THE
STATE NEWS
IN BRIEF.
HERALD,
FOOD CONTROL ASKED 30.000,000 EGGS HELD
Supervision of Distribution Desired- Investigator Suggests Government In
quiry Would Cause Break — No
Administration Would Operate
Evidence of Trust Found.
Factories in Emergency.
The present food preparedness cam
paign in Medford has resulted in the
Washington, D. C. — The govern
formation of a $25,000 corporation de-
voted to the increase of food products ment’s program for food control dur
ing the war was put before congress
in the Rogue River valley.
Saturday by Secretary Houston in a
Guards on duty at the St. Johns communication to the senate asking
woolen mills shot twice at a man who power for the department of Agricul
was seen climbing the fence early in ture to take direct supervision of food
the morning. The man fled up the production and distribution in the
railroad tracks toward Portland and United States and requesting a $25,-
escaped.
000,000 appropriation for putting the
Passengers were severely shaken and plan into operation.
Authority was asked for the Council
the car filled with smoke when a Port of National Defence, in an emergency,
land-St. Johns car ran over what is
thought to have been a dynamite cap. to buy and sell foodstuffs and to fix
maximum or minimum prices.
Responsibility for the explosion has
As outlined to the senate the gov
not been fixed.
ernment’s plan is first to make a com
Governor Withycombe has declared plete survey of the country’s food sup
himself in favor of voluntary military ply to determine its ownership and
service, if it can be accomplished suc distribution, if necessary to license
cessfully, with compulsory service to and control the operations of all con
be used only in event that the former cerns engaged in the manufacture of
food or feeds, agricultural implements
system proves a failure.
and all materials required for agricul
Seventeen North Bend youths have tural purposes.
gone to Vancouver Barracks to enter
Authority is sought for the Agricul
the army service, most of them going tural department to take over and
to the aviation school and field at San operate the concerns if that course is
Diego. A thousand people congre demanded by the public interest.
gated at the depot to bid them fare
Giving the government power to
well.
deal directly in foodstuffs probably
would make its application unneces
A huge flock of large pure white sary, Secretary Houston declared, as
swans, numbering approximately 200, its very existence would tend to keep
descended noisily upon Wapato lake, conditions normal. He proposed that
near Gaston, a few days ago on their the government should have full dis
way north for the summer, and have cretion, saying it night be wise if an
attracted much attention and admira emergency arose to fix prices on a
tion.
single commodity. Market grades and
After a race all the way from Cor classes for farm products, Secretary
bett in the automobile of her father, Houston said, form one of the chief
David Butler, little Glennie Butler, needs of the country to insure condi
aged 9 years, was operated on at the tions in producing and marketing farm
Good Samaritan hospital in Portland products.
Authority also was asked for the de
for acute appendicitis. • At a late hour
partment to require of transportation
the child was reported doing well.
companies preference for the move
War conditions at the University of ment of farm machinery, seeds, fertil
Oregon, Eugene, have resulted in the izers and materials that enter into the
postponement of the Oregon historical processes of food production.
pageant. This big all-Oregon affair
Enlargement of the market news
was to have been a feature of com service of the department ' was recom
mencement week, and would have mended as a means of insuring equit
called for a cast of players exceeding able distribution to prevent undue food
400 in number.
shortage in any consuming center and
to provide against wastes, due to tem
Marine insurance showed for 1916, porary over-supplies of food in some
risks written amounting to $47,953,- communities. The department wishes
300, as compared to $42,059,960 for to allow the market service division to
1915 in Oregon, according to figures assist in obtaining re-routing of food-
given out by Insurance Commissioner stuffs to relieve congestion on trans
Wells.
The losses paid for 1916 portation lines.
amounted to $252,978, as compared
In its plan for an investigation of
with $72,666 for 1915.
the present food supply, the Agricul
If other sections of the United tural department has arranged for the
States had proportionately as many en help of the Federal Trade commission,
listments as Coos county has given, which, with the department, was di
Uncle Sam’s navy would be filled and rected by President Wilson early in
there would be an army of 1,250,000 in the year to make an inquiry to ascer
training. If other counties had met tain the amount of food stocks and to
the call for soldiers in numbers propor determine if the anti-trust laws have
tionate to the answer there, the army been violated in food production, stor
would be twice over-enlisted while the age and distribution. That inquiry
government is considering conscription. has been halted for lack of an appro
priation. The present congress, how
For the purpose of determining the ever, has voted money for conducting
trend of education in the high schools it—the house the $400,000 asked and
of Oregon, J. A. Churchill, superin the senate $250,000.
tendent of public instruction, sent a
Some believe the Trade commission
request to each standard high school in has enough power to make unnecessary
the state for the schedule of subjects the use of extreme legislation in regu
of each pupil. Out of the 175 schools, lating the control of food, although ad
165 complied with the request, and the ditional powers should be given for an
information has just been tabulated. emergency.
