10 THE MORNING OREGONIAX,- FRIDAY. MARCH 10, 1023 ittontiwj (Stogomnn ESTABLISHED BV HtNJBY L. FITTOt'K. Published by The Oregonlan Publishing Co. 23j Sixth Street, urtiaad. Oregon. C. A. AlOKDEN. E. B. FiflfiK. Alsnager. Editor. The Oregonlan Is a member of the Asso ciated i'rets. The Associated Press la ex .ciu&ively entitled to the use ior publication of ail news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited la this paper and aifto the local news published herein. All rights of publication ot special dispatches herein are also reserved. bubscription Kates Invariably In Advance. (By Mall. J Daily, Sunday Included, one year $8 00 laiiy, Sunday Included, six months... 4.25 Iaily, Sunday included, three months. 2.25 Daily, Sunday included, one month ... .75 Daiiy, without Sunday, one year...... a. 00 Daily, without Sunday, six months.... a. 25 Daily, without Sunday, one montn.... -60 Sunday, one year .................... 2.&0 tBy Carrier.) 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Every producer being: a consumer, he would oe wnipsawett, receiving: less for what he Bold and paying more for what he bought, all to keep the jobber of the interior town in business. Nor would that jobber profit. Water lines would make rates low enough to permit the coast jobber to deliver goods- at the interior town at least aa cheap as the local competitor, and the coast jobber, doing- a larger volume of business and therefore having a lower overhead cost, could under sell him. The great need Of the lnter mountain country is development, to which railroads are essential-. It has many thousands of square miles of country lying- fallow' for want of modern means of transportation. It can get railroads if the railroad business pays enough return on the Investment . to attract capital for more construction. It3 progress should not be sacrificed in a vain fight against a natural condition which cannot be changed. non-member state banks have lived for many years and are honestly and conservatively managed and have weathered many a storm, but they would gain strength to live through a crisis by joining the federal reserve system, and the security of the deposits would be proportionately greater. INWARDNESS BATE OF TERMINAL CASE. If the producers and consumers of the intermountain country would read with open ' minds the brief of counsel for the Portland Traffic & Transportation association in the Pacific coast terminal rate case, they would at least begin to realize that they would profit by rail competi tion with water lines, and would be injured if the 'railroads should be forbidden to compete. Opposition to competitive rail rates comes from jobbing houses at intermountain cities, which are unable to compete with those of the coast cities because the latter can ship goods In by sea. This is a natural advantage of which they cannot be deprived In normal times. They lost it during the war because ships were withdrawn from Intercoastal service and because, for that reason, the interstate commerce commission suspended competitive rail rates. But the commission then said that water competition was only suspended and the whole tenor of its decision has been that, when water service is restored, railroads will again be permitted to compete. Intermountain jobbers are in poor position to oppose this action. They based their protest against competi tive rail rates to the coast during the war on the fact that there was no water competition, and the com mission heeded their plea for that reason. Since water competition is now extremely active, their own argument works against their pres ent opposition. So far la the permission of rail competition with water lines from adding to the burden of transporta tion for the intermountain people that it actually diminishes that burden. Rates are not reduced to the point where traffic is carried at a loss, for the law requires them to be "reasonably compensatory,' which Is fairly construed to mean compensatory under the circum stances. The commission's applica tion of this principle was thus stated In a former decision: HE LOYES HIS GRIEVANCE. when the league covenant was under debate, Senator Reed objected to Article X because he held that it imposed a legal or moral obligation on the United States to resist aggres sion on another member nation. He now objects to the Pacific treaty because Senator Lodge says it im poses no moral or legal obligation to take any sort of action except to consult because "w" have done absolutely nothing except to agree to talk things over." The Missouri senator is very hard to please. He condemns one treaty because it binds us, another because it does not bind us to the same kind of action to which the first bound us. The secret of his present peev ishness seems to be that he does not want to be robbed of his grievance The only way to place the Missouri senator is to take for granted that he will oppose anything that any other senator proposes. The sure way to arouse his opposition is to take seriously any of the reasons that he gives for it. His mind is incapable of proposing anything or of supporting what other men pro pose. Did anyone ever know of a measure being named "the Reed bill?" If such a bill ever was, it was necessary to keep Mr. Reed constantly in mind of his paternity, otherwise he would have opposed it through force of habit. The railroads are enabled to fill up their trains with traffic which, although not highly profitable, yields m revenue mate rially greater than the out-of-pocket costs of securing and handling the traffic, there by adding to the net returns of the car riers and to that extent lightening the transportation burden borne by other lo calities. These transcontinental railroads can fairly expect such consideration aa will permit them to continue to earn a rea sonable return upon their property devoted to -public use. If government control is so exercised as to prevent them from secur- . ing any considerable share of the business to and from the terminals and the largest . possible return therefrom, such return must be derived