The Sunday Oregonian., July 18, 1920, Magazine Section, Page 7, Image 83

7.
"THUNDERING GOOD LAWYER" IS WOMAN U.S. ATTORNEY
THE SUNDAY OliEGONIAN, PORTLAND, JULY 18, 1920
A Daughter of the Golden West Mrs. Annette Abbott Adams Won Her
Place in Competition With Best Talent of the Coast in Difficult Cases
"i
BT M ATM IS OBER PARK.
DON'T know what the rest of
you fellows think, but It seems
to me this appointment of wom
en to the bis federal jobs Is getting
to be a serious . matter! Take this
new assistant attorney general, Mrs.
Annette Adams, for Instance who In
thunder Is she?"
Thus do the BillJoneses the off Ice
seekers of the country deliver them
selves. While the Jane Smiths, put on the
defensive. In all the dignity of their
new power, reply: "Anette Abbott
Adams, of California? Why she's a
thundering good lawyer we'll say
she is!"
And the Jane Smiths of these days
know what they are talking about.
Mrs. Annette Abbot Adams, the new
assistant United States district at
torney, is a thundering good lawyer,
and while her appointment was a fine
tribute to the big suffrage state, and,
coming at this time, certainly made a
hit with the lady voters all over the
country, the political significance of
the appointment plays a very small
part when you examine into the legal
record of this clear-cut, able woman
lawyer.
Still apparently In her 30s, Mrs.
Adams is a slim, youngish-looking
woman, who, while not handsome or
smart Id appearance, has one of the
most interesting faces I ever looked
Into. - Reserved and quiet in her man
ner, she radiates poise and self-reliance
and efficiency, and as ehe mod
estly replies to questions put to her
does not seem to be at all impressed
with her own importance.
In fact, she told me that out In
California the newspaper boys who
hung around the courtrooms were
always accusing her of overlooking
the "high lights" when it came to
news pertaining to her office, where
as she took the position that just
because she was a woman she saw
no reason why the United States at
torney for the northern district of
California should be exploited every
time she "put a big one over."
But being the first, and only, wom
an who ever held such a job, naturally
Mrs. Adams' record was a matter of
wide interest, becoming nationally so
when in 1917 she was prosecuting for
the government the famous cases of
the well-known Germans, Consul Gen
eral Bopp, Vice-Consul van Schaak
and Lieutenant v6n Brlncken, charged
with conspiracy to violate the neu
trality of the United States. She se
cured prison sentences and heavy
fines for all three, and the manner
in which she conducted the cases
brought her Into the legal limelight.
As did also her conduct of the Hin
du conspiracy cases shortly after,
which occupied five months and re
sulted in conviction. On the last day
of the trial. Just at the conclusion of
Mrs. Adams argument to the Jury,
Ran Singh, the leader of the Hindu
revolutionists, turned in the crowded
courtroom on Rhandra, another Hin
du and his bitterest enemy, and shot
him to death. Mrs. Adams tbarely
dodged the bullets, and that spec
tacular trial came pretty near being
her last.
However, Mrs. Adams says that she
Isn't at all afraid of Indians, either
the foreign Or domestic brand. At
Plattsvllle, Plumas county, Cal., where
she was born, she grew up among
them, and when as little Annette Ab
bott she tramped ten miles and back
every day to school, she was attended
by a half-breed Indian guide, who
was also the rural mail carrier. In
winter the trip was made on snow
shoes, and while snowshoes and Cali
fornia seem a bit out of keeping, the
district in which the Abbotts lived was
the mountain district. isolated and
cold. Hali the year its snow-covered
mountain tops could be seen looming
up from the luxuriant Sacramento
valley, and, kissed by a California
sunshine, formed one of the prettiest
pictures which the tourists carried
away..
Annette Abbott's mother, who be
fore her marriage was a school teach
er in Maine, was very ambitious for
her daughter, and supplemented the
education which she received at the
little mountain school with nightly
instruction In the languages and
higher English. She It was who made
it possible for her to enter the Uni
versity of California With unusual
equipment for so young a girl, and
who urged her on to higher things.
