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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1920)
9 THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, SEPTE3IBER 12, 1920 ESTABLISHED B HEN BY 1 PITTOCK. Published by The Oregonlan Publishing Co.. 13S Sixth Street, Portland. Oregon. C. A. MORDEN. E. B. PIPER. Manager. Editor. The Oregonlan m a member of the Asso ciated Press. The Associated Press is ex clusively en-titled to the use lor publlcatiou of all news dispatches credited to It or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of republication of special dispatches here in ar also reserved. Subscription Rates Invariably in Advance. (By Mail.) Daily, Sunday Included, one year $3.00 raily, Sunday included, six months . . . 4.25 Ially. Sunday included, three months . 2.25 Xaily. Sunday Included, one month .... .75 Daily, without Sunday, one year 6.00 rjally, without Sunday, ona month W) Weekly, one yeair 1.00 Sunday, one year . .'. .. , 5.00 By Cirrler.) Tarty. 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Mr. Cox comes to Oregon and Washington to exhibit himself as a candidate for the presidency of the United States, in succession of the great Americans of all parties -who have given luster to the position and through it a noble prestige to the name, service and deeds of America It is the mission of Mr. Cox, as the ; candidate and leader of his party, to define the issues of the campaign; Jt will be the duty of the public to receive him -with attention and re spect. Naturally, the coming of Mr. Cox . has excited in the northwest a lively , : and appropriate interest. The citi zen who concerns himself with af . fairs will wish to know if the pre vious impressions he had'formed of !. him as a candidate are to be con II. firmed or modified by personal con tact; he will, as a good American, hope that nothing said or done by '' the candidate will tend to lower him ; In the- general esteem, but on the ; contrary that Mr. Cox will, so far ' as may be done by a hasty appear ',; ance here, show himself worthy of the confidence of his party and the trust of the whole people. It will yj be a sorrowful revelation if it shall - be determined that any man named by a great party for the presidency - is unfit for the place. It will tend " to disclose that our great demo " cratic scheme of party government - is a failure, or at least that it has .' Its failures. No democrat or repub- lican wants to think it; and none - wishes it to be made matter of ac- - tual demonstration. ' It must be said of Mr. Cox, and to him, that the method of his cam " paign upx to this time has not com T mended itself to the thoughtful, nor I. given dignity, distinction or worth to his cause. He has devoted him- self too much to inconsequential - and trivialities; he has harangued where he should have expounded; he - has accused and defamed where he n should have challenged and defend ; od; he has evaded where he should have been candid; he "has been sen Z sational where he should have been '. moderate, accurate and truthful; : and he has been merely noisy when J he should have been informative and straightforward. It may be doubted if the elec- ; torate, even if it had been convinced that the republican management had set about to raise a campaign fund ; of $15,000,000,- would have believed that there was a great consDiraev X to "buy the presidency" or to con " quer or discipline labor "with bayo l" nets." But it is quite clear that no such amount has been, or Is being," or could be. raised. It is equally plain that there is no scheme by the republican party, or any other party, to control any class by force. - It is absurd to say it It is more; it is demagogical, false, scandalous; and it should never have been said' ;: by Mr. Cox or anybody, in the utter absence of any evidence. - Nor is there adequate justifica tion for the constant and persistent clamor of Mr. Cox about a "slush fund." With all his loose and glib talk about "sinister influences" he ' has named none, unless it is Wall ; street; and Wall street Is a bogy which has been so often flaunted in the face of the wearied voters by the Coxes and Coxeys of this and ; previous campaigns that it has lost ; most of its terrors. The praise : worthy truth about the republican ; plan of raising money is that it has been inspired from first to last by a purpose to make it free from Wall etreet, or any other influence which might expect and demand subse quent favors, It has been a popular campaign, soliciting subscriptions . from every state and every county : and every city in the union; and it ' is significant that the average is not . ,10,000 or $1000, or, even $100, but less than $100; and the limit of - $1000, imposed when the canvass was renewed immediately after the - national convention in June, has - been faithfully adhered to. It may - have been a mistake to- adopt the ; get-the-money method of all recent ; national "drives" and to employ pro- - fessional captains of that peculiar form of industry; but it was at least "" open and honest. It is unfair and indecent to impute criminal motives ; to its responsible heads or to. insin uate perjury when they frankly lay all the facts before an investigating committee. The Cox assault on Harding, Hays, ' Upham and their associates has wofully failed, for its sheer lack of merit. It has had a serious reac tion on the candidate on that ac- ; count, and on another account the grave doubt as to whether the pres idential candidate himself should have fathered such charges, true or false. They would have come more becomingly from others, if true, and of course from nobody. If untrue. The nation is undertaking, nomi nally, a "great and solemn referen dum" on the league of nations. That is the issue projected bv the oresi- dent of the United States, and the democratic candidate has formally committed himself to it, and has ex pressed his willingness to stand or fall by it. Very well, so far as