PAGE TWO ASHLAND TIDINGS Ashland Tidings SEMI-WEEKLY. ESTABLISHED 1876. Issued Mondays and Thursdays Bert R, Greer, - Editor and Owner B. W. Talcott, - - - City Editor SUBSCRIPTION KATES. One Year $2.00 Six Months 1.00 Three Months ' .60 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 mall matter. Ashland, Ore., Thursday, Jan. 2, '13 SHOlU KEY1SK CHARTER. Inasmuch as it seems the ever Increasing policy of Ashland to bar the saloons from our beautiful tity, it would seem the part of good judg ment to also bar the annual wran gle over the matter. There is no question that can stir up so much ill feeling as a liquor fight, and a fight of this character leaves a line of cleavage among our citizens which seems to makeun:ted action along other lines almost, if not quite, im possible. Why, then, would it not be well to dispense with these con tests if possible?' To this end some means must be found to do away with the annual. battle over the sub ject. Judging from the result of the re cent election it ought to be little trouble to secure an amendment to the charter in this respect. Just what form that amendment should be is a matter that should be dis cussed calmly and without prejudice. Some will advise simply making it a longer time between the bringing up of the question, but this would not eliminate 'the battles, only make them less often and render them, if possible, harder ' fought. Others would amend the charter so as to render it impossible under the char ter to license a saloon. This would simply mean a change, in the man ner of bringing the fight. It would simply mean that an initiative peti tion would probably be brought fre quently to ask a change in the char ter to permit the saloons. What is known as the Iowa plan has been suggested as a good solu tion of the question. This would, as appplied to Ashland, mean a change in the charter prohibiting tire saloon except upon ''the i petition of 65 per cent of the voters who voted at the last general or city election. Under the Iowa plan the petition has to be filed with the proper officials (the council in a city and the county court in a county) and made a matter of public record. It is verified by the officials much in the same way as an initiative petition In Oregon is verified, but ,no one's signature is allowed to count unless he (or she) voted at the preceding election. Under the Iowa plan, if the 65 per cent are Becured and the board sees fit, It may grant the license, and then only under the most strict reg ulations no back door, no screens, ! no chairs, no cards or dice, and strict hours. The reason that the Tidings favors this plan of handling the matter is that the securing of 65 per cent of the voters before a license can be issued assures that a substantial ma jority of the citizens favor a saloon before it can be had, and the further fact that experience has proven that it does not arouse the animosities on either side to nearly such an extent as the presnet system, and divisions which engender bitterness along one line hurt the city in every other line. As a rule the matter of circulating a petition for saloons does not pro gress far before it becomes evident either that the city is overwhelming ly for saloons or the circulator be comes weary of the work and gives it up. Another feature in favor of the plan is that the expense of the circulation of the petition must be borne by those desiring the saloon? and not by the citizens at large, and the further reason that every man will think well before placing his name on a petition which is placed on record and open to the Inspection of any who desire.' This has a ten dency to discourage careless signing of the petition to accommodate the person circulating it. The Tidings is not patrlcular what system is adopted to eliminate the annual fight over the liquor ques tion, so that it does so effectually and also helps to- unite the citizens eo that they will pull together on public questions in which this is not involved. Philadelphians in 1912 paid $4,- 00,000 in water taxes, of which sum $1,400,000 came from indus tries and large consumers. TWO YIEWS OP IT. . Was or was not union labor on trial at Indianapolis? Judge Ander son, who presided at the trial of the men charged with illegally trans porting dynamite, says that it was not, while Senator Kern, who defend ed them, urges that it was. It would Beem to depend largely upon the stand that union labor takes in the matter, whether or not it is or was on trial. It certainly was not on trial before the court, and whether or not it is put on trial before the bar of public opinion will depend largely upon the attitude of union labor in the matter. These men were convicted after a fair trial, and after having exhausted every art of the technical lawyer to prevent it. The fact that two of the men were acquitted shows that the jury decid ed according to their belief in the evidence before them, and there are few outside the ranks of organized labor who will doubt the guilt of the accused, and many members of or ganized labor will agree with them While it is right and just that a parent or friend should try to shield one guilty of crime, organized labor owes it to itself and to the country at large not to stand sponsor for the criminal acts of any of its officers. It cannot afford to do so nor is it right that it should. Senator Kern's impassioned attacks upon the courts of the government in which, unfor tunately, he holds a high position; his appeals to prejudice that more money may be poured into the cof fers of the defense, should not in- .duce one honest laboring man to up hold those guilty of wholesale dyna miting in the cause of labor. The fact that it was done in the cause of labor should make him the more determined to rid labor of the