3
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND. SEPTEMBER 24, 1922
ESTABLISHED BY HKXBY I- PITTOCK
Published by The Oregonian Pub. Co.,
135 Sixth Street, Portland. Oregon.
C. A. MORDBN'. E. B. PIPER.
Manager, Editor.
The Oresronian is a member of the As
sociated Press. The Associated Press la
exclusively entitled to the use for publi
cation of all news dispatches credited to
it or not otherwise credited in this paper
and also the local news published herein.
All rights of publication of special dis
patches herein are also reserved.
Subscription Kates Invariably
in Advance.
(By Mail.)'
Baily, Sunday included, one year . . . .18.00
Daily, Sunday included, six months . . 4.25
Daily, Sunday included, three months 2.25
Daily, Sunday included, one month . . .75
Daily, without Sunday, one year 6.00
Daily, without Sunday, six months . . 3.25
Daily, without Sunday, one month ... .60
Sunday one year 2.50
(By Carrier.)
Daily. Sunday included, one year- . $9.00
Daily. Sunday lnciuaea, tnree monina .o
Daily, Sunday included, one month .75
Daily, without Sunday, one year 7.80
Daily, without Sunday, three months 1.95
Daily, without Sunday, one month ... .65
How to Remit Send postoffice money
order, express or personal check on your
local bank, stamps, coin or currency are
at owner's risk. . Give postoffice address
an lull, including county and state.
1nstnr Rate 1 to 16 oac. 1 cent:
18 to pages. 2 cents; 34 to'48 Pages, 3
cents; ov to o- pages, cents; do to ou
pages. 6 cents; 62 to 96 pages, 6 cents.
Eastern Business Offices Verree &
Conklin, 300 Madison avenue. New Yorjj;
Verree & Conklin, Steger Building, Chi
cago; Verree & Conklin, Free Press build
ing, Detroit, Mich.; Verree & Conklin,
Monadnock building, San Francisco. Cal.
SOME PROGRESS TOWARD RELI
GIOUS UNITY.
IX not first among the matters
of moment to which the recent
Episcopal conference in Portland
gave attention, at least one of the
most important for the effect it is
likely to have on the future rela
tions of Christian churches was the
decision to continue along pre
yiously defined lines the effort to
ward union of purpose, as to the
desirability of which all seem to
agree. If there shall be disap
pointment over failure to advance
the programme with the celerity
which characterizes less important
movements, this will be tempered
by reflection that a good deal has
in fact been accomplished, that
elsewhere than in the United States
the movement has taken definite
form and is not without promise,
and that in this country concentra
tion of effort upon establishing
mutual understanding has the ap
pearance of being, a sound and
practical foundation for future
work.
A useful preparation therefor
lor the World Conference on Faith
and Order which is now proposed
for the early summer of 1925 will
lie, as was suggested by the cQm
mittee which reported at the Port
land convention, "a great number
of" small conferences, of members
of the same church by themselves
bo that they may see clearly the
truths for which their own church
stands, and of members of differ
ent churches so that they may un
derstand one another and the value
of the other's positions."
It is obvious that religious amity
must precede any serious effort to
bring about even the smallest de
gree of union and it is equally ap
parent that mutual understanding
is necessary to amity, while self
understanding is probably the only
enduring basis for either. How
much of the failure of previous
conferences to accomplish prac
tical results has, been due to want
of sucTI comprehension of funda
mentals it is difficult to estimate,
but in all probability this has been
a grave stumbling-block in the
past. Pride of opinion not always
resting on a secure basis has
wrecked more than one peace
movement in the history of the
world, and the record of pre
vious international conferences has
shown that delegates not infre
quently lack comprehension of the
problems of their colleagues which
would aid greatly in simplifying
their own work. When large is
sues become obscured by minor
ones, and when personal factors
are permitted to complicate the
whole, the result is always defeat.
The present movement for
church unity is more than a decade
old. The joint commission ap
pointed by the Episcopalian con
vention of 1910, continued through
succeeding conventions and now
refinanced for another triennium
has accomplished something, in co
operation with other denomina
tions, and the Geneva conference
was not without result, inasmuch
as it presented a number of main
subjects for consideration, the rela
tive importance of which needs to
be determined before any well
ordered plan can be devised. The
place of the Bible and creed in
relation to reunion is a topic of
first interest because it may meas
urably regulate the direction that
the ultimate movement shall take,
and whether it is necessary that
there shall be a statement of one
faith and one form of creed is a
matter that ought to be disposed
of, though agreement is not likely
to be as easy as to the superficial
observer it would seem possible.
These and other topics proposed by
.the Geneva convention for indi
vidual and group study will suggest
themselves as presenting no in
superable obstacles to amity, how
ever they may affect the mechan
ism of denominational- consolida
tion. It is interesting to know that the
larger movement for church unity
is gaining headway more rapidly in
other countries than in the United
States.- This is particularly true as
to Scotland, where the Church of
Scotland and the free church have
reached a practical agreement; of
Canada, where Congregationalists,
Methodists and Presbyterians have
a common understanding, and. of
Australia, which has followed the
example of Canada, with a pros
pect that the Baptist denomina
tions will be added. Less definite
achievements have resulted from
the efforts of the northern and
southern bodies i of the Bap
tist, Methodist and Presbyterian
churches in a similar direction in
the United States, and the proposal
of the general assembly of the
Presbyterian church in the United
States of America, in May, 1919,
for a union of the evangelical
churches of the United States, on
a basis analogous to the federal
constitution, have been formally
rejected by the presbyteries of the
church. But; this may have been
less a defeat for the principle of
unity than a result of feeling that,
so far as it meant co-operation in
good works it was unnecessary in
view of the activities of the fed
eral council, and that to the ex
tent that it exceeded mere co
operation a greater degree of vis
ible unity should be striven for.
