PAGK TWO
THE ONTARIO ARGUS, AtTOtTST iff, 1915
THE ONTARIO AROUS.
State Supremacy.
I'l IBLMOD KVKRY THIKBOAV
KniiTfd In the jiostofflre at Onturio Oregon for tratisniUmlon
tliroiiRli the mailH bh Hecond-claim matter.
W. C. Mantli
The Coming of the Railroad.
The coming of the railroad to new country
invariably means a period of prosperity and de
relopement. The people Living in Central and
Eastern Oregon know this and arc consequently
hailing with delight the extension of the (). W.
l. t N. line beyond Riveraide. The prosperity
tli.it oomei with the railroad is canned chiefly by
two things, the opening of I way to market for
the products of the eountryi and the investment
of new capital in various business enterprises.
It if rather hard to get men with money, into a
country very far from a railroad even when the
opportunities for investment are fairly good.
People who have all their lives lived near a
railroad can scarcely realize though that the rail
road means more than material prosperity.
The ordinary conveniences of our modern civil
ization depend largely on rapid transportation.
Few people in these days are content to he with
out the news of the world and they expect it
within a few hours after the events have happen
ed. Many things in the markets cannot he tak
en to a country that is reached only by stags
lines excepting at great cost and inconvenience.
The automobile anil telephone have made con
ditions vastly different then they were some
years ago for the pioneers of the country but for
most of the people the ordinary conveniences
which We regard as indispensable do not come
until the railroad is built.
There are other ways in which a community
change! perhaps for the worse when transporta
tion facilities arc increased. The old neighbor
ly spirit is likely to disappear, while various tads
and fashions will be imported from the cities.
The new people who come do not fit into the old
er habits and customs and soon the old inhabit
ants themselves are lost in the new tide.
Big Crop Stories.
The picnic at Arcadia under the management
of the Boulevard Grange should have the sup
port of evervoue in the community. There is
too often a general misunderstanding Between
the people who live in town and those who live
in the country. A few occasions when all can
et together for a good time for a day will help
wonderfully to dear up some of the wrong im-
jreBsioiitt gained by both sales.
The trouble with all the accomplishments of
honest crop raisers is that nobody will believe
their stories unless they sec the accomplishment
of fourteen foot corn stalks and oats that a man
may gel lost in, such as will be seen at the Mal
heur County Pair.
Kansas optimists are to blame for much of it.
Take the story about Rot. Page. The Uev.
Prank I 'age, according to the correspondent,
had driven to the town of W right, I few miles
north of Dodge City, to conduct a prayer meet
ing. He started back on foot, taking a short cut
through a liftcen hundred acre wheat ticld. At
the prayer meeting he had offered up fervent
thanks tor the bountiful wheat crop. The next
morning he had not arrived at home. His
frightened Wife began to make inquiries. Two
days passed, with no word Of sign.
On the third day an old lady who had been at
the prayer meeting suggested that maybe the
pastor had go( lost in the wheat Held. A party
started out, systematically searching through
the grain which is higher and thicker than ever
before. At last one of the searchers heard a
faint voice murmuring as if in prayer. Follow
ing the sound, he came upon the minister lying
exhausted and half delirious, and repeating over
and over, "Lord we thank thee for thy bounti
ful provident e which ha given us such a plenti
ful ciop of wheat."
It's now tune to hear from eastern Kansas
about that little girl who went into the Held of
young eoin with her father's lunch and started
right, but pit lost because the corn shot up so
fast it obscured all the familiar land marks and
she never found her way out We hope, though,
;hat nobody will repeat the yarn about the boy
who got lost in the cornfield and climbed np a
oorniialk to sec where the house was, and thus
got info more trouble than ever, because the
corn grew up faster than he could climb down.
Malheur county agriculturists raise bigger
Crops than stories. When you visit the county
fair net mouth you can be "from Missouri" in
stead of Kansas, to sec mammoth agricultural
accomplishments.
Will Texas STOW impatient and settle the
Mexican question for this country, is a question
that is frequently asked. With it comes the
matter of state supremacy, which President Wil
son has always respected.
When Secretary Lansing wired the attorney
general of Arizona asking him to extend the re
prieve of several Mexicans condemned to death,
"in view of the political situation in Mexico,"
hi was bluntly informed that "the United States
has DO right to interfere." .
That was quite true, though not precisely to
the point. The federal government had not de
manded a reprieve, but asked it as a favor, in or
der to facilitate certain delicate diplomatic net
gotiations. And regardless of the merits of this
Case, the fact that the Arizona officials could with
impunity Mont the 1'nitcd States government is
something in which few citizens outside the lo
cality directly interested will take any pride or
satisfaction.
It is the same trouble that was experienced in
California over the .Japanese land legislation.
It is the same trouble that occurred in Louisiana
a few years ago when the Italian government,
angered by the failure at Washington to obtain
satisfaction for the killing of Italian subjects,
broke off diplomatic relations with this countn .
Our federal government is supreme in theory.
It has a monopoly of the power to make foreign
treaties, but apparently lacks power to enforce
them when they clash with state rights. The
awkward situation is a heritage of the mutual
Jealousy of the thirteen original states.
