, de pend upon it. Presence of women at Jackson day banquets and prohibition will elimi nate the "ginger" from the remarks, which may be a good thing in the line of reform. But what is a demo cratic feast without drinks and stories? Women do ' not need to demand "fair" representation in the national republican convention. Let them produce the right women and they will get it. The job will be hard, for the menfolk fail in it at times. In the matter of censoring "close ups," some of them are necessary to teach men how to make love. It has been said only the Irishman knows how properly to do so. Why allow him to monopolize the joy? Naturally the grangers oppose strikes. Being mostly farmers, they fear them, for a strike on the farm will be disastrous. There is none of record, which makes the possible situation worse mentally. If It be true that the father of those 12 children mentioned in a divorce suit filed by their mother at Mexico, Mo., has $50,000, as charged by his wife, we rise to inquire how and where he got It. For .the first time In 45 years the sun failed to shine on Yuma and the people failed to appreciate a bit of shade. One gets used to a thing in 4 5 years. Establishment of a night court 'will save some fellows from spending a night in jail. Sometimes one is caught In the net who is Innocent of ill-doing. The first discovery of the year Is in Canada, only 4 0 miles from the Alaska line. To be sure, it's silver, but who now can scoff at the white metal? Mann of Illinois would seat Berger and Mann it was who aspired to the speaker's chair! It is time the sec ond Illinois district was American ized. "Turkish losses heavy in fighting Greeks," declares a headline. Yes, several bales of Turkish cigarettes no doubt went up In smoke. Holding a democratic convention in California might serve to unite the republican party of that frivolous state. At any rate Mr. Bryan can hardly say, like Clemenceau, that the people are forcing the presidency upon him. A government employe caught In the dragnet should be given a little more than the common radical. The liquor interests will hardly agree that the earthquake shock was confined to Mexico. So "near beer" is Illegal, Is It? It's worse than that. It's a libel on an old-time "food." Nobody has yet proposed a law limiting the height of the collar on a glass of near-beer. Champagne sold in this country hereafter will have to be of the extra dry variety. Getting an auto tag in time is much like putting in coal in summer. Some of our best little brewers BY-PRODUCTS OF" THE TIMES , Pinsrue of Locusts, as in Bible Days. De-sjcribe-d by Syrian Missionary, Syria received a terrible blow In the first year of the war, which ac centuated the increasing distress of the following years and which dou I led the Inevitable privations of a country cut off by War, writes Paul Erdman, a missionary, in the New Era Magazine, official medium of the Presbyterian church. This was the plague of locusts which came upon the land in the spring and summer of 1915. The striking picture that the Prophet Joel drew of the plague of locusts In his day was read again and again by our preachers and teachers to Christians and Moslems, which led to a wider reading among the people ttt'emselves, and with one accord all agreed that no truer picture could be drawn of their own experience. Read anew the first chapter of Joel and the first 11 verses of the second chapter, only remembering that what seem to be' four distinct insects or worms in chapter 1:4 are in reality merely four different stages in the life cycle of the locust, as comes out clearly in the names in our Arabic translation. This cycle extends over a period of several months and In each stage the locust becomes more voracious. On April 10, 1915, we wa,tched a flight of locusts over our city of Zahleh, lasting two hours, when the brilliant sunlight of midday was dis tinctly dimmed and the air was as full of shimmering wings as the sky is of snow In a hard winter storm. Hundreds of thousands settled upon the trees and vineyards that com pletely surrounded Zahleh, and the fight to kill as many as possible and Bcare off the rest began. This expert ence was the lot of every part of the country. In a nearby village over 30 tons of locusts were gathered by the people in great bags, which were then plunged into boiling caldrons to Kill the insects. The crops were good in the follow ing years, but It took more than one year for the vines and fruit trees to recover. a Walk through Grand street from Third avenue to Clinton street, which is not a long distance, and you have the types of the