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About Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1919-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1920)
A CIRCULATION Average for Quarter Ea-itag December II. lilt 5 4 5 3 OLCOTT ORDERS GRAND JURY WEATHER FORECAST Oregon- Tonight and Tuesday prob 1- rain, "moderate southerly winds. iocal-No rainfaU; river, n foot, falling- PARTY-THIRD YEAR. KO. 58. " ' ' " C 4T Vt Ani-nmi iiAvn i it . ' - , - uftiuw, mu.xuAi, aiAKUH 8, lVZU. . , PRICE 2 TFICT PROBE Effl HELD if BYWLLASTAS IN BANDIT RETREAT Ine Company Employe, Tak en Captive During Raid on Train, Retained on Demand for 50,009 Ransom El Paco, Texas, March 8. Joseph Williams, an employe of the Amer ican Smelting & Refining company plant at Pedricena, Mexico, is a cap tive in the hands of Francisco Villa, ( held for $50,000 ransom, according to passengers from southern Chic huahau, who have reached Juares. Williams, who is an American citizen, aerved in the world war and suffering from the effects of German gas, was returning tothe United States - for treatment when the northbound Mex ican City-Juarea train, on which he was traveling, was held up Thursday morning last near Corralites, Chihua hua, 400 miles south of El Paco. Taken from Train in a battle between villa's men and the train guard, ten of the ban dits and nineteen of the train guard were slain and the balance of the de fenders, .fifty in number, either wounded or driven off. The train and Pullman car conductors were among , the dead, the latter being killed by a shot from Villa's pistoi. When the fighting ceased the ban diia herded the passengers to a small hill near the track where Villa har angued them end , threatened them wjth death. Later, 'according to eye witnesses he broke ' into tears and told them he would spare their lives out of respect to the memory of Gen eral Felipe Angeles, who recently was executed by the Carranza authorities at Chihuahua City. ;.. Engine Dynamited :Williams and an Arabian merch ant, if. Nassar, were forced to ac company the bandits when they rode way, leaving the balance of the pas Mngeriuaawoned in a desolate coun try, bereft of their belongings and many of them without their clothing, which had been taken by the rob bers. - According to R. J. Peltier, an American citizen, resident of Mexico City, who was roughly handled and threatened with death, the bandits numbered about 300. They stopped the train by placing a charge ol dynamite on the track which wrecked 'he engine. i . Kidnappers Organized Washington, -March 8. Discovery ot a "co-operative kidnapping asso ciation" having for Its purpose "the Snapping and holding for ransom of foreigners, preferably Americans," is announced by the Mexican foreign Mice, according to advices today from Mexico City. The announcement says this "uni que company" js made up of Mexi cans and Americans on the border, this statement heing basod on reports from various consular officers. The 'welgn office says the "association" ao is engaged in "the ignoble task "eating trouble between the two ntries." ,, Acting on the information present " by the foreign office the war de partment, according to these advices, w Issued instructions to the military commanders in the states of Chihua hua. Durango, Coahulla. Nuevo Leon d Tamaulipas to break up the "Mnaping organization. The govern ment says It is believed the promot rlih i the klanaV!ns organization are renei agents who recently circulated " Dili advertising the ' reorgan- a"d announcing May 5, coup planned by FREXOH LOSSES BIG Paris, it,, . . f..,. , " c reiirn losses ''cla from the end of January ''nruarv is ,v.i.u Wbloh Jtla,iA 1 Marash were 15S fenwi 79 "winded iai , Th m "iiwsms, accoraing to ln Temps. Losses of French regu- "rs and native troops are included I "wse figures. y A PIECE OF TABLEWARE MAY be solid silver without the "sterling" stamp, the accepted "Hall Mark" of quality. , , But you don't know. A bank might be honest and efficient without govern ment inspection. But you don't know. . A business concern may be absolutely responsible Without a commercial rating. But you don't know. A publication may have the circulation it claims with out verification by the Audit Bureau of Circulations. But you don't know. . BETTER BE SURE! . ., The circulation of the Capital Journal is verified by the theA.B. C. Income Tax Provision Taxing Stock Dividends Is Held U nconstitional Washington, Mar. 8. Provisions of the income tax act of 1916 taxing as Income stock dividends declared by corporations out of earnings and prof its accruing subequent to March 1, 191 J, were held unconstitutional to day by the supreme court. Justice Pitney in rendering the court's opinion said