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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 22, 1914)
TnE SUNDAY OREGONTAX, PQIITXAND. OVEJIBER. 22. 1014. POKTLASD, OBEGOS. Entered at Portland, Oregon, Postofflce as Second-class matter. Subscription Kales Invariably In Advance: (By Mall.) Daily. Sunday Included, one year 18.00 l-aily, Sunday Included, six months ..... .-" l'aiiy, Sunday included, three months ... 2.20 ljaily, Sunday included, one month 75 .Daily, without Sunday, one year 6.00 Xiuliy, without Sunday, six months ..... 8.25 I.iaily, without Sunday, three months . 1.75 Jially, without Sunday, one month ...... .oo Weekly, osft year ......- 1.50 Sunday, one year ........- 2.50 Sunday and Weekly, one year 3.00 (By Carrier.) "Tal!y. Sunday included, one year ....... ?0. 00 Ijally, Sunday included, one month ..... .75 How to Kemit Send Postoffice money or der, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at sender's i.sk. Give postoffice address In full, including county and state. . Postage Kates 12 to 18 pages, 1 cent; IS to ill pages. 2 cents; 34 to 4S pages, 3 cents; tiO to Bo pages, 4 cents; 62 to 76 pages, o cents; TS to u pases, 6 cents. Foreign post age, double rates. Kaxtern Business Office Verree & Conk, llii, Kei York, Brunswick building. Chi cago, stenger building. Han Francixco Office R. J. Bldwell Co., 742 Market street. I'OKTLA.M), SCNDAI, NOV., 82, 1914. THE EASTEBX BATTLE LINE. Slav and Teuton are interlocked in what may prove the decisive action of the Fall campaign. Most bitter of all battles in the Eastern theater of operations is that now waging from Gallcia almost to the Baltic. ,Lodz is about the center of the extended fir ing line, which winds back and forth along a front of hundreds of miles in the shape of a vast serpent sprawled out after striking. Human life has no value in this struggle; no value, at least, other than that fixed by military expediency. Fragmentary reports picture the most furious scenes of hand-to-hand fight ing. On the center the battle takes the form of a struggle in which two great racial units are centering their most malignant fury, each seeking to dominate the other. Momentous con sequences hang in the balance as the tide of this tremendous carnival of slaughter ebbs and flows with the ac tions and reactions of battle. The one great reason why each na tion seeks to put its most virile en ergy into this fray is the approach of 'Winter. Advantages gained now must persist until the snows and ice of this forbidding region have released their gripping fingers. If the Germans can cripple the Kusslan first line and drive the Russians far back into Rus sian Poland, Germany will be prac tically free from the menace of inva sion during the . Winter months. If the Germans can take Warsaw and cripple the Russian lines of communi cation and systems of supply they will hold an advantage which only the most determined offensive in "the Spring can counteract. On the other hand, should the Rus sians again override the Germans and force them back on Thorn and Posen in the center, upon the Vistula in the north, and into the inner fastnesses of the Carpathians on the south, the ' Russian sieges of vastly important German positions can be conducted intermittently during the Winter months. Russian hopes of an ag gressive Winter campaign must de pend on Russian ability to establish now, and maintain, her system of sup ply through Russian Poland. There has been a marked change in the whole situation on the east during the past week. Where, a week ago the Russian offensive was suc ceeding, today the German counter action is progressing. After being swept back scores of miles by the spirited German onslaughts the Rus sians are now making a hard stand on their severely-menaced center in the district between the Vistula and the Warthe Rivers, in Russian Poland. Von Hindenburg, in driving his most furious blows directly against tho Russian center, appears to have adopted masterly strategy based on the relative distributions of the nnnies and the topography of the eastern war zone,. If he can defeat the. Russian center, then the Russian right and left must fall back auto matically or run a serious risk of en velopment. Von Hindenburg does riot run the same risk of being en veloped when he presses his own cen ter forward in advance of his wings because of the protection afforded by the marshy region" on his north and the Carpathian Mountains and the fortified Austrian cities on his south. If Von Hindenburg smashes the pres ent stand on the Russian center he will be in a position to advance once more on Warsaw. The pressure on Przemsyl and Cracow from a men acing Russian line which faces south, and almost at right angles from the center, will be relieved and the Ger mans will be masters of the situation, at- least for the time being. Yet it must be recalled that once before they gained practically such an ad vantage only to lose it to the Rus sians, who in turn are now losing the advantages gained from Von Hinden burg's first retirement from before Warsaw. A Russian rout on the center might prove peculiarly disastrous at this time for the reason that the Russians have no clear fields of retreat from the region of Lodz. It will be .re called that Von Hindenburg's army, when being pushed back over this country a short time ago, destroyed bridges and highways which were re placed only in the most superficial and temporary manner