taint by refusing to aid in their defense. American jurisprudence is such that ten guilty men escape and the tradi tional one innocent one is not con victed except upon perjured evidence. Whatever we- may think of McMani gal, his story was corroporated to the utmost by evidence of all de scriptions and was believed to be true by twelve men who had heard every word of it. Three months spent in hearing the evidence and ar gument is too long for passion and prejudice to have swayed them. It was a conviction in the minds of every juror that these men had been conspirators in the most damnable plots in the history of the world, which caused the verdict, and it is worse than foolish for organizzed la- bor to put itself in the position of an apologist for such tactics. AX AMERICAN ADVANTAGE. An English engine-driver was dis missed for drunkenness. He pro tested that he'd been drunk in his own time and it was no business of the railroad company what he did when off duty. His union felt the same way about it and, the company refusing to restore the bibbler, near ly ten thousand of them went on strike. Striking over trivial things and unreasonable is not uncommon in the history of union labor in America. But it is pleasant to record labor here has not ben known to throw down its tools In the defense of the right to get drunk. The movement among the employers to weed out the dissipated has been more than matched by the unsympathetic atti tude of the unions toward those who dally with alcoholics. Some of the trades which not many years since were notorious for the drinking hab its of their members are now largely made up of teetotalers. Time was when conventions of union labor were occasions for big drunks. Bar rooms which look forward to profit from this source now are rewarded only with disappointment. The English workingman has some times been held up as an example In common-sense that American workmen would do well to follow on the principle that something somewhere else is bound to be bet ter, we suppose. This strike for the privilege of muddling one's head with liquor suggests a geographical transfer of the example. A HOPEFUL SIGN. One of the hopeful signs of the present is the disposition on the part of the authorities to put the "blue sky" operators of all kinds behind the bars. While the sale of worth less stocks is not one of the princi pal causes of panics, it is one of the causes, as It first causes undue spec ulation, and when the bubble bursts leaves many unable to meet the financial demands of legitimate bus iness. Were the element of reckless chance taken out of business there would never need be, nor would there be, serious panics. It is be cause in most cases that someone has invested in wildcat stocks and then drags down his conservative business connections, which causes the disas trous failures. OONGRESS AND TRUST DISSOLUTION'. Having probed the steel trust to a certain extent, the democratic house of representatives now recommends that the same trust be dissolved; which, as we may take it, la a sort of legislative encouragement to the department of justice. All of this sounds well, if you say it quickly. But iu view of the re sults of past (rust dissolutions one wonders if there is likely to be much to it besides sound. Congress is not facing the trust question squarely merely by probing and then recommending dissolution, or by saying to the federal depart ment of justice: "That's a good fellow. Sic 'em, Tige!" The trust is largely a case of too much water n the blood, and the evil of it is systemic. It needs constructive statesmanship, not for ineffectual shaking up by process of so-called dissolution, but by the en actment of law that will have eco nomic soundness; that will be in ac cord -with the warning of the su preme court in the Standard Oil de cision, to the effect that the trusts are with us to remain and that reg ulation and not dissolution is the proper course to contemplate. Clearly enough congress is loath to consider this problem in its larger aspects, because to consider it justly and treat it properly is bound to re sult in a squeezing process which the business interests dread, and that through them will affect temporar ily, and without doubt acutely, the interests of the millions. The system must be rid of the poison of overcapitalization; and how to get rid of it and avoid the most serious affects is the delicate and embarrassing problem. It is a problem, however, that statesman ship must face sooner or later, and it is not to be solved by any make shift of fake dissolution. LIMITS OF CORPORATE CONTROL The suit brought against the New York Central lines to prevent the issue of certificates for equipment involves a. highly interesting ques tion may a "parent" company as sess a subsidiary when the subsidiary will enjoy only indirectly, if at all? A few years since the one who questioned the right of persons in control of a corporation to do what they wished with the corporation was hooted. He was pushed aside with little courtesy. "Can't I do what I want with my own railroad?" George Gould demanded of those who represented minority stockhold ers as if all the ownership were concentrated in the control, as if all stockholders who did not endorse the methods of the controlling inter ests had no claim upon consideration. The minority stockholder is getting recognition. He is commanding in fluence. In the case of this suit against the New York Central, the minority stockholder appears to have a grasp upon a very effective weap on threat of prosecution by the government with which to compel recognition. Out of the score or so of suits which may develop from this one pro test will possibly come the answer to the question as to minority rights and to the related question as to what