A-large -degrea-cf -disappointment
be confessed by those who
have hoped for speedy .union and
i who have observed a tendency to
give great weight to technical is
sues, but this too is likely to be
tempered by reflection upon the
history of the steps by which de
nominational differences were cre
ated, upon the depth of experience
underlying them and upon the tra
ditions which enrich them in the
minds of their adherents. ' These
present a situation the understand
ing of which is primarily essential,
and it is a matter of considerable
significance that the Geneva as
sembly gave recognition to their
technical character by proposing a
plan to create a series of special
commissions for the study of dog
matic, liturgical ' and historical
questions and those concerning
ministerial orders and authorities
as affecting the differences be
tween Christian communions. Noth
ing will be lost and a good deal
may be gained by presenting these
issues in their proper perspective
and by exhibiting them in relation
to the problem of unity as a whole.
There is no reason to believe
that complete physical union of all
religious denominations will ever
be achieved, or even that it would
be desirable, or " that if brought
about temporarily it would endure.
But unity of purpose and of spirit,
which are as desirable and which
conceivably may be made highly
useful, will be promoted by each
victory over prejudice, jealousy
and merely sectarian instinct and
by more widespread discussion and
deepening of regard for the essen
tials of religion. It is an issue of
less importance that the clergymen
of one denomination shall be re
quired to conform to the discipline
of another than that there shall
be mutual respect, brotherly rela
tions and universal good will.
, EUROPE'S NEED OF SEtF-HEtP.
In an address to the Indiana
bankers Comptroller of the Cur
rency Crissinger replied to the plea
that the United States should go
to the rescue of .Europe by saying
that since the war began this coun
try has contributed $21,751,000,000
to finance the rest of the world.
This vast sum was paid out in
repurchase of American securities,
in government loans and interest
thereon, in purchase of foreign
securities and' foreign currency, in
cluding several tons of German
marks. He finds steady improve
ment in European finances, that the
British dominions are financially
sound and that Latin America and
Japan have passed the economic
crisis, and he believes that Ameri
can investments abroad helped
them materially.
Although we still maintain that
it would have been to the interest
of the United States to help Europe
still further in its economic recov-
ery.'there are several things which
Europe could have done to help,
itself. If the allies had hung to
gether in pursuing a firm policy
toward Germany they could have
compelled that country to abandon
crooked finance and to begin pay
ing reparations. By pledging mu
tual aid in event of a new war of
aggression, they could have safely
reduced their armies, balanced
their budgets and restored their
credit much sooner. If they had
stuck together and jointly occupied
the whole . of Turkey, they could
have crushed the military power
of Mustapha Kemal in its infancy
and could have imposed such terms
as would have kept alive the hosts
of Armenians and Greeks who have
been massacred, would have stilled
the unrest in Moslem lands and
would have established real peace.
Their credit would have been so
good that they could have begun
paying their debts to thi3 country,
they would have found the Ameri
can people more inclined to cancel
or reduce the debts, and they would
have had no difficulty in borrow
ing more American money.
Europe was in desperate trouble
and America would have been wise
in its own interest to help it in
settling its internal quarrels and
starting it on the road of peace
and retrenchment. But the severity
of Europe's distress should have
prompted it to forget its hates and
to. have pulled together for its
common good. When it most
needed co-operation it began quar
reling anew and wasted its energy
and substance. The American peo
ple should have been better in
formed about the old continent's
internal dissensions and should
have been more ready to act the
conciliator, but their good will was
chilled when they looked across
the ocean' and saw the people who
should have joined hands to pull
out of the mire together pushing
one another farther in. Europe
needs more of the spirit of self
help, which means mutual help
among the nations.
heavily on the middle class, both
through death in battle and through
taxation. It sent forth its sons
without stint while many parents
pinched on Incomes which re
mained fixed while cost of living
doubled and workmen received war
wages. Incomes thus diminished
cannot provide for the large fam
ilies which were, formerly pro
verbial in the middle class. The
most vigorous and enterprising of
the young men in both middle and
working classes have emigrated to
the -colonies, whence they and their
sons returned, far . finer physical
specimens of manhood than those
who remained in the old island, to
fight in the world war.
It may be, however, that too
gloomy an, outlook is taken. The
same old stuff was in tie men- who
stood firm against the Germans at
Ypres, who swept forward from the
Somme to Belgium, through Syria
and up the Tigris as had fought
over and colonized many lands. It
was about the middle of the
eighteenth century that Goldsmith
wrote his lament:
111 fares the land, to hastening ills a
prey.
Where wealth accumulates and men
decay.
