VOT- J.1X n IS iAf Entered at Portland Oregon
yyjLi. J. 10,401 Pcnomn Second-Own Matter.
PORTLAND OREGON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1920
PRICE FIVE CENTS
'fl.5.GURK.WJFE
sro.issuici
Dying Man Is Found in
Room of Hotel.
AMERICANS ESCAPE III C
Y SHELVE
PUBLIC MUST BEAR
SEATTLE NOMINATES
CALDWELL, DUNCAN
MERGER OF 3 ROADS
HIGHER COAL PRIC
IS AGAIN PLANNED
ivinoonoiiL u i luaivo
PAGT
3000 DESTITUTE REFUGEES
RETIRE TO ISLAHIE.
UTILITIES COMPANIES PASS OX
FINAL 3IAYORAITT CHOICE TO
JAMES J. HILL'S OLD PLAX
14 PER CENT INCREASE,
BE MADE FROM PAIR.
NOW BEFORE CONGRESS.
TENDER MESSAGE.
IS READ IN COURT
RETURN OF ROADS
VERSAILLES
V
K
V
FALSE NAME IS ASSUMED
Ten Relief Workers and Six Mis
sionaries From United Stales
Are Included In List.
Attempt to Evade Defectives
Is Unsuccessful.
FINANCES ARE INVOLVED
Flight Believed Contemplated
Avoid Prosecution; Remorse
Follows Murder.
CLARK LEAVES FAREWELL
I NOTE TO FATHER.
I "Dad: I tried honestly I did.
God forgives, and I know you
1 and mother will.
"RUSSELL."
, This is the farewell note
1 which Russell 3. Clark, slayer of
his young wife, who committed
suicide yesterday, left to his
father. Matt Clark, Portland
broker.
This note, writen with a hand
which trembled, on a postcard,
was received in the mail yester
day by Mr. Clark. The postcard
was mailed at postoffice sub
station E. 282 Oak street, at
4:30 o'clock Monday afternoon
and was evidently penned and
mailed by the young man Just
before he went to his room at
the Oregon hotel. It was at this
same sub-station that- the post
card addressed to Chief Jenkins,
in which young Clark told of
committing suicide, was mailed
at 2:30 o'clock that afternoon.
This is believed to be the final
message written or spoken by
the young man, as his father
remained at his bedside at St.
Vincent's hospital yesterday
afternoon until he died, and he
did not regain consciousness
from the time he was first dis
covered until he had breathed
his last.
to
CONSTANTINOPLE, Feb. 17. (By
the Asscociated Press.) The Ameri
can commission for relief in the near
east today received a message dated
February 13 from its offices at Adana,
Asiatic Turkey, which was construed
to mean that all the Americans have
escaped from Marasb (northeast of
Adana and north of Aleppo) south
ward to Islahie, which is on the rail
road. The message says: '
"Information this morning is that
the personnel of 2000 refugees retired
to Islahie with Colonel Normand.
There was extreme destitution and
many were sick or wounded. There
is no information from Aintab or
Hadjln. The situation is serious."
Major D. G. Arnold of Providence,
R. I., managing director of the Amer
ican commission for relief in the neai
east, said today that there were ten
American relief workers and six
American missionaries at the head
quarters of the American board col
lege at Marash. Among the relief
workers are Paul V. Snyder of Plain
view, Tex., and Evelyn Trostle of
McPherson, Kan.
The missionaries, all of whom are
under the American board of mis
sions, Boston, are James K. Lyman,
Ellen O. Blakely, Bessie Hardy, Agnes
Salmond, Inez Lied and Kate E. Ains-
lee.
Americans belonging to the Amer
ican commission stationed at Aintab
are Sylvia Eddy of Simsbury, Conn.;
Frank W. Peers of Topeka, Kan.;
Elizabeth D. Kelly of Cleveland. O.,
and John Boyd, Ray Travis and Lo
retta Bigley.
The missionaries thtre under the
Boston board are Dr. John A. Mer
rill, Dr. Loring Shepard and wife. Dr.
Caroline Hamilton, Elizabeth Tro
bridge, Lucille Foreman, Constance
Barker and Louise M. Clarke.
Supreme Council Warned
by President.
ADRIATIC DEAL DISAPPROVED
American and Anglo-French
Treaty Also Is Involved.