So that while Annette Abbott per
fected herself as a teacher and re
turned to teach the schools In her
own county when she left the uni
versity, later becoming principal of
the Modoo high school at Alturas,
during which time she married, she
never felt quite satisfied that school-
teaching was her forte, and made up
her mind aftef a few years Of It that I
she would try for "higher things"
why not law?
She admits now that she Can't ac
count for her hankering after law I
if hankering it was (I think. It was
her woman's intuition, don't you, Jane
Smith?) unless that having taken)
her bachelor's degree In law when I
she attended the university In 1904
had "rather piqued her Interest."
Anyhow, she went back to the uni
versity, graduating In 191S with the
degree of doctor of jurisprudence.
which carl-led with tt admission to.
the bar.
Soon after, casting about for a law
partner, Mrs. Adams decided to loin
forces with Miss Marguerite Ogden,
daughter of Judge Ogden of Oakland,
and. opening up law offices In the
Monadnock- building In San Francisco,
hung out the shingle of the firm,
"Adams & Ogden," without a single
misgiving that the two good lawyers
behind it would be able to overcome
sex prejudice and get all the practice
they could handle.
And what happened goes to prove
that there is a lot in this new banlsh-all-fear
cult, for it wasn't any time
at all before Adams & Ogden were as
busy as could be, and the senior 'rnem
ber, Mrs. Adams, had an established
reputation. She handled her cases so
successfully and was such a formid
able force in the Courtrooms speak
ing out Just as she did when she
wanted to drive home a lesson in her
Bchoolroom that people began to sit
up and take notice.
Particularly was this true of the
United States atfnrney, Mr. Preston,
who decided that it would be a much
wiser thing to have this wizard of a
woman lawyer "fur him" than con
stantly winning Out "agin him," and
when Judge Baker, elected to cong
ress from the California mountain
district, came to Washington with the
suggestion that Mrs. Adams be ap
pointed assistant to the United States
attorney for the northern district of
California, I rather think It was that
attorney man Preston who "put the
bug in his ear."
However, be that as It may, Mrs.
Adams received the appointment and
entered upon her duties as aide to the
United States attorney at San Fran
Cisco in October, 1904. And she made
so good that four years later, when
Attorney Preston was appointed chief
assistant to the attorney-general, she
was the logical successor, and on
July 25, 1908, was nominated to fill
the vacancy as United States attorney
for the northern district of Califor
nia, comprising two-thirds of the
state and the second biggest port In
the country. This position, the first
or its Kina to wnicn a woman was
appointed, Mrs. Adams was holding
at the time of her appointment to the
department of justice.
When Mrs. Adams was up for ap
il.. ill ill
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vs. Dillon, to come up In the United
states.
Another big stunt she pulled off
was to considerably cut the cost of
living out in her state. This she did
by interesting the house wives'
leagues and alliances in reporting to
her office cases of food or clothing
profiteering, and,' through her special
agents, running down and prosecut
ing profiteers. Pity a few more
states hadn't women prosecuting at
torneys! Don't you think so. Bill
Jones?
And that reminds me. Bill, not long
ago I heard one of your clan declare
that all this talk about women doing
such marvelous things made him
tired. "There isn't anything, when
you come down to brass tacks." he
raved, "that a man can't do better'n
a woman. Why. good Lord, haven't
the very finest cooks In the world
been men, and the most famous dress
makers?" Granted. Bill, but did you ever
know a chef who could do anything
4: "tltH-fr
but cook, or a ladies' tailor who ever
practiced law? I never djd. while
just look at the Jane Smiths who
can do both with equal ease!
Mrs. Adams, the new satellite at
the department of Justice, is a strik
ing case in point, for she is not only
a fine lawyer, but a fine cook, and
although I forgot to ask her, I have
no doubt that she is an equally fine
dressmaker. Out on the coast, with
her six assistants and her long hours
In the court rooms, the way she kept
her balance was being a lawyer part
of the time and a woman all the rest.
