Tim SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND,' SEPTE3IBER S, 191 G.
' PORTLANI. OREGON.
Entered at Portland (Oregon) Poetofflce as
aecond-class mail matter. ;
Euoecriptioa rates Invariably in advance.
(By Mall.)
Balls", Sunday Included, one year 8 .00
Ially, Sunday inciuoed. six months
iJe.ily, Sunday Included, three months. .
lallv, yunaay included, one month a'!,
JJailv, without Sunday, one year ?- ,r
Ualiv, without Sunday, six months d.jo
Daily, without Sunday, three months... l.ia
Ijaily, without Sunday, one month .
Weekly, one year ' "
fcuniiuy, one year u -I,
Sunday and Weekly
(By Carrier.)
Dally. Sunday included, one year 800
Daily, bunday Included, one month To
How to Kenilt Send poetofflce money
oruer, express order of personal check on
jour local bank. Stamps, coin or currency
am at sender s risk, dive postoftice address
lu fuil. Including county and state.
Pontage Hates 12 to 16 pages. 1 cent; IS
to pages, -1 cents; 2-4 to 48 pages. 3 cents;
Gil tio pages. 4 cents; 62 to 76 pages,
0 ct-Wts; 7 to 8J pages, 6 cents. Foreign
postage, uouoie rates.
KaKtern JtiiHinesx Office Verree & Conk
Jin, Brunswick building, .New York; Verree
Ac Conkliri. Sieger building, Chicago. San
1'rancisco representative, K. J. Bidwell. 4
Jlarkl street.
KlllTUM), SUNDAY, SEPT. S, 1916.
MIC. WILSON'S SPEECH OF ACCEPANCE.
If the American people were to
Judge President Wilson by his words
rather than by his deeds and were to
take him and his associates at their
own valuation, they would be dis
posed to receive them, as the ancient
Peruvians received the Incas, as
heaven-sent rulers. That Is the Im
pression which Mr. Wilson's speech
of acceptance makes on one who, with
a. clear memory of his deeds, compares
them with his self-praise and marks
the vivid contrast.
Mr. Wilson says that "boasting Is
an empty business" and then proceeds
to boast. Reading his panegyric on
the deeds of the Democratic party un
der his leadership, one is tempted to
wonder how the American republic
contrived to struggle along until that
party was installed in office. One la
tempted also to paraphrase the words
of a sycophantic French journalist of
more than a century ago: "God made
Napoleon, then rested." For in Mr.
Wilson's estimation the Democratic is
the only progressive party and prog
ress did not begin -until its advent to
power. He closes his eyes to all the
good work that has been done by any
others than Democrats. He might
well have rested on the achievements
of the Democratic party.
For example, he says "the Repub
lican party was put out of power be
cause of failure," oblivious of the fact
that it was put out of power by its
internal differences and that the Dem
ocratic minority party was put In as
a mere stop-gap. But mere election
returns are beneath his notice. In
Mr. Wilson's opinion the entire pe
riod of splendid National, Industrial
and social progress beginning with
3 861 and ending with 1912 is as the
dark ages except for the gleam of
light shed by the brief period of Demo
cratic supremacy. In his opinion, the
Republican party is to be judged not
by the many great things which it did
during that epoch but by the things
It did not do. That party peopled the
country from ocean to ocean, girdled
It with railroads, gave it the frame
work of a banking system, brought the
railroads under public control, broke
up monopoly, fostered and vastly ex
panded industry and commerce, spread
liberty abroad, established the rights
of labor, but because it did not do all
that was to be done, all that it has
done is to count for nothing.
But a far different standard of
'Judgment is applied to the Democratic
party. All that it has dona is passed
in graphic review with glowing words
of praise, and the things which it
promised but failed to do are passed
over in discreet silence. American
business has been set free how free
we can recall by thinking back to the
time when the Underwood tariff
paralyzed industry during the first
ten months of its operation. How
adroitly is Mr. Wilson's recantation of
the declaration that a protective tariff
is unconstitutional slurred over with
his reference to the Tariff Board! He
claims the Federal reserve act as all
Democracy's own, forgetting that it
is a Republican measure made over
with Republican aid. "Effective meas
ures have been taken for the re-creation
of an American merchant ma
rine," and we have an illustration of
their effectiveness on the Pacific
Ocean. The farmers have been given
a rural credit law, but it was not
timely to mention that the initiative
was taken by the Republicans and
that the finished work was done by
the two parties jointly. These are
merely examples of the deft manner
in which vicious legislation is dressed
In the robes of virtue, while all good
deeds are represented as the exclusive
work of Democracy.
The most striking evidence of Mr.
