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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 3, 1929)
r 1 - t Earl C. Brownlee Sheldon F. Sackbtt Publishers Salem Oregon j Thursday January 3, 1929 $tttttit Editorial F He who helps a child helps humanity with an imme diateness which no other help given to human creature in any other stage of human life can possibly give again. Phillips Brooks. ! Water Works; Some Adages SPEAKING for himself only, the writer would have the city of Salem proceed in an orderly way to the purchase of the water works: "make haste slowly," but make haste j v - And the price would be it was about $400,000; higher than m 1926, when the figure was! around $850,000 For two reasons. First, the physical value has in creased, because there are more miles of mains and more machinery and equipment. Second, the franchise or going concern value was not included either in 1910 or 1926. Only .the physical value was taken in the negotiations. The going concern value is a lawful one according to court decisions. - ' It would have to be paid now. The city has grown. The go ing concern value grows with increased population, by fixed 1 rules. It will be more next year and every succeeding year. Then, this writer believes, the question of. supply should be deferred. "Be sure you Davy Crockett. We will cross that stream when we come to it," said Lincoln, who also said "it is no time to swap horses while you are crossing a stream." Perhaps others said those things before Crockett and Lincoln. They are adages. The root meanipg The pioneer Salem lawyer, Ben Hayden, was wont to open every important sentence with "I say. I say." That became a local adage or by-word expression. No one seems to know how to keep the algal growths out of the Salem water as we get it now. The city would find out ought to find out, after it became the owner. If this cannot be done, there should be another source of supply. Perhaps filtration. A good authority says this would cost 1 , xree-quarters of a million dollars; that is, an adequate sys tem would cost that much. We would still have the cost of pumping. Perhaps deep wells. But we would still have the - pumping cost. Perhaps mountain water, if we are already big enough as a city "and can develop enough hydroelectric power on the way down and dispose of it for enough revenue to justify the costr This would eliminate pumping costs. The power sales might make jjp enough to justify the large initial cost. But, for any supply, there would have to be chlorination or its equivalent to insure perfect safety against water-borne diseases. These are all questions for engineers. But municipal ownership is a duty we owe both to our selves and those to come after us. Our neglect or delay will be at the cost of future Salemites, on account of the ever growing going value. In general, private ownership )is best. But the case is different with utilities that we must have, like water, just as certainly as that we must have air. R. J. Hendricks. What Is a Dollar Worth? rflHE value of a dollar depends on what you do with it; if A used in paying a debt contracted in 1914 or earlier it is worth about 70 cents, but if used to pay a debt of 1920 its value is about $1.50 And it is slightly less than it was a year ago; yet it is and has all the time been worth 100 cents in gold. Some economists say gold itself fluctuates in value. A Yale pro fessor proposes to stabilize the dollar by varying the gold content from time to time. A congressman from Kansas suggests that the same end may be reached through the fed eral reserve system's control of the volume of currency But values are relative, depending on how much of one commodity must be exchanged to secure some other; for in stance, the bricklayer's hour is worth about a dollar now; in 1914 it was a good deal more Still the American dollar is about the most stable thing fn the world today. The German mark, the French franc and even the British pound are valued in comparison with the American dollar And tinkering with our dollar would have the opposite effect of what would be intended. Gold is not a value in itself. That is, gold without its measuring value would be of little worth in the world. As the standard or measure of value, however, it has the world's exchange custom and history behind it. It is like the inch or the foot rule. That goes back to the ancient time when measures came from the threshing floor, and the inch came to be "three grains of barley dry and round placed end to end lengthwise." From that start the measure has become stabilized and we no longer think of the origin any more than about how we happen to walk on our feet and do not crawl , on the ground or hang from It is much the same with of values. ' We cannot thread , accept it, but we know we have And there you are. " For all we know now or can vision, we are not more likely to change the standard than we are to tamper with? the length of the, inch or the foot rule. S ' in.. Denaturing the Act mHERE is a prevailing opinion that the famous Sherman A act having for its purpose due restraint of trade has outlived its usefulness That modern industrial things that the Sherman law prohibits. But Abram F. Myers, chairman of the federal trade " mission, says its repeal would be an unwise step His main contention beine that the Sherman act beneficent measure because its teeth have been pulled by the decisions of the courts to the extent that renders the law harmless; he further contends that the courts will continue to construe the act in the light of business necessities so that J. progressive construction