Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The morning Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1899-1930 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 1904)
THE MORNING i ASTORIAN ASTORIA, ORKCON. WKDNIIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1904, THE MORNING ASTORIAN 'Established 187J. .;. Published tiiy (Except Xmy by THE J. 8. OELUNGER COMPANY. . SUBSCRIPTION RATES. Br mU. per year . 00 By milt, per month By carrier, per month THE SEMI-WEEKLY ASTORIAN, By mall, per year, In advance ..U 00 rr-Onhn for tk Mtwrtn of Tss steams Anoaux to br wwHm or pit o( Hjr wr b made by po r,t """SFfc EasMdiatoly niwrud (9 (be office of publKlko Ttlephont Main 661. iTodsy's Weather. Portland. Dec. IS. Western Oregon and Washington Rain. Eastern Oregon and Eastern Wash ingtonPartly cloudy with probable occasional rain or anow. DISGRACED. DISHONORED. , The strange story of Mrs. Chadwick. and the magnificent disregard she wrought In the minds of bankers and brokers for all known rules of busi ness, is ending In dishonor for twoi men. and. possibly, for more than two. President ' Beckwith. aged and feeble and respected. Is under arrest at Cleve land for certifying a check drawn by Mrs. Chadwick for 115.000, when there was not a dollar to her credit Cashier Spear Is under arrest for certifying a check drawn by her for $12,000, when she was without funds In the bank to meet It The sums appear to be small and are small when contrasted with her deals In millions, but they are large enough to wreck two hitherto honored lives and to bring sorrow and disgrace to homes, wives and children. The story of Mrs. Chadwick is. in deed, strange: ' rlth a record anything but commendable, she procured and lavished millions, dealt with capital ists of the highest grade, hobnobbed with financed magnates and flashed notes purporting to be slgnej by no leas a personage than Andrew Car negie. She; banked, on them and was ..bhi miMtinna where Carnegie himself would -have been requested to put up soma' measure of collateral The work of Mfloe. Humbert in France where she Is now sojourning In a penitentiary as the guest of the French republic was as nothing to the work of Mme. Chadwick. now sojourning at a fashionable New Tork hotel, while two of bef vfctima art heading: In the direction ot the federal penitentiary at Atlanta. y - The principal showing of the strange story Is that, without fidelity to duty, not all the safeguards thrown around the national banking system can hope to guard the public against ,the wiles of the adventurer or of the adven turess. In his latest public address Comptroller of the Currency Rldgeley insisted on directors who would direct. He might ,. have... added that certifiers who would 'ncJt certify, unless the funds of the applicant Justified it, were equal ly necessary- But the lesson of the case of Mrs. Chadwick will only have ; its run for a.dy and furnish a theme for moralizing for a week. .There will continue to be adventur ers and adventuress and complaisant, or foolish, directors. The best that can be done In'the line of punishment will not destroy the breed while the spirit of frenzied finance and of wide peculation is abroad in the land. o . ! COAL OIL TANKS. George C. Flanders, representing the Standard Oil Company, appeared be ; fore the common council Monday nig.it In the interests of his company. He t that the As- maae cerium torian proposes to refute. In his state ment, he said, that oil tanks did not Jepordize surrounding property. That the Insurance rates on Standard Oil tanks was less than upon canneries. That they had never had a fire in f whldi any of the property belonging ' to the company had been destroyed, and he criticised certain statements published In the Astorlan relative to a . fire that occurred in Portland a year . or two ago. He stated that at the fire In East Portland when the Wolf & Zwicker shops were destroyed by fire, and a large amount of property was destroyed, that the tanks of the Stand ard Oil Company remained intact, and their loss was only nominal. As to the first proposition relative to Insurance being higher on cannery property than on the Standard Oil tanks, the Astorlan takes issue. Sev eral Insurance agents were interviewed yesterday and the following rates, established by the underwriters and which are as follows: On canneries, 2.60; on Standard Oil tanks, 3.50. Evi dently Mr. Flanders is mistaken, or is ignorant as to insuranec rates. No one desires to accuse him of prevari cation in the statement, it is simply Ignorance of the facts. The East Portland fire is familiar to every member of the council, or hr t he. At the time of the fire ' on the east side, the Standard Oil tanks were in close proximity to the nrt. in order to avoid a mors serious confla gration, several streams were played ou the tanks, and for this reason and this reason only were the oil tanks naved. and many thousands of dollars saved. HaJ not the firemen been com pelled to play upon the standard uu tanks to prevent a ntore serious con flagration, thousands of dollars worth of properly would have been saved, that was destroyed owing to their ex istence. Mr. Flanders further states that he consulted city officials and