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About Ashland tidings. (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 5, 1912)
PAGE TWO ASHLAND TIDINGS Thurwlay. September 5, 1012. Ashland Tidings SEMI-WEEKLY. ESTABLISHED 1876. Issued Mondays and Thursdays Bert It. Greer, W. If. Gillis, W. E. llarnes, Editor and Owner - - City Editor Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES. One Year $2.00 Six Months 1.00 Three Months 50 Payable in Advance. TELEPHONE 39 Advertising rates on application. First-class job printing facilities. Equipments second to none in the Interior. Entered at the Ashland, Oregon, Postoffice as second-class mail mat ter. Ashland, Ore., Thursday, Sept. 5, '12 THE TELEPHONE TRANSFER. It is reported that the Home Tele phone Company has purchased the Ashland telephone plant from the Pacific company and will take it over at once. This will obviate the in convenience to the citizens of a dual telephone .system and in that respect is a good thing. But, if the Home Telephone Com pany is allowed to operate under the franchise granted by the people in 1910, instead- of the Pacific fran chise granted in 1907, the city and citizens will get the worst end of the bargain. A comparison of the two franchises shows: The Home franchise is for 25 years, while the Pacific was for bm ten. Under the old franchise the city had the right to regulate service charges, while under the new a fixed rate for business service is $3 per month with the right to increase the rate to $3.50 as soon as its service reaches one thousand phones, the 50 cents increase applying to all con nections. Under the old franchise the com pany could be forced to place their wire underground when the city re quired it. No such right is reserved to the city under the new Home fran chise. Nor can the city have free use of Home conduits for fire alarm sys tem. Under the old franchise the com pany was compelled to replace and protect sewer, water and gas pipes when they construct their lines. The new Home franchise has no such pro vision However, the old franchise pro vided but four free phones for city use, while the new one provides for ten. The old Pacific franchise is vastly more favorable to the city than the Home franchise and, if it is possible, the city should insist on the new op eration continuing under the pro vision of the old franchise. GOING AWAY TO SCHOOL, It is perfectly surprising, in look Jng through the magazines and news papers, to see the number of private schools and academies below the col lege grade, that are advertising for students. There is a large increase in the number of families that do not seem to be satisfied with the education given by the home schools. It places a heavy burden on the family anx ious to give its young people a good Btart in life, if not only the cost of a college education, and possibly of a special post graduate school, must be paid, but also a. bill for two to four years' schooling at some college preparatory institution. The young people whost fortunate position permits them to attend some of the fine fitting schools gain a great start for life's race. Very likely they get better attention than the crowd ed public school could give. Their rough excrescences of manner are rubbed off. The remark was recently made by a professor in a leading eastern col lege, however, that the private school boys stand best when they enter the college, but the public, high school boys come out aiiead when they grad uate. His idea was thnt the private schools boys had so much done for them that they lost initiative and determination. Wherefore lot the boy who must get his fit in the high school of his own town or county not feel that he has no chance. He is left more to himself than the care fully watched private school boy, but he may thereby learn to struggle all the better. There seems to be a good oppor tunity in New York city to incorpo rate an efficiently conducted and conservatively managed murder com pany, which shall provide cut rates ly doing a large business. A TIMELY FEDERAL LAW. When the federal law prohibiting the transportation of motion picture fight films goes into effect there will be much rejoicing among the people who believe that prize fighting is anything but a credit to the nation. For the action on the part of the national government will mean a big blow at the enormous profits the game has paid in recent years, and will consequently be a decided blow to the fight promoters, who are, of course, in the business for the money they can make. It seems to us unquestionably true that some such action should be tak en by the federal government. For, without consideration of the moral issue regarding prize fighting, no one will question that some sort of ac tion is needed to put a stop to hun dreds of alleged fights, as well as wrestling matches, staged through out the United States each year. When Barnum made his famous statement about the American people liking to be swindled he probably did not have either the prize fight or the wrestling game in mind, but in recent years the