whole world before you, writes Konrad Bercovicl In "The Dust of New York." They are not in concentrated form; they are di luted. But if you analyze, even hur riedly, you will soon be able to know the components of each one of them. A remote Tartar ancestor of one of the push-cart peddlers is plainly seen in the small sunken black eyes. In another the straight line of the back of the head tells you that his mother or his grandmother had lived once in Hungary. In another one, the Slav type, the flat fleshy nose is mixed with the Wallachian strong chin. Some Teuton blood calls out through the heavy cast of an otherwise typical Austrian Jew. A Spanish grandee, as if come out of a page of Cervantes, is selling shoe laces and cuff but tons. And a Morroccan prince, ill at ease in his European garb, is offer ing the passerby some new Burbank ian fig-plum-orange combination. The vendors call out their wares In what seems at first a tongue all their own. But a trained ear soon discov ers that it Is Knglish, or rather that English Is the essential component of the chemistry of their language; the rest being words of their own crea tion, or scraps of a dozen other lan guages which stuck to the people of woe In their 2000 years' -peregrination from land to land. ess On the opening day of the duck sea son at Baldwin lake, California, a strange craft was sighted In the eel grass of the shooting grounds. Its occupant was known to have ridden a motorcycle in more than 150 miles of mountain and desert road, and then to have been so unfortunate as to find all the boats gone. When he came In that night with his limit of birds it was seen that he had made a queer but efficient duck boat out of his motorcycle sidecar. Wood plugs closed the bolt holes where It was removed from the frame and a can of pitch. Judiciously ap plied, sealed all possible leaks. Rock ballast of some 60 pounds steadied the somewhat cranky craft and Its inconsplcuousness aided the Ingenious sportsman In securing an unusual bag of birds. So well pleased was he with the adventure that- now he contem plates constructing a real combina tion sidecar and boat. Popular Me chanics. s The London Times reports the Is suance of a proclamation prohibiting the export to any destination of sli ver bullionv sliver specie or British coined silver, except under license. British silver coin itself was already prohibited. Measures for the conservation of the supply of silver coins In England were foreshadowed In the Times when it pointed out that as the price of bar silver had risen to 66 d per ounce, silver coins had reached their face value as metal for the first time in history, and that If the price rose perhaps another 2d an ounce, the melting down of coins for export might become a "paying proposition." A system of school luncheons for Philadelphia would save the city ap proximately 140,000, according to a bulletin Issued by the bureau of mu nicipal research of that city. The bu reau reasons the question as follows: "In the school system of Philadel phia there were In 1919 at each pro motion period approximately 31,000 children who failed of advancement. In 1918 It cost the city $32.02 for the education of each child In the grade schools. "'It Is legitimate .to assume that In this unpromoted group the average proportion of malnutrition obtains, which, if corrected, would insure the normal advancement of these pupils and an Incidental saving of approxi mately $40,000 a year. "As a by-product we should be able to establish a practical and popular method of Instruction in the funda mental basts of health, 1. e., nutrition. The additional sums necessary to fi nance such an advance In education would be money well spent." s s s Up to 1785 handkerchiefs were of every conceivable size and shape. Then one evening Queen Marie An toinette. In a fit of passion or indig nation at Versailles, said that all "kerchiefs should be uniform If they were to Indicate good taste. The re sult was that Louis XVI Issued a de cree early In 1785 that all pocket handkerchiefs should hue right-angle edges. So rlght-anorle they are Those Who Come and Go. Sugar refineries in Idaho, at least : one group of them, have not sold sugar for the last two years and may , not sen this year, according to w . -tone, who is visiting relatives in ; Portland. