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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1922)
X 3 THE MORNTXG OREGONIAN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL, 19, 1922 established BY HKNKY I- PITTOCK - Published by The Oregonian Publishing- Co. C. A. iioedex!1" rt "e. b. piper, i tnose rates afte- thev had been driven Manager. Editor, from the field and were ill prepared The Oregonian is a member of the Asso- to handle this class of traffic, espe cUited Press. The Associated Press la ex- cjaiv jn booming times, ciusively entiOed to the use tor publication r" . iT,renH .rp!lt(, of ail n. diuihH ritd to it or not: congress run nn intend to create otherwise credited in this paper and also tht local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein l are aiso reserved. Subscription Hates Invariably In Advance. (By Mail.) Dally, Sunday Included, one year. .. .18.00 Xaily. Sunday Included, six months.. 4.25 Daily. Sunday included, three months. 2.25 aily, Sunday included, one month... .75 Daily, without Sunday, one year.. . 6.00 r-aily, without Sunday, six months... 3.25 Daily, without Sunday, one month.... .00 Sunday, one year 2.50 (By Carrier.) Daily, Sunday included, one year. . . ,$9.O0 Dally, Sunday included, three months. 2.25 Daily, Sunday Included, one month.... .75 - Daily, without Sunday, one year 7.80 Daily, without Sunday, three months. 1.05 Daily, without Sunday, one month.... .65 How to Remit Send postoffice money ercer. express or personal check on your Joe a! uank. Stamps, coin or currency are at owner's risk. Give postoffice address in xiiii. including county and state. rostaa-e Rates 1 to 16 pages. 1 cent; 18 to 32 pages, 2 cents; 34 to 48 pages, a cei.ts; 50 to 64 pages, 4 cents; 66 to 80 pages. 6 cents; 82 to 96 pages, 6 cents. Foreign postage double rate. Eastern Business Office Verree & Conk- Jin, 300 Madison avenue. New York; Verree A Conklin, Steger building. Chicago; Ver ree & Conklin. Free Press building. De troit. Mich.; Verree & Conklin, Monadnock bunding, San Francisco. CaL A BLOW AT COMPETITION. If the findings of Examiner Disque on the transcontinental rate case should be sustained by the inter state commerce commission, railroads would be forbidden to compete with lntercoastal shipping lines. By hold ing the words1 "reasonably compen satory" to preclude exception to the long-and-short-haul clause on trans continental traffic, Mr. Disque In ef fect holds that railroads ' may not carry this traffic at materially lower margin over cost than they carry other traffic. On that basis they would be practically shut out; the water lines would get all of the com petitive traffic. The ground on which the con clusions are based is that congress intended to protect water lines from - railroad competition, for the exam Jner says: Lower rail rates to farther distant points than to intermediate points should not be permitted to operate unduly to the detri ment of water lines. I'enial of the right to make com petitive rates except on a few com modities, as to which rates are placed so high as to be out of reach, in fact, means that railroads must not operate at all to the detriment of water lines; "unduly" is far too mild a word to use in justification of so extreme an opinion. If this be the true construction of the law, it is a complete reversal of the practice that prevailed before regulation of transportation began. Then the rail roads put the water lines out of busi ness. That was one of their chief offenses, to prohibit which the whole code of interstate commerce laws was enacted. The law has been working steadily to restore the com petition which they destroyed. Such was one of the chief purposes in building the Panama canal and in exempting coastwise ships from tolls and in denying use of the canal to railroad controlled ships. Under those laws, powerfully aided by our acqui sition of a merchant fleet, water competition has been fully restored. The Disque findings would carry us to the other extreme by putting the railroads out of transcontinental busi . ness. They would destroy compe- - tition between the two systems of transportation. This was not the intent of con gress. It is contrary to the whole spirit of all our legislation on busi , ness of all kinds since the first feeble interstate commerce law was enacted. The purpose has been to keep com petition alive and to restore it where it had been killed. The Sherman anti-trust law under which several . of the most important decisions re lating to railroads have been ren dered is directed against "restraint of trade," of which transportation, by either rail or ship, is an essential instrument. If the Esch-Cummins act should be construed so that it prevents railroads from competing with ships, the law itself would re strain trade and would thereby de feat the purpose of a mass of legisla tion extending over more than thirty years. Injury would be. done by this law imposed restraint as grave as any that arises from restraints that the law forbids. Free from railroad com petition and from that of foreign ships, lntercoastal lines could agree on rates without regard to compe tition outside of their own combina tion. They have their rate confer ences, and the government, through . the shipping board, is an influential party to them. The board operates , vessels on intercoastal lines and has 1500 ships for sale. It has a strong ' motive for making rates high enough to overcome its excessive cost of operation and to make a market for sale of its fleet. If the Disque opin ion should be adopted by the in terstate commission railroad rates across the continent would be frozen to the rate basis of traffic on which there is and can be no water compe tition. Shipping companies would need only to agree on a basis of rates sufficiently below this frozen rail road basis in order to prevent any of their traffic from being captured by the railroads, and the shipping board would work with them. Unlike the interstate commission, which regu lates railroads owned and operated . by privately owned corporations, the . board is not a regulator of private ehips; it is itself the largest owner and operator of ships in the world. Under the present