THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, 1 PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 21, 1919.
8
ESTABLISHED BY HKNRT L- PITTOfK-
Published by The Oresonian Publishing Co.,
135 Sixth Street, Portland, Oregon.
C. A. MORPEX, E. B. PIBEB.
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San Francisco representative. R. J. Bidwell.
HOPE FOR OPPRKSSEH PEOPLES.
President Wilson's answer to the
questions put to him by the San Fran
cisco labor council disposes most ef
fectually of the arguments against the
loague covenant which were used by
Senator Borah in his reply to a clergy
man, and by other anti-league sena
tors. In defiance of the facts it has
been said that article 10 would bind
the United States to aid any other
nation in suppressing rebellion of op
pressed peoples, though the article dis
tinctly says that members of the league
are only to defend each other against
"external aggression."
It has been said that the peace con
ference refused to hear the pleas for
self-determination of subject peoples,
among whom Mr. Borah names Corea,
Ireland and Egypt, and that the cove
nant would forbid any nation to give
aid to such people. Mr. Wilson shows
the falsity of these objections by stat
ing the obvious fact that the confer
ence could act only with regard to
self-determination of territories of the
defeated empires, but that article 11
of the covenant provides means by
which the league can act on the claims
of the nations named, subject to
Britain, Japan or any other power.
Mr. Borah's violent prejudice against
the league has blinded him to the
plain purpose and effect of this article.
He refers to the transfer of Ger
many's rights in Shantung to Japan,
but he does not mention the fact that
this is preliminary to the prompt sur
render of all sovereign power to China
under a pledge given to the United
States and the allies.
The senator's letter is made up
either of suppression of the truth or
of half-truths, which are the worst
form of deception.
Under article 11 each member of
the league may "bring to the at
tention of the assembly or of the coun
cil any circumstance whatever affect
ing international relations which
threatens to disturb international
peace or the good understanding be
tween nations upon which peace de
pends." Oppression of any nation which
aroused the sympathy and indignation
of a large proportion of the people of
this or any other great country would
"threaten to disturb international
peace," as did Spain's oppression of
Cuba with the result that the United
States made war. It would be cause
for consideration by the league on the
initiative of any nation. Mere discus
sion by the league would focus the at
tention of the world on the offending
nation and incline it to reform. That
statement is warranted by the action
of Japan in promising home rule to
Corea after the cruel suppression of
the rebellion in that country had been
made public. Among the English
people so strong a demand has arisen
for dominion home rule for Ireland
that the government cannot long de
lay action. The British government
of its own motion has laid before
parliament a bill giving a large meas
ure of home rule to India and provid
ing for its gradual expansion. Any
nation would be far more responsive
to the public opinion of the world as
it would be expressed through the
league than these nations have been
to unorganized criticism.
If the sympathy with subject peo
ples which is so profusely expressed
by opponents of the league is sincere,
they cannot serve those peoples bet
ter than by voting to ratify the treaty
and thus bring the league into exist
. ence. They might then induce con
gress to instruct the American dele
gates to bring the cases of Ireland,
Egypt and Corea before the council.
If this should be done, they need not
be surprised if some other nation
should bring up the case of the Porto
Ricans, who have for several years
appealed to congress for full citizen
ship in the United States, but in vain.
TOT THE BALKAN STATES OBJECT.
Objection of Roumania and the
Jugo-Slav state to the treaty with
Austria arises from clauses which
strike at one of the fundamental
causes of dissension in the Balkan
peninsula conflicts of race and re
ligion. The peoples of that region
have no conception of anything but
extinction of all signs of a race other
than that which rules the country.
In Serbia the minority must become
Serb, talk Serbian, wear the Serb cos
tume, and so in other countries. Re
ligion is so much a matter of race that
one church, which is an adjunct of
the government, and other creeds are
merely tolerated. The same idea
ruled in Austria-Hungary.
As they sought liberation from such
suppression of their nationality and
religion only in the hope of turning
the tables, the Roumanians of Tran
'.sylvania do not welcome treaty clauses
which secure equal rights to the Mag
yars and Saxons, nor do the Serbs and
Croats welcome such protection for
the" Magyars, Moslem Bosnians and
Bulgars who will come under their
rule, nor the Greeks with regard to
the Bulgars of Macedonia. They re
gard these as domestic questions with
which the allies should not interfere.
Roumania has a large Jewish popu
lation, which has won popular hatred
by superior business ability and to
which it denies political rights.
Clauses preserving equal rights for
racial, linguistic and religious minori
ties are included also in the treaties
establishing the independence of Po
land and Czecho-Slovakia. Enforce
ment of these clauses by one or a few
nations would have caused friction,
aroused suspicion of selfish motives
and provoked enmity. For that rea
son the duty will fall upon the league,
which should be free from any such
suspicion. It is a task for the leag-ue.
for conflicts of race and religion have
led to Balkan wars, which have em
broiled all Europe. We may hope that
in time, as minorities enjoy their
rights unmolested, old enmities will
die out and danger of war in that
quarter will pass away.
