Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937, December 04, 1920, Page 8, Image 8

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    8,
THE MORXING OKEGONIAX, SATURDAY, DECE3IBER 4, 1920
illormurn rcgmtuw
KSTABI.ISIIEI BY IIKNRV 1- TITTOCK.
Published by The OreRonlan Publishing Co..
130 Sixin Street. i'oi t-Uud. Oregon.
C. A. MORDF.X, E. B.
Manager. -daor.
ThB OrTonlan ia a member of the Asso
ciated Prtis. The Associated Press i ex
clusively entitled to tne use for publication
of all news dispatches credited to It or not
:herife credited in this paper and also
tl.e iocal news published herein. All rists
of publication of specia. u.ayatchea Here
in are also reserved.
Subrwrlnticn Rates Invariably In Advance.
Ifcsy aiaii.i
rai!y. Punrtar Included, one year '??!?
li. i:.......'.. i.n..M.il olv mAnthl. . 4
(By Mall.)
l ai y. Sunday included, three months
2.23
.75
6.00
I a ly. Sunday included, one monm..
'a ly. Without Sunday, one year....
1'aily. without Sunday, six months...
l'n:ly. without Sunday, one montu ..
Weekly, one year
Sunday, one year "
Tit rarrler.)
.60
1 no
O.OO
ra!lv. Stiiidiiv Included, one year...?
I9.00
I'aily. Sunday included, three months
Ia.!y. Stirilw Included, one month..
IaUy, witnout Sunday, one year.....
I'a.ly, without Sunday, three months..
...1.1 c- .. .. .1 .. nnA mnnth....
2.5
.75
70
1.K5
.U3
t-fiift wiiiiuui Guiiua, uiio ......
now to Kemit sena postonic.
. Dnai ,.hprlt on your
local bank. Stamps, coin or currency
at owner'M risk. uive Dostoffice aadl
are
ess
In full. Including- county and state.
Iotare Kates 1 to IB pages. 1 rent;
IS to puses. 2 cents: 34 to 4S Pages. 3
c.-nts: 60 to 64 pages. 4 cents: 80 to 80
t uvs. 5 cents; t)i to ! pages. 6 cents,
foreign postage double rates
Kaitern Bnslnrtm Offlre Verree & COnk
!ir.. Brunswick buiIilmc.Xtw York, verree
- Conklin. St.'ger building. Chicago. er
TfC & Conklin. Free Press building. De
troit. Mich. San Francisco representative.
It. J. Uidwell.
1850 1920.
The days of our years nrs three score
years and ten. Psalm 1)0:10.
The Oregonian is seventy years
old today. Its first meager pases
were printed on a primitive hand
press in the rugged pioneer town of
Portland on December 4, 1850, and
it has been continuously published,
first as a weekly and then as a daily
newspaper, down to the present day.
Here now is The Oregonian in the
full maturity of its robust vigor and
abounding health, looking back on
its long, arduous and interesting
past with a modest pride, and facing
its future with confidence; with hope,
and with undiminished enthusiasm
for the country in which it has so
long played no small part.
"The days of our years are three
score years and ten," says the psalm
ist; "and if by reason of strength
they be four score years, yet is their
strength labor and sorrow; for it is
soon cut off, and we fly away." Men
come and men go. The allotted span
of life is seventy years; the eyes of
men are then dimmed, their muscles
weakened, their spirit subdued, their
interest in earthly affairs lessened.
But ideas and institutions live on. The
limit of their existence is the meas
ures of their usefulness. Age is no
handicap, but it may be a real merit,
if any institution which has the
mark of years on its head shows by
its survival that the fight has been
well fought. Yet of course a news
paper may not be judged so much
by what it has been or done as by
what it is. Without good character,
it could not have endured; but it
must have more than that, more
than the tradition of duty well per
formed. It must fill a present need;
and that need is for fullness, range
and variety of news and its honest
and intelligent presentation; for
persuasive and1 illuminating discus
sion and interpretation of current
events; for adequate survey of his
tory, science, politics, religion, litera
ture, and art, as its contribution to
the sum of present-day knowledge;
for pictorial display, that any one
here may visualize thevfeatures aijd
figures of notable men and women
elsewhere, or their part in contem
poraneous happenings; and for all
the miscellaneous features of daily
life, opinion, thought and action
throughout the world, that the reader
may keep abreast of the tide of the
times. It is no small job to make a
daily newspaper, but The Oregonian
has worked at it- for seventy years,
through a long succession of capable
hands, and it believes it understands
as well as any other how it may be
done. Yet it is aware of failures, er
rors, imperfections and disappoint
ments, but it seeks to profit by them
and to avoid them so far as human
fallibility will permit.
When The Oregtmian was started,
' seventy years ago, there was a paper
at the rival town of Milwaukie, and
the Oregon Spectator had had sev
eral years of a precarious, but mem
orable, existence; but they soon
passed on, though they did not leave
the field alone to the ambitious and
pushing organ of the coming metro
polis of the great Oregon country.
Here and there a contemporary ap
peared as the territory received
more- population, and the struggle
for a place in the sun was waged
vigorously, not to say furiously. It
is interesting to note that in the
salutatory of the aspiring and peace
fully disposed editor, he solemnly
declared that "under no circum
stances will he be drawn into indi
vidual controversies or local and
rival interests." Yet it was unavoid
able. It was the habit of the times
to lampoon, to satirize, to ridicule,"
to expose, and to attack: The func
tion of the newspaper was not so
much to print the news as it was to
burnish a vehicle for the ventilation
of political opinion, whether of as
sent or dissent. . Besides, the North
west was remote from the centers of
national action, facilities of com
munication were meager, population
was sparse, andthere was little tc
report in the form of actual doings.
