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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 5, 1913)
THE STJJTOAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND. OCTOBER 5, 1913. irv A a 7 II "Ikxscb v wiiiro Oiim V "VJ3 El D-X1 EL ILJi,Oi1r is I 1)1- The Husband Is Responsible for the Wife, But the Wife Is Not Responsible for the Husband, Says a Bachelor Who Tells Why He's a Bachelor. BT A BACHEIX)R. Xjl a bachelor and therefore a happy and contented man. I am not a wo- man hater In the accepted sense of the term. I am, however, foolproof. The rustle of silken skirts does not stir my soul to poetry. My dreams are not centered about fair women. They are the more substantial ethereals. the sterner stuff. They concern themselves for the greater part with the acquisi tion of affluence and peace. When I enter my home sometimes m the morning and the cuckoo wbles three times I do not Imitate its warble nine times in order to create the im pression in my wife's befogged mind that the hour of midnight is upon her. There is no deception in the life I lead. It is harmonious. Some of my friends here on the ranch at Billings Mont, make the assertion I am selfish and that that Inherent selfishness has made of me a confirmed bachelor. I refute all such statements. I am far from being selfish. I would gladly part with every doUar I pos sess and I modestly make It known I giro worui di,uuu iu o - s .h.ti.i. tn make my fellow man happy. ,. Marriage leads to too many compli cations. It Involves a man In prob lems which the bachelor knows nothing of. The laws of the universe, crcu by men. are often declared to unduly favor men. As a matter of fact, how ever, they are, so far as I have been able to ascertain, peculiarly biased In Innumerable respects in favor of wo men. Women often wish they were men. Men always have sufficient reason to wish they might enjoy the peculiar privileges accorded the other sex. She may, of course, have her dlsadvan-j tape's, but In many respects she has things pretty nearly all her own way. Engagement Binds Only the Han. For Instance, it Is universally con. ceded to be a hardship inflicted on woman to be deprived of proposing marriage. To offset this she has the, personal privilege of throwing her sweetheart over, and she may do so, if she chooses, in the most heartless fash. Ion with strict impunity. The man, how ever, once he has proposed and been accepted, has no alternative but to go through with the bargain. He can. of course, break off the engagement, but In doing so he places himself at the mercy of the woman, espeucially If he has a bank roll, and in a majority of BUCh broken engagements he is sued for breach of promise. A man on the other hand, may In stitute proceedings against a woman with whom he never could be happy. He reaps only ridicule, becomes a Joke in his community and Is compelled to pay the expenses of the action. In Europe in the course of four years seven men have brought suit against as many women. The total amount re covered by two successful plaintiffs did not aggregate over $250. Compare this trifling sum to that awarded In 160 breach of promise suits brought by women in the same length of time, n-n. woman alone recovered 815.000, and the rest reaped damages amounting to $100,000 in alL Time was when the man had rights Time was wnen ..a.. ,- TENDING WHAT Is the most dangerous JobT' Now that does not Include such gentle occupations as being an aeronaut, or a high diver, or a para chute artist, but an everyday, com monplace Job, say, for instance, one In which several thousand persons are employed. If you really want to know the most dangerous work to human life, it's being a saloon-keeper. At least, that'B the opinion of the Insurance companies. To stand behind a bar is a whole lot more dangerous, they declare, than Juggling sticks of dynamite In a pow der mill, arresting desperadoes as a policeman, attending fires ill a fire man's uniform, or going to war. WhyT Well, it's the moral hazard! Every Insurance company publlsnes a little book In which is a tabulated list of the perilous occupations In which thev are called upon to insure workers. Opposite the occupation Is a list of figures. These figures ten im advance in age from which persons in TinrticMilarlv oerllous Jobs are Insured. For Instance, a clerk. SO years old. In good health, is charged so much for a policy, but a saloon-keeper of the same age. In the same healtn. Is charged at ii,. ni which would have been fhirred the clerk at the age of 42 Tn other words. 12 years are himnthtli-llT added to the saloon- lr.aner's age. and at 80 years he Is charged as though he were 42. rive Years on Fireman. o firman. for Instance. Five ridd to his age. a similar tn tha ae of a policeman. vn- nnn -commissioned officer In the Any is charged at the rate of an eight-year advance In age. and a rail road engineer is charged the same. A skilled, dynamite handler has to pay ,..,,.,- nf in vears above Ms i a -Rut fill these supposedly mo nv-una.tions are outdone by the saloon-keeper, who has to pay from "on the other hand, the work consid ered most conducive to longevity, and on which no Increase whatever is charged, is that of the clergyman and the gardener. Here is the list of other Jobs in point of view of danger: Added. Ball player Office men in powder mills - Roofers and cornice builders CamsctoV.nd freight handler.: W'. Police - Engineers on snips. . .. . . . Lumbermen (cutters, tree fellers) 4 Sailors on river ana "- SupeVTntend.nt. of powder mills G-Jlcrs In the Navy..... Officers on sailing vessels Officers on Engineers on on railroaoa I amen - - - I . r 'roundnousea construction, eta. .J Bridge foremen Conductors. Foremen of Foremen of co: Engineers and plumbers In electric I , 8 steam nower plants.. Petty offlcera. musicians, warrant ozxicers. etc., Brewery employes, employes billiard rooms with bars, wait ers, chefs and clerks in grocerli with bars. ........ Skilled dynamite banders...... J" Working miners, except coal miners..... 10 Firemen and sailors on ocean or Great Lakes i. Saloonkeepers who tend bar " Miner Is the Worst. There are only two Jobs that oan which his wife was compelled to rec ognize. The modern husband, however, is shorn of the rights and privileges enjoyed by his forbears. No woman, for Instance, is forced to live with her husband. She may leave him with or without cause, a matter solely at her discretion. Should the husband leave the wife may seek the protection of the strong arm of the law and any court of legal Jurisdiction may issue an injunction against him, compelling him to remain at home or suffer the consequences which follow open con tempt for the Judiciary. If the wife de termines that she would be happier away from her husband, however, no power on earth- can make her return to her home. Poor man, unfortunate in his rights, may not resort to the exer cise of force to prevent the wife from departing. Men Endnre More Hardships. Once she has left she may make it compulsory upon the deserted husband to contribute to her separate mainte nance. He has no recourse but to obey the mandates of the court. In a recent separation a prominent society woman said to her husband: "There is no law in existence thet compels me to obey or honor you. There is a law, however, that oompels you to provide for roe." And the truth of her declaration came home to him a fm-ar weeks later. When the husband leaves his wife and home he departs with the knowl edge that he must shift for himself. Though his wife may be wealthy, he Is not entitled to one cent of her wealth. TVTanv women are subjected to ex treme hardships In the pursuit of tnelr vocations. Men, It would appear, en dure still irreater hardships. In Eng land, for Illustration, there are over a min inn mora women than men. Two nun lira, if statistics spell anything, 15,000 more men died than women in that country who followed hazardous vocations. Kch vear about 8000 more men die nf nnaumonia than women, and 8000 mnm man die of consumption. The medical fraternity declares in explana tion of this vast discrepancy that wo men live a more eauable and comfort able life and are not exposed to the rigors of inclement weather as are the more unfortunate males of the species. And they further declare that while both men and women are becoming healthier, the women are becoming- so much faster than the men. Uable tor Wife's' Misdeeds. I recall the case of a servant girl who brought suit for libel against a former mistress. The wife had been iruiltv of writing a far from compll mentary description of her domestic's character to another woman wno thought of employing- her. The unfortunate husband had been sued Jointly with his wife. "I had nothing to do with the writing of that letter," he pleaded. "In fact, I knew nothing whatever about the letter. I did not even know that the girl worked for my wife. I was absolutely un aware of this servant's existence." The court, however, found that the letter was somewhat indiscreet, and I gave the husband a vitriolio lecture on . - T 1 1 f I I BAR IS MOST DANGEROUS JOB; PLAYING BALL SAFEST compare in dire peril with that of mix- ing gin fizzes, according to the theory of the insurance companies. Those are being an ordnance man in the army one who tests big guns by firing them to see 1 f they blow up and being a railroad freight brakeman. both of which occupations likewise have a 12 year increase. There Is Just one Job more dangerous than wearing a saloon keeper's apron, and that Is being a coal miner, in which case you have to pay insurance as though you were 15 years older than you -are, but there are no coal miners in New York City, so that doesn't count as the most dangerous Job. To the average man the duty of standing behind the polished mahogany In a white gown and shaking the genial cocktail In a glass embraces, on the face of It, no very great evidenoe of being the most perilous of all work. "This Is the viewpoint of all laymen, explained the head of one of the big In surance companies, ana i pre""" also is the view, of the saloonkeeper, who cannot possibly see how drawing a glass of beer puts .him in greater danger of death than being a police man or handling high explosives. But the mortality records of ail big com his negligence of exercising a proper control over the wire's actions. "But how am I to do this, your honorT" wailed the co-defendant. "That," declared the learned court, "is for your own peculiar solution." "Hr.-ir T rlcntrov such letters if I be come acquainted with their existence?" the husband wanted to know. "You may," the court told him, out not with discretion. Such an act on your part would constitute crueiiy. x award this plaintiff 8200 and costs. Call the next case." There you are. The husband. It will be seen, is responsible for the wife, but the wife is not responsible for the hus band. Fifteen husbands last year paid damages for hasty utterances by their helpmeets reflecting on the characters of other persons. When a husband and wife combine In the committing of a crime the wife, al though she has clearly been a party to the crime, usually is regarded as hav ing acted under compulsion. Man Convicted, Woman Freed. I remember a famous robbery case. A man and wife rented a large dwell ing and lured a Jeweler down to it with several thousand dollars' worth of Jew els. The moment