was In formed that the property owned by them and that which they wished to acquire was outside of the fire limits of the city, and therefore they were at liberty to construct as many fire traps as they wished. If there is no ordinance covering the storage of com bustibles in Astoria, then It Is the duty of the common council to pass such an ordinance before any more oil tanks are em-ted. There is not a city In the United States where oil tanks are allowed to be constructed within the limits of the city. In Multnomah county, all of the eoal oil tanks, powder houses and other dangerous combustibles are stored out side of the business and residence por tion of the city. When the Standard OH Company once secure a foothold, and construct their tanks. It is almost Impossible to dislodge them. Taey have attorneys employed by the year; they care nothing for the rights of property, as long as the company can declare large dividends. That an oil tank In the business portion of the city is a menace to property no one, not interested in the Standard Oil Com pany will deny. That they create has- ardous risks to adjoining property is attested by Insurance rates. That property In the Immediate vicinity of oil tanks depreciates In value and rendered almost worthless Is too well known to require comment. If the common council will not pro tect the interests of the community from aggressions on the Standard Oil Company, who have no Interest In the city, sslde from enormous profits, then the property owners will take the matter In hand, and the courts will be appealed to for protection to lives and property. Insurance rates are too high i In Astoria now, and the people cannot land will not need any Increased risks. There is no doubt but the common j council will present an ordinance at the meeting next Monday night look ing to the prohibition of the erection of any oil tanks within the city of As toria. It Is their duty to do so and as they have" Interests at stake In the prevention of fire, and the protection of property, they will no doubt acqui esce in the unanimous demand or the public. , x : , : o i , , : 'i r A POLITICAL JOB. The efforts of the hired San Fran cisco attorney fn the land fraud cases to compel the attendanec of Senator Mitchell and Congressman Herman to come to Portland to testify 1n the land fraud cases savors of a political Job. It Is a well-known fact that their evi dence Is Immaterial and would not benefit the prosecution. When all the democratic papers In the state are criticising them for not appearing, and intimate they are Implicated In the land frauds, everyone who knows any thing about the matter knows that It Is a political Job. It Is a well-known fact that Senator Mitchell was opposed to the employment of the 8an Francisco attorney, alleging that he himself had been mixed up in land frauds and did think he was a suitable person to rep resent the government. This is ine reason, and the only reason why this imnorted attorney desires to compel the attendanec of Senator Mitchell and Congressman Herman, in order to hu-i millate them, with an Intimation that thev were implicated In the scandal. Such contemptible methods will not redound to the credit of the democratic press or the Imported attorneys. School Report. School Clerk E. Z. Ferguson yester day submitted his annual report to the board of directors of school dis trict No. 1. which will be acted upon by the directors at the annual meeting Thursday night. The report shows the receipts for the year to have been $32, 543.53, while the disbursements were 128.270.04. The balance on hand Is $5538.49. The report shows that the bonded Indebtedness is $71,000, of which sum $17,000 Is due to the Chase National bank of New Tork and $54, 000 to the state of Oregon. The float ing debt is $2388.90, or $3149.49 less than the amount of cash on hand. The estimate of receipts for 1905 Is as fol lows; County school funds, $14,000; state apportionment, $5400; special levy of 8 mills, $14,887; tuition, $150; total, $33,567. Receipts for 1904 have been $31,949.58, while for 1903 they were $28,164. The estimate of expendi tures for 1905 is: Teachers salaries, $20,000; Janitors' salaries, $2575; water, $400; clerk, $600; bond Interest, $3720; Interest, $100; fuel, $1200; supplies, $800: repairs, $3000; expenses, $200; elections. $20; Insurance, $200; total, $32,815. The estimate for 1904 wan $26,960, while the amount paid out thus far has been $28,270.04. The annual meeting of the taxpayers will be held December 15 at 7:30 p. m., at Shlvely school. The board will recommend an 8 mill levy. At the present time tne salaries of the teachers amount to $1.