it goes. Let him carry out his com pact. But he is not doing it. He is deliberately injecting other questions into the campaign, with the obvious intent of creating a diversion. But the public is not so easily distracted and confused. It may well be asked if the league of nations is to be the determinative issue of the campaign. Mr. Cox will not get a controlling number of votes- because he is for the league, or any league; and Mr. Harding will not lose the same influential fraction because he is against the league, or any league, with or Without reserva tions. The league brought over from Versailles is dead. It will never be ratified with only "interpretative" reservations, such as Mr. Wilson says he will, accept, and such as Mr. Cox says he will demand. It is a futile, needless, expensive, time-wasting en terprise. Because it is, and because the public instinctively knows that it is, it cannot be beguiled by any forensic persuasions of Mr. Cox into the'belief that it is not; and because it is futile, and because other issues press insistently for consideration, the contest of 1920 is to be settled on an entirely different basis. It will be the record of the democratic administration for the last seven and 'one-half years, and. Judged by its record the fitness of the democratic party to rule for another four years. The true referendum at this time is over the democratic party, what it has done, what it proposes to do, and what it is competent to do, through Mr. Cox as president. There is widespread distrust of the party, including the quality of its one-man leadership. Mr. Wilson asks the na tion to take Mr. Cox in his place, and Mr. Cox accepts the commission, saying he approves the Wilson rec ord, and will carry forward the Wilson policies. What policies? Let Mr. Cox say. Let him set forth for his proposed administration a con structive programme. Let him dem onstrate his understanding of the national needs and the national problems during the next four years. Let him give some sign of his right to lead during the coming critical period. Let us know Mr. Cox for himself. We know the democratic party for itself. TWO KINDS OF WOOD SHIPS. It is more than a coincidence that in the same column of The Orego nlan 'as contained a lamentation about the 300 wood ships of the emergency fleet which the shipping board is unable to sell appeared an article telling how the McCormick line was in active operation on the Pacific coast, apparently doing a 'profitable business. The McCormick ships are built of wood, as are the unsalable vessels of the shipping board. That is about the only point of resemblance. The government ships were designed by an Atlantic coast marine . aremtect whose experience was confined to lteel ships, and they were ill adapted to any purpose except, me emergency for which they were built. The Mc Cormick ships were designed by Pa cific coast men who have designed ships for many years for constant service in trade for which they are fitted, and they were built by their owners for their own use. There fore they were well and economically built. No cost-plus contracts entered into the case. The ships which are rotting In James river are useless not because they are built of wood but because they were designed by men who don't know how and who refused advice from those who do know how. also because they were built at ex cessive cost. They have one use to serve as a warning against embark ing the government in business. This is necessary in war, but only for the same reason that it sometimes be comes necessary for armies to blow up buildings and tear up railroads. The fact that it is done in war is a reason for not doing it in peace. ffHEN WILL WE WRITE A NOVEL? Charles Dickens did not moralize, yet his novels are undiminished sources of inspiration to morality. Whoever became familiar with Bill Sykes and yearned to lead a life of crime? Or with Uriah Heep and felt an impulse toward hypocrisy? Content to draw his characters, the English novelist was not one to question the perception of his read ers. He sketched the sordid and unclean, the crafty and criminal. with such a master's touch that one recoiled from those unlovely char acters and asked himself if his own soul possessed the taint. And he made virtue ever winsome and tri umphant, albeit a trifle hungry at times, so that we beheld spiritual probity as something to be desired. The impress of the books that Dick ens wrote is upon many a life to day and always for the betterment of that life. So we are fain to agree, unless we have the unnatural appetite for novelistic preaching, with W. L. George, himself an English writer, who i now on a visit to America and who tells us that the outstand ing literary disgrace is to pen novel that preaches a cause. If there must be championship of so cial reforms, says Mr. George, let the reformers publish tracts and write editorials and get their ideas across .succinctly and with speed But by all means let them desist from boring the ready public with prosy characters who preach. He believes in drawing life we are not informed as to his own success at this stint in so delineating his characters that any reader with the ordinary equipment of common sense will catch the lesson of .the book and hold it fast. This conception of literature is unquestionably sane and commend able. The annual seed catalogue Is far more elevating with its array of facts and fancy and color pages than the usual problem novel. We need no literary mentors to guide us through the alphabet of morals- Most of us read from the book of life, and draw our own conclusions The ract tnat tne world, and our own nation in particular, steadily progresses- toward the elimination of wrong and the coronation of right, is proof that the plain citizen un derstands the social phenomena that are all round him. If the novelist has any other mission -than to fur nish an hour or so of entertainment let him. draw life so truly that we will