ACTION HELD NO THREAT
Russell S. Clark, youthful auto
mobile dealer who shot and killed
his wife, Frances Clark, at tbelr coun
try home near Gresham some time
Monday morning, was found dying
with a bullet wound in his right tem
ple in a room on the third floor of the
Oregon hotel at 1:45 o'clock yesterday
afternoon. He died at St. Vincent's
hospital at 3:30 P. M.
A 25-caliber automatic revolver,
lying on the floor beside the bed
and an empty two-ounce chloroform
bottle standing on a table near the
head of the bed was found when
Deputy Sheriffs Christofferson and
Beckman broke open the door to
Clark's room. Internes from the emer
gency hospital bandaged the wound
and Clark wu taken to St. Vincent's
hospital by the Ambulance Service
company. The coroner later took
charge of the body and removed It to
the morgue.
Conclusive evidence that the tragic ;
murder and suicide was the result
of young .Clark's involved financial
condition, for which he faced arrest
and prosecution, was brought to light
when F. E. Manchester, of the Clark
Manchester company, disclosed a
fraudulent business deal through
which young Clark had mulcted the
firm of McCargar, Bates & Lively out
of between 36000 and 17000. Other
business ventures in which young
Clark was interested also were in a
sorry condition, according to Mr.
Manchester, who spent all day yes
terday in an effort to straighten out
the affairs of the young murderer
and suicide.
Death Note Wrlttea.
Events leading up to a solution of
the double tragedy moved swiftly
yesterday morning, starting at S
o'clock when Chief of Police Jenkins
received the following postcard in
the morning mail:
"I have killed myself on King's
Heights.
WOMAN FATALLY BURNED
Explosion Causes Death of Mrs. H.
W. Chapman, of Hood River.
HOOD RIVER, Or Feb. 17. (Spe
cial.) Mrs. Frances Chapman, wife
of H. "vV. Chapman, a local merchant,
was fatally burned this morning fol
lowing an explosion of coal gas in
the cook stove. She was 69 years old.
The family lived over the store.
Attracted by cries of help and
smoke, about 11 o'clock this morning,
Mr. Chapman ran to the stairway,
where he saw his wife standing, her
clothing nd hair burned away. She
was given immediate medical atten
tion but the injuries were too serious
and she died three hours later. She
regained consciousness shortly before
her death and said the accident hap
pened when she attempted to accel
erate the fire by poking at the smold
ering coal.
Mrs. Chapman leaves a husband and
the following eight children: W. J.
Chapman, R. E. Chapman, Mrs. George
Howard, Mrs. W. R. Sherwood, Mrs.
Eva Mowers and Alvin Chapman, of
Hood River; Mrs. Jonas Woods, Iowa,
and Mrs. Ruth Ray, of Toppenish,
Wash.
Statement Merely Intends to Make
Plain This Nation's Position
on Italian Settlement.
LANE GETS $50,000 PLACE
Retiring Secretary to Be Executive
of Big Oil Companies.
LOS ANGELES, Cal., Feb. 17.
Franklin K, Lane, retiring secretary
of the interior, will become an ex
ecutive of the Pan-American Petrole
um & Transport company and the
Mexican Petroleum company when he
relinquishes his official position. -Mr.
Lane's salary will be approximately
350,000 annually, or four times that
of a cabinet officer, according to well
authenticated statements.
Mr. Lane will have offices in New
Tork, but will frequently visit Los
Angeles, where the companies named
maintain extensive offices. His duties
Will.be those of legal adviser and
vice-president. '
WASHINGTON. Feb. 17. Joseph J.
Cotter, Secretary Lane's executive
assistant in thi interior department,
will accompany his chief in a like
capacity when the latter goes to the
Doheny oil interests on leaving the
cabinet March 1.
AUTO MISSIONARY NEAR
Baptists to Pursue Borneo Heathen
in Modern Fashion.
CHICAGO, Feb. 17. Baptist mis
sionaries in Borneo soon will pursue
CLARK." ' tne elusive savage through the un-
acrorusn in a iiivver, ir me naptisi
I church succeeds in raising the 9100,
! 000,000 it has set out to collect for
; church purposes. Professor A. T. Small
I of the University of Chicago an
nounced today.
Among the items to be purchased
from the fund are 75 automobiles for
the use of missionaries in Borneo,
Assam. India and Africa.