Since that was written the great
est British achievements of the na-.
tion in arms, colonization, states
manship, industry, invention and
art have been added to the roll
After an exhausting war there must
be a period of convalescence, an
not until it is past can we truly
judgev whether a nation is perma
nently weakened.
THE READ KEMY OF THE ELK
The biological survey of th
United States . department of.agri
culture makes the surprising show
ing in tfce campaign of education
which it has just instituted for the
protection of wild game that the
real enemy of the elk is not the
hunter but want of suitable feeding
grounds. It has been assumed un
til recently that wanton slaughter
was chiefly responsible for the
approaching extinction of , this
noble animal. The survey finds
that if provision were made for
feeding in winter such as already
exists in summer when the pas
tures in the parks are available the
life of the species might be inde
finitely prolonged. '
If the preservation of an animal
in which considerations of sent!
ment and of utility are mingled as
they are in the elk is worth while,
as it will seem to most persons to
be, then protective measures can
hardly be instituted too soon. The,
department census indicates that
there are hardly more than 50,000
left, of .which, unless something
is done about it,, a considerable
number are likely to starve dur
ing the winter which will soon be
on us. The only herds ot moment
are in the Yellowstone park, but
there are others in the Olympic
mountains and a few in California
and Oregon. The situation of the
elk is comparable to that of the
buffalo forty or fifty years ago.
Properly conserved the elk can
yet oe ixiaut? an 1111iJuiLa.u1. aumuun
to our food supply. There are
and probably always will be great
areas in the country economically
suitable only for the pasturing of
game. As civilization advances its
boundaries it is shown , to be ap
proximately possible to regulate
poaching, but this will go for
naught and will only bring game
laws into contempt if elk and deer
are spared from the rifle only to
fall prey by wholesale to the first
hard winter that descends upon the
land.
GODS AND GEOLOGISTS.
Poetically-inclined and simple
minded people create myths for
scientists to destroy. No fable asso
ciated with the legendary history of
the Oregon country is richer in
philosophy than the tale of the
Bridge of the Gods, which the In
dians believed, and none, perhaps,
so deteriorates under the scrutiny
of men who delve with hammer
and pick for physical probabilities.
The story of the quarreling sons in
the original legend; of how their
father, the Great Spirit, envected the
Cascade range to prevent friction
between them but for convenience'
sake created, a great bridge under
which the water of the Columbia
flowed; of the gift of fire and the
transformation of the witch-woman
into a beautiful girl and of strife
caused by the misuse of a mighty
force and jealousies engendered by
the eternal feminine the story of
all this is illuminating in more than
one of its aspects. Its very an
tiquity is a bond uniting humanity,
long ago shown by the evidence of
its mythology to have been moved
by , impulses which have not
changed since before th dawn of
history.
The Oregon aborigines undoubt
edly took their clue from the ap
pearance, as one stands in the
vicinity of the present Cascade
locks, of the bold fronts of Table
mountain and of Red bluff. This,
as Ira Williams has pointed out in
a painstaking analysis of the prob
able'geologic history of the Colum
bia gorge, might easily inspire un
questioned belief in the legend of
the Bridge of the Gods. At about
the same time, it is not difficult to
conceive, men in far distant lands
were constructing mythologists on a
similar basis of fancy hardly bet-H
ter sustained by fact. Not a vio
lent stretching of the absorbed
imagination is needed to make out
of the terraced rock wall the stu
pendous abutment of a once giant
span across the Columbia, then per
haps a vastly more turbulent
stream than' it is now. Yet the
geologist spurns the legendas he
puts it to the test of his measur
ing stick and points out that the
conformation of the region and our
knowledge of the manner in which
Nature labored give the lie to the
ancient tale. "The absurdity of the
thought" so the cold scientist puts
it "is apparent when we reflect
that this span must have stretched
across a minimum space of -full
five miles in order to reach-a firm
footing on the Oregon side."
The Cascades must have risen
very slowly from surrounding plain
and the Columbia gorge have eaten
its way ' with a patience of which
only a geologist can conceive into
the impeding, hills. The walls of
the gorge rose more precipitously
and its cliffs stood closer to each
other than they do now. In such
a time, as the scientist visualizes
the eon-long process, large bodies
of rock would slip suddenly into
the river, particularly from the
Table mountain side, whose rela
tively unsubstantial strata tell their
own. story to him. who knows the
The burden -of wax has -faJlesn. trua language of the rocks, "We
ALARM FOR THE BRITISH MIDDLE
CLASS,
The question is gravely discussed
by the London Observer whether
the British middle class is shrink
ing , in numbers through sterility.
the census revealing a decrease in
marriages and births. Hope of re
cruiting the strength of this class
from the working people Is held tp
be slight, for the Observer holds
that the British workman has be
come a weakling through the fac
tory system, slums and drink and
has been trained by the socialists
to build up his own class rather
than recruit the one above him.