shudder or applaud, grow hot with anger or feel the glow of faith in our own kind. Such is the chiv alry of letters. There are few lances in its service nowadays. Men who are paid the price of a breakfast for a single word write of the amorous adventures of prurient waifs and call the product a problem novel. For a literary decade and longet we have trusted that some day, somehow, somewhere someone would see this country and its peo ple with the unfailing vision of genius and would set down the facts, in their weave of fancy, that would constitute the "great Ameri can novel." We are keeping the tryst, but he comes not. Nor will he come, as the English author re minds us, until we are through with empty preaching and the vivi section of loose morals, and write of life as it is in America. Such a book will not bloom for a season as one of the best sellers. It will be come the monument of our modern letters, testifying that we are not hopelessly blase and blatant- WHERE REAL MONET GOES. Compared with the $26,000,000,000 expended on the war, the $15,000,000 of stage money the republicans are accused of raising is a trifle, and Senator Capper estimates that at least one-third of that vast" sum was spent in "graft, waste or extrava gance. The tasK or tracing all tne money was too great for congress, but the revelations of the committees which investigated expenditures on aircraft and cantonments corrobo rate the senator's estimate. On armistice day fell the fighting craft at the front which we had to show for more than a billion dollars were 213 flaming coffins. Of about $200,000,000 spent on cantonments. a committee of the house found that about $78,000,000 was graft and waste, and the case was so plain that democrats joined republicans of the house in adopting a resolution call ing on the attorney-general to prose cute and sue the guilty cost-plus contractors. As no suits have yet been announced, Attorney-General Palmer must have been too busy seeking the democratic nomination for president to give the matter at tention. We also know that long after the end of the war had removed all need of more army camps Secre tary of War Baker continued to buy land and -make improvements in dis regard of an understanding with the house committee. One of the penalties of unprepar edness was that many of the war industries built by the' government at cost running into tens of millions had barely begun to produce when the armistice ended need of them The money spent on them fiad no effect on the result of the war except such moral effect as knowledge of them may have produced on the Germans. Most of this expenditure was made for a war which was to have been fought in 1919, and the structures and machinery by which it is represented have generally been scrapped. The people of the Pacific coast have before their eyes an example of the manner In which the adminis tration squandered money. It scorned the advice of men on this coast who had been building wood ships all their lives, and it forced on them impossible designs for vessels which shipping men will not buy. About 300 of these vessels now lie in the James river gathering barnacles, and the wiseacres of the Atlantic coast. who can hardly distinguish a wood ship from a washtub, point to them as proof of the inherent uselessness of wood ships. They are in fact a monument to the incompetence of the democratic party. While democrats fill the air with indignation about campaign fund quotas, the people should not forget that each of them man, woman and child pays a quota of $90 a year to the expense of government, of which about half is wasted- RAILROAD RATES AND PRICES. Increase .of railroad rates to con form with the priee of commodities and service has been so long deferred that it comes when the price o staples indicates a general downward trend. While the effect will be to increase net income of railroads beyond the amount that was con templated by the interstate commerce commission, the proportion of the cost of a commodity represented by freight charges will grow higher as prices fall. Cost of railroad opera tion on which the rate increase was based was figured on peak prices of commodities used by the roads. This cost will decline as prices fall, but the rate for hauling a tori of coal given distance will remain the same, though the price of coal may fall to one-third of the present figure Inevitably rates so fixed will check the downward trend of prices. Many persons say that freight rates form so small a proportion of the cost of an article as to be negligible but they assume that a finished product pays freight only once. Th fact is that the price includes freight not only on the finished article when it is shipped to the retailer or con sumer but on all the materials and on the finished article every time they change hands. It is estimated by W. G. Wetherly, economic expert for the attorney-general, that the increase in freight rates must be multiplied 4.8 times in order to ascertain the addition which-- it makes to the final price. He esti mates that five transportation charges must be paid before a cowhide reaches consumers in the shape of shoes. He places the increase in the cost of living at $96 per capita per annum. Each man through whose hands goods pass adds his profit to a cost Increased by the higher freight rate and must employ larger capital in his business, which adds further to the price. As prices governed by the world market fall, the burden of transpor tation cost will grow heavier and the excess of railroad net income over the minimum 6 per cent will in crease. So long as the roads cannot borrow money except at 7 to 8 per cent, there will be no valid objection to their earning, that percentage of net income, for they must raise money for improvements and exten sions, in which they have much slack to take up. The people have awak ened to their interest in the efficiency of the transportation system and will realize that improvements