from the other communities along their lines. It is practicable for a railroad to derive a net return from competitive traffic to coast terminals at lower rates than are charged on local traffic. Competitive traffic Is hauled long distances, local traffio short distances. Rates include terminal cost and line haul cost. Terminal cost on a carload is the same, whether it is hauled a hundred or a thousand miles. Then each mile of a 100-mile haul must bear ten ; times as much terminal cost as each - mile of a 1000-mile haul. By accept- - ing a lower percentage of net return than on local traffic, a railroad can " secure a share of long-haul traffic . In competition with water lines and " add so much to its total net revenue. As the principal products of the north Pacific states are of relatively low value, but high weight and bulk, they require many cars but can only pay low rates if they are to move at all, and if they do not move industry and development must lan- guish. If the railroads were not permitted to make competitive rates on westbound traffic on the basis described, they would have to haul empty cars west in which to carry these products east. In order tfrat they might earn the 'total net reve nue necessary for them to provide service, they would have to add this heavy cost to their rates on other . traffic. That would cause those "other localities" and "other com munities" of which the commission spoke and many of which are in the intermountain country to pay their share. Competitive rail rates confer a direct benefit on the interior in addition to the Indirect benefit due to their holding "down the general scale of rates. Water transportation to Pacific terminals is a fixed fact, which cannot be changed. If rail roads were forbidden to compete, practically all traffic between the two coasts would be carried by water. Then the people of the in terior would have to pay the water rate plus the rail rate from or to the coast on all eastern goods that they bought and on all of their own products that they sold In the east, but the rail rate would be higher in proportion to the revenue that the railroads lost by being excluded from competition with the water lines. If that competition were per mitted, the rail rate would be lower, and the intermountain producer and consumer would get the benefit. If local rates from the inland empire to the coast should be forced tip, the addition would be deducted from the price which the grain grower obtains for his wheat In Liverpool, the woolgrower for his wool in Boston, the fruitgrower for his apples in the east and Europe. An equivalent amount would be added to the price which the con sumer must pay for goods carried to the coast by sea and shipped in- THE SOURCE OF STRENGTH. The organization and operation of the federal reserve bank system will of themselves answer the inquiry published in another column as to what greater security a depositor has in a member of tha federal reserve bank than in a non-memler bank. There are twelve federal reserve banks, each owned by the banks of Its region which subscribe to its capital. National banks are required to be members, but it is optional with state banks. Member banks elect "the majority of the board of directors, deposit their reserves with the federal reserve bank and control it subject to the federal reserve law and the super vision of the federal reserve board, which determines a uniform policy and co-ordinates the action of the regional banks. Each of the latter rediscounts commercial paper ac cepted by its member-banks from their customers, issuing, its notes to them, and these notes now consti tute the bulk of the paper currency. The contrast between the old and the present system is the measure of the advantages of the new. For merly the volume of currency was limited by the capital and surplus of the national banks and by the amount of government bonds, by which it was secured. Thus it was rigid, haying no relation to the amount, of business the country was doing. National banks were required to deposit their reserve funds in central reserve cities and, as New York was the center of speculation and could therefore pay the highest interest, they deposited the much I larger proportion there, to be lent i on call with stock and bond col lateral. When there was a surplus of money for regular business, it was used in stimulating speculation. When the country demanded money for its legitimate business, a stock panic ensued, the speculators could not pay their loans, banks all over the country. had to stop loans because New York banks could not repay them, and many could not meet the demands of their depositors because they coiild not realize on assets. Underthe federal reserve law the reserves of each region remain in the federal reserve tank of that region, and are available as a basis for rediscount of customers' paper by the member banks. A member bank need not close for lack of funds to pay .depositors so long as it has good commercial paper. It can take notes, drafts and bills of exchange arising out of actual com mercial transactions for agricultural, industrial or commercial purposes to the federal reserve bank, can redis count them and receive federal reserve notes with which to pay its customers or make new loans. .This privilege is denied to notes secured by speculative collateral like that of Wall street, therefore bank funds cannot be tied up by a stock ex change panic, as in 1907. When federal reserve notes are no longer needed by member banks for circu lation, they are returned to the fed eral reserve bank, which cancels them. By this means the volume of currency rises and falls with the amount of dealings in the actual products of the country. 