The first ten years of The Oregonian
are a virile record of the tremen
dous issues of that early day, revolv
ing about the questions of union
against disunion, nationalism against
sectionalism, freedom against slavery-
'
The Oregonian was at the begin
ning identified with the Whig party
and waged an uphill battle during
the uninterrupted decade of demo
cratic domination in territory and
state before the civil war. Naturally
It took up in its time the cause of the
Uepublican party, and with the ad
vent of the war of the rebellion it
became the foreniost champion of
the cause of an undivided and indi
visible republic and of liberty and
equality for white and black. In the
intervening years it has remained in
substantial accord with the Repub
lican party, for the sole reason that
it has more nearly than any other
represented correct principles; as
witness the growth of the national
power as distinguished from state's
rights, of reconstruction as against
division and destruction, of honest
money as against fiat money, of san
ity, moderation and efficiency in
government as against heresy and
radicalism,, of nationalism as against
internationalism, of a prudent pre-
paredness for all eventualities as
against negligence, weakness and
opportunism, and of the right of
every man to earn a decent liveli
hood for himself as -against the fool
ish and false doctrine that the public
viz. the states should do it for
him.
The Oregonian was printed as a
weekly by its founder, Thomas J.
Dryer, for the greater part of ten
years, and then it passed into the
control of Henry L. Pittock, who
as a young man still in his teens had
joined the little establishment as a
printer in 1S53, and had become its
proprietor and publisher in the late
50's. Mr. Pittock started the Daily
Oregonian on February 4, 1861, and
remained at his post until his death
on January 28, 1919 a record of
faithful and conspicuous service in
one occupation without a parallel,
probably, in the history of America's
Important newspapers. The entire
compass of Mr. Pittock's identifida
tion with The Oregonian, all the time
in command, thus covered more than
sixty-five ydars. Nor is it possible,
in any review of The Oregonian
and its times to overlook the im
posing figure of Harvey W. Scott,
who joined Mr. Pittock as editor of
the paper in 1865, and remained in
that capacity, with a brief interval,
until 1910, when he died. The influ
ence of Mr. Scott in molding the
policies and shaping the destinies of
The Oregonian for nearly fifty years
was paramount, and the place he
achieved in American journalism is
very high. Mr. Pittock survived him
for "more than eight years, leaving as
his chief inheritance The Oregonian
Itself, which he had cradled, nur
tured, sustained, and directed for
more than three decades. The ca
reers of these two men are insepar
able. They wrought together, fought
together, served together, and their
generation two generations found
in them a joint leadership which
made an indelible impress on the
minds of their contemporaries and
on the progress of the common
wealth. The work they carried on
in common for so long, and one of
them carried on alone for even a
longer period, will go on. Other
hands are at the helm, and will guide
the course of The Oregonian as cap
ably and as faithfully as may be pos
sible.
The Oregonian is not only seventy
years old, but it is the oldest paper
in point of continuous publication
west of the Rocky mountains. There
were, to be sure, other newspapers
in 1850, but every one but The Ore
gonian belongs to the past. When
The Morning Oregonian (daily)
emerged into the light on that far
off February day of the early six
ties, two other daily papers were
then printee in Portland. They were
poor affairs, indeed, but they occu
pied the field in a growing city of
about 3000 inhabitants and the out
look for the new venture appeared
dubious. It might well have been a
disastrous undertaking, except for
the industry, vision and ability of its
young publisher. Let us add also in
tegrity and patriotism, for he ap
plied to' the enterprise the strict and
honest business methods which had
marked his policy in running the
Weekly Oregonian, while others pur
sued the lax and careless" ways which
too often then characterized all
newspaper-making. The war was in
its beginnings, and The Oregonian
from the first stoutly supported the
cause ot the union, while others
were either indifferent or openly se
ditious: and the stalwart attitude of
The Oregonian contributed in no
small measure to its success. It is a
familiar story how Mr. Pittock put
all the emphasis of his skillful man
agement upon the gathering of news
new principle in the crude jour
nalism of those days.. He brought
the outer world to the Northwest by
means of quick and regular mail
service and later by telegraph from
California. Here doubtless was the
chief reason for the growing favor
of The Oregonian.
The two earliest competitors the
Times and the Advertiser speedily
died off; but they were succeeded by
another, the' Herald', in 18C6, which
had formidable backing, and lasted
for about ten years; by the Bulletin
(1870), in which great sums of
money were invested through five
costly years; and the Northwest
News (in the SO's), which contrived
tc hold on, Jn the face of heavy
losses, for seven or. eight years. These
have been the most formidable con
tenders with The Oregonian for
primacy in its field, and first and
last they have made the struggle
worth while. But The Oregonian
outlasts them all. Let us not stop to
investigate or to give the reasons.
The Oregonian speaks for itself; and
its record, too, speaks for it, in tones
which wiH be heard wherever Ore
gon is mentioned.
