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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1917)
6 THE SUNDAY OKEGOXIAX, PORTLAND, JANUARY 14, 1917. PORTLAND, OREGON. Entered at Portland (Oregon) Postoff1.ee as second-class mail matter. Subscription rates Invariably in advance: (By Mall.) - Dally, Sunday Included, one year . .JS.00 rally, Sunday Included, six month 4.25 Daily, rfunday included, three months ... 2.23 pally, Sunday included, one month ..... .75 Dally, without Sunday, one year 6.W pally, without -Sunday, three months ... 1.75 Daily, without Sunday, one month ...... .60 Weekly, one year 1.50 unda. one year 2.&0 tiunday and Weekly 3.50 (By Carrier.) Dally, Sunday Included, one year ....... 9.00 Dally, Sunday incluued. one month ..... .75 How to Kemlt Send postorf ice money order, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at sender's risk. Give postoflice address in lull. Including county and state. Postage Rates 12 to 16 pages, 1 cent; 18 to 32 pagt-s, 2 cents; 34 to 48 pages, 3 cents; 60 to GO pages, 4 cents; 62 to 70 pages, S cents; 78 to 2 pages, o cents. Foelgn post date douole rates Eastern Business Office Verree A Conk lin, Brunswl-.'k building. New York; Verree c Conklin. Steger building, Chicago. San i'rancisco representative, ii. J. Bid well. 7-42 Market street. PORTLAND, SATURDAY, JAN. 13, 1917. GUIDING YOUTHFUL, READERS. Actual experience of the librarian of the Chicago Public Library shows how extensive are the possibilities of wise guidance of the reading taste of the young. A record has been kept of the books called for by boys in the Cook County Jail, to whom the volumes In the library had been made accessible, and the selections made threw a good deal of light on the temperament of those youths whose misdirected ener gies had brought them Into the toils of the law. It is of more than ordi nary significance that one of the books near the top of the list Is Kipling's "Captains Courageous," and that the one that led them all was a work of stirring adventure by Rex Beach, "The Barrier." "Around the World In Eighty Days" had a large following. Significant titles, because of the thread of relationship running through them, were "Boys of the Rincon Ranch," "Boy Scouts of the Snowshoe Lodge," "The Boy Captain," "Adven tures of Tom Sawyer," "Buck Peters, Ranchman," "Indian Fights and Fighters," "'Michael Strogoff," "Lives of the Hunted" and "Daniel Boone, Backwoodsman." This is not a list such as would cause apprehension in the mind of the average thoughtful parent whose boy had - cultivated a taste for reading of the kind; and It must be remembered that these young readers were not lads In comfortable homes, but were serving sentences o"r awaiting trials for various petty In fractions of the law. The experiment showed, as will ap pear from a list of books, each of which was read by fifteen or more boys, that adventure universally ap peals to youth. Scouts, captains and Indian fighters still have the same Irresistible drawing power of old. "Ranch" is a word -of singular pulling quality; it must be quite clear to the student of the juvenile bent that the approximate synonym "farm" would not have done the business. There is about the "ranch" a strong flavor of the West, while unfortunately but truly the "farm" is associated with too many chores, and chores, as every boy knows, are drudgery. Similarly ref erence to the backwoods made the boys curious to read the book. "Tom Sawyer," though we who have read It know its . charm. Is by association with "adventures" in the title un doubtedly elevated above the reading deadline. Of the same nature was "Treasure Island," for the very title betrays It even to those who know lit tle or nothing of the literary crafts manship of Robert Louis Stevenson. "The Call of the Wild" had its devo tees, and, indeed, bids fair to be come one of the juveniles of a coming . day. "Sir Nigel," a wholesome book for a boy to read, perhaps gained favor because it had been filmed, and so the name was familiar to many who had seen the billboards of the motion picture theaters; there would seem to be no explanation in the name alone." Other books on the list bear out the theory that it is adventure the boys are after. "With Kit Carson in the Rockies," "The Lone-Star Ranger" and "The 'Wolf Hunters" were well toward the top. It appears that boys are not attracted by obvious adver tisement of the fact that books are Intended primarily for their perusal. Thus, the "boy's" life of one man and another seemed to have no message to convey. The "Boy's Life of Grant" and the "Boy's Life of Edison" made no impression; they did not have a single call. Yet it is conceivable that if the book had been called on the one hand "The Battles of General Grant," or on the other "The Exciting Ad ventures of an Inventor," there would have been a far different story to tell. It is Incidentally Interesting that one of the books quite generally called for, although it was not among the truly elect, was "The Cub Reporter." This again bears out the adventure theory, for, as everyone Is supposed to know, the cub reporter of fiction, is always Mnto things and always emerges tri umphant over all difficulties, which is the sine qua nos of all good books for the young. It is becoming quite clearly a duty In the selection of reading for youth to reeognlze certain well-established principles, chief of which is the one demonstrated by the Chicago experi ment, that the boy can be led where he cannot be driven, and that since he insists, in the parlance of the street, that there shall "be something doing all