by the Rus sians in their pell-mell pursuit of the retiring Germans. The Germans, in their orderly retreat, utilized these bridges and highways before destroy ing them. Should the Russian de feat become a rout the Russians would be hampered greatly and might even be destroyed in an attempted hasty withdrawal over an obstructed course. While the Czar and Kaiser are clutching with such ferocity at each other's throat on the east, the west ern situation is comparatively tran quil and serene. Perhaps the east ern situation is responsible for this, a suggestion which is supported by the fact that the western tranquillity ex tends all along the line. Late dis patches say that from Belgium to the Oise no actions are occurring; along the Alsne the gunners are amusing then-.selves with artillery exchanges at long range, while around Verdun .and in the Vosges there is merely desul tory fighting between, intrenched troops. It is likely that the outcome on the east will be followed closely by ag gressive action In the west. Should the Russians succeed in regaining their lost advantage and press the Germans back, the allies will be en couraged to assume the offensive. Should the Germans win in the east, as Indications now suggest, a renewed German offensive to the west might be inspired by a quickened military zeal or reinforcements might be awaited from the east, following re lieved pressure in that region. In either event the western theater has before it its bloodiest struggles. During the months while the east is in - the grij of Winter the Germans must crush the allies if they hope to win. That they will be able to rein force their lines from the east is cer tain during the months when Winter hampers the moving of Russian ar tillery and supplies. But whether these reinforcements will suffice to smash the allies and leave the Ger mans free to assail the Rusisans anon is one of the great questions that re main to be settled on many a blood drenched battlefield of the not dis tant future. KULTIR AXI) CULTURE. The German word Kultur which we hear so often nowadays is not ad equately translated by our "culture." It means something more. Culture re fers to the graces and refinements of life. It includes art, literature and nice manners. Kultur means all this and a great deal more. The phrase standard of living" expresses part of its meaning. The Germans include in their. Kultur their system of police su pervision, the ownership of transporta tion by the state, the discipline of the army, the general neatness and pre cision of their private and public life. WThen they speak of their Kultur as superior to that of the Slavs they mean that they keep their houses and per sons in better order, work more ef ficiently and amuse themselves more intelligently. We suppose no German would pretend that his country has produced a greater novelist than Tol stoi or that, upon the whole, the Ger man mind is superior to the Russian. But he does assert that his practical standards are higher than the Rus sian's. Whether they are really higher or not is an open question. They are cer tainly different, just as the German manners and habits of life are dif ferent from ours. The Slav loves to 'loaf and invite his soul." He is slack and moody. The Anglo-Saxon could not endure to live under the police espionage which seems to be exactly what the Prussian wants. We believe in private Initiative rather than state ownership and control of the big" in dustries, while the Germans are per fectly satisfied to have their "govern ment manage the railroads and canals and take a dominant hand in mining and manufacturing. There the state is everything and the individual, hard ly anything. Here the state only ex ists for the sake of the individual. In these respects our Kultur is es sentially unlike the German's and he Is disposed to feel something of the same contempt for the Anglo-Saxon ways as he does for the Russian. Na tions have seldom taken the pains to understand and appreciate one another In .the past. Perhaps they will in the future. If they do they will be less disposed to fight and quarrel. THE SOUTHERN COTTON CRISIS. A correspondent asks The Oregon- ian to publish a synopsis of the cotton situation in the South. The situation created by the war was at first serious. more particularly to the South but generally to the whole country. A de mand was made that Congress take measures of relief, but the steps taken by diplomacy and by private agencies. as well as the course of events, have rendered such measures unnecessary. The South has a bumper crop of cotton, estimated at 15,000,000 bales, of which more than half would ordi narily have been exported. The war caused foreign exchange to advance to a rate almost prohibitive on exports. It caused marine insurance to rise very high and to continue high until British cruisers made the North At lantic safe for shipping bound for the allied countries. It drove German merchant ships from the ocean, there by reducing the available tonnage and causing ocean freight to advance. Doubt existed whether cotton would be treated as contraband of war. All these causes combined to stop exports almost entirely and to destroy the market for cotton. Cotton exchanges closed In New York, New Orleans and Liverpool, lest a stampede to sell should drive prices down to ruinous figures. Owing to the uncertainty as to what raw cotton was worth, spin ners, both in this country and Europe, feared to