These are the facta behind those
frequent references to trouble in the
Balkans by those who oppose the
league covenant. The United States
has an interest, for Balkan troubles
may again cause a war In which we
should be involved, and this nation
can do much to prevent it. If local
war should break out in that quarter,
there is small chance that American
troops would be sent there, for the
league would call on some neighboring-
nation for aid. Talk of American
troops going there Is for political ef
fect. IGNORANCE AND ITS DANGERS.
The Bulletin of the Loyal Legion of
Loggers and Lumbermen seeks to lull
its readers to sleep with consoling ob
servations on the stability of the coun
try and the instability of the news
papers. Here is the easy way In
which the Bulletin disposes of the red
menace:
If one could judge from the daily press,
the country is on the verge of a vast social
upheaval . . The red gets all the pub
licity. When the red explodes, verbally or
otherwise, it's news. If a man works mil
day on his Job and keeps his mouth shut,
it's not news. Solid, conservative labor
knows what it wants, and proceeds logically
to get it. Hundreds parade with red car
nations in their buttonholes. Thousands
merely watch them, and still more thousands
are home doing their chores. These thou
sands are usually right on the spot when
the votes are taken, however, and an. ap
peal to the ballot box makes the red cool
down to a pale rose color. Reds in Port
land attempted to fain control of the Cen
tral Lrftbor Council. Real concern was felt.
But the test set them down with a dull, hard
thud. The red hasn't captured anything
in America except the headlines.
The red hasn't captured anything in
America because of the headlines.
Possibly the extent of the national dis
content and the upsetting designs of
the radicals have been exaggerated.
We hope so. But the cure for unrest
and worse is not for the loyal citizen
to ignore it, or to deny its existence.
There is an old maxim that eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty. It
is so, quite as much now as ever.
The complacent assurance that rad
icalism, or sovietism, or revolution, or
anarchy, or whatever form of violent
change in society or government the
red group proposes and foments
amounts to nothing, comes, strangely
fom the organ of the Four L's. The
Bulletin has forgotten its own his
tory; either that, or it has assumed
that its own experience solved all
social and industrial problems.
What is the Loyal Legion but a liv
ing protest against the teachings and
methods of I. W. W.ism? It was
formed to combat and supplant the
I. W. W.'s, and it succeeded. If the
I. W. W. and its schemes of sabotage,
disruption and paralysis were not a
fact, then there was and is no reason
for the Loyal Legion.
WOMAN, GOD BLESS HER.
In Seattle, where it is reputed that
everybody, great or small, is always
bustling and active, an unnamed citi
zen found himself the other day in the
corridor of the postoffice with noth
ing in the world to do. But trust a
Seattle man to try to turn idle mo
ments into profit. This one devoted
his leisure to a painstaking observa
tion of the women who approached
the letter slot, withdrew the epistle
before quite letting go of it and gave
it another final scanning of front and
back. This operation was performed
by twenty-two out of thirty young
women.
Although industrious, even in incon-
seuuentiaiities, this Seattleite was
not much of a philosopher. In relat
ing his observations in the Post-Intelligencer
he derives only the conclu
sion that woman does not care much
about writing letters, but that when
she does write she wants to be sure
that the letter is all right. Now,
real observer and a true philosopher
would know without taking the pains
to observe woman in action at the
postoffice that she would do the very
thing that so aroused the interest of
this idle individual.
Woman has an instinct for orderli
ness and exactness. It is demonstrat
ed at home, in the office, or while
shopping or engaged in any sort of
duty or pleasure. The condition of a
business man's desk at once discloses
whether he employs a woman secre
tary, and, if he does, how much con
fidence he places in her knowledge
and discretion. If it is scattered over
with miscellaneous documents and the
drawers are full of Junk, he is. relying
upon himself to perform duties that
are never performed. If the papers
are neatly arranged and ready at
hand, it may be confidently assumed
that he has a trusted woman secretary.
Man, working alone, cannot con
duct a one-horse occupation without
a card index, or in the absence of one,
without skirmishing through his of
fice possessions one-half the time. At
home his wife, without index or mem
oranda, can put her hand without
thinking on any of a hundred dishes,
pots and pans. She does not have to
paw over all the drawers in the chif
fonier to find husband's socks and
if Willie wants a screwdriver to fix
his roller skates, why he will find one
in the lower left hand drawer of the
sewing machine, and please do not dis
turb anything else, and be sure to give
it DacK.
Man, out to purchase a necktie,
bursts into the first haberdashery,
S'ljs irimrne tnat, and on arriving
nome tmds that he has offended the
esthetic sense of the entire household.