For many generations the mid
dle class has been the great reser
voir from which the vitality of Bri
tain is drawn.. Up to it climb the
able, industrious and ambitious of
the working class to become" mer
chants, manufacturers, lawyers and
statesmen, of whom Lloyd George
is an example. Up from it are
raised those who are rewarded for
great achievements in business,
science or politics with peerages, to
replace the old aristocratic families
which have died out. Down to it
return the younger sons and daugh
ters of noble families, to reinvigo-
rate their blue blood by mixture
with red, and often by gaining new
distinction on their merits . to rise
again to the nobility. , From this
class sprang the great patriots,
Hampden and Cromwell; Churchill,
who won a dukedom at Blenheim;
Clive, the founder of the Indian em
pire; the elder Pitt, whose states
manship won Canada, clinched the
hold on India and saw the folly
of the war with the American col
onies. In our own time Bryce and
Morley, Haig, Jellicoe, Beatty and
a galaxy of ojthers have won peer
ages as statesmen, writers and
fighters.
are not at all - certain," observes
Williams, "but that many times
may the troughs of this masterful
river have been partially or entirely
clogged and its current checked if
not actually ponded by gigantic
landslides. Each such interruption
in its eventful career was followed
by the reopening of the channel
through its own undaunted efforts.
What more natural then than that
the latest of these cataclysmic
slides, of which the channel is not
wholly cleared, may have swung
the river far aside and formed tern
porarily so much of a barrier as
completely to dam the river, and
even to permit the passage across
of native inhabitants, .whomsoever
they were, of those early days."
Rock masses all through the
stream, many of them of island
size, tell of the mighty forces that
must have been at work, and whose
power the geologist better than the
layman is able to gauge. Part of
them are jutting points of hard
Eagle creek conglomerate, while
others '.unquestionably have - been
moved great distances from the
neighboring cliffs. The submerged
forest above the Cascades is a tale
by itself. Trees that must have
been' killed by the encroachment of
water at their bases prove beyond
peradv&nture that in some ancient
time the stream was raised by an
obstruction, unexpectedly thrust in
below. Nor is it beyond possibility
that the barrier in question may
have constituted the causeway
about which grew the enchanting
tale of fire meant for a blessing but
which the natives made into a
curse and of the maiden for whose
favor chieftains made devastating
war.
Thus far the legend and the find
ings of the scientist run in parallel
grooves. But the latter deny us
the small satisfaction of a majestic
causeway such as a god would de
vise. "Far from the fabulous
Bridge of the Gods was this," is
the picture we find in the book of
hard facts. "Rather instead plain,
tottering blocks of lava, and a
crumbling, sloughing, clay-stained,
bouldery assemblage from yon
proud cliff was, its makeup, over
the rise or fall of which an inexor
able gravity, not Sahale, the Great
Spirit, nor Klickitat nor Wiyeast
exercised' complete control."
feat of the albatross, which is able
to remain for long periods, almost
motionless, In the air. Hope that
this would be done declined when
the airplane engine was installed:
it is revived, curiously enough, by
a recessive movement which has
stimulated research and which
may yet be set down as the most
important mechanical event of the
year.
PRACTICAL VALUE OF THE GLIDER.
Whether the glider, or airplane
operated without power, shall be
come a useful instrument in avia
tion depends on so many consider
ations that experts are not of one
mind on the subject, but there is
general agreement that they will
serve a high purpose in promoting
study of the wing and body forms
which are calculated to give the
highest efficiency and thereby ad
vance the interests of the commer-.
cial industry. An American scien
tist who has just returned from
observing a ' series of tests in
France issues a warning, however,
against assuming, that the secret
of motorless air navigation has
been discovered and he points out
that a means of air navigation
which depends on direction and
quality of wind vaill be far more
uncertain than was seafaring . n
the day of the sailing ship. To be
becalmed would mean to the ship
master a certain loss of time, while
for the aviator it probably would
spell the end of his journey,' unless
fortunately he could find means
for getting into the air again.
The utility of the glider would
by these standards be limited to its
value as an instrument of experi
mentation, out of which new prin
ciples might be ' developed that
would advance the science of avia
tion as a whole. The tendency of
experts to belittle that which has
already been done, however, and, to
disparage the prospect for the fu
ture is a. reminder that it is much
less than a generation since the
mechanical world united in ridi
cule of Professor Langley and de
clared that he had nothing to learn
from the flight of birds. The
Wright brothers also owed much
to their early knowledge of bird
flight, and it is a matter of some
significance that they practically
ceased to advance in this direction
as soon as they had put a motor
into their machine. Aviation
might have made greater progress
in the end if a Jonger period had
elapsed between the pioneer glid
ing flights at Klttyhawk and the
Introduction of the first motor,
which introduced a new element
to the game.
"To talk of applying small en
gines to these gliders and so make
flying available to all," said H.
Massac Buist, an English aero
nautical expert, recently, "in the
sense that anyone who wishes may
motorcycle is to ignore the fact
that the moment you apply power
plant and its fuel you must build
a wholly different structure." This
fact, indeed, was discovered by the
Wrights, but the point is that once
they had adapted their structure to
the needs of a -motor driven device
they ceased to experiment along
the lines on which they had begun,
This phas of aviation may be said
to have reverted to 1903, from
where the ingenuity of inventors is
at liberty to re-explore the entire
field. ,
The Wrights in the beginning
sought always a current of wind
constantly in one direction, and
in the memorable flight of nine
minutes forty-nine seconds' dura
tion which marked the beginning
of flying in heavier than air ma
chines they were favored by a brisk
current, under the impulse of
which, nevertheless, their machine
gradually lost momentum and
finally fell to earth. The Germans
in their efforts to evade the con-ditions-of
the armistice by employ
ing aircraft not quite answering to
its terms, undoubtedly have pro
gressed farther than did the
Wrights. They have .been able 'to
sailplane," ' as distinguished from
volplaning, and'he achievement of
remaining in the air for more than
two hours-was the result of de-
eloped skill In taking advantage
of varying winds, , which the
Wrights could not have done. In
region in which the air is almost
onstantly in motion, as irt a strait
or in the vicinity of almost any
littoral, the performances of both
Germans and Frenchmen recently
n cutting aerial figure eights and
in changing direction almost at
will indicate that the new naviga
tion has vast possibilities, . An
English critic regards it as feasible
for a clever glider pilot to sail an
indefinite distance by taking ad
vantage of the air wave thrown up
by the progress of a steamship
through the air. ' ,
Men still hope to duplicate the
SIXTY CIGARETTES A DAY.