'A member of the federal reserve system has the strength which the other members give. By practically. pooling its reserve with those of the other members of its federal reserve region, it gets the support of the combined reserve of all the members. Federal reserve banks must hold a gold reserve of not less than 40 per cent of their notes except by special authority of the federal reserve board, but any that approach this limit may borrow from others. During the period of stress In 1920 the four in the northeast made large loans to those in the south and west. The federal . reserve board could have compelled them to do so. but use of this authority has not yet been necessary. Thus each member bank practically has the support of all member banks in the entire system. Non-member banks have none of the strength derived from this sys tem. Each one stands on its own bottom with suatu limited Bupport as it can get from having as city cor respondent a bank that is a member oi the federal reserve system. Many in FACI' THE FACTS. Demanding the recall of the public service . commission, the Eugene Guard offers the following: The Oregonlan says leave it to the leg islature and the legislature has never abolished or reformed a commission in all the history of the state. That is tanta mount to advising the public to take their medicine and say they like it. How can The Oregonlan or any other conservative newspaper or citizen object to invoking the recall in this Instance? It is a flagrant case and one which calls for the most drastic action. The advocates of the recall stood aside for those who favored the re hearing plan, and wo have the result be fore us. Let us recall all the members of the present commission and put in their places men or business or- proiessionai standing who are pledged to guard the interests of the public and who are not professional politicians ana office-seekers. There ample time now to hold the recall electio along with the primaries at little addi- tional expense. Let us get down to the hard facts of the situation. The recall is likely to be successful undoubtedly will be and we shall 'name three new public service commissioners. One of them will serve for the remainder of the year, and for his place there will be another election in Novem. ber. 1922. Meanwhile the Hotelmen'a asso elation will place on the ballot November a measure abolishing th present elective commission, creat ing a reorganized commission to be appointed by the governor, and re storing the telephone rates as of March 1, 1921, until such time as the reorganized commission shall have passed on them. The people will probably pass such a measure in November. Certainly, they will pass it, by an . Immense majority, they are not entirely satisfied with the personnel of the new commis sion elected under the recall, Or by any chance tha present commis sion should defeat the recall ana remain in office. We are confronted by the prospect of a pretty mess. Has the Guard any confidence that in the excite ment and turmoil of the recall elec lion, and in the general anger and resentment against the present com mission, "men of business or profes sional standing who are pledged to guard the interests of the public, and who are not professional politicians and fcffice seekers," will be elected commissioners? If so, and if they are available. The ureg-oman win contribute what it can to such result. But we would like to have the Guard trot out its candidates and let us look them over. A public service commissioner is not, or should not be, a political officer. The selection of commis sloners should be as far as possible removed from the ordinary political method. For that reason it is desir able to have the commission ap pointed, and the appointing author ity held responsible for his choice trials. The rights of defendants were respected in every Instance but under the pressure of public opinion the courts frowned on unnecessary delays. The result was that a large number of criminals were brought to trial within a week after their arrest, all pending cases were cleaned up at the end of the five weeks period. nine first-degree - murder verdicts had been returned, some scores of highwaymen had been sent to prison for long terms, and professional law-breakers had practically aban doned the city. If other communi ties would follow Philadelphia's ex ample the crime wave would be a thing of the past in an exceedingly short while. if SLEEPING SICKNESS. The malady to -which laymen, not without justification, have given the name sleeping sickness and which appears from recent census reports to be gaining headway in the United States deserves particular attention because of the mystery attending its invasion or the northern hemisphere and also because of its seeming assb elation with epidemics of influenza, although it does not partake of the nature of the latter disease and there is no apparent relationship between the two germs. But the profound oncern which scientists feel over its ppearance in northern climes is due to the discovery that there is ap parently no immunity of climate or temperature, as until recently had en assumed. Almost total want of knowledge of Its true nature, the uncertainty of its method of attack and the helplessness of its victims invest it. with a peculiar dread that is as fascinating as it is strange. Like yellow fever and leprosy, the sleeing sickness has already claimed its victims among medical inves tigators. The case of Dr. Albert C. Pervell Is a classic of its kind. This devoted physician went to South Africa in 1901 to make a study of the disease on its home ground. In that year he was bitten by a fly known to be a carrier of the dreaded germ, but after a number of experi mental treatments, which greatly encouraged those engaged with him in research work, he seemed to have recovered. In 1915, however, he suf fered a relapse which resulted In death. His work and that of others who had become interested in his case went for naught. ' No data of value in determining the nature of the infection were obtained. The disease nevertheless did not appear in Europe until 1916, or in the United States until two years later. Why, after centuries, during which it had' been confined to equa torial west Africa, it had chosen this period to Invade regions which had previously supposed themselves to be immune is an unsolved enigma which adds aest to the quest for-a cure. Nor is there much comfort