stock dividends are no more than a "book adlustment" and do not change the nature, charac ter, mutual relations or Interest, of corporation. The court divided five to fm.r- t.. tices Holmes and Day joining in one dissenting opinion and Justices Bran deis and Clarke in another The court upheld federal court de crees denying the authority of con gress to tax stock dividends and award ing to Myrtle M. Macomber U367 which she had paid .under protest on CONSTANTINOPLE ALLIED HANDS UNDER ARMISTICE TERMS .Paris, Mar. 8. Constantinople Is actually ocupted by allied trops un der provisions of the armistice, it is pointed out by the Petit Parislen this morning, which says' that city is head quarters for General Franchet D'E perey. and there are in the city one division and one brigade of French troops. In addition there are in Constanti nople one regiment of Italian and a battalion of British troops and there are other British forces in the re gion of the straits. A British division is spread Aver Anatolia betwen Scu tari and Brusa, while the French have" a division in western Thrace. the newspaper says. ' v America Criticized London, Mar. 8. Commenting up on unconfirmed reports that British troops and seasen have actually oc cupied Constantinople, the London Times says: "Cardinal Gibbons, James W. Ge rard, former American ambasador at Berlin, and other notable Americans demand that the Turk be expelled from Constantinople and that Armen ia from Ararat to the sea, be given the fullest autonomy. This manifesta tion of the best American opinion will be excedingly welcome to the al lies but we do not observe that it con tains any proposal for American as sistance in carying out the policy which ia approved. Allied peoples will not hear of schemes which, involve the sacrifice of more money and blood, except for objects which con strain them in conscience and honor to attain. They will not fight for con cessions to communities or tribes. andthreatg gad t0 have been made international concession numeis now very active in pians ior cnrvin e(j up Asiatic Turkey acordlng to tneir desires." Arrest Of Former Kaiser's Cousin Ordered ByNoske Berlin, Mar. 8. Gustav Noske, minister of defense, has ordered the provisional arrest of Prince Joachim Albrecht of Prussia, cousin of for mer Emperor William and Baron Von Blaten, for engaging in an as sault upon Captain Roughevin, a French officer with the inter-allied mission in this city Saturday night. Th assault occurred in the din- In rnnm of the Adlon hotel, he prince and his friends hurling can dles, crockery and other missies at Pnntnln Roushevln and his party. i.j t stand while the woo au iuoi - A orchestra was playing ."Deutchland Uber Allies." Captain Roughevin was beaten and his clothes were torn. 1100 shares of new stock received in January, 1916, as a stock dividend from the Standard Oil company of Cal ifornia, The case was one of a series in which J P. Morgan, Herbert L. Piatt and others had questioned the validity of the act. Court officials said the case was one of the most important at this term and in the determination of the question involved affects thousands of inves tors. Under the court's ruling the federal government must refund millions of dollars in taxes collected on fltnfk riiv. idends since the 191 law became ef fective. Internal bureaus said todav the exact total of the refunds could not be estimated at this time and that it would not be known until all claims had been filed and computed. STATE QUESTIONS -DEFENSE WITNESS1 TESTIMONY TODAY Montesano, Wash., Mar. 9. Testi mony of William Spears, Roslyn, Wash., cpal miner, given last Saturday as a defense witness in the trial of ten alleged I. W. W. -for the murder of Warren O. Grimm, Centralia Armistice day parade victim, was attacked by the state 4n rebuttal at the opening of the seventh week of the trial today, Spears had testified that he had been advised by R. H. McGadden, deputy sheriff of Kittitas county, to not come to Montesano to testify in the I. W. W. trial. - , To rebut Spears' testimony McFad den was called by the state. He ve hemently denied that he had so ad vised Spears. He said he did not know Spears had witnessed the Centralia shootings' until he read it in the papers last Saturday. The testimony of John Patterson also was attacked. Patterson had tes tified to being close to the hall .at the time of the tragedy. Today Miss Ruth Godfrey, 15, a neighbor's child, testi fied she was in, the Patterson home on the morning of November 12, and heard Patterson tell his wife that he had seen nothing of the affair. J. L. Pollock, also a neighbor of Patterson, testified that Patterson had told him he was a block away from the trouble, having been compelled