ASHIiAJTD TIDINGS
Thursday, December S3, 101 X
rAOB TWO
Ashland Tidings
SEMIAVEEKLY.
ESTABLISHED 1876.
Issued Mondays and Thursdays
Bert R. Greer, Editor and Owner
B. W. Talcott, - - - City Editor
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JSHA1X WE 1'AVOl lt TEACH EICS
AS MI CH AS VK PAY OCR
STKEET SWEEPERS?
THE PUBLIC AND AVIATION
THRILLERS.
The advent in Boston of Margaret
Haley, who organized the school
teachers of Chicago, 4,000 strong.
Into a labor union affiliated with the
A. F. of L., with a swift Increabe
in wages, has given the "Athens of
America" a shocking jolt.
She comes upon invitation from
many classroom teachers who have
decided that if teachers are to get,
on an average, more pay than street
sweepers, they must not await the
slowly moving., generosity of soft
worded public sentiment, but must
themselves get busy and force the is
sue. And she is preaching to large audi
ences a very practical gospel, to-wlt,
that if there's . ','no money" in the
school board's cash box with which
to raise the pay of the teaching body,
which is now the poorest paid body
of skilled labor In the land, and one
of the most important, it should be
made the duty of the taxing authori
ties to get some.
' She Is reminding the "no money"
folks that a very small annual appro
priation for public purposes of the
rise in land values now privately
pocketed would provide abundant
money not only for better pay for
teachers, but also for better school
buildings, better equipment and bet
ter training of the young an invest
ment upon which the community
would soon realize.
Of course this is shocking like a
cold plunge in the morning. But
when you have reacted to it, it's
also invigorating.
Worth-while teaching is worth
while pay. The city that skimps its
teachers hurts itself. But it is pret
ty much up to the teachers thein
elves to drive this truth borne.
Lincoln Beachey, the aviator, says
the morbid expectation of sensation
al accidents is the chief factor of pub
lic interest in aviation. Strangely
enough, having expressed this opin
ion, he decided to fly again, and at
the first ascension swept two girls
off a hangar roof with fatal results.
Whether or not Beachey is right,
the public surely wants the spico of
danger. A legion of public enter
tainers are circulating about the
country doing the "dive of death,"
performing in the "cage of death, '
taking the "leap of death," and other
like stunts. Managements find tl at
there are dollars in advertising the
word "death."
This puts the aviator in an ugly
I edition. His trained rye and feel
ing detects perils In atmospheric
conditions that the average man can
not sense. Dependent on the per
fect tuning '.:p of a delicately adjust
ed machine, he does not caro to risk
his neck until every last nut nr.
been tested and tightened.
The average spectator sees no
reason wny an aviation exniou
should not be run off like the rise of
a theatre curtain. He has paid down
his good money, now let the per
former deliver Ihe goods and fulfill
his contract. H is a little windy,
all the better chance to display skill.
Most aviators are not circus tent
graduates. They are scientific and
mechanical enthusiasts profoundly
stirred by a new era of technical
achievement, but who value their own
necks.
To them aviation grows fiio.e In
teresting the fewer chances of dis
aster are assumed. The demand of
the public for flight at any and all
times defeats the entire purpose of
such an exhibition. It tends to dis
courage them from experiments per
formed under s cl. illogical condi
tions.
THE DEFECTS OP SLEEPING-CAR
TRAVEL.
OREGON IN THE VAN.
It has commonly been said, in
spite of all the danger of American
travel, that travel by night at least
attains the limit of comfort possible
in confined space.
However, they don't sem to think
so in California, in which state the
railroad commission has just appoint
ed a hearing, when the question of
defects in sleeping-car and chair-car
service will come up. Among the
complaints which the board is to con
sider are theBe: How much the com
pany figures on passengers' tips i"
paying porters, why upper berths are
pulled down when not occupied, thus
making the lower herth stuffy.
These complaints are quite general
all over tho country.
Years ago travelers seemed dazzled
by the heavy luxury of sleeping cars.
The glittering crystals in the lamps,
shiny ornamental iron work, ornate
painting, thick plush, heavy velvets
this kind of thing conveyed an ap
pearance of luxury und a feeling of
well being.
But thick hangings and seat cov
erings shelter disease. Now people
want a simpler style, sanitary and
well ventilated. The blankets are
too often heavy and clammy things,
without which you are cold, and
with which you are too warm.
Just why the porter should bo paid
chiefly by the passengers, while the
company pays conductor and brake
man, is a mystery. People who are
ailing or have special needs may call
for some unusual service, though the
porter is hired to render just such
assistance.