law it has far more arbitrary power than has the interstate commission, and with the support of President Hardiag it is asking congress for further power, equally arbitrary. Having killed off railroad compe tition, the commission would leave us dependent for transportation be tween the two coasts on water Iinest over which it has no jurisdiction. Ship-owners would be under no com pulsion to render the people continu ous, efficient, economical service. Railroad companies cannot pick up their property and transfer it to an other more profitable field; it is a part of or attached to the soil. Ship owners are free to transfer their ves sels from intercoastal routes to for eign trade in any of the seven seas that offers more profit for the time being. This is no remote possibility. Foreign trade has already begun to revive, and that revival is bound to continue. Within a few years it may attain such proportions as to demand the use of "every ship afloat at highly j renioneiiUve rates. Then we should ' j have to pay equivalent rates to the i frozen basis imposed on tne ran i roada and if these were below what 1 foreign commerce offered, we should h t return to the railroads at such a situation. The tenor of all laws bearing on the subject is that water competition with railroads must be restored, and that the two systems of transportation must be preserved in active competition one with the other, neither being per mitted to eliminate the other. The amendment to the fourth section of the interstate commerce law on which Mr. Disque bases his findings should be construed in harmony with the plain purpose of all relevant laws and with the policy of preserving competition which the people by their votes have repeatedly indorsed. Interpreted with full regard to that purpose and policy, the words "rea sonably compensatory" mean yield ing such compensation as is possible under conditions of competition be tween rail and water lines. THE FARMER'S SHARE OP TAXES. The statement has been published in upstate newspapers and is other wise current that farm land pays 72 per cent or 82 per cent, or some other crreat nrooortion. of the total taxes- in Oregon. A correspondent who has apparently heard the tale but has not verified the figures gives it repetition in a letter printed today. Under the most liberal estimate farm property, real and personal. pays less than one-third of the taxes. The report of the state tax commis sion shows that the assessed value of town and city lots, and improve ments thereon, is more than the as sessed value of tillable lands and improvements thereon. If - to the latter be added the items of farm implements and livestock, the per centage is 32.6656 of the total state valuation. This Is not intended as an argu ment against readjustment of taxes. but is printed to correct an erroneous impression which if allowed to spread may result in basing tax re adjustments on rumor and preju dice. WHILE THE LIGHT HOLDS OUT. The Oregonian is startled to find in the Salem Capital Journal, long time friend of the direct primary and enemy of the wicked bosses (now mostly dead and gone) the fol lowing outbreak straight from the heart, under the title "A Safeguard Needed : The character, reputation and general intelligence of some of the candidates fil ing for office under that glorious free-for- all known as the direct primary is such as to necessitate some means of protection for the public, lest government be left in the hands of crooks, near-crooks, morons and feeble-minded. This can be done by the passage of constitutional amendment requiring all candidates for office to take the Binet or other mental tests and disqualifying those with mentalities rating less than 12 years of age. The age is fixed at 12 because the army tests of drafted men during the war showed that this was about the average of popular intelligence. m m m Of course it will be declaj-ed that this is a free country and that the moron has God-given right to run for office, but it la very evident that if we elect to office men of the type of some of those now seeking it, we will soon have anarchy. In reality there Is not so much danger of electing this class of office-seekers, but the long-suffering public is at least en titled to relief from the nuisance and hu miliatlon of seeing their names on the ballot, their pictures in the papers, and the clamor of their candidacies, which are -a satire on popular government. Meaning which? Or whom? Now what does the Capital Jour nal propose as a safeguard? ' THE CASK FOB COLD STORAGE. Any doubt that cold storage should be provided at the Portland munici pal docks if they are to be fully equipped to ship fruit and other per ishable products of the Columbia basin was removed by the formidable array of testimony that backed up the report presented to the dock commission by the agricultural com mittee of the chamber of commerce. Representatives of one fruit district after another bore witness that this addition should be mate to existing facilities in order that fresh fruit may be placed in the h'ands of con sumers in good condition, for the large proportion of the crop must be carried by water to the greatest mar kets. While production of perish ables in the country between the Rocky mountains arid the Pacific ocean exceeds 539,000 tons a year, Portland can now care for only 37,000 tons, though It is the natural shipping point for all of that vast area. The possibility of carrying fresh fruit in refrigerator ships through the tropics and landing it in good condition at distant markets was long since proved. South Africa and Australia carry on this traffic with Europe successfully by keeping fruit in a uniform, low temperature on the train, on the dock, on the ship, on the dock at the port of discharge, all the way to the retailer. Varia tion of temperature injures the fruit and consequently the good name of the district where it is grown. While the apples of the Pacific northwest are the equal of any in the world, all countries in the temperate zone grow apples, and we can market our great crop only by exercising care all along the line from the grower to the consumer. This Is the best region in the world for growing ber ries, and