The schedules of 19,857 students give
Officials of all departments and di
the following distribution of subjects : visions of the government realize that
English, 17,076; mathematics, 13,603; the facts of the situation existing
science, 8661; history, 8631; Latin, must be learned before remedies can
3190; German, 2888; manual training, be planned. Now, no one knows how
2438; domestic science and art, 3802; much food there is in the country and
stenography and typewriting, 2538; how it is distributed. Of certain foods
agriculture, 4414; teachers’ training, that government has exact knowledge,
860; Spanish, 654, and French, 175.
but of others it has virtually none.
With shipments of strawberries
starting, Spence Wortman, deputy
sealer of weights and measures, has
sent out letters to all of the district
sealers in the state urging that vigor
ous prosecutions follow any violation
of the berry-box laws.
He declares
that the department has exhausted
■every effort to acquaint the merchants
and growers with the law, and that
any violations in the future will mean
prosecution.
HERMISTON
Steel Ships Needed Too.
Washington, D. C. — Government
plans to increase the output of the
steel merchant ships reached the point
Monday where it appeared probable
that the builders of this class of ves
sels will be asked to come here next
week to confer with members of the
Shipping board and the Council of Na
tional Defense.
The administration
takes the view that while it is desir
able to build as many wooden ships as
“A disease commonly known as the possible, it also is necessary to keep
hip and leg ulcer is playing havoc up the construction of steel ships to
among the hogs and sheep of various provide for the future.
sections of the state,” says N. S.
Uhlans Stop Deserters.
Robb, county agricultural agent at
Amsterdam—More than 500 German
Eugene. “The disease confines itself
to these two classes of livestock and is fusiliers, sailors and landsturmers, on
especially bad in sheep.
It spreads Monday tried to cross the Dutch-Bel
much more rapidly in sheep than in gian frontier from the environs of
hogs and unless its appearance in the Knocke to near Cadzand, Holland, says
flock is checked by the isolation of the the Handelsblad, but the attempted de
sertion was frustrated after the party
victims the results are bad.
had been pursued and attacked by Uh
No flags can be purchased in Albany. lans. The deserters were fired on by
So great has been the demand that the the Uhlans with machine guns and in a
supply there was entirely exhausted.
fight which lasted half an hour 38 of
The director of the United States the deserters were wounded.
Geological Survey has obtained from
British Gain in Palestine.
Secretary of State Olcott a list of all
London
— The general officer com
automobile owners in Oregon, to pro
vide them with data relative to the manding the British force in Egypt re
topographic maps of the state. These ports in an official statement to the
are maps, the director says, in which war office that on April 17 the British
every automobile owner is interested, advanced north of the Wadi Ghuz, in
and he desires to get them into the Southern Palestine, and captured the
Turkish advanced positions along a
hands of all such ear owners.
front of 61 miles.
Reports from Baker say that the
The attack, the British, statement
long, cold winter, together with the says, was assisted by the fire of
scarcity of feed, has left the stock in warships and the position gained was
consolidated.
poor condition.
G. G. Brown, clerk of the State
U. 8. Paper Dollar Declines.
Land Board, says that May 22 has been
Havana—The exportation from Cuba
set as the date for opening bids on the of gold and silver money of Cuban or
next issue of rural credits bonds. The American coinage is prohibited by a
next issue will be for $500,000.
presidential decree issued Monday. A
The gathering of cascara bark is large quantity of these coins has been
getting to be an industry of some im exported, especially to Spain, since the
portance in the Willamina community. declaration by the United States of a
Friday
A. R. Ford, merchant of that city and state of war with Germany.
Butler, shipped out 40,000 pounds of the American paper dollar was quoted
it this week and received $3500 for it here at a discount of 3 per cent.