The old-fashioned missionary who
used to harrangue the pensive can
nibal from a front arcat in the even-
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17. The allied
supreme council has been informed
by President Wilson, it was disclosed
today, that if. the proposed Adriatic
settlement to which the American
government is not a party is put into
force, the United States might have
to consider withdrawing the treaty
of Versailles from senate consldera
tlon.
The president's communication was
not in the nature of a threat In the
common sense of the term, it was said.
but was merely a statement of
situation in which the United States
might find itself If asked to sub
scribe to agreements in which it bad
no hand in the making and to which
it was opposed. 1
The explanation was made In off!
cial quarters that the league of sta
tions was to be the Instrument for
enforcing various agreements as to
boundaries and the like and that if
the United States became a party to
the treaty of Versailles, It thus would
be subscribing to the enforcement ot
agreements to which it had not given
either its approval or consent.
Two Pacta Inseparable.
It was explained further that the
Anglo-French-American treaty and
the treaty of Versailles were con
sidered inseparable insofar as this
question was concerned and that if
a situation arose where the president
would have to consider withdrawing
the latter, he also would have to con
sider withdrawing the former. '
An early announcement at the
White House characterised as an "ab
solute falsehood" the statement by
Pertlnax in the Echo de Paris that
President Wilson's communication
contained a postscript bearing a
threat to withdraw the treaty from
the senate.
At first, too, the presldent'c commu
nication was referred to. as a "mem
orandum" and was described as con
taining only eight or ten lines. It
subsequently was disclosed, however,
that the communication was in the
form of a note and that it covered
two or three pages. This note, it was
explained, was prepared from a mem
orandum to Secretary Lansing which
the president dictated and sent to the
state department.
Blame Held Misplaced.
In some official quarters it was
suggested today that the foreign press
by describing the president's note as
a threat was endeavoring to place the
blame for the situation which has
arisen on America instead of on the
supreme council, "where it belongs."
While the American notes are with
held, it is known that they establish
Senate Committee Hears Consumer
Must Pay Biggest Part of
Added Cost of Black Fuel.
(Concluded on Page 3, Column 1.)
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17. The pub
lie was pictured as the victim of the
recent 14 per cent increase in wages
given coal miners in testimony today
by representatives of public utilities
associations before the coal strike
settlement commission and the senate
commerce sub-committee investigate
ing the fuel situation.
H. Aylesworth, executive man
ager of the National Electric Light
association, told the commission the
public had been led to believe that
the wage increase would not be
passed on to the consumers, but when
the operators added the Increase to
the price charged the public utilities.
it was lnevltaoie that the advance
should be reflected In rates. He de
clared that the utilities, under state
or municipal regulation, were allowed
so narrow a margin of profit that
tney could not absorb the increase.
Chairman Robinson indicated the
trend of the commission's efforts to
solve the fuel problem by asking if
the utilities would be willing to store
coal in the summer months so that
the miners would have steady em
ployment Mr. Aylesworth replied
that they would If the additional cost
of double handling of coal was offset
In the price and in lower freight
rates during the good weather.
Continuation of government con
trol of coal distribution was said by
several witnesses to be absolutely
necessary until restoration of normal
conditions, but they freely criticized
the railroad administration's exercise
of this function. Confiscation of coal
loaded for utilities, they said, was
being practiced in a "high-handed"
fashion, forcing the purchase of high
priced spot coal.
Edward Chase of the Burwlnd-
White Coal company of Philadelphia,
asserted that the navy was com
mandeering coal and in such a way
as to . "demoralize" the indstry.
George Wellcott, Washington, rep
resenting the national committee on
gas and electric sections announced
that gas, electric and traction com
panies would ask an upward revision
of rates unless relief was afforded
from the fuel price increase.
Public utilities corporations, be
cause of their contracts with coal
operators, must charge consumers the
14 per cent wage advance recently
granted ' bituminous coal miners.
Frank Bergan, representing the pub
lic service corporation of New Jersey,
tod'i&''r?ld a senate interstate com
merce' sub-committee. The increase
mounts to about 30 cents a ton, and
0 per cent of the total increase now
is being paid by the ultimate con
sumer, he said.
"The increase in cost amounts to
more than 3400,000 a year," said Mr.
