Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 6, 1921)
THE MORNING OREGONIN, THURSDAY, JANUARY 6, 1921 KSTABLISILLD BY 11KVBY L. PITTOCK. ubliBhed by The Oreronian ruDiisi Mi to street, rorunu, C A, MORDE.V, K. B. Ktuger. Editor. Tb Oretronian la a. member of the Amo- elated Pre. The Awociated Preaa lm ex clusively entitled to the uae for publication of all oews dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All right of pvbUcauoa ot special dispatches) herein are also reserved. fortunately free, with worse results than those which alarmists about politics profess to fear. Subscription Bates Invariably In Advance (By MalL) Daily, Bundaj Included, one year $8.00 Daily, Sunday included, six months... 4.23 Dally, Sunday Included, three month. 2.2. Daily, Sunday included, one month... .75 Dally, without Punday, one year 6-00 Dally, without Sunday, six months.... 3 2.1 Dally, without Sunday, one month AO Weekly, one year !-) Sunday, one Tear 2.50 I (By Carrier.) Dally. Sunday included, on ymr. . . ..$9.00 j . rnnr,,1R, . -..i - Xaily, Sur. : Included, three months. 2.23 Paily, Sun-lay included, one month... .74 Daily, without Sunday, on. year 7.80 Daily, without Sunday, three months, l.vo Dally, without Sunday, one month..,. How to Remit Send postofflce money order, express or personal check on your local Dank, stamps, coin or currency are at owner's risk. Give postofflce address in lull. incluc.:. euuniy and state. Postage Rate ; to 10 pagea, 1 cent: 18 to an pared, z cents; a. to pages, 3 cent 0 to S4 paces. 4 cents: to 80 pares. ; cents; 82 to 96 pares, tj cents. Foreign postage double rate. Eastern fluine Office Verree & Conk lin. Brunswick building. New Tork; Verree 4c Conklin, Steger building. Chicago: Verree Coaklin. Free Press building, Detroit. jiicn. san rrancic-o representative, it. j. nidweii. THE PEOPLE AND THE PORT. f No difficulty should be experl enced In settling the debated points In th Port of Portland consolidation bills If the legislature and the per ' sons who represent the port before It S will jrutde their action by the funda 7 mental facts, aid will seek to square I the laws by those facts and to re- conclie the operations of the com mission with them. All provision for choosing mem bers of the commission must be rec onciled with the first principle of the constitution that the power of tax ation rests exclusively In the people or their elected legislature, and can not be delegated. By the original Port of Portland law the legislature delegated this power to the commis sion appointed by Itself, the supreme court held this action to be constitu tional, and the commission has ex ercised the taxing power under that decision for thirty years. A new law under which the legislature ex ercised the appointing power, espe cially a law vesting that power in the governor, would have to stand test In the supreme court, which might not prove as accommodating as that of thirty years ago. If that law shoflld not become operative until It had been approved by vote of the people of the port, the court would be apt to hold the popular vote to be a di rect delegation of the taxing power by the people which it should not question. The alternative to appointment by either the legislature or the gover nor would be direct election of the commissioners by the people. Ex perience is standing warning against that policy. The kind of ability and the standard of service that the peo ple want arc not to be had at any price that the people are willing to pay, If the office must be won by election These essentials can be had if the office is appointive and carries no t salary. Scarcely one of the twelve ; men .now composing the port and dock commissions would seek elec Uon at any salary that the people could be expected to sanction. Take them as a body, it is doubtful whether better equipped men could be secured by appointment, and any men secured by election and at tracted by the salary would be of a decidedly inferior type. Any candid man who knows the present com missioners and knows politics will acknowledge this to be true. Any man or newspaper that describes the tommissionei ships as political plums has In mind election to salaried of fices, which would give the inferior type of men. These are the condi tions which render appointment of unpaid commissioners by the legis lature or the governor with direct sanction of the people advisable. With regard to the proposal that the new commission buy the city docks and have authority to sell or lease them, the fact must be recog nized that by several popular votes the people have declared for the policy of public ownership and oper ation. A large proportion of thp in creased commerce of Portland has been attracted by the public docks, their facilities and their low rates. That fact may be taken to have con firmed the people in their conviction that docks should be a public utility, owned and operated by the public. But the people are wise enough to realize that exceptions to the rule may be to their advantage. They hope before long to see a great steamship line doing such a business here as will require exclusive use of Its own dock, constructed to suit Its convenience. The public Interest would be served by leasing a dock or dock site to that line for a term long enough to give It confidence and to justify expenditures, but not so long that the port could not recover pos ses; ;on when the public interest re quired. The public interest could be guarded by a provision that any lease for a period longer than, say, ten years, should be subject to approval by popular vote. A manufacturing concern such as the Vegetable Oil Mills company might want a site on the water front so that it might have exclusive use of a dock. It would build only on a site which It owned or at least which It held on. a long lease, for perhaps 99 years. Public policy might dictate sale of the site, but the law should require that all sales should be subject to approval by the people. It might be found in convenient to hold an election on every long-term lease. That objec tion might be met by requiring the affirmative vote of three-fourths of the commissioners to