the time," it is. far more practicable to furnish him with clean action than to sentence him to the reading of homilies which he neithef values nor wants to understand. Life, after all, has adventure enough for the most exacting; and it would be a shame to deny to youth the right to read about it. The antidote for the dime novel is the classic meeting the same fundamental requirement in a more Intelligent way. Chivalry is not dead in the breasts of boys. . They like to read about the fight in which the rules were fair and were scrupu lously observed, and the hero who is magnanimous to the fallen foe still wins their applause. So long as writ ers, and librarians, and teachers are able to play up to this instinct, they need ..have little fear of the effect of over-excitement. And there are so many good books of adventure that it seems a pity that any other kind is read. The responsibility resting upon the librarian who undertakes a work of this kind is made plain by the ex perience to which reference has been made. He found that, in addition to the attraction of the mere title, boys were much inclined to accept the ver dict of other boys as to the merits of a book. Thus, by inducing one or two of the leaders among the youngsters, boys of more than ordinary Intelli gence, to read such books as "Captains Courageous" and "Treasure Island" and Sir Nigel," it was possible to "set a fashion" in reading in that cir cle and to attain a really valuable re sult. It is probably true that the boy who ever has read a wholesome book of adventure is less likely to backslide into the yellowbacks than one who has been the subject of an effort to force a precocious taste for so-called higher things. With due respect for Richard Baxter and John Bunyan, it will not be overstating the case to say that "Everlasting Saints' Rest" and "Pil grim's Progress" did more to kill the reading habit in the youths of a pas! generation than their authors accom plished In the way of good. MERELY ACADEMIC DISCUSSION. In these topsy-turvy times one may easily lose his bearings, so it may be regarded as perfectly proper to rise to a question of personal privilege, as they would say In the Legislature. If a man Is elected to office for a specific purpose and on a specific pledge, is he sup posed to follow that purpose and carry out that pledge? We ask the question of Dr. J. Francis Drake, tho latest elected member of the School Board. From the Evening Telegram. What? A pledge, an ante-election pledge, in these topsy-turvy times of political consecration to lofty ideals of personal and official conduct? Can such things be? We are shocked. We do not assume, of course, to speak for School Director Drake, but we have an old-fashioned view of our own about election pledges, which we shair venture to enunciate. If a pledge is publicly made and a candidate is elected to office, clearly he ought to carry It into effect, unless changed circumstances justify him in repudiating or forgetting it. But if the pledge is secretly made to a clique of backstairs supporters, or to any hungry group of favor hunt ers, or to any wire-pulling gang of political manipulators, or to any down- cellar caucus of faction-breeders and trouble-stirrers, we should say that it is no pledge at all which an honorable man ought to observe. It is aside from the point to say that he ought not to have made it. Certainly not. But of course we are discussing generalities. It would enlighten us greatly if our neighbor, the Telegram, would descend to details. STRANGER THAN FICTION. A contemporary quotes a Senator at Salem as saying that the stenog rapher employed by the president of the Senate two years ago drew extra pay from the state for taking care of the president's baby while he and his wife attended a ball. The refreshing comment that fol lows is that this is merely an episode in a long-continued Institution of clerk-hire nonsense. There is more in it than that. The Senate president's stenographer two years ago was a corpulent, middle- aged man. If he took care of the president's baby, the reporters over looked a touching human-interest story. But the same stenographer, toward the close of the session, suddenly ex hibited signs of insanity. He is now a ward at the State Asylum. Possibly the state gave him an extra day's pay for a delusion. ' Which makes even more important an episode than If he dandled the president's baby while the president danced. STOOPING SHOULDERS. The fact that American physical standards havebeen ebbing for several decades has been generally recognized and remedies innumerable have. been presented by the physiologists. A wider participation in athletic sports is the treatment most widely adopted for straightening stooped shoulders and undersized muscles, but this has not staunched the ebb and a survey of our physical assets is always dis concerting. The situation has caused more than one thinker to turn toward military training as the salvation, but the trouble with military training as a cure for physical Ills in the young is that it appeals no more strongly to the physically indolent than does ath letics. Hence universal military serv ice is put forth as the one hope. Dr. Hugh H. Young, of Johns Hopkins University, is the latest to accept this conclusion, and he adopts the notion with enthusiasm as offering the only tangible way out of our rut of ap proaching physical decay. The picture of a few trim athletes in some struggle watched by thou sands of effete youths on the sidelines is not a new one. The value to the Nation of getting the men from the sidelines into the game has been