Bergan, "and we must charge it to
the consumer or go out of business.
If public service corporations go out
of business the public is hurt, so the
public loses either way."
REVOLUTION BREAKS OUT
New Vladivostok Government Urges
Union With Soviet.
LONDON, Feb. 17. Revolution has
broken out in Vladivostok, Nikolsk,
Tenishiesk and Blagovestchensk and
all authority is in the hands of the
provisional government, whose pro
gramme Is in ' favor of union with
soviet Russia, says a soviet wireless
communication from Moscow.
The dispatch adds that red troops
have entered Tiraspol, 73 miles north
west of Odessa. I
Fitzgerald Eliminated From Race.
Labor Candidate AVins Place
in Election March 2.
SEATTLE, Wash., Feb. 17. (Spe
cial.) Major Hugh Caldwell was high
man and James Duncan, labor candi
date, was second in the race for nom
ination for mayor at the election
March 2 In the primary election held
here today. At midnight the returns
from 272 precincts out of 277 were:
Major Caldwell 28,618, Duncan 26,041
and C. B. Fitzgerald, the present in
cumbent. 21,419.
In the councilmanic race Robert B.
Hesketh. A. Lou Cohen, Oliver T.
Erlckson, W. D. Lane, Major Carl H.
Reeves and Lieutenant Phillip Tindall
were the six successful nominees in
the order named out of a field of 17
who filed for the three-year term.
Three are to be elected at the coming
election. The vote polled, more than
77,000, was the heaviest on record in
Seattle at a primary election.
Tindall, Reeves and Cohen centered
their attacks on Councllmen W. D.
Lane and Oliver T. Erlckson, charg
ing them with having manifested a
sympathetic attitude towards radical
anti-government elements during the
war. Lane was unable to explain his
presence, while acting as president of
the city council, at a banquet given
by the "reds" to Hulet M. Wells, on
the eve of his departure for the fed
eral penitentiary to serve a term for
seditious conspiracy, and Erickson
was put on the defensive in the cam
paign because he attended a meeting
the interests of so-called political
prisoners. Tindall and Reeves, both
ex-service men, demanded that Lane
and Erickson be driven out of public
life and denounced them as unfit for
public service.
In ' return for services rendered
them in the city council when their
interests were concerned, practically
every "jitney bus" driver carried a
(Lane or Erickson banner, .it was re
marked by other candidates that the
jitney drivers representing a majority
of their association would not display
the banners of ,any other councilmanic
candidates.
Erickson and Lane, by their oppo
sition to the purchase of the street car
lines, won the friendship of the jit
ney busmen.
Before the city took over the trac
tion company's property, the "jitneys"
and the private company were con
stantly at war, but when the mu
nicipality acquired control of the sys
tem and, its operation the jitneys were
confronted with a . new proposition.
The people who had patronized them
began to take a larger Interest in
street car transportation and the ele
ment of competition was discouraged.
Lane and Erickson, however,- contin
ued to protect the jitneys.
Mayor Fitzgerald's campaign was
made on the one issue the menace
of Duncanism. He charged Duncan
with attempting to wrest by force the
government of Seattle last year, dur
ing the general strike, and substitute
in its place a soviet form of govern
ment and submitted a bill of partic
ulars showing exactly what Duncan
and his followers first threatened
to do and did accomplish as a means
to Justify the unlawful enda sought
by them.
The councilmanic contest, although
of equal importance to the mayoralty
view of the fact that the voters
ill elect a majority of the council
March 2, was completely ' over
shadowed by the triangular contest
for mayor. The candidates for coun
cil were compelled to reach the voters
principally through the medium of
printed matter, owing to the fact that
very few meetings were held at which
they were invited to speak and thus
Mrs. Hawley Tells of Hub
by's. Declarations.
PROMISES HELD NOT KEPT
Ring Expected When Baby
Came Never Arrived!
TELEGRAMS ALSO SHOWN
Many Details of Private Life of
Oregon City Couple Aired in
the Divorce Court.
(Concluded on Pagre 13, Column 4.)
OREGON CITY, Or., Feb. 17. (Spe
cial.) "I hereby promise to pay m
wife, Marjorie Fraker Hawley, 375 a
month, beginning with October
1919, and at birth of the child I prom
lse to make my wife a present of
31000. I promise to love, oh, so hard.
and to be the sweetest boy that ever
was. WUlard."