are essen tial to efficient service, and that railroads cannot be expected to bor row money at 7 or 8 if they are permitted to earn only 6 per cent. A time is not far off, however, when the general economic.readjust ment will force down interest and cost of railroad operation along with the general level of prices. This will leave railroad earnings out of pro portion and add to the burden which transportation cost- puts on business. It follows that there must be period ical readjustment of rates to accord with changing conditions. Revision of each particular rate is so costly and cumbersome that some simpler, more expeditious way of making these changes must be, found, but the effects already experienced with the present increase condemn the percentage system. The next job for the interstate commerce commission is to discover some simple plan by which rates shall be made to follow the course of the market for money and goods, so that railroad invest ment will remain attractive and that cost of transportation will remain a fairly stable proportion of the cost of goods. IICNGER AD PELLAGRA. All that ' is essential to physical well-being is an active appetite, with plenty of wholesome food to satisfy it, and enough exercise to produce the appetite. Though food faddists would tell us otherwise, and insist upon sawdust dietaries, the general good health of humanity is proof that the. stomach is a cosmopolitan refuge and a faithful servitor. So we are not in the least surprised to learn that pellagra, strangest of dis eases, is not induced exclusively by the eating of spoiled corn, but by an insufficiency of the proper kinds of food in other words, a defective diet. Time was when one sheered away from the toothsome cornbread of his sires, having in mind the repeated warning that mouldy meal might lay him low with the loathsome malady. Then the pellagra commotion sub sided and we all forgot and ordered Johnny-cake as blithely as in the old days. There were certain apparent coincidences between the corn diet and the appearance of pellagra, as evidenced by afflicted localities, that led observers to believe that the one was responsible for the other. It may have been, to some degree, but the fact was then overlooked that localities where cornmeal constituted major article of diet were quite generally blighted by poverty. Acting on the theory that a de ficiency in diet, rather than the malignant effect of any one food, is responsible for pellagra, medical science has conducted ' experiments both in this country and abroad with results that appear to prove the contention.- Opportunity for an ob servation of unprecedented magni tude was afforded by the flight of war refugees from Assyria to Egypt. These fugitives, classified as Arme nians and Jews, were placed by the thousands in separate camps. Relief measures did not afford them an adequate diet, and opportunities were afforded to seek supplementary sub sistence by work in Port Said. The Armenians were farmers and did not understand the various trades that were open to them. The Jews, with racial adaptability, soon discovered employment and applied their wages to a more diversified ration than that afforded in the refugee camps. It is not pleasant to contemplate such deprivation, and by every means in their power the relief organiza tions sought to alleviate it, but sci ence was the gainer through the woes of the Armenians. For pel lagra entered the camp of that race. while not a case was noted among the thousands of Jewish refugees. The two peoples dwelt under iden tical living conditions, save that the diet of the Jews was more dlversi fied and the inescapable conclusion was that pellagra is born of defective diet. Similar experiments in Ten nessee, where convicts voluntarily underwent restricted diet, gave sim ilar results. Pellagra is only occasional in America. It has long been common in many European countries. There fore, if the recent conclusions of medical science are correct, diet de flciency is at its minimum in thi country. It is hunger and hunge has no place here, nor shall have. DAVID THOMP80!f TV THE OREGON COUNTB.lt. Commerce is an inquisitive element in human affairs. It is restless, per sistent and penetrating. If there were chances for trade at the poles. where the white bear slouches over the eternal bergs, commerce would reach those frozen fields and hold them shaming all scientific explor ers in the speed and certainty with which it attained the goal. The development of the wild places of earth, held through the ages by savage men and savage beasts, is the first concern of commerce. That it seeks profit does not lessen the service to humanity, or nullify the essential bravery of the men wh undertake commercial exploration .It was so that the west was opened for development, on the heels of the Lewis and Clark expedition, by the courageous fur traders of Canada. That district of the Oregon country now embraced- in the state of Idaho was an outpost of civilization through the commerce of the fur trader, we are reminded- by a current issue of the quarterly of the Oregon Historical society, containing an ad dress by T. C. Elliott. Yet the man who played a major role in advanc ing the frontier of the white race has been all but forgotten, though history is replete with the narrative of Lewis and Clark, whose footsteps he followed. He was David Thomp son, an Englishman in the service of the North West company, and in September, 1809, his pack train made its tedious way over the old Indian trail that ran east and west across the territory that was' to become Idaho, traversing the very ground on which Boise now stands. With Thompson was a Scotchman, Finan McDonald, and the hardihood of these two is best understood when one realizes that they were the only white men in the entire watershed of the Columbia river. You who have gone into the depths of the surviving forests of the Pacific slope, and In a single township have been