urged by educators the country over. But the leisure-loving, lily-handed youths in grandstand and bleachers have re fused to be converted Into anything more strenuous than billiards and bridge. Compulsion is not a pretty word as it rings in the ears of the excessively individualistic American youth, but how else Is he to be lured into possession of square shoulders and vigorous physique? How else are we to instil tWte aenemic, wizened, stooped and lethargic with manly vigor and manly effectiveness? - Some recent statistics on American physical standards emphasize the ne cessity of doing something. Of the cadets selected for West Point and they represent the physical flower of the land some 30 per cent have to be eliminated for physical unfitness for the profession of arms. The recruiting depot of the Marine Corps of New York, after a great run of recruits, found that only one in thirty-five had been accepted for service. And the Marine Corps does not demand super men nor even perfect men. Nothing more than men of average physique in sound health is asked for. Yet only one in every thirty-five Americans who applied met that requirement. The same sad state of affairs is reported in the efforts of Army and Navy to recruit men to fill up the thin ranks. Nor is defectiveness confined to men who seek military service. A survey made by the Life-Extension Institute among industrial workers revealed that In every 100 workers of an aver age age of 31.6 years a total of sixty seven suffered moderate Impairment requiring treatment. It is remarked that we are behind ' many of the na tions, and certainly all of the great powers, in the matter of bodily sound ness and prowess simply because we have no system of National exercise such as Is to be found in the nation wide training camps of the Old World in times of peace. With universal service millions of our young men would get daily exer cise in the open air. During youth they would spend a year or so under the most wholesome surroundings with lives carefully regulated and with daily participation in drills and exer cises that" would straighten their bodies, deepen their chests and strengthen their limbs. The benefits in a period of, 6ay, five years would be incalculable. Such a system would add vast store to National efficiency even as It would replace National in security with National security. As soon as the American people come to see universal training in its true light we shall have universal training. MS. ROCKEFELLER GIVES A PARK. In the further effort to divest him self of some of the millions that he cannot take with him when he dies, John D. Rockefeller has given to the city of New York land for a park of fifty-seven acres at the upper end of Manhattan Island, the land having been acquired by him for the purpose at a cost, it is said, of $5,000,000. Fifty-seven acres do not represent a vast estate, as acres go out here in the West, with its vast expanses of moun tains and plains, but It Is a big lot of land In Manhattan, which has not yet gotten rid of its slums and its other wise congested districts. The new park, however, is more than ordinarily important, becanse it gives to public use a veritable Acropo lis, and forever takes from private ownership one of the sites in all the great city more suitable for a great public building, such, for example, as a National Academy of Design. It commands the Hudson and Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the surrounding country for a great distance. One who judges New York by what he has read of its downtown districts would conclude that there would be an In stant rush of the people to enjoy their new privileges, as soon as the new park has been formally turned over to the city. The fact is, however, that a vast proportion of the benighted residents of Gotham do not know what to do with outdoor advantages when they have them. It is probably not ex aggerating to say that there are some millions who have never thus far vis ited either the Great Bronx Park in the northern part of the greater city, nor Prospect Park, across the river in Brooklyn. Recent inquiries made by a settlement worker on the lower East Side showed a surprising number who did not even know of the existence of Central Park, literally in the heart of the eity and only two or three miles away. So that acquisition of another park or so by the city would seem to be a matter rather of esthetic than popular interest to its residents. What New York needs more than more parks is the habit of enjoying those it now has. People who live in the West may find It hard to understand how people can shut their eyes to opportunities for real outdoor recreation, but they do. THE MOST IMPUDENT RAID OF ALL. The most audacious attempt to loot the National Treasury for private profit is the flood reclamation bill which the Southerners in control of Congress have forced through the House and have caused to - be re ported favorably to the Senate. It proposes an initial expenditure of $45,000,000 in reclamation of 16,000. 