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of sugar are stored, mountain .; high, and the people owning it will not release a pound, although they could supply the entire United States for several days with their stock. A county commissioner In one county is Molding 70.000 sacks of potatoes for $5 a sack and the price there is , now low $4.50. Mr. atone Is the highway i r.an for Bingham county and last year graded 100 miles of road. This year it Is the plan to macadamize 70 miles and hard-surface 16 miles. Among Idaho laws is one which pro hibits an official from remaining out of his county for a longer period than 21 days and another makes it an of fense for an official to employ a reli tive within the fourth degree of con sanguinity. The latter law would work a terrible hardship in some Or egon counties. "Pifty men are now clearing on the 14-mile section under contract on the Coos Ray-Roseburg road." says W. E. Chandler, district engineer, who is at the Imperial. "The work la progress ing well and equipment Is being brought In, so that everything will be In readiness for an early start on this Job. If funds are provided, the only 2V4 miles not under contract be tween Coquille and Marshflcld can be let this year and the two cities con nected with a flrst-clase highway." Mr. Chandler says that from, what he can gather the proposed county road i bond Issue will carry as he has heard no opposition to it. Of the proposed Issue, about $300,000 has been set aside for the road between Coquille nnd Bandon, a road which can stand a great deal of improvement. Mr. Chan-dler while a the Mate highway office at Salem th last few days has been trying to get more equipment for his district. C. M Fassett, who has been mayor of Spokane year in and year out for a lonir. long time, arrived at the Multnomah yesterday, accompanied by his wife, and is on his way to California. Today Mr. Fassett will speak at the Ad club luncheon. For about seven years Mr. Fassett was mayor of the city by the falls and he laid down the cares of office last Saturday. Being now a private citi zen, he intends taking a rest and will visit Portland for a ouple of days. Mr. Fassett established a record for civic progress in Spokane while he was directing its destinies, and what he has accomplished Is well known In all the city halls of the Pacific coast. At the Ad club today Mr. Fassett will discuss the new condi tions which have been brought about by the war and the best way to' meet them. "I'm thinking what a good prophet I am," said George Hyland. as he stood complacently swinging his cane on Broadway. "In 1913 when I re turned from the east, I predicted In the papers that America would be dry within ten years. After this ap peared people stopped me on the street to Inform me I was crazy. Well, I made good with three years to spare. And also I predicted suffrage for women' throughout the United States and people told me New York would never consent. The gift of prophecy is one of the greatest." Mr. Hyland was on his way to South America from New York when he re ceived word his youngest son was ill and he headed for New Orleans. Ar riving there, he learned the boy was Improved, so he returned a couple of days ago to Portland. J. M. Batchelor of Lake county, at the Imperial, is in town to see what can be done about some road work in his section. There is an irriBiiion programme calling for about 1300,000 near Silver lake and the argument advanced is that if the state high way commission will build a road for ten miles It will be of great assist ance In the Irrigation enterprise. As the district is spending so mucn money for the development oi tne land. It Is contended that the state should be willing to help in the way of a thoroughfare. To look after his sheep Interests In Patagonia and then go to Germany to attend to his interests there. E. E. Mulcke of Iqulqul. Chile, arrived at the Multnomah yesterday. He was accompanied by C. R. Mulcke of Au rora. Or. -C. R. Mulcke was formerly American consul for Bolivia. Chile and Peru, serving three years. . He owns a mountain of sulphur down in South America, which contains enough of the smelly stuff to equip several billion matches of the old style. The three sawmills at Baker are loaded with orders and are working to full capacity all the time, reports W P. Grtner. who Is at the Hotel Portland. The result of the activity of the mills makes Baker in a pros perous condition. There is not a house to be rented In the town. Mr. Grlner Is arrayed In a fur coat made of coyote skins and Bays that It Is certainly seasonable in Baker all the time In winter. J. N. King, the new county judge of Jefferson county, who took office January 1 by appointment from the governor. Is in town to see if The Dalles-California highway through Jefferson cannot be lengthened three eighths of a mile. The road, although lengthened, will save the county $4000, according to the judge, as the location the Judge suggests would be of easier construction. A little known Industry In Oregon Is the making of peppermint extract, O. B. Marshall, who lives near Albany, grows the mint and squeezes out the juice. When he comes to the Perkins, where he is at present registered, carrying his samples, everyone in the house knowe he Is there. The bell boys never have to page him. for they can trace him by the scent of the peppermint. C. T. Darley. engineer in charge of the construction work In the Langell valley district. Is at the- Hotel Port land. He was formerly with the gov ernment reclamation service. The Langell valley Irrigation project will embrace many thousand acres. . The district was organized under the new state law. The financing plans have been worked out. Henry Sangstacken, secretary of the Port of Coos Bay. Is at the Hotel Portland, registered from Marshfleld. The port intends building a terminal dock and may get the work under way this year. The delicate task of selecting the site will be left to en gineers from Astoria and Portland. One of the foremost cheesemakers of Clatskanle Is R. Robinson, who Is at the Perkins. Mr. Robir.r-on used to be one of the Tillamook cheese makers, but shifted his base of opera tions to Clatskanle. O. A. Peterson, who registered from "His Ldg" 's at the Perkins. Mr. Peterson has a boat landing named after him down the river, and his place Is a hangout for wild ducks. W. M. Ingles, formerly prominent in the Washington National Guard and once a candidate for sheriff of King county, Washington, is at the Multnomah. F S Lang, a stove manufacturer of Seattle is registered at the Hotel Portland, where he Installed a range PRESS VIEWS OX TAGLED ISSUE State Papers Discuss (-ovrrsor, Gsmf Commission and Kinley. Discouraging to ;ood lfs. Oregon City Enterprise, The governor has added nothing to the situation by his. ntimation tnat the commission must go and his; recommendation that tw o commis- ! sions should be named to handle the 1 fish and game departments. If one commission is unsatisfactory, then 1 two commissons would probably be, doubly unsatisfactory. The personnel i di me i.-umimMun is me uesi mat , Ihp lies! Dint could be obtained for a non-salaried position. If public servants working without salary are to be kicked out every time they run contrary to some- body's wishes, then we shall be getting farther away from the Idea! type of men who are willing to work In the public interest for nothing per year. Result of He-ritual to Play Politics. Portland Spectator. The governor has got himself Into a most unfortunate mess. Some per sons have told him he can extricate himself from the mire of his own making by sacrificing the commis sioners whom he called his friends. But he can't. He ran. of course, ask for two commissions, and if the leg islature refuses to do his bidding, he can remove the present commissioners And nnnoint nlhorn Rut f i i nonnlo i - - - ' r of the state of Oregon have before them the record In this controversy, and they know that If the present commissioners had been willing to sacrifice the public Interest to serve the governor's private political am bitions, there would have been no talk of two commissions, and nothing but praise for the commission we have. People Admire l-'trmnrs. Medford Mall Tribune. Once on record, against a s-pecial session, for example, the governor should have held the fort on that line and let the opposition howl. If there was no reason for it when the kov ernor refused, there was no reason when he complied. So with the fish and game commission, etc. Nothing is so fatal as indecision and apparent weakness. Governor Olcott would have been in a much stronger posl- tion now if he had taken one side or the other In that controversy and stuck to it even If experience had shown It to be the wrong side. The people always prefer a leader who sticks to his convictions even when he Is mistaken, to one who merely tries to find out what Is popular and has no convictions at all. Sportsmen's Demands Mevsre. Tillamook Headlight. If the state of Oregon expects to maintain the salmon industry it can not cater to the whims of sportsmen, for as we have Intimated it is ridic ulous to spend money and effort in the propagation of salmon and protect trout, the greatest enemy of the salmon industry. And (lovernor Ol cott proposes two commissions, whl'jh is absurd. We are inclined to think that the best thing for the state leg islature to do is to take the ap pointive power from the governor and undertake to appoint a commission itself, remove the offices