. And when she went home at night
she slipped from her legal gown into
a kitchen apron, cooked her own din
ner and cleaned up her five-room
apartment housewife to the core.
Better watch these Janes, Bill. who.
while they haven't changed their
skins one whit, surely are making
some headway. First thing you know
they'll be sitting upon the supreme
bench or White Housekeeping for the
nation.
polntment to the California vacancy,
the then attorney-general, Mr. Mc
Reynolds, opposed it, holding that no
woman on earth could handle . the
complicated cases coming up in that
district, involving white slavery. Im
migration, violation of the Asiatic ex
elusion law. selling of liquor to In
dians, smuggling, customs and the
like.
But his successor, Mr. Gregory,
thought differently, and one of the
first things he did on corning Into
office was to confirm Mrs. Adams'
appointment as United States district
attorney. When, at the department of
Justice a few days ago, I glanced over
the wide range of important legal
matters which will now come under
the jurisdiction or this woman as
assistant attorney-general of the
United States, I could hardly refrain
from smiling. For in spite 6f its be
ing a little out of the ordinary for
dignified Justices of the supreme
court to "throw a fit." I Just pic
tured Justice McReynolds as doing so
when he heard of Mrs. Adams' ap
pointment to this big job.
And I declare, I can't altogether
blame him, for it seems to me that the
following schedule of duties is pretty
heavy for one pair of female, shoul
ders. Here we are:
Taxation, other customs.
Insurance: (a) War risk insurance;
(b) Federal 'employes; (c) Pensions
cIvIL
Minor regulations or commerce,
hours of service act, 28-hour act,
safety appliance act, quarantine act.
pure food act, meat transportation
act, game bird act, insecticide and
fungicide act and virus act.
Adamson act.
Suits to set aside orders of the
LC.C.
Prisons.
Tea, it Is a. big-sized job to handle
all these department matters, but
then Mrs. Annette Adams is a big
sized lawyer remember that! who
knows what It is to tackle hard propo
sitions, and the harder they are, the
better she likes 'em.
For Instance, out In California
that state most vitally interested in
the wine industry she secured the
decision upholding the constitution
ality of the national prohibition
amendment the first test case. U. S.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST HAS
ABUNDANCE OF SCENERY
Philadelphia Public Ledger Comments on Diversity of Plants and
Flowers of Brilliant Tints.
Philadelphia Public Ledger.
NATURE was surely In her most
generous mood when she en
dowed the S60.228 square miles
that comprise Oregon. Washington
and British Columbia, for .she made
them "all scenery," and scenery of
wonderful variety and range.
It) those 660,828 ' square miles
there Is a wonaerrut wealth and pro
fusion, almost a prodigality, of all
natural resources. Such diversity In
plants, flowers and trees; Such shades
and tints, so brilliant that an artist
Would hesitate to put them on canvas
for fear o'f being accused of exaggera
tion; so many different -kinds of
scenery, varying from the . peaceful
and calm. to the most awe-inspiring.
That Is why visitors to the Pacific
northwest may always find something
to amuse and interest, while gaining
health and strength in this nature's
playground. They may indulge in
aumobillbg, golfing, yachting, canoe
ing, motor boating, horseback riding.
mountain climbing, hiking through
winding trails, swimming, fishing and
thousand and One sports.
The tourist may, if he prefers.
travel "do luxe," ride over the smooths
est of boulevards for hundred's of
miles, stop at hotels with every mod
ern convenience, even in the midst
of the wildest scenery, and be as
comfortable as In his eastern home.
But the man whose fingers tingle
to hold a fishing rod, to whom it is
rarest joy to sleep out under the blue
sky on a bed of fir boughs, who longs
to stand on the pinnacle of a moun
tain and see the clouds piled up under
his feet, he too may gratify his de
sires. "Out where the west calls" one may
get away from the rush and hurry of
everyday routine, and with the cool
days and nights enjoy every moment
of his time. This year plan to spend
a sane vacation and get acquainted
with the marvels of your own land,
labrskea Wllda to Peaetrate.
