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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 1920)
8 THE MORNING OREGdXIAN, TUESDAY, XOVE3IBEK 9, 1920 ESTABLISHED BY HENRY L. PITTOCK. Published by The Oregonian Publishing Co. 1U Sixth Street. Portland, Oregou. C. A MflBnvv it. B. PIPEK. Miunr. Editor. The Oregonian ia a member of tha Aeo. ClltMri Ft- Th- m 1 n t 1 PreU la CX ciusively entitled to the use for publication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited In this paper and also th local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches here in are also reserves. Subscription Katrs Invariably In Advance. (Br Mail.) Iaflv. Snndsv Included, one Tear. . . . -S8.00 Dally. Sunday included, six months.. T . i i it i--. . .1 .. .. ti.. j. . K . u mnntlll mm.m0 Dally, Sunday Included, one month.. .75 Daily, without Sunday, one year.... s.uu Daily" without Sunday, six months... Daily, without Sunday, one month, JJ weeKIT. one vear ........-.. Sunday, one year -(By Carrier.) Xal!j-. Sunday Included, one year...J0 Daily, Sunday Included, three months Daily. Sunday included, one month.. . Daily, without Sunday, one year T.80 Daily, without Sunday, three months.. l-s Daily, without Sunday, one month.... .00 How to Remit Sand postofftce money order, express or personal check on your local Panic, stamps, coin or currency m. at owner's risk. Give postoffice address in full. Including county and state. Postage Rotes 1 to 18 pages, 1 east: 18 to 22 pages. 2 cents: M to cents; 50 to 64 pages. 4 cents; to to pages. 5 cents: 82 to 6 pagea, cents. Foreign postage double rates. Ksxtern Business Officer Verrea Jk Conk Iln, Brunswick building. New York. Verree A Conklin, Steger building. Chicago; Ver ree Conklin. Frea Press building. De troit. Mich. Sas Francisco representative, K. J. Bldwell. - TAXES. GOOD AND BAD. Taxation will certainly form one cf the main subjects of debate at the coming: session of congress, though shortness of the session and the fact that this congress is .about to expire hold out small prospect of action. The best that can be hoped is that inquiry will be started and information will be gathered for use by the new congress, which Presi- dent-elect Harding- .will doubtless call in extra session soon after his inauguration. But the whole popu lation feels the grievous load and is Impatient for relief from it. That relief will be demanded as soon as the sixty-eighth congress can get to work and pass a well-considered bill. The interval will be occupied in crystallizing- public opinion as to how much the load should be re duced abd as to how the remainder should be adjusted in order to be equitable and not to obstruct pro duction and enterprise. There is general agreement with Secretary Houston's suggestion that the excess profits tax be abolished. It Is actually a war profits tax' and " should die with the war. It will have few mourners except its author, Representative Claude Kitchin, and ''other men of his small calibre. But at that point the great majority will part company with Mr. Houston. By proposing1 to increase surtaxes on incomes he shows that he has not yet learned the lesson taught by Otto II. Kahn, that these taxes drive the capital that is derived from surplus Income into tax-exempt securities, which are now abundant, at the time when it is needed for productive in vestment. The rich must pay in pro portion to their ability to pay, but they should be taxed in such man ner that taxes do not take the money that is needed to increase production. No proposal is made to let the rich escape their full share of the load, but just as we do not want the farmer to eat his seed wheat, we want no fraudulent excess profits tax, which, ostensibly paid by the rich, is actually paid by the whole population, rich and poor alike, in double measure. Nor is it necessary to pay off in the next three years the entire eight billion dollars of debt which matures in that period, as Mr, Houston pro poses. That is too large a propor tion of the total debt to pay in the period when we shall be feeling the immediate adverse effects of the war and Bhall barely have begun to feel its good effects, which will ex tend to the next generation in grow ing measure.- A general plan for ex tinction of the debt entending over at least a generation should be adopted, the next three years should bear their fair proportion, and the remainder of the debt of all kinds maturing within that time should be refunded in longer term bonds. This is just, for wars are fought more for the good of the generations that follow than for that of the gen eration that fights them. The first requisite to lighten the burden of taxation Is so to Impose taxes that, as far as possible, they will be paid directly by the ultimate payer. One of the evils of the ex cess profits tax is that, while nomi nally paid by the producer, it if passed on. growing aa it rolls along like a snowball, to the consumer. High surtaxes on income drive capi tal from industry, thereby check production, keep prices high, and hit the consumer again, though aimed at the rich. Thus Kitchin, who aimed at the rich, missed the target every time. Taxes paid directly by the consumer have the merit of keeping everybody informed constantly that he does pay them, and thus give him a live interest in economy of gov ernment. There could not be a bet ter incentive to good government. - Several plans for reaching this end have been proposed. The national industrial conference board goes part way to a gross sales tax by pro posing an increase in the present luxury taxes, new taxes per pound of 2 cents on sugar, 10 cents on tea, 2 cents on coffee. 