make a lease without a popular vote and that in case of a bare majority the question should he submitted to the people. There is no desire in any quarter -to impair the control of the people over the taxes that they pay or over the manner In which their money shall be expended. Nor is there any 'desire to depart from the policy of public ownership and operation of docks to which they are thrice com mitted. The dangers are that over anxiety to safeguard these essentials may lead to election of commission ers which would deprive the people of the excellent volunteer service that they now have, and may so re strict the powers of the commission ers that they may be unable to do that which the people will In time recognize to be for their own inter est. That would Involve the portj with politics, from which it is now immunity. No surprise will be shown that District Attorney Evans has an nounced that no plan of Inducing John Etheridge to turn state's evi dence is under consideration or will be considered. Certainly it should not be. If the bond house was wrecked by anyone. It was by Ether idge; and If the wrecking was crim inal, Etheridge is guilty. Whatever the accountability of Morris, legal or moral, or neither legal nor moral, no plan to Implicate Morris through Im munity to any principal can be justi fied. It is not necessary to pass snap judgment on the guilt or inno cence of Etheridge, or the guilt or innocence of Morris, to reach so ob- on. tible to diphtheria, so that these can I a real estate agent, though not a be immunized in advance. Ten thou- ! physician or preacher. Is entitled to sand deaths annually from typhoid , get drunk once before forfeiting his fever represent that much avoidaftle ! job, and whether a sale of real es waste, for this disease is largely con- i tate Is an extenuating circumstance. trollable by communities which re gard it as worth while to guard their sources of milk and water supply and if simple precautions are taken in homes where the fever occurs. It Is encouraging to note the surgeon justifying one of "the average of mankind" in overstepping the bounds of sobriety these are no longer questions determinable by undeviat ing rule. Each must be resolved on Its own merits, with the New York general's statement that smallpox is ! appellate division seemingly com- so well under control that deaths j mitted to the principle that a happy Some years ago in the land fraud trials a systematic policy of promis ing immunity to lesser offenders, or less conspicuous offenders was fol lowed by Special Prosecutor Heney to get the "higher-ups." The mem ories of those performances in the name of justice are not yet forgotten in Oregon, and will not soon be. There is a certain Justification in the plan of giving Immunity which the law recognizes and public opin ion will not condemn, if the ends of justice are likely to be defeated oth erwise. But it should be applied with discrimination, in special cir cumstances, and under appropriate court authority. A decision to re lease one criminal in order to con vict .another is not to be lightly reached nor exercised. If Etheridge has a story to tell, he would better tell it, whatever its probable effect on Morris or himself A court will give due weight to -his desire to expose -the truth, and gov era Itself accordingly. But it can and should do no more. HOME AND OITSIDE TAUCXT, The Oregonlan will venture no opinion on the merits of the contro versy over employment of a new sec retary for the state board of health insofar as it affects any person under consideration. It has a considerable sympathy for the plea that any one in Oregon who has qualified himself for place in the public service should be gi-. en first consideration; but it is not ready to say that no discretion should be given to the employing authority. There is where It belongs, and there It should stay; and there should be strict accountability for any abuses of power. Dr. Parrish, health officer for Portland, who has interested him self In the cause of one of the appli cants for the state job undoubtedly a worthy and experienced physician makes the disconcerting statement that he has in mind to prepay a leg islative bin designed to prohloit em ployment of ' persons In various branches of the state service unless they shall have been for two years resident in Oregon. Let us see how the state would fare under an arbi trary rule of this kind. The Agricultural collage, the Uni versity and the Normal school would be obliged to fill their faculties with men and women who had acquired their scientific and educational knowledge and experience in Oregon and to stop their uniform practice of bringing in from similar Institu tions elsewhere teachers, instruc tors, scientists, professors, doctors, lecturers, biologists, bacteriologists, pathologists, physiologists, chemists, engineers, and others of special train ing and know:, efficiency who had already acquired prestige, and au thority in their several pursuits. The football team, pride and glory of any great institution, would be compelled to abandon its custom of scouring the country for a competent coach who would bring here the peculiar understanding of tactics and forma tions and training acquired by con tact with teams in other states. The insane asylum, finding itself in need of a psychiatrist to give to the poor mental defeetives at Salem or Pen dleton the benefit of the highest skill to be found, must look within the boundaries of Oregon. The deaf and dumb, the blind, and the other charges or the public must also de pend on the state and not the na tional or international supply of hu mane and expert men and women to minister to them and improve thefr sad condition. The public utilities commission, desiring an engineer to investigate and report on railroad or streetcar rates, or to investigate and report on the cost of gas or steam heat production, would similarly find its hands tied. Coming to Portland, the school board would find available for va cancies only the small output of graduates turned out at the normal school, and the girls' polytechnic school, which recently found a com petent 'principal in another