Carried on by luxuriously appointed
transcontinental trains, one reaches
the Pacific northwest already rested,
ready to begin the adventure of ex
ploring a new country. For this great
Paciflo northwest is a new country
with a romance and spirit all its own
The man who longs for the new and
untried may find spots where there is
unbroken virgin forests, trout streams
in which no man has ever fished and
mountains never yet scaled.
For the less adventurous. 15,000
miles of splendid roads stretch away
through the two states and the prov
ince, and there are many cities that
merit several days' stay, such as Seat
tle, Vancouver, Spokane and Portland.
For the golf enthusiast there are
well-laid out, ever-green links that
will tempt him to many a game, and
near to all these cities are scenic at
tractions easily reached.
A delightful way to spend a vaca
tion is camping in the forest reserves,
where ' camp sites have been estab
lished, often on the shores of charm
ing lakes or fishing streams. Here
you may put up a tent, or for a very
small sum lease ground from the gov
ernment and put up a permanent sum
mer home.
For those who like "vacationing"
under the shadow of snow-capped
mountains, one may . choose from
Mount Hood, Rainier, Adams, the
Olympics, the Canadian Rockies, the
Cascades or the coast range. Here
snowballing in the warm sunshine.
coasting down high snow slopes, rock-
climbing, following the trail with a
knapsack on one's back are part of
the day's programme.
Swimming; and Boating.
At Lake Chelan, Wallowa, in the
lake region of British Columbia and
a hundred other places that might be
mentioned, there is a fine combination
of mountain and lake scenery. Swim
ming and boating as well as fishing
may be added to the long list of at
tractions. The Columbia river highway, with
Its great river gorge; its falls of sil
ver mist, cascading down against a
background of darkest firs; ever
changing panomara of river, sky and
mountain; fine camping grounds at
Eagle Creek; the largest fish hatchery
in America at Bonneville, etc, is the
road or 1000 wonders and must never
be missed by any western visitor.
Crater lake, in southern Oregon, ia
probably the most picturesque body
of water in America. A wonderful
deep blue in color, with a spectral
island In the center, it lies far down
in its crater bed, mysterious and self-sufficient.
Land Values Show Gain.
WILCOX. Sask. Land values are
holding their own in this district with
the rest of the province. Recently A.
Buckner sold his half -section for $100
per acre.
SCHOOL FOR MAKING AMERICANS OUT OF
FOREIGNERS IS . TAKEN TO "MEN ON JOB
Successful Method Found and Applied at Aberdeen, Wash, by H. C Bird for Combating Effectively
"Wobbly" Propaganda and Making Naturalized Citizens Self-Reliant.
BT RALPH J. STOEHLI.
MAKING Americans, through the
medium of special schools de
signed to teach those of foreign
birth our language and history, is a
puzzling task of many queer twists.
In the timber regions of the north
west there is slowly getting under
way a system that in point of num
bers attending can be viewed as one
of the most successful in the country.
The history of "Americanization"
echools in many cases is discouraging.
This is true in the east and west
and the causes for the discouraging
results are not always apparent.
Sometimes the failure is branded as
the result of "red" propaganda.
Sometimes the students are called
"Impossible." Again you hear that
time spent on these men, where they
fail to take advantage of what is
offered, is wasted.
Plans on Two Premises.
Those who have undertaken this
work in the timber regions knew all
that and realized that they were mak
ing an effort in a hard field, so laid
their plans around two premises:
First The failure of Americaniza
tion schools generally isn't the fault
of the men who are expected to at
tend. It's the fault of the schools.
Given half a chance most men of for
eign extraction will welcome the op
portunity to better themselves. The
desire to better oneself is a natural
instinct.
Second Any plan of Americaniza
tion must come through industry It
self, through the common point of
contact, where the would-be Ameri
can has his only practical contact
with America.
