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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1917)
76 Pages SIX SECTIONS Section One Pages 1 to 22 : r t VOL. XXXVI. NO. 9. PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 4, 1917. PRICE FIVE CENTS. SENATE HOT ABLE TO FORGE VOTIHG Few Thwart Action on Armed Neutrality $535,000,000 BILL FOR NAVY PASSED TACTICS IN SENATE THWART PRESIDENT 2 FIRE COMPANIES LOST UNDER WALL AMERICAN TELLS OF GRIM NIGHT ATTACK NAVY SECRET GIVEN OUT BY SEN. STONE WASHINGTON ALIVE WITH PATRIOTISM SEXATE SENDS MEASURE OX TO PRESIDENT. $500,000 DETROIT BLAZE GETS WORKERS AS VICTIMS. PLAN TO USE SMALL SUBMA RINE CHASEKS REVEALED. A MAJORITY SIGNS MANIFESTO Members Go on Record to Show They Favor Sup- porting President. DEMOCRATS PLEAD IN VAIN Declaration That Failure Will Be National Disgrace of No Avail. WASHINGTON, March 4 Senator Hitchcock, in charge of President Wil son's armed neutrality bill," put into the Senate record at 3:30 o'clock this morning a manifesto signed by nearly 80 Democratic and Republican Sena tors, designed to inform the country just who was responsible for the fail ure of the measure, which at that hour apparently had been hopelessly blocked by the opposition of a hand ful of Progressive Republicans. The Nebraska Senator said there were only 12 Senators who refused to sign the manifesto, which pointed out that an overwhelming majority was for the President's policy though de prived of an opportunity to vote for the bill by the course of its opponents in preventing a rollcall. Senator Clapp Protests. "The declaration speaks for itself," said Senator sHitchcock. "It is desired to place it in the record in order that the country may know and that a record may be made of the fact that practically nine tenths of the Senate is anxious to bring this bill to a vote, and that nine-tenths of the Senate desired to vote for it." Senator Clapp protested that pres entation of the statement was "un fair and unjust" because those who had not signed merely had been "seek ing to secure a fair opportunity for debate." WASHINGTON, March 3. With -.President Wilson's armed neutrality bill facing failure because of the op position of a small group of Progressive-Republicans, Democratic and Re publican Senators favoring it prepared tonight a manifesto to show the coun try just where the responsibility will rest if the measure is not passed. At midnight, when the debate had developed strong indication that the bill's opponents intended to prevent a vote before the session expires at noon tomorrow, the manifesto had been signed by more than a majority of the V Senate and friends' of the bill said that in the end it would bear the sig natures of 90 per cent. It was the intention' to hold back the document until it became certain that (Concluded on Page 7. Column 3.) eUMPfi? LET, Thirty Submarines Are Eliminated, ' but $150,000,000 Bond Issue Ordered to Hasten Ships. WASHINGTON. March 4. The naval appropriation bill was sent to the President shortly after 1 'o'clock this morning, when final Congressional ac tion was taken, the Senate agreeing to the conference report previously ac cepted by the House. The Senate then adopted the House resolution providing for a bond Issue of 1150,000.000 to expedite construction of naval vessels. That completed ap proval of the Administration's naval programme. Conferees on the 9535.000,000 naval appropriation bil agreed on a report tonight reducing the extra number of submarines to be built from 50 to 20, all to be constructed on the Pacific Coast. That would make the total num ber of submarines provided for in the bill 38. The separate resolution for a bond issue of $150,000,000 to provide for has tening construction of naval vessels was adopted by the House tonight without opposition. The Senate conferees yielded the pro vision for enlarging the Charleston. S. C, drydock. The conference report does not reduce the total appropriation materially, as the $35,000,000 emergency applied in the Senate bill toward imme diate construction of submarines Is re tained. PRESIDENT SIGNS 4 BILLS Three Are for Appropriations and Other Danish West Indies Act. WASHINGTON, March 3. President Wilson tonight signed the legislative, executive and Judicial appropriation bill, the Danish West Indies