4A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL July 27, 2016
O PINION
Offbeat Oregon History
Supreme Court once declared slavery
legal for sailors
BY FINN J.D. JOHN
For the Sentinel
N
early everyone knows that
the dirty business of “shang-
haiing” people onto sailing ships
was relatively common in the 1890s
in waterfront port towns like Port-
land and Astoria.
But what most don’t know is
that most of that shanghaiing was
perfectly legal under state and fed-
eral law — thanks to an edict of
the Supreme Court, which actually
proclaimed that because sailors are
categorically stupid, the Constitu-
tional ban on slavery didn’t apply
to them.
This sounds like hyperbole or ex-
aggeration. It’s not.
The shanghaiing incident that led
to this judicial whopper happened in
Astoria, where sailors were always
hard to come by and locals knew
to watch out. Astoria, as you may
know, is the port in which shanghai-
ers once were desperate enough to
try kidnapping a Methodist minister
in his own church (unsuccessfully;
the minister turned out to be an ex-
prizefi ghter). It’s also the town that
was once so desperate for sailors
that shanghaiing legend Larry Sul-
livan once actually chartered a riv-
erboat to throw a “birthday party
cruise to Astoria” — complete with
luxurious foods, lots of booze and
prostitutes — and invited a bunch
of suckers from the streets of Port-
land to join him in the revels so that
they could be delivered, helplessly
drunk, on the deck of a desperately
understaffed ship.
So, knowing such extreme mea-
sures were the price of replacement
sailors in Astoria, skippers tended
to pull out all the stops trying to get
them back when they jumped ship
there.
And such was the case on one
particular day in May of 1895,
when the barkentine Arago put into
Astoria. The ship had just left San
Francisco, and Astoria was its fi rst
stop on an open-ended cruise to
foreign and domestic ports, includ-
ing Valparaiso “and thence to such
other foreign ports as the master
may direct.” There was no time
limitation; the cruise would be over
when the captain said it was over.
Such contracts were the usual thing
sailors would sign (or, in the case of
the shanghaied, be forced to sign)
before embarking on a voyage.
But for four of the sailors on the
Arago, Astoria was as far as they
wanted to go. So in classic Ameri-
can blue-collar style, they walked
off the job, saying, in effect, “we
quit.”
Now, these sailors knew it
wouldn’t be that simple. For time
out of mind, the private owners of
merchant ships had been able to call
upon local law enforcement author-
ities to force their would-be ex-em-
ployees to return to the job. Those
sailors knew what was about to
happen; in fact, it was part of their
plan. They, and the sailors’ union
they were part of, knew that being
forced to sail on a ship – that is, be-
ing shanghaied – is involuntary ser-
vitude. And involuntary servitude,
a.k.a. slavery, is directly forbidden
by the Thirteenth Amendment. But
forcing sailors to return to work
when they tried to quit was common
practice, and nobody had yet chal-
lenged it in court.
So what they and their union
wanted to do was just that — chal-
lenge legal shanghaiing in court,
ideally appealing it all the way to
the Supreme Court. The Supreme
Court would then have no choice
but to enforce the plain and simple
language of the Constitution. Yes,
they’d broken their contract. Yes,
they were liable for whatever costs
the shipper incurred as a result of
that violation. But could they le-
gally be rounded up at gunpoint
and returned to the “master” like a
runaway slave in ante-bellum Geor-
gia? Surely not. Surely the Supreme
Court would put a stop to such prac-
tices – right?
Wrong.
In one of the most astonishing de-
cisions ever to come out of the Su-
preme Court, the 8-1 majority held
that sailors were an “exception” to
the Constitutional prohibition.
The ruling was shocking to mod-
ern ears from start to fi nish. It kicked
off by claiming that the government
was allowed to use force to compel
performance of a civil contract, cit-
ing as precedent the case of an ac-
tual runaway slave in Pennsylvania
before the war.
Then it claimed that “involuntary
servitude” wasn’t involuntary if a
person signed an agreement to en-
ter into it – in effect, ruling that ac-
tual plantation-style slavery would
still be legal if the slaves signed a
contract fi rst, giving consent to be
enslaved.