in the knowledge that extermination of the tsetse fly, which it was hoped would rid the world of sleeping sick ness as war on mosquitoes had robbed yellow fever and malaria of tfceir ter rors, may not in this instance accom plish the desired end. Fundamental causes may lie much deeper than has been assumed a fact which only accentuates our interest and in tensifies hope for the early discovery of a cure. As is usual in matters of the kind, there are reports that a specific has been discovered. The latest ema nates from Germany, which also a few years ago raised a false hope with a premature announcement of a tuberculosis lymph. The announce ment will be accepted by medical men with reserve, in view of the un doubted gravity of the malady itself, for nothing could be more disastrous than a false sense of security at this time. The intimate connection be tween sleeping sickness and influ enza, however, points to redoubled precautions against the spread of the latter. It is pretty well estab lished that those who avoid influenza are in a double sense keeping on the safe side. The account of how Philadelphia abated a crime wave In a campaign of five weeks is interesting because It shows that determined citizens have a sufficiently powerful weapon In existing laws. There was first a systematic mobilization of the agen cies, of law enforcement, and then an especial effort to obtain prompt BORROWING AT USURY. A Californian who twenty-four years ago borrowed $100 for three months at 10 per cent a month compounded semi - annually now find3 himself in debt in the sum of $304,840,332,912,685.16 and, accord ing to the news dispatches, judg ment has been entered against him for this amount. We are not sur prised by the statement that he will evade payment by bankruptcy pro ceedings, any more than we are by the news that the court was com pelled to call in an expert mathe matician to determine the amount due his creditor. Even our famili arity with war costs and national debts since 191"4 does not quite prepare us to think In trillions. The total wealth of the world is a matter upon which economic statisticians are not agreed, but does not in all probability aggregate more than a trillion dollars, or something less than a three-hundredth of the sum that this Californian owes. There is no chance, of course, that the debt ever will be paid. The incident serves as a reminder, how ever, or the way inconsiaerea trifles have of mounting up, at compound interest or any other kind of interest. One does not need to consider the usurious rate of 10 per cent a month to realize that this is true. At 10 per cent a year, compounded only annually, a given sum of money Is doubled in only a fraction - over seven years. ' And seven years are not a long while, to debtor. "If you would have a short Lent," says Poor Richard, "borrow money to be paid at Easter." Time flies while interest is accumulating. Modern laws against usury may protect the unfortunate against the rapacity of loan sharks but they cannot quite take the place of the practice of prudence , In obtaining loans, or of caution in entering into obligations. Not all of the old . vie tuns of the usurer had claims on our sympathy,' though many of -them had. The fact is that too many people incur debt without -giving much consideration to whether they will be able to pay when settlement day arrives. These are intensely grateful for the opportunity to bor row and just as, bitter when the creditor shows an inclination to exact his pound of flesh. Most mis understandings between debtors and creditors of this class arise out of obligations that ought never to have been entered into at all. One need not let the bill run into some hundreds of trillions to nave an object lesson ready-made. Let him borrow money with which to buy something - that he does not eally need, and that will be worn out before he is ready to pay for it, and be the rate of interest ever so moderate and the creditor ever so complaisant he will find thatit irks. There are few tasks so dispiriting as paying for a dead horse. The Listening: Post. By DeWitt Harry. Those Who Come and Go. Tales of Folk at the Hotels. AT THE Orpheum theater this week a mental phenomenon begged members of the audience to Burroughs Nature Club. Copyright, Houghton-Mlfflln Co. More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. BloXtaajac. Weather, is 20 degrees warmer on the coast than in Portland. I was astonished when I looked out of the ask questions. "Who was Paul Bun- i car window this morning and saw a The new head of the state reform school finds the institution Is shoot ing wide of the mark. Court records prove it. Methods must be changed There is less expense in reforming boy after his first lapse than in housing him as a graduate criminal The controversy over the color of Washington's hair is as little likely to be settled finally as the indentity of his authentic body servant or the true list of places where he made his headquarters" while commander- in-chief of the colonial army. The plan of renumbering streets must wait two years for the money eeded mere matter of $25,000. Better make it 200, with better use the money. Man knows ' his number now: why confuse him? The adjustment of the flapper controversy ought to be left to a jury f elders with good memories. They ould remember that young people were not so very different when they themselves were young. John Ericsson did more than nvent a "monitor, but that was plenty. People nowadays cannot realize the thrill that pervaded a stricken union when the Mefrimao was defeated. Trouble over women jurors need not be great. Determined husbands can settle it, except In the matter of5 widows and aged maiden ladies. Then it is up to Providence. Texas is a large state and a blizzard in tha "panhandle," though .locally disastrous, is much like a snow storm on Mount Hood as affecting the rest of Oregon. ""v An Alaskan girl is traveling 1700 miles, much of it by sled, to be married in Juneau. Well for the man that he appreciates that kind of wife. . The wicked . flee around a small world. The