The ordinary traveler does not de
pend on the porter at all. He feels
the cowardly victim of graft if he
gives the fee, and unfair and un
friendly if he refuses it. Travelers
all over the country will be anxious
to learn if California can improve
these conditions.
nHiiiH8nmim
The Home Circle
Thoughts from tbe Editorial Pen
i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 e 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ' i m i g.
XTTOXTAI L CONGRESSMEN.
The situation in Alaska indicates
one of the weaknesses of our gov
ernment. The agitation of the Gug
genheim attempt to monopolize the
coal fields of Alaska, resulting in the
political destruction of Ballinger,
scared congressmen and senators so
they were afraid to move In Alaskan
matters. As a result development of
this magnificent territory has stopped
short off. The Pacific coast is suf
fering for coal, and, with Inexhausti
ble veins lying handy in Alaska, are
deprived of its advantage because
the members of congress are afraid
to vote either to lease, sell or mine
this coal. They know that, what
ever they do, some yellow journal
will charge them with being tools of
the Guggcnheims, so they Just saw
wood and wait for public opinion to
adjust Itself. When the pendulum
does swing back it will probably
swing so far as to allow the very
things that have caused the delay.
The average congressman and sen
ator have he cottontail beat a mile.
Speaking of Christmas presents,
the one the state of Oregon gave to
its women workers no pay envelope
hereafter to contain less than $8.25
for a week's work In a factory, shop
or mill, and no employer to require
in a week more than 54 hours of
toil?
Bear in mind the principle in
volved. Oregon says to the man who
wishes to make a profit out of the
labor of women: "Very well; but
only under certain conditions. You
are not to take complete advantage
of women's weakness. You are not
to beat the wage level down to the
point at which the neediest must sac
rifice themselves in order to exist.
You muBt arrange your business to
pay a wage consistent with the wom
an worker's self-respect and not pro
long the hours until you have de
stroyed her capacity to fulfill wom
an's highest function, wholeBome
motherhood. Unless you can do that
your business is a cruel and destruc
tive business, and this state will not
permit it to continue."
Such a ruling comes with peculiar
appropriateness near Christmas time,
for it is a fine, practical expression
of the Epirit of Christianity.
For almost the first time in nine
teen centuries we here have a cardi
nal teaching of the Christ written
into a mandate of law.
By it the minimum pay of virtue
is lifted to about a third of the aver
age pay of vice.
THE NEWSPAPER SHOW WINDOW
Alert merchants are naturally
keenly alive to the advantage of a
very attractive show window. Old
fashioned glass frontage and sloppy
and Infrequently changed displays
hurt a business.
Yet they do not hurt it as much
as a failure to make a creditable ap
pearance In ).be newspaper advertis
ing, the true twentieth century show
window. In the days of small towns
and of no telephones people UBed to
do shopping and marketing almost
daily and buy what they saw In show
windows. Now people order a great
many things by telephone, and old-
fashioned shopping excursions are not
so common.
Only a small fraction of the peo
pie will see any given display that
a merchant may make In his show
window. Weeks pass during which
most of them never pass, or at least
never give more than a glance at bis
tore. But dally and weekly they There' sa lot of credit coming to
look to see what he Is doing In tbe a good woman in the next world
-newspaper show window. that she failed to get In this.
AN INCIDENT OF THE SEASON.
The other day a blind woman was
traveling alone In a street car in a
great city. There was something
fine and inspiring about the cheery
self-confidence with, which she braved
the risks of going about the busy
city and, even more, in the quickness
with which every person in tho car
offered such aid as he could.
When the car neared the shopping
center she signalled it to stop. It
was a crowded corner. Automobiles
were whizzing by; and wagons, too.
The keenest of two eyes in each head
weren't too many to guide the pe
destrian in safety. How was this lone
blind woman to get from car to curb
and from curb into the store to which
the Christmas spirit was calling her?
It so happened that before any
passenger could volunteer to assist,
the conductor appeared, carefully pi
loted her to the street, summoned a
policeman and transferred her to
that husky guardian of peace and or
der. The cop Bmlled with pleasure
at tho novelty of the assignment and
started off, as gallant as you please.
The car passed on, the viBlon was
loRt, but not the memory. Somehow
It lingers as if part of the ead of the
holiday season. To plan for the hap
piness of those we love, to bo kind
to the unfortunate, and for a little
while to put selfishnes aside Isn't
that what Christmas means?
Unintended Results.