buy lest a fall in price should impose loss upon them. Cotton is grown largely on credit. Land-owners lease land to farmers on shares and make advances of money and supplies to the lessees, which the latter use to carry them through the season and which they repay when the crop is sold. Men who farm their own land obtain credit from mer chants for supplies and borrow from banks. Advances of cash to -lessees are made by borrowing from banks. Southern merchants buy on credit from manufacturers, largely in the North, who also owe money to banks, and Southern banks borrow from Northern banks. Thus the inability of the South to market cotton pre vented payment of debts all' along the line and threatened serious embar rassment. It reduced exports to such an extent that the ' balance of trade was seriously affected and the rate of exchange was kept unfavorable to our export trade. The bankers turned their efforts first to cutting down the rate of ex change. They did so. by providing gold for payment of American debts to Europe. By driving German cruis ers from the North Atlantic, Great Britain opened the way for exports to her own and her allies' territory. This cut down ocean freight and marine insurance. Both Great Britain and the United States provided for govern ment assumption of war risks, which aided in reducing insurance rates. Great Britain was induced to declare cotton absolute non-contraband of war when carried in neutral vessels. That opened the way for renewal of exports to Germany. Through the Federal Reserve Board, bankers all over the United States subscribed a loan fund of $135,000,000 to be lent on raw cotton at a stipulated maxi mum valuation. Large exports of foodstuffs and raw material have caused foreign exchange to fall to normal rates. The result has been renewal of ex ports to Great Britain, France and Germany. Cotton exchanges have re opened and the establishment of mar ket prices has encouraged spinners on both continents to buy. The loan fund will enable the South to carry over to next year whatever surplus remains after the requirements of manufactur ers are met. Growers will be -able to pay their debts to the merchants and the bankers, or will be able to renew loans obtained from the latter. The South will be able to pay what it owes in the North. The balance of trade, which has already turned strongly in favor of the United States, will be still more in our favor as cotton exports increase, for, taking into account in creased exports of breadstuffs and war material and decreased imports, the scale will be turned so strougly our way that it will help greatly to pay interest and dividends on American securities held abroad, also to pay for American securities which Europe may sell in this country. OLD FREEDOM SET AT NAUGHT. When the negro delegation protest ed to the President against segrega tion, he made the excuse that it was enforced for the comfort and best interests of both races in order to overcome friction. WThen Mr. Trotter renewed the protest with some passion and warned the President that segre gation would cause the blacks to vote the Republican ticket, Mr. Wilson called this warning "political, black mail," and, professing to feel insulted, abruptly ended the interview. The reason given for segregation is nothing but an excuse of the hollowest kind, which ignores ' notorious facts. Black and white vmployes had worked side by side in Gownment offices for fifty years without svious complaint. They Aid so -rijough ttte two terms of Mr. Wilson's Demr-satfc; predecessor, Mr. Cleveland, who appointed some negroes to office, including Mr. Trot ter's father. If any friction existed, it was created by the white race alone through hereditary prejudice, and the race which created the friction, not the one against which it was created, should suffer through its existence. There was valid ground for the pro test, for segregation is an outcroppiag of the same sentiment which causes denial of negro rights in the South. Mr. Wilson's hot resentment at Mr. Trotter's outburst of indignation and his entire demeanor arouse suspicion that he shares this prejudice and re gards negroes as Inferior politically as well as socially. His campaign prom ise of absolute fair dealing to negroes was a bid for their, votes. He cannot therefore Justly complain if they threaten to vote against- him when that promise is broken. A PRODIGY. Wonderful tales are told of 12-year-old Winifred Stoner's accomplish ments. She speaks eight languages, including Latin and Esperanto, knows the higher mathematics and most of the natural sciences, plays the violin and piano like a mature musician and withal she can swim, row, skate, ride horseback and cook better than most other children who regularly fail to pass their examinations at ' school. This sounds incredible, but it is vouched for by a correspondent of the New York Sun, who adds other marvels to his account. Winifred has written stories and articles for the magazines ever since her fifth year. We can readily believe this as well as the further report that she has ac tually sold poems to the magazines. There is ground to suspect that a good many of the stories and poems that bedeck our great monthlies are writ ten by children much .under 5 years of age and not by any means so intelli gent as little Winifred Stoner appears to be. Young as she is, she has tried her hand at teaching other children Esperanto and has written French