state, would have to wait In any like case until some one had made himself or herself eligible by two years' resi dence. The illustrations might be In definitely extended, only to reach reductio ad absurdtim. No hard-and-fast rule to protect home Industry In the public service, or in any private employment, can be safely laid down, . "ithout ultimate embarrassment and barm. The pro vincial idea is well enough If a job for somebody at home is alone at stake; but the welfare of the public must always be taken into first ac count. If a qualified applicant can be found within the state or city, certainly he should be encouraged, and others like him encouraged, by giving him the preference; but if one better qualified can be secured abroad, on substantially the same conditions, there should be no hesi tation, and there can be no Just criti cism, i from It in the United States number only 400 a year. "Nevertheless," Dr. Cumming adds, "these 400 deaths are entirely unnecessary, for vacci nation has long shown itself an ef fective means of control." It Is plain that the expense of life saving through prevention and con real estate salesman is entitled to his one Jag. . , AGAIN THE MILI.EMl'M. A Boston seer, vouched for by the Transcript of that city as "a wise and approved man in all the ordln- trol of disease might be many times ary relations of life," raises more multiplied without overtaking the cost of neglected sickness. The prob lem of health officials is how to im press the public wit the fact. There is vast space for improvement in in fant mortality alone. , Although marked progress has been made in the United States in the past decade, our efficiency in this particular is far from 100 per cent. The contrast between our rate of 100 deaths per 1000 births in the first year of life and New Zealand's rate of 50 per 1000 is a striking commentary on public unwillingness to profit-Jay un welcome facts. THE BOLL OF DISHONOR. The best excuse of the war depart ment for not publishing the names of slackers has been the confession that the list contains so many errors that its publication would do Injus tice to many men who served and fought in the war. As the war de partment has had two years to cor rect its blunders, this excuse is worn out. The true reason doubtless is the instinctive sympathy of the arch pacifist at the head of the war de partment for any man who refuses to fight. Mr. Baker shields the slackers for the same reason that he set the conscientious objectors free. He respects their scruples about en dangering their own hides, and shields them from obloquy. He has but two more months In office and has nothing to hope for politically, therefore he indulges his natural in clination to the last. Delay In publishing the names of those who shirked when duty called them to defend the country should end. as the American Legion de mands. To brand the slackers with infamy Is as much an act of justice to those who served as it is just pun ishment for those who shirked. The proper counterpart of the roll Of honor is the roll of dishonor. PREVENTABLE DEATHS. Surgeon-General Cumming of the United 8tates public health service offers a thought-provoking sugges tion in his recent comment on the tendency of people to put undue em phasis on the spectacular In matters of health and disease. This causes obvious opportunities for improving conditions to be overlooked. Intense interest, for example, in the influ enza epidemic of 1918-19 left small room for realization that many deaths regularly occurring might have been prevented by recourse to methods already well understood. Dr. Cumming holds that at least 100,000 of the 1.250,000 deaths now occurring each year are unnecessary In the light of present knowledge. A disease which becomes prevalent about this time of year Is diphtheria, which accounts for about 15,000 deaths. One of the noteworthy tri umphs of science within a generation has been development of the diph theria anti-toxin, but it is not so widely known that a simple skin test has recently been discovered by which it is possible to determine in advance which children are suscep- J THE RIGHT TO ONE JAG. The two-to-one vote by which the appellate division of the. New York supreme court recently decided that an employer is not necessarily Justi-. nea in discharging an employe who Is under contract because he has been intoxicated once emphasizes the tenuity of the thread by which we retain the last vestige of our per sonal liberties. If a single judge had been of a different mind the rlcrht to celebrate convlvially in full sense of security might have been lost to us. Yet there will be no great amount of comfort for the bibbers and tipplers In the decision, because it appears that there may be a limit The employe is entitled only to have a jury pass on the urgency of the circumstances in which he over stepped the bounds, with strong in timation by the court that he is en titled to no more than one act of drunkenness, as in a more ancient time every dog was entitled as a matter of law to one bite, but to no more than one. The circumstances of the New York case are interesting. A real estate salesman, it appears, was un der contract of employment to a firm of agents. Having made a pe culiarly difficult, rand no doubt profitable, sale, he proceeded to pour joyous libations on the altar of Bacchus. The main facts were not disputed. The plaintiff admitted that when he reached the office of his employers he was "all lit up like a Christmas tree." He did not deny that he was incapacitated for busi ness for some hours, though it was not contended that he was boisterous or disorderly. Being discharged, he sued for reinstatement. The lower court ruled against him. He ap pealed, and the decision alluded to was the result. t We turn to the dissenting opinion as containing what probably is the gist of opinion of those who insist that the road to material prosperity and spiritual salvation Is bone dry. The minority justice holds that "one act ot voluntary, positive drunken ness on the part of a servant during business hours warrants his dis charge as a matter of law." The act, as this- Jurist views it, constituted substantial abandonment, pro tanto, of the master's service and war ranted "withdrawal by the master of that confidence in the servant which is the root of the relation." The majority opinion on the con trary holds pessimistically that the day has not yet arrived when a strictly sober and sinless populace can look on a man imbibing liquid sunshine and radiating happiness as hopelessly disgraced, and adds: However much a single act of drunken ness is to be deplored, the courts are not warranted In attempting to create and enforce a higher standard than that set by the average of mankind in the com munity. The day may come when Intox ication will be such a cause for disgrace that a single instance ot tt win be suf ficient. ... 