EDITOR SUGGESTS
(Continued front pace one)
xrant the raise. The hostility to the
roads kept them from borrowing
money necessary to make improve
ments, and when the war came on we
were suffering from insufficient rail
road facilities and bad management
of what we had. We were spending
enough money on them to have good
wages for employees,' and good ser
vice and good equipment, but we
were wasting much money. The
same can be said of our county roads
and road management, but not many
people are yet able to see the remedy.
Railroads Were Losing the War
One year ago our factories were
running at full capacity, and the
. railroads were choked with raw ma
terials seeking transit to factories
and with war materials seeking tran
sit to tidewater. Ships were loaded
for French and Italian ports, and the
allies everywhere were shouting for
war materials to .hold back the Hun.
In America we were choked with
everything they were dying for across
the seas, and the two things that
stood most in the way of relief were
coal and transportation. If trans
portation could be had, coal could l e
supplied, so it all depended on rail
Toad operation.
Strong Minds at the Helm
Then came the heatless days, when
the administration at Washington
moved heaven and earth to get coal
thru to the ships, to furnish energy
to push them across the seas and
break the blockade in our own coun.
try, a blockade that was fast winning
the war for the Huns. During the
heatless week we coaled forty ships
a day, and sent them overseas with
supplies that saved the allies, and
every hour of every day and night,
official Washington was being
swamped with telegrams and peti
tions to change the program and let
the people have coal whether ships
were coaled or not. If the well
meaning people who sent those pro
tests to Washington had bad their
way, we should have been paying tri
bute to the Huns now or paying an
awful penalty for the lack of nerve
in putting thru the surgical opera
tion necessary to save our business
and industrial body. But the wishy
washy people with two by four ideas
were ignored and forced to submit
to the necessary surgery, just as a lot
of wishy-washy people in our own
'county need to be enlightened to
•overcome their two by four ideas, or
to be ignored in the big surgical op
eratlen necessary to put our roads
and road management on a proper
basis.
Enacting a Great Dnuna
But when the ships were coaled
and started across the seas, there
still remained a* .congested AaO 'Ulfm
°h ir he tt/fif was bound to
cnoKe. everything again unless a
_ x«taedy was applied, and applied
quickly. Probably -not more than a
hundred people In every million un
derstood the situation, and conse
quently they did not learn any lesson
from the great railroad drama that
was being enacted.
Every Good Act a Grime
Every separate railroad company
had been working for fifty years to
get a direct line into Chicago and
from there to every other large city,
and to the coast ports. Everything
was choked with traffic, and if thb
government wanted to rush ship
ments of munitions thru to tide
water, every siding and every main
line and every set of yards In every
city along the way was obstructed
with traffic. If the government had
a thousand cars of shelled corn and
baled hay at Missouri river points
and wanted to get them across to
France to keep its horses and mules
alive behind the lines, there was no
railroad that could rush it thru to
the ships. If a trainload of such
goods got into a big city it was hard
to get it oat, and there was delay.
If they tried to send it straight east,
it would be slowed down by the
tedious climbing of the crooked roads
winding over and among the moun
tains of Kentucky, Tennessee, West
Virginia and /the coal and iron re
gions where all lines were choked
with traffic. If they tried to bill
such shipments over lines that would
avoid the cities and the hilly country,
competitive lines would block the
plan, and umjer the laws, the prison
cell awaited the men who gave the
orders to violate the mandates of
statutes to prevent combinations.
The winning of the war depended on
swift transportation in America, and
America's laws against combinations
of capital were preventing It. There
were laws against every good act
needed In railroad management.
Government Control of Railroads
In thlp extremity the government
"took charge of the railroads, and
William G. McAdoo, secretary of the
treasury was made director general
of the roads. He called to his aid
some of the ablest railroad men of
the country to serve with him, and
they violated all the anti-trust laws
relating to railroad operation, but
they got servee and not only loaded
all our own ships but several times
as many ships sailing under the
English flag with American cargoes
—cargoes that won the war.