1 cent a gallon on gasoline, 50 cents per horsepower on automobiles and 'auto-trucks. It would Increase the corporation in come tax from 10 to 16 per cent on all except public utility corporations subject to regulation and would abolish the 'present exemption, would raise first-class postage to S cents and double or quadruple stamp taxes. It would thus raise "an es timated total of $1,166,500,000. William C. Cornwell, editor of the Bache Review, would levy 1 per cent orr all gross sales, which he estimates would produce a revenue of $8,000, 000,000 to $5,000,000,000, possibly more, and "would not add 3 per cent to the price to the consumer." Others propose a tax on retail , sales graduated from 1 per cent on th,e smallest sales of necessaries up ward. One plan is that all commo dities be classified according to rank as necessaries or luxuries, and that the rate be higher for luxuries and as the amount grows larger Such a tax would bear more heavily on the rich than the poor and would put a check on extravagance. It is objected that it would be trouble some and costly to collect. The al ternative proposal is made that the retailer or seller to the final con sumer be required to pay 1 per cent on his gross sales, but this would bear - as heavily on all, whatever their total expenditures and would not distinguish between necessaries and luxuries. Mr. Kahn, who has -written most informingly on this subject, admits that his opinion of a gross sales tax has wavered. He objects that It would relieve the business commun ity of a burden arid that it would add to cost of goods produced for export, when "we are coming to a period that will torce us to rely on exports more and more." He believes that these objections do not apply to" a retail sales tax, but he "would not use either tax unless necessary." It is objected 4o the gross sales tax that the farmers are opposed to It. but their objection would be met by the consumption tax graduated as described. The large amount of food that they produced for their own consumption would be tax-free, and they would know that a heavier impost was levied on luxuries than on the necessaries that they bought. Though good policy may dictate reduction of surtaxes on incomes, a line should be' drawn - between earned and unearned income. Cer tainly this much, favor Is due to the man who derives his income from his own efforts, either, in the form of salary or profits on a business In which he is actively engaged, as against the man who-simply lives on the income of invested capital, espe cially that which he has not accumu lated by his own effort. Though Brit ain gives the idle rich the euphonious title "the leisure class," it taxes them more heavily than those . who work. In America, where work is consid ered the natural, healthy occupation of every man, that class is called loafers, and should be treated as such by the tax laws. Some leniency' might be shown to the income which workers derive from invested sav ings from their earnings, but un earned income should be taxed all that the traffic will bear. The ideal system - of - taxation is doubtless unattainable in this world, but some degree of idealism may be imparted to even so matter-of-fact and repugnant matters as taxes. They may De adjusted so that, while serv ing their primary purpose of raising revenue, they will encourage indus try and invention and will penalize greed and idleness. As a means of uplift, with which our self-styled idealists have been very busy, taxes are not to be despised. INTOLERABLE. The public of Oregon long ago de cided that they had had enough too much- of the mischievous agitation for single tax; but the undying prop agandists have not had enough. We hear from them through the medium of a friendly newspaper that the "fight will go on and on and on until at last man shall inherit the bounty of the Creator, his natural birth right, and war shall be no more." Or until the Fels chest or whatever treasury of futile economic heresy takes its place,' is empty. Just how the people of Oregon have been harassed by the single-tax jazzers may be shown by the record of the past twelve years. The initia tive is their permanent resource for the exploitation of . their tiresome hobby. All they have o do is to prepare a bill, get up a petition, pro cure signers, and it must go on the ballot. Back in 1908 they started in, and they have not failed since at any regular election, but one, to demand consideration and a decision by the voters. The verdict has always been adverse, except in 1910, when they tried the device of county option, a subterfuge to conceal their real pur pose: and the public passed it. Two years later, when the trick had been thoroughly exposed, the act was re pealed. Here is the record: Ayes. .32.0ns .44.171 .IW.881 Noes. eo.871 Single tax, 1908 ,, County option tax, JMO. ,. Repeal option tax, 1912... Graduated single tax 11500 tax exemption, lfll. Graduated extra tax, Kull rental value tax, 1916! Single tax', 120 42,177 47,150 82,015 .31.534 .63.4H5 18.l!t ,6t.l8B 124.443 ..4.i,:;!o l.vt.nso .23,716 8T.C53 'Incomplete. The cost to the public of carrying the needless burden of single tax ex ploitation has been many thousand dollars. It is an intolerable impo sition for which a curs should be provided. It can be done by safe guarding the initiative by providing that a measure, once defeated, shall not be proposed again at any next succeeding election and by increas ing the number of required .signa tures for any initiative petition. FAME. In voting to admit Dr. William Thomas Green Morton to the hall of fame for noted Americans, the elec tors have contributed another chap ter to the history of controversy over bestowal of credit for the dis covery of anesthesia. Sixty or sev enty years ago the French academy of arts and sciences devoted two years to study of the merits of con flicting claims, and concluded by di viding a cash prize of 6000 francs equally between the two Americans, Dr. Morton and Dr. Charles Thomas Jackson. Similarly Dr. Oliver Wen dell Holmes, who coined the word "anesthesia," evaded the issue with a witticism, when asked to write an inscription for a monument to the discoverer. He proposed that two busts be carved and mounte.d on a single pedestal, with the words, "To Ether." The hall of fame electors had before them not only the names of these two rivals, but also that of Dr. Crawford W. Long of Georgia. There is not much doubt that Jackson add Long had employed ether experimentally to produce un consciousness prior to October 16, 1846, when Dr. Morton made the first public demonstration of the dis covery by painlessly removing a tumor of the jaw. The claim was made, however, that Dr. Jackson, who was a geologist and chemist as well as physiolan, and who conduct ed the first . school in analytical chemistry in the United States, had accidentally filled his lungs with chlorine gas while conducting an ex periment before his class in 1842, and to relieve the pain that ensued decided to try the virtues of ether vapor, an inkling of the effect of which had come to him in another experiment. This produced complete unconsciousness, on recovery from which he is said to have dimly real ized that he had made a discovery which would lead to painless sur gery. Long's claim was based on a sub stantially parallel state of facts. Learning that drug clerks of his day were given to cautious inhaling of ether for amusement, and that oc casionally this produced profound sleep, he is said to have employed the vapor in a minor operation in March, 1842. But he did not publish his discovery,- knowledge of which did not spread beyond his immediate locality. Jackson . meanwhile, made no particular secret of what he had done, but neither did he take pains to give the benefit of his work to a suf fering world. Morton, a pupil of Jackson, seems to have been first to appreciate the boon that the "discov ery would prove to be, and It is prob- ."