8
THE NORTHMAN
distributed according to plans of the Com­
missariat on Provisioning and the provin­
cial provisioning committees.
“In the matter of technical organization
the Cooperative organizations have re-
tained complete independence.
UNANIMOUS ON ONE QUESTION.
“All social workers within Russia, in-
dependent of their different opinions re-
garding the various questions of politics,
consider the immediate raising of the
blockade and the reestablishment of com-
mercial relations unquestionably a vital
necessity in the interest of the popula-
tion of the Russia of the future and of
the whole world.
“Commercial exchange would unques­
tionably be the more successful the
greater the role which a free Cooperative
movement might play in it. Only the
Cooperative organizations at the present
time are capable of gathering large quan­
tities of raw materials and wheat and of
facilitating the raising of peasant produc-
tion, since they alone have retained suffi­
cient confidence among the masses of the
peasants. Only on condition of an honor­
able and sincere attitude toward this
question, both as a part of the Russian
Government and of the government of
other countries, can commercial exchange
lead to the regeneration of the economic
life of Russia.”
NO VULTURES AT HIS GRAVE.
'M’O EULOGY was delivered at the
’ funeral of William D. Howells, dean of
American letters whose death occurred
on the 12th instant. This was in com­
pliance with an often-expressed wish. It
is related that he once attended a cere­
mony in honor of a great American artist,
in company with an old friend, a New
Yorker now also dead. A man much in
the public eye, a frequenter of dedications
and funerals and every variety of celebra­
tion where two or three persons must per­
force gather together and listen to an ad­
dress, was on the programme for a speech
in honor of the great sculptor. As the
eulogy progressed it became evident that
the speaker had no intimacy with the man
he was called upon to honor; he confused
his history, his friends, his works with
those of other men; he mispronounced his
name. Mr. Howells moved uneasily.
Finally he could stand it no longer. Turn­
ing to his friend, he said: “I shall allow no
gathering of vultures at my funeral: if
any one wants to honor my frail memory
let him do it in silence: no vultures!”
“FORK OVER YOUR DOLLAR”
TWO CHRISTIAN young men in an
Eastern city went to the rooms of a Young
Men’s Christian Association, and said to
the person in charge:
“We would like to join the Association.”
“Well,” was the reply, “fork over your
dollar.”
One of the young men forked over his
dollar, the other one, somewhat shocked
at the abrupt remark, felt in his pocket
for his dollar, and turned on his heel and
left the rooms. It Was years before the
excellent character and work of the institu­
tion removed from his mind the unhappy
impression produced by that remark.
It is not at all probable that the young
man who thus misrepresented the Associa­
tion which he was chosen to represent, was
conscious of any impropriety. It was
with him simply a matter of business,
which he attended to in his usual off-hand
way. But the incident when related led
to serious reflection in the writer’s mind.
There are not a few persons who seem to
think the first thing to be done when a
man begins to enter upon a serious life,
is to ask him to fork over his dollar; and
though the request may be in language
that would not offend the most fastidious,
yet the impression is very often made,
that the money is the first thing and the
main thing which these good people are
after. In various ways they make their
wishes known, and a man has hardly time
to get himself fairly settled down to his
new life, when he finds himself beset by
KIND WORDS FOR THE NORTHMAN.
Raymond F. Crist, director of citizen­
ship training, Washington, D. C., in a
letter to the editor says:
Please accept by best wishes for the success
of The Northman, its aims and ideals, and if I
can be of service, feel free to call upon me.
The figures reported in your article on the
Foreign Born in Oregon, showing a population
of 50,000 foreigners in Portland, 5,000 of whom
are unable to speak our language, and more
than 120,000 foreign born in the State, of whom
17,000 cannot speak “American,” are ample
proof of the splendid field for endeavor which is
presented. I feel that public-spirited individuals
and organizations can do much to increase the
effectiveness of this work and to increase its
scope by supporting the public-school officials
and by calling the attention of the public to it
and encouraging enrollment in the citizenship
classes. The Northman has apparently re­
cognized the opportunity to be of service in this
manner and is taking advantage of it.
With reference to your article on Building a
Better Citizenship, in which you call attention
to the work being accomplished in the Eastern
states through the public schools, I wish to call
attention to the fact that more than 2,700 com­
munities throughout the United States present a
splendid example of what can be accomplished
through co-operation of local public schools with
the Federal Government through this Division.