With marked amaze one reads
that Dr. James Rosedale Wadel
Ward, recently admitted to .citizen
ship at the age of 96, consumes
sixty cigarettes each . day of his
singularly unperturbed and youth
ful existence. To ' say that , the
merry old gentleman actually as
tounded Gotham, its sophisticated
dwellers agog and agape at. his
feet, is but to pay him a deserved
and truthful tribute. And when
Gotham is astounded naught seems
left the .rest of us but to admit
the man or the matter is a mar
vel. Such, indeed, 'is this vener
able hero of the quadruple cog
nomen. ' '
Most people are well informed
as to the causes for the late Father
William's extraordinary longevity.
It is intimated quite broadly that
the sprightly gaffer of Southey's
song eschewed cigarettes all his
days, and contrived to eke out his
pleasant years by rising with the
lark and going to bed with chanti
cleer. This was no life such as Dr.
Ward has 'lived, himself an Eng
lishman bv birth, and. as manv a
countryman of his, a rover by dis
position. The doctor might have
stopped a Zulu spear, or have been
carved by a scimitar in the lands
of the prophet, or passed in com
parative peacefrom the ravages of
beri-beri. Yet no such scath came
to him. He lives to smoke his
sixty cigarettes each day, when the
shadow of a' century lies athwart
his path..
What, then, is Dr. Ward's great
secret? Nay, we are not so unwary
as to attempt a proof that cigar
ettes have preserved him, have
pickled his thews and his vitals
so neatly that they are timeless;
yet we have been but recently re
minded of the octogenarian whose
testimonial against strong drink
was sought on his death bed by
enthusiasts of temperance. In
youth or age, liquor, the rum-cup,
had never touched those lips, now
tremulous with the touch of ap
proaching dissolution. A ripened
life was his. Yet as they bent
above him, to catch his words for
the cause, there arose from the
pottage woodshed sounds jf tur
moil and a voice lifted in wildness:
"Gracious!" exclaimed the tem
plars, "whatever may that be?"
The bed-ridden tetotaller sighed
gustily. ."That," said he, "is only
pap. He's drunk again." To ad
mit that cigarettes may have con
tributed to Dr. Ward's tenure
would be to encourage our youth
to adopt them, a responsibility
from which one turns in terror.
Has Dr. Ward, as his profession
might indicate, worsted the infirm
ities of age by lifelong adherence
to the principles of fletcherizing or
diet? Was it fish? Thomas Jor
dan trolled a riterry stave of such
food and the bodily felicity
wrought by its consumption. "Fish
dinners," he rhymed, "will make a
man spring like a flea Dame
Venus, love's lady, was. born of
the sea." Yet the simple child of
the northland, blubber to his
brows, clutching a side of last
summer's salmon,v tarries not over
long in the land of hiS fathers. It
is more reasonable to assume that
our adventurer, in some far coun
try of his travels, stooped to drink
at a miracle spring, such as the
sallow heroine of Bret Harte's
story found in the California hills.
We are inclined to the belief
that it was neither cigarettes, nor
fish, . nor cool, forgotten draught.
None of these, but rather an uhdi
minished and victorious interest in
life itself, plus a little luck. The
fountain of, youth is no myth, and
men grow dry and tired before
their time because they will not
walk a long mile or laugh a mo
ment, or think of other matters
than th'eir.own narrow affairs pent
by a shrinking horizon. And all
that Dr. Ward proves, through his
discovery by the reporters, is that
not even sixty cigarettes a day can
stifle the mortal resistance of such
a fellow.
riches were esteemed because they
enabled the fortunate one to give
great festivals and to show his
contempt for that which he t had
been at much pains to obtain. The
genius of the potlatch was the obli.
gation that each gift entailed for
its repayment in kind. However
we may regard the economic
soundness of a system of borrOw
ing to fret rich, it was the Indian's
conception of insurance, against'
poverty and old age. Men and boys
vied "with one another in gener-4
osity, tempered always by knowl
edge that their , giving was as
bread cast upon the waters, as seed
sown in the ground. As a vent for.
the spirit of rivalry it bears evi
dence of having supplanted the
more ancient physical combat.
"Rivals," says an annalist, "who
formerly contended with arms now
fight with property instead."
Ethnologists who are more and
more inclined to wonder at1 the
traits possessed in common by
widely dissociated groups of the
human race find in the potlatch
but another evidence of universal
tendency to rivalry and ; caste.
