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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1917)
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, JANUARY 7, 1917. The man who won't go through to the finish has finished at the start. If he hasn't pluck enough to hang on, he must hang back. Anybody can get a steady living out of steady effort. The same clock that ticks off 24 hours for one man can't cheat his neighbor. tvg7VyVW,WW ' i .1.1 1 1 ii i) J J J J J J J J . . Jj ............ ....... , , . , , , , t 1U n n J The Favorites of Time By HERBERT KAUFMAN 1 - - 1 The last pain is the only one that hurts; present hunger is sharpest. The grief through which you're passing is more poignant than any other misfortune. Previous troubles seem mild compared with today's worries. Th ere has not been a period which did not insist that its burdens were the heaviest. No matter how many improvements are made in living, working and social conditions despite the scope of healing and humane artsabout the same number of malcontents express their pessimism, as when the whole earth was vassal to tyranny and ignorance. Even if war is handing civilization the lustiest drubbing in her blacked-and blued expe rience, the wounds are but superficial. Progress cannot be thwarted by vandal hours. Ten times as many cannon may not hold the road against reason. ' . Man at his worst is never the equal of man at his best. Whatever the misfortune of the moment, we continue to.be far and away the favorites of time. We are housed, clothed, fed, protected as no set of ancestors. Science has a strangle hold on blights which once slaughtered populations and gulped food supplies at their sweet will. There aren't ten hopeless diseases left on a list that formerly totaled hundreds. Much blindness and insanity now yield to treatment where short yesterdays ago all demented and sightless folks were held irreparably maimed and mad. Street-sweepers luxuriate in conveniences and sanitations beyond the imagination, much less the ducats, of erstwhile sovereigns. Unskilled labor draws a bigger wage than master-craft once received. Grant you, Justice still goes awry, but not so very long ago entire classes were practi cally immune from retribution, no matter how outrageously they violated the laws and Commandments. The enslavement of whites, as well as negroes, existed within a hundred years. Felons were flogged and tortured; 'boys indentured and girls bound out in your own father's day. Quit your grumbling and be rich! Everything isn't right, but so many things are better and so few worse that it's flying in the face of Providence to think only of lacks when the horn of plenty is emptying at your feet. . Hold your horses! Millennium is coming as fast as electricity, steam and gasoline can drive. Just recall that this earth started in business without a penny, a word or a tool to its name. We're doing our human best to make it the peerless spot among the stars. Three hundred million dollars voluntarily divided by capital with labor in a single year speech between the hemispheres pure food statutes the promise of guaranteed peace among the nations are rainbows which only a chronic kicker will refuse to view. These are great days and it's a wonderful privilege to share them. If you're not an optimist, you're an ass! ?-z'',''-' rrntn .' f.JU r .' iiirrrrnrrrrrrrrrrn 11 in in n mill jj n i i ... iiii i m.ipi.niiiiimi ...... mm... mm Verses f HerbertKaufmajj ir Tiil: V TO TV1 mm r m m r V313M Although you failed you are not done. Another race will soon be run. What has been lost may yet be won Again. The hill down which you fell, Remember, can be climbed as well. Back to the scratch and re begin ! The door that opens out swings in You can return where you have been. The path's still there, you know the route And are experienced, to boot. It won't be half as hard this time Unless they've downed you . for a crime. And even through the prison bars Ambition can behold new stars. These Are the Truly Poor GREED is the direst form of poverty. Discontent is a cut-purse reg ularly stealing the joy from possession.. The dollar still to be gotten is the only one with a value 'to rapacity. Money madness, like a common form of indigestion, is a gnawing hunger which continues to elude satisfaction. Cash in any quantity is trash, if it does not purchase happiness. Millions are meaningless without a satisfying purpose to which they can be put. The man who never has enough, has nothing. Freak Roosters and Dwarf Trees THE Japanese breed roosters with ten-foot tails, and grow mature cedars a hand high. At first thought such stunts seem profitless, but reflection senses a definite value in feats which engage patience and persistence. They're exercises for vaster tasks. . It is a short step from producing extraordinary novelties to invent ing remarkable utilities. Faculties trained to carry through unusual performances, regardless of their character, may be easily diverted to more practical fields, once necessity calls them into action. - It doesn't matter why the hone is used; all that counts is that the tool shall be sharpened against emergency. When the hour did arrive for Japan's entry into the contest of na tions,, the result of experiments with freak roosters and dwarf trees played a decided part in ensuing events. Pen the Hogs! PRESS the fight against high prices; keep it up and they'll come down. Most of the increases in commodity costs are sheer impudence. The well-known "Mr. Good Thing" is being exploited to the quick. Ask a dozen merchants for the truth and ten of them will acknowledge a manipulated market. Retailers are in the same boat with consumers; they're also being held up and are passing the buck to you without profiting by the transaction. The question of shortage doesn't enter the average advance. Except in isolated instances, supply denies a legitimate basis for indiscriminate rises. Don't delude yourself that there will be an appreciable change before public opinion lays down the law and secures the passage of corrective legislation. " Remain enraged until state and National officials understand that this time you mean business. We've so frequently blustered and blown and orated reprisal that the -strong-arm ele ment and constituted authority alike feel quite sure you'll lose interest in the situation and permit the Artful Dodgers to go on pick ing pockets at heart's content. Nothing short of a few spectacular prison sentences will convince the penny catchers that the people of the United States do not intend to tolerate further extortion. Pen the hogs! The Bigness of Trifles IF you can't be the Big Wheel in a great machine, at least be a good screw. Every responsibility is important. Each bolt in the bridge bears a part of the strain. A loose nut here, a snapped rivet there and the whole structure is exposed to collapse. Details cease to be trifling the moment they threaten the main works. Tiny errors disrupt titanic plans. Being a messenger boy doesn't appear to involve ability, but if a vital letter fails to arrive at the proper hour the carelessness of an obscure bungler imme diately discounts the efficiency of an entire organization. There are two very scarce types of men those who can lead and those who can heed. Both con tribute signally to the prosperity of every concern. The strength that commands may not be yours, but exactitude is beyond nobody's capacity. A reputation for dependability is almost as valu able as a name for originality. First-class second-class men need never worry about the future it's the second-class first-class worker who are usually out of jobs and at elbows. Our Infant Industries OF COURSE you noticed that Santa Claus was on hand as usual this Christmas with a filled gift bag. We grown-ups were able to note the changes in his contraptions, but the children didn't realize how many old stand-bys were absent. Three years ago local toy facilities were ridiculously in adequate, but when Nuremburg and the Black For est abandoned their ancient craft and turned from Noah's arks and dolls to munitions and surgical sup plies, necessity located enough home talent to fill the bill and the hanging Stocking. Since we're on this particular subject haven't you wondered where the color supply has been com ing from? We're shy of good blues and out of a few tints and shades, but domestic dyeworks are lusty uifants and threaten to offer the returning invader a stiff fight when Germany seeks to recover her former trade here. The apothecary is' contriving to piece out his stocks with acceptable substitutes for drugs once exclusively produced abroad. Most of the china on sale nowadays is American bom. We have a habit of coming through, under pressure. I Why didn't you capitalize one or two opportuni ties when a thousand were suddenly presented by the interruption to international commerce? COPYRIGHT, 1016, BY BEBBEBT KA GREAT BRITAIN JLND JlLI OTHER RIGHTS RESERVED,