utterly lost, feeling from all sides the pres sure of a magnificent loneliness, may venture your own opinion of .these commercial couriers who roamed over half a continent, fully as wild. Theirs was adventure as a daily por tion, until it became the common place. They were cast solely upon their own resources wnich were arms that would create mirth today. plus initiative and courage that in no age could be subject to ridicule. So they came to the Oregon coun try and Idaho, and built their fur trader's . outpost on Pend d'Oreille lake more than a century ago. In the journal of David Thompson we read that ice was forming, but the imminence of winter seems not to have cast gloom upon the two white men and their little party of half- breeds and Indians. Winter to them meant thicker furs and stimulated trade, and one cannot but contrast their calm acceptance of conditions with the probable attitude of men of today, were they forced to a similar choice. Indians came to their camp with presents of dried salmon and berries, and. the thrifty fur traders further replenished their food sup ply by loading the. flintlocks and hunting water fowl: On the day of their arrival at the lake Thompson killed two geese, while McDonald and others of the party killed an additional brace of geese, a crane and three ducks. Ice was, forming n the lake, the old chronicle runs. and we must assume that the north ern flight was well launched. Hunt- rs of today can hear in fancy the thunderous and repeated roar of wings as the waterfowl rose at the J boom of the muskets. Who was David Thompson, the Englishman who roved western America from the Peace river to the Columbia, and eastward to the vil lages of the Mandans, along the Mis souri? With a' heart so blithe for adventure and a physique that chal lenged hardship we might be for given for imagining him the younger son of some sturdy old English fam ily, sent forth to repair its fortunes. Novelists would make much of such character, but the real David Thompson was a charity ward in his boyhood at the Grey Coat school in London, which declaimed its "prin cipal design to educate poor chil dren in the principles of piety and virtue, and thereby lay a foundation for a sober and Christian life." Later he was bound to the Hudson's Bay company as a mathematical appren tice, or clerk, for the period of seven years. A rough training and a bleak one, as we measure life's advantages. but the finished product was an edu cated, resourceful explorer, whtose incidental worth to the west is past computation. He was, it is recorded, the dis coverer of the source of the Colum bia and the first voyager upon the upper river. Geography of the Ore gon country, and an understanding or its primitive peoples, was freed from the haze of conjecture by the researches of this fur trader. In his journal Thompson predicted that the Oregon country, believed to be an unredeemable wilderness, would some day come into its own as an economic empire. His service and prediction with respect to western Canada were similar. One concludes that at the least knighthood was bestowed on this man, and that he passed his evening I of life in well-earned comfort, rec ognized as a benefactor of his race. But, despite the fact that he per formed invaluable services for man kind and enriched the great fur companies with which he was asso ciated, David Thompson died in pov erty at an advanced age, and his grave in a Montreal cemetery is ! unmarked. The franking privilege probably is I tVlO nt a hlloa "t I in this country. Free rides on rail roads long since were stopped, and the man who pays his fare knows he gets the value of his money. Locally tree riaes- on street cars should go into the discard and . the eight-center will feel better when he pays. There is-nothing free, by the way; the cost of it comes out of somebody. The whole thing is an abuse. Faith is a wonderful thing and the world is full of it. That couple in Cedar Rapids who believe their dead baby has been restored ought to be given the chance to raise the new one. The affair smacks of too much neighborly interest. The man who killed his mother-in-law In Howard county, Nebraska, and was sentenced to be hanged a few years ago has been reprieved fourteen times and the man who helped him has twelve to his credit. Nebraska has a very considerate governor.- The new East Side police station is using display advertising to apprise East' Siders of its location. If a really catchy line is wanted, we sug gest this one: "Come and try our fine new jail." That gymnasium just completed at the Chehalis reform school at a cost of $60,000 is not without merit. A "bad" boy's mind and heart may better be reached through his "muscle." Attorney-General Palmer has been petitioned on behalf of the farmers to stop gambling in wheat futures. But why worry Mri Palmer? He's no longer a candidate for president. Wilson's refusal to reopen the award decision means a "vacation" for the miners in the anthracite re gion. Its duration may not be long, but better now than in December. Three Multnomah county girls took first honors in canning at the Spokane fair this week. As a brother from across the pond would say, they are some tinners, eh, what? One funny thing about this milk controversy is that in Seattle milk is only 15 cents a quart, having been increased within a month to that price from 13 cents. And now comes Riverside, Cal., and also makes application to jojn the earthquake club. Those native sons . always did go in for exclusive o rganizations. There is a judge with a heart in San Francisco. He ordered 350 cases of whisky returned to a man's cellar, holding they had been seized without authority. . Ailments must go out of fashion. The use of whisky in patent medi cines has been ordered stopped by the government. About 5 per cent of the people of this country pay an income tax. They are the elect, but are not grin ning about it. Shell shock may be a good defense when a man kills