verses. There is no doubt that Wini fred is an intellectual prodigy. And yet it is said that she is a per fectly normal child, fond of play and enjoying the best of healthy There is nothing of the anemic brain monster about her, much as she has acquired in herhort existence. Her education, it seems, has been conducted by her mother. Since Winifred has never been to school her advancement has proceeded without either the inspira tion or the handicaps of class work. Mrs. Stoner uses a system that Is very much like Dr. Montessori's. Some of her maxims are never to punish her daughter except by the discipline of consequences, "never to frighten or tease her, never to force her to study. She depends entirely on rousing her daughter's interest1 and thus secures attention and concentration. When the little thing's mind grows weary she 13 permitted to rest or sleep as she prefers. Like Dr. Montessori, Mrs. Stoner imparts everything in tho form of play. To teach the girl Latin she associated the first lines of the Aeneid with a game of ball. As the ball rolled back and forth across the floor mother and child recited the words of the poem alternately. This method would, of course, have scan dalized an orthodox pedant, but Wini fred actually learned Latin by it, while the pupils of the pedant usually leave their classes as ignorant as they en tered them. Winifred learned geography in a series of imaginary trips here and there about the world. The technical terms in arithmetic were made the names of gnomes and fairies. Botany was ' vivified by imagination in the same way. Mrs. Stoner appears to have had the rare good sense to enlist the whole round of her daughter's intelli gence and imaginative faculties in the great business of educaitng her. She is admirably free from -theories and employs every resource that lies at hand. Would that other, teachers of children were .as wise, or the tenth part as, wise. What fojly it is to ex clude from the educational process every faculty of the child's mind ex cept two or three. In this play school, under her mother's vigilant care, Win ifred has accomplished results that would be creditable to a university graduate. Mrs. Stoner makes no se cret of the method she has applied. On the contrary she has published it in a little book (Bobbs, Merrill & Co.) and has taught a score of other chil dren. If none of them have quite come up to little Winifred's marvels we may perhaps ascribe the failure to the lack of constant oversight by a loving mother. There are two points in connection with Winifred's1 achievements that are worth thinking over. The first is the fact that education has done so much for her, while for the ordinary child it does so little. Helen Keller affords an example of the same sort. With but one or two senses to work upon she has become a refined and highly intelligent woman who Is making her mark in the world. The ordinary school child is much in Helen Keller's situation educationally. Although it has several senses, It might as well be without them, for they are never used. Winifred's mother, kept the little girl's whole mind at work in the business of education. It Is quite reasonable, therefore, that she should have ad vanced five or six times as fast as the poor little kid that is allowed to ex ercise only one sense and that in the most restricted way. Our second point is that both Winifred and Helen Kel ler enjoyed the exclusive attention of their teacher. Winifred's mother had no other pupil in the critical years of her child's education. Helen Keller's teacher lived with her pupil even more intimately than a mother. It Is perhaps Utopian ever to expect that ordinary schoolchildren can have each a separate teacher, but it does seem as if there might be one for each group of five or six. Inspired with hair the zeal that Mrs. Stcner or Helen Keller's teacher felt and gifted with half their wonderful skill, they could accomplish immeasurably more than by current methods. The children of the Nation are Its most. valuable capi tal. Were each one a gold dollar no pains would be spared to make it fruitful in returns. But heretofore, however lavish we may have been in other directions, we have spent but stingily for education. Winifred Stoner is an example of what real teaching can accomplish. There have been others hardly less wonderful of late yers, the little Sidis boy, for In stance. The more there are of them the better, for, as they accumulate, they may finally drive home to all of us the truth that in education and in that alone, not as it is, blundering and half-blinded, but a& It might be, lies the hope of the human race. Not the warrior but the schoolma'am holds the key to the future. AIRCRAFT IX WARFARE. The airship and aeroplane continue to divide with the submarine interest attaching to new implements employed in the present war. The general con clusion has been reached that air craft are of immense value in recon nolssance, but are of small value as weapons of offense. They, have practically eliminated the element of surprise in military strategy by conveying information of an enemy's movements, thus render ing flank attacks on a large scale practically impossible. They have in creased the efficiency of artillery by spying out an enemy's position and directing fire. They have done good service in naval reconnoissance, a Schuette-Lang airship having given the German submarine U9 informa tion as to the position of the three British