govern ment bill, the pension appropriation bill, and a bill increasing from $5, 000,000 to $15,000,000 the appropriation for risk insurance bureau. RAINY WEEK IS PREDICTED Temperatures in North Pacific States to Be Seasonal. WASHINGTON, March 3. Weather predictions for the week, beginning Sunday, March 4, Issued by the Weather Bureau today, are: Pacific states Generally fair, except f; quent rains are probable along the North Pacific Coast. Ten .jeratures near normal. PRUNES SHIPPED TO ALLIES First Consignment, of 8 7,500 Start ed From Roseburg. ROSEBURG, Or.. March 3. (Special.) The W. F. Drager Fruit Company, of Roseburg, yesterday shipped 87,500 pounds of Douglas County prunes to London, where they will be distributed among the allied armies. Another similar shipment will leave here early next week. STEAMSHIP 535 MILES OUT Frederick VII Sends Wireless Giv ing Position, on Home Voyage. NEW YORK, March 3. The Danish steamship Frederick VII, on which ex-Ambassador von Bernstorff and his party are passengers, returning to Germany, was 635 miles east of Sable Island last night, according to a wire less message received today. OFFICIALS ARE ABSOLVED House Unanimous in Putting Leak Blame on Private Persons. WASHINGTON, March 3. The rules committee report absolving public of ficials from blame for any "leak" on the peace note, was unanimously adopted by the House tonight. PICTURED s Chance to Show Solid Front to World Gone. PACIFISTS HOLD WHIP HAND Fate of Armed Neutrality Bill Becomes Uncertain. ARMY MEASURE BLOCKED Wilson's Plan to Confront Teutonic Allies With. Showing of Unity in America Is Held Up by Filibusters. BT JOHN CALLAN O'LAUGHLIN. WASHINGTON. March 3. (Special.) Involved in a condition closely ap proximating war with Germany, the President is embroiled at the same time in a war with the Republican minority in the Senate, aided and abetted by members of his own party. It is an extraordinary spectacle of patriotism which has been manifested during the past 24 hours by the Senate of the United States. President Wilson desired Instant action upon the armed neutrality bill, which he recommended for passage In. his speech of last Mon day. He revealed the proposal of Ger many for an alliance with Mexico and Japan, a proposal seml-officlally con firmed by" Berlin, for the purpose of showing the country and Congress the imperative need of empowering him to act for the protection of American life and American rights upon the high seas. Need of Urgency Shown. The revelation also established the overwhelming necessity of providing the Government without delay with all the authority and all the money essen tial to put the Nation in a state of comparative defense. The fate of the armed neutrality bill, the passage of which seemed assured, has become a matter of conjecture. The change in the prospects of the measure due to the pacifist element in the Sen ate was emphasized shortly after 6 o'clock tills afternoon. At that hour Senator Norrls, of Nebraska, announced he would not give his approval to any move designed to facilitate the pas sage of the bill and that he would ob ject to any proposal to fix a time for a vote. Filibuster Is-Possible. Norrls even went to the extent of announcing that he "would be glad to kill the bill In any way he could." This is in thorough accord with the views of Senator La Follette, who, after a long rest, la ready to make an ex tended speech. La F'ollette's Inclina tion Is to filibuster." The President wanted to show Ger many, Austro-Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey that there was no division In the Nation when it came to a question of National defense. He believed that his appeal to patriotism would be answered in a ringing American tone. He expected that -Congress would say at once: "Here is the armed neutrality bill; here are appropriations to en large the military establishments. Any thing more you need, ask and you will get it." Chance for Solid Front Held. The moral effect of the demonstra tion of such complete co-operation on the part of the Executive and the Con gress would have been enormous. It would have given the lie to the repre sentations of Count von Bernstorff. the dismissed German Ambassador, to his government, that there was division in the councils of the American people; that