from Port land, and locate them in some county where the influence of the sportsmen is not so strong. Looks Had to V'nln formed. Blue Mountain (Canyon City) Kagle. We make no pretentions to know all of the facts regarding the dis missal of State Biologist Finley by the Fish and Game Commission, but from our angle of vision, would style it a mistake. He Is the one man on the commission, "who knows," and it would have been better to have- dis missed the entire commission "for harmony" rather than Mr. Finley. The state has lost a valuable officer in order to preserve a few insignificant politicians whose knowledge of ani- rna. i.,e is .imiter, to i..e aonKey. the elephant and the moose. r i .... . ... Commission Is Trustworthy. Baker Herald. The ousting of State Bioloeist j Finley by the state game commission j has our hearty approval. Finley is a ! great man in his line, but like many j great men he has evidently become cockney and arrogant. When any ! persons think they are larger than j the tribunal that creates their Jobs it I is time for a change to take place. 1 nd i -1 i .1 u-0 hnvM nprfpet eon- I fidence In the game commission. That body never ousted Finley without due and sufficient cause. Some One Must Contral. Baker Herald. For Finley to continue in office "with a free hand and under a com mission that will have no right to tell him what to do" will mean in time that either Mr. Finley or the entire fish and game commission will have to resign. Such a combination .of in compatible men cannot serve the state and serve it well, and it Is quite a general opinion that the fish and game commission is a body that func tions well and is doing great work. No Confidence Commission. Aurora Observer. The affairs of the fish and game commission have been In more or less turmoil for years with quarrels, dis sension and near-scandals that have lost It what little respect the people of the etate ever had for it. If Gov ernor Olcott can purge this body of its maladorous repute he will accom plish a real reform. If "It can't be done." some one will come along one of these days with an initiative bill that will blow up the whole mess. Both Right. Cottage Grove Sentinel. The way It appears to us Is that the commission had all the grounds necessary upon which to fire Mr. Finley and that the governor has all the grounds necessary for dispensing with the services of the fish and game commissioners and all he has to do to find good and sufficient cause is to hold up to public view the ex travagant conduct of the business of the office. Ambidexter. St. Helens Mist. When Webster wrote his definition of ambidexter and rave as the defi nition "one who uses both hands with equal facility; one who la equally ready to act on either side." we j wordier If he had a vision of the I future and the manner in which Gov- : ernor Olcott has handled the Finley matter. Mr. Finley "ot Indispensable. La Grande Observer. If he were a man who could show how to raise more wheat per acre, or how to turn more trees into lumber by the same forces now used, or a man who could make two blades of grass grow where only one grew be fore, then there might be reason for this row about retaining him. Wants New Game Warden, Oakland Tribune. While the gittln' is good, why not get a new state game warden? So long as Carl D. continues to advise I hunters tO wait Until tney See the1 Ideer before loading the gun. it will! be Impossible for tne sportsmen to have any "confidence" in him. Onr landing Optimist. Capital Journal. Salem. If Governor Olcott expects to secure peace and harmony by the course he ! has mapped out in the fish and game ! controversy, he Is certainly our lead- Irt- ' ':''. Sunset. lly I. race E. Hall. 'The sun shed its last lingering rays across the vapored space. i And sank from view; a bank of fh'me-fluff rose in billows high: The gulls furled wing and ceased their irreefi-l m-r- Torch-bearers flun rich hues on yonder westering sky. The shore .with all its brine-wet sparkling gems of bright carnelian. agate, jasper. shells. Dried quickly all the moisture on its hems. Thrown there so carelessly by passing swells. Trails on the sand a thousand rest less feet Had plodded there so happily that day. Were smoothed by silent waves that swiftly beat Upon their destined, even-tempered way. The far-out rocks that scatter and dismiss The fury of the breakers that at tack. remained impassive to the hiss savage ui whirling spray, hurled back. mpotently 1. i . . t uc imze rnsr r-on mav nn ;. de- scribe came creeping in. From distant zone beyond this mortal reach: The moaning waves, convulsed