statement could be no more fittingly applied than to these two more or less questionable sports. We believe it is unquestionably true that hundreds, if not thousands, of supposed fights and wrestling matches are staged every year, which are "framed up" from start to finish. More especially in the fights than in the wrestling game, the mo tion pictures are a big feature. Time after time these supposed fights are prolonged indefinitely as mere exhi bition sparring matches to "make the pictures good." Kill the value of fight pictures and if there is any excuse for prize fighting it will once more be put back where that part of the public who wish to witness such contests may be reasonably assured that they are to see a real exhibition and not a bit of nice posing for the benefit of the motion picture men. There fore the new law should be wel comed as much by those who support the fight game as by those who would like to see it entirely de stroyed. CAMPAIGN FUNDS. In the old days money spent on elections was just like coin dropped into the sea. It disappeared into the silent depths of pplitics, and few thought of asking where or whence. Today the tracks of the campaign spender are not easily obliterated. One day some fellow who did not get all he wanted of it will tell tales, and the rumors of full barrels are not easily concealed. Congress has been ringing with charges and counter charges, and things that formerly were hidden are being proclaimed from the housetops. Under the old convention system of nomination, a candidate made his deals with leaders and committee men and bosses, and there were lim its to the consideration they dared ask. AVhether you like primary elec tions or not, as so far conducted it does cost a big sum of money to present a candidacy to the voters, even if no money is spent corruptly. How shall it be arranged so that a poor man, minus wealthy backers, can run for office? There is no big ger question. Some blame the newspapers, charg ing that the recent custom of insert ing campaign advertisements has enormously increased the candidate's bills. It can be said for campaign adver tising that it is the most logical form of expenditure. The money spent through heelers largely sticks in their dirty pockets. The money spent through the newspapers buys good white space, and the same results can be had as are secured by mer chants through their advertising. The campaign advertisement appeals to people in leisure moments, and is most effective when it consists of carefully stated facts and arguments. "Getting out the vote" is the one largest expense. The voter ought to get out without having to be sent for. If you have $5,000 a year income you might as well get ready to give an Impression of poverty before Uncle Sam's tax man gets around. The new battleship is to be called "Terror of the Seas," but the tax payer looks as if it were sailing over the dry land into his back yard. A grandstand fell at the Marshall notification. If they had' notified hlmby calling up by telephone all this would not have happened. There is to be war on the hobble skirt. As if the matter of clothes would work the moral reformation of men! Weekly Oregonlan and Ashland lidlngs one year, $2.50. GOOD OLD ASHLAND TOWN. (By O. H. Barnhill.) There's a city that 1 know. Where the softest breezes blow. And the sweetest peaches grow; Where the people dwell in peace. Wishing for another lease Of this life that soon must cease Good old Ashland town. Whpro tho nfllm iraa moata tha ttino Nenr tha CaMfnmia lino- I Where the sun does brightly shine Out of skies so blue and clear, That you feel like Heaven's near. And your life seems very dear Good old Ashland town. Ashland Mountain, white with snow, Ashland Canyon, far below, . Ashand Creek, with crystal flow: Need you ask, what's in a name? Tho' it be unknown to fame. Yet we have it, just the same Good old Ashland town. tt;;;:is;;r The Home Circle h Tl. .... ,.L . t .1... T'.i: 1 1 T M Some of us have laughed, some of us have sneered, and, mayhap, some of us have wept, at ridiculous Happy Hooligan and his most unhappy fac ulty of getting into hot water by try ing to be of service to humanity. It is considered by some? people very uncultnred and vulgar to read the comic supplements to newspa pers. Granted that some of them are stupid and meaningless, there are others that bring a bright smile to the lips of a highbrow. The Happy Hooligan pictures em phasize so strongly the tendency of the human race to be unappreclative of intended courtesies, that they are well worth a moment's time to con sider. I heard a man talking on this sub ject the other day. He was idly watching a feminine Happy Hooligan endeavoring to brush what she thought was a bottle fly from a strange woman's shoulder. The bot tle fly was in reality an ornament on the woman's dress, and the femi nine H. H. was awarded a freezing stare in return for her motive of kindness. For it is not what we do, or say, but the motive back of It, which should be recognized. ' When this man I write of saw jthe conclusion of the bottle fly incident, he