the field for their sale is unlimited, provided they are cold stored on railroad, dock and ship without change of temperature. To fruit should be added increasing shipments of butter, cheese and eggs. To the fact that the Seattle dock commission has been beforehand in erecting cold storage warehouses may fairly be attributed the fact that last year it shipped 41,287 tons of perishables by water as compared with 17,243 ton- from Portland. That tonnage helped to attract ships to the Puge: sound port by its large contribution to their cargoes. . Much of it was drawn from territory that is naturally tributary to Portland, i and was attracted not only by the existence of cold storage on the docks but by the lower rate, which is still only two-thirds of that at pri vate plants In Portland after a deep cut Dy tne latter, xne orrers of a guaranteed tonnage from Hood Riv er and several other districts insure enough business for the proposed first unit of 5000 tons. Provision of this facility will surely brlrrsr much more and will bring refrigerator ships, as existence of the elevator brought enough wheat to fill it Growers in the Wenatchee district, which shipped 14,000 carloads last season, and from the Yakima dis- trict, are keen for the opportunity to ohip through Portland, and the pro- jected Wenatchee Southern railroad and line from Takima would connect them with the roads that follow the Columbia river. The same arguments that led the dock commission to provide equip ment for shipment of grain, -vege table oil, phosphates, coal and other products hold good as to fruit and other perishables. In fact there is better assurance that a cold storage warehouse would earn interest on its cost than there was as to any of the other facilities mentioned. Water shipment of fruit from the north Pacific coast has only begun, and its merits as to saving of freight and sound condition of shipments on de livery are so great that growers are keen for it, and the estimate of a 100 per cent increase following erec tion of a cold storage warehouse may prove too conservative. GET THE RIGHT MAN. We are interested not a little in tLe statement of the invaluable and influential Seattle Post-Intelligencer that there is great dissatisfaction among republicans of Washington with Senator Poindexter, and that "more than half the staunch repub lican party leaders in the state, scat tered throughout the various com munities, have indicated they prefer another to the man who, for twelve years, represented Washington in the United States senate." Mr. Hearst is a novice in Wash ington politics, else he would have known that there always was dis satisfaction with Mr. Poindexter among many republicans. Tet he has been twice nominated by repub licans and elected to the senate by the people. Apparently they are falriy well satisfied with him when he ij ;i candidate, but greatly dis pleased with him as a senator. The Oregonian is among those who have not admired Senator Poin dexter either as candidate or as sen ator. Now Mr. Hearst shares our view. It might be disconcerting ex cept for the fact that Mr. Hearst is annoyed with Senator Poindexter for voting for the four-power pact, while The -Oregonian found in his action therein subject for approval. "The right man" observes the Post-Intelligencer, "can beat Sen ator Poindexter this fall." No doubt. Will our sagacious and high-minded Seattle contemporary enlighten us as to the Identity of the right man, rubber-stamped with the indelible mark of the Hearst support, so that some of the rest of us may be much clearer as to what should be done? FAILURE IX THE TEST. "The test of the county's financial soundness is the excess of current assets represented by cash on hand over current liabilities represented by outstanding warrants," says W. Li. Lightner in announcing his can didacy for county commissioner. It is another- way of saying that one test of the business efficiency of county administration is whether it spends more than it takes in. When a county's current debts ex ceed the money wherewith it has to pay, the warrants it issues become in effect promissory notes. Extrava gance, or Indifference, or lack of financial understanding, or whatever it may be that causes a county to go behind, is as costly as is need less indebtedness" to the private in dividual. The county, as does the individual, pays interest. The county was in debt for ordi nary expenses following the finan cial depression of 18 9 3. It did not pull out until 1905. Now it is in the hole again after nearly fifteen years deeply in the hole, whatever the temporary showing may be as a re sult of spring tax payments. The county began 1921 with a current debt of $114,000 and by the end of the year had doubled it. There has been business depression but no great financial disaster. But if the charitable view be adopted that the bad state of county finances is due to the business depression, there re mains the inescapable conclusion that hard times provide the fire test of official fitness. Care, foresight, understanding would avoid the consequences of financial depression. They are quali ties needed in all public offices. They are qualities shown by concrete re sults to be lacking in this county's affairs. RUSSO-GERMAN DEFIANCE. In going behind the backs of the other nations at the Genoa confer ence and secretly making a separate treaty, Germany and the soviet gov ernment of Russia have acted strict ly according to form. They have added the capstone to the mountain of proof that both of them have been piling up for years, that the only guaranty by which either can be held to any engagement is supe rior force. They have justified those who said in 1918 that the only terms which should have been named to Germany were that the allied armies should occupy the capital, the prin cipal cities, the fortresses and the ports, and that peace terms should be dictated in Berlin. This act of perfidy may easily put the Genoa conference on the rocks. All the fertility of resource and skill In managing men that Lloyd George possesses will be needed to save it. Polncare and Barthou have a ' fine opportunity to say for France: "We told you so. We told you the Ger mans and bolshevists