Wilson's oblique mental vision is his
discussion of Mexican affairs. Once
more he forgets that he is President
of the United States and speaks as
lYesident of Humanity. He waxes
eloquent about the right of Mexicans
to seek their emancipation by killing,
robbing and starving one another, but
lie slurs over the many serious wrongs
against the property, many Irreparable
wrongs against the persons, of Amer
icans" with this characteristic but as
tonishing remark:
We could not act directly in that matter
ourselves without denying Mexicans the
right to any revolutions at all which dis
turbed us and maalng the emancipation
f her oi'-n people await our own interest
itnd convenience.
In other words, the murder and rob
bery of Americans are necessary inci
dents to Mexican revolution. Then
what are the lives of 267 Americans-
pome estimates say 600 beside the
sacred right of Mexico to revolution?
Perish the right of Americans to life
and property rather than abridge the
right of revolution in Mexico by one
iota. "The Mexican people are en
titled to attempt their liberty," Mr.
Wilson tells us. They will not have
much success while Carranza, holding
them by the threat, is rigging up an
election at which none but Carran
zistas shall vote. The "great sym
pathies and noble pity" of Mr. Wil
r.on are so lavished on the Mexicans
that he has none to spare for the
American people to whom he owes
his first duty.
There are vague hints In Mr. Wil
ton's allusions to the war and Its
aftermath at a desire to play a lead
. Ing part in the work of organizing
the world to prevent war. One of the
unfortunate results of his foreign pol
icy has been that the United States
has fallen so low in the esteem of
other nations as to have little pros
pect of an important part in that
work, unless its affairs should mean
time pass into abler and firmer hands.
The treaty with Great Britain for
the protection of migratory birds,
which has been completed in its pre
liminary stages, was entered Into at
the suggestion, three year3 ago, of
Senator Root, of New York, and is
lujsed on. sound considerations of eco
nomlcs. The Federal laws of the United
States having- obtained protection for
many birds that destroy insects, the
fact remained that they suffered at
the hands of Canadian hunters when
they migrated north. Under the hew
treaty, Canada promises protection for
them in return for protection on the
part of the United States of Canadian
birds on their southern migration dur
ing the breeding season. Senator Root,
in support of his idea, presented statis
tics from the Department of Agricul
ture showing that the crops of the
United States suffer damage of $800.
000,000 a year from insect pests. The
boll weevil is one of the insects the
control of which Is greatly aided by
birds.
IS ARBITRATION A CRIME?
The railway managers, relying upon a
kept" press to back them up, rejected every
proposal of the President and stubbornly in
vite the strike calamity, professing mean
while that they want arbitration, knowing
fuil wl! as the President explains, that arbi
tration cannot be enforced by law or any
other power, which means that th clamor
for It is a blind, a pretext, a sinister sham
with which to humbuE the people. Kvenlng
Journal.
Thus we are left to conclude that
arbitration is to be rejected always
because there are no known methods
for its enforcement. That is an ex
traordinary contention, as pitiful and
false as it is insincere and demagogic.
If arbitration, or negotiation, or
mediation between employer and em
ploye is hereafter to be rejected as a
means of determining their relations
or settling their differences, and all
controversies are to proceed to an
issue determinable only by a struggle
as to which shall survive, one may
well tremble for the future of the
country.
If the railroad managers and the
brotherhoods might have been per
suaded to agree to arbitration, what
a splendid example for other employ
ers and other employes in any other
industrial dispute over wages or con
ditions, or hours. A service of in
calculable value to the Nation would
have been rendered. A mighty guar
antee of industrial peace would have
been furnished.
If President Wilson had been able to
Induce the railroads and the men to
arbitrate their differences, it would
have been a triumph for him, for a
great principle and for the public
a triumph of peace in a world of
war.
MORE TENURE OF OFFICE.
Insistence by one of the teachers In
the public school on her right to hold
at her pleasure the identical position
to which she was once appointed raises
anew the issue as to whether the pub
lic schools shall be governed by the
teachers or by the School Board.
We do not intend now to discuss
Mrs. Alexander's trained fitness for
principal of Benson Polytechnic. But
it is timely to call attention to the
fact that it has been ruled by the Su
preme Court that the School Board
may not discharge a teacher because
she marries. In addition, the tenure
of office act prevents outright dis
missal without trial. Now it is as
serted that added to these restrictions
upon the Board is one which does not
permit it to raise, lower, assign or
change teachers without their con
sent, unless charges be preferred and
sustained.
There are upwards of 1200 teachers
in the Portland public, schools. The
Kerehen dismissal hearings required
twelve sessions of the School Board.
The utter incapacity of that body, if
the law be as now asserted, to do
aught but sit as a continuous court or
let the schools go to pot, ought to
be apparent to the most ordinary un
derstanding.