We have spoken mostly of the ear
lier Oregonian, because it is an oc
casion for retrospection as well as
for felicitation. The reader of today
knows The Oregonian as it is, and
those who know its past are com
paratively few, and are growing
fewer. Yet an examination of the
foundations of any institution is
necessary to disclose its character,
its claims to distinction, its prospects
of . permanence. The roots, of The
Oregonian go deep into the soil of
Oregon history and of national his
tory, too. It was, and is, a part ot
Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.
It was and is the voice of Oregon.
It has been here for seventy years,
and it is here to stay. It reflects
the Oregon country now as it long
has been a mirror to throw its light
abroad It will interpret Oregon to
the world, and the world to Oregon.
It is the medium throuerh which
many thousand peoples' of Oregon
(the old Oregon.and the new) aye,
several hundred thousand of them-1-get
their news from every quarter, and
through which they are able to form
or to correct their views, whether in
approval or disapproval of what The
Oregonian has to say. It is a forum
through which opinions are ' ex
changed, conclusions reached, re
sults achieved. It is an agency
through which good causes are ad
vanced, and bad causes impeded and
defeated. It is the handmaiden al
ways of Oregon, and of (Jregon's sis
ter states, and it proudly proclaims
its renewed purpose to serve their
interests to the extent of its powers.
WO It it V OVER A TENTH.
Karly in. January the legislative
assembly will convene. Many bills
appropriating money will there
after be introduced. Each house will
appoint a ways and means commit
tee and they will remain in session
almost continually..- The ways and
means committees will' consider the
budget of more or less fixed state ex
penses in addition to the many indi
vidual appropriation bills. Delega
tions interested in this or that appro
priation will journey to the capital
to urge or to protest. Members will
arise in both houses and counsel
economy. The newspapers will carry
much news about pending appropri
ations; vox populi will write letters
to the press and after the work has
been done and the legislature has
adjourned indignant taxpayers may
invoke the referendum against more
than one or more money bills, and
the governor will receive letters and
delegations urging him to veto or
not to veto specific items. Alto
gether there will be forty days or
more of excitement and apprehen
sion. Yet the other day the Portland
school board, after advertising for
twenty days a notice of public meet
ing, met and adopted the equivalent
'of appropriations of $4,475,900. Not
a single taxpayer appeared to object
to any item in the budget, and the
budget of the Portland school board
is more than the total sum appro
priated by the legislature for one
year.
It is not the intent herein to imply
that the school board will bear
watching. Rather it is to poit out
the extraordinary emphasis the pub-"
lie gives to general state appropria
tions and general state taxes as
compared with the appropriations
and taxes of minor subdivisions. Of
the tax sums paid by the Portland
taxpayer in the last decade only a
percentage running from one-tenth
to one-seventh has been for state
purposes. -
Why is it that the legislature's ap
propriations provoke nearly all of
the excitement, the city council's a
very small amount of interest, and
the port's, the school district's and
the county's none at all? .
A GREAT VICTORY WON '
As the result of a long, determined
fight, Portland and the Columbia
river basin have won a decisive vic
tory before the Interstate Commerce
commission. By unanimous decision
the principle for which Portland1,
Vancouver and the inland empire
contended has been established as
governing railroad rate-making, not
only in the Pacific northwest butaj
throughout the country. The unanim
ity of the commission gives no en
couragement to any interests that
may desire to have it overthrown by
that body, and the question is so
clearly within its discretion that an
appeal to? the courts would be vain.
For this region the decision oer
throws a practice in rateniaking
which has governed ever since the
first railroad was built to the Pacific
coast. That practice was that rates
between points 5"t which railroads
competed should be fixed in (he
same manner as competing prices of
commodities are fixed and as the in
terests of competing terminal cities
dictate. In order to prevent compe
tition from being carried to the point
of mutual destruction, railroads
agreed on equality' of rates from
competing territory in the interior to
competing ports on the coast. They
treated transportation as a commod
ity which they might sell either by
underbidding each other or by agree
ing on a uniform price which all
should charge. The thought of
transportation as a public service
which they were bound to render to
all persons and communities at a
substantially equal price per unit of
service, based on cost, never entered
the minds of traffic officials, except
to be instantly rejected. Any profit
that was sacrificed on traffic be
tween competitive points was re
couped by charging all that the traf
fic would bear between intermediate,
non-competitive points. That prac
tice was followed whether a railroad
climbed a range of mountains or ran,
down a valleyt
That practice, which is" founded on
no principle, is now swept away and
gives place to the sound 'principle
that rates must be based on cost of
service as determined by -distance
and by grades. The; commission
holds that traffic to Portland must
not be charged as much as it would
pay for a haul a hundred miles
longer; that a railroad shall not
charge as much for a haul down the
water grade to Portland as it would
pay for a haul over the mountains to
Puget sound; that competition be
tween ports does not justify depriv
ing one of the natural advantage of
being located at the foot of a water
grade or relieving another of the dis-.
advantage of having a mountain
range at its back. Ef feet of ' these
varying conditions does not-impair
the principle. The people of the one
port are to profit by their sagacity
in choosing a location, those of the
other port must pay the penalty of
their lack f that quality.