Chicago — According to Herbert A.
Emerson, who has been to the Pacific
Coast investigating food conditions for
John J. Dillon, commissioner of the
state of New York, there are between
30,000,000 and 36,000,000 eggs on the
tracks in Chicago, held by speculators
to keep up high prices.
Mr. Emerson said that the Pacific
Coast states this year, instead of im
porting eggs as they have generally
done, will have a surplus of 75,000 to
100,000 cases to sell.
Mr. Emerson said he had no evidence
of an “egg trust,” but said he is sure
there is a “mighty close understand
ing” between the big dealers and was
confident an investigation would cause
a break in prices.
“The butter situation is a parallel,”
he said. "The Pacific Coast this year
will be able to ship East a surplus of
150 cars of butter, 24,000 pounds to
the car.
Four years ago the Coast
imported 200 cars.”
Wheat Has Good Stand.
Walla Walla—Walla Walla county’s
wheat is in the condition it should
have been in the first week in April.
Warm weather from now on will en
able it to make up this lateness to a
certain extent. The stand is good all
over the county, however, though the
crop will not be normal.
Winter wheat is about at the s age
that spring sown usually is at this time
of the year, while the spring sown on
the majority of ranches is just coming
out of the ground.
The cool rainy weather is giving the
grain a chance to stool well. Hot
weather would cause it to grow rapidly
without stooling, farmers say.
The farmers are anxious for the
warmer days, however, to increase
pasturage.
Hay is high and almost unobtainable
and the animals have been subsisting
on the slim pasturage, except work
animals.
Apple Growers Protest Higher Freight
Wenatchee, Wash. — Believing that
the apple industry in the Columbia
valley is seriously threatened by the
increase of 15 per cent in freight rates
proposed by the railroad companies,
the Wenatchee Valley Traffic associa
tion and the Wenatchee Commercial
club at a largely attended joint meet
ing here decided to file a protest
against the advance in rates with the
carriers and the Interstate Commerce
commission.
Figures quoted show that the pro
posed advance will add $315,000 to the
cost of getting the present year’s ap
ple crop of the valley, estimated at not
less that 7000 cars, to market. All
this will come from the growers and
will be a heavy load in connection with
the increased cost of boxes, paper and
labor.
________________
Dried’Fruits Now Rising.
Tacoma, Wash. — The latest food
staple to be affected by the general
upward movement in prices is the
dried fruit, the bulk of prices of which
advanced an average of 1 cent a pound
in the Tacoma market. Dried apples,
apricots, pears, peaches, prunes and
other varieties were all affected.
Dealers say that the rising price of
the more important staples has caused
a great increase in the demand for
dried fruits, which, though higher
than last year, have not advanced un
duly of late.
NORTHWESTMARKET REPORT
Portland — Cattle — Steers, prime,
$9.75 @10.50; good, $9.50 @9.75;
medium, $9.00 @9.50; cows, choice,
$8.50@9.00; medium to good, $7.95@
8.25; ordinary to fair, $7.00@7.50;
heifers, $6.50 @ 9.00; bulls, $5.50 @
8.00; calves, $8.00@10. 00.
Hogs — Light and heavy packing,
$15.00@15.80; rough heavies, $14.00
@14.50; pigs and skips, $13.50@14.00;
stock hogs, $12.00013.25.
Sheep — Wethers, $9.75 @ 12.00;
ewes, $9.00@10.75; lambs, $10.25@
13.50.
Wheat—Bluestem, $2.35; fortyfold,
$2.29;
club, $2.30;
red Russian,
$2.27.
Oats—No. 1 white feed, $50.50.
Barley—No. 1 white feed, $54.50.
Flour— Patents, $11.20; straights,
$10.00@10.40; valley, $10.20; whole
wheat, $11.40; graham, $11.20.
Millfeed—Spot prices: Bran, $37
per ton; shorts, $41 per ton; rolled
barley, $53.00.
Corn—Whole, $68 per ton ; cracked,
$69.
Hay—Producers’ prices: Timothy,
Eastern Oregon, $24026 per ton; al
falfa, $18020; grain hay, $16018.
Butter— Cubes, extras, 38c; prime
firsts, 373c.
Jobbing prices: Prints,
extras, 41ic; cartons, 1c extra ; butter
fat, No. 1, 42c; No. 2, 40c.