to take his children back home when they became frightened at the shooting. Pollock de clared he was not in sympathy with the I. WV W, . - . Four defense exhibits, newspapers containing stories of meetings held at the Elks club In Centralia. were ruled out of the evidence today upon motion of state counsel, court holding that the connecting link to show that Grimm had any part in these meeting, or that these meetings, had not been establish Firemen Search Hotel Ruins For Victims Of Fire Old Point Comfort, Va., Mar, 8. Firemen, aided by civilians and sol diers from Fortress Monroe today be gan searching the ruins of the Cham berlin hotel for possible victims of the fire which last night completely de stroyed the big structure. Effort lso was being made to check up the 200 or more guests as well as 170 employ es. Rumors that two or three persons had perished were discounted by the hotel management. The Chamberlin, probably one of the best known tourist hotels on the Atlantic .coast, was located on the gov ernment reservation. It was seven stories in height and of frame con struction. The flames broke out on ,h. trr-minA flnnr And soon were be- ... e,. . yond control. The loss, including the' effects of guests, was estimated at more than 13,000,000. PHOXE COMPAXt WARNED AGAIXST BREAKING LEASE The Paeifip Telephone & Telegraph company is warned against undue haste in terminating its lease arrange ments with the Federal Telegraph com pany, in letter written by Fred A. Williams of the Oregon public service commission. The present lease arrangements be-1 tween the two companies, Williams points out, were made when the gov ernment took over a large part of the wireless equipment of the Federal com pany during the war. This equipment was distributed over the United States and has not yet been returned so that any sudden termination of lis lease ar rangement would tend to disrupt serv ice by the Federal company. WILSOHS AGREES WITH PREMIERS 011MP0IS Notes on Adratic Situation Accepts Settlement Propos al With Resercatiins Washington," Mar. 8. While ex pressing satisfaction at the "unaltered desire of the allied leaders to reach" an "equitable solution," President Wilson in his last note to the French and British premiers accepts with and Jugo-Slavia themselves be permit ted to settle the Adriatic dispute. While the president refused to agree to a withdrawal of the British-French- American memorandum of December 9, he indicated his unalterable oddosI- tion to the execution of the terms of the treaty of London except insofar as the Lnited States government "may be convinced that those term are In trinsically just and are consistent with the maintenance of peace and settled order in southeastern Europe." Leave Albania, Out- While he said he would gladly ap prove a mutual settlement between Italians and the Jugo-Slavs which would be prejudice to the interests of any third nation, the president de clared he cannot "possibly approve any plan which assigns to Jugo-Slavia in the northern districts of Albania ter ritorial compensation for what she Is deprived, of elsewhere." Albanian questions, he further said, should not be included in the proposed Joint dis cussions. If Italy and Jugo-Slavia, he said, prefer to abandon the so-called buffer state and deslreto limit the proposed free state to the copus separatum of Flume, placing the sovereignty in tlu league of nations, the United States is willing to leave the determination of the common frontier to Italy and Jugo-Slavia. The text of the president's reply was made public last night Text of Note. . President Wilson's note, to the pre miers on the Adriatlo ituation follows: "The president desires to express his sincere and cordial interest in the re sponse of the French and British prime ministers received on February 27. He notes with satisfaction their unaltered desire to reach an equitable solution in conformity alike with the principles of the peace conference and of the , legitimate though conflicting aspirations of the Italians and Jugo slav people. He further welcomes their expresed intention regarding certain essential points to 'urge upon the gov ernments interested that they should bring their desires dnto line with the American point of view.' "The president is surprised, how ever, that they should find in the statement of his own willingness to leave to the Joint agreement of Italy and Jugo-Slavia the settlement of 'their common frontiers In the Flume region' any ground .for suggesting the with drawal of the Joint memorandum of December 9." In this he could not pos sibly Join. The memorandum repre sents deliberate and distinterested Judgment atter months of earnest dis cussion. It constituted more than a mere