- I r ably on this ground that recognition has been accorded to him. Jackson and Long Invited oblivion by their neglect to press their discoveries and to share them with their fellow men. Academic literature on the history of anesthesia discloses that the com pany of those who trod on the heels of' discovery but did not pursue their advantage is a large one. Sir Humphry Davy undisputably learned the anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide gas in 1800, and fifteen years earlier than this an Alabama physician used ether in relief of asthma. So long, however, as ex perimenters continued to regard re sults obtained in the light of scien tific curiosities only, they could not reasonably expect to obtain credit as benefactors of the race a dignity that heightens the significance of the decision in Dr. Morton's favor. WOMEN IX EDUCATIONAL FELLOW SHIP. Decision of the authorities of Ox ford university to admit women to full membership is a tactical rather than a material victory for the sex, because for a good many years women have been permitted to at tend practically all the lectures of the university and colleges except those in medicine, and for those desiring medical education there has been no lack of other opportunities. Tet there has heen at the same time a tendency to regard women students as in a class apart. A "woman's college" was established in Oxford in 1875, and another was founded in 1886, and to these , educational facilities for women there have been added from time to time other concessions but always accompanied by the mascu line gesture. As with a good many other educational institutions, the fiction has been sustained that the grant was made as an act of mascu line grace, not as a matter of fun damental right. So the moral victory implied in surrender of another of the citadels of conservatism is in reality an im portant one. To apprehend the progress made by women in higher education it is needful to read the history of only a little more than a hundred years. The seed for the harvest now being garnered on the other side of the Atlantic was sowed in America. Pioneers like Emma Willard found the time none too auspicious when they began theic worK early in the nineteenth cen tury. Pure logic did not always ap peal to the self-sufficient male. Mrs. Willard's "Plan for Improving Fe male Education" required the added force of her personality, and of the assiduous labors of a small but de termined group, to make an lmpres. sion. She and Mary Lyon won their places in the hall of fame for fa mous Americans only by the hardest kind of pioneering, andlt is pecu liarly significant that when they were chosen it was as members of a separate group, the sex line having been maintained even by that au gust institution until some time afterward. Mrs. Willard's school for young women, dpened in 1808, did not attain . the standard set by col leges for boys. Establishment of a school at Mount Holyoke in 1837 by Zilpah Grant and Miss Lyon provid ed for the first time a course of In struction "nearly equivalent" to that of the better colleges for men. The first high school for girls, in. 1826, failed and was not reopened until 1852. Elmira college-which claims to have been the first woman's col lege in the world to establish the same standard as in men's colleges. was not founded until 1852, a date within the memory of many persons still living. Opening of classes offering higher instruction for women in connection with already established Institutions for men came next: and although in many instances they afforded large facilities for women's education. they held full fellowship in abey ance. The conservatives have yield ed ground reluctantly, but the ex tent to which co-education now pre vails is the measure of their recog nition of the Inevitable. Oxford's capitulation leaves only a single Im portant fortress to be stormed and carried in Britain: Cambridge siill holds out, but here a committee of the university senate has presented an argument In favor of abandoning its time-honored position. It regards as untenable the position that public life, or any other phase of worth while human activity, is a field to be occupied exclusively by men. It may be that Cambridge will stand fast another while against a grant of com plete equality, but .It will do so at the risk of isolation and eventually. it is pretty clear, it will be compelled to fall into line. A good many traditions have been upset In the educational struggle. More than one painstaking, scien tific . investigation has showed that the health of college women com pared favorably with that of their non-college sisters. The marriage rate of college- women has been found to be at least as high as that of college men. Opening of the way to higher education has greatlyex- pandea the field of . women s oppor tunity. Curiously, while women were furnishing a large proportion of teachers in primary and inter mediate schools, they were either disqualified or conditioned by many universities. They now find it un necessary to turn to teaching almost exclusively as a profession, De velopment of facilities for university training has meanwhile reacted fa vorably on secondary instruction, and general recognition of political equality is certain to remove the final barrier to the footing in educa tion which women now demand. KEEP THE SHIPS RUNNING. The slump in the shipping business has disappointed the hopes of those who expected full occupation for the world's entire" fleet for several years after the war. This was expected to be necessary in order to supply ma terial for reconstruction of war-rav aged