The civil war'was thought to have disposed of
the old state rights doctrine. And yet today
states can, and do, assume the prerogatives of
sovereign governments in crises that endanger
the welfare of the naton. Though powerless to
make treaties, they may break them. Though
unable to declare war, they may by their inde
pendent action, bring on war.
It is an unpleasant and dangerous situation
for a nation which prides itself on keeping its
word, and which has lately had much to say in
condemnation of treaty-breakers. Yet it is
state sovereignty.
France and Publicity.
As far as America is concerned France docs
not seem to play much part in the Kuropcau con
flict as public opinion lien seems to regard the
war as primarily a struggle between Kngland
and Germany, We must always figure on Rus
sia, but that is because of tin- vastness of the
Russian empire, its rapid growth in population
and future possibilities as an even greater pow
er some Americans even dreaming of the
dreaded time when the Muscovites may unite
with their old enemy, Japan, and take a stand
in the far east that will present a serious situa
tion for the 1'nitcd States,
kktkkwf! o n f.lt f (4 - ). ' 12.145 xztifitT
Hut France is generally left out when WO
think of the great European struggle. The
Preneh regrei this. Not having raised any de
licate diplomatic issues as have (Ireat Britain
and Germany the Preneh people have not had
as much publicity in this country. They have
been simply tight ing and saying little.
(ireat Britain and Germany, on the other
hand, do much to center public attention in this
country on their activities. Hccause Ameri
cans and British speak the same language helps,
Most of the war news for the American public
comes through Loudon, though it is fair to ad
mit that much that is unfavorable to the British
cause is allowed to pass, as well as the favorable
kind. The Germans have maintained regular
press bureaus in this country, sending to news
papers each day printed bulletins containing
pro-German items.
We know more about the campaigns of the
Germans and Hritains than we do about the
French. France does not like to have the war
looked upon as primarily a German-English
affair. lYrhaps France thinks that the old en
mities of the United States and Great Britain
might be fruitful ground for the German pro
pagandists to work in, but the French hope the
United States will not forget that France is a
republic "lighting for its life."
Owen Johnson, American author, who recent
ly returned from France, says the French have
been proceeding on the idea that Americans un
derstood the war from the beginning and that it
was not wise or necessary to resort to a propa
ganda. Then, too, the French are credited with
a certain delicacy of feeling that tells them it
would not be in the best taste to start a campaign
for winning American sympathy and admira
tion. Mr. Johnson is of the opinion, however, that
the French may change their policy in this mat
ter in order to correct the notion widely spread
in the United States that Great Britain and
Germany are the competitors worthy of consid
eration. The manner of France in this war is greatly
admired by Americans. France has assumed
that Americans are capable of making up their
own minds, and so a publicity campaign has not
been started.
Traveling over the dusty roads day after day
and living in a tiny tent hiked up on top of a
wagon is not our idea of paradise, but it seems to
suit a great many people, judging from the num
ber of such outfits that one sees passing through
the town. We wonder sometimes where they all
come from and where they arc all going. It cer
tainly is not I cheap way to travel and it is cer
tain that the horses do not enjoy it. The life,
too, seems rather uncertain as they scarcely ever
know where they are going to eat the next meal
Of sleep the next night. The whole thing simply
presents another freak idea of the human mind
and WC wonder at it in much the same way that
we wonder at a thousand other things that peo
ple do, that seem to us utterly senseless and useless.
The eoniniunity, it seems, has not only recent
ly discovered that corn can be raised successful
ly here, but also that it is not necessary to go to
Atlantic City, or even to the Pacific Coast for a
good cold swim. Snake river has been patron-
ized freely of late and the habit seerns to be
growing as about a hundred took a plunge Sun
day afternoon. It may not be news at all to the
small boy or his anxious mother, but it may be
welcome enough to the man who would like re
lief from the hot weather to know there is a good
cool bath waiting at the end of a mile hike to the
river.
The schools become more modern and likewise
the churches. Beery thing, in fact, changes, and
within a few years there is a new country with
many new people and new habits of living.
Always a few of tin- older people cling to the old
ways, and only by observing their habits can one
realize what a change a few years can bring to
a community.
The Men and Greater Ontario.
( Being the second of a series of sermons by Rev,
I). K. Baker of the Baptist church.)
"Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sin
ners against .Jehovah exceedingly."
1. The next few veal's will witness marked
changes in this community is eonceeded by all.
In the last few years the spirit of progress has
laitl hold upon our people. Things are moving
and the slogan is "the grcator Ontario'1
1 shall in the next few addresses present some
ideas regarding the ideal which I incorporate in
a frank discussion of my conceptions of n great
city, namely, the men.
2, The kind of men needed, and what men
shall do if we have the greater city, will be more
easily defined if a previous Question 's asked,
"What do we mean by greater city (" If with
in five yean our population should extend so five
thousand, and our wealth trebles, does it neces
sarily follow that we shall have a greater city
than we now have .' Population docs not always
make greatness. Men should be weighed as
well as counted.