Youth's Companion: For thirty
years Germany has had a system of
national insurance against sickneBs
and accident. Investigators have re
cently made a thorough study of its
working, and have reached conclu
sions in regard to it of unexpected
Interest and Importance.
The investigators find that al
though cheating is general and no
torious, it can be neither prevented
nor punished. No social stigma
marks the man who la detected in
fraud, for the public does not regard
it as wrong to rob the government
by making false claims for insurance.
On the contrary, the offenders openly
boast of the success of their schem
ing, and actually deem it an honor
to receive government aid, no matter
by what means obtained. Experi
enced pensioners give advice to nov
ices in respect to the symptoms they
wish to assume. They pass round
rules for feigning illness and disabil
ity as people In other countries ex
change prescriptions for obtaining
health and strength. The system, say
the investigators, is robbing the
working class of self-respect and am
bition, and seriously debasing its
moral standards.
But the feigning of illness and ac
cident malingering, as it is called
Is not the worst phase of the situa
tion. The amount of actual sickness
has increased. A man easily finds
some ground, however slight, for
making a claim, and then his imagi
nation does the rest. The German
working man falls ill more easily and
stayB ill longer than he did before
government insurance began. The
medical men of Germany have come
to recognize as a disease the morbid
conviction of the insured that they
are entitled to the benefits allowed
by the law. The prevalence of this
condition of mind, which Is wholly
owing to psychological causes la as
tounding. In spite of the great advance in the
methods of treating disease, In surgi
cal science and hygienic knowledge,
and in sanitary conditions generally,
the length of the illness following
any given accident among the classes
that benefit from government insur
ance has increased enormously. For
example, among insured persons in
Germany the average length of time
required to recover from a broken
collar-bone is more than eight
months; formerly, in the case of
young people, it was from fifteen to
twenty days, and in thfe case of older
persons from twenty to forty days.
Tho slower cure is not due to
fraud. It is due wholly to the pa
tient's mental attitude toward the ail
ment to his morbid or hysterical de
sire to remain an Invalid and to draw
the benefit. So powerful is this de
sire that the German doctors are able
to cure only 9.3 per cent of the nerv
ous diseases that follow accidents,
whereas, In Denmark, where Insur
ance benefits run for only a limited
time, the percentage of cures Is 93.6
per cent. The difference Is almost
incredible; but the German Investi
gators, patient and unprejudiced, put
forth to prove their assertions facts
One of the high brow magazines
lately had a masterly article on In
tensive living, which cut right down
to the core of the things that are
wrong in our present economy of life.
It is not my intention to enter into
a discussion of the article, but to
speak a few of the thoughts it in
vokes. For we are all prone to turn
the searchlight inward upon our own
personal experiences and observa
tions when some great, vital thing is
presented to us.
The important point made in the
article referred to was this: that no
one should live in a house too large
for his own personality; that no one
should possess anything he is unable
to humanize to make his own.
It minded me of two women I had
known, who were sisters. One of
them had wed a man who was rich
in gold but impoverished in the
things that really count. The other
had married a man who was Just the
reverse of her brother-in-law.
I was in the mansion of the one
for a few days once. It was rich,
pretentious, ornate, and it represent
ed the highest achievement of the
decorator's art. I was shown over
the entire place, and told the cost of
everything. I sat at meat around
what was probably the most expen
sive dining table I had ever seen, set
with tbe finest of linen and glass and
gold, for silver was not rich enough
for this wealthy couple. The forks
and knives and' spoons were of gold,
the table service was of gold.
The cup from which I had drank
my breakfast coffee had cost $25.
The meals were elaborate and expen
sive, and were served by trained and
liveried servants. Yet the mistress
of all this junk for such it was
had fine lines of discontent around
mouth and eyes. And she kept up
an incessant nervous tapping with
her foot, that caused one who was
an apostle of repose in manners feel
an impulse to throw a costly vase at
that tapping foot.
The master of the mansion puffed
out his chest and talked theoretically
of their house and possessions. Yet
In the light of this recent article on
intensive living I can now see that
they really had no possessions of any
sort, poor things!
I was not surprised to learn the
next year when I was in their part of
the country that they had sold the
mansion, lock, stock and parrel, pic
tures I was about to say books, but
recalled that they had no books
their Oriental rugs, furniture, drap
eries, napery, gold, china, cut glass
carriages that was before the day
of automobiles horses, trappings,
liveried coachman, or at least the
livery, etc.