Having accepted the principle for
wiiich Portland and the allied com
munities have long contended the
commission could not have done less
than give them the 10 per cent
differential under Puget sound and
other ports on rates to and from
inland . territory south of Snake
river. Attorneys for the Columbia
river basin gave good reasons for
applying the ditterential to the
further area between the Snake and
the Milwaukee railroad, but they will
be content for the present with ac
ceptance of the principle and will
leave its extension to the future. It
may easily prove that the differen
tial will increase the density " of
traffic on the O.-W. R. & N. and
North Bank roads to the point where
Uie average cost of service per ton.-
mile will be materially reduced In
larger measure than would be pos
sible on the mountain roads. This
would form the ground "for further
revision of rates. . Distances to Port
land from the area where the dif-
I ferential is granted are uniformly so
, much less than to Puget sound that
Portland is entitled to lower rates on
the ground of distance alone. The
commission also pronounces cost of
service on a water grade as against a
mountain grade to be an important
factor which must be considered, but
has "barely recognized it in fixing the
area where the differential shall ap
ply. As the effect of this factor In
comes more apparent, the commis
sion cannot reasonably refuse in fu
ture to extend its application after
having declared that it should enter
into the calculation.
This victory as the climax to years
of-discussipn and struggle is. fine
example of what Portland .and its
allies can accomplish by teamwork
and pertinacity The Traffic &
Transportation association, the
Chamber of Commerce, the Port of
Portland commission, the Dock com
mission, the Oregon Public Service
commission, the city ' of Vancouver
and several interior cities combined
their forces. They thus presented
the case most effectively ' and fully
against the combined forces of com
peting ports and of. all the railroads
interested. They also demonstrated
that the claim was not made merely
by one port against its competitors,
but that it was made by the people
of an extensive producing territory
and by the ports .which naturally
serve them as markets. The com
mission was much influenced by the
exhibit of cost of service prepared
by J. P. Newell for the Oregon Pub
lic Service commission, the more so
because of his evident conservatism.
The prize that is won is well worth
the effort. There will flow to Port
land without fear of -competition
practically all of the 15, 000.600 bush
els of wheat produced south of the
Snake, besides large quantities of
other grain and a yearly growing
quantity of fruit. Portland mer
chants will have an equal advantage
in the markets of that area, as will
Portland importers of foreign goods
for sale inland. If all the wheat
mentioned were exported as such, it
would make about ninety 5000-ton
cargoes. As export trade in fruit
grows, refrigerator space in many
ships will be filled, and the number
of vessels available to carry other
products of the Oregon country will
be proportionately increased. The
effect must be to swell materially
the volume of Portland's commerce.
That conclusion is supported by
the bearing which the decision will
have on the policy of the shipping
board. Not only will it be inclined
to send more vessels here to carry
the greater volume of ocean traffic
The principle adopted by the com
mission that water grades to the sea
must govern in fixing railroad rates
cannot fail to influence the board in
following the instructions of section
8 of the Jones law "to investigate
territorial regions and zones tribu
tary to ports, taking into considera
tion the economies of transportation
by rail, water and highway afi.d the
natural direction of the flow of com
merce; to investigate the causes of
the congestion of commence at ports
and the remedies therefor" and so
forth. If the bdard finds that rates
on railroads "are detrimental to the
declared object of this section," or
that new rates should be made or
new port racmties provided, it may
submit its findings to the Interstate
Commerce commission' for action.
Under the present decision the ship
ping board cannot fail to find that
watergrade routes to the sea are
most economical, and the Interstate
Commerce commission cannot fail
to apply that principle generally on
the motion of the board. The effect
will naturally be greatly increased
use of the Columbia river water
grade and of the Columbia river
ports.
It is Juct as well to understand
that not enough poison is in the
spray that falls on an apple' to cause
death; but it is also just as well,
much better In fact, to wash and
wipe apples that are to be eaten un
pared.. An apple may be handled
many times before it gets to the
customer. ' . .
Sometimes a booze Sound fails to
show he has more than "one-half of
1 per cent" .of brains when he
seizes mince-meat . and cherrios put
up before the law became active. But
they must do something to hold the
jobs. Meanwhile illicit distilling mer
rily,goes on.
: The burglars who broke-in and set
free the canary birds are ex-convicts
for .a certainty. Anything in a cagv.
jars them. Their motive is good,
but will not ,keep them from going
back.
City Treasurer Adams did a busi
ness of more than $18,000,000 in the
fiscal year that ended Tuesday. Port
land is sound financially and in
other ways.
It hardly is fair to refer to a newly
married couple of 75 and 60 as "el
derly." That means advancing in
age and only a centenarian is "old."
There are many demands for mon
ey for worthy causes. The wise man
apportions his contributions and is
not swept off his feet by hysteria.
Every American soldier in Ger
many is a contributor to the Red
Cross fund. He realizes the worth
of the organization. .
The evening paper notes thirty
one windy days last month. The ex
tra day must have been something
gaseous, so to speak.
We'll begin to take stock in this
talk about falling prices when a man
can get a five-cent cigar for less
than eight cents.
D'Annunzio making war on Italy
is about as serious a spectacle as
that of a flea trying to bite an ele
phant. Officially it is said there are ten
thousand unemployed men in Port
land. The drifter would better stay
away.
;. If the-Italians really'want to solve
the D'Annunzio problem they should
nominate him for king of Greece.
Some restaurants that cater to
"common" folks are reducing prices.
That is a healthy sign.
Another storm! The storm god
should stay his ruthless hand. '
Three weeks to Christmas,
early.
Buy
Well, welli good morning, Seattle!
WOMAN'S PLEA TO SANTA CLAVS
Cry for Companionship From One
Who Una Outlived Dear Ones.