said: "What's the use of being a Happy Hooligan? No one likes you any better for it. I used to give up the lower berth to women, and my seat in the street car. And my reward usually was a cold stare. I have helped men chase their hats when the wind carried them down the streets, and they have acted like I got up the wind on purpose. So I've quit." There was considerable truth in what the man said. Not long ago I saw a man standing near the front of a densely packed street car. Men and women were both shoving and elbowing for seats. Everybody was thinking of self. I saw this man beckon to five separate women in the aisle to seats he might have taken for himself as they were vacated. There may have been other unselfish people in that surging, rest less, fretful crowd, but they did not appear to a casual observer. Of all that mob, there was but one person who gave an indication of a unself ish thought. And what of the women he beck oned to seats they otherwise would not have obtained? Not by the slightest recognition, not by the lift in of an eyelash, not by a nod of the head, nor the smile of an eye, was he thanked. Each one of the five, as she took the seat to which he had beckoned her, looked like she was thinking, "It's high time! I don't see why you could not have found this seat sooner!" It is easy to imagine that this kind, chivalric Happy Hooligan of a man is still on the lookout for chances to serve. The public will accept his services as a matter of course. Yet will he be happy in rendering it, even though the public walks along with its head in the air, and notices him not. The man who expects thanks, and appreciation, and popularity in re turn for kindness and thoughtful ness, is going to be disappointed and have his feelings trampled upon. And then he is going to quit. But the man who, like the gentle Happy Hooligan of the street car, gives thought to the welfare of oth ers first, because it makes him happy to do so, does not need the applause of the multitude, nor the apprecia tion of a thankless public. His re ward is within himself is something entirely separate and apart from the people he unselfishly serves. They can neither add to nor take away from his recompense, for it is above and beyond their comprehension'. Will DeMrt Hookworm Sufferers, K San Francisco. Because of con gested conditions in the Angel Island detention hospital, no immigrant suf fering from hookworm will be treat ed there after November 1. An or der to this effect was contained in a letter received from" the Department of Commerce and Labor. Immigrants found to be afflicted with the disease will be immediately deported. During the last fiscal year more than 1,300 hookworm patients were treated at Angel Island, cures usual ly being made within 10 days or two weeks. Sixty per cent of the Japan ese immigrant "photograph brides" were found to be suffering with the malady. Of alien Chinese taken to Angel Island, 50 per cent were af fected. The Hindus, however, are pronounced to be most susceptible to hookworm, nearly SO per cent of those landing within the last year showing symptoms of the malady. Northern Pacific freight handlers at. Spokane were granted a raise of wages after a four days' strike. ROOSEVELT'S "CONFESSION OF FAITH." (Fifth Installment.) Mis Radical Is Not Misled. Unfortunately, those dealing with the subject have tended to divide into two camps, each as unwise as the other. One camp has fixed its eyes only on the need of prosperity, loudly announcing that our attention must be confined to securing it in bulk, and that the division must be left to take care of itself. This Is merely the plan, already tested and found wanting, of giving prosperity to the big men on top, and trusting to their mercy to let something leak through to the mass of their coun trymen below which, in effect, means that there shall be no attempt to regulate the ferocious scramble in which greed and cunning reap the largest rewards. The other set has fixed its eyes purely on the injustice of distribution, omitting all consider ation of the need of having some tWnjto distribute, and advocates ac tion ifkich, it is true, would abolish most of the inequalities of the dis tribution of prosperity, but only by the unfortunately simple process of abolishing that prosperity itself. This means merely that conditions are to be evened, not up, but down, so that all shall stand on a common level, where nobody has any prosper ity at all. The task of the wise rad ical must be to refuse to be misled by either set of false advisers; he must both favor and promote the agencies that make for , prosperity, and at the same time see to it that these agencies are so used as to be primarily of service to the average man. Again and again while 1 was presi dent, from 1902 to 1908, I pointed out that under the anti-trust law alone it was neither possible to put a stop to business abuses nor possi ble to secure the highest-'efficiency in the service rendered by business to the general public. The anti-trust law must be kept on our statute books, and, as hereafter shown, must