This is How They Did It
If they had a trainload of shelled
corn down In Kansas that they
wanted to feed to mules in Picardy
right quick, they billed that train
out across the prairie states to keep
it on the straightest lines they could
and yet keep it on even grades and
away from large cities. They would
keep It clear Ox the hills of Kentucky
and Tennessee; clear of the coke and
coal and Iron mines of West Virginia
and Pennsyt vanin; dear of Chicago
and Cleveland and Cincinnati with
their congested yards, dear of the
straight, level roads of the southern
side of Lake Brie that were bussing
with a whirlwind of swift trains lfi
both directions, but they would bill
it across Canada and take the long,
straight, levd Canadian roads on the
north side of the lake, and woes it
back Into the United States farther
down along the lakes or on the St.
J.
in
Lawrence. They would send it ever
any road they wanted to, without re
gard to who owned it or what the
laws required. They would only stop
that corn to. change crews and en
<inee, and to get coal, water and oil.
All the rest ot the time is was headed
for Picardy via some seaports.
/
Monumental Economies
If they wanted to ship troops or
materials from Southern California
east over the Southern Pacific and up
thru the states and across the old
Hannibal bridge or any other old
toll bridge and then into Canada and
back into New York via Buffalo, they
d.d not consult the officers of the
Southern Pacific to see if they would
let them leave their lines and take
the Texas-Pacific cut-off toward St.
Louis and save going around 800
miles farther via San Antonio and
i<t. Worth as all traffic had been com
pelled to do; or be tied up in a jam
at Detroit just because they were not
allowed to use the tunnel under the
Detroit r^ver—they cut red tape and
ignored the interstate commerce
commission and the fool laws we
had enacted and put the trains thru
to destination and did it quickly. In
a period of sixty days Mley re-routed
9000 freight cars in a way to save
one and three-quarter million miles
of travel for the cars.
Annulling Useless Trains
Last winter our morning papers
told us about the government cutting
off forty passenger trains in a day;
then 150 trains, then 200 trains in a
day, but it took us a good while to
find out the details, so we could
realize the vast saving and improve
ment. Here are some examples;
Squadrons of Passenger Trains
There were six competitive roads
operating passenger trains between
Chicago and the twin cities, St. Paul
and Minneapolis, each of these six
roads was trying to operate a finer
set of trains than the others. Each
tried to have its trains leave those
cities at the hours when most people
wanted to go. Each had a hard time
to get enough passengers for its
trains, and each spent much money
and energy to attract people to its
line. Each maintained its up-town
offices and its vast system of adver
tising and solicitors. They sent out
their six palatial trains at seven in
the evening, at nine in the evening,
•at midnight, and at seven and nine
in the morning and at noon. Six
other finely equipped vestbuled pas
senger trains with rubber-coated
platforms and all Pullman coaches
pulled out the same hour for
St. Louis; six others for Kansas
City; six for Omaha;
Cincinnati;
three for Columbus;
Souix City
trains partly loaded wh§n. h^f
as many^^wojij/ " u Yve ' been
® n ?. u £fV On such useless duplica
tions as these the government used
the pruning knife.
six for
six for New York;
three for
whole squadrons of
Dismissing Unnecessary Help
While they were cutting out use
less miles of travel for trains and
taking off useless trains, they were
also cutting out useless managers
and an infinite number of workers.
They cut out 400 officials who had
been drawing salaries averaging
$15,000 a year each, and got better
service than before. Each of these
men had been working faithfully,
but he had been doing useless work.
It was necessary to have that work
done to satisfy the law—not be
cause there was any other necessity.
It was a part of our fool program of
legislating against the railroads and
against the big combinations of
capital. We would not let them
combine, even for our own benefit
or to win the war. We preferred to
prosecute them.
Greater Results With Less Equip
ment
As the year 1918 progressed, the
railroads were simplified and im
proved in management so that there
was little or no congestion of traffic.
Freight would cross the continent in
from twenty to thirty days. We could
get freight from New York to Idaho
in less time than we used to get it
from Chicago. We have no car
famine to speak of. Our potato crop
is two-thirds moved, while last year
we had most of it on hand at this
time. Our coal famine disappeared
and dealers have coal piled in the
yards. There has been some delay
in handling sheep and wheat, but the
congestion has been due more to
other things than the railroad?.