Kelso banker who com mitted "suicide" in an elaborate manner has been located. yan?" called a voice from the gallery, and the brain shark didn't know. Didn't know who Paul Banyan was! To make certain that Paul gets prop er credit for his deeds, this column is unearthing a few facts connected with bis past life that will clarify some puzzling historical questions Bert Geer, ex-sheriff of Lincoln county, writes of a momentous dis covery of a portion of Bunyan's diary. "Stanley Anderson of Toledo, a one time logger, has unearthed from his grandfather's trunk an authentic rec ord which does not dispute but rather coincides with facts already published concerning Paul's trip west after he had logged off about all the timber in Michigan and the mid-northern states The record, blue in color, written with the blood of the blue ox in Paul's own handwriting, on the inner bark of a spruce tree, says: In the fall of 1869. havintc observed that tne corn was growing- tleht on the coo and that the migratory geese were flying backward, and knowing by these signs that a severe winter was at hand, I de cided to come west, where, I had been told, there remained unlimited timber and there maintained a mild climate. Everything went well on the trip untfc wa struck Spokane Falls, where the blue ox became frightened at the roar of the water and ran away with the provision sled and the swamp hook. After tearing some terrible gashes in the face of the earth, the swamp hook finally stuck In the top of the Cascade mountains and 1 was able to catch up with that frightened ox. We are now in the depth of the sllets river forest, where the timber is so big and thick that every time the blue ox starts to run he fails down: 1 Intend to stay here until Babe gets thor oughly familiar with the roar ot the ocean. "Mr. Andarson says his grandfather was Paul Bunyan's shoer for the blue' ox, that the record was written in blood out of the ox's foot, which was hurt In the runaway and that out of the wound Paul caught several bar rels of blood to use for writing pur poses, his supply of ink having been among the losses from the provision sled. Mr. Anderson vouches for the facts, handed down by his grand father, that the ox running 'away with the swamp hook resulted in gouging out the Columbia river, gorge, the tearing down of the bridge of the Gods, and where the big steel hung up in the Cascades and Paul pulled it out. Crater Lake remains as a per manent mark of the . point of the book. Blood from the wound on the ox came off the hook in the ground and turned the water in the lake the color of indigo. When the swamp book was lifted, water began pouring in at the bottom of the hole and Paul started to throw in some rocks to stop the leak. He had dropped one rock when he noticed Babe grow ing nervous at the roar of the ocean and had -to abandon the job. The Phantom Ship is the one rock Paul dropped." . heavy frost," said Jesse Bartlett of Coos Bay, registered at the Benson while passing through to eastern Oregon. "The hyacinths and other early spring flowers are in bloom down In Coos county. Spring has arrived there." Speaking of general conditions, Mr. Bartlett says that "all the mills are operating on full time. The Japanese trade , is a con tributing factor, for the Japanese market is consuming large quantities of Lawson spruce, also known - aa Port Orford cedar. Coos county and Curry county forests are, apparently, rebuilding Japan, judging from the amount of this cedar that the Japa ness are purchasing. Japan is plagued with an ant which bores teak or any other hardwood within a short time.-. The Japanese find that the ant does not bother the white cedar, because it has a high content of oil. The cedar is veneered and used to cover other woods, thus acting as a shield against the boring ants. The shipments are going direct fcom Coos bay to the orient and to Port land, where the material is trans fered to Japanese steamers in the harbor." "New automobiles are not being bought in Polk county, nor are the farmers paying $1.50 to have their cars laundered contending that a little mud on the wheels won't hurt the automobiles," observed E. C. Kirkpatrick of Dallas, Or., former county judge of Polk county, who is in town. "The people are holding down expenses, although the county is in pretty good shape, for it has diversified crops, such as hops, fruit and grain, and we are not as bad off as some other places. Then In th town of Dallas we have sawmills, an electric shop and other concerns, that there is a payroll of from 300 to 400 people, and there are trai crews, all of which means that mone is kept in circulation. It cannot be said that Polk county has returned to normal yet, but things are movin along nicely." "W-a have hoard much all over th United States of your Columbia river highways," stated W. L. Pieplow, sec retary and manager of a big stove and range factory of Milwaukee, who is registered at the Multnomah. "You should also send tourists to visit you wonderful library, which I conside one of the finest In the country. have been president of the Milwauke library system. I was interested i going through 4he different depart menu and was surprised to find that there were no men librarians. You librarian has brought the library to a high state of efficiency and the in stitution should be included in you Bight-seeing trips. As the highway becomes more widely advertised you will find that it will bring not only thousands of Americans but thou sands of tourists from abroad." Just a sort of a spring hodge-podge of one morning's accumulation. Cro cus in bloom on the south side of the house. Wife reading seed catalogues. Tulips begin to appear above the ground. Lots of rubbish in the va cant lot next door now that the weeds fall to hide it. New houses springing up like mushrooms, on every side. Gang of men digging trench in bright sunshine. Seem to be throwing more dirt per minute than a year ago. Girl getting on car with new spring dress, no truth in longer skirt rumor. Dimpled knee . and bright garters. Gone are those intimate glimpses, ev- everything