Under this interpretation of the law.
the School Board may not make a
temporary assignment, pending em
ployment of one peculiarly fitted for
the position, without giving the teach
er so assigned the right to retain the
position. Administration of a large
school district is not a cut-and-dried
affair. Teaching is turning more and
more to specialization. It is to the
public interest that the pupils be given
the advantage of all the progress that
is taking place in educational methods.
Yet they will be denied It if an assign
ment once made by the School Board
is irrevocable.
AN OBJECT LESSON IN SniPFINO.
The marvelous escape of the Inter
national Mercantile Marine Corpora
tion from bankruptcy through war
profits is the text of an article by
Theodore H. Price in World's Work
on the possibility and advisability of
building up an American merchant
marine sufficient to carry the bulk of
American commerce. Greatly over
capitalized, that company earned less
than $7,000,000 a year during the
seven years ending with 1914 and on
April 1, 1914, when its preferred stock
was worth only 5 cents and its com
mon stock only 1 cent, it was placed in
receivership. Through the able man
agement of P. A. S. Franklin, the' re
ceiver, with the aid of a stockholders'
committee of bankers formed by
Frederick W. Scott, of Richmond, Va.,
and of the war, it earned $41,000,000
in 1915 and is earning at the rate of
$68,400,000 a year in 1916. It will
not only be able to pay its debts, but
will have a large surplus for dividends.
The preferred stock is now worth $99
and the common stock $26 per share.
The company is now in a position to
build ships and the question is raised
whether they should be built in the
United States and sail under the Amer
ican flag or in Great Britain and sail
under the Union Jack. This leads Mr.
Price to discuss the requisites for an
American merchant marine, which he
states as:
1. A great reduction In the cost of build
ing and operating American ships.
- 2. A great increase in the cost of build
ing and operating English and other for
eign Khlps; or
8. Government aid or subvention In some
form for ships .built and operated under the
American flag.
He holds that, as foreign ships cost
less to build and operate than Amer
ican ships, we do not need American
ships except in time of universal con
flict. Their protection would require
a vast increase in our Navy and "the
possibility or probability of another
great war in this generation" would
be the only Justification of Govern
ment aid. As to the training of sea
men, it would cost less to maintain
training ships than to subsidize mer
chant ships. He sees a better opportunity-
for the United States to build
ships, not only for ourselves, but for
the world, by "standardizing ships and
building them by machinery as we build
automobiles, railway cars and typer
writers," as "we have already an ad
vantage in the cost of raw materials"
for steel ships. He believes that more
ships would now be building in the
United States if it were not for the
fear that the Government would enter
the field and that Government aid
will retard our progress.
This conclusion is noteworthy be
cause it is in direct opposition to Pres
ident Wilson's policy, although Mr.
Price is a supporter of the President.
It coincides closely with the policy
which has been advocated by The Ore
gonian that the Government should
neither grant subsidies nor build ships,
but should clear away the obstacles
which the law has interposed to prof
itable Investment in the shipping busi
ness. What he says of our advantage
in the cost of material for steel ships
applies also to wooden ships. There is
good reason to doubt whether even
Norway can compete with the Pacific
Coast in that respect. It is probable
that American skill and ingenuity can
give us the advantage in .building
ships of both types. We need only to
equalize cost of operation by revising
the shipping laws and the way will be
clear.
The cost of the navy necessary to
protect a great merchant marine
should not deter us, for it would be
a species of insurance corresponding
to the cost of fire protection. It would
require many fast cruisers, of which
a considerable number can be built
for the price of one battleship. The
expansion of our commerce resulting
from our possession of abundant ships
would 'amply justify the cost.
MOLASSES.
Mr. Wilson said one thing in his
speech of acceptance which would bet
ter have been left unsaid. It is this,
referring to the St. Louis platform:
The people of the United States do not
need to be assured now that that platform Is
a definite pledge, a practical programme.
We have proved to them that our promises
are made to be kept.
The President i3 overbold in credit
ing the American people with short
memories. He not only assumes that
they have forgotten the record of
progress made by the Republican
party during the last fifty years a
record the continuance of which is
assured by the character and deeds
of Mr. Hughes; he also assumes that
they have forgotten the broken and
repudiated pledges made at Balti
more: The Democratic tariff policy, re
pudiated, the wildest extravagance
practiced where economy was prom
ised, patronage made into party loot
though fidelity to the civil service law
was pledged, appropriations used as
pork. Presidential primaries forgotten
in deference to sectional prejudice, the
single-term -plank tossed aside before
its newness was worn off, the Canal
tolls plank deliberately smashed to
splinters, the merchant marine driven
from the Pacific, protection denied to
Americans abroad lest it Interfere with
Mexican revolutions these are the
"promises made to be kept."
When the President climhed from
the ruin which he had made of the
Baltimore platform and, ascending
that newly made at St. Louis, pointed
proudly to the wreckage, he presumed
too much on the forgetfulness of the
American people.