000 acres of flooded land In the four states of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee, all of which is owned by private Individuals and the value of which would be vastly enhanced. Although the owners would derive practically all of the benefit, the bill would impose upon them only one- twentieth of the cost, the other nine-teen-twentieths being paid by the Na tion. As the four states mentioned pay only a small fraction of the'taxes, the other forty-four states would pay nearly" all of the nineteen-twentieths contributed by the Nation. This bill is the worst of the three pork barrels which the Democratic majority is pushing through Congress. The other two can show at least an appearance of spending public money for public purposes improvement of rivers and harbors and erection of buildings for the use of the Govern ment. This bill is designed to re claim private land In a few states from floods. It is not designed to prevent or restrain floods throughout the course of the Mississippi and Its tributaries, which would be a work of truly National scope and which .has hitherto been advocated by promoters of Improvement along that river. It is not proposed to assess the "cost against the land that Is improved, as is done in reclaiming arid land in the West. Here the settler on Irrigated land must repay the entire cost with interest; there it Is proposed that the owner pay only a twentieth of the cost of rendering worthless land capable of producing $700,000,000- worth of cotton yearly. This raid on' the Treasury is at tempted at a time when the Govern ment is confronted with the probabil ity of a deficit a year from next Jufy that is estimated all the way from $230,000,000 to $300,000,000. The three companion bills propose the ex penditure of $120,000,000. when the ways and means committee is seeking new subjects of taxation to avert bankruptcy and when a bond issue is contemplated to pay -for the war we did not have in Mexico. Fortunately there are men in the Senate who have the honesty and courage to resist the raiders, and the latter's control over the machinery is less complete in that body than in the House. It Is most fitting that the opposition Is being organized by Sen ator Newlands, for 'he represents- a state and a section where the benefi ciaries of reclamation pay for it. He also has been the champion of a broad, statesmanlike and businesslike policy in improving waterways and restrain ing floods. He has circulated a round robin denouncing the. bill which has been signed by so many Senators that the chances of its passage at this ses sion seem small. Its present defeat would give to enemies of the pork barrel and friends of a sound waterway and flood-prevention policy time to organize and to arouse public opinion to the iniquity of the reclam ation scheme. A sound policy of waterway Im provement and flood prevention has been before the country for years, fathered by Mr. Newlands. It would go beyond the view expressed by the National Waterways Commission that improvements made by the Govern ment should be restricted to naviga tion, which leaves out of consideration the interstate character of Mississippi Vclley floods. Mr. Newlands" plan would treat each main stream and Its tributaries- as a unit, and would at tack at their source th6 -floods which obstruct navigation and destroy land by eroding the soil near the head wa ters and by inundating the lower val leys. He would entrust the execution of this policy to a commission, which would protect and replant the forests, store the flood waters and use them to irrigate land and to generate power, and would improve navigable chan nels. In carrying out this policy, the commission would perform the Na tional duty to prevent inundation of the lower valley, but the cost of re claiming swamp land in that section should be borne by its owners, as is the cost of Irrigating arid land near the head waters.. This policy has found no favor with Southern Con gressmen, because it would supply no funds for improving their trafficless creeks or to drain their flooded lands. The West has every reason for sup porting the Newlands plan and for breaking away from the political al liance which the South endeavors to use in carrying out its raid. The West needs for irrigation and power the flood water which the South wishes only to dam out without stopping its waste. The West does not ask the Nation to do more than its duty to prevent floods and make rivers naviga ble. It Is willing to pay for carrying the stored water to the arid land, and it expects the South to pay for drain ing the great bottoms. If the West will break away from the Southern pork grabbers and will get behind Mr. Newlands, it may obtain for itself the great benefits of his policy and obtain for the South all that that section is entitled to, but no more. The Imme diate necessity is defeat of the flood reclamation bill, in order to bring the South to reason and to clear the way for the plan which would confer bene fits on both sections but would give public funds to- neither for private profit. MCLTIPLIABLE LIBEL. The New York Times reports the termination of a highly illuminating libel case in the state of Louisiana, with results showing that even in that somewhat backward state backward as to its laws concerning the freedom of newspaper publication and discus sion progress is being made. A citi zen of a certain parish remote from the state's metropolis, rejoicing in the happy name of East Feliciana, sued the New Orleans Times-Picayune, in New Orleans, for damages for libel. But he was not content to pursue his right of action in a manner strictly within the legal and personal pro prieties; he caused the editor and manager of the newspaper to be in dicted on forty counts in a criminal action at East Feliciana. The basis of the multiplied proceed ings was doubtless that forty separate copies of the newspaper were regular ly circulated in the little town, and that publication in each paper consti tuted a separate offense. It is a little startling to contemplate that, on the same theory, an injured citizen might prosecute -a metropolitan journal with a vast circulation through a