1 am qnlte clear, how ever: that the day ia not here and that it would be absurd to say that, as to a real estate agent In 1020. In the cltv of New York, such a question as we have here can be taken from a Jury on the eround that no reasonable and conscien tious man In the Jury box could posaibiy cast his vote for a verdict that discharge was not Justified. than one philosophical issue with a prophecy that after the year 1925 'there will be no more sickness or death on the earth, no cripples or deformed, and not even any bald headed men." This prophet bases his conclusions on study ot the scrip tures which has convinced him that the millennium la required to come to pass at that! time. It does not need to be told that the recent great war has been taken into his calculations. Nor, for that matter, is it news that every previous prophecy of a mil lennium, based on other wars, has been confounded by subsequent events. The commoner procedure'ln times like these is to forecast the end 6f the world rather than the true millen nium, which has a sounder founda tion in esehatology. There was, we believe, a period In English history, in the time of Cromwell, when a considerable party held the belief that the millennium had actually be gun with overthrow of the royal family. Swedenborg held the millen nial dispensation to have begun in 1757. The date has been variously set for 1843, 1867 and 1881. The term "millennium" has wholly lost the significance.it had when people supposed that the world would come to an end in A. D. 1000, which was one of the most uneventful years In history. To fix the year 1925 as the begin ning of the millennium, however, in the light of a new definition, is to establish precisely the conclusion ef the period as A. D. 1925. It is true that this is a long way off, but is it not also true that uncertainty is far preferable to certainty? Is it possible to conceive a people making progress under conditions wljjch practically determine the period of their existence? Who will be hap pier in the notion that all is as well as it can be, or ought to be, and that the doctrine of individual responsi bility has lost its force? Does the promise of the end of death mean joy to anyone? Will the race fare better, or worse, with the prospect of the end of mortal life removed? Is n6t the indefinlteness- of the life beyond the veil, and its promise, however unconfirmed, of a vague elysium, the. most potent motive for rectitude of conduct that the uni verse has ever known? More than ever, if we have faith In the new Bostonian prophecy, we need comforting. In the certainty that soon or late death must over take them, people are able to find existence pleasing or at least tol-e-able. But a thousand years oi life! That is far different. What a bore it would become! There is a woman In Danville, 111., starving herself to compel her hus band to join her church, but the man is obstinate and says she can die If she wants to. One of those two is forgetting the marriage vow. A pessimistic scientist declares that America will be completely washed Into the ocean in about one million more years. We hardly think it. Not many states enjoy Oregon's salubrious climate. Stars and Starmakers. By Leone Cass Baer. Madame Lulza Tetrazzlnl was a singing Santy to all the children whose parents were guests at Hotel McAlpin on Chrjstmas eve. When the opera singer found that not many little folk were staying in the hotel she sent emissaries out into the high ways and byways of the c'ty for poor children, and so her crowd, was a mixed one. Madame Tetrazzini sang to the children and undressed a 30 foot tree, distributing Its dolls, drums, horns and candies, after which she had the hotel waiters serve at an ice cream festival. s Mitxi was another singing Santa. She made a tour in her motor car to all the children's hospitals in New York, carrying gifts of clothes and candy. Mitzl has a successful new musical play called "Lady Billy." The Ituth Gordon who had her bowed legs broken in order . to strafamten them is the young girl who played the leading role in "Sev enteen" when It came to the Heiil, last season. Gregory Kelly, her hus band, was the youthful boy in "Seven teen." In an interview in Chicago, where the operation was performed, Mr. Kelly said that Miss Gordon had been thinking of the operation a long time. Several years ago she saw a pair of legs approaching a depart ment store mirror and "thought they were so funny she laughed aloud,'' she said. The legs were quite bowed. When she came nearer she discov ered they were her own. "She was never happy since until last Monday, when the operation was performed." said Mr. Kelly. Miss Gordon has her legs in a plaster cast and they'll be that way for three months, but. she is happy, she says, for at the end of that three months her legs "will be nice and straight like Marilynn Miller's." 4 A few days ago In Montclair, N. J., Mary Kate Byron, widow of Oliver Ooud Byron, noted actor, and sister of the late Ada Rehan, and herself long a figure on the American stage, died of heart disease. Mrs. Byron, who was 75 years old, was a native of Ireland. She accom panied her father to his country when 16 years old, and two years later began her stage career, appear ing in productions staged by Augns- tin Daly at the old Nlblo's Garden She played in support of such stars as Edwin Booth, Joseph Jefferson and W. J. Florence. s Two days before Christmas