Woman takes her time, examines tex
ture, coloring, design and price of
whatever she may be seekins. and
goes home so thoroughly conscious
that she has got just what she wants
that it wouldn't do anybody anv eood
to challenge her Judgment if anybody-
were so inclined.
J"' vYmdii a mina is exactlv unon
what she is doing when she goes to
the postoffice or the corner mail box
Man's is not when he is similarly
bent. To guard against his own neg
lect he has all his envelopes printed
with a return card. He then knows
that if he forgets the stamp a kind
postmaster will return the letter to
him. At that he generally trusts his
stenographer to start the letters on
their way. If he were headed for the
mall box himself he would probablv
drop the letters in his pocket while
he digressed to the nearest cigar store
and discover his neglect a week later,
When a woman starts out with
letter to mail, you can bank on it that
the letter will be mailed and that it
will have a proper return notice on
the envelope, be well sealed and well
stamped. If it is to the corner mail
box she goes she makes dead sure it
is really a mail box, not a fire alarm
dingus or a waste paper can.
Tet she is no different approaching
the mailing slot than when approach
es the Circassian walnut dresser of
her bed room. Observe, if you will,
the pile of deftly folded garments.
The first is all but placed away, then
withdrawn, held aloft, turned fore
and aft. and backward and for
ward; an invisible piece of lint Is
picked off here, and an equally invisi
ble speck of dust is flecked off there.
Then it is shaken a little, the folds
examined, pressed down once more and
it is laid carefully exactly in the
northeast corner of the middle drawer;
and the same attention is given the
next garment, except that finally it
roes into the southwest corner of the
lower drawer.
Woman's instinct for exactness and
orderliness Is the salvation of what
would otherwise be a topsy-turvy and
sadly expensive world. The average
man could not keep track of and In
its place every article of the average
household as she does without utiliz
ing a triple-deck filing system, and
employing a bookkeeper, an office
manager, and a corps of assistants.
MORE MOONEYANA.
As to a part" of a correspondent's
contribution today to Mooneyana it Is
sufficient to say that the apparent
conflict between the testimony of two
principal witnesses in the trial of
Mooney was the subject of exhaus
tive argument before the jury by the
best legal talent to be obtained in the
United States by a defense having un
limited means. It is also discussed at
considerable length by the supreme
court in a unanimous decision which
concludes that the testimony of the
two witnesses is not incompatible.
But the Oxman incident in the
Mooney case is a chapter in itself.
That Oxman, one of the principal wit
nesses against Mooney wrote the
Rigall letters inviting a man who was
not in California at the time of the
preparedness day murder to come to
California and testify, is admitted. But
this also went to a jury in a trial of
Oxman on a charge of attempted
subornation of perjury, and Oxman
was promptly acquitted.
On the one hand was Oxman, a
resident of good repute in Oregon for
many years, and on the other was
Rigall, an admitted bootlegger, ca
rouser and gambler. It was Oxman'
defense that on the day of the bomb
explosion he noticed a man who wit
nessed some of the same event he wit
nessed whom he thought he identified
as a man named Rigall of Grayville,
Illinois, but whom he had not seen for
seventeen years.- He communicated
his belief to the district attorney and
at the latter's suggestion undertook
himself to produce Rigall.
It taxes ordinary credulity to be
lieve that however vicious or strongly
bent upon commission of bribery and
subornation of perjury a sane man
may be he would ever reduce his
plans to writing and mail them to ah
acquaintance he had not seen for
seventeen years. It taxes extraord
inary credulity to believe that a dis
trict attorney, student as he must be
of crime and its consequences, would
connive at such a dangerous scheme.
The testimony of Rigall and Oxman
at the Oxman trial as to what conver
sations passed between them at San
Francisco, after Kigali's arrival, were
wholly at variance. It was developed
at this trial, however, that Rigall. who
had returned to Grayville without ap
pearing in the Mooney case, wired the
district attorney, upon Mooney's con
viction, that he had evidence that
would get Mooney a new trial. He
was promptly wired to produce it. but
declined to do so on the advice of his
attorney. Although recognizing the
significance of the Oxman letters he
thus refused to submit them during
the whole period allowed the defense
for application for a new "trial, and did
not produce them until after' his at
torney, who had advised him to con
ceal them, had been - retained on
Mooney's staff of lawyers.. There is
a reasonable suspicion that the Rigall
telegram was a "feeler" and that the
letters were for sale to the highest
bidder. It is an established fact that
the letters were withheld until it was
too late to incorporate them into the
record on appeal. And because the
supreme court by constitution of Call
fornia is confined in its consideration
to the record, it could not lawfully
grant the new trial asked on the basis
of discovery of the' letters.