This is the document that was In
troduced in evidence this afternoon
in the trial of the divorce suit of
Marjorie Hawley against Willard P.
Hawley, Jr., and was brought out on
cross-examination of Mrs. Hawley by
Major Cassius R. Peck for the de
fense.
The young wife had testified that
her husband had promised to give her
diamond ring after the birth of
their baby.
No Blng, No Baby, Says Wife.
A ring like this one," explained
Mrs. Hawley, exhibiting a sparkling
gem on her finger, "but he never did
It, and I exacted that promise from
him before I would consent to have
another child. I wanted a baby, and
1 told him it was customary for hus
bands to give their wives gifts when
a baby was born, and as he had failed
to keep his first promise I insisted
upon having it in writing. I told him
I must have my allowance, increased
irom ov to 376 a month."
The pledge was written with a pen
cil on a brown paper bag, and bore
no date, but the witness testified that
It was executed .in September, 191S,
two months before the divorce pro
ceedings were instituted.
Endearing Phrase Bobs L'p.
The phrase "oh, so hard" recurred
several times this afternoon, once
when Major Peck exhibited a little
piece of paper which Mrs. Hawley
had left on her husband's desk on
visit to his office, leaving it there
for him to find later. She had penned
the following:
"Dear Hoody. Oh, so hard. I owe
you four crosses."
Mrs. Hawley said these "crosses'
stood for "kisses," and that "Hoody'
was Willard's nickname, bestowed by
his mother.
The cross-examination of the plain
tiff by Major Peck occupied the entire
afternoon and was not concluded
when court adjourned until tomorrow.
Counsel for the defense undertook to
prove that , right up to the time of
the filing of the suit and for some
time previously Mr. and Mrs. Hawley
were living happily for the most part
and introduced a sheaf of telegrams
between the principals when Mr.
Hawley -ras in California on a busi
ness trip last September. All of these
(Concluded on Pago 2, Column 1.)
WHY WOULDN'T SECRETARY BAKER MAKE AN IDEAL SECRETARY OF STATE?
533
With a squad of police and detec
tives un'ier Chief Jenkins and a dozen
deputy sheriffs under Chief Criminal
Deputy Christofferson a thorough
search of the woods and underbrush
throughout Kings Heights. was Insti
tuted shortly after 3 o'clock.
At about 9:30 o'clock Motorcycle
Sergeant Gouldstone came across an
empty chloroform bottle and two
Turkish towels in the woods on Kings
Heights, southwest of Westover Ter-
tuv -"- vm. isu ut otuio DlA Its ,
and Alder streets, while the Turkish I
towels still had the price mark on
them, showing they had been pur-
chased at the Olds. Wortman A King
store. Police investigation at the Nau
drug store developed that Russell
Clark, the murderer and suicide, had
purchased the poison there at about
2 o'clock Monday afternoon. He was
remembered by a woman clerk, who
said the young man had a charge ac
count at the store and she knew him
personally.
At the point where the bottle and
towels were found the marks of
(Concluded so Pace IS. Column L)
ent era of efficiency. Professor
Small explained.- A missionary with
an automobile can do eight times as
much work as one not so equipped,
he said.
SUFFRAGE JS REJECTED
Maryland Turns Down National
- Amendment, 36 to 4.
' ANNAPOLIS; Md, Feb. 17. The re
jection of the federal woman suffrage
amendment by ths house of delegates
was made certain today. A ratifica
tion resolution, was defeated. 36 to Si,
tWU.. JLU-M.MJ.M.l.Ml..W..nj.'X-'- 9. ---.. . '.'U'-'11A""XI hum i.i.h i I i i i i tl J H I i.i I I 1 1 m " .'
Formation of Great Northern,
N. P. and Burlington Systems
Purpose of New Legislation.
ST. PAUL, Feb. 17. Merger of the
Great Northern, Northern Paciflo and
Burlington railroads into one great
transcontinental system, shortly after
government control is relinquished
this month, was forecast in high rail
road circles here today.
The merger was actually completed
by James J. Hill, when he was in
control of the roads, but it was dis
solved because the federal govern
ment regarded the combination as il
legal. It is claimed that legislation
before congress and the present gov
ernment attitude would not prohibit
the merger.