cruisers which she sank. The Russians in vain made every effort to conceal their advance from German aeroplanes by abandoning highways, marching 'through fields and forests at unlikely hours and even at night. But the German air-craft spied out their movements and helped General von Hindenburg to trap the Russians at Tannenberg. Should a fleet of German airships make a raid over English cities, we shall have an opportunity to judge positively of the efficiency of airships for defense as well as for offense. The British Government has taken elabo rate precautions for defense. It has a fleet of aeroplanes and dirigibles, to the credit of which must be placed what the New York Evening Post con siders "the best "single achievement of the war Lieutenant Marlx's destruc tion of the envelope of the Zeppelin in Its shed at Duesseldorf." Britain Is reported to be building a new type of dirigible, smaller ' and less in wieldy than the Zeppelin, , and has many aeroplanes, which have proved their efficiency. These smaller craft have the advantage in attacking air ships, and the threatened raid, If made, may end in an aerial battle, which will become historic. So far, air-craft have not justified their use as weapons of offense. Such justification is to be found only in the reasonable certainty that an armed enemy and his means of conducting war will be injured and that non-combatants will not be Injured, nor prop erty unused or useless for military purposes be damaged. Unless the ac curacy of air-craft, in hitting a mark can be greatly improved, their use for bomb-dropping should be stopped by common agreement of civilized nations as barbarous in the extreme. IDEALISM. George Creel in the December Century has an article on "Our "Vis ionary President," which is founded upon the questionable assumption that President Wilson has an extraordinary hold upon the popular Imagination. It is not to be questioned- that the Pres ident has won public respect and esteem but we would estimate the feeling somewhat short of the adora tion that Mr. Creel exhibits and thinks he discerns in the hearts of the peo ple. Woodrow Wilson's "reliance on idealism rather than on logic," as Mr. Creel expresses his tendency, has per haps awakened admiration of his steadfast determination to do what he believes is right, but still there is quite prevalent a wish that he oc casionally would' create his idealism out of cold logic. The Mexican prob lem has been handled with small re gard for practical benefits to all in volved and large concern for pure Idealism, but unfortunately idealism that does not promote material wel fare is but abstract Idealism and prac tically useless. "Judged by every act In the case," says Mr. Creel, "Woodrow Wilson's repudiation of Huerta was in no sense the result of a carefully reasoned de termination, but unmistakably the in stinctive recoil of the democratic spirit. . . . While recognition'' of Huerta was the wise course, as practi cally defines wisdom, it was not the right course. The acknowledgment that he asked involved a sanction of assassination and acquiescence in the legitimacy of murder as a substitute for constitutional procedure." Nobody but the most persistent idealist is able to- distinguish any thing in any of the successive Mex ican revolutions but individual thirst for power. Speaking in cold logic Huerta merely took the short cut. In stead of making war, and assassinat ing and murdering common folk sup porting Madero they knew not why, until Madero was compelled to flee, Huerta made war on Madero person ally. By the token of having waylaid two or three when he might have killed 10,000 Huerta becomes an as sassin. Villa or 5arranza choose the longer, bloodier road to power and if either gains the goal, the peculiar reasoning of pure Idealism, we pre sume, will permit their Instant recog nition. It may be the wise course but will it be nearer the right course than refusal to recognize Huerta? The Plan of Guadalupe, the declar ation upon which the Constitutionalist cause was founded, provided that the First Chief of the Constitutionalist forces should become provisional President of Mexico pending election of a constitutional President. Con stitutionalist principles made Car ranza the .Provisional .President. Villa's menace with troops prevented the carrying out of the distinct pro visions of the Plan of Guadalupe. Carranza is now ready to fight for Carranza. Villa is preparing to fight for Villa. Zapata continues to fight for Zapata, rapine and plunder. We have said to each- and all: Murder and assassinate as many peons as you wish in order to become ruler of Mexico, but spare each other. The short cut to power offends our democratic spirit. Yes, the President has applied idealism in Mexico. It would be fortunate rpr Mexico if he had applied wisdom and more of that logic which he professes so to scorn. THE WORD OF A MTRDERER. A contemporary has worked itself up into something of a passion be cause The Oregonian, in a recent news article, reported the murderer Tron son as saying that he had long In tended to slay Miss Ulrlch, and had waited tp see the outcome of the vote on the capital punishment act. Now Tronson Is quoted as denying the statement and one or two other re marks he made to The Oregonian, which somehow have hurt the tender sensibilities of the Journalistic foe of the noose and friend of the murderer. The Oregonian is obliged to say that it has no great 'confidence