will result which will assist the , rVYKl IIIIICIJ l ill CUIWUK uau ones. i "The argument is simply that in case of a bad law it is r '-better to rely ori the courts to denature it than to depend on . congress to pass a oetter one; - is chosen ' . And based on experience icaL Americans have a different view point from that of the British. We are apt to think of large combinations and - operations as leading to dangerous conditions Headinc us towards the abyss. - When radio competition in the British Isles threatened to injure the business and impair the efficiency of the tele graph and telephone systems all such concerns were merged into one gigantic concern, eliminating an troumes in tnat line. The same thing may become necessary or at lease ex . pedient in this country ? But the roads to such a merger are more or less blocked by our laws, backed by public opinion. What a pity it took a tragedy to wake Monmouth to the necessity o conserving the safety to the limit of the splen " did young women and men who attend the state normal school there, the future guardians of our children! EC(5llIlygirainnis "iiAItLY eTerjbody, 1 apvoe, mtllr Is.' v1 Bat ma. Isnorant or stanld tenoi la usually lrt Inclined than a ' more inteUIxent person to confess lark ot information, - - Since kaowlede meaos superiority, those of us who bare none to spare can't well afford to take chances on appearing ignorant. But what makes it particularly difficult for woefully ignorant man is that he doesn't even know Just what K is permissible not to higher than it was in 1910, when are right, then go ahead," said of the word adage is, 'I say. trees with our tails. gold as a standard of measure all the avenues that led us to it the curbing of trusts and un conditions require the very com- 18 a UUHO aiivi ciivviiagnife vv. oi tne two eviis tne iesser one perhaps the reasoning is log BY FRED O. KELLY strive to appear wiser than he . : : j I Bag j : A C&A Ktiftlfai, Iff raSLiHr X li J ?' Who am I? Where was I 'born? "c J K i ?"'' Of what instrument am I the mas- IfigV . VTOm' J 3 ' ' What is a midshipman? Vftj; vy fflXlw ft VV ' For what purpose was the Al- -.r - flL ' fL " hambra at Granada, Spain, built? C U f - MptV fff- Jfwi ';.rv: ; What oath .do candidates for j Sy4 VJl degree of Dctor of Medicine ' i"",'r'""1 "'' Jjr a! 0.J.- "Jesus said unto him. If thou jplSIMr. y j VQV ' yti Jr'vJJ i"- canat believe, all things are pos- "VJV r ' "MJV $3 y'W'i' sible to him that believeth." j " "SP $ JjHfe SUMMER - 1 Who Who and Tpmely Views Satisfaction Expressed Over Fili pino Legislative Session Governor General. Philippine Islands Br HEN BY L. 8TTJCSOM (Henry Lewis Stimson was born at Xew York City. Sept. 21, 1867. He is s grsdnate of Tale unirersity and Har vard Law school, being admitted to the bar in 1891. He joined a New York law irra in 1893. Front 1006 to 1909 he was United States attorney general of the southern district of New York. He was he Republican candidate for governor in 1910 and served as secretary of war in he cabinet of President Taft from 1911 to 1913. In 1937 he was the epecia! representative of the president in Nic trairua and later that year was named governor general of the Pnilinninea. He erved with the American Auxiliary roreea m rrsnce in 1917 and 1918. His home is in New York City.) I am well satisfied with the re sults of the recent Philippine leg islative session. While there was much delay in organizing and in beginning work, owing to the fact that it was the the first session and many mem bers were serv ing their first terms, several bills ot out standing Impor tance as well as others of much value have been en acted. The first was the Belo act au thorizlng a HENRY STIMSOf! proper staff for the executive.-The staff organiza tion under this act has already done much to make effective the meetings of the council of state by examining for the governor general pending bills so that they could be discussed at those meetings. In this way the governor gener. ai has been enabled to keep more abreast of the current work of the legislature and to convey his sug gestions and those of the cabinet to the legislative leaders concern ing pending measures and also to receive from those leaders their explanations and views of the leg. A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a trou bled fountain, and a corrupt spring. It is not good to eat much money: so for men to search their own glory is not glory. Proverbs, xxv, 26, 27. High Pressure Pete . T? One-Minute! Pulpit TheHerrand the Tortoise lislation. In spite of the crowded and hurried work of the legisla ture during its last days, I trust that the necessity of vetoes will be found to be reduced to a mini mum. If, in future sessions, the organ ization of the legislature can be perfected so as to secure the prompt printing and translation of bills, and rules adopted to min imize the congestion of the final day, great improvement may be expected even wltb. the present or ganization. The council of state has ever proved of the utmost value and I know of no more ef fective machinery for executive and legislative co-operation In Old Oregon's Yesterdays Town Talks from The St man Our Fathers Read Jan. 8, 1904 Professor J. H. McEwen, Scot tish hypnotist and magician, will headline a benefit which the Sa lem Elks are sponsoring here next week. Professor McEwen is an old member of Salem lodge No i 236, B. P. O. E. Superintendent J. H. Acker- man of Salem was named presi dent of the organization of Mar ion and Polk counfy principals. A large number of farmers at tended the Liberty Good Roads club meeting in the Liberty