. PORTLAND, Dec. 3. (To the Edi
tor.) Within the past few weeks I
have read In the columns of the daily
press of the many kindly things done
for the unfortunates of the city.
The babies are' well cared for In the
many homes especially for them.
The ex-soldier and ex-sailor boys
have their welcome
Bright faces and happy voices
make good cheer for the very old
folks In the old people's 'homes.
The various hospitals are visited,
gifts, flowers, smiies, songs, music
and good wishes are bountifully be
stowed upon those'who lie. on bed's
of pain. Those in prisons and jails
arc feasted and visited. The poor and
forsaken in the poorhouses are com
forted. The prankish newsboys are
dined and entertained.
Even the dogs in the public pound
are not overlooked in the general
feasting, but -are given a generous
feeding by some thoughtful, kindly
folk. '
All this is splendid and inspiring
visible practical evidence of broth
erly love and humanity.
Yet there are unhappy folks whom
no one seems to consider, perhaps do
not realize they exist. 1
There are many lonely ones in the
city, for that matter in every city
widowed, bereft men and women, no
longer young, whose hearts are filled
with sadness, who have no home ties,
no homes. Death has taken their
nearest and dearest, and left them
lonely, desolate and poor, indeed, in
spirit and they have no one with
whom to make merry.
In the days gone by they had homes,
husbands, wives, children, everything
tc make life worth while; to make
merry the Christmas holidays.
These lonely folk live in hotels,
rooms, boarding houses, anywhere,
according to their finances. They eat
their solitary meals, often with ach
ing hearts, and eyes forcing back
the tears they dare not let fall In
public, envying the very passersby
in the streets their evident holiday
happiness.
The shabby little mother scurrying
along with her equally shabby little
brood, full of simple plans for un
accustomed goodies and holiday sur
prises. Husbands and wives chatting and
arranging their holiday shopping.
Mothers and fathers full of their
many home affairs and responsibili
ties. Young folks gazing into the shop
windows, wishing and hoping to be
able to surprise someone dear to
them with a coveted gift, their warm
young hearts full of the joy of today
and running high with hopes for the
future.
The happy little children with
wide, open-eyed wonder at the gaily
decorated, tinsel-trimmed shop win
dows, full of the most delectable arti
cles imaginable, shape, kind, color,
tasto and smell.
The busy Salvation Army lads and
lassies, hurrying by fntent on their
various plans for dinners and enter
tainments for the "down and outers,"
making sure no one is overlooked.
I write of these things because I
am one of the "lonely ones." I enter
one of the large and beautifully ar
rangetr" churches, I enjoy the splendid
service, the well-trained voices sing
ing, the organ under a master's touch.
On passing out the pastor, possibly
a busy man, gives me a perfunctory
handshake and a "glad to see you
with us." ,
As I am fairly well appareled, and
I, trust of "decent appearance, a few
gcod sisters, 'sure of themselves, and
their position in this, their particular
church, give me an equally perfunc
tory formal handshake, conveying,
doubtless unconsciously, ' the impres
sion, "I can do this within these sa
cred walls with perfect safety; I hope
you will not presume upon this cour
tesy," and there it ends.
I have visited the many excellent
libraries, -spending hours: reading
arr.ong others, perhaps as lonely as
mjself, and certainly as speechless.
I have walked the. busy streets and
have wandered through the great de
partment stores with never the sight
of a familiar face, nor the sound of
a well-remembered voice.
Oh, the loneliness of a bigcity, it is
not surpassed by Sahara itself in its
loneliest hours.
I am sure there are many about me
as lonely as myself. I often wish
there was some way to meet and
know these "lonely ones." It is not
easy for elderly people to do this.
Young people -have so many oppor
tunities of meeting and making ac
quaintance, and forming new friend
ships, which are not open to those oU
mature years. There Is a conven
tionality which older people find it
haid to Ignore yet there are many
middle-aged men and women longing
for companionship, yes, and for homes,
which they have no way to attain.
Now don't get the idea they are
"man-crazy" or "woman-crazy"; they
are simply lonely and homesick folks.
The most heart-breaking sickness on
the face of God's earth is homesick
ness, and it's one that receives scant
sympathy.
It they were a discuss this with
the average person, with even the
utmost delicacy, they would -be
laughed at. If . a woman, she would
be termed an "antique would-be old
vamp," or possibly just plain "old
fooi." " If a man he would be called
"a chaser" if not sometihing worse,
and probably referred to as an "ola
guy," "dippy" on "skirts," it would be
"too funny for anything." So they
keep still about it.
No "one but a "natural -born idiot"
would think of patronizing "a mat-rirr-onial
paper" or "bureau," yet in
their loneliness and lack of opportu
nity to meet a possible mate some
hove done even this, much to their
bitter and expensive regret.
There are many elderly people well
fitted to make and maintain com
fortable homes to be cheery, helpful
companions to one another, to go
dewn the "sundown path" together
ip.Ftead of wandering down alone. If
there is anything more pitiful than a
lo-iely widow, it is a lonely widower
especially if he tried to keep his
home and its keepsakes together,
with a procession of the various types
of . "housekeepers" passing through.
He has need of the patience of a Job,
the strength and endurance of an
"early martyr," and the well-tried
Christianity of a foreign missionary.
Please do not think me a silly old
fool, that I have a brain storm, or a
scftening of that very essential or
gan. I am-just a lonely, homesick
woman. I can taste the salty tears
as -they chase one another down my
cheeks. " 'Tis truth -the poet sings,
sorrows crown of sorrows is remem
bering happier things."