countries and to supply the needs of the peoples who had per force gone without many things that they had considered indispensable. Apparently reconstruction is being effected with materials produced at home, or Is carried on at leisurely pace, and the impoverished nations have learned to do without many things and have accommodated themselves to a lower standard of living. Economic confusion con tributes to this condition, and the panic in Japan has aggravated it It follows that there is little cargo for many shipping board vessels, and they are being laid up by the dozen. Ocean freight has fallen to bedrock, though higher costs of construction and operation fix this minimum far higher than it stood six years ago. Buying of government ships for pri vate operation has stopped, hundreds of wood vessels, lie at anchor, and there are no bidders for the former German liners. Japan also ties up some vessels, being already loaded with unsold imports. It' is remarkable that, under these circumstances. Great Britain should increase its new tonnage, while this and some other countries have shown decreases. Tonnage under construction in the United Kingdom at the end of September was 3,731, 098, an increase of 65 per cent over the end of March, 1919. and new steam tonnage launched in. the first nine months of this year was 1,448, 435 against 1,124,270 in the same period of 1919. Tonnage under con struction on September 80 in all other countries was 3,884,073, a de crease of 309,000 from the end of June, which is entirely due to the United States. Evidently John Bull has no fear that the present slump in the ship ping business will continue long, and he is determined to establish firmly his maritime supremacy, which seemed to be imperiled by his tre mendous loss during the war and by the construction of a great American merchant marine. While shipbuild ing in this country boomed, some Britains were alarmed lest the ocean carrying trade should pass to America, but they were assured that the British ship-owners were old at the game, that American ships would have many handicaps and that Britain would quickly recover its gripvafter the war. With first call on the traffic of the whole Brit ish empire, British ship-owners seem now to be determined to make good on this assurance. While cost of building and operation has more than doubled, other nations are in the same position, and the dispo sition is to go ahead on the new level of cost. Then is it good policy for the United States shipping board to withdraw ships from their routes when they are just beginning to build tip traffic in competition with Britain and our next most ambitious rival, Japan? No man would expect the board to continue running ships indefinitely at a loss, but a large part of the value of an established line with regular sailings consists in good will confidence that it will have a ship at a certain port on a certain 'day, ready for cargo. This is lost if ships are taken off and it is won by the rival line, which takes the bitter with the sweet. One purpose of the Jones law evi dently is that the shipping board keep its vessels on certain routes until they have built up paying traf fic, thus making a market for the ships along with the route and the good will that it has won. By that course it may capture a share of the world's carrying trade in successful competition with the British. If it ties up its ships as soon as they show a loss on two or three consecutive voyages, it surrenders the field to the British at the time when there is best opportunity to gain a foot hold. That has not been the policy of British shipping companies. They keep a sufficient reserve fund to carry them over losing times, and then are ready to reap a harvest when prosperity returns. With the resources of the .government behind it and with ships on many routes, the shipping board should be able to stand the gaff as well as the British private owner. The emergency fleet .la also re garded as a means of building up foreign trade to make a market for surplus products. . It cannot do so with irregular sailings or with ser vice reduced whenever traffic falls off. If foreign trade is not fostered, there will be small inducement for Americans to take the ships off the government's hands. Unless It car ries out vigorously the policy of the Jones law, It may be reduced to the expedient of auctioning American ships at' bargain-counter " prices to foreign buyers. Such an anti climax to our attempt to rebuild an American merchant marine would make the whole world laugh. Inez F. Bunch has been elected clerk of Coos county. For eleven years Miss Bunch worked in the clerk's office. Last spring she de termined to be a candidate and promptly was asked to resign, her candidacy not being agreeable to the "powers" that controlled. She did so and began active canvass and the voters favored her. She is a member of an old-time family well known in Coos. If the finder of the package of 5,000,000 typhoid germs lost off a wagon in Philadelphia believes in "finders keepers," he is in for a lively finish. But what shall be said of the carelessness that turns loose such a bunch of trouble breeders? Dancing seems to be an attractive part of the programme of entertain ment everywhere. ' One time a country town got ud a dance for th purpose of fencing the cemetery witu uiit; jjicecjas. Qjnoe wten. vh dance goes anywhere. Thanksgiving day, turkey and tra dition form a triangle enduring in the American heart. If turkey goes to a dollar, there will be grief in the household but there will be turkey. Other "birds" than the gobbler may get the ax, though. An English actress of 60, having sustained an operation for trans planting thyroid glands, says she wants to climb like a monkey. If that Is the way they result, it Is well they do not get them from bears. California high spots had a foot of snow yesterday, which is fair for a semi-tropical land; but the Oregon mountains have the real thing on time and up to measure. Judge Anderson, being bigger than Attorney-General . Palmer, is deter mined to find out a thing or two about the top end of the department Of justice. Armenia is passing under control of the bolshevik apparently, but the Armenian will trade the eyes out of the. bolshevik bead before he knows It. The supreme court yesterday made a ruling that makes keeping liquor on hand easier than ever. It fails to tell how to get the stuff