be rendered more effective in the cases where it is applied. But to treat the anti-trust law as an ade quate, or as by itself a wise, meas ure of relief and betterment is a sign not of progress, but of toryism and reaction. It has been of benefit so far as it has implied the recognition of a real and great evil, and the at least sporadic application of the prin ciple that all men alike must obey the law. But as a sole remedy, uni versally applicable, it has in actual practice completely broken down; as now applied it works more mischief than benefit. It represents the waste of effort always damaging to . a community which arises from the attempt to meet new conditions by the application of outworn remedies instead of fearlessly and in common sense fashion facing the new condi tions and devising the new remedies which alone can work effectively for good. The anti-trust law, if inter preted as the Baltimore platform de mands it shall be interpreted, would apply to every agency by which not merely industrial but agricultural business is carried on in this coun try; under such an interpretation it ought in theory to be applied uni versally, in which case practically all industries would stop. As a matter of fact, it is utterly out of the ques tion to enforce it universally, and, when enforced sporadically, it causes continual unrest, puts the country at a disadvantage with its. trade com petitors in international commerce, hopelessly puzzles honest business men and honest farmers as to what their rights are, and yet, as has just been shown in the cases of the Stan dard Oil and Tobacco trusts, it is no real check on the great trusts at which it was in theory aimed, and indeed operates to their benefit. Moreover, if we are to compete with other nations in the markets of the world as well as to develop our own material civilization at home, we must utilize those forms of industrial organization that are indispensable to the highest industrial productiv ity and efficiency. Words of Van Hise Quoted. An important volume entitled "Concentration and Control" has just been issued by President Charles R. Van Hise of the University of Wisconsin. The University of Wis consin has been more influential than any other agency in making Wisconsin yhat it has become, a lab oratory for wise social and industrial experiment in the betterment of con ditions. President Van Hise is one of those thorough-going but sane and intelligent radicals from whom much of leadership is to be expected in such a matter. The sub-title of his book shows that his endeavor is to turn the attention of his countrymen toward practically solving the trust problem of the United States. In his preface he states that his aim is to suggest a way to gain the eco nomic advantages of the concentra tion of industry, and at the same time to guard the interests of the public, and to assist in the rule of enlightenment, reason, fair play, mu tual consideration and toleration. In sum, he shows that unrestrained competition as an economic principle has become too destructive to be per mitted to exist, and that the small men must be allowed to co-operate under penalty of succumbing before their big competitors; and yet such co-operation, vitally necessary to the small man, is criminal under the present law. He says: "With the alternative before the business men of co-operation or fail ure, we may be sure that they will co-operate. Since the law is violated by practically every group of men engaged in trade from one end of the country to the other, they do not feel that in combining they are doing a moral wrong. The selection of the individual or corporation for prose cution depends upon the arbitrary choice of the attorney general, per haps somewhat influenced by the odium which attaches to some of the violators of the law. They all take their chance, hoping that the blow will fall elsewhere. With general violation and sporadic enforcement of an impracticable law we cannot HH I 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 1 1 H I 1 1 1 1 I PureMountainWaterlce Reduced Prices on Ice FOR SEASON OF 1912 Save money by purchasing coupon books. Issued for 500, 1,000, 2,000 up to 5,000 pounds. This is the cheapest way to buy your ice. Delivery every day except Sundays. t ASHLAND ICE AND STORAGE GO. f TELEPHONE 108 hope that our people will gain respect for it. "In conclusion, there is presented as the solution of the difficulties of the present industrial situation, con centration, co-operation, and control. Through concentration we mav have the economic advantages coming ' from magnitude of operations. Through co-operation we may limit the wastes of the competitive sys tem. (Through control by commis sion we may secure freedom for fair competition, elimination of unfair j practices, conservation of our natural resources, fair wages, good social j conditions and reasonable prices. I "Concentration and co-operation in industry in order to secure effi- j ciency are a world-wide movement. 