David Belasco's brother. Fred Belasco, died from pneumonia at his home in San Francisco. For the last 30 years Fred Belasco had been connected with the atrical enterprises on the Pacific coast. He was the proprietor and manager of the famous Alcazar thea ter of San Francisco. Mr. Belasco was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Humphrey Belasco and was born In Vancouver. B. C, in the year 1S62 Those Who Come and Go. MINDS DISTRACTED BY FAILURE Mr. Gossier, the pioneer of Doug las county who had his first rail ride cSTbing to Portland, is not feazed by the sights in the metropolis. You cannot "stump" a man who helped make Oregon. J The Ford factory would be a "dandy" place to try the soviet ex periment, but the idea is nonsen sical. Henry Ford is a business man and his little advertising dreams do not Interfere. A scientist has found that a kiss on the lips weighs five milligrams, and It is too bad, he cannot state It in watts, volts and ohms or some thing understandable. A couple of young New York poets who essayed to vindicate Fanny Hurst with a trial marriage have given up. The lure was stronger than the theory. Cotton mills in New England and automobile factories elsewhere are resuming this week and there is a glimmer In industrial employment. v " In view of what happened to Ohio State, it's just as well for Princeton that other engagements prevented her accepting that Pasadena date. Announcement that Income tax blanks are en route for distribution opens the season for Income tax blankety-blanks. We trust the mayor's enthusiasm in taking personal command of the police department won't prompt him to walk a beat. It Is well established that there may be as much law In a suit for possession of a horse as In litigation over a railroad. The one jag issue on this principle receives the court's most careful attention. It transpires that the House of Lords of England has ruled that where an alleged In toxication is "an isolated act com mitted under circumstances of fes tivity," It Is a question of fact whether breach of contract has 're sulted. There is a decision from Alabama of which the New York Judges are not unmindful, to the ef fect that "a single act of drunken ness on the part of a physician or a clergyman Is sufficient to warrant his discharge," but this is held only to strengthen the view that all the circumstances ought to be consid ered by a Jury. "We suppose," says the New York court, cynically, "that it cannot well be doubted that a single act of drunkenness would warrant the discharge of a locomo tive engineer or the agent ofa tem perance society or of the Anti-Saloon league." So hereafter the questions whether That man who has sued his former fiancee for an accounting ought to know there's no accounting for women's tastes. The government seems to have given the meat packers their choice of packing meat or packing their baggage. The fact that school children have been playing a punch board is enough to put them out of business. De Valera is in Ireland and the only plausible theory is that a boat of the Irish navy carried him there. Consider a moment. Suppose all this was snow instead of breezy rain. Where would we be "at"? A drainage congress meets here day aftej" tomorrow and no one can say it is not timely. Funny that Seattle should be in the dumps, with the base of supplies 60 near. To be popular, it seems, a motion picture must be "perfectly scandalous." Irv Cobb should see the water, "youbetcher!" high Warda Howard, who was a etock favorite in Portland nearly a dozen seasons ago, is soon to arrive In New York with some new plays, which she bought abroad and w hich she will produce. She has been absent for two years at the head of an American dramatic company touring the far east. Phil Baker, tho accordion-playing humorist, who made many friends with his act at the Orpheum last season, has signed a contract with Ziegfeld's "Midnight Frolic" for a ten weeks' engagement and an option on ten more weeks at the expiration of the first term. w Belle Baker, comedienne, who often comes a-headlining over the Orpheum circuit, believes In Santa Claus. He brought her a baby eon on Christmas ere. In private life Miss Baker is Mrs. Maurice Abrams. Her husband is manager of a New York music pub lishing house. s Patricia Burke Ziegfeld, aged 3 years. Is now the owner of a Shet land pony 30 inches high which waa purchased by her father, F. Ziegfeld Jr., at Atlantic City and which has been named Sally, after his new mu sical comedy. Miss Patricia rides on her new charger every morning around the Ziegfeld-Burke estate at Hastings. ". - e Louis Leon Hall Is appearing with Fritz Leiber in a Shakespearean re vival at the Lexington theater in New York. Leiber is the clever actor who used to come here with Robert Man tell in Shakespearean repertoire. This week the Leiber company is reviv ing "Hamlet," with Louis Leon Hall playing Claudius. . Effie Ellsler and "Hazel Kirke" are synonymous, says the Los Angeles Times. She recalls an incident which happened back- in the days when she was playing the role of the pathetic Hazel and C. W. Couldoek. excellent actor that he was. enacted old Kirke. The scene which proved the big punch of the show is where Hazel, re turning home, calls to the blind Dun stan from the storm without. Stage storms were a novelty In those days and the swirling snow, blind father homeless daughter, all combined to give a decided flip to the heart strings of the audience. Down In a southern state one day the company arrived late. The scenery was makeshift and this act started without any of the members having a chance to look It over. The lights were down. The stage was dark. The blind Dunstan sat be fore the flickering fire. From with out, through the howling of the wind achine, came the voice of Hazel: "Father!" Couldoek raised his head and lis tened. ' He arose. "I'm coming!" he cried. He started to feel his way about the stage. The sethad been changed and the door was not where it should have been. "Father!" called Hazel once more. "I'm coming!" Couldoek answered, turning his back to the audience and opening his eyes to view the scene. Even then he couldn't