in Tronson, or any' other murderer, sane or In sane, and Is quite unconcerned about either his affirmations to one news paper and his procured denials to another. But it will say that, if it shall transpire that capital punish ment has been abolished in Oregon, it thinks a sad mistake has been made. The Tronsons may hereafter pursue their victims and slay with pistol or knife or axe or club, and they are safe from the gallows; but they may feed and fatten in prison, at public ex pense, all their rotten lives, or until a yielding Governor pardons them, upon the demand of some maudlin friend, newspaper or otherwise. If California, had said that under no circumstances a murderer should be put to death, the Infamous Mc Namaras would never have confessed, and the" world would not have ceased to dispute over the facts of the great Los Angeles dynamite conspiracy. To save their guilty necks, the Mc Namaras told their story, and by agreement were sent; to prison. Pastor Richeson, a few years ago, in Boston, slew his fiancee, and stoutly proclaimed his innocence and- was be lieved by many sympathetic men and women, until his confession just be fore he was executed. On the scaffold in Virginia a year or two ago, young Beattie, an aristo cratic murderer, owned up that he had killed his young wife, and a mystery that had divided a state into factions was forever cleared up. What a weapon for eternal justice Oregon has surrendered, if the anti hanging bill has carried. "GERMANY AND THE NEXT WAR." In his extraordinary book on "Ger many and the Next War" General von Bernhardt has a great deal to say about "the struggle for existence." He seems, in fact, to idolize this phrase. It forms the fundamental theme whose variations fill the greater part of his volume. In one place we are told with all the pomp of militaristfc positive ness that "The struggle for existence is in the life of Nature the basis of all healthy development." Again he quotes from Schlegel that "war Is as necessary as the struggle of the ele ments in nature." In another para graph we read that "Between states the only check on Injustice is force." The conquest of new territory Is "a law of necessity" for growing coun tries anfi "the right of conquest is uni versally acknowledged." After such a country as Belgium has been over run, then "It Is not the old possessors but the victors to whom It belongs." War, we learn. Is a biological law, and. more than that, "it is a moral obligation." - Further along we find that "it is political idealism that calls for war, while materialism repudiates It." Finally, according to Bernhardi's variety of Christianity, "we cannot dis approve of war, but must admit that it is Justified morally and historically." Evidently this author dwells In a "topsy-turvy world." He speaks like a character out of a Gilbert and Sulli van opera where the ideas advance tail foremost. One cf his most amus ing tricks is to bold up the United States as a horrible example of the evils of peace. We only champion peace hypocritically, ' he assures us, and in order "to devote our undis turbed attention to money-making and the enjoyment of wealth," but even this pretended devotion to unwarlike pursuits promises to be our ruin since It deprives us "of all chance of contest with opponents of our own strength," such a contest, for example, as Ger many has in full enjoyment. To clinch his adoring praise of war Bernhardi quotes from the old Greek philosopher the maxim that "war is the father of all things," a maxim which his mind, atrophied by militarism, seems hardly able to understand. The philosopher who invented the saying that "war is the father of all," did not speak of the mutual slaughter of human beings. He referred to the clash between the Inanimate elements of the world which is constantly going on now just as it did 3000 years ago. He used the word "war" figuratively, but his figure was unfortunate, since now military ma niacs can quote him to uphold their fantastic views. General von Bernhardi has but a very inadequate idea of what Darwin meant by "the struggle for existence." The German war fanatic assumes that it means an everlasting fight between Individuals for wealth' and pleasure; and, on a larger scale, between na tions for the same thing. Darwin had no such concept in mind when he In vented - the expression which mod ern militarism has fashioned Into a fetish. The struggle for existence meant, to Darwin's mind, the ever renewed disharmony between the in dividual and his environment. This arises partly from variations In the Individual himself and partly from changes in the environment, but how ever it comes about it sets up a dis turbance which the living creature cannot evade. Of course, the men and animals in his neighborhood are part of every creature's environment, but they are not the whole of it. nor, in many cases, the most important part. Bernhardi totally misapprehends the effects of the struggle for "existence. He says that by means of it the "strongest creatures make a new place for themselves," thus growing In power and faculty. This Is the exact opposite of what really happens. In Nature's "strug gle for existence" no creature ever "wins" place and power. The most and best he can do is to adapt himself to the changing environment. If he succeeds In adapting himself, which means yielding, he survives. If he does not yield he perishes. The adap tation thus effected mty mean in creased faculty