The plan of working through the
Industries where the men are em
ployed Is sponsored and made effect
ive by the Loyal Legion of Loggers
and Lumbermen. The first school to
come to my notice was conducted by
H. C. Bird, an employe of the Ander
son & Middleton Lumber Co., at Ab
erdeen. Wash. Mr. Bird was secretary
of the "Four Li local at the plant
and first came to grief when he
found that in order to raise the per
centage of "Four L" members in his
plant he would first have to make
Americana out of a lot of the em
ployes, as the constitution bar from
membership those who are not citi
zens or who, being eligible, have not
taken out first papers.
Job Is a Big One.
His job was a big one. There was
first lesson dwelt much on figures. In
fact he showed several of them, short
cuts to figuring out the correctness or
Incorrectness of the pay check. He
explained a simple way of keeping
their own time. Next day different
mnAmhot-fe tf th, rtllaa tn1rht tiaVA V u .1 n
no help that he could get and there ; A, A .-i.. , v.i
oiscoverea surreptitiously showing
was no school to which the men could
be sent to so he sat down on a
lumber pile and thought out the idea
of starting the school himself. There
being no other, comparison at least
could not discourage his efforts and
in talking it over with other mem
bers of his local he had no trouble
finding "sentiment" that "something
ought to be done" about the for- j
eigners.
But he could get no help. Through
one or two interested persons he was
able to locate some simple texts pre
pared for that work and the Portland
office of the Loyal Legion was able
to give htm some matter with which
to start work.
He had no trouble to get recruits.
The men In the yard knew him. They
followed to the meeting hall without
hesitation. They showed up in their
work clothes and the room was not
fluttered with the evidence of the
cleverness of the present-day younger
generation, a factor seriously to be
considered when asking a man who
missed his chance to go to a public
school room, where youngsters of
even minor grades seem to have such
a long start ahead of him.
Dieeooragement Felt at Flret.
The first night Bird felt Just a lit
tle bit the discouragement of others
who followed this work. It was hard
to tell whether tl men were taking
to it. He couldn't teM whether he had
"gotten by.'
But that wore off quickly. The
surroundings were different, but the
group was the same that cussed un
gainly timbers in the yard each day
or laughed at the discomfiture of one
of their number, when an unruly
hand truck momentarily stalled, prog
ress in the mill, found that in . the
work of becoming Americans they
had things in common.
I don't know Mr. Bird's ancestry,
but I am inclined to think that It is
Scotch. He has an uncanny way of
dwelling on the profit in a deal. His
their latest acquisition, a' time book,
to others who should have been to
school but who were npt.
Next school nlcht several were
there to learn to find out "how much
the company cheat," it having been a
foregone conclusion with many of
them that not being able to check
their earnings, the company, being a
company, must be regularly taking
advantage of them.
Coning Indulged In
Speech in the classroom was not
always refined, but mighty effective.
It was 'too much to expect a com
plete change from the contact in the
mill to that offered ordinarily in the
public school.
These men were no better or no
worse than many others. For the
most part they represented the more
serious-minded of the foreign popu
lation of the mill city. But in the
mill when things went wrong speech
was not always 100 per cent pure.
Any lumberman knows you can't run
a mill without cussing.
The foreigner, nevertheless, has
pride and is most referential towards
women. Put him in a night school
with a woman teacher and one little
"break" is apt to cause his Immediate
"graduation" from that school. Put
him anywhere where he is not at
ease and his first lessons probably
will be so much of torture that the j
desire to become an American seems'
too costly a procedure.
But thl group of man. .gathered to
do a job together found it not a bit
that way and it was successful.
Around the intimate things which
they knew if they learned would
mean an increase on the pay check,
Mr. Bird folded the history of the
United States and the constitution.
Each such night was the breaking
down of an illusion for one of the
other. Others had told them this or
that about the government, or laws.