They sold for a big, round sum,
too. And then they bought anotner
mansion, of which, in time, they
tired and sold in the same way. And
that poor, rich woman had not one
little old rocking chair that was real
ly her own, for she never had any
thing long enough to humanize It
to have it become all her own.
If she had possessed a rocking
chair it probably would have squeak
ed, for that was about all her per
sonality ever did. Poor soul, she was
too wealthy to enjoy any comfort.
But the other woman, her sister
ah, that is a different matter. One
went into her home, for such it was
in deed and in truth, and sat down
with a sigh of pure delight. I do
not know what her furniture cost
I do know that she had not one rare
or expensive thing in her house; in
fact, things may have been somewhat
shabby, for I know there was not
much of what the world calls riches,
But I know that there was peace
and harmony and plenty In her home
the plenty of content. And there
was not one stick of furniture, pic
ture or a book for books there were
aplenty that their owner had not
humanized and made ber own.
The last time I went Into that
home it was empty empty of the
best beloved. All around me were
mute evidences of the presence of
her who was gone the little low
and figures beyond the reach of con
tradiction.
Naturally enough, the statesmen
of Germany are anxious, for they
realize that state Insurance al
though conceived in a spirit of hu
manlty Is not only weakening the
moral fiber of the nation, but is also
sapping Its physical stamina.
"The tragedy of all great reforms,'
Professor Bernhard, one of the inves
tlgators, pointedly remarks, "lies In
this, that the unintended results are
more powerful than the intended re
suits."
WHEN yon think of "First National," yon think of
"banking." Why not, when you think of "bank
ing," think of "First National?" 11 We grant every ac
commodation consistent with a safe and conservative
yet progressive business policy.
First National Bank
Oldest National Bank in Jackson County
Depository of the United States, State of Oregon, Coun
ty of Jackson and City of Ashland.
rocking chair drawn close to the win
dow, where her eyes had gazed out
upon the world she had found so
fair, and who knows? beyond, per
haps, into that life that she awaited
with serene confidence and cheer.
Close by was the generous work bas
ket, where, neatly folded, was the
last thing her busy hands had worked
at.
There was not one thing in the
room that did not speak of ,her,
sweetly and happily, as though to
say, "She made us her very own, a
part of her, and nothing can ever
separate us from her personality."
I sat down in the room that had
been hers and behold, it was not
dreary. It was not as if Death had
stepped In and borne away a loved
form. It was filled with her pres
ence. The inanimate, lifeless things
that she had humanized and made to
live brought surcease from the sense
of grief and desolation which bad
assailed me as I had stood without
the empty house, dreading to enter
and find her gone.
She had provided for this trying
hour. During all. the years of her
life she had been shedding her gra
cious personality in her home, until
it had become flooded with richness
and sweetness and peace even the
peace that came to me in that quiet
hour, alono with the things that had
been, and were, and always would be
hers.
Just to show their contempt for
the new tariff bill, the directors of
one large cotton mill at New Bed
ford, Mass., have recently declared
a special cash dividend of $400,000
and a stock dividend of double that
sum. Or, rather, perhaps they are
getting ready to be ruined by the
operation of the tariff act. There
are tariff beneficiaries with nerve
enough for just such a frame-up as
to tell a hard-luck story, following
tbe extravagance above mentioned.
That tariff graft was the most de
moralizing thing ever sprung on the
American people.
Good Work Done Promptly
N.&M. Home Laundry
AT THE
Rough Dry at Reasonable Prices. New Machinery.
J. N. NISCET, Mgr.
Office and Laundry 31 Water St TELEPHONE 765
ARE YOU INSURED
in a company that has a reputatioa
for settling Its losses fairly an
promptly?
Or are you where you are likely to
have a lawsuit to get your claim ad
justed? THERE'S AS MUCH DIFFER
ENCE In Fire Insurance as there I
in clothes.
The best is none too good for yon
Insurance Is our business. We
want to give you the kind that wears.
Better come in and let us fit you.
DO T NOW.
BILLINGS AGENCY
41 E. Main St.
Phone 211.
For'
esi
results
use
vPearly
How Much
Are Your Eyes Worth?
Everything as much as life itself
But are you taking care of them ? Are
you reading carelessly by "any old
light"? Do you know that the best
reading light in the world recom
mended by scientists; used by men
who can afford the best is the soft
mellow light of an oil lamp 6uch a
light as that from the
Ask your dealer to show you the
famous Ray o Table Lamp. No glare ;
no flicker. Easy to light and care for.
Dealer Everywhere
Standard OH Company
(California)
PORTLAND