exchange of views; it was a Btate ment of principles and a recapltlua tlon of the chief points upon whicn agreement had been reached. I "There was thus afforded a sum-' mary review of these points of agree ment of the French, British and Amer ican governments and the memoran dum should remain as It was Intended to be, the basis of reference represent ing the combined opinion of these gov ernments. "In referring to 'the common fron tier In the Flume region' the president had In mind the express desire of. the two Interested governments to aban don the project of the free state of Flume as defined in the memorandum of December 9. "If, as he understands, the govern ment of Italy and the government of the Serb-Croat-Slovene state prefer to abandon the so-called buffer state con taining an overwhelming majority of Jugo-Slavs and desire to limit the pro posed free state to the corpus separa tum of Flume, placing the soverignty in the league of nations without either Italian or Jugo-Slav control then the government of the United States is pre pared to accept this proposal and ! willing under such circumstances' to leave the determination of the common frontier to Italy and Jugo-Hlavla. In this connection the president desires to reiterate that he would gladly approve a mutual agreement between the'ltal ian and Jubo-Slav governments reach ed without prejudice to the territorial or other interests of any third nation, but Albianlan questions should not be Included In the proposed Joint discus sion of Italy and Jugo-Slavia and the president must reaffirm that he cannot possibly approve any plan which as signs to Jugo-Slavia in the northern districts of Albania territorial compen sation for what she Is deprived of else where. Concerning the economic out leu for Jugo-Slavia in the region of Scutari suggested In the note under reply, the president desires to refer to the memorandum of December asi makins- u ,1,u!i 4 f A nrovlsinna tn ,m.r the needs of Jugo-Slavia. London Treaty Ktrnr4. "Regarding the character and sp- (Continued on Pag Five.) PEOPLE WHO KNtyV HOOVER Evidence Of The Qualities That Brought "Bert" To - The f Front Diseernable Here. By Will Carver. This portion of The Capital Jour nal's biographical review of Hoovei from the viewpoint of his Salem resi dence, will be devoted to a phase of Bert's life which clearly demonstrates the unselfish attributes qualifying him for one of the most Important positions arising during the wartime emergency. Eastern writers and others who have made research into the early life of the relief administrator have discov ered an admirable trait diseernable In the Hoover family. Modesty, and a desire of self etfacement. Hoover's relatives are proud of him and believe there Is absolutely noth ing within the scope of humyi achieve ment. that Bert could not do, if he went after it The family records prove this. Boyhood tasks, school ambitions, personal undertakings and public posi tions of trust; when Hoover said "I will!" "things started to happen" as a boyhood chum of Bert's phrases It. But when the task was accomplished, there is a refreshing absence of the "only I could do It" attitude. Of all public vocations, the newspa per game is one in which the big "I" pops up eternally. Someone always seeking to bask in relected glory. "In similar instance, the news source is scant, unless personal mention is promised." . The task of gathering the meagre fragments concerning; Hoover. has been made very pleasant by the absence of the reporter's Waterloo- the big "L" It has developed that among Hoov er's relations of more humble means that the biographer encountered this proposition, without exception. "Let the world know how Bert has stood by us an. How he was always willing to aid any of the younger generation who desired help lij completing their edu cation. How he remembered Grandma MlnUorn during her last days, seeking to repay her for her early assistance and encouragement. AH of 'these things are true. But - don't mention our names In the articles, as we have no desire to steal In on Bert's achieve ments. . This spirit of humility and unself ishness is unoommon and well note worthy for correlation with Hoover's own record, of never having been a candidate for public office. . Perhaps the writer has handled this portion of the chapter, clumsily, but the truth of the matter remains that this dominant fact of the humble Quaker spirit In the Hoover-Mlnthorn family asserts Itself, not as a tribute, but as a quality, , Information available in Salem, fur nishes material for many interesting chapters concerning this word-known man. The Capital Journal repeats the invitation for contributions to this col- umn by any of the older Salem