1'he United States cannot resist it. i If we isolate ourselves and insist up-1 on the subdivision of industry below ! the highest economic efficiency, and i do not allow co-operation, we shall 1 be defeated in the world's markets. 1 We cannot adopt an economic system : less efficient than our great competi- : tors, Germany, England, France and j Austria. Either we must modify our present obsolete laws regarding con-! centration and co-operation so as to I conform with the world movement, or else fall behind in the race for the world's markets. Concentration and co-operation are conditions impera tively essential for industrial ad vance; but if we allow concentration and co-operation there must be con trol in order to protect the people, and adequate control Is only possible through the administrative commis sion. Hence concentration, co-operation and control are the key words for a scientific solution of the mighty industrial problem which now con fronts this nation." Democrats Offer No Remedy. In his main thesis President Van Hise is unquestionably right. The democratic platform offers nothing in the way of remedy for present in dustrial conditions except, first, the eniorcement ot tne anti-trust law in a fashion which, if words mean any thing, means bringing business to a standstill; and, second, the insist ence upon an archaic construction of the states' rights doctrine in thus dealing with interstate commerce an insistence which, in the first place, is the most flagrant possible violation of the constitution to which the members of the Baltimore con vention assert their devotion, and which, in the next place, nullifies and makes an empty pretense of their first statement. The -proposals of the platform are so conflicting and so absurd that it is hard to imagine how any attempt could be made in good faith to carry them out; but, if sjich attempt were sincerely made, it could only produce industrial chaos. Were such an attempt made, every man who acts honestly would have something to fear, and yet no great adroit criminal able to com mand the advice of the best corpora tion lawyers would have much to fear. What is needed is action directly the reverse of that thus confusedly indicated. We progressives stand for the -rights of the people. When these rights can best be secured by insist ence upon states' rights, then we are for states' rights; when they can best no rg tf Dl IX ti II Before you buy that heater, call and inspect our stock, now on display ALL SIZES ALL PRICES Provost H be secured by insistence upon na tional rights, then we are for na tional rights. Interstate commerce can be effectively controlled only by the nation. The states cannot con trol it under the constitution, and to amend the constitution by giving them control of it would amount to a dissolution of the government. The worst of the big trusts have always endeavored to keep alive the feeling in favor of having the states them selves, and not the nation, attempt to do this work, because they know that in the long run such effort would be , ineffective. There is no surer way to prevent all successful effort to deal with the trusts than to insist that they be dealt with by the states rather than by the nation, or to create a conflict between the states and the nation on the subject. The well-meaning ignorant man who advances such a proposition does as much damage as if he were hired by the trusts themselves, for he is play ing the game of every big crooked corporation in the country. The only effective way in which to regulate the trusts is through the exercise of the collective power of our people as a whole through the governmental agencies established by the constitu tion for this very purpose. Grave injustice is done by the congress when it fails to give the national government complete power in this matter; and still graver injustice by the federal courts when they en- deavor in any way to pare down the right of the people collectively to act in this matter as they deem wise; such conduct does itself tend to cause the creation of a twilight zone in which neither the nation nor the states have power. Fortunately, the federal courts have more and more of recent years tended to adopt the true doctrine, which is that all these matters are to be settled by the peo ple themselves, and that the con science of the people, and not the preferences of any servants of the people, is to be the standard in decid ing what action shall be taken by the people. As Lincoln phrased it: "The (question) of national power and state rights as a principle is no other than the principle of generality and locality. Whatever concerns the whole should be contided to the whole to the general government; while whatever concerns only the state should be left exclusively to the state." It is a wise man who can lure a compliment his way without letting anyone know it. Attention, Wood Consumers ( Sound dry red fir and yel low pine, lG-inch block body wood, delivered in your wood shed in orders for not less than 10 tiers to a place, at $2.25 per tier. E. J. MAIIAN Leave orders at office, 290 East Main st., or phone 1G8. t towes S u (1 H M K?f If v T I t EroSo