The plausibility of the Oxman de
fense and argument, almost any un
prejudiced, experienced criminal law
yer will agree, would obtain a verdict
of acquittal for Oxman before any
jury in the country. But that is not
to say that It absolutely confirms opin
ion of his Innocence. It is only suf
ficient to raise a reasonable doubt and
such a doubt frees the accused. On
the other hand if the Rigall story and
evidence had been submitted to the
Mooney jury in an effort to impeach
Oxman it may be they would have
raised a reasonable doubt in the minds
of that jury, and caused the acquit
tal of Mooney.
That which we wish to make clear
is not the innocence of Oxman but
the perfidy of Rigall and the attitud
toward him of those he betrayed
Whether Oxman's testimony be true or
false this conception of Rigall is not
altered. If true, Rigall has perjured
himself to get a man erut of the peni
tentiary. If false he has withheld evi
dence that might have saved a man
from the penitentiary. Yet in all the
lurid literature issued in defense of
Mooney, Rigall is upheld as a nobl
fellow, and Oxman as a particularly
vicious scoundrel.
The most familiar of lurid Mooney
ana is the so-called "frame-up pam
phlet" of which more than 1,000,000
copies are in circulation.. It bears the
imprint of Robert Minor's authorship,
Minor is an anarchist who left the
United States under a fraudulent pass
port and joined Lenine and Trotsky in
Russia. To radicals like Minor, the
Mooney case so long as it pends in
public interest provides a theme for
literature designed to derogate the
most cherished institutions of this
government. It helps the "revolution."
It was used by him in Russia to .en
gender the false belief that this is a
country of capitalistic autocracy where
the life and liberty of working
men are not safe, and it there raised
Mooney to the dignity of an interna
tional figure.
The theme of the Minor pamphlet is
that a gigantic conspiracy was entered
into in San Francisco between the
chamber of commerce and a district
attorney. This official had thrice been
elected with the indorsement of the
union labor party and h,ad chosen
some of the employes and associates
from men identified with union labor.
That in furtherance of this con
spiracy testimony was obtained or sup
pressed solely by means of bribery and
coercion; that this corruption extend-
! ed north to Oregon and to the south
ern limits of California, and that with
the same purpose the same conspira
tors committed burglaries even so dis
tant from California as the middle
west.
The object of this conspiracy of a
purely business organization and a
friend of organized labor was to dis
credit union labor. How? By con
victing of a gross murder a man who,
the proceedings of the central labor
council of San Francisco show, had
been a thorn in the flesh of labor; a
man whose occupation was the writing
of anarchistic literature and the gath
ering of the hard-earned money of
labor to defend and free murderers; I
who had written letters threatening the
lives of the governors of two states;
who had escaped on a sheer techni
cality conviction on another dynamit
ing charge; who had associated him
self with a Russian anarchist who in
turn had served seven years in the
penitentiary for attempted murder,
and that association was for the pub
lication of a revolutionary paper which
derided the American Federation of
Labor and labor leaders; predicted as
sassination of the president of the
United States; called the -president a
"weathercock" and the stars and
stripes a "striped rag" a publication
which avowed its antipathy to pre
paredness and prior to the prepared
ness day parade suggested violence as
a means of preventing it. as it was in
fact interrupted-by violence and death.
All this conspiracy and bribery and
burglary and corruption was for the
purpose of discrediting union labor by
sending such a man to gallows or
penitentiary! No such pamphlet could
have been written with the honest
purpose of getting Mooney out of the
penitentiary by pardon or new trial.
It Is preposterous. It cuts across the
grain of the sober intelligence of those
who know the facts. Much of it is
palpably false yet it has created in the
minds of many honest men who do not
know the facts a belief that Mooney
Is a persecuted working-man. The
radicals have not had such good pick
ings in years. Mooney is the magnet
which draws the dimes and dollars
from the deceived workingman, and
provides the financial means for
spreading class hatred as It was never
spread before. The pardon or release
of Mooney would cause sorrow to
every bolshevist in the land. If it is in
reference to this sort of propaganda
that the correspondent perceives in
The Oregonlah an opposition to any
thing red, his observation is not wholly
at fault.
THE OREGON STATE FAIR.
The Oregon state fair opens at
Salem tomorrow morning. The weath
er prospect seems to be good and all
else has been arranged. Last year at
this time we were at war, though
nearing a triumphal end, and the state
fair was molded to a martial pro
gramme. This year it is a victory
finish.
Outside of a great display of gov
ernment properties, which Includes a
lot of captured stuff as well as every
thing needed in war activities in
themselves a wonderful educational
exhibit the industrial life of Oregon
will be shown in all the ramifications
of a self-sustaining state. All the "cul
tures" of the temperate zone are
ready to be seen, with not a few native
to the tropics and all the better for
the transplanting.
Oregon has the best cattle on earth;
what it does not raise it buys. Rivalry
among the breeds is intense and the
best of each is on the ground, awaiting
the award of merit. The speed pro
gramme is one continuous charm, the
best music In the northwest has been
provided in fact, everything that in
other years has made the Oregon state
fair famous is ready and a little better
to be true to form of this great s'ite.