Eggs — Oregon ranch, current re
ceipts, 32 @ 33c per dozen ; Oregon
ranch, selects, 34c.
Poultry—Hens, 21@23c per pound;
broilers, 30040c; turkeys, 22023c;
ducks, 22024c; geese, 12@14c.
Veal—Fancy, 14@15c per pound.
Pork—Fancy, 19c per pound.
Vegetables — Tomatoes, $3.75 per
crate ; cabbage, 5 @ 7c per pound ;
eggplant, 25c; lettuce, $2.2502.75 per
box; encumbers, $1.25 @1.75 per
dozen; celery, $1@ 1.28 per dozen, $6
@7 per crate; cauliflower, $2; peppers,
45050c per pound; rhubarb, 2@3e;
peas, 9 a 10c; asparagus, 8 @ 12c;
spinach, 8109; sprouts, 123c.
Potatoes — Oregon buying prices,
$4.0004.10 per hundred.
HERMISTON,. OREGON.
BABIES STARVE
IN THE STREETS *------------------------
GIRL NOW BOARDING
OFFICER ON COAST
Neutral Traveler Paints Harrow
ing Picture of Pitiful Con
ditions in Vienna.
ONLY THi: WEALTHY GET FOOD
Men, Women and Children Succumb
to Hunger and Want—Gloom and
Depression Weigh Heavily
on People.
London.—From a neutral who has
spent prolonged periods In Austria-
Hungary several times since the war
a Berne correspondent learns that
never has the Austrian capital been
In such a plight as now. Men, women
and even children lately have suc
cumbed to hunger and want, and he is
assured that children have been lit
erally dying in the streets. Nowhere
Is there enough to eat, he says, except
among the wealthy classes and the
well-to-do farmers. The organization
for the distribution of provisions is
wretched, despite the fact that a “Peo
ple’s Food Office" has existed in Vien
na since December 1 last.
According to the organ of the Whole
sale Purchasing Association of Aus
trian Consumers’ associations, prices
have risen, taking Austria as a whole,
by 104.67 per cent since the war be
gan, but in Vienna proportionately far
more. It is not merely that all neces
sities have become so exceedingly ex
pensive, but that they are not procur
able. The few who have money still
contrive to purchase enough, but thé
great majority who have not money
either go constantly hungry or depend
on public kitchens, which since their
creation have supplied the poorer
Classes in Vienna alone with 38,253,815
meals, at a total cost of about $2,-
165,000.
474,300 Dependents.
At the end of 1916 there were also,
In Vienna alone, 474,300 persons in
receipt of government relief—grants
of assistance—in other words, about
one in four of the entire population of
the Austrian capital. These govern
ment grants since the start of the war
until the end of last year had reached
the sum of $50,000,000, besides which
there is a large number of destitute
refugees In Vienna who have cost the
state since the war began $11,625,000.
And yet the burgermelster of Vienna
has just been warning the public that
they must be prepared for worse times
Still to come In the next two months.
The clothing question, especially the
problem of how to provide any kind
of boots or shoes, is almost as difficult
of solution as the food question. Ac
tresses and others, who before the
war went about in elegant fanciful
shoes, now are glad to wear any cast-
off footgear, or even clothing, they can
get, as also are many girls and women
earning their living in offices.
Even more acute is the fuel question
In Austria-Hungary.
The gloom and depression of Vien
na, in short, with its restricted tram
service, restricted electric lighting—
even in private houses—limited gas
consumption and, worst of all, restrict-
ed heating, with a degree of cold sel-
dom experienced, Is so distressing that
the neutral who tells this story said
if he had not been able to leave he
would have lost his reason.
The hospitals, public and private,
are all overfilled, and death Is reaping
proportionately as great a harvest
among the civilian population as
among the soldiers at the front.
In Vienna, and. indeed, in all the
larger Austrian cities, there are now
large numbers of houses and business
premises to let. Moreover, as little
removing as possible Is done, because
this has become so costly owing to the
shortage of labor, of vans and of
horses. In muny cuses young married
women have returned to live with their
parents, or several women friends have
clubbed together to take a flat or house.
It is not dwellings alone, however,
which are everywhere to let, but rows
of business premises, shops, etc., also
are standing empty.