1. A Greater Ontario.
To have a greater Ontario we must at least
fulfill three conditional
1. We must increase our numbers with peo
ple who believe in the institutions upon which
any community much depends for stability and
character,
It would he a terrible calamity if we were to
flood our community with man and women who
could lower the ideals. We want people who
love education, who believe in honor, who rever
ence law and who not only will dcvelope nat
ural resources, but with the wealth wrested from
nature will upbuild this city in all things that
minister to the nobler manhood. In doing this
we make it possible for every citizen the pursuit
of integrity and happiness.
2. Those who are concerned with greater
community Will want to know what vocations
shall engage the energies of this larger popula
tion. lie is short-sighted indeed, who fails to recog
nize that a material progress must make poss
ible the intellectual, spiritual and moral progress
of the city, a greater Ontario will be more con
cerned about employing valuable brain and mon
ey in industries that actually yield wealth
and conditions for human happiness aial intel
lectual growth, than it will be concerned about
schemes for hutting men of their honor and
wealth and manhood. The men who are boost
er! for Ontario should be, to say the least, unsel
fish enough to keep in mind the sacred rights and
holy endowments of those who come to us seek
ing 1 bonus We should help to make for the
larger population even larger privileges. We
should see to it that no stranger shall be the vic
tim of unprincipled selfishness.
;. What is meant by the greater community
is this: What monuments do the people of this
city want to stand as records of service When
OUT children and the children of strangers within
OUT gates shall inherit the products of our lab-
' I HIM II i ii
ors, what shall be their inheritance 1
If all our people would Constantly keep this
in mind, I believe the "Greater Ontario" would
certainly reach an attainment.
Now if we have rightly answered these pre
liminary Questions, it necessarily follows there
for that the men for the greater Ontario, must
endeavor to make actual these fundamental ele
ments of greatness. I will therefor, brief I v and
specifically indicate the kind of men who 'must
consistently and successfully boost Ontario.
II. Men of Ideals.
1. These ideals demand unselfish men.
Graft should be foreign to every man in On
tario. So intense and general should be flu. hat
red for selfishness, that all stingy old money
bags would feel so uncomfortable that either
they would fall in line with unselfishness or move
out. Who ever makes personal gain by unfair
and unscrupulous methods that would dishonor
the fair name of a city, should be unceremonious
ly knocked out. We want a spirit Of fairness
that gives every man the chance he deserves, and
the kindly generosity that will lead men to help
the general good, even though there be no direct
financial returns.
2. Moreover the men must be men of honor.
Not simply honest in business relations, but hon
orable enough to uphold the sacred rights of and
especially the sacivdness of moral and legal in-'
stitutions. Give us men who are as great as we
hope to attain. If Ontario should within the
next five years gain three thousand people who
have no regard for the laws of our state and citv,
than no small number of our men who live here
now, I haye no reason for doubting that 'Ontario
would be one of the degrading cities of the Pac
ific Coast.
If we could only change the proportions of
this city there would come from it a wholesome
savor that would change its entire atmosphere.
I repeat that a greater Ontario must have men
who respect not only personal moral law, but al
so uphold the sacredness and integrity of statute
law.
III. Men of Larger Vision.
1. Again, a greater city must have men who
will make possible institutions and industries
that will support a large population.
The basis of life is prosperity. Von cannot
make good people any more than you can make
bad. unless you make it possible for them to live
comfortably and in sufficient plentifulness. We
need men who can create wealth and help others
to create wealth for themselves. Men who can
give employment to honest and profitable toil.
2. We need men who love God more than
gold. Von will observe that this pillar runs
through the entire structure of truth, which I
have endeavored to erect. It makes a man un
selfish, it compells a man to be honorable, it
makes one more wisely considerate for the tem
poral welfare of others, as well as to care right
ly for himself. When Ohio was in the western
reserve, there were two townships, one founded
by an infidel, the other by a christian. Each
drew to himself his kind. The infidel township
has not produced one of note, and less than
twelve who have attained S higher education.
The christian township has sent out lawyers,
editors, and has built schools, churches, hospi
tals, and, though naturally less fertile, has far
outstripped its Infidel rival in material prosper
ity. Men in Ontario who are Godless, are so be
cause they arc selfish and seek their own selfish
satisfaction.
Any city that lives Cor self, forgetting God,
will never be great.
Then to have a greater city we must build it
upon the principles of "righteousness that ex
alteth a nation."
Said Garfield: "1 mean to make myself a
man, and if I succeed in that, 1 shall succeed in
everything else."
David in Psalm VMM, said, "Let my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth, if 1 remember
thee not ; if 1 prefer not Jerusalem above mv
joy."
The Psalmest in Psalm 107 four times uses
thus expression, "Oh that men would praise
Jehovah for his loving kindness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men!"
Following one of the expressions, he says, "For
he satistieth the longing soul, and the hungry
soul he tilleth with good." "And let them offer
the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his
works with singing." "And let them exalt him
also in the assembly of the people, and praise
him in the scat of the elders."
It is manly to be a christian and follow Jesus
Christ, and live for him. Oh, that men would do
this. What a happy old world in which to live.
What a changed place would Ontario be, A
wholesome community with men as examples for
the good.