The Court’s next whopper was
a casual assertion that the Bill of
Rights in the U.S. Constitution had
been intended only to formalize
existing practice, not to create any
kind of revolutionary change from
English law (an astonishing claim,
and very untrue) and that, therefore,
the Thirteenth Amendment wasn’t
intended to make major changes
from established practice. Other
than, you know, that whole “outlaw-
ing slavery in the South” thing.
Please see OFFBEAT, Page 10A
A salute to BMD's indispensable volunteers
T
he 2016 Bohemia Mining Days
festival has now joined the 56 oth-
ers that have come and gone. On behalf
of the BMD Festival Board and myself,
we want to thank our community for its
support this year.
President Eric Johnson, Vice President
Joel Reiten, Secretary/Treasurer Cathy
Simmons, and board members Jerry
Vaverka and Jimmy Schaper and I spend
all year planning the festival and work
crazy hours in the weeks leading up to,
during and immediately following the
four-day event. We do it because we are
passionate about our history. After more
than a half-century of existence, we are
determined to do whatever it takes pre-
serve this beloved summer tradition.
I think of the festival as a heavily
loaded Conestoga wagon crossing the
Cascades. Like an effective oxen team,
we work well together and coordinate
our different strengths to make it to the
crest to enjoy a four-day long magnifi -
cent view: We see a sea of smiles fi lling
up “Bohemia City” and that view makes
the challenging climb toward another
successful BMD worth all the effort.
Everyone who enjoyed our celebra-
tion owes a debt of gratitude to the in-
dividuals, businesses and organizations
who donated money, materials and time
to ensure another successful event. They
are listed on our website and in a soon-
to-be published thank you ad. Please
support them whenever possible.
Long-time BMD Festival Coordinator
Sharon Jean always says, “It takes many
hands and hearts to create Bohemia Min-
ing Days each year.” We are indebted to
those hands and hearts and want to rec-
ognize a few who went the extra mile to
ensure events happened and the festival
ran smoothly.
The CG Sentinel Staff for producing
another terrifi c Bohemia Nugget and the
support we receive from our hometown
newspaper throughout the year.
KNND’s Sound Crew: Cameron Re-
iten, Michael Roberts and Fred Talbot
for professionally managing three of our
four stages.
Holli Turpin and Shawna Neigh used
their creativity and passion for history
to organize the inaugural BMD Treasure
Hunt. Holli’s colorful treasure map was
fun and beautifully designed.
Joelie Saunders enthusiastically took
the helm of our Grand Miners Parade
and built a team that gave us the best or-
ganized parade we’ve had in years.
Dan Holt stepped in at the 11th hour
to serve as BMD’s volunteer coordina-
tor. He made phone calls to those who
applied to be a volunteer, then worked
many hours to cover shifts for key posi-
tions.
Ellen Hogue, a BMD organizer for 32
years prior to 1999, fi lled in wherever
we needed her and single-handedly en-
sured Sunday Treasure Hunters received
credit for all three checkpoints on South
River Road.
Bill and Laurie Caldwell volunteered
for multiple shifts throughout the week-
end and then stayed on to fi ll in for other
volunteers who didn’t show up to relieve
them.
BMD Slabtown vs. Lemati Feud Cre-
ator and Game Master Jake Boone (with
his trusty assistants Steve and Jesse)
brought people of all ages together to
play free games in creative ways since
2012. After four years, they are taking a
break, and we thank them for establish-
ing The Feud. We are looking for a new
team that will take this on in 2017.
Board member spouses, Bill Sim-
mons, Marjie Vaverka, and Ralph Weel-
dreyer, put in many hours prior to, dur-
ing and after the festival.
The Cottage Grove Museum, the
Crafty Mercantile and the Main Street
Program brought back the Bloomer Pa-
rade this year to kick-off the festival.
Roger Kahane, a consummate musi-
cian and generous soul, volunteered to
open the Heritage Stage for us at 4 pm
on Thursday afternoon. The stage cano-
py was not up yet and still he performed
fl awlessly before a small audience while
roasting in the hot sun.
Photographer Greg Lee volunteered
his time and expertise to create an im-
portant visual record of our festival for
BMD and the Sentinel.
We are now wrapping up the details
for this year and planning next month’s
Sponsor and Volunteer Appreciation
Dinner. As we look to next year, we def-
initely need more board members who
share our passion for continuing this
summer tradition.