get his bear ings Another wait "Father!" came the cry again. "Coming coming," he answered impatiently, "as soon as I can find this damned door." Strange to say. the audience failed to catch the break and wept on con tentedly to the fall of the curtain. Driving a car from Pendleton to Portland was too much of a task for Roy W. Rltner. so when he had ad ventured as far as The Dallas he had his machine shipped by boat and took th train for Portland and the Im perial. Mr. Rltner says that the rains made the grade of the Columbia riven highway In eastern Oregon soft ana gooey so that it was almost Impos sible to get traction. Several- times he was bogged down In the mud and had to get rocks and throw them into the mud in order that the wheels of the car might grip something. Mr. Ritner made a detour and intended crossing the John Day river at Mc Donalds ferry, but as the ferry was crossing to get him, the cable snapped and the ferry was left in the miuUJe of the stream, held by the main cross cable. Mr. Rltner then back-tracked to Arlington and mushed his way into The Dalles. There he was told that it was Impossible to traverse the road to Hood River and reports came of slides on the paved highway west of Hood River. It was at this point that Mr. Ritner abandoned his automobile trip and took to the railroad. Mr. Ritner. who will be the presiding of ficer of the state senate when the leg islature organizes next Monday morn ing, will remain in the city until next Sunday afternoon, when he plans to drive to Salem to take up his law making job. "I am not a reformer, although In terested In prison reform," confessed L. F. Oaynor, at the Multnomah, on his way to Canada to visit relatives Pnr vears Mr. Gavnor has been con nected with prison reform work and has been employed by various states in the inspection of prisons and doing welfare work amons convicts. "I never interfere with prison authorities in the performance ot their duties, he continued. "The average warden if he Is efficient, knows best how to handle every Inmate and the punisn ment he deals out to those who break prison rules is warranted, as a gen eral thing. The outside public i horrified at the idea of keeping a man in solitary confinement, but it is as necessary as putting a man in chains on board ship when there Is danger of his creatine a mutiny. Mostly 1 have been fighting the installation of politicians as officials of prisons, men who know nothing of prison work and who surround themselves With men who know even less on this sub ject. I am an advocate of police of ficials and long service prison men for positions, these being men who have spent a lifetime In the work and are familiar with every angle of it. "They tell me," began George Mc Kay, for 20 years postmaster at .Wa terman and now a retired cattleman registered at the Perkins, "that con ditions are depressing in Wheeler, Crook and, in short, all the sheep ar.d cattle and wheat counties. crook county is particularly hard hit, with merchants demanding that accounts be settled on the first of each month and the pepole not having the money to buy with. There are millions of dollars of raw material in Oregon, such as cattle, sheep, wool, hay and wheat, but there is no market worth mentioning. This has made money tight and scarce and it has affected a great number of people. I heard today that one of the big wheat raisers of Washington had to sacri fice his crop and sold at a loss of $100,000. But he has been getting big wheat checks for years. Most wheat men when they get money buy more land so they can raise more wheat to get money to buy more land." More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. Montague. Bond House Collapse Diverts People's Thoughts From Tax Iaaae. PORTLAND, Jan. 6. (To the Edi ltor.) The failure of Morris Bros., Inc. is farther reaching than any ! Of course we don't exactly know naked financial loss to those directly I Who dug the tulip up; concerned through business dealings, j If we had never found the hoe CIRCl MSTA.TIAI. E V1UK.NCK. vve might suspect the pup. We were not there when It was done. fo witnesses were nigh; It has the psychological effect ot a big fire, which draws a crowd of curious seekers after the spectacular. who then neglect even the most press- j The neighbor's naughty little son ing amies. or several days many m proved an alibi. columns of many newspapers have But In our eager quest for cluea supplied the pyrotechnieal display we've gained a little light. For Tommy cleaned and shlned his shoes When he came In tonight. ' We don't know where the jelly went That Mother made today, Or where the Jam Is that she meant lo cool and store away. hlch Is the natural course of such events. All of this causes the vehicle of the public mind, now slowly and painfully progressing toward "nor malcy," to go into the ditch again. There are tremendous problems be fore the people of state and city which require their continuous. In- i tense and concentrated attention and ! Although we do not trust the cat study. Whenever It is necessary to As much as we could wish, watch most carefully the budget and We know that she would not do that, tax levies, which are soon to bite ! For Jam Is not her dish, hard into each man's Income, along But in developing our case, comes a highly , disturbing Influence, As great detectives do, like the above. Only a small per- We find that Polly washed her face centage of the people are directly When no onetold her to. interested In the latter. This same j contingent', with the vaster majority. We have not yet run down the thief Is more vitally Interested in taxation Who took a whole mince pie, and public expenditures. The people But It Is our profound belief are or should be extremely Interested That he Is still hard by. as well In port and school legislation. We haven't tracked him to his lair, It is very unfortunate that the! ur irieo. to trace the route average reader, like the man, at the fire, cannot digest the bond house news with speed, and get down to more Important things quickly and Intelligently. These things deserve more news display than they are get ting just now. Let the constituted authorities