school house. A movement was started to hold a county good roads con vention next spring. The largest revenue in the his tory of the state, $1,225,000. has been computed and apportioned by the state board of levy for the year 1904. This Includes the col lege tax. Brush College Grange To Meet On Friday Night BRUSH COLLEGE, Ore.. Jan. 2. -(Special) The Brush College Grange will hold Its regular meet. Ing Friday night. The program and dinner are to be In charge of the men of the organization. The Brush College Helpers will meet with Mrs. John Schiadler at her home on the Wallace road Thursday afternoon. Devotions will be lead by Mrs. Marie Flint McCall. I any state of the American union. The enactment of the corpor ation law will, I believe, mark a new era In Philippine history not only by reason of the Importance of the bill itself but chiefly be cause of what its passage signifies. The debate over it has filled not only the halls of the legislature, but public meetings outside, as well as the columns of the daily press. Last of Charter Members Church Here, is Called Jeremiah M. Patterson who died Sunday at his home in The Dalles, was the last living charter mem ber of the First Presbyterian church of Salem. He came to Sa lem immediately after the Civil War. remaining here until 1875 when he moved to The Dalles, where he was postmaster at one time. At the time' of his death, he was county treasurer of Wascc county. Mr. Patterson, who is the fath er-in-law Of Clara C. Patterson, superintendent of the state Indus trial school for girls, was born in Zanesville, O., November 28, 1845 December 17, 1878 he was mar ried to Blanche Gray, daughter of George W. and Prudence Gray, of which union two daughters. Beu lah G. and Prudence M., both of The Dalles, and one son, William Glenn, of Portland, survive. Two granddaughters, Mrs. Dolph L. Claig and Prudence Pat terson also survive. Mr. Patterson was a member of the G. A. R. Recovering From Injuries of Fall Mrs. L. R. Hicks, a visitor here from Seaside, is recovering at the home of Charles E. Hicks from the Injuries she suffered when she fell headlong down the stairs Monday. Mrs. Hicks, an elderly woman, was severely injured bnt ho bones were broken. ' PHYSICIAN AWAY SILVERTON, Ore.. Jan. 2. (Special) Dr. C. R. Wilson and Mrs. Wilson's brother, Tommle, are spending a few days at their home at Riddle. Oregon. Mrs. Wil son did not accompany her hus band and brother as hr health did not permit. Dr. Wilson's office in the Ames building is ; closed during his absence. 1 r The Grab foaay's in the Past Washington defeated the Brit ish at Princeton, N. J., on this day, in 1777. Today's ' Horoscope Persons born on this day are not dictatorial, but they usuanlly run everything, and people like to have them do so. They are very jolly. A Daily Thought "It is much easier to be critical than correct." Benjamin Dis raeli. Answers to Foregoing Questions 1. Fritz Kreisler; Vienna, Aus tria; violin. 2. Student at Annapolis naval academy. 3. As a palace-fortress for Moorish kings. 4. Hippocratic oath. 5. St. Mark, Ix, 23. I Poems ftlhat Live TO BLOSSOMS Fair pledges of a fruitful tree. Why do ye fall so fast? Your date is not so past But you may stay yet here awhile To blush and gently smile. And go at last What! Were ye born to be An hour or hairs delight? And so to bid good-night? Twas pity Nature brought you firth Merely to show your worth And lose you quite. Put yeu are lovely leaves, where - we Kay read how soon things have Their end, though ne'er so brave; And after they have shown their pride Like you awhile, they glide Into the grave. Robert Herrick lSff.ll74 - - . . j , Bits for By R. J. Is it worth its: The Chritsmas tree lighted with candles? There is danger enough in the new way. with the tree lighted with electric globes, with amateur wiring. S Perhaps the men preparing to bore for oil on the west side got their hunch from the algae in the Salem water. Here's hoping they have a better hunch. There is a young man in Salem who before coming here spent two years working in an eastern Ore gon town the water supply of which is 40-rod strong with alkali water. At first he Could not atom ach that water at all. But when he came to the valley he found the water here too soft and insipid It did not taste good at all. He longed for the kick of the alkali in his drink. He suggests that probably, if this thing keeps up, balemites away from home may yearn for the zest of the alkali flavor. mm There's nothing like getting used to a thing. "You can get used to anything but hanging," as the saying goes out at the east end of State street. Christmas tree fires have noth ing over automobile wrecks. They come only once a year They have a gasoline price war down at Portland. But that is too far away from Salem to interest most of us. The dude mayor of New York blames most of the crime of the metropolis onto "narcotics, and he asserts that, compared with its grpat population New York is a fine moral city. Next let the coun try hear from Big Bill Thompson, mayor of Chicago. He no doubt will be able to show the windy city as a paragon of puritan vir. tues. j "m The grim reaper was busier than the ctork during the old year at Woodburn. That would shock the shade of Teddy Roosevelt. The suggestion- is made that a new department of communica tions be: inaugurated with a cab inet member at its head to care T OF PAY IS Legislators and legislative-: em ployes attending the biennial leg islative session which begins here January 14, will be discouraged from drawing money due them for service more frequently than once in two weeks. This was an nounced here Wednesday. At previous legislative sessions some of the employes and legis lators have made it a practice to draw their compensation every three or four days. This has re sulted in unnecessary bookkeeping in both the state and treasury de partments. ' Whether an official photograph er will be given space in the cap itol building during the next leg islative session will depend on the ittitude of the legislators. Secre 'ary of State Hoss has sent letters o the legislators asking them if 'heir desire to grant this conces sion. It was said that a number of photographers have requested permission to maintain a studio in the capitol during the legislative Session. A number of legislators iave expressed themselves as be ing opposed to allowing private industries to operate in state buildings. , An innovation at this year's leg. 