a controlling company may do with fhe property and treasure of a company it does not own in entirety. THE FARMER'S REARS. After the freight bill has been paid and the commission man's percent age subtracted, a Long Island farm er received a little over 30 cents a bushel for the lima beans he raised this season. The farmer went to New York within a day or two, and feeling some curiosity as to the re tailing of his beans, traced them to one of the big markets. There he found his 30-cent beans selling at 15 cents a quart, which figures out $4.80 a bushel. The farm produce raised in this country last year brought the farm ers about $6,000,000,000. The con sumers paid $13,000,000,000 for that produce. Somewhere between the farmer and the ultimate purchaser the price was doubled and a billion dollars slapped on for good meas ure. Doesn't $7,000,000,000 seem rather a tough charge for transpor tation, handling and marketing? Yet how much worse if the prices on all farm stuff multiplied as much and as fast as the beans of the Long Island farmer? The optimist will find some grounds for thankfulness in the marketing system, bad as it is. It is to be hoped, though, the conviction that the situation might be worse will not deter the optimist joining any movement to operate on that $7,000,000,000 swelling. The PORTLAND EVENING TELE. GRAM and Ashland Tidings one year, $5.00. More than 900,000 persons receive old ai;e pensions la England. ni8ii;;iii;ii:i;iim;i;T:t;r?;t;:iiiii"!!tttt I The Home Circle 1 U Thoughts from the Editorial Pen Farewell, Old Year. The old year will soon have passed into history. We will part with it as with an old friend. To some it has brought much joy to others sorrow. Yet we are reluctant to say farewell. Like a palsied man, it tot ters as it nears the end of life's jour ney and goes forward toward the vast vault wherein doth lie the forms of dead dynasties and sheeted cen turies swept by the remorseless hand of time to that great graveyard at the entrance of which rises the im aginary tombstone upon which is in scribed these words: THE PAST. There is a sublime solemnity in the slowly moving yet never varying tide of years. Man has marked its course into hours, days, weeks, months and centuries, yet it rushes on, on, and still on, utterly unmindful of the puny marks raised to measure the tide that never tires. Dynasteis have risen, flourished ai.d decayed; cities have sprung from fertile plains and then sank beneath the desert's shift ing sands; continents have reared their lofty brows above the ocean's trackless waste, only to return to the coral caverns from which they rose; races have risen to the noon of splendor and then been lost in the darkness of night, but Time, plod ding, tireless Time, sweeps on with the same regularity as when it first issued forth from the hollow of God's hand to the chant of the morning's stars and the proclaimed Creation's dawn. And yet Tinie is but the im age of eternity, the shadow of a shoreless sea, the type of a duration for which all the ages past and all the aeons to come would not make or constitute the first faint flush of the first streak of dawn of its sec ond morning. "Eternity, thou pleas ing, dreadful thought." That never ending reign succeeding the crash of matter and the wreck of the worlds, suns, systems. Intelligence has achieved triumphs. It has read the stars of heaven and can foretell to a second when the great fiery sun will be hidden in partial or total eclipse; it can read the history ot creation on the rocks of nature and unfold the secrets hidden by God in the bowels of the earth; but wheu it attempts to grasp the significance of eternity it stands ebashed and dum- founded at its Inability to compre hend an infinite plan. The New Year. "A friend stood at the door; In either tight-closed hand Hiding rich gifts, three hundred and three score; Waiting to strew them daily o'er the land, Even as. the sewer. Each drops he, treads it in, and passes by; It cannot be made fruitful till it die. Friend, come thou like a friend, And whether bright thy face, Or dim with clouds we cannot com prehend, We'll hold our patient hands, each in his place, And trust thee to the end; Knowing thou leadest onward to those spheres Where there are neither days, nor months, nor years." Miss Mullock in this beautiful poem gives our ideas better ihan we can express them. The idea of each day being a gift, hidden from us tin til its hour comes, is a pretty thought. So many gifts, so much time to use for either profit or loss, and so many hands aro held out eagerly for the coming days, looking for them to bring happiness, or gain of some kind. Tha spirit sometimes grows faint before the unknown fu ture, consequently it is enough to take one day at a time and' try to make that good. It is hard enough even then and sometimes it is best to go hour by hour. One day at a time is the secret Of every noble life. One day at a time, taken up bravely with its duties faithfully done as they' come, its trials patiently borne, its temptations firmly resisted, its cross cheerfully carried, its joys rightly used, and Its gladness gath ered from every hour as it passes on. instead oi mailing many resolu tions at the first of the year to be quickly broken, let us strive to meet each day bravely, and take what It brings unquestionlngly. "Oh, .hang some lamp like hope Above the unknown way, Kind year to give our spirits freer scope, And our hand strength to work while it is day." Courage for the New Year. Have the courage to start right and keep right. Have the courage to turn from evil and cling to that which 1b good. Have the courage to prefer com fort and propriety to fashion In all things. (glr lift i Mmrtanoimr GOLDEN ROD MILLING CD. mtuao. mum Have the courage to wear your