Though the recipient of a gift was
not at liberty to refuse it, but was
under social compulsion to regard
it as a loan to be repaid with in
terest at a future day, our Indian
brethren had ways of creating the
atmosphere of inequality that dif
fered only in kind from those of
civilized men. The practice of giv.
ing a feast in honor of one's' rival
and presenting him with a consid
erable number of blankets, which
he was debarred from refusing but
which he could not accept until he
had placed an equal number on
top of the pile, seems to have been
the aboriginal equivalent of keep
ing up . with the Joneses, while the
form of rivalry which found its'
strongest expression in destruction
of property has a modern counter
part in the not unknown custom of
doing tilings we do not enjoy mere
ly for the sake of display. Feasts
counted as destruction of property
because they could be returned
only by other feasts. A. chief who
burned his blankets on festal occa
sions, says Professor Franz Boas,
ethnologist of the Smithsonian In
stitution, "showed that his mind
was stronger, that he had greater
power than his rival. If the latter
cannot destroy an equal amount,
his name is broken, he is van
quished and his influence with the
tribe is lost." This phase of the
potlatch, in' which it becomes a
mere striving for influence and in
which both contestants lose, is not
without precedent among civilized
men. v
Chief Buffalo, Child Long Lance
pleads for the customs of his peo
ple, illogical though they may seem
to the white man, who will appear
to stand convicted by the testimony
of his own customs of inconsis
tency, if of no graver offense. In
a protest that doubtless comes
from the depths of his heart this
Indian says:
The Listening Post.
By DeWltf Harry.
B'
WHAT THE "POTLATCH" WAS.
Chief Buffalo Child Long" Lance,
who writes in a British Columbia
contemporary in vigorous protest
against a pending proposal to
change the name of a forthcoming
festival from "potlatch" to some
thing else, has the support of eth
nologists and other authorities on
Indian customs in his contention
that the potlatch was not anciently
a mere orgy, as uninformed per
sons have been wont to assume,
that it was not attended by dis
graceful disregard of the morali
ties and that it . did not, to the
Indian, consist of a riot of spend
ing without purpose. Prohibition
of the . custom among the tribes
which have observed it from time
immemorial might well, as Chief
Buffalo Child Long Lance suggests,
result in social and moral confu
sion among a people already made
discontented by the efforts -of un
sympathetic strangers to deprive
them of the last -remnants of their
sacred traditions and to force on
them a manner of living which
they do not understand.
Among the "many failures of
white workers among -the Indians
to comprehend the genlu of abor
iginal customs, misunderstanding
of the potlatch has a prominent
place. The potlatch, which as the
word implies consisted in a giving
away of property, had, however, a
profound social and religious sig
nificance and was deep-rooted in
a well ordered plan. It was a form
of expression of Indian disregard
of wealth accumulate for the sake
of wealth, an outlet for various
emotions and an instrument of
competition for power. The popu
lar impression that, an Indian re
duced himself to beggary in pure
disregard of the principle of thrift
is the reverse of the truth. It was
as a matter of fact a kind of insur
ance against poverty, the best that
the simple-minded aboriginesTcnew
an interest-bearing Investment of
property which was certain to
bring returns. The, honor of tribes
as well as of individuals was bound
up in it, and honor was religiously
preserved. v--
Possession of wealth was counted
by the northwest coast Indians
even as the early explorers found
them as a mark of distinction, but
"Work and pray, pray and work, and
then work and pray some more." This
is the heart-breaking dictum that for
several generations b-s been thrust upon
the Indians. With this ascetic regime
he has been urged, if not compelled, to
throw aside every native custom that
formerly gave him the self-respect and
strength of character to face the battles
of his isolated existence. And in the
same breath he has been compelled to
adopt a new set of rules totally foreign
to his native outlook. ' All this in spite
of the fact that the world has not re
covered from the most prodigious wa
in its history waged to subdue a nation
whose avowed intention was to conque
all other nations and to impose upon
them their way of "looking at things.
We are only now beginning to
learn the true inwardness of the
customs of the red man, an under
standing of which in an earlier
time would have prevented much
misery and have saved a vast num
ber of lives.
EAVERTON, the Hollywood of
the Tualatin , valley, seems to be
entering the spirit of the thing
with' abandon. -No longer re the
Inhabitants shy of the nvovle act
ress jor actor: Familiarity ' breeds
contempt. Already the Regal Ton
sorial Parlors have metamorphosed
into "the Studio Barbers and the
! Elite Restaurant is the Artists'
Lunch. Xo one ventures to predict
the .finale, of this act. The whole
countryside is watching the devel
opments with bated breath.
For miiey on either side of the
town the land has been staked off
in building lots. Beaverton is con
vinced that it is on the verge of
a boom and will bacome the movie
capital, of Washington county.
TWO POKMS.
(Bitter Stars)
You and I are ruins.
And yet our love was new once,
And sweet as rambler roses
Climbing, cllnglni to a wall.
But love days had their dooming
i ne storm clouds lowered, looming
Ana scattered all the glory of, the
aun ana umber fall.
Autumn leaves . . I hate them
For bitter memories weight them.
They lie across my heart like stone
Instead of drifting free.
I hate their gold and umber
For underneath them slumber
The wormwood of the might-have
been
The hopes of you and me.