COLLECTING POSTAGE STAMPS.
Debate among the members of the
American Philatelic Society, which
closed its annual convention after an
interesting study of new conditions
governing collection of postage stamps,
disclosed the fact that some stamp
collectors seriously believe that the
economic law of supply and demand
governs the used stamp in precisely
the manner that' it affects other com
modities. There was a strange dis
position to ignore the odd factor in
philately, which is that the valueof
the stamp depends almost entirely upon
not alone its rarity, but also on the
prevailing "fashions" of the time and
also on the need a particular collector
has for certain issues for the purpose
of making complete an economically
futile task he has set out to perform.
Yet, despite these adventitious cir
cumstances, it was possible at one
time to fix with some degree of cer
tainty the price of most stamps, by
reason of the high degree of organ
ization attained among stamp collect
ors in all parts of the world.
The surprising statement has been
made credibly that there are in the
United States alone no fewer than a
million and a half collectors of used
and consequently useless postage
stamps. The figure probably includes
a large proportion of juveniles, with
whom the pursuit is a passing fancy
and by whom it will be- abandoned
shortly, but the number of grown
ups who seriously give their time to
this avocation is not inconsiderable.
Astounding prices have 'been paid for
collections obtained as result of life
times spent in searching the philatelic
highways and byways of the world.
These collectors have often paid amaz
ing prices for certain inconsequential
bits of paper and mucilage for the rea
son, as we have said, that they were
needed to make a certain collection
"perfect" from the collector's point of
view.
Stamp collectors know the story of
the wealthy Britisher who set himself
to the task of obtaining one specimen
of every stamp ever issued by the
Australian colonies. He sailed around
the world in a private yacht in his
quest, and for a wonder he completed
the collection down to the last stamp,
after which, the pleasure of attain
ment having been realized to the full.
he sold the whole lot for a fabulous
sum and started out to do the thing
all over again. This man was simply
a restless spirit with too much leisure
for his own spiritual good; he had a
strong desire to be doing something,
but an imperfectly developed sense of
proportion. One can easily think of
several ways of employing one's life
to better advantage,
One phase of the stamp-collecting
craze is that its victims soon lose sight
of the purpose with which they think
they were inspired in the early stages.
Much is said at first about the "edu
cational side" of stamp collecting. We
are told that the schoolboy with an
ambition to obtain, for example, one
or more stamps from each country in
the world, will necessarily become a
profound student of geography, art,
history, and even literature and polit
ical economy. The postage stamp from
Venezuela, say, is supposed to arouse
all manner of curiousity in the youth
ful mind as to what kind of country
Venezuela may be and thence by grad
ual stages to broaden his interest in
the world at large. But however true
this may be for a brief time, it is quite
probable that statistics would prove,
if they were obtainable, that the col
lector who stays with the game soon
degenerates into a mere specialist in
paper and ink and printing. There
may be a few who are Inspired to high
endeavors and noble aspirations by
contemplation of the graven symbols
on the faces of the stamps, but that
the number is considerable is seriously
to be doubted. In an averae gather
ing of stamp collectors one will hear
a good deal more talk about the prices
than about art or sociology or any of
the other pretended considerations
with which the very young deceive
themselves.
The present war-torn condition of
the world's map offers at least a life
time's work for those collectors who
from, this time forward - may have
nothing else to do. The international
postal convention is not what it was
a brief two years ago. Nearly every
belligerent nation has uttered special
stamp issues, and those nations that
have possessed themselves of captured
territory have commemorated histor
ical facts with numerous stamp is
sues that will have a fabulous value
or not, after the war is over, accord
ing to certain peculiar and at this time
not to be predicted characteristics.
It is quite possible, if .we are to be
guided by past experience, that some
engraver's clumsy error may add zest
to the pursuit of a certain bit of paper
that otherwise would have escaped no
tice, for it is no part of the collecting
game that stamps shall be perfect, or
useful, or even of especially pleasing
design. Anything that may contribute
to the oddity, or rarity, or to the many
intangible factors that belong to
philately, will conceivably add to their
price in the stamp market, while some
of the most artistically beautiful
stamps In existence will be a drug on
the market.
It will surprise many to learn that
the postage stamp as we now know
it is only about three-quarters of a
century old. There are many persons
now living who can remember a time
when we were without them. Numis
matists, on the other hand, have all
history, even to antiquity, for their
field, and yet for a reason not ap
parent coin collecting is relatively an
uncommon pursuit.
NOTIFYING THE NOMINEE.
The custom of formal notification
of candidates for public office, weeks
or months after they have been hon
ored by their fellow-citizens, is a cere
monial fiction that dates far back to
ward the beginnings of our social life.