is aboveboard and in the open now. Wonder how a girl would look unpainted! Our fashion expert says there are to be brighter cheeks this season. Met a friend who has sacrificed his mustache. Looked sort of naked. Says wife made him do it. Wear ours for the same reason. The dramatic critlo with ears. Swears this is the style and not exposing them for business reasons. Going towards lunch place, ; only two hours to eat. Remodeling build ing into tiny stores. Sign says "One shop, 8x10 feet, to rent." Like con cessions at a country fair. Tamales for dinner. Wonder how many ta males can be made from one chicken or sea gull! Worse than oysters in the stew. Shorty was a dapper little chap. but, jobs being scarce, on his- arrival in Portland from Oklahoma, he went to work as a waiter, it is nearly impossible to avoid being cast in the role of eavesdropper at times, and the diner heard Shorty tell the cook, he waited for an order, of meet ing a girl from the home town on the street. 'Surprised? You bet I was!" ex claimed Shorty, "but I never lost my nerve. Kept a tight grip, though I was excited. Why, I used to rush her at home, and she sure is some queen. Where you workin'?' she asked, and I told her,' 'In the state bank.' " 'If you ain't an idiot," came back the cook as he deftly flipped a pan of hash. "That bank a closed." 'Self-possession's my middle name," boasted Shorty, "think I didn't know it- Think I wanted - that queen to write back and tell the folks "Shorty's shooting biscuits!'? Not me, I hadta duck and . get away clean. I usedta put on too much side back home to get a comedown from the news she writes. I tell them in my letters, I'm on the. roof of the world. That girl can't get into the bank to find out whether I am there. State bank was all right." The taxpayers' league in Umatilla county ia becoming active in politics, according to R. W. Ritner, who ar rived in Portland yesterday morning and returned home last night. The league is presenting a questionnaire to candidates for office and is sub mitting nine questions. The first plank is: "Umatilla county taxpayers' league stands for a general revision downward of all state, county and municipal taxes to lightest possible load of taxation upon the people, con sistent with sane, economical and ef ficient government. " Another plank is: "The league favors equal and just taxation upon alt classes of property, upon the basis of Its value in dollars and cents, and that all future bonds and other obligations of state, county and municipality be made tax-bear ing." Let's build a real city." That Is what Sam H. Webb is telling the peo ple of Astoria and he promises to I work for unified co-operattoir and civic improvement for the betterment of social and economic conditions. If the Astorians will elect him as mayor to succeed James Uremmer, Incum bent, who is quoted .as saying that "he wouldn't have the job again on a bet. Mayor Bremmer is a black smith. Mr. Webb, the first mayoralty aspirant, in Astoria, or as he calls it, "The key city of. Oregon," is regis tered at the Hotel Portland. There is one thing about municipal elec tlons in Astorlr. they are never pink tea affairs and the campaigns are lalways waged furiously. W. M. Bushey, judge of Marion county, is at the Imperial. The Marion county court is planning extensive road programme for this year and intends paving about 2 miles of county roads, and the ex penditure will amount to about $375,000. Four paving plants are owned by the county and these will start up as soon as paving weather comes and be kept in operation un til the rains of autumn arrive. Michael Kelly, J. W. Blodgett and other officials of the Booth-Kelly Lumber company, which has head quarters in Eugene and holdings in many parts of the state, have ar rived at the Hotel Portland. They have been at Eugene attending the annual meeting and electing officers and directors. It promises to be one of the finest hotel3 in the state outside of Port land, the North Bend hotel, now hear ing completion at Coos Bay. The hotel is being erected as a matter of civic pride to a large extent, and is being financed by a group of men in the banking business. Ira R. Goed lin of North Bend, Or., is registered at the Perkins. - Dr. Lovejoy has decided not again rto be a candidate for congress. Dr. Lovejoy is a sensible woman. Once is plenty. Three weeks more - have been allotted for filling the chest. One can believe in miracles if it be done. The easiest 15 cents a man earns is by shining his shoes and some of the bootblacks are realizing it. This weather is solid comfort to the man who has a wife ambitious in garden lines. - You must admire the semaphore cop who holds up ' to the job in stormy weather. Every idle ten-dollar bill In man's pocket should be at work a bank. In commenting on the custom in many restaurants of calling the or ders to the kitchen In "hash house slang" such as "Adam and Eve on a raft. Wreck 'em," "double -stack but tered," "Inky Java, etc.," R. V. H. says his favorite "chow palace" has a better method. This manager makes his waiters call the orders as writ ten on the me: -i as a valuable means ot advertising. No abbreviations are allowed. They, call out "country ham, crisp, and scrambled eggs," "little sausages and waffles," "i-ot of coffee and clotted cream, etc R. V. H. says it seems to stimulate his appetite,, for this system makes it keener than to know that you are to eat "break two and iumble" or something of t.at character. Seventeen miles northwest pf Clatskanie, on the Nehalem river navigable only for canoes and not much used even for this sort of transportation since the disappear ance of the Indians is a postofflce called Birkenfeld. Maybe there are 70 people living there. A. Birkenfeld of Birkenfeld is at the Perkins. Cast You Asner These ftaestloasf 1. What insect lives longest? 2. Where does the Canada goose nest? 3. What makes the ocean currents? Answers in tomorrow's nature notes, .. Answers to Previous Questions. 