criminal action containing a million counts. Obviously, too, the utterer of the so called libel might be prosecuted wher ever the newspaper circulated any where and everywhere. The chief interest In the Louisiana decision lies in the summary and ef fectual manner In which it disposes of the archaic and impossible doc trine of multipliable offense. The Supreme Court, the Chief Jus tice dissenting, issued a peremptory writ of prohibition, directed to the judge of the East Feliciana Parish District Court, prohibiting further pro ceedings in the prosecution. Judge O'Neill, who wrote the opinion of the court, said: If what Daniel D. Moore tedltor and man ager of the Tlmes-Picayunel did was a com plete offense and constituted only one of fense. It was surely committed In the City of New Orleans. if the fact that a bundle of copies of the Times-Picayune containing the alleged libelous article was sent Into the Parish of East Feliciana conferred Jurisdic tion upon the District Court In that parish to try the alleged offender for what he did in the City of New Orleans, it must be upon the theory that the sending of that bundle of papers to the Parish of East Feliciana constituted a separate offense in that parish. If that be true, the sending of another bundle of the newspapers to the Parish of Rapides constituted another offense in that parish, and the sending of another bundle to the Parish of Plaquemines constituted another distinct offense there andon the same prin ciple, the sending of each newspaper to each individual subscriber or purchaser was a distinct offense. It would lead to the anomalous propo sition that as many separate and distinct offenses may have been committed in as many Jurisdictions, by what Daniel D. Moore did in the City of New Orleans, as there were copies of the newspaper containing the alleged libelous article: that what Mr. Moore did in the city of New OcJeans was multi plied Into as many thousands of distinct of fenses on his part as there were subscrib ers and purchasers and readers of that Issue of the Times-Picayune. To say that a prose cution and conviction by a court having Jurisdiction In any parish where one of the newspapers found Its way would protect the defendant from prosecution In any other parish, does not answer to the constitutional requirement that he shall be tried for what he did In the parish where the offense was committed, and In no other parish, if what he did was an offense. The Louisiana court followed In practice the ruling of the Supreme Court of the United States and several minor Federal courts In the familiar case of Theodore Roosevelt against the New York World and the Indianapolis News. Colonel Roosevelt was greatly offended a sundry caustic, and doubt less unwarranted, comments of these papers on the purchase of the Panama Canal rights from France for $40, 000,000; and he sought to bring them to Washington in a libel proceeding instituted on behalf of himself, the Secretary of War and several others. It was held by the Federal courts that there is but one offense, if any, and that is where the newspaper is pub lished. It is a far cry from the old legal principle, fostered by tyrants in the days when the growing power of the press was an occasion for alarm by the enemies of freedom, that the "greater the truth the greater the libel." Now the greater the truth the greater the service to the public, if it be told In a proper cause and from proper motives. THE ELUSIVE GEORGE SHAW. George Bernard Shaw, he of the crimson whiskers and unkind way of saying things about everyone and ev erything, has announced that he will forego an alluring offer to lecture on the golden shores of America. Not even the blandishments and treasure of the Drama League of America could tempt him, although the Drama League chose a happy hour for asking him. With Britain Intent on other things than George Bernard Shaw, It was thought that he would embrace an opportunity to come where the spotlight would never waver from him during the seven days he was certain to remain a wonder. But there is neither distaste nor scorn of sordid gain in his rejection of the Drama League's flattering of fers. His refusal is nothing more than, strategy, than good business judg ment He is frank in saying so in his response. Just now he has hold of the American fancy. His books have a wide vogue and his American royal ties reach a neat total annually. But let the American reading 'public get too close a view of him. let their ideals be shattered by appearance of Shaw in the flesh, and he argues that his royalties would go glimmering. Shaw says, and there is eery reason to believe him, that he is a quite com monplace person. He Is old and dod dering, according to his own verdict. The American people picture him as a whirlwind of virulent wit, whereas his wit comes slow and. hard and must be toiled over. He is neither dashing nor beautiful to look upon. So what would he take to America, other than disillusionment? No. ' he will keep away and let the buyers of his books and the readers of his notes go right on believing he is a regular devil in his own home town, where, by the way, he probably attracts far less attention than a limping doughboy from the trenches of FlanTlers. Such reasoning power, such keen perception, is alarm ing. It is given to few men to rise so completely above the promptings of vanity. It has been preached since Adam that famftlarlty breeds con tempt, that no man can be a hero to his valet. Did not the man who would be king lose his occult power the mo ment he indulged In a mundane ca ress? And would not George