It is peculiarly Anglo-Saxon in its
nature; it belongs to a race, too, that
cherishes symbolism; that becomes at
tached to its ceremonials because of
their special meaning rather than the
pomp and display that are attached to
them; and whose innate conservatism
makes it slow to abandon custom, once
established. In days gone by there
was reason, for example, for the de
layed formality of notification. Means
of communication were few and more
or less uncertain; there was difficulty
in getting committees together; not
infrequently, indeed, the waiting can
didate was without certain knowledge
of his fate until his fellow-citizens
waited upon him to impart the news.
Now, of course, the telegraph wires,
the long-distance telephone and the
almost Instant dissemination of im
portant news have changed all that.
But the custom of formal notification
remains; unnecessary for the infor
mation of the candidate, but a pleas
ing political symbol, nevertheless.
Of the same material was made the
custom in Kngland which existed for
centuries of wearing an oak leaf or
an oak apple on a certain day of the
year to commemorate the welcome
home of Charles II; and so, also, is
the still existing Lord Mayor's show.
The pageant of the Lord Mayor is a
relic of the time when there was
neither photography nor newspapers
to acquaint the common people with
the sort of personages who were rul
ing over them. Democracy was hav
ing its beginnings; the people were
presumed to have an interest in their
officials, however slight their oppor
tunities for real contact. So the I.ord
Mayor and his retinue exhibited them
selves, as it were, on stated occasions
by traveling. ojer a prescribed route,
which is followed to this day. The
retiring Lord Mayor still makes his
stated calls and leaves cards at Buck
ingham Palace, Marlborough House
and other abodes of royalty. Just as
was the way in the days of old.
Members of the British Parliament
who wish to lay down the burdens of
office for any reason still have a his
toric and devious method of evading
the tradition that a member may not
resign, once he has been elected by
his constituents. The result is accom
plished by applying for the steward
ship of the Chiltern Hundreds, which,
taken in connection with the rule that
acceptance of office under the Crown
disqualified the member from serving
in the law-making body, automatically
separates him from the office. The
thing would be more easily done by
the more direct ignoring of the tradi
tion and by filing a resignation, and
no one would suffer as a consequence,
but custom is supreme. The Chiltern
Hundreds are a range of chalk hills
that once were infested with robber
bands and the stewardship of them
was supposed to entail active measures
for the protection of the peoplo of
the domain. Now the robbers are
gone, other provisions have been made
for the administration of the criminal
laws, the job Is a sinecure and the
emoluments are nominal. The stew
ardship applied for is granted as a
matter of course, subject only to the
stipulation that it must be retained
until another has been appointed
to the place, which means until
another member of Parliament de
sires to resign. This feature, how
ever, is not a hardship and no one
thinks anything of it.
For seventeen centuries a town in
Yorkshire. England, has observed the
custom of planting the penny hedge
in the bed of the River Esk. There
was a time when this stream in pe
riods of high water had a tendency
to wear away its banks, and the people
found it necessary to adopt a crude
method of what a modern reclamation
engineer would call revetment work.
Necessity for planting the hedge is
long since past, but annually on As
cension Eve the representatives of the
people solemnly plant the "nine stakes,
nine stout staves and nine gedders"
in due form. It is a pleasing lesson
in civic duty that has outlived all
other practical usefulness.
Another reminder of the duties of
the people is the freemen's march, in
a village of Northumberland, on a day
In April every year, in which an of
ficial, solemnly conducted on horse
back with an old-fashioned sword
clattering at his side, plunges through
a dirty well, much to his personal dis
comfort and the disadvantage of his
ceremonious clothes. This is still done
because, it is said. King John once
had occasion to pay a visit to the vil
lage and. being greatly put out by the
villainous condition of the roads there
abouts, imposed this perpetual penance
on the people. Not many communi
ties in the present day, however, would
be so conscientious in keeping before
themselves this reminder that well
kept roads are essential to the well
being and prosperity of a neighbor
hood. Beating the bounds precisely illus
trates the preservation of a custom
long after necessity for it has ceased
to exist. There was a day when maps
were scarce or not obtainable at all.
Surveyors were not numerous and of
ficial records were far from being as
complete as they are today. So it be
came the custom to conduct the people
around the boundaries of their par
ishes once a year, commonly on Holy
Thursday because it was a holiday, to
acquaint them with the physical lim
its of their possessions. This is still
an affair of much ceremony where
the custom has been preserved.
The Mayor of Cork still asserts his
authority over the sea in the tradition
al manner. Every three years, in or
der that there may be no mistake
about it. an official party embarks
on a ship and, clad in full regalia,
sails out to sea. where the Mayor sol
emnly casts a javelin into the waters.
The dart being an emblem of author
ity, the dignity and authority of of
fice are asserted beyond question and
everybody goes home satisfied.