It s going to be a worth-while far.
The going Is rood by rail, road and
air it wouldn't be Oregon If It didn't
include the latter. Weather doesn't
matter, for that, too, is incidental to
Oregon. All "dates" should be made
for Salem this week.
PERSHING THE GENERAL.
Plaudits of the people of Washing
ton and thanks of congress have in
formed General Pershing that he has
deserved well of his country. To hi
ears the cheers of the throngs and the
praise of the leaders in congress must
have been sweet. Pride must have
swelled within him as he marched at
the head of his first division of un
tiring, victorious fighters. These
things are a large part of the reward
for two years of ceaseless work and
tremendous responsibility. He knows;
that his fame is assured as comman
der of the American army which
turned the tide of battle, and struck
the decisive blow in the greatest war
In history.
Pershing's was a task far surpass
ing that of any former American gen
eral since Washington. He had to
take the mere nucleus of an army and
build an army ten times as large
around it. He had to build the whole
complicated machine of war all the
way from the ports of debarkation to
the battle front. He had to test all
the many new devices of war which
were sent to him, and to make them
fit or reject them, always remember
ing how precious was cargo space.
He had to co-operate with the com
manders of an army speaking a
strange language and in' whose coun
try he fought, and he had to be care
ful of the susceptibilities of a people
different in both language and cus
toms and nerve-wracked by the suf
ferings of war. Unity of command re
quired that he subordinate himself to
a foreign general, and doubtless that
he should often yield his Judgment.
It is to the glory of Pershing that
he did all these things, some arduous,
some delicate in the extreme. His
greatest glory is the self-abnegation in
devotion to the ideal expressed in his
salutation to the soul of Lafayette and
to the cause for which he fought in
common with the French and British.
That virtue appeared in his placing
his troops unreservedly at the disposal
of Foch in the critical days of March.
1918, and in the putting his divisions
in line with those of the allies until he
could organize his first army. But
he resented doubt of the fighting
spirit of his troops and through hi
Insistence they were sent forward at
Bolleau wood and Chateau Thierry to
hold the line. His confidence was
abundantly vindicated, for wherever
the Americans appeared the Huns
were stopped and driven back. There
never was a more clean-cut victory
than that of St. Mihiel. nor such a
steady, continued pressing forward
against every obstacle that would be
offered by nature and man than the
drive through the Argonne and down
the Meuse.
Yet Pershing was not the spectacu
lar figure which former commanders
of great armies presented. Historians
give us pictures of Napoleon, Welling
ton. Grant, sleeping on the ground
among their soldiers, wrapped in their
cloaks, being in close touch with their
troops. Napoleon in the thick of the
fighting at the bridge of Lodi and
carried away in the arms of a soldier.
The war picture of Pershing is that
of a man In a building far to the rear,
planning and fighting battles on maps
and with the telegraph and telephone,
continuing the same operation as he
traveled by special train all along the
lines. His was rather the work of
the chief engineer of a vast and intri
cate machine, the outward evidences
of his activity being the men and
weapons which beat back the enemy.
When we compare the army and the
mechanical apparatus which he con
trolled with those of former comman
ders, who had fewer men and far sim
pler implements to direct, Pershing
s a greater genius, though he does
not cut such a heroic figure as the
traditional man on horsetck.
Nor has Pershing captivated the
imagination of the American people
as did "Old Hickory" Jackson. "Zach"
Taylor, "Grant or Sheridan. His field
of operations was distant and covered
with the veil of censorship; theirs
was at or near home. He sprang from
West Point and spent all his life in
the army, therefore is of the military
class, apart from the people. Grant,
too, was a West Pointer, but he had
spent several years in civil life. Whe.n
he returned to the army, he fastened
public attention on him by his early
victories in subordinate command and
he was acclaimed the man of the hour
by popular verdict. That was prep
aration for a degree of hero-worship
of which no other can be the object.
But it may be with Pershing as it
has been with other generals that the
full merit of his achievements will not
be appreciated in his own day. The
story remains to be told of how the
plans were made which brought the
Germans to downfall in four months
from the day when they attempted the
final drive for Paris to the day of sur
render, but some facts have leaked
which point to him as the man who
made victory possible. If that be
true, he will be acclaimed one of the
world's greatest strategists.
Senator Johnson says: "As a mat
ter of fact, the league will breed
wars. How can a thing be a matter
of fact" which is still in the future
and Is contingent on all the varied
possibilities of the future? It is not
a matter of fact but a matter of John
son's prophecy. As a matter of fact
the league covenant provides several
highly effective means of settling dis
putes before resort can be had to war.
Of such reckless statements as the
senator's is the case against the league
covenant made up. Its opponents
either have not read it or do not un
derstand it or wilfully misrepresent it.