any easier. Somehow the idea persists that the greatest democrat in the late campaign - yet goes by the same of Thomas Marshall, vice-president. It is a, good suggestion of some body that every applicant for a driver's license be required to "box the compass" on automobiles.' If George Himes puts hie "O. K." on the Big Eddy relics, they will be genuine. Somebody must kilHa burglar or too, that's the size of it. NEWSPAPERS DISCUSS ELECTION Bow Oregon Press Views Phases of Recent Contest. Corvallis Gazette-Times. No president ever faced greater problems of economics than will Mr. Harding. With-a $22,000,000,000 in debtedness, with an annual expendi ture six or teven times greater than ever before in our history, with the great social unrest that the pandering to theorists of the last eight years has engendered, with prices topheavy, with billions of outstanding bonds, with tariff adjustments hard to equalize because of abnormal condi tions both at home and abroad. Mr. Harding will have troubles enough to take the keen edge off the honor that goes with the job. Bnt One Issue. Oregon City BannerCourier. In the struggle for the presidency, with the exception of the league of nations there were no really vital is sues offered for the decision of the voters. Neither of the two dominant candidates were the result of an urg ent oall from the people themselves. Both were political expedients, be lieved by a majority of the political leaders capable of winning with the power of their respective political or ganisations behind them; victory for those same organizations, k Democracy Condemned. Tillamook Headlight. The verdict of the voters on Tues day can only be construed in one way a vote of condemnation for the dem ocratic party. Not Exactly Hopeful. Wheeler Reporter. The election is over, but we do not expect to see any radical changes for the betterment of the common peo ple Inaugurated by the victors within the next two years. The nw officers should have the support of every man, woman and child. A new broom sweeps clean, but an old one cleans out the corners, so look out for dust, but do not seek too closely for the so- called cleaned house promised by the victors. V Constitution Ia Upneld. Eugene Register. The people have spoken and their mandate is plain; they propose to stand by 'he constitution. The great enterprise of forcing tnrougn toe un amended league has failed. - Nation Turned Warlike. ' Sclo Tribune. The United States in defeating the league of nations may ba regarded by the rest of the world as having chaneed from a peace loving to a na tion preferring war to settle inter national disputes. Defeat Due to Alarmists. Salerri Capital Jpurnal (dem.). ' Chamberlain's defeat was not nec essary for republican control of the senate, thoueh it was the vote er straight". S. O. S. of the politicians that brought it about. It was therefore needless, as the Capital Journal fre quently pointed out, and a matter of regret, even to republicans, tor Ore gon has replaced a tried, experienced and efficient representative at the capital with a raw recruit whose only recommendation is that he wears the party 'tbel. Cox Weak Candidate. Woodburn Independent. Governor Cox was defeated because he was too weak a man, was nomi nated by Tammany, and Instead of uplifting thoughts ran around like a blatherskite and devoted much of his time to making the public tired with his numerous attacks upon the re publican party. . Woman's Interest Net Keen. Eugene Guard. Four out of five women vote as their husbands do, although in time there may be more independent vot ing among them, and, also, in time a great many omen will tire of vot ing at all unless urged by their male relatives to get out and help beat the other party. This is not a reflection on the intelligence or women, but is more indicative of their 1-ok of inter est in political questions. v Now For Good fellowship. The Dallas Chronicle. Let's hope that everyone will forget the bitter strife through which we have passed lately. Names have been called and charges hurled. These names were called and these charges hurled in the heat of battle. The par ticipants were so excited they scarcely knew what they aid. At au events, let us bury the charges. Let us keep peace with our neighbors. Let us keep our old friends even though they were on the other s'de. Three Things Did It. Bend Bulletin, rtissatlafnctinn with Wilson, dis trust in Cox and the confidence in Harding have combined to sweep me rAnnhHnn candidate into the White House by one of the gret 'est victories r.onHoil in American hlstorv. Wheth er this means a complete repudiation of the league oi nations cwveuaiii w think is still a question. Harding Una Hard Task. Pendleton East Oregonian (dem). The disaster as far as .t relates to the Wilson administration, the league of nations issue and the Cox candi dacy must be freely admitted. The verdict was overwhelming. As to what caused the landslide for Harding va rious opinions will be put forward. No doubt many things contributed to the event, but a reasonable view is that people wanted a change. The result, of course, is a mandate against the treaty of Versailles and the league of nations. Just what that an may really mean is now up to Mr. Harding to say. He faces the task of dealing with leaders of his own party who hold radically different views.. He has a man's job Jn his hands and all will hope that he proves to be the man for the Job. Not Referendum on LfaffDr. Salem Capital Journal (dem.). Dasoite the effort to make it. the election cannot be called a referendum upon the league or nations, ior tne re publicans appealed both for and against the league. Root, Taft and Hughes promised the league in the name of the party and Johnson, Bo rah and Brandegee promised rejection of the league in the name of the can didate, who blew hot and cold on the subject. The peace treaty will prob ably be speedily ratified, with amend ments, now that delay has served its political purposes. America's Sovereignty First. Albany Herald. .TTmatc flia 1 mnnrta n t Issue of the maintenance of America's nationalism the American people have spoken forcefully, witn a unanimity mat j ,,n.rii'lliH In the nation's history. The result can be no other than that r - nation tn the world that Amer ica means to safeguard her own sover- ignty first, on tne great ana sol ium referendum her citizens have acted. Now for Harmony. Albany