Santa Claus is asked, through the
medium of the press, for almost
.1 W C ! ..
evtrjfiniiifi uuuci iuc ouii. . -u im i a t. .
Santa Tlain trivA me n little home.'
I would dearly love a bit of garden
fo." some sweet peas, a few roses and
old-fashioned flowers, a bed for let
tuce and a few "Kentucky Wonder"
beans; a tiny space in which to keep
about six hens. Next to a husband,
chickens are such good company.
If you should Include a highhearted
wholesome husband I would surely be
pleased. God never intended people
totj live alone, for he made them in
pairs. .In the very, beginning he put
Adem to sleep and while he slept he
took one of his ribs and made a wife
for him, all ready for him when he
awoke. ' t
If I am a "rib,"? I want the rest of
the set. - EVE.
Those Who Come and Go.
"Japanese just about run the Im
perial valley in California, declared
Andrew Burton, for several years In
the fruit business in that section of
California. , "The Japanese will take
land and make not only a living but
a fortune out of it where a white
man would starve. Because of this
intense productivity of the Japanese,
large dealers in melons and' the like
will advance Japanase a few dollars
an acre and seed the ground to give
the Japanese a start, thereby assur
ing more foodstuff for contract. The
Japanese are always working to get
their vegetables or fruit on the mar-,
kel first, when the prices are highest,
and to insure a melon crop they will
put a paper cap over every melon in
their fields." .''
"Did I ever tell you about the
mountain rattlers?" inquired Wes
Caviness of Vale! at the Hotel Ore
gon. "They used to be in a small
section, not over a few miles square,
about whera Baker and - Malheur
counties join.' kattlemen will vouch
for these snakes. They were five or
six feet in length and as large around
as a man's thigh, and carried rat
tlers. I never heard of these snakes
doing any damage or biting anyone,
but they were whoppers in size. Cat
tlemen who would pitch a tent in
that district could generally see two
or three of these snakes running out
of the tent in the morning." Since
coming to Portland to interest him
self in the recent political campaign,
Mr. Caviness has acquired a taste
for the asphalt streets and the cement
sidewalks and is in no hurry to re
turn to his habitat in central Oregon.
"T don't know anything about how
the federal appointments will be dis
tributed." confessed T. H. Tongue,
republican state chairman, who was
in Portland yesterday. "I have rea
son to suspect that there will be a
great number of applicants'f or nearly
every position, but beyond this I
know no more than what I have read
in the newspapers. So far as I am
aware, no one has the Inside track
for any particular office nor has the
congressional delegation requested
the state committee to make recom
mendations." Chairman Tongue ad
mits that there isn't a single ap
pointment that he wants.
Not everyone in Tulsa, Okla., Is a
millionaire, but the percentage o
n?lllionaires in that oil town Is exceptionally-high,
according to L. Bar
rett, who is at the Benson. Those
who are not millionaires already are
living in constant, expectation of
joining that class of capitalists any
day. Oil is about the only subject
which is common to the community
and it is- as important to Tulsa as
salmon to Astoria. ,
The 'trouble with the Marion hotel
at Salem. Manager A. W. Pierce has
discovered, is that there are not about
200 more bathrooms in It. Every
member of the legislature, all the
regular members of the third house
and the rank and file have been writ
ing for a room with bath. Most ot
the veteran members of the legisla
ture are demanding a private bath
as a matter of special privilege, but
there are not enough to go around.
Albert Anderson, who has had sev
eral contracts from the state high
wa commission on the Pacific high
way. Is registered at the Perkins from
Yoncalla. The highway is now grad
ed north and south of the town and'
has been rocked. . Commissioners
Booth and Yeon will inspect all the
grades in southern Oregon within a
lew days and thereafter will prepare
a paving programme for the coming
summer. The main street of Yoncalla
l-i now hard-surfaced.
Mrs. J. W. Donnelly is at the Im
perial from Arlington, where her hus
band is about to end his term as
mayor. A few days ago the citizens
of Arlington presented the mayor
with a diamond as a token of appre
ciation for his efforts in having the
John Day highway located to connect
with the Columbia River highway at
Arlington.
The Chambermaids' Review Is the
title of a publication issued by A. G.
Clark for the convention of Oregon
hotel men at The Dalles. . One of the
Items in the review says that if every
hotel in Oregon made it appoint to use
all the Oregon products It could, it
would mean more acres under cul
tivation and more men in Oregon
factories.
The courthouse in Portland looks
tame compared to the courthouse at
Bend when the recent murder trial
was held, according to W. P. Myers,
a Bend attorney, who is in the Rose
City. The murder trial was the big
event of the community and the
courtroom was filled to capacity
throughout the proceedings.
B. J. Cooper has deserted Watseco,
Or., for the present, and is at the
Imperial. Motorists who drive to the
Tillamook beaches will recall Wat
seco as . the place where there is a
plank road, consisting of boards so
loose than when a" car speeds faster
than five miles an hour the plank
road sounds like a xylophone.
Mr. and Mrs. Ed Anderson -of Cres
well are at the Hotel Oregon. Cres
well is on the Willamette river and
the Southern Pacific.- and running
through it is the Pacific highway,
graded and ready for pavement next
year.
J. H. Scott ot the highway engi
neering department, with headquar
ters at The Dalles, is registered at
the Imperial with C. C. Kelly, assist
ant state highway engineer.