Tanks may prove to be the deciding
weapon in the Russian civil war as
the Germans admit them to have been
in France. A large number of them
were supplied by the British to Gen
eral Denikin. and they have been one
of the main causes of his almost un
interrupted series of victories In the
south. They have given the Russian
army on the Baltic front Its latest suc
cess. For lack of material and skilled
workmen it is not likely that the reds
can duplicate them.
As the Seattle longshoremen are so
enamored of bolshevlsm, it might be
advisable to give them free passage
on the ship on which they refuse to
load rifles, transport them across Si
beria and through Kolchak'a lines and
hand them over to the bolshevists.
Then they would become acquainted
with bolshevlsm and would learn how
they like it. They would learn how
difterent it is from what its votaries
say it is.
The report that Lenine has made
peace proposals to the British govern
ment should be received with a grain
of salt, for they come from the Lon
don Herald, which is the bolshevist
organ in England, though posing as a
labor paper. The Herald would like
to put Uoyd George In the position
of having rejected such proposals, to
which purpose the making of them is
necessary.
The American Legion has much
work ahead to purge the schools and
colleges of bolshevlsm and socialism.
The young men should learn what
these things are in order to reject
them in favor of Americanism, but re
cently many have been taught that
they are there is of social economics.
The trouble of preventing German
spies from digging their way out of
thj prison at Fort Douglas should be
avoided by loading all of them on
board ship and dumping them on the
coast of Germany. That would be one
way to reduce the expenses of govern
ment. Rebukes to the unruly gallery of
the senate are without effect, for visi
tors know that senators" speeches are
addressed chiefly to them and that for
that reason they are safe from ex
pulsion. There is much "bunk" in the
senate's rules.
The odorous skunk has a value dead
collectively, for more than a quarter
million skins brought almost a million
dollars in the London fur sale. These
were American grown, for one seldom
hears of the four-legged kind abroad.
At Yakima a horsethief pleaded
guilty and was given 15 years but held
for examination as to sanity. No
wonder. A man who steals a horse
when hundreds of automobiles are
handy is "crazy In the head."
First-Assistant Postmaster - General
Koons defended Postmaster-General
Burleson Friday at a committee hear
ing. Loyalty to the boss always is to
be praised, even if occasionally to be
damned.
The Chicago building strike, on for
two months, is off Just In time. The
carpenters get their demand of a
dollar an hour and will be able to
help the street workers when they call
for aid.
Frozen meats from the army sur
plus may be sold here; but why buy
the stuff when the best can be bought
fresh? And who enjoys embalmed
chickens?
Russian sable pelts brought an av
erage of $1000 at the St. Iotils sale,
but there were only 700 of them, so
some of us must wear something near.
The big strike to begin tomorrow
will have one usual result the wives
and children will be sufferers.
A Tangent man, expects to hatch
80,000 chickens next season, not
daunted by the old proverb.
The Round-Up had a touch of the
realistic when John Spain, former
champion rider, was shot.
OPIMOX CUANGEU AS TO MOO.E
Contributor Invetl-ate and Pro
nounces Evidence Contradictory.
PORTLAND, Sept. 16. (To the Ed
itor.) The Oregonian's editorial,
Mooneyana," reflects the desire of a
conservative paper to preserve its rep
utation for opposition to anything red,
or even family pink. Occasionally,
however, the radical Is right, and a
"blanket" altitude becomes unjust-
Several months ago, stung by the
remarks of a Mooney sympathizer to
the effect that before I condemned
Mooney I had better study the ques
tion, i set out to do just that. When I
had finished I had completely changed
my point of view, this time holding
one based on careful investigation. It
was either more careful or more ex
tensive than your editorial writer's, for
1 can see what he apparently cannot,
since ha frankly leans to Mr. olin's
position, and that is that Mr. Olin Is
deliberately prejudiced or else a re
markably poor investigator. I will
take space for no more than a few
points.
A list of witnesses is given whose
occupations imply respectability. But
the really Important witnesses, the
ones on whose testimony the decision
hung, are not mentioned. Moreover,
names of Important witnesses whose
records would dirty the prosecution's
list, are not included.
It is stated that two witnesses saw
the bomb placed. These two were Mc
Donald and Oxman. McDonald is i
degenerate and dope fiend according to
the testimony of Salvation Army peo
pie who knew him, and these same
witnesses seriously challenge the hon
esty of his testimony. Your writer
triumphantly quotes Olin in producing
proof that McDonald is not a dope
fiend. This proof is the statement of
the editor of the Sunset magaslne.