Democrat. If citizens and public servants will but remember that they are Ameri cans first and partisans second, it should be possible to settle speedily all the vexed problems with which political difference have interfered so disastrously. There is ground for the harmonious settlement of every dispute some way of solving every difficulty, if there is the will to find them. ; ; Those Who Come and Go. . "With all precincts accounted for but Pittsburg, Bruce Dennis has de feated Walter M. Pierce for state senator for Union and Wallowa coun ties," said J. H. Peare, republican county chairman for Union county, who was in Portland yesterday. "Pittsburg is a little place of about eight or ten votes, and its returns generally arrive about a week after the election has been held. You've got to wander around all over the country to get to Pitts-burg. Bruce should have defeated Pierce by 40, and could have with a little extra steam, but 38 Is a good enough mar gin at that. " Stanfield carried the county, although heretofore Chamber lain has always had the county by several hundred majority. We are all Well pleased with the election of Hyatt to. the lower house. He lost his own county of Wallowa, but ws gave him a big vote, so that he was elected with ease. Yes, Union eounty is pretty well satisfied with the re sults." "I guess." smiled E. V. Carter of Ashland, that the voters in Jackson county didn't take much stock in the attack made on the state fish and game commission by Senator Thomas. He announced what ho was going to do to the commission, and a democratic candidate for the legis lature came out and said he would do in the house what Mr. Thomas would do in the senate. Well, I am the chairman of the state fish and game commission, and I was elected to the legislature by some '"00 votes more than the democrat received who was going to stir up things in the house. ,. Now, as to this talk that Ashland double-crossed Medford for the county seat, an analysis of the votes of Jacksonville. Ashland and Medford will tell the story. More than 400 people in Medford voted for the president than voted for the county seat, so Medford lost the county seat by these people failing to support the proposition. There are few people In central Oregon who know its early history better than Hugh O'Kane, who pro pelled his bulky person into the Hotel Portland yesterday and registered from Bend. Mr. O'Kane, as a boy, sold newspapers on the Bowery, New York, when the Bowery was 'in its glory and F"lve Points was a - real place. Eventually he drifted into central Oregon and became acquainted with everyone, and everyone knew him. All of the spectacular char acters for half a century, are in dexed in Mr. O'Kane' retentive mem ory. For two days he supplied Irv ing Cobb with "dope" about central Oregon affairs, which were to be the basis of fiction yarns by the author. These notes were lost in the sage brush somewhere in Harney county and they will be lost forever to lit erature unless Mr. Cobb's memory is at least 50 per cent as good as that or Hugh O'Kane. The Esperanto, the fishing schooner which defeated a Canadian boat in an unofficial race a few days ago, isn't much of a champion, according to Wallace B. Fenmore of Boston, who is at the Multnomah. Mr. Fenmore is in the fishing business and says he knows the Esperanto from stem to stern and declares that there are at least two boats in his fleet which can ontsall the Esperanto. Mr. Fenmore's conoern had a fleet of 0 boats out after cod this year and there was not an accident nor the loss of a single life because the weather -vas so un favorable. They figure on losing at least one boat from the fleet in a sea son. Several of the large fleets out of Boston, he says, are preparing for an extra heavy season next year and are building or buying new boats for the grand banks fisheries. Little-known Oregon towns gener ally pop up on the hotel registers en Monday. Yesterday H. R- Haun was registered at the Imperial from Evans. This is a postoffice in Wallowa coun ty, a mile from Lostine. which in it self is a mighty small place. Then there was Range, in Grant county, represented by J. T. Johnson, and Range is Just a postoffice. How many people know there is a place called Crowley 'n Oregon? Sam Lona Is here from Crowley, which is situ ated in Malheur county. Then there was Sllvie, a postoffice located on Sil vies river, in Harney county. Silv's river is int.nded, in the future, to supply- water for a massive irriga tion district. "I saw it coming and didn't run'for re-election." declares Charles H. Marsh, county judge of Umatilla county, referring to the recent repub lican landml'd. Judge Marsh teas been in Portland trying to get things straightened out with the state high way commission so that his successor in office will have plain sailing. The oommisslon will put down in writing the agreements which have been en tered into between Judge Marsh and J the highway body, so tnat tne new county judg-e and new county com missioners will know what Is expect ed of them and what obligations have been undertaken for the county In state road matters. Tonight Ed T-S-rrtlett quits as mayor of Eatacada, hut the fa-nily will be represented in official-circles for Mrs. Bartlett was elected city treasurer the other day. The Bartletts have just returned from California where they went to give the double O to the grandchildren. Returning they drove from Yreka, Cal., to Eugene, a dis tance of 268 miles, between 8 o'clock in the morning and 9 o'clock at night, most of the distance being In moun tainous country. Mr. Bartlett reports the roads good and says the only bad stretch he encountered was near In dependence. About 60,000 bushels of wheat was threshed by Matt Knnia of Walla Walla, Wash., this year. At the pre vailing quotation on wheat anyone can figure that Mr. Ennis made a fortune this year, even after deduct ing the high coeta. Mr. Ennis, who arrived in Portland yesterday morn ing and went out in the afternoon, says that he Is now doing his fall work, as he managed to get his wheat harvested before the rains caused delay. About the only place on the Pacific highway In southern Oregon, which will not be paved or rocked this win ter is Sexton mountain, according to Division Engineer McLeod of the highway department. The Sexton mountain grade was the last one started on the highway and will be the last one paved. M. F. Hardesty was