Berlin could count upon this di- (Concluded on Page 2, Column 3.) IMPRESSIONS BY CARTOONIST REYNOLDS O F SOME EVENTS IN THE WEEK'S NEWS. Four Are Taken From Debris, but Trace of Many Others Cannot Be FoundBlaze Spreads Rapidly. DETROIT. Mich.. March 4. At least 12 firemen were caught under a fall ing wall, while fighting a fire in two five-story buildings in the heart of the downtown business section early today. It was said that two entire fire com panies are missing,. The fire originated in a cloak and suit store and spread to a shoe store. At 2:30 A. M. the firemen had suc ceeded in extricating only four of the imprisoned men. They still were work ing in efforts to get at the other Im prisoned men. Both buildings will be a total loss. The damage will probably be upward of $500,000. INDEX OF TODAY'S NEWS The Weather. YESTERDAY'S Maximum temperature, 51 degrees; minimum, 85 degrees. TODAY'S Rain; southerly winds. Submarine Crisis. American survivor gives graphic account of Laconla'a sinking. Section 1. page 1. One steamer torpoed. Section 1. page 5. Plot revelation amazes Canes. Section 1, page . British press looks on German plot as boomerang. Section 1, page 4. German Foreign Minister admits plot against United states. Section 1, page 7. Japan surprised by German plot. Section 1. page 4. War. British beat back enemy on Ancre. Section 1. page S. Berlin announces reprisal measures agalnsl entente prisoners. Section 1, page 5. Xatlonal. Senate tactics thwart President. Section 1, page 1. Senator Stone reveals Navy's secret plan to combat submarine. Section 1, page 1. Congress works frantically closing night. Section 1, page 3. Washington alive with patriotic fervor on eve of inaugural. Section 1, page 1. One thousand women suffragists to besiege "White House today. Section 1. page 3. Sixteen new faces to appear in Senate Mon day. Section 1. page 2. Republican - Progressive organization of House planned. Section 1. page 2. Wets make final stand against prohibition measure. Section 1, page T. Land grant case may be argued Thursday. Section 1, page 20. Domes tie. Two fire companies missing in Detroit blaze. Section 1, page 1. Sport. Intel-scholastic all-star basketball team se lected. Section 2, page . 1. Bohler chooses all-star basketball team. Section 2, page 1. Fltzslmmons pays tribute to late Jack Dempsey. a true sportsman in and out side the ring. Section 2, page 3. Beavers disport on Walktkl beach. ' Sec tion 2, page 2. Coach Billington makes good record iji soccer coach. Section 2, page 4. I Valuable dos Is lost in express transit. 'ra tion 2. page 5. - ' ' Roseburg wins lnterscholastlc basketball honora at Salem. Section 2, page 5. Beavers defeat St. Louis College, 10 to 8. Section I,- page 20, Pacific Northwest. Senate retaliates by cutting pay of Lister appointee. Section 1, page 8. Curtain rises on GUI trial Tuesday. Sec tion 1, page 9. Idaho faces ex.tra session. Section 1. page 9. Houses lined up to override Lister veto. Section 1,- page 8. H. F. Davidson withdraws from Hood River agency after election. Section 1, page 18. Portland sad Vicinity. Honor Guard girls cheer flaying of pacifists. Section 1, page 19. President I. H .Evans, of Adventlsts, visits Section 1, page 19. Elimination of grade crossings to be started this week. Section 1, page 18. Lumber output further curtailed by car shortage. Section 1. page 21. Owners of Astoria naval base site are called greedy and unpatriotic. Section 1. page 19. Plans for vacant lot gardn extend. Sec tion 1, page 15. Shrlners to make merry at Baker Theater two nights. Section 1, Page 14.' S. Benson Is home and ready for task for roads. Section 1, page 14. "Forty-five Club" has ambitious plana. Sec tion 1. page 18. Archie McCoy, alleged purse snatch er. faces other charges. Section 1, paga 13. Auto injures three persons and Mrs. J. L. Green dies. Section 1. page 10. City places seem attractive to many. Sec tion 1, page lL Mother wins fight for child which grand father would take from nia own daugh ter. Section 1. page 11. New charter draft concurred in by oppon " ents of commission rule. Section 1. page 18, Chamber pleased with work of Oregon Legis lators. Section 1, page 18. Theft of 29 autos charged to gang. Section 1. page 21. Survivor Gives Graphic Account of Sinking. LAGONIA'S PASSENGERS