perform their full duty in the bond house matter, which will be reported Intelligently as news. It Is unnecessary to hang on to their every move to the displacement of everything else. The public mind should come out of Its dazed condi tion, pick Itself out of the ditch and do some hard, very hard, thinking oerore the pocketbooks are hard hit all around or the gentleman burglar is leaning over the bed with a gun. ROBERT C. WRIGHT. Canal laane Never Explained. GEBR, Wash.. Jan 4. (To the Edi tor.) (1) When President Wilson de manded of congress that the clause In the Panama canal law favorfnsr American ships In coastwise traffic"! be repealed, he refused to give his reasons, but stated that heswould not know how to handle the International situation at the time. HaShe ever divulged this reason or explained Just what the international problem was that made the repeal Imperative? There were some strenuous efforts made at the time, but they proved of no avail, to find efgi t the reasons. (3) A certain Roman matron point ing to her children said: "These be my Jewels!" Who was this matron? What was the occasion and what was the conversation or previous remark, that brought this response? T. L (1) The international issue referred to by the president was never revealed. (2) Cornelia, younger daughter of Scipio Africanus the Elder, the con querer of Carthage, and mother of the great tribunes Tiberius and Galus Gracchus. To a Canrbrian lady who asked to see her Jewels, she is said to have presented her sons, with the remark, "These are my jewels." He followed, when with stealthy care He bore away his loot. But we are sure that he'll be found Together with his spoil. For little Dick Is hunting 'round To find the castor oil! ' Enough Is Enonerh. If we were President de Valera we'd be perfectly satisfied with one term. In Fact, They're slowing- Down. The higher rates that the railroads Intend to Install are not higher rates of speed. Stultifying Himself. Mr. Bryan Insists on a single stand ard of morals, yet he spent the best years of his life arguing for a double standard of money. T (Copyright, 1921. by the Bell SyntN cate, Inc ) John Burroughs' Nature Notes. With ditches full and the ground soaked completely, the irrigated sec tion around Stanfield, Or.. Is abun dantly supplied with moisture for once In Its life. Notwithstanding the bounteous wetness. James Kyle, mayor, -of the town, arrived at the Imperial yesterday to attend the Ore gon irrigation congress, which opens Us sessions in the Oregon building tomorrow. Having "sat In" when the programme was being prepared sev eral months ago, Mr. Kyle is ready to assert that the papers read will be of exceptional Interest to all 'nega tionists. W. L. Camnbell. formerly sheriff of Tillamook, and A. W. Pierce of Salem tried to drive to Portland from Salem yesterdy. but gave it up as hopeless when they arrived at Ore gon City. North of Oregon City the higltway is covered with several feet of water, making progress by ma- ch'ne out of the question. Mr. Pierce declares that the falls of the Willam ette river at Oregon City are a sight to behold and that everyone who can manage to get that far from Portland should do so just to view the wonder ful mass of tumbling water. v. g. Wallace, county judge of Crook county, has returned home af ter exacting a promise from the state highway commission to get some mart work under contract in that county within a few months. The Judge asked that work be let in Feb ruary so that it could be started in March. Weather in Pendleton has been quite mild this winter, so the coal business of B. L. Burroughs is not requiring as much of his attention as would otherwise be the case. In ad dition to being a coal man, Mr. Bur rousrhs has a planing mill. He ar riveej in town yesterday and is at the Imperial. Last year M. J. Findlayson sold his sheep holdings and virtually got out of business. Since then the sheep in dustry has been going from bad to worse, as growers all over the state are willing to testify. Mr. Findlay son is at the Perkins, from his home town of Antelope. W. F. Leach, one of the commis sioners of the port of Tillamook and who Is in the meat business In Tilla mook town, is registered at the Hotel Oregon. T. D. Hufft of the Laurel Box & Lumber company of Laurel. Wash.. Is an arrival at the Hotel Oregon. Laurel is between White Salmon and Goldendale. William Stewart, cattle raiser of Baker, is one of the first delegates to arrive to attend the Oregon irriga tion congress. IVhen Folk Are "Of Ace." CENTRALIA. Wash., Jan. 3. (To the Editor.) (1) Do all the states in the Union have laws that boys have to reach the age of 21 and girls the age of 18 before coming of age? If not, please naene the states that do. (2) In what year did Robert Green Ingersoll die? CHARLES THURSTON. L In all states males or females must be 21 years old In order to vote. The age at which a female can make a valid contract, except marriage, va ries from 18 to 21 In the several states if she Is single, and varies still further if she is married. The age at which a female may contract marriage without parents', consent differs still further, and states have different laws fixing the age at which males may marry without the parents' consent. The term "of age" ia in definite and to answer your question would require publication of a rather complicated table. 2. July 2f, 1899. Can Yon Answer These Questions f 1. What Is the commonest Ameri can butterfly? S. Does the beaver work with back paws as well as fore paws? 3. How should birds be fed In win ter? Answers in tomorrow's Nature Notes. Answers to Prevloan Questions. L Do hawks pluck the feathers of birds they kill to eat? In the matter of plucking their prey before eating, hawks vary. The Cooper's hawk, the eharp-phlnn.ed hawk and the pigeon hawk usually do 1 this, but the little "sparrow hawk," so called, does not, since Its food Is insects, not birds. 2. How; was rtaple sugar first made? The American Indian discovered maple sap was sweet, and learned to gash the bark and draw the sap by a hollow aped Into a bark trough. It was bollecpby dropping heated stones Into the trough, and s'owly reduc ing the amount of water In the sap until a sticky sediment was left. It Is said they also froze the sap and removed successive coatings of Ice, until something like sugar resulted. 