defeated for re-election as councilman at Seaside and has no regrets, he makes assur ance at the Imperial. I didn't put up much of a fight to hold the job," says he, "and, anyway, we've started everything I was interested in, such as the pier and other municipal im provements, t Otto Peetz, assessor for Sherman county, ,is among the arrivals at the Perkins, and is in the city to discuss assessment and taxation. Sherman county has about 15,000,000 of tax able property. G. M. Curtis, an old-time railroad engineer of La Grande, is at the Per kins. Mr. Curtis is a property owner and owned the place where the Chinese' staged a tong battle in La Grande a few years ago. Donald .D. Conn of the Shevlln Hicks company has returned from Minneapolis and is on his way to Bend. He is registered at the Benson, i CAUSED BY SUPPLY AND DEMAND Naurses Scarce, Pay Mast Increase as They Will Not Be Overworked. v LA GRANDE, Or., Nov. 7. (To the Editor.) In The Oregonian Novem ber 8 "A Physician" objects to the in crease in salary which the Oregon State Graduate Nurses' association has initiated, giving the impression to the general public that nurses are commercializing their profession. Such is not the case. Nurses' consciences are as keen as ever, their morals as high, and their educational standards are being raised. In order 'o meet the increas ing demands made upon her physical constitution, the nurse is obliged to get rest and with the increased de mand for her services, and the de creased supply, she has been forced to increase her salary and decrease her hours of duty in order to be able to meet the demands to be made upon her In the future. The nursing' profession Is fast be coming - less attractive to young women, and justly so. The work is hard, often unpleasant, nerve rack ing, and the hours extremely long. In order to keep up, nurses must have rest the same as other human beings, and it has become necessary for nurses, as a body, to rise up and demand that physicians, whom they help, see that they' are treated right. The statement that nurses expend very little time or money on their education is not true. - A nurse can not begin her training until 19 years of age. 8he must go to high school at least two years. What of the sal ary she might have drawn during those years, beside the three years when she earns a "small pittance" ? Nurses must read in order to keep up with the advances made in the medi cal profession and intelligently carry out the orders left for the sick in her care, and they must also be well read on almost any subject in order to be able to entertain patients. The question is: Can people of this enlightened age, even though they are of "moderate means," afford nurses for their sick who are not trained intelligently for any and all emergencies? Can they afford to put their confidence in a physician who employs only untrained women? The question of people of moderate means not being able to raise a family be cause they cannot afford nurses to care for them during their illnesses is not on account of exorbitant prices charged by the nurses themselves. When all the physicians give nurses the credit due them as helpers and their co-workers, people will be glad to pay whatever they are ased, and more young women will be at tracted to the profession and the sup ply will Increase, all the work will not fall on a few, who must have their rights recognized. Nurses were the last to raise their salaries and will be the first to lower them, and will continue to be what they always have been a help to humanity and its suffering. A GRADUATE NURSE. WATER SYSTEMS ARE COMPARED Engineer Clarke Tells of Purification Difficulties is St. Louis. PORTLAND, Nov. 8. (To the Edi tor.) The comments of D. D. Clarke, for many years engineer of the city waterworks or the city or Portland and who is now visiting his son in St. Louis, Mo., may be of interest to the readers of The Oregonian. He says: St, Louis is a large city the census mat: saye one and one-quarter milUona, more or fess. Including its environments Dui 1 waa surprised ciie other day when Water Commissioner E. K. Walls told mi that the main water supply plant, ot which he ia in charge, had only about lu.uoO house connections, or say twice as many as Portland, and supplied a population of from 7Oy,UU0 to 8UU,uoo, or say three times Portland's population. The St. Louis water plant is an immense Institution and the treatment to whicn the water from the Mississippi is subjected In order to make it potable is an interesting process. Am Mr. Waiis exp.ained It: To begin with from the IntaHe near mid channel the water tiows through two tun nels 15 to 20 feet in diameter, a distance of from 1500 to SIUO feet to the pumping station, where immense steam pumps raise it to the surface, ilXH,lKH).lMi0 gai.ons or more each 24 hours. It then passes through a series of settling baalns, 20 acres or more In extent, being doped with solutions or lime and iron on the way. The water Is then given a small dose of alum ana passed through a sand filter, a series of some 40 beds of about 30x40 feet of the rapid sand Biter type being used for the purpose. These filter beds are cleaned every two to four, days by reversing the current through them, the supply of water for this purpose coming from a pressure tank kept filled with filtered water. I must sav that the water after treat ment IS very acceptable for drinking pur poses; it looks well ana tastes gooa. com pared with St. Louis' elaborate system, Portland's water system Is simplicity itself. It has no marvelous engineering features. but it is unlaue in having for its source of suiryply an uninhabited watershed covered with a virgin forest ana tne water is tne best ever.' I am frank to say that viewed from this distance. Portland looks like a "good town" to me, none better. . B. S. HUNTINGTON. COVENANT OPENLY ARRIVED AT Harding and People In Treaty With 10 Points Added to Oligarchy. PORTLAND, Nov. 8. (To ths Ed itor.) The impudent audacity of my fellow countrynen in getting that underhold on the presidency was equaled only by their watchful wait ing for an opportunity to break the heart or tne worm uy ubuik a rs part of the J30.000.000 slush fund toward giving a somewhat Jovial cast to that solemn referendum. Considering that the arch conspira tor finds himself surrounded by a senatorial oligarchy strengthened In numbers by at least 14 points, .al though their beads