The fifth Austrian war loan, which
was to have closed on January 10 lust,
and which before that date was an
nounced as so brilliant a financial suc
cess, has not yet been closed, and the
banks in Switzerland are being inun
dated with circulars, some of them
marked “confidential,” and issued by
the Vienna Banking association, offer
ing all manners of Inducements to the
Swiss fly to walk into the Austrian
spider’s parlor. There Is not a single
Swiss managed bank In Switzerland
which has been tempted by these re
iterated offers of Austrian war loan
stock. Austria, as a mutter of fact,
is already bankrupt. Her government
does not allow any money to leave the
country, even to pay for goods pur
chased In Switzerland since the war.
:
2
San Francisco.—Women have %
22 long served Uncle Sam in the 22
many branches of his affairs In 2
this city, but now a new field has; !
i
1 ; ; been invaded. Miss Elizabeth
2 Clark, young and pretty, has es-
| % tablished herself as the pioneer 2
2 woman boarding officer of the
22 immigration service. Here are 2
′ some of the things she has to %
!
:
; i ;
| ; do Board
incoming foreign ves- 2
| : sels In every kind of weather, :
% from sunrise to sunset, arising %
at 3 a. oa. during the summer %
1 ! ! months.
; :
; ! ;
Scale the Jacob’s ladder to get %
% aboard ships during rough %
:′ weather.
: ,
Leap from the wharf to a roll-
2 Ing customs tug and from the ■
' 2 tug. bobbing in the choppy seas ;
I :: of the Bay of San Francisco, to 2
| g the side ladders of steamers.
! ;
| iesssscssoesososesoeccascecccceScccSNd :
RUSSIA BUYS AMERICAN BOAT
Lake Steamer Nevada Will Wend Its
Way Eastward When Naviga-
gation Opens.
Manitowoc, Wls. — The Goodrich
steamer Nevada, soon after the open
ing of navigation, will wend Its way
eastward, down through the St, Law
rence to the Atlantic seaboard, there
to take on cargo for a Russian port.
M. Seekleshoff of Petrograd, repre
senting the Russian government, pur
chased the Nevada from the Goodrich
company, the price Is said to have been
approximately $750,000.
The Nevada was built here In 1915,
Is entirely of steel, 212 feet long, and
can attain a speed of 18 knots an hour.
The craft cost the Goodrich company
$275,000, although it could not be du
plicated today for that figure.
BATTLE STOPPED BY LITTLE BABY
*-------------------------------------------- —
is any longer thinking of the en
Mysteriously Appears Crawling one
emy or the war, or of danger. All eyes
Between Lines Where Fierce
are on the tall soldier and the child
which he is approaching. As he picks
Fight Is Raging.
up that little frightened, helpless bit
IS RESCUED BY A GERMAN
Soldiers Forget They Are Enemies and
Cease Slaughtering Each Other
While Prussian Carries In
fant to Safety.
New York.— Edgar von Schmidt-
Paull. a Prussian cavalry officer, who
Is on the western front, has written
for the German newspapers the fol
lowing remarkable incident which he
and his men witnessed recently :
“Donnerwetter — what a hellish
noise! About me shells are bursting
and all around me is the rat-tat-tat of
machine guns.
“It is just before dawn, and the fog
is so thick that one can scarcely see a
yard ahead. All we know is that our
troops during the night stormed and
captured the French village over yon
der. I want to see how our left wing
Is situated, and therefore ride to the
village where the enemy's bullets are
PRINCESSES OF THE BLOOD falling as thick as hailstones during a
heavy thunderstorm. The fog contin
ues thick, but it Is not cold.
“I find a shelter where other cavalry
men are taking n little rest and at once
proceed to get some needed sleep my
self, ordering the lieutenant to rouse
me In case of necessity.
"Suddenly I am awakened by a pe
culiar, uncomfortable stillness—as Is
the case often where n sleeper is awak
ened either by a sudden noise or the
cessation of noise.
Baby in Battlefield.
“As I emerge from the dugout the
lieutenant winks at me somewhat mis
chievously and points directly In front
of him. Carefully I raise my head
over the top of the trench to get a
view of things.
“The sun had risen and the fog had
disappeared.
