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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1921)
4. THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 13, 1921 LABOR ni mil rniin 1 b in id mbi 10 FIGHT FOR LIFE Unemployment Situation Is Regarded as Serious. RECENT ATTACKS NOTED Harden Colfax Declares Council of War Will Be Held Soon to Consider All Problems. ET HARDEN" COLFAX. (Copyright. 1521. by The Oregonian.) WASHINGTON. D. C. Feb. 12. Organized labor soon will marshal In Its force, capable to meet ' a crisis which it visualizes as follows: Nearly 4,U00.00O men are out of "work. Wges are declining at a rate from two to thrte times the rate of decline Jn living icsts. Wel'.-crganized attacks, well fi nanced, are In full swing- against' Union labor and even against the de partment of labor itself. That is the situation as organized labcr see it tda. To meet that situation and to- solve, If possible, Its problems, international unions throughout America will send 110 of their chief official to the labor con ference here February 22. Offensive I Considered. Even now how organized labor can take the offensive against hostile forces is fiow.i fdr consideration. The conference wi'.! be at one a council of war and an inventory of labor's strength. The meeting- will rot be open to the general public, but as it promises to be one of the most momentous called by the American Federation of Labor In recent years, statements will be is sued regarding its proceedings. The view of organized labor leaders 1n advance of the meeting is that un employment may yet become more eerious, not in the number of men out of work, but in the condition of the employed. They point out that thus far It has been possible for idle men to draw on their war-time eav'ngs or to sell liberty bonds, but when these re pr.urees are exhausted matters, they ny, will be much worse- than- now. The comment is made by labor men that the same employers who, a few months ago. were calling for In creased production, are those, who now have closed their lactones. Administration Change Feared. Then conditions were forestalled by a campaign put under way by the department of labor to stimulate con struction and public works. Now, however, the department, for lack of funds and because of the coming change of administration, is unable to act. Labor men are apprehensive, too, that the change of administration will not be for the better, so far as the department is concerned. The Im pression prevails in labor circles that many influential interests are hostile to organized labor and to the depart ment. Positive statements from the republican side have contributed to that feeling. In any event, J. J. Davis is not looked upon by organized labor as an acceptable secretary, for, though at one time he was a labor organizer, he gave up that work to organize fraternal bodies and has of late years been a banker. Herbert Hoover is reported to have been offfered the labor portfolio and to have declined It, urging that a real labor man be chosen. The present secretary. William B. Wilson, it is said has been suggested for re-employment. " Staff la Held Bl-Partlaan. Hardly less important than the ap pointment of a secretary is the selec tion of the conclusion force. These men, some 30 in all, are not under the civil service, but ahe present staff is bi-partisan, and through eight years experience, including the very heavy work during the war, its members have before experts, . each in some trade or industry. If jobs are distrib uted as patronage, or given to men suspected of prejudice, much uissatis faction on organized labor's part will result. Statistics regarding living costs will figure prominently in the dis cussions at the conference. Labor will contend that through the period of advance wage increases constantly lagged behind prices, and that now living costs have fallen only 7.5 per cent, whereas wage reductions Of 10 to 25 per cent have been put into etfect. 4 NEW BRIDGES PLANNED Contracts to Be Let March 1 at Portland Highway Meeting. SALEM, Or., Feb. 12. (Special.) tour overhead railroad crossings and fcur bridges are to be contracted y the state highway commission at a meeting to be held at Portland March 1, according to announcements made by the highway department today. Following are the structures in cluded in the improvements and their locations: Two bridges over Burnt river about cne mile from Weathcrby station. linker county. One crossing over Burnt river com bined with a crossing of "the O.-W. & N. company about four miles from Huntington, Baker county. One bridge over the Umpqua river Ir. Hoseburg, Douglas 'county. One bridge over the Umpqua river at Myrtle creek, Douglas county. One crossing of the Altamont canal about seven miles east of Klamath Falls. One crossing of the Oregon East ern railway near Dairy, about 18 miles east of Klamath Falls. One crossing of the Southern Pa cific -tracks about three miles south of Eugene. D SHIPS WERE E BUILT, SAYS HURLEY Shipping Board Mistakes De clared Inevitable. TRIBUTE PAID TO SCHWAB Speed of American Builders Said to Have Scared Germans, Heart ened French, Enthused British. DOCTOR STRIKES WOMAN Dr. E. X. Crockett Arrested on Charge of Fuilurc to Help. When an automobile struck Mrs. J. M. Manning, 396 Morrison street, last night, knocking her down 'and bruising one leg, the driver con tinued on his way. Shortly he was halted by a