In America as well as across the
sea we still have the loving cup that
never is used to drink from, and that
if it were so used would violate the
sanitary ordinances of a good many
up-to-date cities, besides which it is
not made for practical use. We have
not outlived, and perhaps never shall
outlive, the agreeable practice of giv
ing the keys of the city to our hon
ored guests. This symbol of hospital
ity had its origin in the practical times
when cities were walled to keep out
marauders and the gates were care
fully locked at night. Possession of
the keys betokened a high degree of
responsibility and indicated that the
recipient was worthy of every trust.
Now- cities are no longer walled; they
have no gates; only the key remains,
but we cling to the key for much the
same underlying reason that we pom
pously "notify" our candidates long
after the news of the event has reached
them from every other source.
With our own diplomatic situation
in Europe further complicated by
Roumania's participation in the war,
the interests of the United States are
in the hands of no less a deserving
Democrat than Charles J. Vopica. of
Illinois. It was Mr. Vopica who made
this country conspicuous in the minds
of cultivated Europeans by proudly
exhibiting his $12 shirts before royalty.
The story of how he not only confided
about them in the King but also per
mitted the Queen to share in the se
cret will be remembered as long as
strange tales of diplomacy are enjoyed.
Mr. Vopica also represents us in Bul
garia, but has been living most of the
time in Bucharest, the " Roumanian
capital possessing certain superior so
cial advantages that were not lost on
an individual of refined sensibilities.
He also is our theoretical Minister to
Serbia, but for the present, owing to
military developments, is unable to do
us any serious injury in that country.
Figures of'he cost of the epidemic
in New York, which is only one of
many affected areas, are impressive.
It is estimated that the city has ex
pended more than $500,000 directly,
of which more than $110,000 has been
paid for nurses and other help in car
ing for the victims, but the sum does
not include the amounts paid for food
and other incidentals, or the exceed
ingly large cost to individuals. The
cost to the entire United States is
believed to have exceeded $2,000,000
already, and the epidemic has not
run Its full course. In addition to
these items, there is the distressing
fact that a large number of children
will be permanent cripples and many
will be incapable of ever earning a
living. A considerable fund for the
purchase of braces for cripples has
been raised, but it is still far from
adequate to the purpose.
The world's available tonnage of
steamers in July, 1914, was 24.809.000.
Of these it 'is estimated that war losses
have been 1.520,000 tons, marine losses
550,000. war requisitions 6,927.000.
interned in the Blaek Sea 134.000 and
owned by the Teuton powers 3,320,
000. Deducting these amounts and
adding 800,000 new tonnage leaves
13,158.000 available for merchant
service, or only 53 per cent of the
1914 total. That is why freights are
high.
The South used to produce red
blooded men and send them to Con
gress, where they helped to build up
the Army and Navy. Now it sends
pacifists like Hay of Virginia to make
pork of the Army and like Daniels
to let the Navy run down and be
forced to build it up again. A new
type of man now represents the South.
As the Chicago Evening Post says:
"The yawp is in the saddle."
The benefits which the public would
derive from a Federal Reserve system
embracing all the banks, both Na
tional and state, are undeniable. While
about half of the banks hold aloof, the
public is deprived of practically half
of those benefits. That fact is due to
those features of the law which are
of peculiarly Democratic origin.
Those Rt. Louis moving van drivers
who are on strike would be doing the
people a good turn if the strike had
the effect of putting a check' on the
moving habit. The way some persons
have of shifting their habitations every
May and October is incomprehensible
to those who have the deep-rooted
sense of home.
A speaker at the Teachers Institute
yesterday advised against the study of
algebra as of little importance in after
life. And how many men of middle
life can extract the cube root today,
though they had to work after hours
to learn?
Villa's threat to raid the border
again seems to haVe been timed with
the departure of the Oregon infantry
men, but he would do well to have a
care. Troop A and the battery are
still on the ground.
China's reluctance to borrow from
Japan is easily understood, and so
also is her willingness to accept the
money when it is found that other
sources of funds are closed.
The assistant professor in animal
husbandry at CorvalliS, who has Just
become the father of twin boys, is
deserving of congratulation. The other
"profs" aren't in his line.
California murderer heard "If I Had
a Thousand 'Lives to Live" played on
the phonograph just before his execu
tion, and it is a fair presumption that
after that he died happy.
Mr. Bryan's previous engagements
which prevented his being present at
the notification of Mr. Wilson must
have been made a long, long time ago.
Decision to speed up road work
shows a high sense of appreciation of
the uncertainties of ail weather in
1916.
Running aground on her launching
day is getting experience pretty fast.
even for a submarine.
"Slide closes Canal again" grows
monotonous with reiteration.
Hiram was "too much Johnson" for
them.
Gleams Through the Mist
By Dean Collins.
, HOT WK.tTHRR POME.
PRELUDE.
I stood on the bridge at midnight.