It is enough to say that the Sunset
magazine has published a series of
articles so flagrantly and rabidly anti
Mooney. that It even attempts to
prove Oxman's letters the letters of
an honest man. In these letters Ox
man asks Rigall to come as an "expert
witness." In his trial for subornation
of perjury Oxman said he had added
a postscript, on an extra sheet not pro
duced, saying that if he had not been
in San Francisco on that day not to
come. (It was proved that Rigall was
in Niagara Falls, N. Y.. on the day ot
the disaster.) Now what possible
ground could Oxman have had for sup
posing Kigali had been in San Fran
cisco on that day and for further sup
posing that he would be an expert
witness? Oxman also told Rigall's
mother that he might be able to use
her aa a witness. She had never been
in San Francisco In her life. Oxman
said in one of these letters: "All you
have to do is to answer a few que
tions, and 1 will post you on those."
Anyone who can read the letters, which
Oxman admits he wrote, and still bo
lleve him an honest man, is a person
to whom one could prove that Penrose
is the greatest American.
These are the two direct witnesses,
the only two who actually saw the de
fendants place the bomb. But each told
a different story. McDonald's story,
which convicted Billings, was dis
proved by some photographs published
after that trial, so Oxman was pro
duced with a story to fit the pictures
and McDonald changed his to (It Ox
mans. But it was not only in the
time element with which the pictures
concerned themselves that their stories
difTer. They differ In the way the de
fendants planted the bomb and in the
number of defendants who were there.
Oxman said they came In a Jitney bus,
all of them, whereas McDonald saw
them come on foot, two of them.
Since McDonald's story was changed
to fit Oxman's, evidently the latter was
considered the best witness. But the
Rigall letters discredit him. So that
the two, the only actual witnesses, are
thoroughly discredited.
The question Is often asked: "Why
was Mooney convicted by a Jury If he
was innocent, if the evidence was so
flimsy?" Every juror testified after
the trial that the testimony of Oxman
had decided him. The evidence dis
crediting Oxman wis discovered after
the verdict against Mooney. There has
been no trial without this perjured
evidence. In short, the Jury declared
that Tom Mooney was Innocent in their
minds until Oxman testified. The con
clusion is that If they had known the
truth about Oxman Mooney would have
been acquitted.
Finally. I went to hear Mrs. Mooney
when she came to town. I came alert
to see If she distorted farts. If she
brought in lurid but insignificant de
tails, but she did not. Instead, she
confined herself entirely to the funda
mentals of the trial. What she said
was singularly free from venom and
important evidence on which she might
have based an appeal to passion was
not used for that purpose. It was sim
ple, just and clear analysis.
D. I. HARRIS.
1208 East Madison street.
Soldiers Insurance Policies.
PORTLAND. Sept. 19. (To the EdU
tor.) Please answer through your
columns the following questions:
(1) Does the soldier boy who carries
a government insurance policy have to
pay on It all his life or is it paid up in
20 years?
(Z) Can the soldier draw monthly
payments of this insurance during his
later years
A SOLDIER'S MOTHER.
The term or temporary insurance
policy issued during the war may be
kept alive for only five years after the
termination of the war. Within that
five years, however, the soldier may
convert his policy into any one of six
permanent forms of government life
insurance, the premium rates on which
vary. No medical examination Is neces
sary to make the conversion. In other
words, by surrendering his term policy
and taking out a new one within five
years the soldier at. his option may ob
tain a policy which requires monthly
payments so long as he lives and on
which no benefits are paid until his
death; or a policy which requires no fur
ther payments after it has been in force
20 years but remains In force until his
death; or a policy requiring no further
payment after 30 years: or a policy oa
which he can colKct the benefits at
the end of 20 years; or one on which
he can collect after paying for 30
years; or one on which he can collect
at the age of 61.
For further information apply . to
bureau of war rlbk Insurance, Wash
ington. D. C.
Rla-bta la Ladendorfa Book.
PORTLAND, Sept, 19. (To the Edi
tor.) Please inform this writer tiow
it is possible to obtain General von
Lude.ndorf's recent book. If it is not
for publication or sale In this country
to whom do the English rights vest?
A. E. M.
Ludendorfs book. "My Thoughts and
Actions." is copyrighted in America by
Harper &. Bros., New York, who have
disposed of certain rights to the Mc
Clure Newspaper Syndicate. New York.
We assume that it will not be distrib
uted in book form until the extracts
now running serially in several news
papers have been completed. The book
Is copyrighted In Great Britain by
Huchlnson & Co. and the London Times.
Too Hard to Please.
Boston Transcript.
Edna 'So you've broken with Jack?"
Edith "Yes, he was entirely too hard
to please." Edna "Gracious! how he
must have changed since he proposed
to you!"
An Honest Man.
By Grace E. Hall.
He fears no law so much as that in
born, which holds him in abey
ance from himself.
Which like a zealous guardsman meets
with scorn the proffered bribe or
sly reward In pelf;
This law. which came he knows not
whence nor cares, but follows al
ways, sure and unafraid.
That through Ita working it may -lead
him hence into a labyrinth deep,
like laws man-made.