resi dents who remember Hoover during his boyhood in this city. Bolshevik Launch Attack On Poles And Finns, Report London, Mar. 8. Russian soviet forces have launched attacks against the Poles and the Finns on the west ern and northern fronts, according to aavices received here. In both in stances, It is said, they have been re pulsed and the Finns are reported to have launched a counter attack which has pierced the red lines. Polish units holding the line run ning through the Prlpet marshes south of Bobruisk are said to have been un der attack at two points, the soviet armies advancing on the north and south sides of the marshes. It Is re called the Poles last week rejected overtures for an armistice, pending peaoe negotiations, holding the bolshe vik would strengthen their lines dur ing the time they are protected by the provisions of the truce. In the mean time delegates from the Baltic states are expected to meet at Warsaw next week to consider the soviet peace terms. Death Follows Refugees Fleeing From Hardships Constantinople, Mar. 8.- Death pur sued 800 refugees who fled from No vorosslsk on the steamer Navajo at the approach of Russian soviet forces, ai,. er many had died of disease, cold ana starvation. The craft arrived here wth emanclated and starving passen gers. Eighteen hours after leaving port, the vesel, which had been chartered by the American Red Cross to bring the fugitives out of southern Russia, was struck by a blizzard which for two days prevented the ship from making headway. Food and coal supplies were ail consumed. For four days the Nav ajo drifted In the Black sea while a hurricane raged. Typhus then appeared on board and the refugees saw the bodies of scores consigned to the waters. At last an other refugee ship picked up the Nav ajo. Hundreds of the passengers ar rived here with hands and feet frozen. CALL FOR COMPLETE inVESTIGATIOII ; OFSTATETREASUWSOmCEAaD IT'S KIVKIKS ISSUED TODAY Action Follows Charges Of Purchase Of Se curities At Inflated Value With Funds Of State Accident Commission By Hoff From Morris Bros. Governor Olcott this morning order ed a grand Jury Investigation of condi tions In the state treasurer's office and a, probe of investments made, as a re sult of charges alleging that State Treasurer Hoff had purchased que tionagle securities at Inflated valua tions with the monies of the segregat ed accident fund of the state Industrial accident commission through transac tions by which the bonding house u Morris Bros., Inc., of Portland realised a profit of $50,867.45 in excess of the customary I per cent broker's commis sion. The bond purchases were made by Chief Deputy Treasurer Joseph G. Richardson, who left Salem for Port land Saturday and had not returned at noon. A probe of the investments made by State Treasurer Hoff show that during 1919, bonds to the par value of $727, 229.09 were purchased at a cost of $773,820.78 to the state, a premium of $48,591.64 being paid, Most of these bonds, it Is alleged, are not worth par in the open market, and all of them were sold by the municipalities issuing them for less than par. The bonds were purchased at a price to yield 6U per cent on the investment. Attorney General Assists). Governor Olcott instructed Attorney General Brown to appear before "a grand Jury of competent Jurisdiction for the purpose of managing and con ducting an inquiry and investigation into the matter of the purchase of se curities by the state treasurer's of flee." "I desire the scope of this Investiga tion to e sufficiently wide to cover nil transactions having to do with the purchase of securities by the state treasurer or his assistant," Governor Olcott s letter to the attorney general reads, calling particular attention to (Continued on page six) YEEG QUARTET ROBS LOS ANGELS STORE THRU CLEVER RUSE Los Angeles, Cat., March 8. Four men robbed the safe of the Fifth Street store here last nighf., securing from $26,000 to $39,000 cash and lib erty bonds, the exact value of the lat ter not yet checked. The men gained entrance to the tore by rapping for a watchman and telling him they were detectives irom an agency which he knew was em ployed to watch, the store. Once In ide, they bound and gagged the watchman. Then they overpowered a night janitor, blew the safe and walked out. The robbery was not dis covered for five hours. , ...... The watchman and Janitor were found handcuffed to the iron grille work on the elevator shaft when the store was finally entered. The watchman told the police that the robbers worked three hours on the big old-fashioned safe and in the mean while forced him to "ring In" his usual signals, He said they then handcuffed him where he was found and left in an au tomobile that had