Bernard Shaw cease to be a literary superman the moment he got away from his per sonally conducted press bureau and exhibited himself in the flesh? How unfortunate for Britain that this super. strategist did not enter upon a mili tary career early in life so that, even now, he might be directing the des tines of allied armies in France. WHERE HAVE THEY BEEN? In view of the published record, it la difficult to fathom the petulance of President Baker, of the Anti-Saloon League, over The Oregonian's wholly impersonal reference to advocates of search and seizure In prohibition legis lation. Nor is it less difficult to un derstand the sudden but politer re jection of the idea that comes today from Chairman Newell, of the Prohi bition State Committee. "You will find It exceedingly diffi cult to trace the story that a search-and-seizure clause is to be placed In the legislation for bone-dry Oregon to any advocate of prohlbitiont says Mr. Baker. "None of us have ever con templated anything of the kind. . . . Neither will we ask that possession of liquor, now lawful, shall be declared to be unlawful." Mr. Newell says: "From the time of beginning the consideration of a bone-dry bill the Union Dry Commit tee, supposed to be the most radical of all, has been a unit in opposing any attempt to make possession of liquor lawfully obtained a crfme." It is plain to the most common un derstanding that search and seizure are inseparable from a law prohibiting possession. The ' existing prohibition law has a search-and-seizure clause applicable upon complaint or informa tion to places where intoxicating liquors are possessed for unlawful purposes. The only place it is now lawful to possess liquors for beverage purposes is a dwelling. If possession there is made unlawful, search and seizure necessarily are applicable to the home. But our prohibition brothers deny that they contemplate prohibiting pos session, and The Oregonian is in a way challenged to produce authority for the statement that any prohibition ists favor it. The Oregonian accepts the challenge. After election. Mr. J. Sanger Fox. secretary of the Prohibition party and a member of the Union Dry Commit tee, which Mr. Newell says has been a unit from the beginning, made this statement: If It Is unlawful to ship In or manufac ture' within the state any liquor for bever age purposes. It certainly would seem to be the lorlcal thing to prohibit Its possession. In fact, one purpose In placing the bone-dry amendment on the ballot was to obtain from the people an expression of their will in that regard. Again, on or about December 1, the directors of the Anti-Saloon League held a meeting and adopted resolu tions, of which the following is an ex tract: We urgs the preparation and presentation to the coming Legislature of measures pro hibiting he receipt and possession of In toxicants for beverage purposes at all points within this state. The resolutions also called upon Attorney-General Brown to draft the bone-dry law. A dispatch from Sa lem, December 5. discussing the Attorney-General's probable activity in the matter, contained this statement: It Is considered unquestionable at the of fice of the Attorney-Oeneral that the pros pective Oregon act will contain a provision making- It unlawful for anyone to have liquor In his (Possession. ' On another occasion the Attorney General was quoted as specifically sug gesting a law framed after the Idaho's prohibition statute prohibiting pos session. Oswald Wt, also, who was given a loving cup by the combined prohl-. bition organizations for appreciation of his important work in behalf of prohibition, published a signed state ment that there are two ways' of en forcing the bone-dry amendment, one of which is to prohibit receipt and pos session. In view of formal resolutions, signed statements and authorized interviews emanating from prohibition sources in favor of prohibiting possession, it Is as already stated, hard to fathom the purpose of the sudden disclaimer by Mr. Baker and Mr. Newell. Per haps they have not kept In touch with dvents. DISAPPROVAL OF MINISTER VOPlCKA. German action in disapproving the presence of our Minister, Vopicka, as the representative of the United States In Roumanla, was to have been ex pected, in view of two facts in connec tion with himself and his office. The fact that he is Minister also to Serbia would make his situation difficult, if not diplomatically impossible, and in addition to that he is a Czech. " As a native of Bohemia, he has traditions behind him that would not make him persona non grata with either Ger many or Austria, in any event. It may be true that he puts his fealty to America above all else, but In mat ters of diplomacy, especially in the time of a world war, every fact is taken into account. It is not at all probable that a Czech would be found acceptable as Ambassador to Austria even in time of peace, and no Presi dent with a deep sense of the pro prieties would choose one for appoint ment to Berlin. The Czechs belong to the Slavic group. There are some six millions of them in all. of whom more than half live in Bohemia, about a quarter are in Moravia and the remainder are scattered over various parts of Eu rope and the United States. In this country there are more than a quarter million. They have been vigorous con tenders for their rights of nationality for some centuries, and Bohemia has been the battleground in the fight be tween the Slavic and the Germanic in fluences during a good deal of that time. In the Thirty Years War It Is estimated by some historians that the population of the country was