would not play fair." French indignation may be so fierce that France may with dif ficulty be restrained from resort to radical measures which would re kindle the fires of war. But Germany and its bolshevist confederates may have overplayed their hand. Both have kept Europe in a state of chronic irritation, the Germans by their persistent viola tion of the Versailles treaty, the bol shevists by their revolutionary agi tation and by their breach of every engagement that they have made. Their final flagrant act of bad faith on the first occasion when the allies had credited them with good faith by inviting them into conference on terms of equality may well unite all other nations of Europe against them. By leading the allies in the p-actical expulsion of Germany from the conference, Lloyd George has held the reins and has prevented them from falling into the hands of the French element, now in control, which aches to finish the job that it believes to have been left unfinished in 191 S and at the same time to make an end of bolshevism in Rus sia. There should be no misapprehen sion in this country there will be none in Europe of the certain con sequences if the Russo-German treaty should stand and be put in effect. German capital, which should have been collected in taxes to pay reparations, would pour into Russia. German business, executive and technical brains would go with it to replace the Russian brains which th-e reds destroyed. The Russian people would be returned to practical serf, dom under the joint rule of the Ger mans and the bolshevists. The vast sweep of country extending through central Europe and northern Asia from the Rhine to the Pacific ocean would be under the united rule of the forces which are led by Luden dorff and Stinnes in Germany, by Lenin and Trotsky in Russia. Amer icans cannot contemplate such a prospect calmly. They will realize how impossible is the isolation with which the irreconcilables have tried to delude them. This dream of the Russo-German megalomaniacs cannot be made real Its portentous possibilities have al ready united Europe against it. The allies will surely cease trifling with Germany and coquetting with the soviet. The treaty will surely force them to end the post-war farce that has held the stage since the armis tice was signed. HOPE UNDIMMED BI AGE. The death in Spokane of a man who came west at the age of 77 to find a new home and grow up with the country is a reminder that the first immigrations to the northwest had their quotas of pioneers whose hope of beginning life over again in a new land was not abated by the weight of years. It Is now recalled that the father of James B. Stephens, an early respected citizen of Ore gon, braved the dangers of the trail at the age of 80 and arrived at the end of his journey none the worse for his experience. William Shaw, who also came in 1844, had been a soldier of the war of 1812, so that he is likely to have been fairly well advanced in years. Veterans of 1812, indeed, contin ued to seek homes on the Pacific coast while tha overland caravans kept coming and before the railroad was built. The records of the Ore gon Historical society contain the names of a score of them, and . large numbers of others joined in the rush to California. It is necessary to an appreciation of the youthful spirits of these old-young men to bear in mind the extraordinary hardships of overland travel then, which have had no counterpart in more than half a century in this country and ha,ve not been duplicated by any great movement of population in the history of the world. For a story of unremitting and assiduous pioneering by one who might well have pleaded age as an excuse for preferring his fireside and carpet slippers, however, we shall need to go a long way to beat that of the Rev. Samuel Parker, who was in his sixties when in 1835 he made an extended tour of the whole Ore gon country in behalf of .the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis sions, in the course of which he chose with rare judgment and dis crimination the sites for several mis sions afterward maintained by the board in the region that is now east ern Washington and Idaho. The celebrated Whitman mission was one of them. The Rev. Mr. Parker, who was in his sixties, made a survey of amazing thoroughness and em balmed his observations in a book that for a good while was a vade mecum for adventurous pioneers about to set out for the west. His yonthul spirit not only overcame all personal obstacles, but communi cated Itself to others and was a noteworthy influence in turning the tide of population toward the west. Jesse Quinn Thornton tells in nis Oregon and California" of the bur ial by the immigrants of 1846 of a woman in her seventies before the train had reached the Platte river. The elders of those migrations more often survived, however. Mortality was sometimes dreadfully high among the very young. The "wild west" is obsolete. The invention of the automobile has transferred the scene of activity to the east, showing that human nature is pretty much the same the world over and that all a man neeas wno wants to misbehave is the oppor tunity and reasonable assurance of a getaway. Twenty-five thousand applications In a year from presumably law-abid- ng citizens of New York ror permits to carry pistols indicate that some thing may be wrong besides the po lice. The efficacy of speedy trials and adequate sentences remains to be tried in Gotham. An undergraduate of the Univer tv of Idaho has set a new collegiate record by eating 30 cjss at a sitting. Thus are exemplified the benefits of higher education. Portland ranks as eleventh city in the United States in March building nermita. What's that to crow about? Wait until it wins a baseball pen nant. More people will know Philip Withycombe becaus he withdrew from the race for nomination for governor than if he had stayed in. Murder still seems the easiest crime to commit in this state and hardest to punish. The "waiting" list at Salem is encouragement. Letters from Oregonians to friends in places of former residence in the tornado-stricken states will be good immigration literature. That v moonshiner who asks the government to return to him