been running out side all the time they worked. When the signals failed to come In, a man was sent by the telegraph company to Investigate, not being able to raise the watchman, he notified the Merchants Patrol which forced an entrance to the store and released the men. Search of the store disclosed that a sack contain ing about 75 pounds of pennies had been taken with the other contents of the safe but left i the main floor. The police believed the men aban. doned because they feared It would at tract attention when they carried it to their automobile. DEMOCRATS ASKED TO S1GW HOOVER NOMINATING PETITIONS Petitions have been sent to the Capital Journal office and can be signed there to place Herbert Hoover's name upon the primary ballot as a democratic candidate for president. The fact that Hoover has refused to state his party alleg iance does not prevent the people of either or both parties from nominating him against the wishes of the politicians, and his own wishes. It is a case of the job seeking the man. Only registered democrats are eligible to sign these petitions, but if any republican will get out similar petitions to nominate Hoover, the Capital Journal will render similar aid in securing signatures. It is up to the people to beat the politicians to it and name the next president. If you are a democrat, sign this petition. If you are a republican, get out a petition of your own. f- TREASURER SAYS 1ESTIMI OF ACTS WELCOISED Announcement that he will welcome any investigation that may be made and his department in connection with, the purchase of development bonds of various Oregon projects through Mor ris Bros., a Portland bonding firm, 0. P., Hoff, tate treasurer, has issued the following statement; ' "When I assumed the duties of state treasurer, it was my Intention so to conduct that office as to render the best service possible to the people of the state of Oregon. Inasmuch as th ' duties of the office require the invest ment of large sums of money, St wast my desire to make the fund earn a reasonable rate of interest basod upon good securities. To this end a policy was adopted whereby the state funds) should earn 6 per cent net, or us near to the percentage as possible, while .the prevailing market interest rate for Oregon municipal bonds at that time was 5 per cent. No Firm Excluded ' ' "It was my desire o Invest the funds at as early a pioment as possible so that the Interest earnings would b correspondingly large, AH offering of bonds were considered, and for th reason that Morris li withers was In a position to furnish, Jurga amounts of bonds without delay it was concluded to make purchases from this firm, not, however, to the exclusion iet any other firm. The purchase of fcoiuls made were municipal in character and based upon the securities bf the different municipalities in the. state of Oregon and personal obligation of the respec tive municipalities. The taxes of the state come from different counties and for that reason I believed that If se curities were good, bonds from the dif ferent cities and counties In the state should be purchased In order to make a fairer allotment of the state's fund throughout the state. '., 4 , Loss Held linpuHstlilc. "No default has ever yet b lea mm9 In the payment of interest or principal of any of the bonds purchased and aft er full consideration ut the value of ' the securities and having faith in th different cities and counties in tlin state, I feel satisfied that no loss what soever Is possible to the state of Ore gon. I well understood my trust char acter concerning the moneys of the state entrusted to me as Its official and in all investments was atildeil thereby, I never at any time have fur nished any bonding house or person money with which to purchase bonds, but have always purchased, as I be lleved, from the owner of the bonds. State Earnings Increase. "During the past year, with approx imately the same bank balance as ths preceding year, I have earned for thj state $5789 in interest more than in the preceding year. In spite of the extensive public improvements requir ing millions of dollnrs to be handled by the state treasurer, the active daily balance In the active depository of tna state hits been $1116,383.08 as against $458,357.62 for the preceding year. During the past two months this active balance has been reduced to approxi mately $50,000. Practically all trust funds, entrusted to the state treasurer, have yielded greater interest earnings than in any preceding year. "In the uiaimguiiietit of my office I ascertained that full inheritance taxes had not been paid, and I appointed deputies to Investigate this matter and haye collected large sums which other- 1 Continued on Page Six.)