his wife. It is better than a cheap insanity dodge, anyway. The president is. selling off the White House lambs at $50 per lamb. How people do like to be fleeced! A rainy Sunday and plenty of gas oline are more comforting than fine weather and the ration. Go to it. The last of the "picture brides" have arrived from Japan and a new scheme must be tried. Rev. Billy 'Sunday has gone east "to raise the devil." JUST CASE OF POT AND KETTLE No Moral Difference In Financing of Parties, Says New York Times. The following edUorlal utterances by the New York Times, democratic newspaper and supporter of Governor Cox, are probably as fair. a statement on the slush fund Issue and investi- ' gation as could be made: "This presidential campaign has thus far been, by universal agree ment, 'apathetic' The effort appears to be making to rouse people from their lethargy by starting up a great row over party funds for the eleet'on. But this may have the effect of turn apathy into disgust. The pot w'H i call the kettle black. The republicans are going to prove that the democrats are as bad as they are. This is ex- pected to raise the campaign to a high moral plane. Chairman Hays is bursting with indignation at the 'Insults' to his own contributors, and is preparing to give Governor Cox some insults as good as he sent. Ap parently the chief attempt before the senate committee at Chicago will be to demonstrate, not that one party Is good, but that the other is worse. "In that contest of comparat've de merits the public will take little in terest. The main facts are well under stood. The expenses of a campaign for the presidency "are necessarily high. To do the needed and legiti mate work costs a great deal of money. Both parties have to get it and neither of thenv has been, in the past, too scrupulous as to where or how it was got. No one will seriously contend that there is ln'that respect any great difference between demo crats and republicans this year. They are alike in needing a large fund; they are alike in having to operate under the corrupt practices laws and In having to make public the amount and source of the contributions they receive. The republicans might read ily admit that it is easier for them than for the democratic party to fill their war chest, since they number many more members of large means. The bigger resources to tap would naturally mean a bigger supply. But that fact does not constitute a moral difference between the two parties. provided the money is not illegally collected or corruptly spent. There is no virtue in pleading poverty. though the democrats are pleased for the present to plead it. When they are in funds they will be still better pleased. "The force and political effect of Governor Cox's speech on the repub lican campaign fund lay in the dis closure that Chairman Hays has set some cheerful idots to raising money. The democrats may have no better motives. But they can hardly be detected in such incredibly silly meth ods, such Imbecilities of phrasing, as were used by the republican agents. , , -r-n t r,id the "" ' democrats lay on to their hearts' content, in condemnation and ridicule of the republican 'official bulletins' which Governor Cox produced, say ing that nothing can be too 'severe' aealnst those young masters of salesmanship' who wrote the amas- Ing appeals for money. And the Sun is frank enough to add: What a stroke of consummate Intelli Irenes it was to cram the "official bulle tins" of the drive bureau with such ex pressions as "DiKKing up the money," and Boys, get the money! ana uet money Quick! and "Step on It! and 'Get tne rinht man to see the right people!" and Our readers are requested not to make this publication public," and a dozen other Kerns of the advertsllnK agent's "pep' of the publicity promoter's bromides of persuasion or of the canned lingo of or ganized solicitation on an extensive scale! Had the republican authority responsi ble for this damfoollshness no memory of historical politics, no sense of the quotable value to a political adversary of such ver bal ammunition, however Innocent In its real significance r "That element of 'quotable value is a tremendous asset in' politics. The democrats, owing to the fearful indiscretions of the republican na tional committee, start off with it. on their side. They also have the timely warning not to permit any such crass folly on the part of any of their own collectors with a mania for words with a 'punch' In them. Chairman Hays would doubtless. If he had known about it in time, sooner have cut off his right hand than let that insensate and incriminating stuff o out from his headquarters. Chairman White will redouble his vigilance against similar idiocy in democratic headquarters. But let no one sup pose that anything can stop the great moral show which is now on for a run at Chicago, and which consists in try lng to convince the audience that, if you are a villain, the other fellow is a much darker one.' Some of Edison's Inventions. PORTLAND, Sept. 10. (To the Edi tor.) Usually when the papers speak of Thomas A. Edison, they use the word "wizard" or "wondermaker," in dicating that he has invented or di covered things beyond the customary run of men. - What are Mr. Edison discoveries or inventions? Lately party of friends was asked this ques tion. "Why, replied one, he is a most wonderful man." There was no argu ment to that, and it was readily ac cepted, but the question was again asked. What has he done? And the reply was: "He has done most won derful things, but I cannot name them at the moment." The other day I asked "a man on th street" the same question, and he replied right off the bat, that Ediso invented the telephone, which most people know he did not. At the be ginning of the war it was announce that Mr. Edison had been invited to head a body of scientists for the pur pose of putting forth useful inven tlons, and naturally during the war nothing was given out regarding any discoveries of