his still, seized illegally, at least has one hun dred proof nerve. Whether Fatty Arbuckte comes back depends a good deal on whether the public ' wishes to sink itself to his level. Boycott of houses that show Ar- buckle films Is not necessary. The owners are able to read the public mind. This seems to be the beginning of a year of Wilson denial. Tumulty and Reed are the cocks to crow bit terly. Holding office in the Irish Free State appears to be fully as exciting as running for office elsewhere. Anv omen in such ooeninff-rla v weather for Portland? Wait until ' October. With go? ernor and mayor on the field, who were they to kiss? Everybody having enough, let the poor smelt go- The Listening Post. By Be Witt Harry. I T seems that yarns nearly always though yesterday's column contained a verse dedicated to the smelt, we have to reopen the subject once more at the earnest behest of Lavigne, who writes: "A few years ago a bill-of-fare ap peared in The Oregonian which seems to be very timely now. Those seeking to reduce the high cost of a fish appe tite might try it. Breakfast. Fried smelt. Coffee. Luncheon. i Baked smelt. Milk. Dinner. Smelt Cocktail. Smelt Soup. Stewed smelt. Smelt gratln. Smoked smelt. Black coffee. "Speaking of sme'lt, you don't know how glad a lot of us are that Paul has retired and we hope Ole will visit us real often." This menu seems all very well as far as it goes, but what about a smelt salad with thousand island dressing, or smelt sandwiches served at 4 o'clock in the afternoon with a weak dish of green tea? Which brings us down to the tale of one of the writers, who works on those spicy little editorial paragraphs in The Oregonian. When tlie run started he turned in a neat little bit about eating smelt three times a day and keeping the poorhouse far away, or something of that kind. ince then the neighbors had been inundating his home with smelt, for he is too much the gentleman to hurt any of their feelings by refusing. Smelt come in pails and plates and paper parcels, and are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Just as he left home Sunday, after getting rid of the last couple of batches, yet another in stallment of the little fish arrived, and when he phoned home in tha aft ernoon his wife notified him that sev eral other acquaintances had called during the day and that she had an other 25 pounds or so on hand. He decided not to go home for dinner driven away by smelt! It may become necessary to reserve a special section of this column for flapper stuff. " Though we have pub lished several installments of the latest slang and a little eyebrow gos sip, we did not mean to make the sub ject all important. However, the poets have been busy, Lavigne's favored Ole and Phil Thompson also, so herewith a special flapper poetry section: Ole Concerning; Flappers. I seem lak eferbody tank Dey haft give flappers vun gude yank, An making speech and printing stuff Bote skoolgirl using powder-puff. An raising Cain abote har skirt; Cause grandma's yust ban drag in dirt. Val, liar ban vot ol Ole tank: Das parents needing gude big spank For letting des har flappers flap An not ban caring single rap. Ay lak har old-time slipper vhack An gude home-rule ban coming back. An mak dos smart young vomen sit An see if dey skol learn to knit, Or darning sock, or sewing dress. Or giving father's pants gude press. Ay tank dos girls skol not ban blame, Ven most der mothers doing same, An' vearing guide short flapper clothes An' dabbing powder on der nose. If ve gone let young folks ban boss Ay tank cart ban in front of hoss. An' pa an' ma skol better tak Das blame for som of cracks ve mak. OLE OLESON. The Flapper's Say. O'er the floor the light fantastic Tripping, we two. like elastic; Swinging, swaying with a jazz tune In a dark hall 'neath a fake moon. Pretty head against my shoulder Snug around the waist I hold her Pep-ftlled ball of fluffy pink Lisping lingo, wicked wink, Twisting, twirling with abandon Never looking where she's landin'; Flippant flapper on a spree. This is what she said to me: .. "In the Sunday supplement-o. That you buy for just five cent-o Some goofy low-down Plato Has spread the salve upon his slate-o All about the modern flappo. Says she's nothing but a sappo. Wish I knew that raw potato To the goof I thus would state-o: 'What folks think about our tango Liquor flasks or slurring slang-o. Rolled socks, short skirts and bobbed hair -o. We Just don't give a care-o. 'Cause we're going to have our fling-o. With our liquor and our lingo, 'Fore our vim and pep some day go. And we're crippled with lumbago.' " . PHIL THOMPSON. Alva B. Brown of the public employ ment bureau writes: "Your recent story about the Swiss cheese needs the following: "Little Mary, aged 4, had a father who came down to breakfast one morning, and while at the table, com plained of a terrible goneness in his stomach. Little Mary at once spoke up, saying: Wliy, daddy, that comes from the big holes in the cheese you ate last night.' " For the benefit of those who have been working on the trick sentence printed Monday, this column offers to judge any differences of opinion, and if desired will publish later the cor rect spelling, as per the statement of the conditions. Parents who have trouble in talking before precocious children adopt many subterfuges to mask their thoughts. One of the most usual is to spell out anything they do not care for the children to hear. One little tad, aged 4, is so adept that he can catch al most anything not camouflaged in some way. Spelling things out is an old story to him. Just the other day he was trying to climb a neighbor's fence when his mother saw him and called him back. Incensed, he said: "Oh, J-w-r-x!" Not in a spirit of ridicule, but solely for the reason that It is amusing, this department herewith prints the story of a lodge rally and initiation at a nearby town, just as sent in by a cor respondent: The Initiatory Cerimony fully meas ured up to the Expectations of the Can didates and members, the full exemply fication of the work being put on useing the sterioptican Slides in the lecture work. 30 members from a nearby town, and delegations from other lodges were also present and Joined in the Beautiful Ritualistic Cerimony. the Large Moos hall was secured for this special occasion and was Filled to overflowing, following the Class Initiation and regular order of Business, refreshments was served by the ladies of the Council and the Balance of .v.