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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1919)
T H E C H E M A \VA A M E R IC A N PAGE 4 A TASTE FOR L E A R N IN G in terest over th e forthcom ing census having been show n by the m em bers of th e census com m ittee of both the H ouse and Senate w hile th e law was u n d er c o n If any of our young readers wish to advance th e m selves along any line of endeavor th ere is one course sid eration. open to them in w hich they are certain to be b e n e fite d T h e sta tistics gath ered on m in in g will include all — become a reader of good books. O nly good can re oil and gas wells. M any sta rtlin g developm ents in su lt and the reader m ay be led to g reat th in g s. th is im p o rtan t branch of the N a tio n ’s resources a r e A story is told to the effect th a t Joseph H en ry , the looked for by census officials. T h e figures gathered em inent A m erican physicist, w hen a boy of 10 in T ex a s, O klahom a and K ansas will no doubt prove crawled th ro u g h an air v en t u n d er a ch u rch near his to be those m ost eagerly so u g h t for, as show n bv in hom e in p u rsu it of a pet rabbit. O nce u n d er the q u iries already received by th e C ensus B ureau. building his eyes cau g h t a gleam of lig h t some d is T h e com pilation and g a th e rin g of forestry and fo r tance away in th e darkness and he m ade his way tow ard est p ro d u cts statistics will be in charge of a special it. H e found th e lig h t to be com ing th ro u g h an force of ex p erts. T h e accurate and com prehensive opening th at had lieeti left in the floor. C raw ling figures g athered co ncerning th is vital n atu ral resource th ro u g h th is, he was surprised to find th a t he was in will be m uch in dem and, and th e com parisons made th e public library, at th a t hour com pletely deserted. w ith conditions ex istin g before the war will be of T h e pet rabbit was at once forgotten. H e began g reat in terest. looking th ro u g h th e books, reading a little here and A g ricu ltu ral statistics will likew ise be the subject o f th ere, and at len g th decam e deeply absorbed. H e was special effort on the p art of th e C ensus B ureau, as the relu c tan t to abandon the intellectual feast even w hen im portance of farm ing is being realized by the a\ erage darkness fell. T h a t first ta ste of books gave him a citizen far m ore than ever before. pronounced ap petite for read in g so th at tim e and again in the n ex t few years he entered the library u n M ESSAGE GOT TW ISTED conventionally th ro u g h th e hole in the foundation O ne of the m ethods of com m unicating from one of wall. Browsing am ong the lib rary s collection and select ficer to another in the tren ch es was to give th e m es in g those w orks w hich in terested him most, he a c sage to one of the privates and tell him to pass the q u ired the taste of a tru e scholar and laid the fo u n d a word a lo n g ” the line u n til it reached its distillation, viz., th e officer at th e o th e r end. T h e follow ing story tion for a fu tu re ed ucation. T h o u g h dependent on his ow n efforts for su p p o rt and apprenticed to a silver will show how a serious m essage can be distorted on its jo urney from m outh to m outh: sm ith , his h ours of read in g in th e library developed L ieu ten an t A ., in charge of one end of th e B ritish such a love for books and such a desire for m ore line, told the private in fro n t to “ pass the word along learn in g th a t he b en t his efforts tow ard ed u catin g to L ie u te n a n t B.: W e are going to advance. Can him self and in tim e becam e a notable scholar and you send us reinforcem ents?’ ’ a u th o rity in th e field of science. W hen L ieu ten an t B., received the message it was H e discovered how to m ake th e electro-m agnet and in 1830 b u ilt the first electro-m agnetic teleg rap h , a like th is: “ W e are going to a dance. Can you send line about a mile in len g th . T h e follow ing year he us th ree and fourpence? designed th e first electro-m agnetic engine. From 1846 TH E P E N to 1878 he served as head of th e S m ithsonian in s titu tion in W ash in g to n , D. C ., his birthplace. In ancient tim es b rushes or pens made of reed were used for w ritin g . L ate r w ritin g was done largely w ith t h e f o u r t e e n t h c e n su s a m etal stylus w hich was used for scratch in g the c h a r T h a t the F o u rte e n th D ecennial C ensus, on w hich acters on wood coated w ith w ax . A bout the fifth or six th cen tu ry quill pens were introduced and these re the actual en u m eratio n w ork will begin Ja n u ary 2, m ained the favorite in stru m e n ts for w ritin g for several 1920, is to be the m ost im p o rta n t ever tak en is show n by th e fact th a t th e A ct of C ongress providing for th is h u n d red years. Iron pens w ere invented tow ard th e census expressly increased th e scope of the inquiries 17th century but as they w ere m ade by hand they w ere so as to include forestry and forest p ro d u cts, two su b too expensive to be generally used; th e best w holesale jects never covered specifically bv any preceding ce n price was about $3 a dozen. Sam uel Slocum , an A m erican, invented a m achine for m aking pens out of sus. T h e inquiries to lie m ade relatin g to p o p u latio n , steel. T h an k s to th is in v e n tio n , steel pens could be m an u factu res, m ines, q u arries and ag ric u ltu re w ere b o u ght for about a cen t and a half apiece by 1830. also ex ten d ed in th eir scope by C ongress, th e keenest Steel pens then displaced q u ills.