- 926 a month.or $19,260 for a school year. The apportionment of $20,000 will al low for one extra teacher, with which the board hopes to be able to get along. COUNTY POOR FARM The Necessity of Acquiring One . in Clatsop County Apparent MUCH NEEDED INSTITUTION A County Poor Farm Can Be Mads Self-Sustaining, While With the Present System the Cost Is Enormous. That a county poor farm Is an abso- lue necessity for Clatsop county Is now generally conceded. The expense of maintaining the county poor has reached such proportion that re trenchment is a matter that Is being considered by the county court. So ciety may be slow In reaching a solu tion of the problem of what to do with the homeless, helpless and hopeless of the world, but public charity, dispensed by public officers In taking care of the poverty-stricken, destitute and Indig ent who become public charges, with out ostentation of any kind, yet gen erously and with sympathy. To pro vide for the unfortunate who have fought life's battles and failed, is the duty of those who have emerged from the struggle triumphant or who are resisting it successfully. It Is. there fore, a compulsory charity that mnk.-s possible a public haven of rest for the defeated, but throughout the world there is manifestation of a desire on the part of people to promote personal comfort and happiness wherever sor row and misery lurk, and it Is on the broader scale that this charitable "duty" should be considered. Pierce county, Washington, has a population five times as large as that of Clatsop county, yet, the number of paupers are no more. This Is attrib uted to the fact that Tierce county has a poor farm, owned and managed by the county, and It Is a well-known fact that poor farms decrease the number of paupers. In order to give our read ers an Idea of the benefits of a poor farm, a few extracts from the Tacoma Ledger will prove the contention of the Astorian: In Pierece county there are many people who shudder at the thought of the "noorhouse" as a place of perma nent rest, believing that life In such an Institution Is worse than death. Yet 'all is not sadness under the root of a, Door house, nor are the Inmates com pletely "cut off" from society, because they are a part of society In general and form a particular branch of so clety. Two miles beyond the limits of the little town of Sumner Is located the Pierce county poor farm. Established 15 years ago, It has grown to be an Institution of great value and useful ness, and today is one oi me oem con ducted eleemosynary refuges In th state of Washington, i nrougn us por tals have passed hundreds of men and not a few women, and every name In scribed on the records of the farm tells a tale of sorrow and suffering some trairlc. some romantic, with a spring- ling of comedy and pathos but each a record of a human failure. 'There are 35 inmates at the farm today, ven erable men and women, with the welglit of years upon them, abandoned by friends, forgotten by relatives, all de pendent on public charity for Support. In the face of cold facts sympathy and sentiment crowd out censure and protest In a discussion of what brought these people to the door of poverty and made them knock at the door of c har ity as paupers. Aged, Infirm, some of them blind, all senile, their condition challenges the observer to halt and think before passing Judgment on them. That there can be happiness anj con tentment under such conditions will be admitted after a visit to the Pierce county poor farm. The home is com modious, the rules and regulations gov erning the conduct of the Inmates are not severe, the food Is wholesome and there is plenty to eat at the proper time. After supper the inmates retired to th sitting rooms, where a pleasant hour was spent. The daily papers and several monthly magazines were on file and other diversions were Indulged in hesldes reading. Every Inmate is al lowed a pound of tobacco per month, smoking or chewing, as he prefers, and from an Invoice produced by the su- nerlntendent of the farm the good brand of the weed was fully estab lished. American-born people have Just cause for pride In the statistics of the Pierce county poor farm. Fully 95 per cent of those who have been sent were are foreigners by birth. Only a small nereentaife of poor house patients in the United States are natives of this country. It Is a tribute to American enterprise, persistence, application and courage and, to be quite fair, perhaps a little American luck, but certainly American pluck. The Pierce county poor farm Is quite an imposing structure. It resembles the home of a wealthy rancher rather than an eleemosynary Institution. Eighty acres of land belong to th ooaosoooooooooooOK3 0 ........... , , , - t Swell Tos For Men. farm, und every patch of ground Is utilised. The farm produces hay, grain and feed and vegetables in abundunce. The county hospital Is supplied wltn vegetables from the poor farm. All the milk, butter, eggs and fruit con sumed on the farm Is produced there, and some times, In the height of t.ie seuson. there Is a surplus of these products, which is disposed of at regu- lor market prices. This year Mrs. sum- merfleld out up $60 gallons of canned fruit, and there was an abundunce of apples, pears, plums and berries left over. There are IS head of cattle. three horses, several hogs, and a small army of chickens and enough turkoys to make Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for the Inmates. The student of system will find much to Interest him at the poor farm. It Is run on system because system Is the one essential In the government of such an Institution. The rules provide, among other things: Patients able to be about the house will be required to Vera themselves clean, their clothing in order, and to take a bath at least once a week; all