Apply it to Our County Roads
Up to the time the government
took over the railroads, there were
forty-eight states, the federal govern
ment and the Interstate commerce
commission telling the railroads
what they must not do. Unified
management and a total disregard of
old practices brought the present
happy relief. In Bingham county we
have twenty-one road districts and
supervisors, a county surveyor, a
county board and the state highway
commission to tell us how to make
roads. Our roads and our road
building are a monumental blunder
and handicap, comparable to the rail
roads of a year ago, and the remedy
lies in surgical operations that will
cut us loose from the old practices
from which we suffer. In the next
article I will tell how to proceed to
apply the remedy and get relief.
CHIEF OF RAIL
WAY CORPS RETURNS
NEW YORK, Jan. 1.—Colonel W.
J. Wilgus, creator of one of the
greatest railroad transportation or
ganizations In the world—that of
the American expeditionary forces In
France—returned to America today,
arriving on the French steamship
Espagne. Since May, 1917 he has
headed the American railroad trans
portation corps, with headquarters
in Paris and x ours, receiving and dis
patching troops and supplies and sup
erintending the American-built port,
Bassens, on the river Gironde.
"We were handling 35,000 tons of
material a day when the. armistice
was signed," said Colonel Wilgus,
once a vice president of the New York
Central railroad.*
This was an
average of .1,000,000 tons a month."
he wae talking about, speak
big ot conditions la a southern Idaho
town a few years ago said: "We've
got & 8U * ttr factory and no sugar; we
have a bank and no money; we've
got a hotel and no patrons;
got a sawmill and no logs; we've a
brewery and no beer; we've got
A Man Who Knew
we've
i
farms and no crops. AH we try to
raise is the price of land." 9
while he was talking he might as
well have gone on and analyized the
road situation in Bingham county so
we could quote him in that too. This
would be about his speel; "We have
roads that are aviators; grades that
are high-flyers; culverts that are
jumping-jacks; bridges that are stop
signals and overseers that are war
rantees. All that we have been try
ing to raise is taxes and hades."
♦
ALL EX-KAISER'S
LETTERS BURNED
PARIS, Jan. 1.—All the corre
spondence of the former German em
peror which was kept at Potsdam has
been burned, as well as a number of
documents dealing with internal
questions, according to a statement
made to a correspondent of the Matin
by Carl Kautsky, who is preparing a
white book dealing with the origin of
the war.
Kautsky said the book would con
tain all 'diplomatic documents bear
ing on the war from the assassina
tion of Francis Ferdinand to the in
vasion of Belgium. It would be in
three or four volumes and the first
volume would appear within fifteen
days. The book will contain many
papers annotated in pencil in the
handwriting of the former emperor.
Kautsky said that not one paper was
missing from the foreign office.
Kautsky would not say who, in
his opinion, appeared to be most com
promised.
of
IDAHO OASUALITIES
January, s
Wounded! degree undetermined)
—Marion Adams, Buhl, Idaho.
Slightly wounded—Vernle H. Mun
yon, Filer, Idaho; Fredrick E. Stot
ler, Boise, Idaho; Walter Fransen,
Arlmo, Idaho.
January 0
Killed in action—Frank Schwartz,
Lemhi, Idaho.
Died of wounds—Roscoe E. Lolley,
Weiser, Idaho.
Died of accident—William J.
Bryant, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
Wounded severely—Ullsse Pardinl,
Rlrie, Idaho.
♦
ENTERTAINED AT DINNER
Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Wallace en
tertained a number of their friends
at a New Years dinner. The follow
ing guests were present: J. W.
Wright of Kansas City, Mr. and Mrs.
R. W Rivette, Miss Rae Rivette, R.
W. Rivette Jr. and J. Jirsa of Idaho
Falls.
♦
RETLiunED TO SCHOOL
Sidney Parkinson and sister Miss
Norma left here - xiday morning for
Salt Lake, where they are attending
school at the university.
They spent the holidays here with
relatives and friends.
♦
Mrs. Dave Smith is spending a few
days in Burley with her folks.
COMMUNITY LABOR BOARD AT WORK
ORGANIZING TO GET JOBS FOR RETURNING SOLDIERS
Canvass of employing firms at Blackfoot shows only five firms who ex
pect to employ more people soon, and seven who hope to Increase their
force later.
In the table, the dash Indicates that there is no information on
the item. The cipher means none. Cnt out the table and save it for re
ference for the returning soldier.