Observing the gloaming gloam.
And I said to myself: "If I did right
I'd go home and scribble & pome;
A pome that is lilting and swinging.
And properly geared up for pinging."
But never an idee came winging
To perch in my sun-blistered dome.
Nor to roost in my moon-silvered
dome.
And my clothes, they were moist and
were clinging.
As sudorous torrents were springing.
And my collar was ready for wringing.
And my brain cells bad nobody home.
"And yet." remarked the Courteous
Office Boy, as to my side he stole, "one
must employ some kind of verse, phil
osophy or wit when by his hand a col
yum must be writ."
I seized him by the ankle and the
knee, and In the river hurried the C. O.
B.. but as he gulped and vanished from
my sight the thought occurred to me:
"The boy was right! I have no right
In Idleness to sit when I have got a
colyum to bo writ. Lay on, McDuff!
I'll publish right or wrong. I have
no theme, but must produce a song."
STILL PRELUDING.
I went to seek a train of thought
In vain I sought for one.
But all my seeking came to naught.
And all my hope to grief was brought.
For though I found a train of thought,
I found it would not run.
And said my Inner spirit:
"I care not what you like;
Though well you oil and gear it.
Your train is stuck, I fear it
Can get no crew a-near it
e ve caiiea an laee striKe.
AND FURTHER PRELUDING.
And so I hastened to the mart, all In
the sultry night, and leaped Into the
iceman's cart and shoved with all my
might, and In this crude, rough way I
sought, to substitute a train of thought.
And seated on a cake of Ice I chilled
the air with songs.
And loud I twanged, as on a harp, upon
the iceman's ' tongs.
And sang: "With heat the world is het
Anvi I'm not dope my prelude yet.
And still I grind away apace
And fill the space and fill the space!
With humid heat the world is het;
You'll read my lay, and yet, and yet
You'll soon forget, you'll soon forget."
Aim through the void a voice at even
Cried: "Yes. we'll soon forget, thank
heaven!"
POME.
Oh for the stretch of the cool eanOy
beaches;
Oh for the rivers of broad tranquil
reaches;
Oh for the forest and mountain, for
each Is
Heaven to him who must stay in the
town.
Stay In the town where the asphalt la
crawling.
Stay in the town where the traffic Is
brawling.
Stay In the town when the country Is
calling,
Stay in the town with the sun broil
ing tiown.
Oh for the song that the pine harps
are making.
Oh for the voice of the waterfall quak
ing. Oh for the bird call when daylight is
breaking.
Calling to him who must stay in the
town.
Stay in the town where the whistles
arc blowing.
Stay In the town where the toil thun-
dor's flowing.
Stay in the town where the tumult Is
going
Wild through the streets In the sun
broiling down.
INTERLUDE.
And here the ice. began to melt.
And as I tightened up my belt.
Prepared to sing another verse.
The heat grew worse and wores and
worse.
Thermometers along the street.
Began to blow up in the heat.
And as along the way I came
My ice man's cart burst Into flame.
Far, far adown the street I see,
A group of men a-chasing me;
I cannot see them well and yet,
I think, I think they have a net.
And here I wept and here I wailed.
And with the tongs my head I flailed.
"Why bring a net, when well 'tis known
That I'm a harmless ice cream cone?
I am the last one of the batch
Which they don't need a net to catch;
An ice cream cone, which soon is past
For I am melting very fast.
POME CONTINUED.
un lor ins cueese irozen into the
salad.
Oh for the snow mountains haughty
and pallid.
Oh for a lemonade honest and valid
Oh for a shade to stick over the town
A nice pea-green shade, trimmed with
buttons and laces.
With whalebone insertion in several
places.
Beneath which I'd sit and make
hlde'bus faces
Right up at the sun if he came
broiling down.
Oh I'm a biscuit and done to a turn
now.
Throw open the oven or else I shall
burn now.
And dash me with buttermilk out of
the churn now.
And sell me, with doughnuts and
soup, in the town.
Ho, I am asphalt all oozy and thicky
Step not upon me because I am sticky.
And asphalt is bad for white slippers,
by cricky,
Here in the town with the sun
broiling down.
Oh for a lemonade straw or a pickle.
Oh for an iceberg to carve with a
sickle,
Oh for the North Pole, to take it
and tickle
The ribs of this shimmering, sim
mering town:
Oh for the South Pole to poke us and
punch us
And cool polar bears to play with us
and crunch us
FINALE.
And off of the ice cart I tumbled un
conscious ,
Here in the town with the sun broil
ing down.
Comfort for Him.
Boston Transcript
Plaintiff's Lawyer I rest the case.
Defendant's Ditto You ought to; it's
pretty weak.'
With the Oregou Poets.
OS KIVEK BE.tril.
If shorn of all pleasures, this life
would be dreary.