or it may not. This all depends upon what Darwin calls "fortuity." Nature has- no prefer ences in the matter. The adaptation which she forces upon her creatures degrades them quite as often as it ele vates. And this Is just as true of human beings as of any other living objects. For every instance that Bernhardi or anybody else can cite f ' of good results from war a moderately instructed historian can cite a hun dred of Its evils. Instead of the strug gle for existence- being the source of civilization and advancement It Is per fectly easy to prove that the human race never has been able to advance except when it partially escaped f,rom the struggle. Anthropologists assure us that a great part of human predominance in the world is due to our prolonged period of infant helplessness. The chicken runs about and feeds itself as soon as It is out of the shell, the child must be nursed and coddled for several years. What is this period of infancy but a long immunity from the struggle for existence? And while it continues the child is educated. He receives inherited treasures from the past and is thus prepared to carry on the great human warfare against na ture which is the Inspiration and meaning of history. What are our schools and colleges but asylums where, for year after year, the devel oping man is protected from the strug gle for existence.? If our boys and girls were obliged to plunge Into it as early In life as the apes do they would resemble-apes In their achievements and character. Civilization is nothing more than the total result of man's successful efforts to protect himself from the- struggle for existence. When he built the first house he mitigated the ferocity of the struggle. The discovery of fire still further emancipated him. When he began to build walled cities his life became comparatively safe and peace able and in the shelter of his protect ed home he Invented literature and the arts. None of these pursuits are compatible with war. When peace goes they all accompany it and the nations revert to primitive savagery. Bernhardi's grotesque contention that civilization grows out of war is as senseless as if one should say that conflagrations build cities. Sometimes a new and finer city is built upon the ruins ' of a conflagration, but the flames are not responsible for it. Every useful invention in the world helps emancipate us from the struggle for existence The very name we give them, "labor-saving inventions," im plies this. Labor is the heaviest bur den which the struggle for existence lays upon the common man. What ever lightens his task sets him pro portionately free. The entire practical aim of science has been to mitigate the struggle "for existence. By harnessing the natural forces it releases the energies of man for something higher and better .than the gross effort merely to keep him self alive. War, Instead of forward ing civilization, is its greatest hin drance. For one thing, it destroys in a day what the civilizing work of man has taken centuries to construct. For another, it constantly diverts to pur poses of destruction the inventions of his genius. We can ask for no better example of this than the flying ma chine. It might have increased the wealth and promoted the happiness of the world. Instead of that, war has made it a thing of horror, an Instru ment of death and destruction. Democratic Jobholders find solace In Governor-elect Withy com he's an nouncement that he will make changes for reasons of efficiency only. For where is the Jobholder who does not Insist that his middle name is ef ficiency? It was the part of discretion to bar Japanese aviators from flying over Hawaii. We have secret fortifications there which it is just as well should not be charted by foreign powers. Yes, Edith, replying to your query, we opine that if someone should sink half the American Navy the State Department would find some way of construing it as a "friendly act." A rriptorboat has been perfected which travels l'orty-five miles an hour. We want that to start upstream in should there ever be an invasion from the Pacific side. Although the Administration Is un concerned over Mexico, Europe pauses in her awful struggle to ask us what we are going to do about that chaotic country. Two more German generals are said to have committed suicide fol lowing defeat. Good thing Turkish generals do not resort to this practice. It is reported that the dead on the battlefields are no longer counted. From reports we thought they were counted twice in some instances. The man who loses his mind over a woman had little to lose in the first place and had it not been that cause another would have interposed. Calve Is singing to the wounded In France. However, we still prefer the old way of courting bankruptcy In order to hear her siren voice. Great Britain is pronounced beaten by one German authority.