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About The Monmouth herald. (Monmouth, Or.) 1908-1969 | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1917)
The Herald RICHARD B. SWENSON Editor & Publisher Bntarad aa wcond-claa. mattar Swtcnbcr 1 W. t tht poat oflle at Monmouth. Onm undar the Act of March J, 171. ISSUED EVERY FRIDAY Subscription Rates One year - $1.50 Six monthi 75 cU Three month 50 cU MONMOUTH, OREGON FRIDAY, APR. 6, 1917. ( IQCZZD) Monmouth Meditations U mi l The sidewalk man is beginning to get busy. A year ago this week the cherries were preparing to blossom. Junior Day, 1917, will not be reck oned among the least of them. This is the week when the con scientious Biddy is busy producing Easter eggs. A year in Monmouth has con vinced the meditator that Nature is considerably partial to this section. Judging from the growth made the past week it will be some time before the local potato crop is ready to harvest. With nineteen soldiers, rookies and veterans, in the national guard, Monmouth has done something to help give us an army. But it is apt to do more before that five hundred thousand is enlisted. Prospects for shipbuilding look good for some years to come. So many craft have been sunk or de stroyed that it will take some time to catch up again. Ship building has been an important industry in the northwest and is apt to become more important. People to whom the European war seemed foolish and unnecessary when it started nearly three years ago, are beginning to realize that it will have results in the reduction of caste and social standing in all the nations engaged in it. So with these occasional wet days that are so irritable, they are producing live arguments for those good road bonds that are to be voted on next June. It might be possible to beat the proposed debt limitation charter amendment once but it will pass eventually. It must pass for the city can not keep house without it. If defeated the first time, it will pass on a second attempt and then the re action is apt to raise the limita tion, for 5 per cent is low. Any council which can contract a new debt can legalize an old one. There you have the whole thing in a nutshell. present trouble is non partisan. Roosevelt in the van of our army would do more to make foreign countries believe we are in earnest than any other one thing we might do. It has been said that when the people of the state understand them they will favor the road bonds. It has been demonstrated that they will not add burden to the tax pay er. We have tried the old plan of building a bit at a time and it has not worked. The present road agi tation in Oregon is an echo of simi lar moves in other parts of the Union. Good roads are being built by the bond plan, done in a syste matic manner, by men who have made a specialty of road making and who build roads to last. Good roads in Polk county will make farming more attractive and will add actual, if not speculative value to the farms of the county. There is no reason why hard surface roads built in Polk county should not be permanent. Where the ground is not subject to freezing and thawing, the great disturbing element of oth er sections, the roads will last for a long time. Why should we not have good roads as well as bad ones. We live but once and while traveling back and forth we might as well have hard roads to travel on as slosh around in the mud. Eastern Oregon is practically unanimous for good roads. There is no reason why the Willamette valley should not be likewise. There are a number of reasons why it would be good policy to al low Roosevelt to raise an army to take to Europe. In the first place, it would facilitate the raising of soldiers for enlistment would be easy and there would be hundreds and thousands who would volunteer to be included therein. In the sec ond place, the effect abroad would be salutary. No other American is as well known abroad as is Roose velt. His name would add strength to our allies and confusion to our enemies. His knowledge is compre hensive and his judgment good. Vast numbers of Americans who denounced the views of Roosevelt last summer are sharing those same views today. It would be a good political move for the success of a United America depends on a practical demonstration that this One of the best features of the Spanish-American war was the way in which North and South took ad vantage of the opportunity to dem onstrate that the scars of the Civil war had been healed. General Wheeler shared the honors with northern born men and the wave of patriotism that united all sections of the country was inspiring to share in. So, at the present time, although many have disagreed as to sufficiency of cause, now that war is determined on there will arise a similar condition to demonstrate that Americans are one people. If the administration is big enough to realize that where all sorts and con ditions are depended on to defend the flag, all corners of the body politic must be respected, we will see a demonstration decisive enough to convince any one that there is no hyphen as far as American citizen ship is concerned. From now on, it is the duty of Americans to put forth their best efforts to help this nation win. Help can be given in many ways. The youth and strong er men can take their share in active duty on the firing line and there is also a prominent part to be played in the more quiet avenues of commerce. A great general said that an army crawled on its stomach and if it is not fed it can not fight. Growing food in times of war is as important as fighting and all can enlist in this sort of work. The harvest of next fall is being planned now and it is a mark of patriotism to see that the harvest be as large as possible. The Ladies' Home Journal which has waged successful war on patent medicine ad"ertising and similar grievances, now comes to the front in favor of a crusade on cats. The management of the Journal has been doing some investigating and nas iouna tnat something like a million song birds are killed by cats each year which would, had their careers not been thus suddenly terminated, have eaten about a bill ion worms, bugs and bacteria and the world would have been that much better off. The Journal sug gests a national law that each cat allowed to arch its back and purr must have a license and a bell about its neck and that it no longer be