In front of us is a
meadow, and there, midway between
our trenches’and those of the enemy,
is—God, It is imposible; It must he a
delusion!—a Futa Morgana; hut no—
there In the middle of the field, crawl
ing on hands and knees, is a little
child, a baby. It appears perfectly
| happy and contented, and seems to be
enjoying itself. Not a sound Is to be
heard, not n shot Is fired. Every man
has become dumb from amazement.
I “ ‘A child has fallen from heaven "
' cries a soldier near me.
"Well, that is about the case, for
| where else could that child have come
(r >m ?
| “Before my weary brain can summon
up any convincing reasons how that
Not so long ago the ancestors of | child got out then-—whether some poor
these two real American women were | mother lost It In the panic due to
lords of great sections of New Eng the battle of the night before—a Ger
land that the white man wrested from man soldier jumps out of the trench
them. They are the Indian princesses, | and runs to where the child Is crawl-
Woontoonekanuske and Teeweelema,
| Ing about. Absolute stillness prevails
otherwise known as Charlotte and Me I in the trenches, and only to our right,
linda Mitchell, and are direct de | from which this extraordinary sight is
scendants of the great Indian chief, | hidden by a clump of trees, is the sound
Massasoit. Just now the two ladies
I of gunfire heard.
are more or less In the public eye for
Like Peaceful Island.
belated appreciation of the goodness
"And this spot, which all through the
of the ancient chieftain to the Ply
mouth settlers Is being considered In night had been a veritable inferno of
the legislature through a bill to pen shot and shell, is now like some peace
sion these, the last of his descendants. ful island or a cool, friendly oasis In
The princesses are now living near a burning desert.
“Over there in the enemy’s trenches
Middleboro, Mass. They are respec
tively seventy-one and eighty-one years we can see the helmets of the French-
men as they peer over the edges. No
old.
of humanity and fondly takes It In his
arms, a laugh, a low, friendly laugh,
passes along our entire column. The
laugh Is Infectious, nnd we can feel
how it is going along the ranks over
yonder. And suddenly—what, are they
going to shoot!—no, on the contrary,
a great wave of applause with shouts
of 'Bravo!' from thousands of French
throats break the stillness. Then, ns
the soldier jumps back Into our trench
with the child safely In his arms, our
ranks, too, burst into a triumphant
shout which passes all along the line.
"Even.for some time nfter not a
shot Is fired. It Is as If we felt ahamed
of ourselves, nnd no one touched n gun
while that child was In our midst.
"When the firing did start again It
was rnther desultory nnd indifferent,
and there was nothing dangerous
about It. That little child had worked
a wonderful change in the hearts of
both friend and foe that morning."
PROUD OF 19-CENT TUBERS
Pennsylvania Farmer Who Minimized
Potato Cost, Produces Some
Real Whoppers.
Doylestown, Pa.—Farmer Edward!
Chittick of Plumstead township, who
raised 269 bushels of potatoes on an
acre of ground nt 19 cents a bushel,
brought some real “taters" to the coun
ty seat of Bucks, exhibiting "Mur
phys” that averaged a pound each, to
show what kind he raised—and they
were whoppers.
Thirty-one potatoes filled a half-
bushel basket heaping full. One nfter
another n dozen were measured, and
they were fairly uniform in length.
Most of them measured six inches
across. They weighed about a pound
apiece, and Mr. Chittick says he had
some that tipped the seules at one and
three-quarters pounds.
Mr. Chittick ndmits that he mny
have been a little low in some of his
expense items; but It was very little.
He did nearly all the work himself,
and consequently the cost was less
thnn If he had to hire the kind of la
bor most farmers must. The United
States survey figures, he says, show
that he was not much too low on his
labor cost. As for cutting potatoes,
he says he can cut ten bushels with
a knife in half a day; but he keeps
right down to business.
BLOW RESTORES MAN’S VOICE
Silent for Years He Recovers His
Speech While Boxing With
Hie Cousin.
New Castle, Pa.—Miko Liskas has
every reason to be grateful to his
cousin, John Liskas, and all on ac
count of a terrific blow administered
on his chin by the latter while box-
Ing. Mike had been unable to speak
for a year and had spent several hun
dred dollars attempting to regain his
voice.
The blow on the chin brought blood
to the mouth of Mike and John, the
cousin, fearing that he had seriously
injured Mike, was In the act of going
for a doctor, when for the first time
In a year, Mike spoke, saying:
“You have not hurt me. You have
helped me regain my voice."