old clothes until you can pay for new ones. Have the courage to discharge a debt while you have the money in your pocket. Have the courage to obey your conscience at the risk of ridicule from men. Have the courage to own you are poor and thus disarm poverty of its sharpest sting. Have the courage to wear thick; boots in winter and insist on your wife and daughter doing the same. Have the courage to do without! that which you do not need, however much your eyes may covet it. Have the courage to speak to a friend in a "seedy" coat, even ; any other ever used by the goveru though you are in company with a ment. The key, which is one of Ull rich man and richly attired. , most important symbols of the seal. Curious Hank Notes. Youth's Companion: Occasional - ly an imperfect of misprinted bank note will evade the vigilance of the inspectors of the Bureau oi Engrav - ing and Printing. The most extra- ordinary misprint that ever found its way into circulation was a $50 na tional bank note.. A clerk in a western hotel in mak ing up his accounts found a discrep ancy that could not be explained. He placed the pils of bills at his left hand and as he counted each one turned the note over and put it on a pile at his right. He discovered that when he counted them from left to right his cash balanced exactly, but that when he counted from right to left there was a shortage of $50. The clerk spent more than two hours in trying to find out what was the matter. Finally in desperation he called upon the cashier for assist ance. The cashier had no better success. Again and again lu counted the bills with the same resultJone time the cash would balance and the next time it would show a shortage. Fi nally he examined each bill both face and back, whereupon the mystery was explained. One of the bills bore the design of $50. on the face and that of $100 on the back. The clerk had taken the bill for $100. Upon corresponding with the treas ury department they found that the department had a record of the bill. In 1890 one sheet of bank notes for a national bank in Kansas City had been reversed in the press. One plate bore the obverse of a $50 bill at the top and the obverse of a $100 bill at the bottom. The other plate bore the reverse of the two notes. As each sheet was printed it had been laid aside to dry before being Om Special Offetf the Ashland Tidings and LaFollette's Weekly Magazine ROTH A FULL YEAR FOR ONLY can read every week what Senator Robert M. La FoIIette, the fearless champion of the people's rights, the leader of the pro gressive Republicans, thinks and says for v ONLY 50 CENTS MORE THANaTHE PRICE OF THE TIDINGS ALONE A stirring and momentous campaign is opening. You will want to be posted. You will want the record of your congressman Doe he represent YOU? You will want information Xut the great issues that you and friends are talking about. Senator La FoIIette knows what is going on at Washington. He is on the ground- be hind the scenes. He tells you all about it in LA FOLLFttf-q WEEKLY MAGAZINE. 1 1 3 Sixteen pages of crisp editorials and interesting special arti cles each week. " " LaFollette's One Year, $1.00) Our Offer: The Tidings One Year, $2.00) $2.50 To new or old subscribers who pay in advance. Address all orders to the Tidings. 13SEB3 A rare Combination: Something really good to eat and at the same time beneficial. Golden Rod Oats! AT ALL GROCERS SPECIAL NOTtCF Alphabetical Mtn In wj pack age nf "(iuhlt-n Hcxl" prudwta. haf thru till you it, a apt-ll "Ciulden Boil" auil get a flu 42-pleue Uluuer Set. run through for the reverse printing. Inadvertently the pressman had turned out one shee upside down, with the result that two misprinted bills came forth one with a $5i I face and $100 back and the other with a $100 face and a $50 back. The cashier of the bank had been the first to become aware of the er ror. He found that something was ; wrong, after he had paid out the note with the $50 lace and the $lmi back, by coming across one with the j $100 face and the $50 back. This ; note was returned to the treasury and destroyed and a perfect one U- sued in its stead. i On the 18S0 notes is found a treasury seal entirely different from shows a handle at the left haui side 'instead of at the right, as on all ' others' The Bnield is ot differem bna')e ana u,e Sla,s are ,arfcer- Ule two ends of tlle land surrounding i symbols are tastened with buckle which in no other instance i fon:,s a ',art of the design of a trea;i- ury seal. This is the only issue of notes on which the peculiar seal was used and collectois of paper money include them among the "freaks." Another curiosity is a $1 note of the Second National Bank of Ra venna, Ohio. It lacks the signature of the president and the cashier, al though it was ciiculated without challenge. A $1 national bank note of the ' FfrBt -N'ational Bak f Fall River Mass., also lacks both signatures. but passed freely lor some time be fore the blunder was observed. Still another $1 note that of the First National Bank of Indianapolis lacks the signature of the president. A certain legal tender note of 1860. has jDne very curious feature. Its face bears a pcrtrait of Webster and a representation of Rolfe pre senting Pocahontaa to Queen Eliza beth. At the bottom of the center is a small eagle. Upon turning this bill upside down the eagle presents a faithful likeness of a donkey's head. Whether this was intended by the engraver as a joke is not known, but the resemblance is so close that it seems to Indicate premeditation ou his part. Notice. The annual meeting of the Ash land Fruit and Produce Association will be held in the city hall at 2 o' lock p. m. Saturday, January 4, 1913. All members are requested to attend this meeting, without fail. C. H. GILLETTE, 60-4t President. i