►t H VI in S
2 20 20 0 0 0 0
0 0
0 0
Yes 0
0 0
Name
/
Austin Bro. association
Beebe C. S.
Berryman's Hardware .
Blackfoot City Bank ...
Blackfoot Elevator Co.
Blackfoot Mercantile company.. 2
Blackfoot Potato association ....
Bills R. G...
Boise-Payette Lumber company
Boyd M. E.
S oyle James M.
oyle Hardware company .
Bingham County News ... t
Brown-Eldridge Furniture company 1
BrownHart company . 0
Bumgarner C. A.
Clegg L. R.
Davis W. W.
Dickinson A. S.
Estensen J. E.
Idaho Power company
Lyon B. H.
Morgan and x.arclay ....
O. S. L. Railroad.
Parkinson F. C.
Pearson company.
Powers Pharmacy .
Rowles-Mack company
Ryan-Cash Store .
Standrod Co. D. Wi. ....
Smith Bakery ..
Studebaker Brothers ....
Sung Cafe....
Walburn G. W„ olgar and Billards
White L. B.*....
Telephone and Telegraph company
Trego Byrd .
Post Office...
Henesh Loo ...
Knowlden W. F. ..
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1
0
0
1
0
3
2
2
4
0
2
2
0
0
2
6
6
4
3 Yes
2
2
3
8
0
0
0 0
Yes Yes
No No
No No
0 0
0 0
0 • 0
0 0
6
6
12
11
1
1
No
5
4
0
1
1
2
5
5
3
3
0
1
1
0
0
12
4
1
6
0
0
6
2
4
1
1
6
1
5
0
0
0
2
6
7
0
?
1
3
1
0
0
0
? Yes
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
2
4
7
4
11
7
Yes Yes
No No
0 0
0 0
Yes Yes
0 0
0 0
0 0
0
0
1 1
1
1
1
0
1
2
1
1
3
3
0
1
1
1 ' 5
1
0
3
__ 3
3
12
12
1
1
1
No
15
19
1
3
1
5
1
5
0
0
7
7
0
0
3
3
1
2
0 Yes
0 0
6 1
5
e
6
o
o
0
0
3
3
4
5
1
1
1
11 10 0
1
s 0 0
1 Yes
0 1
0 0
0 Yes
1 Yes
2
1
4
4
2
2
0 0
1
2
1
0
0
6
6
0
0
1
1
2
1
0
0
2
4
3
1
1
0
0
4
S 12 13
0
6
2
2
3
2
4
0
0
1
1 11 11 0 1
- * 3 — —
- 4 2 4 —
1 No
1 1
1
Influenza Patients
Recovering by Degrees
is Still Raging Where Quarantine is
Maintained; Broke out at Places
Where Ban Was lifted
The epidemic has taken a new
start in Boise nad St. Anthony, where
they lifted the ban. It has taken a
new start also in places where they
kept the lid down tight. Mackay
kept up a quarantine and Mackay is
full of flu.
At the Brown-Hart company,
Thomas Dahman is back at work, but
is very weak. Mrs. Dahman is past
the critical stage. Miss Mabel Mol
den is back on the job after having
the flu.
J. H. Early is in the office part of
the time, after having acted as cook,
nurse, chamber-maid and janitor at
the Early home for a fortnight. Mrs.
Early and their daughter, Mrs.
Conlin had a hard seige of the flu,
but are about well now.
The Henry Dunn family have com
pletely recovered from the flu.
Miss Milbery Pew went to Poca
tello to visit with her parents and
has contracted the disease the second
time. She is now suffering severely
bit it is hoped she will soon be able
to resume her duties at the Black
foot Racket store.
Julius H. Jacobson has almost
fully recovered from the flu and will
resume his work ta his office Tues
day.
♦
COMFORT BAGS PLEASE ALL
Nothing Given Out by the Red Cross
Is More Appreciated by the
Soldiers on Service.
a
The following is iin extract from a
letter of a Red Cross hospital repre
sentative :
"The men like the comfort kits bet
ter than anything the Red Cross gives
them. We have asked dozens of them
what they like best of all that Is given
them—tobacco.
mngazines,
amuse
ments, etc.—and they all say at once
the comfort kits and toilet articles.