are merely knots to keep their backbones from unrav eling, it carV'be easily understood hrvr the republicans bought the presi dency with vast sums raised by the money diggers. Therefore, two super men whose minds are in perfect accord running along with each other will be able, even from their front porches, to see how Senator Harding and the people formed an open covenant openly ar rived at. T. T. GEER. A SONG OF THE SEA. I am lord of the land! I am king of the strand! And I spread as I roam, my ermine oj foam Curling far on the sand! I am strong! I am strong! As the ages are long: I am free! I am free! and I aver shall be. Formy strength is my song! Oh, men, hear me speak Tou are weak, you are weak! And the wave of your will breaks im potent, till It fades, a far streak On eternity's shore: Wh41e a triumphant roar Where the seas of flesh roll on the rock of your soul. Bids you strive evermore, And evermore fail! For your will is but frail! -And you fall with the tide of your folly end pride. In the oncoming gale! But I Joy In the fight With ths winds of the night; -And I conquer at length, through the pride of my- strength, My glory! and night! r-MARy ALE THE A WOODWARD. More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. Montague. OK COURSE. A Cornell professor admits that pretty girls get the best marks if they vamp the tutors. Dollie's marks are never off. Her standing's always high. For Dollie always vamps the prof And that's how she gets by. A little vamping now and then. A sly and dimpled smirk, Goes farther with these learned men Than good hard honest work. Dollie cannot write a theme. She says they're awful stuff. But Dollie Is a little dream And that's about enough. The sternest profs will always brook A world of ignorance In girls who hand them out a look Instinctive with romance. If Dollie had a stolid face And wore a sullen pout She'd slump into her rightful place And never could get out. But girls who are not fair to see And lack a pleasing wit. Don't ever garner a degres Unless they work for It. So when to classes Dollie goes She finds It well worth while. To put some powder on her nose And wear a witching smile. This world Is governed by romance. And while all profs are male. There'll never be the slightest chance That Dollle'll ever fail. . Cinch. Ths best proof of Dempsey's claim that he is sure of winning the coming fight is the fact that he hasn't gone to work in a shipyard. Just for a Ftn Weeks. The training the Red Cross nurses got In the war can be utilized now on the side lines at the football games. Practically Giving It Away. The New Vork hotelB have lowered prices to such an extent that a book keeper can get a meal for a little less than his week's wages. (Copyright 1830 by ths Bell Syndi cate, Inc.) .John Burroughs' Notes. Nature 'an Von n-l . 1. How does tne California qua.ll differ from the eastern Bob White? 2. Does a dog show anger against Inanimate objects? 3. What seemingly gentle forces of nature can crush rocke? Answers In tomorrow's Nature Notea. Answers to Previous Questions. 1. Are pigeons all over the world somber colored? All our ground feeders are more or less ground tinted. But In the east this is not to the same extent true. Thus our pigeons and doves are blue gray and buff. In the Molucca islands there is a blue" and purple dove, and one species with coppery green plum age, a snow-white tail and snow white pendant feathers on the neck. 2. Why does a trapped animal bite everything in reach? A Jld animal caught in a steel trtip Tnts its wrath upon the bushes and sticks and trees and rocks within its reach. Something is to blame, something baffles it and gives it pain, and. the teeth and claws seek every near object. Of course it is a blind manifestation of the instinct of seir defense. 3. Was man the originator of many of the arts? I do not know that we first learned the art of paper making from the hornets, but certain It is that they hold the original patent for making paper rrom wood pulp; and the little spiders navigated the air before the first balloon was made, and the Physalia hoisted her sail long be fore the first seaman spread his, and the ant-lion dug his pit and the car penter bee bored his hole, long before man had learned these arts. (Rights reserved by IIoughton-MHIfln Co.) Fancy. By Grace E, HalL All the world over, in gladness and sadness, A singer goes caroling; hear hm, and ponder; All the world over, with songs for his heralding. Roams he of mystio birth; hear him, and wonderl Singing of gold and gain, crooning of joy and pain. Sighing of promise false, chanting of sorrow, , Lilting of things unknown, making all things his own, -Fancy, of mystic birth, freely doth borrow. All the world over, in gladness and sadness. Where man is prone to roam-?-Fancy comes singing; List to his harp of gold! List to his song so bold! Sweet silver bells of hope Fancy yn starts ringing. . f Untouched by mortal man; unhin dered in his plan. Spirit-thing, form divine, voice from above. Untaught, unsought, he sings, hearts lose their bitter stings. For this gay troubadour sings most of love! In Other Days. Twenty-five Years Ago. From The Oregonian of November 0. 1805, The second annual banquet of the Commercial club will be held in the club's rooms in the Chaynber of Com merce building tonight. The high school team and the sec ond eleven of Portland university play their fir.t football game of the year today. The remarkable drama "Trilby,"' which has been creating a furor everywhere, will be presented at the Marquam Grand theater Monday eve ning. ; . . , The entire Italian colony assem bled last night at the home of Louis Landuci, on Washington street, to celebrate the christening of his In fant daughter Lisa. Fifty Years Ago. From The Oregonian of November 0, 1870. The locomotive Portland, which was thrown from the trestle bridge at East Portland two months ago, has been fully repaired and placed again in service. There is said to be a white buffalo In the Yellowst-ne. He runs on three legs, the bullet of a prospector having disabled him. London. It is rumored that Gladi stone will stand for London In the next parliamentary election in the place of Baron Rothschild. About the only s'gns of busi ness life yesterday were exhibited by gangs of Chinamen, who, despite the rain, were swarming about the gro cery stores and laying in supplies for their voyage home on the bark Ed ward James.