- Rvninfl was Snent in danceing and -...mi .ntprtainment when the town clock announced the midnight hour the Visitors maae a rus i . and the Sleeping population was Arroused By the usual roar of Starting automobiles and ail started on their Return tripe to their Respective Localities. expressing their highest Compliments to the Deputy and members of the council for their large class oi candidates and the Splendid Manner in Which the Visitor were entertained. Those Who Come and Go. Tales of Folk at the Hotels. There are two things of which John Hampshire of Grants Pass is proud. The first is that he is a demo crat and the second is that he loves a baseball game. To gratify the latter craving Mr. Hampshire, who is reg istered at the Hotel Portland, was one of the first of the fans at the ball park yesterday and when he returned to his room after the game he was hoarse from venting his enthusiasm. Mr. Hampshire is the contractor who built the Pacific highway through what is erroneously called Cow Creek canyon., but the highway is on the other side of the mountain from Cow creek. He also hewed the highway from Camas vallev to Remote, on the Roseburg-Coos Bay highway, one of the most expensive pieces of grading hat the state highway commission has had to undertake. For 12 years John J. Kelly has lived in Morrow county and followed the sheep business, lie arrived in Portland yesterday and registered from Heppner at the Imperial. Like many other residents of eastern Ore gon, he says that the stockmen would not have known what to do during the recent prolonged winter if there had not been the hay crop of two years to draw on. With all the avail able old stock disposed of, Mr. Kelly predicts a high price for hay this year, a matter which provokes no an noyance to the farmers is the alfalfa belt.. Several weeks ago, states Mr. Kelly, there was some contracting of wool on the sheeps' back, but this flurry of activity has ceased during the past month. So far as E. r. Cusick is concerned, the republican primaries will be a mere incident, for Mr. Cusick is the only candidate for the senatorial dis trict composed of Linn and Lane counties and this means that he will be nominated without having a card printed. Although it is somewhat early to discuss, organization of the legislature, there is now considerable talk to the effect that Mr. Cusick may be the next president of th'e senate. Mr. Cusick is registered at the Im perial from Albany. J. N. Williamson, who will look after the letters and postal cards at the Prinevllle postoffice for the next few years, arrived at the Hotel Port land yesterday from Crook county. Mr. Williamson is one of' the best known residents of central Oregon. Years ago he was a member of the legislature and later he became a member of congress. Until about year ago he was an important figure in the sheep industry. With a pocketful of campaign cards, containing an excellent like ness of himself and his platform, W. W. Lunger of Lafayette, Yamhill county, was in Portland yesterday. It may seem a long way from home to do electioneering for a legislative candidate in Yamhill, but Mr. Lunger found several dozen Yamhillers and delivered to each one his campaign speech and a card. James E. Grieve, who has the hotel at Prospect, on the road to Crater lake, is among the arrivals at the Multnomah. Mr. Grieve predicts great increase in the number of tour ists to the lake this summer, for as the marvels of this lake in the crater of an extinct volcano become better known each year, the throng of visitors will increase. Twenty minutes to one yesterday morning appears to nave Deen a pop ular hour for retiring. Hotel regis ters show that an unusual number of men from surrounding small towns all applied for rooms at that time. A few stragglers got to the hotels at 2 A. M. The belated patrons regis tered from Eugene, Estacada, Astoria, McMinnville and The Dalles. Norborne Berkeley of Pendleton is at the Imperial. He is the one lone democrat In that county who is a can didate for the legislature. A few months ago Mr. Berkeley was one of the active factors in the organization of the Taxpayers league in Umatilla county. , Westport, Or., on the lower Colum bia, has a very complete and strictly modern sawmill, one of the best in the state, and its exports run Into the millions of feet annually. H. N. Ja- cobson, H. L. Maling and W. C. Hol land, all connected with the sawmill at Westport, are registered at the Hotel. Portland. There isn't anything that B. O. Stampe likes better than to get out on the job constructing a new rail road line. This is his specialty. Mr. Stampe is registered at the Perkins from Goble, whioh once upon a, time was where the railroad trains were landed from the Washington shore via a ferry. L. F. Pourtales, representing the American manufacturers' Foreign Credit Underwriters, has reservations for the Multnomah. Years ago there was quite a stir when the daughter., of Ben Holladay married Count de Pourtales. Mr. Pourtales is a member of the same family. Ever so often W. G. Ward comes to Portland with a shipment of livestock from Caldwell, Idaho. He is in town on one of his periodic trips and is at the Perkins. The livestock business is somewhat better in Idaho than it has been. Admittedly on a political mission, C. E. Ingalls, editor of Corvallis, and E. A Miller, real estate dealer of the college town, were in Portland yes terday. Having secured the informa tion they desired they motored back home last evening. . Robert A. Booth, chairman of the' gate highway commission, is in town to attend the meeting which will be held today when a number of contracts, which were taken under advisement last week, will be dis posed of. Fred W. Wilson, circuit judge of the seventh judicial district, came down from The Dalles ye-terday and headed out for the baseball park after registering at the Hotel Portland. C. W. Mount, who deals in ship ments of fruit, with his headquarters