1. How long will "Actias luna" or "Tropea luna," take to hatch from the chrysalid if kept indoors at even tem perature? This moth hatches in nature in early spring. Artificial conditions might vary so, that we cannot give a rule. It is not easy to hatch moth cocoons out, as in the house they dry, and the creature is likely to emerge with Its wings too dry and stiff to be properly unfolded. The cocoons should be sprinkled slightly, but regularly to keep them flexible. 2. Do any birds but pigeons feed their young by regurgitations? Yes, cormorants and herons do, also hummingbirds. 3. 1 read In the paper sometime ago that. an attempt was to be made for a man to go to the moon on a rocket Was it ever tried, and did it succeed? Hardly the sort of question for this column. We never saw the report of any alleged attempt for a human being to travel on a rocket. We would remind readers of such yarns'-to con sider that human beings cannot live beyond a certain distance from the earth, owing to atmospheric condi tions. The scientists, now trying to ascend Mount Everest, in India, the highest mountain in the world, have to take oxygen supplies to assist breathing at an altitude. The tip of this peak at 29,000 feet, is at a negligi ble height compared with the moon. ATTITUDE ASTONISHES IATMAS Retaliatory Rejection of Home Sunday Movement Held Unminlsterial. PORTLAND, March 9. (To the Edi tor.) If correctly reported in at least one local newspaper, Portland minis ters recently in monthly session re jected with contumely a suggestion from the Parent-Teacher association that March 19 be observed as "Home Sunday." Why? Because, if correctly quoted again, the proponents of Home Sun day had,. It was alleged by tha dis senting clergymen, refused to co-operate with the clergy in the dance controversy, which the ministers characterized as a great home issue. Strange reasoning, forsooth, for a man of God "An eye for an eye" a doctrine that seemed to receive fur ther indorsement from a speaker at the same session who said: "We want legislation prescribing that any man caught grafting . . . shall be lined up against the wall and shot." But to return to the ill-fated Home Sunday movement, which, so far as the ministers have powers to kill, died a-bornlng. Ministers, it was reported, not content with rejecting the Homo Sunday idea, denounced the Parent- Teacher association for the sugges tion and added with unctuous com placency that the clergy could at tend to Its own business. Its own business!" God wot not the business of him who said his work was to be about his father's business, else surely the home, the foundation of society, the seminary of all other institutions (Chapin), the backbone of all business, would be their sacro sanct business. One might think that Home Sunday as advocated by the Parent-Teacher association or as might be construed by the less ar dent church-goers was to be stay-at home Sunday. Absit omen! Nothln more terrible was suggested than tha there be on this particular Sunday 1 all the churches special stress lal on the home virtues. But the clergy men, all-wise, saw in this an attack on their Inalienable prerogative o minding their own business. Would some member of the malcon tent ministers for the sake of a sin cerelv interested layman please ex pound just what is a clergyman' business that he Is a law unto him self? The suggestion proper that the Par ent-Teacher association should not re celve the ministers' thanks for mak Ing a suggestion which might have come appropriately from tne minis ters themselves Is bad enough, bu that It should be flouted because the Parent-Teacher association had on another occasion Incurred the clergy men's odium theologicum Is unthink able. Perhaps the reverend gentlemen were misquoted. Perhaps they don't read the venal press. But If they were misquoted and If they do read the newspapers it might not be asking too much for their explanation of an attitude that seems decidedly unmln isterlal. un-Christllke and certainly not encouraging to those who do not go to church on Sunday. It might be well to have Home Sun day just the same. . That Is the opln- on of the writer, who holds no brief for the Parent-Teacher association who does not approve of dancing in the schools and who does go to church onsistently to worship, he hopes, in plrlt and In truth. A. LAYMAN. IT'S CtOTHKS THAT MAKE TIIU DIPLOMAT. In Mexico, before the wr. They dressed the diplomatic corps In feathered hats And green cravats And such Ilka radisnt raiment; And all the hidalgos and sports Went gladly off to foreign courts To represent The government. Without a cent of payment. Enough for them to be arrayed In garments of a tropic shade. If velvet suits And Russian boots They only were accorded, If through a capital they strolled In vestments made of cloth of gold. And trimmed with fur. They felt they were Sufficiently rewarded. But Obregon has changed all that. He rules that every diplomat Who fain would go From Mexico To deal with foreign nation Must wear no feathers, furs or boots. But drees In quiet evening suits. All bright array He deems too gay For diplomatic stations. In consequence there's not a gent Who Mexico will represent In any land. Now boots are banned And gala clothes abated. No Mexican would have th face To take or fill a plain clothes place. Ana UDregon. Prom this time on. Will be quite isolated. Highly Eligible, A forward looking man rosy havs no chance In politics just now. but hs makes the best kind of a chauffeur. Good Weather for Golf. It will soon be spring In Scotland. and Lloyd George won't have to go so far from home to attend confer. ences. Left Ont. Up to date the Princess Mary's great-ereat-unele's wedding Invita tion hadn't arrived. ffopyrlsrht by the Pell Rvndlrst, Tn. Desolation. By Grart K. Hall. The waves tonight creep to ths silent sand And, moaning, fling themselves upon the shore; You passed today they seem to understand That you will leave an imprint nevermore; A gull dips low, with weird sni pleading cry. And looks for you, dear heart, In winging by. Alixre, I stand tonight beside the grave Wherein wa two have laid our lova away; Down on the beach I watch a sinu ous wave Drench