3
TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, MAY 13, 1917."
Ip IiOTfi" lien and Hot I Itetkodr (BP
iThe Big Work of the U. S. War and Navy Departments in Fitting the i
Great Fighting Force "Against Time" Y .tZTZ-
-How Implements and Men Are Being Prepared ' -
a II ' II I 'II 'I I rill I ' I n ii ' mi hi I II ill I i ii I IP i W " ! rrr-"-j ' . " : i- A . ' V-. ' "i'-i . ' j
I i - , -' 1 V '' :-' : -: rr Xj- 1 '.-v
y k v - " ,;fi r . .:..:r?'.v:
I ; V -,- ' . r- 1 v is y t - i i
: -' '" " -X Sy ssL -l -- ' - . . I
Law.S-sS& -w: rjta. ...w,. mmr-m.n, . .i Hi. i.a r ,1 . -41 1 '-TS'Z-Oi SJi-J I JAn .nuril L'mmJ . - , . Afc. J - -
' COMTlNEf? GRENADE
g -- - i i-i i-n..-, i i. --, m - t ... i - Xt-T
EW men end new methoas.
the call that foes out from
Washington at the outset of
the war Into which America has en
tered, and every ingenuity the Govern
' ment can employ la being directed to
that purpose, and to the fulfilling of
that call.
The true American, with the buoy
ant optimism which is his inheritance,
and with pride In the achievement of
those who have fought to a. victorious
conclusion all previous wars, is confi
dent that neither the men nor the
methods they devise will be found
lacking In the one great essential
the ability to "put It over."
But who will the men be "What
will be the methods employed?
Like the snows of yesterday, the
heroes of yesteryear are gone. The
old instruments of warfare have gone
Into the discard for the most part. Mod
ern menaces demand modern methods
. with which to meet them.
Heroes of the Past.
It Is barely 20 years since the Spanish-American
war since last American
courage and American Ingenuity were
put to the actual test since Uncle
Earn was forced to meet fire with more
lire, cunning with greater cunning,
bravery with greater bravery. Just 20
years, but those in the war of today
must leaxn their lessons from the writ
ten and printed word the heroes who
could tell, and whose word would be
given attention, are nearly all gone.
This is particularly true In the naval
branch of the Government's fighting
force, and it is on the sea that America
most likely will be called upon to con
tribute her greatest share. The three
most conspicuous heroes of the Spanish-American
war on the sea were Ad
mirals Dewey, Schley and Sampson.
By example alone will that great tri
umvirate be or assistance in the pres
nt conflict.
The heroes of Manila Bay and San
tiago Bay will furnish inspiration to
those who have taken up their com'
mands but what a strange, unfortu
nate freak of fate It was that took
from America Just before she entered
this war the two conspicuous figures
on whom she would have relied so
strongly in this one the old sea war-
rlor who cut the cables and "waded in,"
" and the great land fighter, the rug-
' gea little uenerai through whose strat
' egy and courage the Philippine insur
rection was ended and Aguinaldo was
captured!
' What an inspiration and help they
would have been Dewey to the sailor
boys in blue, and Fnnston to the
khaki-clad infantry in the struggle
with the Teutonic hosts!
It is worth while noting also- that
the hero of the Merrimao is no longer
: actively in the Navy, but a member of
- Congress.
It would be lust as Impossible to
forecast who the heroes of this war
' will be as it would have been to have
singled out in advance Richmond
; Pearson Hobeon and Ensign Worth
Bagley as heroes of the Spanish
American conflict. The bravest of the
brave may not have the opportunity
that is presented to another, and the
mildest, gentlest of all soldiers may
.' when the great occasion comes, prove
the most heroic.
Uncle Sam's Place.
One takes no desperate chance In
prophesying that la methods, as weU
x.-TiTl-? "tit" ... .fe t,i TvCi" . ' . A-- a" i . I a i -'11
jm irt v --ft - , cii'-'fi - - - '' r,v v. - -
C y r . jj---vm.c ,. - j ' 1 f
r a jJK";'',M,'lW'''''lft' fa-aHj A.'sr IS tVi" " -' - J"T " ' " TIM "Yf nfl tl llign -ll -i- ' ' J - -- ... iiJh f,-.,i n . i I I I 1 1 i m ri iii'i ii it
1 1 sssBBaaBaBSSBBsssssisssssBssBssBBSsssss"" 1 -
mi
men, America wUl take a, leading
place among the belligerents. Uncle
Sam looks to his inventors to contrib
ute more to the solution of the prob
lems pressing on the allies than to any
other single group of men.
America, which gave the world the
submarine, the great new fighting fac
tor of the seas, and the flying ma
chine, which has done more than all
else to revolutionise the land warfare.
may well be expected to furnish the
best means of meeting the menace of
the former, and also the most perfect
adaptation of the airplane to war pur
poses.
If American Inventiveness can per
fect a submarine catcher, or can de
vise any way of protectingshIps from
the deadly torpedo; or if the flying ma
chine can be made an effective ally
in detecting the presence of subma
rines, if not in destroying them, the re
sult as far as hastening the end of
the war is concerned would be greater
than could be accomplished In any
pitched battle on land or sea.
Uncle Sam has a habit, in common
with European countries, of not di
vulging the inner workings of his War
Department to any great extent, but it
is known that for many months plana
have been going on to perfect meth
ods of conducting warfare, with a view
of overcoming the menaces that have
confronted the two groups tt Euro
pean powers.