Mr. Edison, but now that it all over, perhaps it might be told what he accomplished in this, as well as other former respects. I am not writing this in any captious or criticising mood, but sincerely asking for information, which I am sure will be interesting to many of your read ers, and would ask you, at your con venience, to tell us, what has Edison done. G. T. Mr. Edison has received patents for more than 900 Inventions. The more important Include machines for quad ruple! and sextuplex telegraphic transmission; the carbon telephone transmitter; the microtransimeter for detection of small changes in tem perature; the megaphone, to magnify sound; the phonograph; the incan descent lamp and light system; the klnetoscribe, kinetoscope, klneto graph, telescribe and alkaline storage battery. During the war he designed. built and successfully operated several benzol plants and two carbolic acid plants, also other chemfcal plants for making myrbane aniline oil, aniline salt and paraphenylenediamine. He has also made many war inventions for the .government.' BY-PRODUCTS OF THE TIMES J Old Hone Where America Warn First Put on Map Still Stands. That is a fine suggestion which Is made by Dr. John H. Finley, the New York state commissioner of education, that the printers of America should purchase and preserve the house in which, colloquially but very literally speaking, "America was- first put on the map," says Harvey's Weekly. It is the ancient house in the village of St. Die, in France, in which Martin Waldseemuller whom we know best as Illacomilus in April, 1507, pub lished the first map of the world that bore the name "America." and with it also that little-Latin book in which It was first proposed that the conti nents of the western hemisphere should be thus named. "The fourth continent of the world." he wrote, "which, since Amerlcus discovered it, may fittingly be called America, or American Land." And again In an other chapter: "I do not see why any one can lawfully object to its being called Amerlcus, after the man of gen ius, who by his sagacity discovered it." Of course, we may debate until doomsday the question whether Amer icus really did visit Panama with Ojeda in 1499, and if he was the first of all Europeans to set foot upon the "terra firma" of the American conti nent. That does not affect the mem orable fact that it was in that little house at St, Die, among the Vosges, that the name of America was be stowed upon this western world. Sure ly America might well acquire and cherish the place in which she re celved her name. Captain Rene Fonk, deputy of the French assembly, accounted officially for 75 German airplanes during the war, according to a list published in Paris. Unofficially .he probably ac counted for 150. The race between Lieutenant Nungesser and Captain Madon for second place, in the list of French aces has been decided. Nun gesser being officially credited with 43 enemy planes and Madon with 41. Fourth place is held by Captain Pin- sard, the "unknown," who fought wearing a mask and with a death s head as the insignia on his machine. He downed 27 enemy planes officially. but claims 65. Interesting statistics have been compiled regarding the 36 premier French aces. Of these 12 have re mained in the army, 11 in aviation. seven have gone into business, four have gone back to school, one each into agriculture and various trades. One is a missionary Second Lieuten- nt Pourjade who is fifth on the list irlth 26 machines. Two are mem bers of parliament and one has pub lished two novels. New York had expected to welcome Sorolla, the celebrated Spanish artist. In August. Then word came of his illness, and there has been silence ever since. Fate intervened very sud denly to prevent his coming, for he was descending the stairs one morn- Inar in excellent health and full of plans for his journey to America, when he was stricken with paralysis. His 300 -canvases were rolled up on the dock, insured for the voyage Preparations to receive them had been made at the Hispanic museum at One Hundred and Fifty-sixth street, and there It is still hoped, since Sorolla's condition has improved a little, that he may come to the United States in the late autumn. A widely prevailing idea that the price of books would be materially lower if they were Issued in paper covers, has elicited from an authority the remark that In manufacturing books only 10 cents a copy would be saved by binding them in paper In stead of cloth. It might make a dif ference of, say 30 cents. In the retail price of the book, but whether that difference Is great enough to create much of a demand for the paper-cov ered volumes in preference to those bound In cloth is doubtful. Americans in general have not the habit, which is common in Europe, of having their books rebound to conform to their own taste. i Pete Horback claims that the oldest joke is the one about the Irishman who was handling dynamite In quarry. He let a stick drop, and the whole box went up, taking Mike with it. The auarry boss came around later and said to another Irishman "Where's Mike?" "He's gone," replied Pat. "When will he be back?" asked the boss. "Well." replied Pat, "if he comes back as fast as he went, he'll be back yesterday." Cincinnati En quirer. The war was .largely won by ad vertising. writes Theodore H. Price in World's Work. The Libertjf loans were sold because of the skill with which they were advertised. Before conscription the British army was re cruited by advertising. Many of us will never forget the appeal of the poster in which a little boy was de picted as asking his father, "And what did you do in the great war, daddy?" Raemaker's wonderful cartoons, re produced as advertisements, had a tremendous influence in arousing men and women to make an end of mili tarism and its atrocities. As a re sult the art of advertising has been studied and improved, it has been dignified, its psychology is better understood and its value is more ap