from the, sands your foot prints of today; And, desolate as the lone gull In Its sweep. I kneel upon the rocks, my own, snd weep. Darwin's Birthplace Bought, Scientific American. Mount House, Shrewsbury, with the famous Darwin walk, a wooded prom enade high above the Severn, has been bought by the office of - works to house It clerks. Dr. D. W. Dutton of The Dalles has been meeting golf experts in the lobby of the Multnomah and get ting their opinion as to the best way to lay out a course. The newly-or ganized golf club at The Dalles will have a course on ground owned by the doctor. Walter P. Reed of Reedsport, Or., Douglas county. Is at the Imperial. Mr. Reed is chaisman of the port of Umpqua commission, president of the Reedsport Townsite company and various other activities in that sec tion. Wednesday afternoon at 3 o'clock Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Crockett were married in Pendleton, and yesterday morning they landed at the Benson on their honeymoon. Mr. Crockett Is in the newspaper business. Someone wrote "It's the limit" after the name of F. S. Bramwell on the register of the Hotel Oregon. Mr. Bramwell likes to register "It's the climate," and has reference to Grants Pass. Governor Olcott was in Portland yesterday in regard to the institution for the sightless. Sam A Kozer, sec retary of state, was also here on the same mission. . WHENCE COMES ITS STHEATGTHf Why Bank Is Safer When la Federal Reserve System. COTTAGE GROVE, Or.. March 8 (To the Editor.) 1 notice In The Oregonlan an advertisement of the Northwestern National bank, In which it solicits savings deposits. xni advertisement closes with the state ment that it is a member of the fed- ral reserve system. Because of the recent State bank of Portland failure, this advertise ment is of unusual Interest, not only me but also to many of your other readers outside of Portland, as Well as in it. Anv losers in this bank s failure will be inclined from this time on to denosit their savings in their stock ings rather than any bank, and In order to secure these deposits it is up to the banks soliciting their pat ronage to give some evidence that their institutions are safe in reality as well as In name, and I am per euaded that the announcement that the above bank belongs to the fed eral system is for this purpose. I have long held that we should have a banking system so safe that when one made a deposit In any bank it should be as safe as though in vested In a government bond. I have also believed that the federal reserve system was a step in that direction, but with my imperfect knowledge of that system I am free to confess that I am not sure, and Inasmuch as others who are perhaps better Informed than I contend that the depositor in one of these banks Ls no better secured against loss tha a depositor In a bank outside of the system. I am anxious to know the facts and I feel sure that many of the readers of The Oregonian will be greatly pleased if the subject is treated editorially in the near- future. If the depositor In one of these reserve banks has any greater security than one out of the system, please tell us how, and If not, tell us why the existence of the sys tem. O. M. KEM. The information desired is given In an article on mis page. In Other Day. Twenty-Five Years .To. From The Oregonlan of March 10, 1RI7. John Myers, president of the Com mercial & Savings bank, was yester day appointed chief of police to suc ceed Iwls Kobertson, who resigned ten days ago. Washington. President MoKlnley and the cabinet held their first formal meeting at-11 o'clock today. Cincinnati. A heavy rsln, followed by an outpouring of the Llrklng river, caused alarm about the flood frui tion and precautions are being taken. Plans have been completed for. sn1 a survey made of, the flume site at the mine of the Klamath l'lums A Mining company, at the big bend of Klamath river. Mining operations will start shortly. Fifty Years Ago. From The Oregonlan of March 10. 172. Brownsville, Tex. A party of trmfi men, thought to be Cortinas, cross'1'! the river at Santa Maria ranch an'1 captured all the residents, Including two customs inspectors. After steal ing a thousand head of cattle, the maurauders released their captives. Washington A bill for the rV- t ment of $100 bounty to soldiers, their I widows and orphans, was passea. Los Angeles. Trouble ls brewing among the miHsion inuiani ot sun Luis Rey. Appeal has been made to Superintendent Whiting. The first run of Chinook salmon has commenced running into market. About 80 men are now employed st the O. & C. R. R. machine shop No. 1. and the force soon Is to be increase'! A letter came through the mall yes terday addressed to Clackamas lirideo. That office was moved the other day by high water particular loca -ity not now known. Depositors In Ileservo Bank. PORTLAND, March 9. (To th Edi tor.) 1. Klnd'y Inform me If a de positor In any federal reserve hnnK s absolutely guaranteea oi tne satciy of his sav' igs in such a bank. In case' of a run on the bank necessitate ng temporary suspension or rumis does not the government make good ail deposits? 2. What form of certificate or bond of short duration Issu'-d by lie government pays best rate of Interett and what rate? A SUliaCitlllKK. 1. There ls not an absolute guur ntee. Read the article on this ph"" ntitled "Its Source of Strength. 2. Your question is not definite to whether you irean tfoverntnent ta urines heretofore Issued or those ewly available. Several contingen cies such as the period to maturity and the issue price affect some of them. If contemplating Investment c nsult your banker for particulars. "A" Perurlty of Bnnk Deposit aim. PORTLAND, March S. (To tho Kiii to:) 1. Kindly explain In what mn a bank holding membership In the federal reserve bttter saleiTiiaKis Its depositors. 2. Are the United States National an.'. First National banks of this city members of the federal reserve? a sl'usciu ui:r.. 1. Read the article on tb! page entitled "Its Source of Strength. " 2. The United States National am First National are members of tho" fedeml reserve.