3. Do maggots breed In decaying meat? Maggots, the larvae of flies, will hatch out In decaying meat if it has been exposed so that flies could lay eggs on It. The flesh has no power to create or generate the maggots, but It Is simply a home the fly selects for its young, well btocked with food. Mer.t perfectly screened would not show maggots even In the last stages of its decay, because no fly eggs could reach 1L In Other Days. J. H. Allison of Albany is al the Perkins. Mr. Allison Is a member of the federal jury and has been sum moned for service. .fohn Moore, a Wyoming cattle man. U, in the city to visit his son Clyde. a student at tne Hill aaiiitary acau emy. APbert Anderson, one of the con tractors on the Pacific highway, is here to confer with the commission ers and is registered at the Perkins. Karl T. Jones, who cashiers for William Barnett's bank at WascU, Or-. Is an arrival at the Multnomah. L The latest sea captain to arrive at the Multnomah Is Captain H. c. Lyon, skipper of the steamer Paulett. D. S. R. Walker, real estate dealer of Eugene, is at the Hotel Oregon. Admission to Tuberculosis Hospltul. SALEM. Or., Jan. S. (To the Edi tor.) (1) Is there Is a law In Oregon to the ertect that tne white, dibck and yellow races oernno Intermarry! (3) And can the state tuberculosis sanatorium refuse to take a negro or a Chinaman if they desire to go? A SUBSCRIBER. (1) Marriage of a white person with a negro or, Mongolian or with a person of one-fourth or more of negro or Mongolian blood Is pro hibited. (2) Applicants for admission must be citizens of Oregon and be without means to secure proper care and treatment elsewhere, except that service men may be admitted by ar rangement with the government. The law draws no color line except that whiph may be implied' by the citizen ship requirement. $24,000 for One Picture. London Times. Recently attention was called to the exhibition and subsequent sale of a picture catalogued as by Rem brandt, entitled "Heraclitus and De mocritus," the property of Captain Alston-Roberts-West. The picture was covered with such a thick coat of old varnish that English dealers were afraid to risk the chance of cleaning. Many good Judges were convinced that it was a genuine Rembrandt, jnd one of these declared that it was not only a Kemoranat, Dut one or his masterpieces." The picture was bought for 4800 guineas (124,000) by Mr. Goudstlkker of Amsterdam. It has since been cleaned, and has been pronounced by an expert to be a splendid specimen of a Rembrandt of about 1660. a Tweeny-Five Years iro. From The Oregonlan of January 6, 1896 Havana Residents here are in con stant apprehension, fearing an attack . by the insurgent army or a part of It. Washington Secretary Carlisle an nounced plans for the forthcoming "popular" bond issue yesterday. The government will sell $100,000,000, 10 year, 4 per cent bonds in denomina tions of S50 and multiples thereof. A series of. robberies on the east side, two of which have occurred in the day time, have netted the robbers a considerable amount, and have left the police baffled. L K. G. Smith, who left here some months ago for a trip around the world, has returned, after getting only as far as Paris. Fifty Yrnrs Ago. From The Oregonlan of January 8. leVL In treasure and merchandise, Port land shipped to China and Japan In 1S70 consignments having a value of $9,226,668. It will require about 100.000 cublo yards of earth to complete the grade of B and Second streets, East Port land. At 35 cents a yard, the cost will be 35,000. A valuable tract of land. 130 acres ir, AitnL known as the Fulton prop erty, and a part of the original dona tion claim of Thomas Stevens, will be sold at auction at the courthouse. Pigr-Iron Comparisons. Exchange. Recent Investigations by an Amer-. lean steel man in China, as reported by Acting Commercial Attache C. Batchelder. reveal that the cost of manufacturing pig iron In China is .innroximately $50 trold a ton, as com- adequate pared with $27 in Pittsburg. Youbetcher Route of Mount Hood Loop. RICKREALL Or., Jan. 5. (To the Editor.) Will The Oregonlan please state whether the Mount Hood loop road will pass through Gresham or Estacaela, and at what point does It join the Columbia highway? . MRS. G. H. SILTON. The Mount Hopd loop passes through Gresham, Sandy, Brlghtwood, Govern ment Camp and Parkdale and con nects with the Columbia highway at Hood River.' 'Youbetcher I" Albany Herald. For our part we much prefer Frank Branch Riley as a narrator of the resources and glories of Oregon. He shows the greatness of the state's re sources, adequately and truly. He. also, dwells upon Oregon's sceneryand the abundance of Its game, but In ad dition he shows that there is far more worth while In the state than those features. Mr. Cobb's story is readable, but in- THE OLD CABIN. It stands beside a mountain stream Midst foothills brown ana tail Where soft white clouds in summer dream O'er many a dizzy wall. The light wind hurries from the gout-., And through eacn cnamoer siie, As open as a dead man's mouth. And strewn witn autumn icu.co. The little fields about It flung Are thicket-grown once more; And where the rows of verdure sprung The nettle bristles o'er. But silence broods around the place. And on the stepless stair Where once was many a happy face, And rose the voice of prayer. Here once a mother watcnea ner Drooa r Anrt railed them In at night. Or shared with tender thoughtful mood Each grief or wild delight. And here an old man like a pine. Tall o'er Its lesser wood, Protected with a love divine. And did them naught but good. These empty rooms knew death and birth. And things which broke the heart; And joyful meetings round the hearth Of those who met to part Ah! where is now the shining. throng Which played about the door. With love and laughter and with song? Gone to return no more. The empty years move slowly by, The varied seasons pass There's only left the cabin, and Two graves all grown with grass. GUY FITCH PHELiPS.