he was seated he was drugged, gagged, and bound, and the couple confiscated his Jewels and dis appeared. They were taken into cus tody two weeks later. At the trial the Jeweler swore under oath that the wife had seemed to take the initiative in robbing him of his treasures. The husband, however, de spite this damaging evidence, was sen tenced to 14 years' imprisonment, while the woman, who appeared at the trial dressed in guarded taste and with re markably beautiful blue eyes, was found not guilty by the Jury on the assumption that her cruel husband had made her do what she had done under compulsion and threats of bodily In Jury. The records of sea disasters show that in one year 700 men met death because of the self-sacrifice of the men to whom "women first" meant more than death. This, of course. Is as it should be. I cite the facts simply to show that the laws of man and of chiv alry were created for the protection of the weaker sex. If men and women marry for wealth, men are incomparably worse bargain ers than women. The poor man's chances for marrying a wealthy woman ara few. but the woman who has noth ing but her goodness and her beauty to recommend ner naa a nunareu uma more chance of finding a rich life com panion. A man who has made a business or Investigating the marriages of wealthy people for several years past makes the declaration tnat ricn men nave mn rwi- s-lrls In over 9uu cases, wniie oui 27 rich women have sought the love of poor men. These are some of the reasons why I am a bachelor. j Foreign Bonds In Germany. London Echo. The enactment Imposing the neces sity for having every German Stock Exchange transaction stamped by the government struck a severe blow at the arbitration business, and, conse- panies show that In proportion to the number of men Insured, more saloon keepers die yearly than men in any other work save, perhaps, railroad brakemen and gun testers in the navy and army. "What la the cause of this great mor tality among men who keep saloons? Liquor, you will say, and you are right In a measure, but not wholly so. No doubt many saloon men do shorten their lives by the use of alcohol, but If they did not drink at all the rate of in surance wo charge them would still be very high. The reason Is what we call the moral hazard. Just what this Is It is hard to say. Summed up. It Is merely that they die easier and more often than men in other occupations. Open to Greater Temptation. "Detailed. It is. In a general way, they are open to greater temptation than Individuals In other walks of life. Yielding to these temptations breaks down their resistance, and many of them contract diseases where other men would not. How many saloon men have died of pneumonia during the WinterT Scores of them, usually. And pneumonia Is not the only disease. Their money is made easily (speaklns quently, this very simple method of effecting payment in the case of ln prived of much of its efficiency. But this difficulty is now about to be rem edied, as the government recently in troduced a bill considerably amending the existing stamp law, and this bill has since been passed by a majority in the Reichstag. This amendment provides that the owner of a foreign bond, which has been duly stamped in accordance with the law applying to nf the saloon owner), and among that class easily won money means that It is spent easily. 'Easily spenr means a fra and easv manner of life, which cuts years relentlessly from the lives of men. "Then there is the mortality through accident. The lists of saloon men who have been shot or killed with a blow from a bottle, or In brawls ana meiees Is long, especially among the poorer class saloons. "On the other band, garaeners ana ministers are the best risks. The for mer are gentle men, who have few wor ries in life; and worries, by the way, do much to shorten life. Thoy are out doors and their work la hot arduous, so we have found them to live to good old age in nearly all Instances. In this respect they far surpass the farmer as a risk. The latter has long, hard hours of toll and his life is shortened. "Ministers, through their abstemious habits, do not wear out the human storage battery as do some other classes and also rank high In longev ity. theleas recognised our clear duty to war for the freedom of Cuba. ' But there are other men who put nanoa shu of rlsrhteousnessM and who care so little for facts that they treat fantastic declarations lor immediate universal arbitration as being valuable, instead of detrimental, to the cause thv nrnfasa to champion, and who seek to make the United States Impo Colonel's Own Story Continued' ITrom FatTo 3. -vraw mm m German Stock Exchange transactions, may, in the- event of such stock being sold in another country, have the stamp canceled and demand a receipt for the amount of such stamp. In the event of his purchasing any for eign bond within a period of three vnn.ru from the date on which the stamp was canceled, this receipt will tent for International good under the pretense of making us impotent for International evil. All the men of this kind and all of the organizations they have controlled since we began our career as a nation, all put together, have not accomplished one-hundredth part as much for both peace and right eousness, have not done one-hundredth part as much either for ourselves or for other peoples, as was accomplished hy ha nannia nf the United States whan they fought the war with Spain and with resolute good faith and common sense worked out the solution of the problems which sprang from the war. A Les no n of the War. Our Army and Navy, and above all our people, learned some lessons from the Spanish War and applied