The work of securing the organization of classes
in the various communities has been carried on
by this Division with the aid of public-school of­
ficials, labor, religious, civic, patriotic, women’s
and other organizations.
WANTS NORTHMAN FOR LIBRARY.
W. A. Folger, of Medford, sends a check
for two years subscription to The North­
man for the Medford Public Library, to
begin with the first number. Mr. Folger
is one of the most public spirited men in
the state, and he says he wants The
Northman to go where it will do the most
good and therefore he sends it tp the
public library of his home town. He says
the paper should be in every public library
in the country.
DESERVES SUPPORT.
The following letter is encouraging:
Portland, Oregon, May 14, 1920.
Mr. H. J. Langoe, Mgr. Editor,
The Northman,
227% Washington St.,
Portland, Oregon.
Dear Sir:
Herewith my check your favor for $3.00, in
payment of a years subscription to The North­
man.
Your publication in every particular is so
saturated with high ideals and so animated with
the principles of true Americans that it is noth­
ing short of inspirational.
The editors of American papers could perform
an invaluable service by giving space to such
subjects as you have developed editorially.
Your paper deserves the support of every red-
blooded American citizen and you may be sure
of mine.
Yours truly,
JOHN M. MANN
Commissioner of Public Utilities.
May 27, 1920
treasurers, committees and collectors, the
burden of whose cry is, 'fork over your
dollar.
THE DEMOCRACY OF DEATH.
Robert G. Ingersoll.
All wish for happiness beyond this life.
All hope to meet again the loved and lost.
In every heart there grows this sacred
flower. Immortality is a word that hope
through all the ages has been whispering
to love. The miracle of thought we cannot
understand. The mystery of life and
death we cannot comprehend. This chaos
the world has never been explained. The
golden bridge of life from gloom emerges
and on shadow rests.Beyond this we do not
know. Fate is speechless, destiny is
dumb, and the secret of the future has
never yet been told. We love ; we wait ; we
hope. The more we love the more we fear.
Upon, the tenderest heart the deepest
shadows fall. All paths, whether filled
with thorns or flowers, end here. Here
success and failure are the same. The
rag of wretchedness and the purple robe of
power, all difference and distinction are
lost in this democracy of death. Character
survives ; goodness lives ; love is immortal.
UNWISE FREE SPEECH.
Anon.
A S LONG as we have free and unlimited
speech we will probably have such
controversies as“Who won the war?” It
is like a domestic controversy begun by an
unkind and ungenerous word and respond­
ed to in kind. An individual of good taste,
good judgment, wisdom and experience
would not start such a controversy be­
cause the resulting ill-feeling among old
friends could be easily discounted. Fight­
ing men of the allied nations established a
bond of blood-brotherhood by their com­
mon manly courage and endurance. The
world war established the courage and en­
durance of all armies, even the German
armies. It is a fine thing, even for a
civilian, to reflect upon the tremendous
effort of his countrymen in the war period
and remember with pride that his race
has established its right to live by its
prowess.
A husband and wife toiled and saved
through the years of a long married life
and finally attained a comfortable for­
tune. They were talking about it one day
and the husband calmly took all the credit
for the performance. The wife saw all
her toiling and saving and pinching priva­
tions disregarded and for the first time
in her life she suspected her husband of
having a yellow streak. After that the old
mutual confidence and respect of the mar­
ried life was never quite the same. But
the husband was not really yellow; he only
spoke ungenerously, without reflection.
One does not hear the men who fought
and bled side by side and went through
the red hell of war together, quarreling
about who won the war. It was enough
for them to know that they, together, won
it, and with none too wide a margin.
FINDING THE PATH
(Carlyle)
“All misery is faculty misdirected—strength
that has not yet found its way.” This is un­
doubtedly true. All suffering and failure can be
traced back to one getting out of the true path.
It may not sometimes be one’s fault. Ignorance
or environment may intervene and lead us astray.
But all progress consists in one finding the true
way of one’s strength; to see that the faculty is
rightly directed.
IBM I !Ï t T
------ wwMwatf,
D50 Illuminant, 2 degree observer