Page Twelve
THE UNITED AMERICAN
storm, and morally she should not have been penalized
for conditions over which she had no control, although
such is the long established custom. The facts are
that she probably suffered as much, or more discom
fort than the driver. Why, then should he not have
made allowance for the disagreeable features of the
trip, sharing the burden as well as the benefits with
the other party to the transaction ?
So much is being said nowadays about service,
but it seems to us that this old Oregon bus driver
has given as fine a demonstration of the golden rule
as it probably is possible to find in practice anywhere.
CRIME BLAMED ON CROSS EYES
'T'HE LATEST diagnosis of the cause of crime has
1 been declared by a medical authority to be cross
eyes. Dr. Henry J. Schireson of Chicago in a report
of penal institutions in Illinois, submitted to governor
Len Small, argues that state clinics for free treatment
of optical disorders will to a great extent remedy the
present epidemic of crime and much of the “jazz mad”
modernism of our youth.
Cross eyes, or eyes out of focus in any way, make the
primrose path look rosier to the young man or girl of 1925.
Optical disorders create a craving for synthetic gin. They
lead women to smoke, and turn many sunny dispositioned
persons into chronic grouches. They are responsible for
immorality, and for much of the crime. A painless operation
reguiring but three minutes can halt these disturbancess.
If the doctor’s conclusions are right the remedy
is worth the cost such clinics will involve. Any remedy
which will minimize crime is worth its cost, one
hundred per cent. Every agency which can safeguard
and build up the moral fiber of America’s youth, repre
sents an investment in the future of our nation that is
worth its weight in gold.
If corrected, physical vision can help to improve
the mental vision and improve our social morals, then
it should be done at public expense in every instance
where financial conditions are an impediment.
Every well balanced and physically perfect youth
in. America is an asset to the country as surely as
every unbalanced and physically imperfect youth is
a liability.
To bend every energy in the direction of perfecting
that which is imperfect is good business. Better have
a few more clinics at public expense and a little less
business in our criminal and delinquency courts.
BLOTTING OUT THE MEMORY OF ANCIENT
BIGOTRY
WHEN THE WAVE of intolerance in 1492 swept
v * Spain and forced out those of non-Christian faith
and confession, of different religious belief than the
majority of the Spaniards, the country commenced to
drop behind in the world of progress. It is striking that
now, after four hundred years have elapsed, Spain is
anxious to make amends and to that end is extending
a most cordial invitation to the descendants of the
people who were persecuted and expelled at that time.
The leader in Spain today are holding the policy
of excluding non-Christians from Spain, responsible
for the lack of industrial and business prosperity in
that country.
Since the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, when
AUGUST 1925
Jewish persecution and expulsion had official sanction
in that ancient monarchy, it seems that fate has
played against Spain. The people of that country
have, in the vernacular, seemingly been doing little
or nothing but marking time for four hundred years,
while the world has been moving along, leaving Spain
behind with its decadent form of government and
its tottering dynasty and its despots. Crushing defeats,
blow after blow, have come to Spain in quick succession.
Spain’s opinion in the councils of world nations is
carrying little or no weight.
Is it the Shakespearian “Whirligig of Time” that is
cutting capers in old Spain?
In the creeds of all religions there are countless
references to be found pertaining to a spiritual law
of RETRIBUTION.
It may be a coincidence, a chance circumstance,
pure and simple. But, be that as it may, it is laudatory
in itself that Spain is trying to wipe out an old score,
a hideous sin that grew out of race hatred, trying to
blot out the stain of a great wrong done long ago in
the name of Spain.
No one likes a fish story better than an Oregonian
because he tells the “biggest ones” himself. But the latest
from Mexico indicates that the swarthy neighbors to the south
have, in western parlance “got us skinned to a fareyouwell”
on the point of “big ones” in witness whereof may be cited
the following little item from Mexico City dated August third
and appearing in one of America’s leading dailies: “Hundreds
of small fish rained from the sky in the state of Chihuahua,
according to a report -received here (Mexico City) by the
minister of agriculture. This phenomena is said to have
occurred during a tremendous rain storm at Santa Isabel,
in Chihuahua. The explanation given is that a “water spout
in the Pacific must have lifted up many surprised fishes from
the ocean and they were blown a hundred miles inland by
a gale before they obeyed the law of gravity.” Doesn’t it
beat the deuce. Wonder if the Mexicans think they can get
away with it?
Well, that’s good! A light is dawning in Ireland.
That is, there are positive indications that the Irish are getting
tired of their main business—fighting—and are going in for
more constructive pursuits to bring the name of the Irish
■before the world in a different light. To sustain this conten
tion a recent Dublin item may be presented in evidence: “A
conference of shipowners, brokers and others interested,
has decided to establish a school of navigation in Ireland.
In addition to training seamen and ship’s officers in subjects
necessary to qualify them for certificates as masters and
mates, the school is expected to instruct fishermen desiring
certificates as skippers and second hands, and for boys
desiring to follow the sea.” Three cheers for the Irish sailor
of tomorrow. He may be sure to carry the color of old Erin
across the seven seas and establish a new reputation for the
Irish which will eclipse the reputation they have won in other
fields, even their record as policemen in America.
A family inheritance consisting of shyness recently
cost William Jones, a London youth, the sum of $250, awarded
as heart balm to Lillian Evans, who had just passed twenty-
one summers. The chief allegation in the complaint stated that
Jones had committed the serious offence of “shyly jilting” the
girl who had been waiting five years for him to pop the ques
tion. He had bought a ring, talked of a home for two, “allowed”
he was thinking of the day when—but here the shyness
intervened and kept the young man from saying the word
the “sweet young thing” was eagerly awaiting. In despera
tion she sought the aid of the courts to make Jones pay
for five years' of waiting and the sedate English judge frowned
on Jones to the extent of $250. Poor Jones. If he had only
possessed some of the “speed” of his American cousins he