- But at last accounts Britain ,was able to muster one or two war vessels. "Shots, not hostile, but unfriendly," is the conclusion in the Turkish inci dent. We see the difference, but not the distinction. The fall of Przemysl is near, say the Russians. The same thing they have been saying for more than two months. Of course, If turkeys persist in be ing dirt cheap we shall crave a r-oast of beef for Thanksgiving. .With foreign squadrons centering on the Pacific Coast 'we may get to see some of the fur fly. We should really apologize to Tur key to be consistent with our recent type of diplomacy. Surely you can find something to be thankful for Thursday, or you are no optimist. The Oregon murderer can be thank ful that he didn't commit his crime In Arizona. The Kaiser, in an auto, is said to be near the allies' line. But not too near. The season of holdups, burglaries and Chinese gambling is now with us. Japan's virile- military policy is the very antithesis cf our own. Japan is enlarging her army and navy. Why? ' On to Warsaw! Gleams Through the Mist By "ns Collins. The reaceful Life. As oft along the busy street I plod my weary way, I view 'the stone beneath my feet. And frame a whimsical conceit And .to myself these wurde repeat. And thus go on to say: "What careworn mortal, tired of life. With all his goods in hock. Would not admire the gentle life. Of the peaceful paving block? "For men must work, while women weep. "Tis thus the world doth go; But while men struggle hard to reap Their scanty hare of food and sleep. The paving block hath nought to keep Except its statu quo. Its calm and carefree statu quo. While people all about On frenzied errands speeding go. And hustle in and out. "While I may shrink from Fortune's knock. With spirit sprained or bent. While I may shun the rush and shock. And wish my door to shut and luck. Hard knocks upon the paving blv-k Can scarce produce a dent. The grinding; wheel upon its face May roll in passing by. But the calm block t!il keeps its pi ace And never baus an eye. "While sumo rush in where angels fear To tread with lightest pace, I've never heard, nor far nor near. By rumor vague, or legend queer. Of any paving block, my dear. That did not keep its place. Contented with its humble lot. Nor seeking more to win. It sticks serenely in the slot The workmen put It in. "And, furthermore, though men may try To smirch one's record fair, I hope to live and hope to die. And never hope to see the g'ly Who dares, of paving blocks, deny That they are on- tiAe square." And so upon the busy street, -At all hours by the clock. These words I'm likely to repeat In accents low anl soft and sweet; "Oh, happy paving block!" "Sir," said the courteous office boy, "I understand that there will be no rr.ore regular funerals In Vancouver after a short time.'' "How so, my son," I gasped, "has im mortality set in?" "Nay, nay, sire,". said the rougulsh C. O. B.. "but the laws of Washington will now forbid a man to have his bier." V.'hereupon I grasped the telephone and ordered a large wet one for me and. a small cedar one for the C. O. B. Thanksgiving day 1m on the way. And I would feel quite chorky, "Were I not wise To scores of guys. With scores of wheezes they'll devise About the fate of Turkey. Kef lertlonM of a Ituttou. You'll never miss me till I'm gone. Civilization depends upon a button. Verily I say unto you. it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for one fat maa to fasten the top button of his shoe. When buttons fall oft, then laundry men get their dues. Better a button burst by a hearty la. u h than by the washerwoman's wringer. 'Tis a wise master that ktioweth his own collar button. A soft buttonhole turneth away wrath, but a rolling collar button stir reth up anger. A button on the shirt Is worth two on the pincushion. A hitch In time covers a multitude of sins. The boy stood on the burning deck. Whence all but him had fled. For; "We believe in Safetv First," Is what the others said. Or If one desires to give the honored classic a more humane quirk: The boy stood on the 'burning desk. Prepared to meet the worst. But when things got too hot he dived And shouted "Safety First." And now, having given The Boy a. chance for his white alley, we wouM desire to lead you back two and one half colyums to remind you that: The French hold all the passes. Which you'l admit is fine. But, speaking of the fruit of war The Germans hold the Rhine. And also, lest we forget, etc.: If Father Noah lived today In the North Sea. I ween. His -ark would very soon be turned Into- a submarine. Last week we felt thai, we had showed up completely the character cf the rascally baker man, but to cake assurance doubly sure, we now remind you that: y Though well we pay him for his loaf. By everyone 'tis said. The baker In a surly oaf The graham's better broad. We noted recently that C. L. Edaon In the N. Y. Evening Mail explains that: No more the German band Is heard In London - on the Strand. The reason is, as you've inferred. The' band is contraband. But we would ask him further How could the German band reach o'er To England's distant land. When it is on its native shore? 'Tia no elastic band. m Yet hope springs eternal, and Though the Teuton band is not Now tootln" on the Strand. Still they may all enjoy, I wot. Perhaps a saraband. I feel that this has pone far enough. So does the compositor. So does the proofreader. And perhaps others that I wot not oT. Boy, run down and unlock the doors of Oblivion, And shoot this colyum in. Lei's go to lunch. Cotton Situation in Hie south, PORTLAND. Nov. 16. (To the Edi tor.) Will you kindly give in The Ore gonian a brief synopsis of the ccrtton situation in the South, that is. a gen eral statement of the conditions exist ing and what steps have been taken to remedy t!iem. 1 believe this synop sis would be of general interest to your readers, as pertaining to general business conditions. INFORMATION SEF.KER. Xose Glasses and Dignity. Exchange. Nose glasses are also mistaken for dignity on certain occasions.