' Mr. and Mrs. Grant Prltle of Al
bany are registered at the Multnomah
while on their way to attend the hotel
convention at The Dalles. Pritle is
a hotel man.
Mr. atd'llrs. C. E. Knowles of
Waldport are at the Perkins, and W.
E. Earnest, also of that village on
Alsea bay. is registered, at the Hotel
Oregon. '
N. B. Beach of Powell Butte, a few
miles east of Redmond. Is in the city
to have his eyes treated. Mr. Beach
is a hay farmer, growing alfalfa.
F. B.- Stimson of Seatle, who had
some splendid exhibits in the recent
livestock show in this city, is reg
istered at the Hotel Portland.
J. A. Churchill, state superintendent
of public instruction, arrived from
Salem yesterday afternoon and reg
istered at the Multnomah.
Clyde Laughlin of Mountain Creek
and Mayville, is in Portland visiting
friends. Mr. - Laughlin. with his
brother, operates a stock ranch.
T. B. Sumner,' who guides the des
tinies of an iron works at Everett,
Wash., arrived yesterday at the Ben
son from Puget Sound.
Frank A. Rowe, a broker and bus
iness man of Tillamook county, is
registered at the Multnomah from
the mill town of Wheeler.
Mrs. 'Edward S. Howe, an orchard
ist of Hood River, has come to the
Hotel Portland for the winter.
W. P. Watton, .dealer in automo
biles and accessories at Olympia,
Wash., arrived at the Benson yester
I John Burroughs' Nature I
Can Ion Anmver These Qurstionsf
1. How does warm weather stimu
late nest building? ' '
2. How do squirrels find nuts on
trees?
3. What elements carved the Yosem
ite? .
Answers in Monday's nature notes.
Answers to previous questions:
1. Does the Canadian hare make
hay?
Mr. Hornaday says the pika, or
little chief hare, in the Canadian
Rockies cuts and gathers various
grasses and plant-stalks, and cures
them in the sun besides the entrance
to its den, and . then stores up for
winter use. He says that if. during
the day, the shadow .of a rock falls
upon the curing hay, the pika moves
it out into the sun again.
.
2. How does the oriole's nest vary
according to its location.
I notice that the nests of the orioles
are longest and deepest where they
are the most pendant, that they are
deeper and more pocket-like on the
willows and elrrts than on the oaks
and hickories, and that they are the
shallowest of all on stiff young
maples where they are usually placed
near the stem of the tree.
3. In what respect is nature
prodigal?
The one thing in this universe that
nature has not been economical about
is seed, and the fertilizing principle.
See the clouds of pollen she throws to
the wind from the pine-trees and from
the grass in the meadows; if one grain
in a hundred hits the mark her end
is reached. It la by this heaping and
overflowing measure that the element
of chance is neutralized.
(Ris-hts reserved by Houghton Mifflin Co.)
FVderal Lini and Amendment.
SHERIDAN, Or., Dec. 2. (To the
Editor.) (1). AVhat is the Volstead
act? (2). What is the Smith-Town-ley
measure? (3). Has prohibition
been enacted as the 18th amAidment?
(4). Has woman's suffrage been added
as the 19th amendment? I understand
that both measures have passed, but
have they,been formally annexed to
the constitution?
MRS. J. GREEN.
(1) . The Volstead act defines in
toxicating liquors, fixes penalties for
illegal sale and manufacture and in
cludes many details designed to se
cure enforcement of prohibition.
(2) . The Smith-Townley bill creates
a portfolio of education in the presi
dent's cabinet and appropriates J30,
000,000 for educational purposes for
apportionment over a period of years
fcmong states that comply with cer
tain educational standards, appropri
ate equal amounts and conform to
ether requirements of the act.
(3) . The prohibition and woman's
suffrage amendments are both a part
of the constitution.
Couldn't Seream.
Returning home from the dentist's
where he had gone to have a loose
tooth drawn, little Raymond reported
a-i follows: "The doctor told me 'fore
he began tha-t If I cried or screamed
it would cost me a dollar, but if I was
a good boy it would be only 50 cents."
"Did you scream?" his mother asked.
"How could 1?" answered Ray. "You
oniy gave me 50 cents." Boston
Transcript.
Schooling for .Stutterer.
PORTLAND, Dec. 3. (To the Edi
tor.) Kindly publish names of some
institutions for treating people who
stutter. A READER.
The city school official's know of no
such school in the west. Dr. B. W.
De Busk at the University of Oregon
may be able to give you the informa
tion. Have You f .
nave you a little lairy in your
nome :
.o, dui i nave a little miss in my
engine." Philadelphia Public Ledger.
Exception.
Birds of a feather flock together."
'But how often do von sp ravn
locks with crows' feet?"- San Fran -
clxro Chronicle
Tell -Tale Finger Prints
Betray Crooks
' No two alike since time began. To every person is given the
distinction of individualistic patterns in the matter of finger prints.
A dangerous distinction, quite often, and there are men grown gray
in prison because some whorl or quirk of tracery on thumbs or
finger-tips betrayed them. And the system that seeks out the
criminal by reading the evidence of his own hand is practically
practiced in everyday work at the Portland police bureau, where
"Jim" Hunter plays Nemesis for crooks. De Witt Harry has written
a local narrative of the Bertillon system. Turn to the magazine
section in the big Sunday issue. Illustrated.