Famine.
By ire r- Hall.
II.
And I search hack through mem
ory s book
And you are there.
I fancy I forgot at last and look
And you are there.
Is there no place that I can go
To leave the things that mock me
so?
I think find the spot .and o
. You are there.
And when the end of life comes by
Will you be there?
To mock me with your tragic sigh
Will you be there?
I haven't asked for many things.
What is the use? The answer
- stings.
This -thought no sort of comfort
, brings
YfVll will he rhprp
JOSEPH ANDREW GALAHAD.
Announcement that Mr. Vol
stead's opponent is "just as dry as
Volstead with perhaps a little to
spare," may rob the contest of
some of the significance it other
wise would have had, but it isa
safe bet that the confirmed wets
of the district will vote against
Volstead and claim that they have
been vindicated if they succeed In
defeating him.
The king of Bulgaria is reported
to be in'the market for a rich and
beautiful American wife, but the
outlook for the king business isn't
attractive enough for even a home
ly rich girl to take a chance.
The season is ' just beginning
when, the young student is torn
with conflicting emotions, the
problem being whether to contend
for scholastic honors or to try to
make the football team.
Mr. Lasker's announcement that
he will remain on the shipping
board until its finances are
straightened out looks as if he
might have a life tenure in mind
The railroad strike is estimated
by an economist to have cost $500
000,000, every dollar of which, as
a matter of course, the public will
eventually pay.
At the rate the Round-Up in
creasingly draws the multitudes, it
will soon be necessary to enlarge
Pendleton to make room for the
annual crowd.
Telegraph poles being free of
n . . A 1 ... l,W 1.....
UUiy llic lien laiui law, lilt
citizen will worry, further about
where his winter's supply is com
ing from.
With the ruble at 7,000,000 to
the dollar, higher mathematics
ought to be the most popular study
in the Russian schools.
The political prophets are secure
in the knowledge that nobody re
members after election what was
prophesied before.
The British idea in Turkey seems
to be that the way to insure against
fire is to have plenty of water near
at hand.
Both Kemal Pasha and the Brit
ish navy seem to have selected Con
stantinople for their next conven
tion. "
Whether Mr. Kipling said it or
not, it is evident by this time that
most folks don't believe it was so.
It remains to be demonstrated
whether the machine gun is dead-,
lier than the moonshine still.
Vicissitudes and fluctuating for
tunes of pioneer days are well illus
trated In the story of J. B. Huntington,-
now a resident of this city.
Huntington. In the" brave old days
when Oregon was on the pionec
fringe, "bt the United States, pur
chased Miller's station on the Burnt
river, on the eastern border of the
state of Oregon. This station at
that time was a road house .and
division headquarters for the long
est stage line in the United States,
a -line that reached from Kelton.
Utah, to The Dalles. Oregon. Hunt
ington bought the station as a head
quarters for his cattle and horse
ranch and moved.his family there.
Five years later, in 1884, the Ore
gon Railroad & Navigation com
pany built its line from Portland
and joined the Oregon Short Line
railroad from Granger, Wyoming,
and thus formed what Is known as
the Oregon Short Line route. Mil
ler's station Hhen was renamed
Huntington.
In his reminiscences Huntington
loves to tell of the lost cities of
that region. The city of Auburn,
then about ten miles east of Baker,
Or.,' had 10,000 population. Now
it is not even on the map. It was
gold .that drew the people there
thousands and tens of thousands of
them, daring, adventurous spirits,
the bravest of the brave. Sumpter.
UOr., once had more than 6000 resi
dents; now it is doubtful If 600
could be listed there. It Is a land
of romance and unfilled promise,
where the mining camp flourished
in all its glory.
He had a roadster. She an apart-!
ment. This summer they spent most
of Jheir spare time touring the
nearbV country and he paid the gas
bills. Last winter they spent most
of their leisure sitting by her fire
place and she footed the fuel bills.
The leaves are falling, autumn is
near. The other night, as the vag
rant Indian summer breeze fanned
their cheeks, he leaned over and
said:
"I can hardly wait for cold
weather to come. It's "so much nicer
for me to sit by your cozy fire ".
"Oh," she Interrupted, "that's be
cause you don't have to fret over
gasoline, hift 1 have my worries
then."
He might . have left well enough
alone or volunteered to send up a
cord of oak, but: "It's more com
fortable to fret and sweat lq win
ter," he said and their friendship
terminated.
Each day that passes shows me
hungry men.
With actual famine (tamped upon
the face;
No sad complaint la ever mad by
them.
Yet hunger long ago has left Its
trace;
They walk, their narrow paths In
search of gain.
Nor ask of life to loan a pleasant
word.
And few there be who know or seas
their pain
Because their need th world
would call absurtl.
The destiny of every man Is placed
Within a woman's keeping, ever
more; Love formed th pattern when his
heart was traced
To meet llf' great exactions, scort
on score;
But somehow strlf oft chisel love
away.
And men go forth unglrded with
It strength,
Though every soul must feed on
love, or pay
A fearful price for lack of It. at
length.
Look at th heavy face that you
ee
Search In the eyes whin joy" o
seldom gleam
Love could transform them strange
ly, gloriously
These hungry one, slow-starving
for their dream.