them to our own uses. During the following decade the Improvement In our Navy and Army was very great, not in ma terial only, but also In personnel, and. above all. in the ability to handle our forces In good-sized units. By 1908, when our battle fleet steamed round the world, the Navy had become In every respect as fit a fighting-instrument as any other navy in the world, fleet for fleet. Even in size there was but one nation, England, which was completely out of our class; and in view of our relations with England and all the English-speaking peoples, this wa of no consequence. Of our Army, of course, as much could not be said. Nevertheless the Improvement In ef flciency was marked. Our artillery was still very Inferior in training and practice to the artillery arm of any one of the great powers such as Ger many, France or Japan a condition wbloh we only then began to remedy. But the workmanlike spaed and efti- i Mr . be received as an equivalent of the neoeasary duty payable on such for eign stock. As these receipts are to be made "payable to bearer," and are available for every kind of foreign bonds, this amendment should greatly 4 dency with which the expedition of nma snao troots of all arms was mob ilized and transported to tjuDa curing the revolution of 1908 snowed tnai, ao regards our cavalry and infantry, we bad at least reached the point where wa onuM assemble and handle In first- rate fashion expeditionary forces. This Is mighty little to boast of for a Na tion of our wealth and population; It Is not pleasant to compare It with the extraordinary feats ot coniempumiv JB.TM1.T1 and Bultraria: but such as it is, it represents a long stride In advance over conditions as may w " The next Installment of Mr. Roose velt's "Chapters of a Possible Auto biography" is entitled "The New York Governorship." It will appear In The Oregonlan next Sunday. so that ho may readily stop his train at the station. The number of appliances devised for the automatic stopping of trains when approaching danger Is named legion Tnaaa sra for the Durpose of supple menting this block signal. In case of some neglect on the pan oi me engine man, and all have, as an object, the au tomatic stopping of the train when reaching some danger point. The In terstate Commerce Commission has, within the last few years, examined into the merits of 1146 separate pat anted devices. All of these devioes for automatic Preventing Collisions Continued From Page 3. facilitate the buying and selling of foreign stock on the exchanges of Germany. It Is hoped that this alter ation In the existing stamp law may enable the arbitration business once more to assume Its former proportions. ally stopping a train when running out j In the open road It approaches too j olose to a train ahead are based upon the principle of an electrical oonneo- ; tion between the two trains. They ; may practically all be Included In the general plan of a rail running besldo or between the two railroad rails, ; which Is conneoted with the moving , train by means of an arm having steei wires at the end, which bear against this third ralL. When the trains ap- ! proach within a certain prohibited dis tance the electrical circuit is broken and the steam is automatically shut off of the rear train, bringing It to a stop. see Tha fundamental fault with many of these devices, as far as the Interstate Commerce Commission has Investi gated, Is that while they work all right In pleasant weather, they are most Ua ble to get out of fix In times ot severe storms and blizzards Just tha time that they would be needed and any covering of the third rail with ice or snow Is liable to put all such appli ances out of commission at the crucial moment. The commission, however, has not lost heart, but offers hope that among half a dozen out oi tne uiuinu more it may find one that will stand up under severe weather conditions. Another fundamental defect among the vast number of safety appliances deBlgnsd to prevent collisions is this: . That they are all positive in their ao- -tion. That is, they are designed to operate only when they are in good or der. But if they are out of fix, or . some extraneous condition such as bad ; weather prevents their operation, there Is nothing to warn the englneman of danger. Accordingly, the Interstate Commerce Commission has notified the world ot Inventors that It will seriously consid er no device for automatically stopping trains that will not, when out of fix and not working, automatically stop the train. The Idea of the commission Is that an automatic safety device to stop a train should be one thai is proof against any defect that Is, If It is de fective It will stop the train, even though there is no danger ahead. It should, therefore, have to be one that Is working all the time and only stops In time of danger what might be called a negative device. " Of course, that would mean that every time the device stopped working or went askew in anywise It would stop the train, but that, argues tha commission, would be much preferable to a device that when It failed to work would also fail to give any notification to an englneman and result In a rear end collision. It is clear that, maintains the com mission, if the roads of the country will adopt the block system, the rear collisions will be cut down to one fifth of their present number. All this, however, is still dependent upon the human nature of the engineer. If he Is negligent, whether from overwork or natural indolence, there is nothing that can prevent the Impending collision. Still In Danger. St Louis Republic. "I the patient out of danger yetf "Well, -not altogether. The trained nurse Is still with, him."