'slative session will be a directory -overing the names and addresses if all legislators, legislative em ployees and newspapermen. This Is being prepared by Secretary of State Hoss and officials of the Pacific Telephone Telegraph company. SYRIXG RETURNS SILVERTON, Ore.. Jan. 2. (Special) Richard Sy ring, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Syring of Silverton. has resigned his posi tion at Butte, Montana, where he has been employed for sometime on a newspaper as reporter. Mr. 3yrtng says he hopes to get a position in a warmer climate. Mr. Syring is a graduate of the Uni versity of Oregon. COUPLE MARRIED DALLAS. Ore.. Jan. 2.-r-Spe-:lal) A wedding ceremony was performed by County Judge Cf. L. iawkins Friday in his office. jThe contracting parties vere Augustus B. Coffey of Clatsop county; and Mary Wall of this city. ' FREQllEN Ml ' ; a Breakfast Hendricks for the radio systems and other means of communication such as telegraph, telephone, cable lines and the like. The country has one department of ' communications known as the postoifice depart, ment and the better method would be to put all those various mat ters which are now so badly scattered under the postmaster general. I V S Well, the more ships John Bull and Uncle Sam build in competi tion, the more they'll have to help jne another in time of trouble. Americansim: Going to Europe to get culture; having an awful time until you find some Ameri cans to spend your time with. Note to Mussolini: The volcano shows you what happens when a little crust at the top tries to hold things down. "a There's always a bright sidtj. Uina the prevalence of divorce proves inai Doaraing-nouse ma Isn't what it used to be. ' S A group of scientists spent three months in the Tennessee moun tains trying to photograph lightu ;ng hitting superpower lines. They obtained one picture, and it cost them $75,000.' They say it was worth it because it added just a bit more to the great total of human knowledge. Anything worth doing requires a large in vestment of money, or time, or in telligence or energy. Henry Ford is positively reckless the way ha throws fortunes into plans out of which he hopes to take larger ortuQes. However, it's his own jioney that makes a difference. The Way of the World By GROVE PATTERSON HIS OWN FUNERAL SERMON A California evangelist died re cently and preached his own fitn 3ral sermon. The voice of th preacher issued from a phono graph. He had made the record a few months before death. He sain: "I have guarded my soul through life. I alone feel qualified to giw my soul its departing message." The preacher was right he know more about himself than anybody a'se. He was best qualified to preach his own funeral sermon ?o are we all. The trouble is that ;o few of us will admit the truth. ;ven about ourselves. Few of in vould like to tell" the truth about 3r lives and publish it on . phonograph record. PEACE WORK The council of the League of Nations has put the league's health organization at the service of tic Greek nation. There has been an epidemic In Greece and that country appeals to the leagu- for help. This bitry of news may give some a new Idea about th' League of Nations. There Is great peace time work that may be done by such an organization. It is a war time purpose and peace activ ity. The day will surely come when war and militarism .will he little discussed in International confer ences. Such affairs will be out of date and greater matters will have taken their place. a NOT ALL SPENDING The American people are ' sup posed to be the freest spenders on the globe. But they also do a mam moth job of saving. It is estimated that in the days just before Christmas there were 29 billions of dollars In savings accounts in the banks ot the land. There is such a thing as being a spender without being a spendthrift and there are spender nations that are not spendthrift nations. And already Christmas savings ac counts have started for 1929. a BREADTH OF VIEW Of course the outstanding rea son for such success as the Am erican democracy has aa a political system lies in the quality of lead, ership that has been developed. Ant leaders who are worthy of the name and who have earned a following have, above-everything else, a breadth of view. News dis patches, for example, carry the in formation that former Governor Lowden addressed a letter to a convention of the American Farm Bureau Federation In which he urged farmers to support Mr. Hoo ver's farm relief program. Mr. Lowden hoped to be nominated for the presidency. He failed in Uhat ambition but he has sufficient breadth of view to urge coopera tion with the man who won the prize which he desired. It Is breadth of view which makes great men, and only great men can make democracy a suc cessful system. By Swan