preciated than ever before. Do you know that the government collects more of what is known as the luxury tax on ice cream sodas and other small sales which carry a penny or two tax than, from the eale of motor cars, diamonds and other lux uries? So it goes. The 10-cent piece was the foundation of the opulent film world. It is the small coin that bears the burden. Los Angeles Times. You can make a science out of any thing. You may remember the old Joke about the Irishman who said that Hogan was a good shoveler," but he wasn't what you'd call a fancy shoveler. A big plant that manufac tures shovels has made a study of shovelology and has unearthed some interesting facts. For instance, a good shoveler should not pick up a heavier load than 21 pounds. A good shoveler should not throw' further than ten feet horizontally or eight feet vertically. Shovelers should have two ten-minute periods of complete relaxation every two hours. Shov elers should work in pairs, not alone Two men together will shovel twice as much as two alone. Now, spit on your hands and go to it! Cincinnati Enquirer. The River. Br Grace K. Hall. The river follows its Deaceful way Towards the distant calling sea. And there comes the thought of an- otner day And a time that used to be. And a mission the cleansine- wares performed With their cooling purity. Two men went down to the river' rim And stood in the swirling tide, a new white light The one with within. And a purpose broad and his pride, crimson And the river buried stains In the name of one who died. The years moved on in their eched- uled race O'er the great crav course of time. And the river flowed in its destined place. With obedience divine: And only the man forgot his vows. in the vintage of the vine. The trees by the river's bank grew tall. As the ebbing life-tide flowed. And the man returned at the -river's call To pay back what he owed But all that he gave was a worth less shell That the undercurrents towed. I never stand by the river drear As It hurries towards the west. But I seem to see two pictures clear Plain-mirrored on its crest: A splendid youth and a still, cold form With a drab hand on its breast. The stream goes on in its quiet way Towards the restless, surging eea And the trees bend down on a stormy day With a mournful scrutiny. And the waves complain of a haunt ing woe. That shall never cease to be. And I have asked of the silver stream One question o'er and o'eT: Would life be more like our cher ished dream. Would joy dwell near our door. If we kept our vows, and our price less faiths Unsullied forevermore? THE WAYSIDE ROSE. passed one morn a radiant rose So fresh and dewy sweet -leaning from the parking edge. Where curb and pavement meet. She nodded at me joyously. Good morning. Rose," said T; I fear you're on the danger line Of careless passers-by." She bobbed her head in petulance; Tt may not be discreet. But I just love to watch the crowd On this frequented street. "I can't endure the straight, prim life ' Behind a garden fence; like to lean far out. and wave To ladies and to gents." passed again at eventide. Poor Rose, was crushed and dead. Her life-blood stained the pavement round With splotches dark and red. I knelt beside her dusty form; Her sweetness all had gone. For heedless feet had crushed her soul; The thorns were .left alone. Dear little Rose, my heart bleeds, too. To think a life so sweet Should spend itself so wantonly A "jazzing" on the street. ELIZABETH E. SHERWOOD, Salem. DEATH. I come from hidden caves Out of the dark to meet thee in the end. I harvest life; my bins are tongueless graves ; Pain is my helper, and I have no friend. I prowl where infants lie, Where youth encounters Its first morn of bliss; I walk and gather where the crowds go by; I lurk by quiet ways where lovers kiss. I am the haunt of age The dread of the unknown, the ghost of things: Companion, I. of prophet, priest and sage; The uninvited guest; the fear of" kings. I capture and hold fast The fugitive, and am the curse of strife. Mine are the arms that here shall hold thee last To bear thee through the doorway out of life. CLAUDE WEIMER. GRAFTING. I have noticed, and I wonder if you haven't noticed, too. That the grafter in some manner, soon or later, gets his due. When he doubled up his fortune took advantage while in war. Uncle Sam took the proportion that the country's needs called for: And the greedy politician ever graft ing on the side. In the end, if you will notice, gets a good toboggan ride. And the one who, too ambitious, boldly steals another's place. Often has to pay the doctor gains ill- gotten in the race; Even little brother Johnnie suffers sadly by and by. When he selfishly selects and eats the biggest piece of pie. Though apparently they flourish for a time, yet there's a day When the one who goes on grafting grafts his character away. The results not first considered at the last are sure to fall. And the one who gets his innings Is the one who plays fair ball. JANETTE MARTIN. AWAY. I could not bear the garish light, I stepped into the gloom: It irked me eo, the idle chat That filled the long, wide room. I looked across the moon-lit fields. To the skies with stars aglow. Musing could you look down and see That still I missed you so. I took our favorite volume down, That one in red and gold. Whose fancies quaint intrigued us so. As we read, in (Jays of old. I closed the book and looked again. Across the fields so low; I could not read; my eyes were dim With tears I missed you so. Iknow you must be happier there Than e'er on earth you'd be; I would not call you back again For all you were to me; Eut, oh, the magic of your smile. Your voice, so sweet, so low. Will ever live in memory I'll always miss vou so. -MARIAN D. MERRY. Address of Poet. KERBY, Or., Sept. 9. (To the Ed itor.) Kindly give the address of Guy Fitch Phelps whose verses appear in The Oregonian from time to time. C. T. CROW. The address of Guy Fitch Phelps is Harrisburg, Or.