In the deep quiet of his soul he fully
knows each point before the
question doth arise.
Sees every light that intellect e'er
throws upon a matter held before
man's eyee:
And far away from Jury, judge or law
he renders fair decisions with
real awe;
A sacred obligation moves his mind
and ia the only force that he will
find
That shall impel him always to obey
the law except In pliant, passive
way;
He follows soul-obedience to right not
that command enforced by fear of
might.
In darkest hour of night he counts
alone, nor has the least desire to
keep or hold.
So much as e'en one penny not his own
feels not the lure for others'
bonds or gold;
This thing within, immovable and
strong, makes all decisions quick
ly, all untaught.
Hurls back temptation when it breathes
of wrong and claims no praise
for what it may have wrought;
Without his conscious will this force
resents each small intrusion on
another's right. -
Holds quite aloof when alien voice pre
sents a counter claim, however
strong in might.
The really honest man needs not the
force of strong restraint to hold
him to his course;
Needs not the lynx-like eye of careful
boss to guard against the chance
of willful loss;
For deeper far than early law can
reach, or man-authority Impel or
ever teach.
There Is the Something that the Maker
wisely placed within this mortal
frame, that's ne'er defaced
A tiny compass in this creature, Man.
which guides him straight in ev
ery place and plan;
But oh! I grieve to tell that I have
found there were not compasses
enough to go around:
RETROSPECTION.
The songs we sang in childhood days
To the organ's mellow tae
Ring in my ears again tonight;
And eyes that brightly shone
Are haunting me with joy and life.
Yet their Joy and life are gone!
The dreams that would not wait till
day
Flash back on memory's screen:
The hopes that coeld not turn to deeds
Burn with a glow serene.
And for a single moment life
Seems as it might have been.
Handclasp must loosen although fond;
The kiss end, liowe'er sweet.
What we would hold with firmest
grasp
Time bears with swiftest feet.
Life's day, morn-lit with glorious sun.
May end in storm and sleet.
Alas, that flesh must turn to dust!
Hopes bud, but will not blow.
That those whose voices rang most
sweet
All silent lie below.
That life burns down, but never up.
Like the shortening taper's glow.
RAYMOND E. BAKER.
Coquille, Or.
THE WHOLE IDEA.
In colleges they tearh a guy to read
and write and think:
They t-ach him how to mark bis trail
with a modicum of paint.
But when examination time rolls round
as it is wont.
He'll find he has the whole Idea or
else be ain't!
When a guy becomes a Journalist, with
a fire badge on his vest.
He soon can tell In one brief glance
the sinner from the saint.
But when he starts to write a yarn to
please his editor.
He'll find he has the whole idea or
else he ain't!
And if a guy should write a book that
sounds all to the good
(The- kind to make the capitalist In
horror throw a faint).
He'll find out. when the stuff is weighed
upon the Judge's scales.
That he's eitner had the whole Idea
or el- he ain't!
HAZEL II. BUCKLIX.
THE CITY OF PERFECTION.
There's a city 'way off somewhere.
Just where, I do not know; .
But to reach this wondrous city.
There's a Ions, long way to go;
A million million travelers
Of hish and low estate
Have tried to pain this city.
But have never reached the gate;
And still they struggle onward.
Though progress Is so slow.
And the nearest way. trie people say.
Is a long. long way to go.
Within this wonder city
The streets are paved with gold.
But of Its rir-hest treasures
The half has not been told;
Perfection is the password
That gains admission free.
But not one in the wide, wide world
Is perfect don't you see?
But don't give up; it's better far
To keep on pushing, though
To the city of perfection
Is a long, long way to go.
I. R, WHITNEY.
THE Pl'ZZLE.
She pushed It on over the table.
She patted it off of the chair.
She rolled it straight out to the hallway
And bumped it along down the stair.
She raced It all over the carpet.
And out through the open front door:
She tossed it and caught It and spun it
The length of the big porch floor.
She bounced it down over the entrance.
So soft and fluffy and round:
It bounded out into the grasses
And hid in a hole in the ground.
They hunted from attic to basement.
From kitchen way out to the barn;
But nobody knew but the kitty
What became of that ball of yarn.
MARY ALICE OGDEN.
SIMILAR TO TlIK -MOVIE" TROl'BLE.
I have bought an electric washer.
But I'm living in constant i'.red.
Lest the Iaundrymvn's combination
Force patronage of them instead.
Or might not the wash women's union
Order pickets in front of my place.
Insisting 1 hire three women
To wash out my linens and lace?
No use to aak Officer Murphy
For protection of property dear.
For he, too, has Just Joined the union
Is a radical member, 1 hear.
Oh. where Is our oft boasted freedom?
Has It thus turned to autocracy?
Oh. give us more of justice and right
In our once dear democracy.
F. Q. W ILEA TON,