reduced from about 2,000,000 to less than 700, 000. .There was, however, a vigorous awakening of national feeling in the middle cf the last century, and pan Slavism gained much ground again. Their refusal to be reconciled to the existing ordeV In the Austrian federa tion has for more than half a cen tury been regarded as a menace to the political stability of that country. A considerable proportion of the Czechs have been compelled to fight in the present war without, however, feeling the strong patriotic motive that actuates some of the other actual belligerents. In fighting with Ger many and Austria they are taking the side of a force they long have resisted, and as against Russia they are in the position of fighting their own racial liin. " It is therefore only natural, consid ering all the circumstances of the case, that Mr. Vopicka should. find himself in a different situation, now that the conquest of Roumanla by the central powers has been so nearly accom plished. With the Roumanians, who like to keep alive the legend of their Roman origin, he was in the position of a neutral, to whom no possible ob jection could be made. And as a re sult of another complication in the diplomatic situation, it seems probable that we shall have no Minister to Rou manla for a time. Mr. Vopicka's with drawal in an official capacity from Roumanla would follow as 'a matter of course the mere request of Ger many, but he still is Minister to Ser bia, and, curiously enough, he is likely so to remain, although Serbia, is not much better off than Roumanla, from a military point of. view. Formation of a "working combina tion" between the birds and the chil dren of the country is asserted by the secretary of the Audubon Society to have resulted -happily for both. The growth of the bird-club movement In recent years has been amazing. It be gan In 1910, when some 10,500 chil dren were enrolled In the Southern states for the purpose of studying birds, but it has spread to every state in the Union. Since the inception of the work, 672,000 children have been enrolled in this phase of the work and have been instructed in the principles of the Audubon Society. They have held bird exhibitions, given various entertainments, established bird sanc tuaries, built and erected multitudes of bird boxes, posted notices concern ing the game laws, circulated bird literature, conducted "bird walks" and organized other forms of activity. In terest in the birds thus having been aroused, the rest was a matter of course. One need only make the nfost cursory examination in almost any community to discover the change in the Juvenile attitude toward birds, as compared with a quarter of a century ago. One of the most surprising achieve ments of the motion-picture men in recent months has been adaptation of the "movie" camera to the work of the miscroscopist, as a result of which the New York Zoological Society re cently was able to exhibit at its an nual meeting a series of motion pic tures of minute marine and fresh water life. The scientific and educa tional importance of the new ap paratus Is Indicated by a partial list of the forms shown. Among these are protozoa, the fresh-water hydra, ma rine and fresh-water Crustacea, the larva of the common sea urchin and the developing egg of the cod. These pictures enable the Investigator to study at his leisure and in the shelter of his laboratory' many of the prob lems that hitherto have been ap proached only with the greatest diffi culty, and often have involved incon venience and hardship. The objects are magnified several thousand times. The proposal for Federal control of all railroads does not include abolition of state commissions, as Public Utility Commissioner Corey seems to suppose. State commissions would continue to exist and would find plenty of useful occupation. They would regulate pub lic utilities that were wholly within their respective states, such as power companies, trolley companies, water and gas companies and probably local telephone lines having no interstate connections. They would also repre sent the people of their states before the interstate Commission, and would thus act for "the folks at home" of whom Mr. Corey speaks. A $4,000,000 cruiser was sent to pull a stranded mosquito-boat off a dangerous beach. It was a proper Job. of course, for a tug. Now the cruiser is ashore, a wreck. But all Is not lost yet. The dispatches assure us that Secretary Daniels will at once send another cruiser to the scene. The Russians seem to be having no luck at all in their home affairs. No sooner Is one power behind the throne put out of the way than another takes his place, and the reactionaries go on doing business in the same old way. And all will agree that Rasputin had an easier name to spelL than Proto popoff. The bone-dry bill Is not to be put through with unseemly haste, but whenever it is passed there will be some unfortunate souls who waited too long to send for that final shipment. The fact that a man can even men tion peace in the belligerent countries without getting himself shot shows that we are nearer to it than we were two years and a half ago. The. kind of red tape that prevents sending a rescue expedition for two army officers lost in the desert must be vexing, one would think, even to a bureau chief himself. The Administration's strong point, if it has any, is fatuous optimism. The view still seems to prevail In official circles that the entente has not closed the door to peace. Pancho Villa has cost us. It Is esti mated, about $70,000,000, and it is a 70,000.000-to-l bet that we will not catch him in 