at Spokane, is at the Hotel Portland. He is accompanied by A T. Irish. also of the city by the falls. F. W. Powers of the lumbering town of Powers, In Coos county, is at the Multnomah. He Is also a mem ber of the state commercial fish com mission. G. A. Edmunds, the president of the Tillamook Mercantile company, of the cheese metropolis, is at the Hotel Portland. Commissioner of Education. PORTLAND, April 18. (To the Edi tor.) Have we a minister or secre tary of education at Washington, and what are the general duties of that department? H. RICHARDSON. There is a commissioner of educa tion, who is at the head of a bureau of that name in the department of the interior, Washington, D. C. The office is largely advisory and admin istrative. He makes educational sur veys and recommendations based thereon, compiles statistics, has au thority over territorial schools and urWer some federal laws has the ap portionment of certain funds. Burroughs Nature Club. Copyright, Houghton-Mifflin Co. Can You Answer These Questions 1. Is amber any use except for ornaments and pipe ends? 2. Can a 'bird "stand atill" in the air? 3. Why are the hard lumps in coal called clinkerst Answers in tomorrow's nature notes. Answers to Previous Questions. 1. What gives the velvety "nap" to butterflies' wings? The velvet, or feathers, as they are sometinfes called, are really a scaly covering laid on in regular rows, shingle-style. Each minute scale is ribbed, and has a notched end where it overlays the row below, as may be seen by microscope. These Bcales are so tiny that when rubbed off on the fingers they seem only like soft, col ored dust. 2. Why does man have a chin when the animals don't? Originally probably man did not have what we call a chin. Fossil re mains of man show a lower jaw from which the teeth slope forward Just as they do in the muzzle of ani mals. It Is hard to say what started his teeth to crowd together and draw back from their original angle. His food habit may have had something to do with-this, and it has been sug gested that the greater supply of blood absorbed by his developing brain may have helped the bones of the face to adopt their shape as we know it. 3. We have been bothered every year with robins spoiling our cher ries. Is it wrong to shoot birds when they become a pest? They seem a pest because you see exactly what harm they do; but with out the robins, your cherry crop would be poorer than with them owing to the depredations of insects unchecked by robins. Insects will not only reduce your cherry crop, but may seriously injure the trees, de foliating them, and t,hu preventing the tree from storing a norma amount of nourishment. Better offer the robins water to keep them from slaklnir thirst on cherry Juice, and plant eome wild mulberry for counter bait. single: tax ijr the keverse Correspondent Suggests Exemption of Farm Lands to Promote Prosperity. BROWNSVILLE, Or., April 17. (To the Editor.) Apropos of the article of Paul C. Bates In The Oregonian against income taxes, I have observed of late that very little, If any, out side capital, usually aggregating some millions of dollars, is being 'invested In Oregon farms. Probably they can not view with any great confidence the ownership of a hunk of land in a state that compels it to pay 72 per cent of the taxes, and probably be lieve that they can make investments elsewhere in land not so burdened with taxes. It is my observation that all who advocate such land tax bur dens are doing all they can to retard the development of our vast and un developed latent resources in untitled land. Furthermore, unless this burden Is lifted from the farmer by equalizing the burden of taxes on all invest ments and property, the real effect will be further to depreciate farm values due to a general withdrawal of capital from the state to other places more inviting as an investment, and the new population that we have a right to expect will go elsewhere. To make Oregon compare with New York and Massachusetts in popula tion, suspend farm taxation altogether and proclaim to farm investors throughout the world that farm land is not taxed In Oregon. In ten years' time Oregon would be teeming with a population that would stagger all calculations. Possibly the beetling crags of her mountains would be set tled. With such a population a de mand and purchasing power would be created that would compel the state to industrial activity and attract un told millions of capital for Invest ments. If It is the desire of the average Individual and civic organization to develop the latent resources of the state, I know of no more deadly meas ure than to saddle the taxes all on farm property, which will, in effect, build a financial Chinese wall around the geographic lines of the state a,nd serve notice on outside farm investors to keep away. This Is not a matter of a six weeks' investigation, as was that of the article referred to, but a matter of some years' observation. Under favor able conditions this has great possi bilities as an agricultural state and also In mineral production, which, If fully developed, must compel great In dustrial activities and the attraction of capital. Strangle agriculture as has been done in the New England states and there will be lktle left as an In ducement for investments and outside capital. W. W. BAILEY. FAITH AND ITS FOl'N DATIO. Evidence Alone Cannot Give It. Says . Letter to Conan Doyle. HOOD RIVER, Or., April 17. (To the Editor.) I read with great pleasure editorial In The Oregonian on Sir Conan Doyle. Allow me to express to you my appreciation. Faith, truly, rests on the will to believe, otherwise we could not be held responsible for unbelief. If be lief were merely a matter of. evi dences, so that we would be auto matically bound to believe or disbe lieve, according to the nature of the evidences, we would have no free choice In the matter, and therefore no responsibility. The recorded evidences concerning the miracles of Jesus and his resur rection are far more weighty than any of the evidences brought forth, so far, by Sir Conan Doyle, yet they cannot compel faith, else faith would be mechanical. We have yet to de cide whether we will yield or not to the evidences