The three roads have a combined
mileage ot 27,000. It has beenstated
here that the reason for the merger
is to take care of 3400,000,000 in Bur
lington bonds which fall due In 1921.
The merger Is entirely dependent
upon passage of legislation now be
fore congress which would removt
the legal restrictions placed by the
Sherman law, a high official of the
Burlington system said.
HELP TIHAL TBIAL"
Hoover Declares Private
Ownership at Stake.
WIDE-AWAKE POLICY URGED
If Large Vision Is Lacking,
Reaction Is Expected.
RATE. RISE IS OPPOSED
DROUTH BECOMES SERIOUS
California May Have to Seek Grac
ing for Cattle.
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17. If the
protracted dry weather period is not
broken by February 28 It will be nec
essary to ship between 150,000 snd
300,000 head of cattle from the north
ern part of California to the ranges
of Arizona, Texas and New Mexico,
according to an announcement here
today by D. J. Stollery, secretary of
the California Cattlemen's association.
Power companies have been advised
by the weather bureau that the Janu
ary snowfall at Summit, In the Sacra
mento watershed, was 20 Inches as
compared to a normal fall for the
month of 79 Inches, and at Tamarack
in the San Joaquin valley watershed
it was 24 inches, as compared with a
normal fall of 187 Inches.
AIR FIGHTERJS ARRESTED
Veteran Shot Down by Gcrmuns
Held Under Mann Act.
TUCSON, Ariz., Feb. 17. Christo
pher G. Cole, wounded war veteran
and federal deputy revenue agent In
charge of prohibition enforcement,
was arrested here today, charged with
violation of the Mann act.
He went to Jail in default of 31500
hand. Cole was shot down from an
airplane by the Germans during the
war.
READING REFUSES PLACE
English Press Reports Britisher
Refuses U. S. Embassy.
LONDON, Feb. 17. Premier Lloyd
George has offered the ambassador'
ship at Washington to the earl of
Reading, the former ambassador
there, says the Pall Mall Gazette to
day, but he has declined the appoint
ment.
Handicaps to Business by Failure
of Transportation to Increase
Considered Vital.
NDEX OF TODAY'S NEWS
The Weather.
YESTERDAY'S Maximum
temperature.
44 degrees: minimum, 31 degrees.
TODAY'S Fair; north to eaat wind.
Foreign.
Mew crisis develops as result of 'Wilson's
Adriatic note, rage s.
Calllaux. former premier of Franca, placed
on trial. Page 10.
Americans eacape maaaacre by Turks.
Page 1.
lea want no forced treaty with Russian
bolshevik! government. Page 10.
Supreme council informed U. S. may with
draw treaty from aenata conaiaerauon.
Page 1.
National.
Public must bear burden of 14 per cent in
crease in coal price. Page 1.
Soviet activities probed by senate sub
committee. Page 10.
Senator Chamberlain puts out his plat
form tor renomlnatlon. Page 2.
General March excludes W. H. Taft and
Herbert Hoover from war medal class.
Page 10. -
Treaty compromise tangle worst yet.
Page 14.
Domeatic.
Poindcxter urges isolation policy for Amer
tea. Page 2.
Merger of Great Northern, Northern Pa
cific and Burlington systems before con
gress. Page 1. j
New women's league on record strongly In '
favor ox education, page 13.
Wood and Lowden lead in favor in South
Dakota. Page 0.
Spruce probe report avers choice of Dlsqus
was supreme Diunuer. Page 4.
Jurors in Newberry trisl hear of use of
our navy fjjm. Page 7.
Return of railways marka final trial of
private ownership, says Hoover. Page L
Report of future poliry Involving ex-tier
man linera to be made today. Paso 13.
racifle North went.
Supreme court rejects L Roy Keeley'a
application to practice at bar. Page 22.
Endearing messages read in trial of Haw
ley divorce suit. Paga 1.
I. W. W. defense fails to shake testimony
of prosecution at Montctano. Pago 4.
Seattle nominates Caldwell and Duncan
for mayoralty race. Page 1.
Spott.
America accepts Llpton challenge for
yachting cup. Page' 12.
Washington high hoopers defeat James
John. Page 12.
Oakland bantam bout mar decide coast
title. Page 12.
Commercial and Marine.
Potatoes from British Columbia undersell
Oregon stock. Page 22.