patients must be In their rooms at 9 o'clock at night; positively no smoking allowed In bed; patients will not be allowed to lie In bed with their boots or shoes on, and will be reoulred to keep their rooms In a neat and clean condition; Tues.lays and Saturdays are special cleaning days, and every patient able to do so must help, not only In keplng his or her own room clean, but the entire house: Mon day Is washing duy, and all articles for the laundry must be in eurly Sunday evening; no patient will be allowed to leave the boundaries of the farm with out permission from the superintend ent; every patient able to do light work will be required to wait on those need Ins attention, work In the farm garden, laundry or kitchen, when requested to do so by the superintendent. And so It goes. Every rule a good one, and perfect discipline the result. Two men peel the potatoes, two men wash the dishes after each meal, one man sweeps out the dining room, two men set the table, two men clear it. one man sweeps the back varanda, one man sweeps the front veranda, there is an attendant for each of the blind In mates, and others assist In sawing wood and general light work. The farm has Its own transportation, a rood wagon and a buggy, and three good horses, used by the Inmates In hauling wood and other articles to the farm. The sunerlntendent keeps an account with every Inmate. Whenever he Usues clothing It is charged up agnlnst the natlent receiving It. Everything else la chnreed un In like manner, and at the month end a statement is sub mitted to the county commissioners. The cost per capita for the mainten ance of the farm during the first four vpnrn of the present superintendents administration was 24 cents. It has not Increased very much. If any, since then, despite the fact that the cost of living has increased materially. These are facts which should be con sidered by the county court of Clatsop county in Its efforts to care for tne county poor. A poor farm is no ex pense to the county, when once estab lished, and Is a necessary adjunct to the institutions of the county. 0 O lSusl..,rr -,r-- o 1L I 1 Mm Sdwlmr i hp mffm i is vs Mfl 0 tMiMmiVtairtrfMrSM 1 9 We Fit b Anyone P. A. STOKES TIME you were seeing us About your Winter Suit or Overcoat if you expect to be in the "running" with the fashionably dressed men around town. These garments are "chock full" of good quality, and style tnat is only pro duced by a first class City Tailor. To buy your clothes here is to be well dressed, and to be well dressed is half the battle of P. A. STOKES INDIAN LEATHER NOVELTIES Burned ASTORIA Calenders, Banner, Pipe Racks, and Novelties of all lortt the inexpensive article you can scntl East and know it will be appreciated. J. N WHAT IT AT EILERS IT MEANS assurance that you get a piano that will not fall you. Every piano covered by five and ten-year guarantee, IT MEANS that you get the best possible piano for your Investment, our pianos are the best that money can buy. IT MEANS that you are surs of an Instrument that will satisfy. Return the piano and ft your money back If you can find It In any point not as represented. IT MEANS the opportunity of selecting from the largest stock of pianos In Astoria. IT MEANS the opportunity of selecting from standard pianos. IT MEANS that you are buying at the "only" one-prlce store. Your lit tle daughter buys of us us safely as can the most experienced shopper. IT MEANS unequulled liberality In the matter of terms; your own. IT MEANS our assistance throughout every phose of the transaction. IT MHAN8 dealing with a firm that has been permanently established In Astoria since January. 1901. Chl. kerlng, Weber. Kimball, Pease, Haddorff, Lester, Hobart M. Cable and other STANDARD PIANOS. V Eilers . a. n. ctrus, pjjQ Local llranch Manager. House . F. N. SMITH, 422-424 Com't'. St. Salesman. Largest School. New York, Dec. 13.One of the larg est public schools In the world has been opened nt East Houston, Lewis and East Third streets, this city. The building Is now entirely completed and the classes In working order. There are 5184 pupils and 111 teachers. For the opening day the girl students of the school cooked the opening luncheon In the cooking school. CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. A Largs and Varlsd Assortment at Ekstrom's. Here are a few articles which will make suitable and handsome Christ mas presents for anyone. All popular and stylish, cheap In price, but high In quality. Read: Silver novelties in numerous different patterns, handsome cut class pieces, sterling silverware, ebony goods In brushes, glasses and toilet sets, fancy umbrellas and canes, match boxes, tableware, fine ' chains, chafing dUhes, carving sets, special watches, diamonds, broches and a thou sand other things. It will pay you to consult our prices before going else where. H. EKSTROM, Astoria, Ore. Best meals in town at the New Style fRestaurant. " Home of g Swell, Togs o o o o o w o a o life. Money Back if Dissatisfied I I MEANS TO ttmrntrntmumtrnnmrnmuttnttntmif Next Time r You need a pair of Men's, Women's or Children's SHOES Honest, Durable Shoe $ For less money than you have been paying try S. A. GIS1RE 543-545 Bond St. 8388ft . - " - i O 09 t