brought forth. But while faith depends ultimately. as far as man is concerned, on the will to believe, it is often forgotten that knowledge of the things of God depends on something altogether dif ferent not the will to believe, but the will to submit one's will to the will of God. This, of all tests, given by our Lord is the most searching. Speaking of God, he said: "If any man wllleth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching whether it is of God or whether I speak from my self." John vii:17. Here, then, is a reasonable test. simply requiring of man a state of mind in which man recognizes the primacy of God, whoever God may be: and, therefore, puts the will of God above his own. When any man is of such a mind, is willing to do God's will, then, says Jesus, he shall know. How this comes to pass, Jesus does not tell. The implication is that when any man is thus willing to do God's will, then God will find the way to bring him to' knowledge. So that all thirgs concerning the spiritual do not depend on the will to believe, but much more profoundly, and much more reasonably on the wlil to do God's will, an obviously fundamental state of mind, for any one who really wants to deal with God. C. R. DELEPLNK. More Truth Than Poetry. By James J. Montaane. POLITICS IV THE AIR. (A United States senator has sent a cam paign speech by radio to hta bom district.) Time was, when a senator needed your vote. He either would pay you a call. Or ask you, by means of a kind littia note. To his rally In Oddfellows' hall. And if you believed that he wasn't the gent That tha mighty electorate needed About your own business you callous ly went And left his petition unheeded. But now, with the radio clamped to your ear As you sit in your parlor at nisht Expecting that soon you are destined to hear Tha news, sent by rounds, from the fight. A voice says: "My friends, sa you'rs doubtless aware. My course Is unswerving and firm I have served you six years, and it is nothing but fair That you give me at least on mors term. You never can tell, as you eagerly hark To the tidings that nightly are loosed. If the message conveyed by the radio spark Is a song, or a candidate's boost. Whoever is running for office today Can sit 'neath ths capltol dome. And, under false pretense, can basely oonvey His speech to your lowly thatoasa horns. You hope for some Jazz, or a market report. But it's likely the thing yoa wtll get Is the promise of Senator Someone to thwart A scheme for more national debt. We know that such men. In the day of our sires. With political motives In Tlsw. Were skilled In the art of the pulling of wires. But they're now pulling wireless, too! s The Dortrlne of Probabilities. Several new wars on mosquitose have been started this spring, but we are still betting on the mosquitoes. s IUa-hly Lucrative. Canada -does well with Its sales tar because such a large part of It Is paid by American bootleggers. Qualified. Carpentler. according to Tunch, hs taken to writing poetry. He ought to do pretty well f his foot work Is as good as it is In the ring. (Copyright by the Bell Pyrdlcale, IneJ Service. By Grace F.. Unit. Life calls and in our serving Is revealed Our inner solves, the beings that. unseen. Control our lives; the spirits, well concealed. That make us what we are. and intervene Between the actual and the spirit- heart. And move us as we play our given part. We go at sudden bidding to attend Some stricken soul who may have cone astray. Perhaps there Is no tie, as friend to fr end. And yet our hearts respond, our grave lips pray. Within our breast we sense a slran ger's woe. And render service as our warm tears flow. 'Tis well indeed that sorrows often call And bring to life this kindness all i niruesscd That lives deep In the souls of one and all. Though In life's bitter struggles so . sunnresRed: For In the heart of each man nrlnce or clod- Is tenderness true attribute of God. Then, since In all there Is a germ of irnnd. We still may hope for world-wide brotherhood. In Other Days. Twenty-five Years Alto. From The Oregonian of April 10, 1H07. Athens. Fierce fighting has con tinued for two days near Milouna pass between the Greeks and the Turks. Tuat arrived carload on Anheuser Busch bock beer, on draft nt Hrond and Morrison and Sixth and Stark streets. Adv. The free-silver men of the Coin Harvey school have adopted a new scheme In the hope of furthering the interests of free silver. All athletic clubs and schools will be represented in the armory games and the First regiment, nanuicap nvi week. ' Flfiy Years Abo. From The Oreironlan of April 19. 1172 v.b An immenMA meeting , f- w j v ... .... -- - . i i .. -.Via bH mlnlNt rutlnn of Gen- IU 1 1 Hi - - I " " . " ' i , anH In urlvnr'ntA his TS- erai - nomination was held at Cooper Insti- tute last nignt. t i rumored that a German news paper will soon be started In 1'ort land. 1 Nearly 2000 farms were taken and improved in Waslilnirton territory last year by actual settlers. a r.rrv host is L.'lng built to tak the place of the bridge over the Clackamas river, which was waohr.l away by the freshet last lear. Peynirnt of Personal Tar. POItTLAXn. Or.. April IS. (To hi- Editor.) Having moved Into this clt In February and lioiht a little i.iihi ness I was assessed in due time In March. I paid my la where 1 iiinvr-n from and have my tax receipt, ami I am asked to pay taxes aaaln Ixrt Should I comply with the demand", this would cause tne to .ny tax. twice in the same year and on th same holdings. The notices sent out state It Is rm 1922, yet they do ntit know whut tin tax levy will be until next Dfo inlier Can I be compelled to pay HiIm tax Or have I a riisht In refuse l do ' I have no real estate, but have n business too uig to move between two suns. UKAIiKH. You are required by law to pay the tax assessed. Under the revised cod" personal taxps must be collected In advance unless secured bv real es tate. While it will work an inhiMle. to you in the present laxuiiiee. ii i a protection to ths slutc aitalm-l "fly-by-night" concerns. It Is true ih.n the tax is for mr.!, tlionuli the ! will not be fixed until riex. liei.-m bcr, but the tax is nume.1 on th. 1921 levy and will always be a ycai behind.