permitted to prance with deft and joyous tread upon the ridgeboard of the roof but must be kept in con finement at night While it is ac knowledged that the cat is a music al animal and is highly entertaining when engaged in solo or duet per formances and a feline quartette is calculated to inspire one to thoughts I of assassination and vindictive tort ure, it also has other practical uses. For instance, if there were no cats we are assured there could be no fiddle strings. The killing of such a large number of cats as is advo cated by the Journal would result in a glut of the fiddle string market, followed by a scarcity. To avoid this we suggest that the Journal work out a practical method for con serving the fiddle string supply to see that nothing is wasted. This ac complished, let the slaughter begin. "Unification of Regulation It Essential. A Compltto, Harmonious, Consistent and Rolattd 8ystsm Noodtd Ftdoral Incorporation of Railroada by Ganor al Law Favored. Washluirtou, March 2.-Reponglbll. Ity fur the railway development of the country, for providing necessary trans portation facilities to rare for the grow ing business and population of the country, now rest largely with con gress and not entirely with the rail road uiuuagera. This waa the state ment of Judtfo Robert 8. Lovett. chair man of the executive committee of the Union Pacific system, to the N'ewlands Joint congressional committee when that body resumed Its Inquiry Into the subject of railroad regulation this week. In making this statement of the changed conditions of the railroad sit uation Judge Lovett undoubtedly bad In mind the decision of the supreme court on the Adamson law, banded down last week, which establishes the right of the federal government to tlx rullrotid wages and to prevent strikes. This dcctxlwu la regarded by railroad -J men in id luwvers us marking an epoch in the development of transportation ill the United States. We have our share of responsibil ity," Bald Judge Lovett, "but It rests primarily on congress. When the gov ernment regulates the rates and the liuanclal administration of the rail roads, the borrowing of money and the issuum-e of securities it relieves the railroad otllcers of the resiionsiliility of providing and developing transporta tion systems, except within the limits of the revenue t hut can be realized from such rules and under such restrictions. "For a country such as ours, for a people situaled its we ure, to blunder uloug with u series of unreliited. Incon sistent, coutllctiug statutes enacted by different stutes without relation to each other, instead of providing a com plete and carefully studied and pre pared system of regulation for a busi ness that Is so vital to the life of the uutlon. Is worse tliiin folly." lie summed up tliu present problems and dllliculties of the railroads as fol lows: I'lrst.-The multiplicity of regula tions by the severul states with respect to the Issue of securities. Involving de lays and coullli'tiiig state policies gen erally dangerous mid possibly disas trous. Second. The state regulation of rates In such u manner us to unduly reduce revenues, to discriminate In fa vor of localities and shippers within its own borders as against localities and shippers In other states and to dis turb and disarrange the structure of Interstate rutes. Thlrd.-The Inubllity of the Inter state Commerce Commission, whoever the commissioners may be, to perform the vast duties devolving upon It un der existing laws, resulting In delay whlcb should never occur in commer clal matters-aud compelling the com missioners to accept the conclusions of their employees as dual In deciding matters of great importance to the commercial and railroad interests of the couutry. Kourth.-The practical legality that has been accorded conspiracies to tie up and suspend the operation of the railroads of the country by strikes and violence and the absence of any law to compel the settlement of such dis putes by arbitration or other Judicial means, as all other Issues between citi zens In civilized states are to be set tled. Fifth. -The pheuomeiiul Increase In the taxation of railroads In recent years. Sixth. The cumulative effect of these conditions tiHu the Investing public, to which railroad companies must look for the eupltal necessary to continue development "We believe that the unification of regulation Is essential," said Judge Lovett. "and that with the rapid In crease of state commissions In recent years congress will In time be com pelled to exercise Its power In the premises. To unify regulation there should le a complete, harmonious, con sistent and related system. We be lieve the best, if not the only practical plan. Is the federal Incorimratlon of railroads by general law. which will make Incorporation thereunder com pulsory, thus Imposing on all railroad companies throughout the United States the same corporate powers and restrictions with respect to their finan cial operations and the same duties and obligations to the public and the government, so that every Investor will know precisely what every railroad corporation may and mar not lawfullr do." 01 The Roof Over Your Head will be a good one if it is made of our shingles. Made of the best materials, well seasoned, if prop erly put on they will last for years. Same way with our lumber. It is the best and for that reason, the cheapest to use. Willamette Valley Lumber Co. Phone Main 202. Monmouth, Oregon on c oc Monmouth Transfer and Feed Stable All kinds of transferring done promptly and on short notice FRANK SKEEN, Proprietor. Monmouth, Oregon The Valley Electrical Shop Lighting Fixtures and Supplies WIRING Estimates cheerfully furnished free. All work guaranteed to stand city inspection. We do contract work." Phone trouble and we will come.. In with Phillips' jewelry store. Main 4021. H. D. Clements Independence t X v Books, Popular Fiction, n Magazines, Periodicals, Subscriptions taken. We can match any clubbing offer. WALKER'S Book Store MONMOUTH DAIRY J J. M. Mc DONALD, Prop- INSPECTED BY STATE BOARD OF HEALTH 1 4 ! i Come and see our fine herd of Jer sey Cows and clean, sanitary barn Phone 2405 MONMOUTH, ORE. C. G. GRIFFA, Plumber and Steam Fitter. Carries In Stock Bath Tubs, Toilet Fixtures and all kinds of Plumb ers' Supplies, nickel-plated or otherwise. All orders attended to promptly and work guaranteed. MONMOUTH. . . OREGON