They come In from the front without
even a toothbrush, and when I send
the bags around by the other patients,
they come hack and say:
oughter see how pleased those
were—they said It was Just like Christ
mas. They were all sitting up In bed
looking at the things In their bags.'
"The other day one man who had
lost his right hand, called me over to
him and said: 'Here. I'll donate my
sewing-kit. My wife has got to do
ffllft*'ffKt«r (.his. I'm out of It. Yog
can give this to some other fellow wno
needs It.'
'Sny, you
guys
He had heard the others
asking for sewing-kits all down the
ward. They are In great demand and
very hard to get."
Gift From French Republic.
Three phrases from' President Wil
son's war messages will be woven In
a costly Gobelin tapestry France Is
having made as a gift to the city of
Philadelphia. The tapestry Is to be
hung In the museum In the Quaker city
and Is about to be placed In the hands
of the workers at the famous Gobelin
factory for completion, according to
an exchange.
The tapestry will be 21 feet by 15
feet. It will be full of life and color
and will have an atmosphere of
thuslasm and patriotism In portray
ing troops departlflg from Philadelphia
for Europe to participate In the war
of justice.
Below are three panels containing
these phrases from President Wilson's
messages:
"Right Is more precious than peace."
"We have ho selfish end to serve
and desire no conquest and no domina
tion."
"We shall fight for democracy."
on
♦
Raymond LaCour was a Pocatello
visitor one day last week.
Our 1919 Grocery Prices
Following our promise to keep the public in
formed of our grocery prices from time to time in
1919, we take pleasure in announcing the follow**
ing prices effective this week:
SUGAR CURED MEATS
Armour's; hams per pound .40c No. 7 box macaroni ..
Armour's or Swifts' picnic per i D .
pound ..... ...27c Packa * e macaroni ..
Dry salt bacon per pound .....'.....,35c. Cream cheese per pound ..
SHORTENING Young American cheese per
No. 10 White Cloud ...$2.65 pound ..
5 pound net White cloud ....,...,.$1.76 50 pound block salt
No po ;r*„ w ^.. < : 1 r .. 100 •— «•* —
No. 5 Chefo .$1*35 9 pound bag rolled oats ..
No. 3 Chefo ....80c 10 pound bag corn meal ....
8 pound net Snowdrift ..$2.65 xO pound bag hominy grits
4 pound net Snowdrift .$1.36 o __
2 pound net Snowdrift .*..75c ? p d *** graham flour.<5e
cargo Crlsco .$2.15 9 pound bag germade
Medium Crisco .!...!..""$r!l0 9 pound bag Firth pancake flour 65c
Small Crisco...65c Sweet cider per gallon
Medium Cottolene . $1.30 pound dark Karo ...
Small Cottolene .......65c Ploneer minced clams, flat 2 for 35c
1 quart Mazola Oil .76c Pioneer minced clams, tall
% gallon Mazola Oil.$1.45 8 ounce oysters per can.
1 gallon Mazola Oil. $2.79 a *
.4 ounce oysters per can ...
1 pound tall pink Salmon per can 20c
10c Vi pound flat red Salmon per can 15c
Campbells or Veribest soups 2 "
MISCELLANEOUS
86c
10c
,40c
.40c
...,58c
85o
85c
,75c
90c
65c
60c
95c i
....20c
30c
15c 4
Palmolive per bar .
Creme Oil, 3 bars for .
Peet's bath tablets 3 for .
Peet's special toilet soap ...
Ivory soap 3 bars for .
Fairy soap 3 bars for.
Lux washing powder 2 for
Large package savex .
Borax washing compound .
Lighthouse cleanser .,.
,25c
25c
for
.25c *.
,5c
Walker's chilli con came 2 cans
25c
for
......25c
,25c
,25c
Libby's Chilli Con Carne per can 15c
Goehorts Chilli Con Carne per can
25c
5c
..18c
.5c
2% gallon pickles per keg
We carry a full line of McDonald's
12 chocolate and cocoa. Prices range
from
••••IB® i % pound Hershey's cocoa per can 23o
$155 1 1 P° und Hershey's cocoa per can 45c
33^75 ' Runkle's cocoa 2 cans for
$1.30 Baker's cocoa per can _..
i •
$1.15
DRIED FRUITS
15 ounce seeded rasins per pack
age
15 ounce seedless raisins per pack
age' .