A super-Ericsson is not an Impossi
bility, la an. aa and La a country that
has the brain of Edison turned in the
direction of improved fighting ma
chinery. A super-submarine Is far from an
Improbability in a country which pro
duced a mere college boy David
Bushnell able to construct the first
submarine boat actually used in war
fare ; Robert Fulton, the Inventor of
the steamboat, also an American, was
the next person to contribute to the
development of the submarine, and to
John P. Holland, still another nephew
of Uncle Sam, is given the credit for
bringing the submarine to a stats of
practical value.
The rath for Invention.
A super-airplane may well be ex
pected from the Nation that gave to
th
Wrights and Glenn
the world
Curtlss.
America has contributed most to the
development of the submarine and the
airplane, and in times of such stress as
these it may reasonably bo expected
that she will furnish the material for
the most important chapters on the
history of both as employed in the
world war.
One invention by two young Call
fornlana is called a periscope gun. It
allows the marksman to fire over the
edge of the trench, taking careful
aim. and yet remain fully, covered.
Those who doubt that the call from
Washington the call for -new men and
new methods will be filled promptly,
fully and glidly, need to study a little
history. They do not know the ways
of Uncle Sam and his "minute men."
LEGAL SIDELIGHTS FOR
LAWYERS AND LAYMEN
BY BEYSELLK O. B.
COHMSU, OF" PORTLAND BAB.
SOK Promises Must Father Pay?
Is a father responsible for the
promises of bis minor son? Can
be be held on the theory that the rela
tionship creates an implied authority
by virtue of which the son's acts may
bind bis parent? This Question, la
squarely put In the case of Harbegger
v. King, 135 N. W. It appearM
from the facts that Charles King, the
minor son of the defendant, had acci
dentally run into and injured one
Karge. Toung King at the time was
using his father's automobile for his
own pleasure or convenience, but under
his father's general permission. It was
stipulated on the trial that this was
purely accidental and without fault on
the part of Charlea King. Young King
took the boy to the nearest hospital and
then wont after the doctor, the plaintiff
in this Case, and requested him to give
the injured boy every attention to save
his life. He did not. however, attempt
to contract on bbalf of his father, the
defendant In this action, nor did the
doctor communicate with the defend
ant at any time before the completion
of the services for the value of which
this suit was brought.
Just before the injured boy was dis
charged from the hospital, the hospital
superintendent told the defendant that
the boy's mother was poor and would
probably not be able to pay the hospital
charges, and asked the drfendant to do
something toward paying the bill,
whereupon the defendant paid the hos
pital bill, informing thte superintendent
that he was not responsible Tho sec
ond day after this he received a bill
from the plaintiffs for their services.
He bad beard that doctors were attend
ing the injured boy at the hospital but
did not know that they were making
a claim against him until he received
this bill, which be refused to pay.
On the above facts, the circuit judge
stated that while Charlra King had no
actual oral or written direct authority
from his father to employ the plaint
iffs for the purpose stated, he had
implied authority as. & matter of law.
On appeal this ruling was reversed on
thn ground that a minor child has no
Implied agency to act for his parent in
the making of a contract. "A parent
will not be bound by an unratified con
tract entered into on his behalf by a
minor child. In the absence of express
authority to the child to make, the
contract, or of evidence of a course of
conduct from which such authority may
be inferred. ' '
"The law relating to the agency of
servants to bind the e-rnployer to pay
for physicians or nurses in attendance
upon persons injured by the negligence
of such servants requires that the em
ployment must have Iwen of such a
nature that this act of the servant is
reasonably within its scope, as in the
case of a general superintendent of a
railway company, general manager or
agTOt, ... A mere chauffeur or
automobile driver In a town where the
employer Is known and can be readily
reached by telephone or by other speedy
and cvtain means of communication,
would not ordinarily possess such au
thority. Neither would an Infant son
using his father's automobile under
like circumstances."
i
The Torrens System. To those who
wonder why the Torrens system of land
registration, hailr-d a few years ago as
the cure-all and end-all of every diffi
culty attendant upon the owning and
transferrins ot land, nas met with so
little popularity, the following extract
from 137 N. W. 390 may be enlight
ening: "The Torres system of reglstratioa
of land titles was named after Sir,
Robert Torrens. of South Australia,
who first introduced it into use amor.g
English-speaking people, though a sim
ilar system had been in vogue in some
parts of the present German empire
for many years.
It is worthy of notice. In this connec
tion, that Sir Robert was not a lawyer.
He was a collector of customs, and
very probably he worked out his sys
tem through analogy to the method by
which the government furni?hd a cer
tificate as evidence of one's owner
ship of a vessel. Manifestly his intent
was to free land titles from the indict
mont of common sense which is often
framed In the impatient and seemingly
unanswerable question: Why must
there be any greater uncertainty of
ownership of land than of personalty,
and why should land titles have- to bs
searched through a 'godless and profit
less Jungle"?
"The system was Introduced Into
South Australia in 185S. and while since
that time It has found more or
less favor with pnople of English ex
traction. It seems that it yet has thorny
paths to tread. Its author, as aptly
said by the writer of the learned and
ineresting article on this system In t
Cent. L. J. 285. 'little knew, as we. may
i .iCuuclutlvd on I'aiia S.A