Bears in control of Chicago corn market.
Paga 23.
Stock market closes with numerous wide
gains. Page 23.
Wooder steamer leaves with flour cargo
for New York. Page 15..
Portland and Vicinity.
Clark, wife slayer, is suicide. Page 1.
Rumors of change In Oregon Grocers' as
sociation ara denied. Paga 24.
Disappearance of 12-year-old girl Is re
ported to police. Page 13. '
Wife No. 1 aocu.es J. K. alcClserr t
. polygamy. Pas 14, .
NEW YORK. Feb. 17. The return
of the railroads to private ownership
on March 1 will mean ths placing of
private operation on Its "final trial."
In the opinion of Herbert Hoover, ex
pressed tonlgbt In his Inaugural ad
dress as president of the American
Institute of Mining Engineers. Mr.
Hoover attacked government opera
tion of either railroads or shipping
as "experiments in socialism, necesl
tated by the war" to which there
were many fundamental objections,
"No scheme of political appoint
ment," Mr. Hoover said, "has ever yet
been devised that will replace com
petition in Its selection of ability and
character. Both shipping and rail
ways have today tne advantage ot
many skilled personnel sifted out la
a hard school of competition and eve
then the government operation ot
these enterprises Is not proving satis
factory. Political Prrsaar DlMitwi,
"Therefore, ths ultimate Ineffi
ciency that would arise from the
deadening paralysis of bureaucracy
bas not yet bad full opportunity for
development Already ws can show
that no government under pressure
of ever-present political or sectional
interests can properly conduct the
risks of extension snd Improvement
or can be tree from local pressure U
conduct unwarranted services In In
dustrial enterprise."
After referring to ths handicaps
Imposed upon business through ths
failure of transportation facilities to
grow with the country, Mr. Hoovsr
continued: '
' "The return of the railways to ths
owners places predominantly private
operation upon Its final trial. If In
stant energy, courage and large vision
In the owners should prove lacking In
meeting the Immediate situation, we
will be faced with a reaction that will
drive the country to soma other form
of control.
"Energeito enlargement of equip
ment, better service, co-operation wltb
employes snd the least possible ad
vance In rates, together with freedom
from political Interests, will bs ths
scales upon which ths public will
weigh the results."
Turning to the question of shipping,
Mr. Hoover said that while, with ths
railways under the government effi
ciency could be passed on to ths con
sumers, "on the seas we will sooner
or later find it translated to ths na
tional treasury."
The speaker asserted that as gov
ernment officials could not engage in
"haggling In fixing rates," they must
take refuge la rigid regulation and
fixed rates.
Fleet Problems View.
The effect of our large fleet" he
went on, "In the world's market is
thus to hold up rates, for so long as
this great fleet In one hand holds a
fixed rate, others will only barely
underbid. If we hold up rates an in
creasing number of our ships will bs
idle as the private fleets grow. Ws
shall yet be faced with ths question
of demobilizing a considerable part
of this fleet Into private hands, or
frankly acknowledging that we oper
ate for other reasons tban Interest on
our Investment."
The problem of ths relationship be
tween the employer and employs was
next discussed by Mr. Hoover. Ht
asserted that ths country had until
recently "greatly 'neglected ths hu-
man factor that is so large an ele
ment in our productivity," and that
this neglect had accumulated much
of the discontent and unrest through
out the universal population and had
reacted In a decrease of production.
"I am dally Impressed." hs said,
"with ths fact that ttur Is but one
way out and that Is to again re
establish through organized repre.
sentatlon that personal co-operation
between employer and employs In
production that was a binding fores
when our Industries were smaller
the attitude of refusal to participate
in collective bargaining with repre
sentatives of the employers' own
choosing Is ths negation of this
bridge to better relationship."
Mr. Hoover declared that hs was
convinced that the vast majority of
American labor "fundamentall
wishes to co-operate in production
and that this basis of good will can
be organized and ths vitality of pro
duction re-created."
In a brief reference to ths Interna
tional situation hs declared the safety
of European civilization -was hang
ing bya slender thread" and America
was faced with a new orinenlalloa of
world problems.
"Ws are today contemplating," hi
said, "maintenance of ' an enlarged
army and navy in preparedness for
further upheavals, while falling Is
tConcludtu sa Psgs 3. Column 3 )