25 pound box prunes
10 pound box peaches
25 pound box peaches
5 pounds appricots .
10 to 50c per can
25c
,25c
Don't forget that we always have that good
Old Master Coffee.
«<
»
The coffee that needs no
advertising. If you have never used "Old Master
Coffee" try a can and know what a real cup of cof
fee is.
The prices just quoted are our regular prices.
Shoes' United Stores
BLEND FAR FROM COMPLETE
Rep or t Finds Descendants of First
American Families Little Affected
by the Melting Pet
Througfi an extensive study of mem
bers of some of the oldest American
families, America as tbe "melting pot
of the nations" proves to be but a con
venient expression for writers and ora
tors—merely a picture drawn by those
wbo do not trouble themselves bbout
the precision of their figures of speech,
a myth without foundation of fact
For four years Dr. Ales Hrdllcka, a
curator of the division of physical an
thropology of the United States Na
tional museum, has had under way an
Investigation of the blending of the va
rious types of humanity In America,
which, though not yet fully completed,
has resulted Ip the Inevitable conclu
sion that the force of heredity Is too
strong to be radically altered In a cen
tury or two and that we must wait
centuries longer to find a type which
will Justify the statement that Ameri
ca Is In reality a "melting pot" of the
nations. Doctor Hrdllcka finds that
even the first material that went Into
the "pot" has not melted yet
Several hundred members of the old
white American stock have been meas
ured most carefully and examined In
many ways to find if tbe people mak
ing np this stock are tending to be
come alike—if a new subtype of the
hmhan race is being formed here in
America with intermarriage, environ
ment and under the preqsure of out
ward circumstances. Doctor Hrdllcka
finds definitely that as yet such is not
the case. His Investigation shows that
the descendants of the Pilgrim fathers,
the Virginia cavaliers, the Pennsylva
nia Dutch and the Huguenots, while
poasibly not as much aUke as their an
cestors probably were, are still far
from a real blend.—Philadelphia Bee
ord.
Literally.
"Did you see where a big bombing
plane to show Its capacity carried a
piano from Paris to London?"
"Well, that was music in the air."
GIRLS WANTED
Girls wanted to handpick peas
Paid on piece work basis
Good wages
Communicate with us if interested
The Everett B. Clark Seed Co.
St Anthony
Idaho
LIKE NOSTRUMS OF PACIFISTS
African King's Advloe About as Help
ful at the Vaporings of So-Called
"Lovers of Peace."
Senator Smith said In a Y. M. CL A.
address in Washington:
"Germany must be crushed. Peace,
otherwise, will behold tbe world drill
ing and arming for another and more
terrible war. An Inconclusive peace
would make things worse Instead of
better.
"When a pacifist offers me his nos
trums, I tell him that bis advice is
worse than the African king's.
"A missionary once visited an Afri
can king. The king was weU pleased
with the yonng man and ordered that
000 of the most beautiful maidens In
his kingdom be brought before him.
"When the maidens—a very fine lot
Indeed—were gathered together, the
king presented them to the missionary.
" 'These 500 girls,' he said, 'are tbe
flower of my kingdom. Choose a wife
from among them.'
"The missionary, very much embar
rassed, answered:
"'Ob, yonr majesty, If I took one,
think how Jealons the other 490 would
her
" That said the king, Is easily rem
edied. Take all.'"
Lookouts Develop New Disease.'
"Eye work is perhaps thp' biggest
part of submarine hunting," writes
William G. Shepherd In Everybody's,
"and It has Its euls and penalties.
Woe to the man ph a destroyer who Is
gifted'With that strange, unexplain
able talent of being able to see by
night. There be such. His is almost
a 24-hour-a-day task. And he finally
gets the 'periscope eye' and Is sent
ashore to get well, If he can. His
eyes weep tears of pns by day and,
after sleep, his lids are glued together
with granulation. It Is a new disease
of this mad century.
"Ton keep looking through those
high-powered binoculars like an old
lady reading through her spectacles,
one of the boys explained to m&. 'until
finally they seem to be pulling your
eyes out of their sockets."