CALM Six Hours Passed in Open Boats Before Rescue. IMPACT SCARCELY HEARD Rutlilessncss of German Methods Is Shown In Abandoning of Sur vivors In Dark to Chance of Passing Vessel. BT FLOTD GIBBON'S. Copyright, 191V. by the Tribune Com pany. Published by arrangement with the Chicago Tribune.) QUEENSTOWN. Feb. 26, via London. Feb. 27. I have serious doubts whether this Is a real story. I am not entirely certain that It Is not all a dream and that In a few minutes I will wake up back in' stateroom B-19 on the prome nade deck of the Cunarder Laconla and hear my cockney steward Informing me with an abundance of "and sirs" that It is a fine morning. It Is now a little over 30 hours since I stood on the slanting decks of the big liner, listened to the lowering of the lifeboats, heard the hiss of escap ing steam and the roar of ascending rcokets as fhey tore lurid rents in the black sky and cast their red glare over the roaring sea. Six Honrs Eventful. I am writing this within JO minutes after stepping on the dock here In Queenstown from the British mine sweeper which picked up our open lifeboat after an eventful six hours of drifting and darkness and baling and pulling on the oars and of straining, aching eyes toward that empty, mean ingless horizon in search of help. But, dream or fact, here It Is: The Cunard liner Laconia, 18,000 tons; bur den, - carrying 75 passengers men. women and children of. whom alx were American oltizerii manned by a. mixed crew of 216, bound from New York to Liverpool, and loaded with foodstuffs, cotton and war material, was torpe doed without warning by a German submarine last night on the Irish Coast. The vessel sank in about 40 minutes. Lifeless Bodies Seen. Two American citizens, mother and daughter, listed from Chicago, and for mer residents there, are among the dead. They were Mrs. Mary E. Hoy and Miss Elizabeth Hoy. I have talked with a seaman who was in the same life boat with the two Chicago women and he has told me that he saw their life less bodies washed out of the sinking lifeboat. The American survivors are Mrs. F. E. Harris, of Philadelphia, who was the last woman to leave the Laconia; the Rev. Father Wareing, of St. Joseph's Seminary, Baltimore; Arthur T. Klrby, of New Tork, and myself. A former Chicago woman, now the wife of a British subject, was among the survivors. She Is Mrs. Henry George Boston, the daughter of Granger Far well, of Lake Forest. Llfesavlns; Drills Held. After leaving New Tork passengers and crew had three drills with the life boats. All were supplied with life belts and assigned to places In the 12 big lifeboats poised over the side from the davits of the top deck. Submarines had been a chief part of the conversation during the entire trip, but the subject had been treated lightly, although all ordered precautions were strictly In force. After the first ex- (Concluded on Page 6, Column 1.) Administration Officials Incensed at Extreme Opposition to Armed Neutrality Bill. WASHINGTON. March 3. Naval offi cers and Administration officials are Incensed at Senator Stone's disclosure In the Senate debate today that the Navy had planned equipping merchant ships with light, swift submarine chasers to guard them against .sub marines In the prohibited cones. They regarded it as fortunate that more of their plans had not been dis closed in the heat of the Senator's op position to the armed neutrality bill. but were chagrined that so much had been said, especially In view of the fact that the Senate only recently, at tee request of the military departments, passed a bill making it a crime to pub lish the Government's secrete Secretary Daniels was in the Capitol when Senator Stone made his statement. but refrained from making comment. Naval officers were not so reserved. ZIMMERMANN MAY RESICM Von Bernstorff's Diplomatic Career Probably Is Ended. LONDON, March 3. The German press has been ordered not to publish a word regarding the American-Mexican reve lations until further notice, according to an Amsterdam dispatch to the Ex change Telegraph Company. The dispatch says that only a few circles are aware of the Intrlcue and that It Is considered possible the result of the affair will be the resignation of Foreign Se cretary Zimmermann and the ending of Count von Bernstorffs career as a diplomat. 