We also appreciate feedback from
festival-goers on their experiences and
their suggestions on what can be done
to make BMD 2017 even better. Call me
at the BMD Offi ce: 541-942-5064 or
email: bmd@bohemiaminingdays.org
Until next year,
Cindy Weeldreyer
BMD Festival Coordinator
What is Vitamin K2? Do I need both K1 and K2?
BY JOEL FUHRMAN, MD
For the Sentinel
V
itamin K is essential
for the process of blood
clotting. In fact, vitamin K was
named for this important func-
tion; the scientists who discov-
ered the vitamin named it using
the fi rst let-
ter of the
German
word ‘ko-
agulation.’
In addition,
we
now
know that
vitamin K
$ PUUBHF ( SPWF 4 FOUJOFM
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also promotes bone health and
heart health via interactions
with calcium. Vitamin K allows
the body to utilize the calcium
needed for bone and tooth for-
mation. Many studies have as-
sociated low vitamin K status
with a higher risk of hip fracture
or low bone mineral density.
There are two forms of vita-
min K; Vitamin K1 is easy to
obtain when following a high-
nutrient (Nutritarian) diet, since
it is abundant in leafy green veg-
etables. Kale, collards, spinach
and mustard greens are some of
the richest sources of K1. Vita-
min K2, on the other hand, is
produced by microorganisms
and scarce in plant foods; high
K2 foods include dark meat
chicken, pork and fermented
foods like cheese, so K2 is more
diffi cult to get from a Nutritar-
ian diet. The human body can
synthesize some K2 from K1,
and intestinal bacteria can pro-
duce some K2, but these are
very small amounts.
Studies report that a causative
factor of the low hip fracture
incidence in Japan was natto,
a fermented soy food, rich in
K2. Following this observation,
several studies found supple-
mentation with vitamin K2 to
be particularly effective at im-
proving bone health. A review
of randomized controlled trials
found that vitamin K2 reduced
bone loss and reduced the risk
of fractures; vertebral fracture
by 60 percent, hip fracture by
77 percent and all non-verte-
bral fractures by 81 percent. In
women who already had osteo-
porosis, Vitamin K2 supplemen-
tation was also shown to reduce
the risk of fracture, reduce bone
loss, and increase bone mineral
density.
A vitamin K-dependent pro-
tein binds up calcium to protect
the soft tissues—including the
arteries—from
calcifi cation.
Vitamin K2 in particular helps
to prevent the artery wall from
stiffening and maintain elastici-
ty. Coronary artery calcifi cation
is a predictor of cardiovascular
events, as is arterial stiffness.
Higher vitamin K2 intake has
been linked with a lower likeli-
hood of coronary calcifi cation;
however, the same association
was not found for K1. In 2004,
the Rotterdam Study revealed
that increased dietary intake
specifi cally of vitamin K2 sig-
nifi cantly reduced the risk of
coronary heart disease by 50
percent as compared to low di-
etary vitamin K2 intake. In this
study, Vitamin K1 had no ef-
fect. Similar results were found
in another study conducted in
2009. Furthermore, a system-
atic review of several studies
in 2010 also found no associa-
tion between vitamin K1 intake
and coronary heart disease, but
higher K2 intake was associated
with lower risk. Therefore tak-
ing in vitamin K2 in addition to
K1 is likely benefi cial to help
protect against vascular calcifi -
cation.
Ongoing research on vitamin
K is revealing new ways that vi-
tamin K acts to maintain good
health. There is some evidence
that vitamin K is involved in
insulin metabolism, and higher
intake of vitamins K1 and K2
are associated with lower risk of
type 2 diabetes.
Remember, leafy green vege-
tables provide generous amounts
of vitamin K1, and getting K2
from a supplement is likely ben-
efi cial if your diet is low in K2.
Dr. Fuhrman is a #1 New York
Times best-selling author and a
board certifi ed family physician
specializing in lifestyle and nu-
tritional medicine. His newest
book, The End of Heart Disease,
offers a detailed plan to prevent
and reverse heart disease using
a nutrient-dense, plant-rich eat-
ing style. Visit his informative
website at DrFuhrman.com.
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