motorist who witnessed the accident, W. E. Morris, 1480 East Hoyt street, who took his license number and informed him that he had struck a woman. The driver, Dr. Ernest N. Crockett. BOO Aine worth avenue, then returned to East Morrison and Water streets, where the accident occurred, examined his victim and took her to the city emergency hospital. He said that he did not know he had struck Mrs. Manning. Crockett was arrested on a charge of failing to render assistance, and released on recognizance. Mrs. Man- ning. who is 60 years old was found to be only slightly injured. CONVENTION DATE IS SET American Legion's State Reunion Will Be Held July 1 and 2. EUGENE. Or., Feb. 12. (Special.) Lane County post, American legion, has set Friday and Saturday, July 1 and 2, as dates for the state conven Hon of tne legion to be held this year in this city. Detailed arrangements for the convention have been left to the local post by the department of Oregon. Efforts will be made to have Eugene's Fourth of July celebration cover four days, beginning with the legion convention. It has been sug gested by, members of the local post that one means of entertaining the visiting veterans will be excursions up the McKenzie highway. Resolutions favoring the elimina tion of Japanese as land holders in this state have been forwarded to Lane county representatives and sen ators in the legislature. Read The Oregonlan classified ads. WASHINGTON, D. C. Feb. 12. Both tbe allies and the Germans were astounded at the rapidity with which the shipping board constructed ships after the United States entered the war. a house Investigating commit tee was informed today by E. N. Hur ley of Chicago, chairman of the board from July. 1917, to the summer of 1919. Hfeh government officials in Eng land, France and Italy told him after the armistice, he said, that they were highly pleased at the achievements of tho board. He learned, also, he said, that the Germans, too, had been amazed at tne Doaru s pruBmiiiim:. He discussed the favorable com ment he had heard aDroaa aner touching on criticisms in this coun try. Admitting mistakes had been made, he said that was inevitable. ince it was necessary to create a mammoth organization quickly to turn out shps. Needed Ships Delivered. "We delivered ships." he declared. "That's what we were supposed to do." Shipping board officers profited by their mistakes and took pains not to repeat them, he said, adding tnat the country could view with pride the board's accomplishment. Mr. Hurley mild tribute to the men associated with him, especially Charles M. Schwab, who, he said, had been drafted to ta! e charge of construe' tion when satisfactory progress was not being made. At the peace confer ence, Mr. Hurley continued, Clemen ceau told him that this appointment had frightened the Germans, heart ened the French and enthused tne British. "I know that his appointment." he added, "inspired the American people to get behind the shipbuilding " pro gramme. ' He expressed optimism over the future of the American merchant ma rine, but said too many ships might prove a liability in case of insuffi cient cargoes. Wooden Ships Condemned. Junking of the government's wood en ships was favored by Mr. Hurley, who said tbe vessels were no longer of any use or practical value. Mr. Hurley denied he had prom lsed wooden shipyard owners suffi cient contracts for three turns on their ways, regardless of an early termination nt the war. Discussing the placing of contracts in Japan for steel ships, Mr. Hurley said the Increased expense was justi fied because the United States had to have ships in a hurry and the Jap anese yards were .Able to rush de livery. Asked whether any ship construc tion . companies had "held up" the goVernm3.1t during the war, Mr. Hur ley exclaimed: "They drove hard bat-gains, every one of them. You would have done the sam. but they delivered ships." HARNEY WINS IN DEBATE Vale High School Team Beaten In District Contest. BURNS. Or., Feb. 12 (Special.) The Harney county high school de- feated the Vale high school Friday 'edfurnd - Sreawer Conrddlfyel and equally OdDdDle fast 41 i AS. ' 'V Aim photoplay that stands out as one of the most charming things that the silver sheet has mirrored these many days. "THE PUNCH OF THE IRISH" Comedy 1 SPECIAL SUNDAY CONCERT 12:30 Noon Today evening in the first district debate of the. southeast section. The ques tion was, "Resolved. That Ireland shuldvbe given the dominion plan or government. The affirmative team from Vale, composed of Mis Francis Hornbeck and Lawrence Propst, met Harney county negative, upheld- by - MiltoD Brown and Howard MilJer, at Burns. Ralph Sweet and I'"rnk Loggan represented the Harney high af firmative at Vale and received the two-to-one decision of. the judges. The decision for. tho Burns high negative was two to one. HAL DUBI0USAB0UT SUN Youngster From South Has All but Forgotten Old Sol. Four-year-old Hal had spent three of his four years in Los Angeles. His parents moved to Portland at the be ginning of the rainy season last fall. For a time Hal pestered his mother W'th questions like "Why don't the sun shine. Mom?" and "When is it going to stop raining?" But in a couple of weeks he ap parently ..iiecame satisfied. Yesterday he wanted to go out doors to play. "Walt until it stops raining and the sun shines, then you may go out," she told him. Hal's face assumed a puzzled ex pression, as if