25 AMERICANS ON LACONIA Evidence in Case Is Compiled by State Department. "WASHINGTON, March 3 All the evidence on the Laconia's destruction now compiled at the State Department shows that 25 Americans were put In Jeopardy of their lives by the German submarine. Three were killed. Reports on the torpedoing of the Norwegian steamer Nytand, which bore one American, show the ship was warned and all had opportunity to es cape. COLONY PROPOSES NAME Danish West Indies Would Be Known as Virgin Islands. ST. THOMAS, D. W. I., March 3. At a mass meeting held here It was de cided to suggest to the "Washington uovernment that the Danish West Indies, now American territory through purchase, should bo named the" "Amer ican Virgin Islands." "Dewey Islands" and other names have been suggested. REVENUE BILL IS SIGNED Measure to liaise $3 50,000,000 by Special Tax and Bonds Is Law. WASHINGTON, March 3. President Wilson today signed the revenue bill, designed to raise $350,000,000 through special taxes and bond issues. President Wilson . also signed the diplomatic and the District of Colum bia appropriation bills. AMERICAN STEAMER SAILS 12 United States Citizens on Ship Bound for War Zone. NEW TORK, March ?. The Ameri can steamer Silver Shell, under the command of Captain John Charlton, left here today bound for an unnamed port In France. There were 12 American citizens among the crew. x Great Crowds Pour In for Inaugural. SOLDIERS TO GUARD WAY President to Take Oath Today and Again on Monday. CAPITAL IS BEDRAGGLED Great Demonstration of American ism Expected Old Glory Is a-Flutter From Every House. Pomp to Be Absent. WASHINGTON, March 3. President Wilson will take the oath which makea him President or the United States for another term tomorrow, probably at noon, pjlvately and without ceremony in his office in the Capitol, where he expects to be signing bills during the closing hours of Congress. He will take the oath upon the same Bible be used when sworn in as Governor of New Jersey and later when he took his first oath as President. It Is a family heirloom. Monday the President will take an other oath at the open-air Inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol, Just before, he delivers his Inaugural addres-. There; was ample precedent in law for the President to take no oath at all until Monday, but he elected to take It to morrow. Marshall to Do Same. Vice-President Marshall probably will do the same thing and repeat his part of the ceremony in the Senata chamber Monday. Tonight the National Capital, just emerged from nearly a week of rain and snow. Is rearranging the rumpled condition In which a fair city finds Itself after being all dressed up, rained on first and then covered under a glaze.. Somebody said today that the Caplt-sjf looked like a bce'eaught In a thunder shower. -j . It husn't dampened the Inaugural enthusiasm any. tecausa the weatlter bureau has predicted fair and clder weather Monday. Patriotic Note Dominates. The ceremonies promise to be a great demonstration of Americanism. Com ing at a time when the country la faced with foreign complications of the gravest sort, the note of patriotism dominates all else. The American flag and the red, white and blue comprise the whole scheme of decorations. Tonight hundreds of Old Glories are rippling and fluttering in the white beams of floodlights. Thousands of people are pouring Into the city. Troops, bronzed and hardened by months of service on the Mexican border, are here to line the avenue as the President passes by the first time since the first inauguration of Lincoln that soldiers have been present in that way. Simple Inaugural Planned. President Wilson has asked that his inauguration be a simple one, and. aside from the great manifestations of patriotism. It will be a simple affair, lacking tinsel and pomp and trimmings. Governors of states were arriving tonight with staffs in gold-laden uni forms. Democratic clubs, boy scouts, suffragists, civic organizations and the world and his wife were coming in as the advance guard of the great crowd which will begin to pack the city Sun day and early Monday. The President himself has given little attention to the preparations for his inaugural. A large group of relatives and friends. Including Colonel E. M. (Concluded on Page S. Column 3.) CAAfL A r. u