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About The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip. (Portland, Or.) 1923-1927 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1922)
17 THE WESTERN AMERICAN life quarreling because of a lack of understanding; was allowed to retain the flag, and in his will he pro through are merely strangers to each other,” is another analysis vided that “The Star-Spangled Banner” should be they correctly stated. Let us have a little more common sense the property of his daughter, Georgeanna, who treas naturalness about our business and social activities and com ured its possession until her death, in New York, mon sense will begin to blossom anew. The chaff that de in 1878. stroys common sense is the practice of artificiality that is the I The historical “Star-Spangled Banner” is now in prominent picture of life today, seen among all classes, espec the possession of the Massachusetts Historical So ially in the life of the city dwellers. October, 1922 ciety. ALASKA NO LONGER A MAN’S WORLD ALONE iATHETHER Alaska no longer is considered as wild V * a country as it used' to be, or the modern girl is becoming more adventurous than her sister of a «cent past, is a matter open for discussion, in view of the fact that our northland territory is rapidly being invaded by the women of our day and civiliza tion. According to statistics recently published by the Eugenics Research Association, this nomadic land of so-called “single-cussedness” is beginning more and more to settle down to starting the home fires burning. I There has been a continually approaching balance in the number of males to one hundred females. In the total population this ratio has moved as follows: In 1900, 258.9; in 1910, 247.9; in 1920, 168.5. ■ Industrially, eugenically and socially, the great need of the territory has long been held to be settlers who move into the region with their families and be gin to reclaim the wilderness in the service of man kind and to establish American homes. ■ Just how far beyond the expressed “doctrinal” confines the penal code of the Invisible Empire of the Ku Klux Klan can be applied may be conjectured by a recent news item from Los Angeles, in which it is stated that Gus W. Price, king kleagle of the order in the Southern California domain, has appealed to the District Attorney’s and the Sher iff’s offices for protection against the order of which he so re cently was the leader. The recent inquiry into alleged Klan ac tivities in that state apparently brought the wrath of the or ganization upon the head of the king kleagle, who states that he has been given orders by burly klansmen “to leave Cali fornia or suffer consequences similar to those inflicted upon enemies of the klansmen.” The historic chapters of the in quisition period are evidently somewhat traditional—due for re-enactment in some form or other from time to time. But who would ever have though America likely to produce a generation that would put part or particle of the inquisition chapter into practice in America as a formula for “Justice and Right” in this enlightened day and age of a supposedly far advanced civilization? ■ The Swedish Baptist people in America are evi dently very successful in proselyting those who come here from the “old country” state church, according to the report that there are now 345 Baptist churches in America, with a combined membership of over 32,000 members and a church property valuation of nearly $4,000,000. The spirit of the Reformed church movement is apparently progressing, while the orthodox religions have lost much of their appeal. ■ “Common Sense is Scarce,” said a lecturer on “Hu man Analysis” the other evening, as he proceeded to array some ailments, means to failure, that are often recorded in the book of human life. “If you have not made a success in your business or profession it is because you don’t know how to handle people, how to win them 'and how to make them Want to know you better.” To. correct this condition, in the vernacular of the lecturer, is merely a matter of applying common sense and the simple science of understanding. “If young women knew how to read character, there would be more marriages and fewer divorces. Husbands and wives go When Europe was young, even up to the latter part of the Seventeenth Century, the copper mines located in the environs of Falun, Sweden, constituted the principal source of Europe’s copper supply. The mine is said to be the oldest operated mine in the world. As early as 1592 copper ore be gan to be mined out of the Falun mountains. Today it no longer produces the same quantities, but in its deep • shafts and galleries are found pyrates of sulphur, which are used ex tensively in the manufacture of sulphuric acid and other chemical products. More than three- hundred years have elapsed since the Swedes began drilling the copper out of the mountains at Falun, and taught the world how to extract the metal from the cruder substances. Though this process has become perfected by modern scientific methods, it ought not to be forgotten that in the background of the present perfec tion in operation stands the Falun project, in its quaint sur roundings, as a monument to the earliest development stages of an industry that has contributed more than any other to the world’s progress. Metaphysics is rated today 'by some people as being worthy of our noblest efforts, in order to pave the way to the higher truths, while others brand Metaphysics as the silliest of all mental wild goose chasing. People subscribing to “ad vanced,” liberal new thought movements, rave over it, the orthodox condemn it, yet, it was the second great discovery of the Greek thinkers of one of the most illustrious ages of history. Suppose we cease paying so much serious attention to the various phases and theories of the metaphysics theses and consider it in the light of smoking—a highly gratifying indulgence to those who like it and, as indulgences go, rela tively innocent. It is infinitely better that men become ab sorbed in metaphysics than in the business of their neighbors. The farmers "and co-operative associations in Nor way have opened a new co-operative bank in Christiania, call ed the Farmers (B0ndernes) Bank. The authorized capital stock is $4,020,000, while the bank has begun business with $2,680,000. That the day of corporation has passed and that the day of co-operation is dawning over the world is in evi dence everywhere. A man may be a mighty good American without knowing a word of the American language, but the chances are, a thousand to one, that something or somebody will spoil him if he doesn’t learn, not only to understand and speak the language, but read and write it understandingly. You may think American in any language, but other languages are not usually concerned in expressing Amer ican ideals, for that reason it is advisable for all those who claim rights and privileges in America to make the Amer ican language the vehicle of their thoughts and expressions. It is better to suffer honorable defeat than to gain a mean victory. If we are willing to lower the level of our aims, we are more certain to enjoy the complacency of success. Preaching the gospel of making a preferential class out of certain Americans, because of their native birth and their “good luck” of not having been born in an Amer ican home where the parents subscribed to the religion of Catholicism or to the Jewish faith, is just as un-American as preaching the bolshevistic creed of Sovietism and I. W. W.ism.