with grief within. Flung out their wasted lengths upon the beach. A deeper gray. The gulls no longer dipped To search the brine. The West had ceased to be. Nisht drew its draperies; the ocean's heaving line Commingled with the earth-line. mistl ly. I . ....,j-ii,e- sears Alto. j From The Oretrontan. January 7. JR98. i The Virtue mine's Deeemher nninuf j has arrived in Baker City. It is a big ball of gold and weighed out abour 117.000. Thursday It was necessary to send a messenger to Mount Tabor for the water department, and he was five hours making the trip. His horse gave out when about half-way and the messenger had to cover the re mainder of the distance on foot. Two Chinese passengers on the ocean steamship Columbia, which ar rived yesterday, were taken in cus tody when they were unable to show their certificates of registration. San Francisco. Advices brought by the steamship China indicate early peace between Japan and China. Flftjr Years Ago. From The Orejronian. January 7, 1ST". Washington. The officers of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads have not yet determined upon the exact point that will he the junction of the two roads; the act says it shall be at or near Ogden. For the first four days 307S sacks wheat and 20,901 sacks of flour have been brought down the river from Oregon City. Much of this has al ready been shipped to San Francisco and other markets. Yreka. Cal. The agent of the Klamath reservation is gathering up all straggling Indians and tribes in southern Oregon and northern Cali fornia, i Summary of the report of the city " auditor and clerk for 1869 shows that there was on hand January 1, $14,- i O0n.42. Receipts for the year were as ! follows- :nri fH sq laa- clal fund. . .u $29,370, and street fund. 10 EOll I'll El It HOME PAPEU torvallls Opinion in the League of Nations. CORVAL.LIS. Or.. Jan. 5. (To the Editor.) We notice that that prolific writer. Reader," very complacently hands The Oregonian the decision in I ,ts recent bout with our local paper ! tne Gazette Times. We want the privilege of casting dissenting votes for we are convinced that a large ma jority of the readers of both papers here are of the decided opinion that the Gazette Times thoroughly vindi cated its position. "Reader" sent his verdict in before the local paper had even had an opportunity to present its evidence, which was quite charac teristic of his kind. We believe that a majority of the people of this community stand with the Gazette Times in demanding a league that protects American Inter ests without any guesswork about it. The Gazette Times, in one of the best edited pages in the Willamette val ley, has strongly insisted on un equivocal reservations from the very day the covenant was first published. It is not opposed to a league, but prefers none at all to the present covenant without reservations which are vital. JAT L. LEWIS, GEO. W. DENMAN. The majority of the people of every American community are for a league that protects American Interests. Corvallis is not singular In that re spect. If the Corvallis paper hae stood for unequivocal reservations from the first. It has taken that course in exactly the spirit, and with precisely the object, of Senator John eon, Senator Borah and Senator Poin dexter who want no league, and have sought to load the covenant down with Impossible reservations in order to kill it. The Oregonian does not belong In such company. The Cor vallis paper of course Is free to make Its own choice and take with it whomsoever It can. But they are likely to find themselves lonesome in a nation which desires earnestly to do Its duty by itself and by the world. Low nates. Poor Service. PORTLAND, Jan. 6. (To the Edi tor.) Is the fact that the commis sion disallowed the telephone com pany's advanced rate the reason for the noticeable reduction in quality of service? Our most Important business con versations are invariably cut into by central switching other callers onto an already busy line, and other sim ilar aggravations. Incidentally, to show how fast Portland Is, I am Informed by guest s in our leading hotels that the phone directories in their rooms are of the vintage of 1917! Consequently num bers of the present residents are not In the book. P. GORDON LEWIS. Mr. Oomners n I rthnl.ee PORTLAND, Jan. 6 (To the Edi tor.) To settle a dispute please state where Samuel Gompers also his parents. was born; W. V. J. Samuel Gompers was born In Eng land In 1850, whence he emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1S63. Available biographies do no !-iriM'n the M"thrtnee of his parents In Other Days. '