he were endeavoring to recall vague associations. Finally he asked, innocently, "What sun, Mom?" - SCAPP00SE WINS DEBATE it. Helens High School- Defeated in State League Contest. ST. HELENS. Or., Feb. 12. (Spe cial.) Debaters of 6L Helens High school were defeated by rivals from Scappoose ' when the teams clashed here Friday night in one of the con tests of the state high school league. Members of the winning Scappoose High school team were Clara Hau gerud and James Watts and of the St. Helens team, Carl Tucker and Sig Wellborn. The question was, "Resolved, That section 28 of the Jones marine bill should be enforced." The local de baters had the negative and the vis itors the affirmative. Judges of the contest were Judge Robert Morrow, R. L. Sabin and George Brown, all of Portland. FRANCE'S EAR DEAF T0GE1M1 Premier Briand Said to Be Firm for Reparations. TEUTON COUP IS. FEARED Likelihood of Amicable Outcome of London Conference Is Doubled at Paris. BY LINCOLN EYRE. (Copyright by the New York World. Pub lished by Arrangement.) PARIS. Feb. 12. (Special cable.) Any likelihood of the London con ference resulting in an amicable un derstanding with the Germans, based on their acceptance of the allied reparations programme, is fast evap orating. Already in french official circles there is talk of turning the meeting scheduled to begin on Feb ruary 28 into a discussion of the best means of applying the penalties which the supreme council has re solved to inflict upon Germany in the event of her non-acceptance of the Paris terms. At the ministry of foreign affairs it is stated that Germany's obvious effort to postpone a final settlement of the reparations problem is doubt less inspired by the hope tha; her opposition to the allies will find a favorable echo in Washington after Harding's inauguration. French of ficialdom believes that Berlin is in for a severe disappointment in this respect. Whatever the new adminis tration may be, however, the present French government ia resolved to in sist upon the integral application of the system of payments laid down. Briand is confident that in this stand he has the British cabinet's whole hearted support. That Germany expects to .find some way of bargaining along the lines in dicated by Foreign Minister Simons in the reichstag is believed here. This the French will under no cir cumstances permit. Indeed, among the deputies there is a strong current of opinion in favor of abandoning the London conference altogether if the faintest possibll'ty that it will he come another Spa should arise. Tins doctrine is'approved by s;ich impor tant papers as the Petit Parisien and the Temps. The former Intimates that Ger many's air of defiance may make the presence of her representatives at the council table with the allied states men impossible.- The Temps asks what useful purpose can be served by the proposed ionference if the Ger mans come, to London with the idea of rejecting the Paris agreement, "utilizing against the entente the support of the new American government"- and trusting in bolshevik ag gression to disturb Europe to such an extent that the Versailles treaty will be torn to pioces. This view, however, is certainly not that of the French government, as interpreted at the Qua! d'Orsay. Pre mier Briand, a cording to those authorized to spei-k for hiin, will go to London, no matter what the Ger mans may do unless his ministry is overthrown by the chamber, which thus far appears improbable. The presumption is that, arriving in England on February 21, the date on which the conference to deal with the Turkish question is, scheduled to begin, he will remain there until the reparation deliberations. wUU or without the German delegates, are ended. Both he and Lloyd George, it is understood, feel that a definite set tlement of this question should be arrived at before Mr. Harding takes office, so that the allies can lay a clear statement of their case before the new president. Rains Lower Snow Level. , BEND, Or., Feb. 12. (Special.) Heavy rains In the mountain have lowered the snow level two feet within the last two days, according to reports brought to Bend by em ployes of the Tumalo fish' hatchery, who have Just finished taking more than 6,000,000 brook trout eggs at Elk lake. Bend Pupils Petition Board. BEND, Or., Feb. 12. (Special.) Seeking to obtain the services of an ex-instructor, pupils in the Central grade' school today petitioned the Bend school board to appoint Mrs. Mildred Williams as their teacher. What Will Your Valentine Be? Jewelry Do you wish lo express a sentiment in something more than words? Then choose for her a gift that car ries a subtle consideration of her own needs, her own personality. Let it be- a gift of jewelry a Bar Pin or Lavalliere, for instance; some thing you will be proud to send, something she will be proud to own. V "Gifts That Last" We have an Optical Department that is unturpasscd in efficiency. If you have the least trouble hiilh your eyes or glasses, don't delay consulting us. A. & C. Feldenheimer Jewelers Silversmiths Opticians Established 1868 WASHINGTON STREET AT PARK A First National Attraction lone! j "The Devil's Garden" requires a player with the power of Lionel Barrymore to depict the power ful part of "William Dale" and Barrymore achieves a triumph. i. wa mi i& m j x ( fl l S PICTURE A f WU ft DIRECTING fju ii 1 1 ! n i ii ww nM im i nM nTirwii 1 ail rrfYlr at tftiBk Mr iV -