70.000,000 years. The Amsterdam Handelsblad finds that the notes on both sides have se rious faults, thus qualifying In every sense as a real neutral. Sheepmen have found a cheap rem edy for ticks and if it can be bought on tick its use ought to become general. From all parts of the country come reports of the demand for men "over 45." They seem to be making good. The Pennsylvania Legislature ' has been asked to repeal a thousand use less laws. Why limit the number? El Paso, with its six sets of triplets In December, evidently takes no stock in the birth-control propaganda. The season for exchanging accusa tions of barbarity and inhuman treat ment of prisoners is open again. The weather reports from the Mid dle West make us glad once more that we live in Oregon. The German supply of marmalade is ample and the war will go on. New Jersey is getting a taste of what war Is like, Gleams Through the Mist By Desua Celllma. BALEMMTT SONGS. The harp that once through Tara'sj - .halls. Nor Homer's bloomln lyre. Are what the situation calls . To do what I require; For I would sing like anything In tones that palpitate, And let my lightsome lyrle ring " On how men legislate. Lycurgusses and Solons wise, Napoleonic, great. In far-off Salem now arise And they do legislate. And so I ween, the tambourine. The kettle drums and bones. Will bear the mesgage that I mean In more convincing tones. I rise aloft on lyric wing. In syncopated flight; And sing and sing and sing and sins; From early morn till -oight; And this the burden of my song. As loud I syncopate How Salem Solons all day long Proceed to legislate. The Bills. See the basketfuls of bills Senate bills! What a world of legislation all the m lengthy session fills: As the sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle From a thousand sources light. And they rattle and they crinkle. And the clerk, unhappy glnk'U Have to ait up late each night; Keeping tab, tab, tab! Bill on bill he has to grab From the ever-growing bundle that unto his table spills. Of the bills, bills, bills, bills. Bills, bills, bills Of the mounting and the counting of the bills. See the bundles of the bills Freaky bills! Every sort of social evil has Its nos trums and Its pills; ' And they lobby, lobby, lebby Each one for his fav'rite freak. And they ride each little hobby. With a bill all patched and dauby. Less Intelligible than Greek. Keeping firm, firm, firm. Though the legislators squirm. On bis trail to get his promises, no matter what he wills. On the bills, bills, bills, bills. Bills, bills, bills; On the strong points, and the lone points of the bills. And the people ah. the people, Neath the Capltoline steeple On the Job. For the hobby that they lobby. Till with accents weak and sobby. While the teat-drops large and gobby Downward blob. Every Senator Is swearing And Insistently declaring: "They are neither brute nor human. They are neither man nor woman. They are ghouls They are ghouls These here lobbyists that chill us. With their arguments that fill ua. Till they pretty nearly kill us. And our bouIs, Get plumb sick, sick, sick. Of the bills that come so quick. Till we're 'most too dazed to kick At our ills; ViIIe they break our hours of leisure Saying. 'Introduce this measure With the rest of all your bills; Of your bills, bills, bills, bills. Bills, bills, bills; Slip this little thing of mine by in your bills." " Ask Me More. (Sentimental song for overworked Senators.) As me no more! I've got too much already! I'm introducing bills for everyone; Yet still thtf flood of applicants is steady Who want more Jobs of introducing done. Kramers of bills, I now arise and roar; I've got all I can do! Ask me no more. Ask me no more; No further I'll be bothered With wan. weak, orphan bills for this or that: seek elsewhere, if you want the darned things fathered, . For my paternal instinct's fallen flat, I do not like to make a voter sore. But please do have a heart! Ask me no more! Ask me no more! Though thoughtfully you pen It. Your bill shall never be my protege; I'll maybe hurt my chance for U. S. Senate, But 'nufrs enough, so I arise to say: Guys who want freak bills fathered are a bore: I'm telling you it plain! Ask me no more! Members of the House who feel the need of a sentimental song, are advised that the foregoing will serve their purpose as well as it does that of the Senators. Marching; Sons; of the Seloaa. (To be sung while marching to victory; against the Demon Rum.) Bone-dry. bone-dry's what the voter's ask In' for. (Fall in! Fall in! Solons one and all!) Private 'pinions, better you'd be mask in', for We heed when it gets strong enough the pee-pul's call. Tramp, tramp, tram p, tramp, Marchln' on to vlctorle! Toot, toot the flute, and beat the bounding drum! Each one's gotta move, . Move, 'fore he gets kicked, or be Is put down by the voters aa a FRIEND OF RUM. Bone-dry, bone-dry's what the voter's 4 askln' for. (Fall In. fall in! Solons one and all!) Private 'pinions, better you'd be mask In', for. We heed when It gets strong enough the pee-pul's call. Too Mack Reform la Sperling;. New York. Times. Mr. Curran and Mr. McManus spent the- Saturday half holiday in artistic pursuits. Among the objects examined was a fine new public building. The feature of this building that appealed most strongly to Mr. Curran was an in scription cut into a huge stone. "MDCCCXLVIII." he read aloud. "What does them letters mane, Tim? "That." replied Mr. McManus, "stands for 1898." "Oh." replied Mr. Curran. Then, after a thoughtful pause, be added: "Don't yez think. Tim. that they're overdoin' this spelUn reform a bit?"