But here was a man they knew
bringing to them the tools with which
they could prove the truth or the
falsity of what was told them. They
liked the idea. From beln more or
less helpless in any argument that
started and having to accept as truth
anything that was told them because
they had no way of proving it other
wise, they became more self-reliant
! ' t
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IL C. Bird of the Anderson-Mlddleton Lumber company and what was left of hie class after he had graduated
moat of hl pup Us into the public sUght school.
and developed a desire to think and
read for themselves. Some were able
to read with understanding in two
months. Others, of course, were left
at the end of six months with,a etart
well made and little more.
There was one other incident In Mr.
Bird's career that has food for
thought for those interested in Amer
icanization wort He found that
there were some that he could not get,
to attend. Quite by chance, he found
the matter of Americanization was
quite a serious Worry with the wives
of one of them. He hesitated not one
moment, but did a very logical thing.
In the kitchen of the wives. Bird
started a school on lessons prepared
by Mrs. Bird. The school had quite
a circle. Results were Boon appar
ent. Mr. Bird was tallying a Car of
lumber when along came one of the
men who had stayed away from
school. It took considerable effort
for him to get at his message, but
finally he expressed it thus:
"Rosa, she get too damn smart. I
come to your, school."
The Bird school had another pupil
and before long several more who
came for much the same reason, de
veloped by "Internal relations."
"How can you expect a foreigner
to know us or care whether he ever
becomes an American?" says Mr. Bird.
"He works eight hours in a plant
where the 'man part is the last
thought in the course of the day.
Much of his experience in this one
place where he gets his 'feel' of
America Is 'everybody for himself
and the devil take the hindmost.'
"At night we send him back to
his own peole; to living conditions
which in many cases are worse than
those which he left in his home land.
We. as a nation, will never pull him
out of that bole until we show him
how he can pull himself out. and the
work of showing him how to get out
will have to start in the one place
where he gets his ideas of America.
That's on the Job."
The experience of other schools
which the Four-L has been interested
In are much the same. In Hoquiam
two schools were started In Four-L
mills by employes in the plants. Both
overshadowed the public schools in
attendance.
In Hoquiam, at one of these mills, is
a young manager, a college graduate
of the eas(. whose course has lent
itself to such plans and whose ad
vertisements In the trade papers have
been reading:
"We believe education will settle
'unrest' not force."
Some other Industries of the north
west not affiliated with the Four-L
have begun work on Americaniza
tion plans which recognize the re
sponsibility of an industry to make
citizens of its employes.
A n.umber of men who are employ
ers . have found their efforts along
these linee profitable in a resultant
better understanding with the men
in the Shops.
Some however, still cling to the
idea that a little education is dan
gerousjind conduct their operations
with eTt ignorant foreigner in every
post that they can find for him.
They further carry out the policy of
Isolating such workers and herd them
In hovels to deter their assimilation
by the melting pot as long as pos
sible. The period of isolation is one
of ' the most dangerous to the pro
gramme of Americanization, for it is
in this period that the man Is the
most fertile recipient of "wobbly"
propaganda.
Marino Born ia China.
PEKIN, China. The only United
States marine in the world who has
never seen the United States is on
duty at the American legation here.
He is Private C W. F. Childress, who
was born of American parents in
China. When he became of age a few
weeks ago he decided to join the ma
rines and enlisted at the legation.
Childress is a tall, good-looking lad
who can speak the Chinese language
like a native. His services as an in
terpreter are especially valuable to
the marines. Through association
with his parents and other American
residents of China he is thoroughly
familiar with the traditions and cus
toms of the United States. He is look
ing forward to the day when he will
see the country whose flag he serves.
Prorit-Sharlng at Standstill.
LONDON. Profit-sharing and labor
copartnership development is not on
the increase in the United Kingdom,
according to a report issued by the
ministry of labor, which says that 182
such enterprises, involving 243,000
employes, were in existence last Oc
tober as compared with 880 which had
been started since 1865.
Banknote Forgers Arrested.
BERLIN. Fifty gangs of banknote
forgers have been discovered and ar
rested in Germany as a result of the
labors of a recently Instituted special
department of the Reichbank dealing
with counterfeit money. New types
of German bank notes are in course
of preparation which are claimed to
be absolutely forger-proof,