The Divorcing Gaynors Was it locally epidemic, or did the turn
of coincidence decree that there should be divorce upon divorce in
the marital records of the family of the late Mayor Gaynor, of New
York? Be that as It may, the ruin of five romances in one home
circle is distinctly unusual, as Helen Hoffman points out in her
recital of the heart-weary Gaynors, told in the Sunday issue, with
photographic illustrations.
What Happened to Baby Kate Children are always in peril, a3
their distraught mothers will testify, but few are safely returned
from such danger as that which gripped Baby Kate, two years of
age, when she fell through a manhole into one of New York's great
sewers and was swept rivervvard in the darkness to be rescued by
a fireman after mourned as dead. Joseph H. Applegate, in the
Sunday magazine, chronicles the strange adventure.
The Failed Romance of a Fairy Godmother Greek gods have
always been held up to the girls as models of masculine desirability.
To designate any young man as resembling the forgotten deities of
Greece was to employ the superlative. Nothing more remained to
be said in tribute. In the magazine section of tomorrow's issue
Frank Dallam relates the sprightly, but misfortunate, romance of
Mrs. Alice Clifford Barney who wedded one of these fair-ha;red
marvels, 40 years her junior, and repented at leisure. There were
complications.
Movie Mothers Time was when mother was relegated to the
rear of the motion picture scenario. The star outshone her the
flaxen-haired star, with her ingenuous smile and winsome innocence,
It is not so today. For motion picture producers eventually realized
that there is considerable appeal to motherhood on its own account,
and that film dramas, even as the dramas of the world, are rather
incomplete without some recognition of motherhood. And now the
sfar fights for her laurels in public interest. Read this happy
analysis of reform in picture plays, as told in the Sunday issue by
Maude Robinson Toombs.
Talks With T. R. To have heard Colonel Roosevelt chat about
boys must have been really worth while that vigorous, boyish fancy
of his bent upon the proper way to bring our lads to citizenship. His
words are repeated in the Sunday issue, where John J. Leary Jr.,
from his diaries of Roosevelt recollections, narrates this conversation
and others of equal interest.
Complete in Every Department The Sunday issue is yours, with
its many pages of home and foreign news, fresh from telegraph and
cable, and with score's f features interestingly presented. It is
reHable, authoritative and indispensable. Ask your newsboy.
All the News of All the World
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN
More Truth Than Poetry.
Bjr James J, Montague.
WERE I A GtlLELESS PEON.
Were I a guileless peon
Beneath a mesquite tree.
And Villa chanced to be on
The same square mile with me, ,
Although a vow he's taken
To live upon the square,
I think, to save my bacon,
I'd move away from there.
If I heard Senor Pancho ,
Announcing his design
To buy himself a rancho
Across the road fronmine.
Although he wouldn't harm me
Straight into town I'd race, 11
And telegraph the army
To come and watch my place.
Were I to meet with Villa
Lpon a lonely plain.
Although, I'm sure, to kill a
Mild man he would disdain.
And though I should not worry
Or murmur my dismay, .
I think that I should hurry
Along my homeward way.
This once remorseless bandit '
Who used to rage and row
Is, as I understand it.
A peaceful person now.
But if I were to meet him
Beneath the stars or sun
I would not pause to greet him
I'd turn around and run.
Shocking: Wnnte of Time.
It is remarkable that the profiteers
bother with preying on us poor con
sumers when it had the United States
whipping board for a field of opera
tions. ,
Too Much Control.
It wasn't necessary to invoke the
Volstead law to curb the making of
home brew. The work would have
been done just as well by the law
against the indiscriminate manufac
ture of explosives.
Most of It Ia Fireproof.
After burning some of the coal
being sold now we can understand
why there Is such a scarcity of
asbestos.
(Copyright. 1 ir20. Vy Bel! Syndicate, Inc.)
In Other Days.
Twenty-Five Yearn Ago.
From The Oregonian of December 4, 1805.
This day. 45 years ago, saw the
first Oregonian issued, a little six
column folio weekly paper, in long
primer type.
A few pounds of Columbia river"
smelt, or "candle-fish," have arrived
in the market. ' They have arrived so
early they are looked upon as a curi
osity and are held at 75 cents a pound.
Eighteen Japanese, who arrived on
the Mount Lebanon, were all allowed
to land yesterday by Collector of
Customs Black.
Two ladies had their pockets picked
in the postoffice yesterday, one los
ing $5 and the other being relieved
of $13.50.
Mayor Baker'a Majority.
PORTLAND. Dec. 3. (To the Edi
tor.) A bet was made on the recent
municipal election Jhat Baker would
receive more votes than all the ether
candidates combined. No mention was
made of firEt, second or third choice
votes.
In view of this please state whether
the bet should be decided upon first
choice votes only or upon all votes
fast, whether first, second or third
choice. D. I. JOHNSON.
In our opinion the wager Implied
that votes which had a bearing on the
election result were the votes meant.
As it happened first choice votes
alone controlled the election.
Population of Little Korli.
PORTLAND, Dec. 3. (To the Erll
tor.) (1) To settle a dispute, kindly
give the population of Little Rock,
Ark., in 1903. (2) Also, what i. the
area of the state of Arkansas?
JASEL.
L. "
mi S 1 1 Onil itq v a
Xjl"'e JvOCR-
There are no figures tor isj.
. - The area of Arkansas is 53,333
J snuare miles.