Our faces would never be softened
with smiles:
We'd mope through the long days, dis
consolate, weary.
As glum as Siberian cheerless exilea.
But O. glory be! there are joys in full
measure.
And one peerless group lies at Port
land's back door;
A spot of enjoyment, a haven of pleas
ure.
The river-kissad beach on Columbia'
shore. ff
This beautiful city's bright sons and
fair daughters.
Unclad to the limit, as fashion de
crees. Disport in the wonderful river's cool
waters.
As mermaids and mermen slosh
'round In the seas.
They sun their damp shapes In the
warm-bodied sand on
The beautiful beach floor in groups
and in pairs.
Their undress display in quite reckless
abandon.
And care not a Jitney for onlookers'
stares.
And little ones bless 'em, the darllngf
home treasures.
' Their bright eyes alight with the
sparkles' of fun.
In rapturous spirit enjoy the rare pleas
ures They think are the greatest beneath
the bright sun.
They wade, naked-legged, in the brink
of the river.
And romp on the sands In their Inno
cent play.
And feel they are having "the mostest
fun ever."
As speed the short hours too swiftly
away.
Anear the beach sands on the grove
shaded dry land.
The tents of the campers In white
grouping stand.
And near by a miniature Coney Island
Affords all the thrills the sport lov
ers demand.
'Mid the pleasures afforded the city
Joy lover.
'Mid the many enjoyments within
easy reach.
But few on the list can put anything
over
An afternoon spent on broad river
beach.
JAMES BARTON ADAMS.
" "HH.trS IN A SAMEC
O'er the name of a rollicking, laugh
ing stream.
Men argue, dispute and contest;
For a poet, it seems, has had a dream,
And he loves his name the best-
The stream leaps rocks and laves tho
snag.
And races o'er bowlder and sand;
She Joins not the strife, nor cares a
rag
For a name men think so grand.
For ages she laughingly rippled and
played.
As she nourished the deer and the lea:
The call of her God she ever obeyed.
In a life quite happy and free.
She slaked the thirst of the Indian
brave.
Who drank of her waters clear.
And when at last he found his grave)
She sang for the pioneer.
When first the lips of the white man
sipped
From this chattering stream of mirth.
If counting in years she then had tipped
A million or more on earth.
Call her La Creole or Rickreall,
No fault to find has she;
While the world rolls on and proud
men fall.
She will find her way to the sea.
It Is thus of religious creeds I think
The name matters not a whit;
If tired and thirsty men may drink
Or lave in the waters of It.
All those performing their tasks each,
day.
As happv and free as the creek.
Will find their God hard by the way.
The Jew as well as the Greek.
F. W. PARKER.
Oregon City.
THE rl'Rll TRIBUTE.
Fresh from the founts of hoarded
thought
Thero bubbles, suddenly.
Into my mind a sight unsought
A smile, smiled just for me!
The day was one of long ago;
A lady who seemed tall
And very old though now I know
'Twas Just that 1 was small
Looked down on me, that day long
gone.
And smiled there In the street
Then gave her rose, and pinned it on,
"Because I looked so sweet!"
How strange after these years I drink
From mem'ry's spsrklinK spring
Such humble meed, or even think
Of such a little thing!
And yet and yet where I might
honored of all men
For love, for Bold. I could not earn
Such pure tribute acam!
HORRKL DEAN HALE.
THE OPEN,
Let me out, I want to co ,
Where the good old breezes blow
Clean and sweet across
The sagebrush covered plain;
Where you see the sun sink low
'Gainst the far horizon's glow;
And the rimrock, that's like
Castles of old Spain.
Where you do not sleep till noon.
But are ridinir 'ere the moon.
And the dinkey stars have
Made their get-away:
Riding hard in knee-deep dew.
When the sun comes up to view.
And you fill your lungs
With something that will stay.
Gas wagnns are miehty fine.
But I'd rather have for mine
An old pinto, with a
Blaze across his face.
That has four sure feet, and goes
Anywhere I point his nose.
With no motor cops around
To set the pace.
SARA BLANCHE WRENN.
IDES OK 1916.
I have crossed life's divide.
I am on the shady side.
Alonj? its slopes I glide.
Sometimes I slip and slide.
To keep on top I've tried.
We've been stewed and fried.
Democracy is a snide.
Its platform surely lied.
Civil service they've defied.
One term they have belied.
Other nations they've decried.
Insulted, they notified.
Playing favorites they've denied.
We'll have no war. they cried.
But our boys had to ride
After Villa, once deified.
They did not get him tied;
But many soldiers died. ,
We'll have to change the tide.
Or all be crucified.
S. M. VENARD.
At the Races.
Judge.
"Tough luck! Fellow gave me ihret
winners at yesterday's races."
"What's tough about that?"
"I didn't play them."