Each heart ha longed for lev sine
time began,
'TIs Ufa's great gift no other will
suffice;
It is the sweetness back ef every
plan.
And robbed of It, man hungers till
he dies.
WHE.V THE FOLKS COMB HOME
I, guess my folk are like other
folks.
Who sometime wander ivtf,
And don't come back to th old
home place
For many and many a day. ,
But 1 am more fortunate than th
rest.
For no matter where they roam.
Whenever I am lonesome for them
All of my folks come home.
Oh. not in the way you think. per
haps.
By auto or Pullman nr.
Nor even yet by airplane.
Do they come from near and far.
I simply get my picture box
And carry It to my room.
And there I have a wonderful time.
For all of my folks come home.
I take out their pictures, one by one.
And place them here and there.
Some I ctanil on the mantle-shelf
And some in my easy chair.
They smile at me and 1 talk to them
And tell them I'm glad they've come.
And I'm contented for a while
For all of my folk are home.
Sometime I think perhaps If best
That things sliould he th way.
There might be changes I regret
Brown hair that turned to gray.
And lines of care on fair, smooth
skin
Are. sometime, sure lo rome.
And I might grieve about these
things
If all ot my folks came home.
But no! why do I talk like this
When I'm lmply playing a same?
It never would matter a hit to me
Whether hair or hrow wer th
same.
We would get that box of picture
down
And in our lic front room
We would have one grand reunion
If all of my folks should come home!
GRACE TADDOCK K.Ix KHTOX.
niHVfini; nitiiM.p..
Old Burnslde Bridge, we loved you
much ,
When you were young and strong
anil new;
But now grave fears our hearts they
clutch
ince age has laid Its hand on
you.
Ye, Burnsldii Bridge, you're weak
and old,
Jtoadmaster Katchell ay 'II true.
Your beams and br are strained
to hold ,
The heavy loads a they p
through.
Oh, me! Ah, me! when w re
packed
Like Sardinia In those street car
few.
Our hearts with fears re often
racked
When you. old bridge, loom Into
view.
To men for heip oirr women cry.
To men so brave they humbly sue;
For in that flood they fear to die.
Unless the bridge 'tla' built anew.
Oh. build It new! Oh. build It new!
That Burnslde Bridge o weak
and old.
Oh, build it staunch and strong an I
true
That every beam and bar may
hold. J. M. F.
KOIW, IVKV.
Once more the weather man has
put a crimp in the superstition of
the "equinoctial storm."
HOW THBT DO IT IN THIS WEST.
An Ashland woman, living on Moun
tain avenue, who has beem molested by
hobos and tramps during the past sum
mer until it became almost unbearable. I
few weeks ago purchased a ."2 caliber
revolver and some shells leaded with
shot, to have something In readiness for
unwelcome visitors, according to the
Weekly Tidfnga. -
She discovered a man In her gardon
helping himself to some of the growing
fruit and vegetables, and decided that it
was time to move him out. The man
was stooping over and Haclng the oppo
site direction when she opened the back
door of her home. and not waiting to
see if he was going to move, fired point
blank. The result would nave gone big
n a movie comedy, for ths tramp gava
l tew exclamations of surprise and a
few extraordinarily high Jumps and fall
over - the fence into the street, after
which it is said there was Just on
streak of dust up Mountain avenue.
m m
More than passing notice should
be given the fair one at the ball or
chard who wanted to have a dia
mond with four bases'. This, n her
opinion, would make more playing
and enable more runs to be scored.
And It would aJsO make many gray
hairs for the players.
.
A womai newcomer from the mid
dle west has written home a vivid
proof of Orens' fertility that can
not help but carry weight. She
ells of picking apples and making
pies, one apple to a pie.
The president of the American
Wholesale Lumber association has
recently been in Portland. HI
name js Wdodhead. and he is the
country's head wood dealer, so to
speak.
' Mannikins In'a. local store window
Impart a ng to the fall showing
of late ' models. The audience 1
more than half men. I
Forgiven?
Ah. yes. but do not say forgotten
The thing that brought to me n
many tears
I cannot cast aside, e'en though the
heartache
Are dulled and dimmed within th
passing year.
Ah. ye, so long ago I have forgiven
The act, the deed, th burden and
the care:
But even so yet f have not for
gotten That one last hour my one un
heeded prayer.
You tell me to forget that I for
giveness. You do not know the prank tht
memr'y play
When you are least upectlng. and
unknowing
She creep within your heart, nd
there he stays.
Ah, ye. I have forgiven all th
harshness
That came across that summer
sky of blue;
Again I say. I know I've not for
gotten And never will forget those hours
with you.
MYKT1CK A. CAWLKV.
THK WlliTK BITTKHrtY AMI
THK KUIH THKK.
Oh. foolish butterfly, aflont
Above my arm, within the blue;
Your life Is but a tiny mote.
Toil cannot strike Jhe mighty note
That thrill my knotted fiber
through.
Your Joy I what the sunbeam
know, '
And die In shadow, far below.
Oh. hooded. Iron furrowed tree.
Praying In cloistered woods alone;
You know not my felicity.
A life that live In erstaay
As brief a roses, newly blown
The. while you searth your God
above.
I find him when I die for love.
MART ALE THE A WOODWARD.