The Sunday Oregonian., February 25, 1917, SECTION THREE, Page 6, Image 42

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THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, POltTXAND, FEBIlUAnY. 25, 1017.
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PORTLAND, SUNDAY, FEB. Z5, 1917.
THE OLD ISSCE.
The threat is held over the counties
of Oregon that if the people vote to
put the Oregon & California lands on
the assessment roll, they may not get
the back taxes due them great
many hundred thousand dollars al
though Congress has made provision
for their payment.
Does Oswald West, agent of the
United States not of the state let
us repeat, agent of the United States
for the disbursement of the railroad
back taxes, say to the counties that
they will not get their due unless tihe
State Legislature enacts legislation, or
defeats legislation, to please him or his
employer? Is that the dilemma with
which the Assessors of Oregon, acting
for the taxpayers, are confronted?
Has Mr. "West any instructions or au
thority from Washington to bulldoze
the state to keep its hands off the
same old game of sequestration and
reservation of public lands that has
been going on for years?
The back taxes are a lien upon the
land, and they must be paid, and will
be paid. The counties are entitled to
them, and the Congress arranged to
pay them because it had no alterna
tive, if the title to the lands were to
be cleaned; and it is desirable and
imperative that there be an untainted
title, no matter who is the owner.
So we say that the back taxes will
be paid. The hired representative of
the United States may bluff and
badger and fuss and stir upi a mighty
commotion about . "midnight resolu
tions," but it is his duty to reimburse
the counties, and it will be done.
It is said that the state ought to
keep out of a delicate and complicated
legal problem, and not hamper the
processes of settlement of the status of
the lands. What the state sees, how
ever, is the steady and deliberate prog
ress of the Federal reservationists in
their scheme to take over the land
grant lands, and give them the status
of a Government reserve, and to vest
the bureaucrats at Washington with
direct control of them, and to set up'
Uncle Sam in the exclusive role of
landlord over 2,300,000 acres of land
in the state of Oregon. There is noth
ing puzzling or mysterious about the
game or its objects. Not at all.
Simply stated, the United -States
fifty years ago made a grant of cer
tain lands in Oregon to a railroad com
pany, saleable to actual settlers at
J2.50 per acre. The lands were for
years assessed by the . counties and
state of Oregon.
A- few years ago an effort to forfeit
the grant was made, and in the en
suing litigation the Supreme Court of
the United States declined to forfeit,
but confirmed the original grant as
an "enforceable covenant," and left it
to Congress to enforce it, giving the
owner the original $2.50 per acre and
no more.
Now Congress wants to take over
the. lands and to PAy the railroad
company its $2.50 per acre.
The state of Oregon, acting through
the Legislature and accepting in good
faith the Supreme Court decision that
the lands belong to the railroad com
pany, desires to retain them as part
of the taxable property of Oregon and
to gain tax revenue therefrom. So It
had done for years. .
The representative of the Govern
ment, faithfully carrying out the
wishes and policies of the reservation
ists and Pinchotites at Washington,
resists and is responsible for the con
tinuous newspaper opposition and
criticism of the Legislature.
If Mr. West has his way, the lands
will be made again a part of the pub
lic domain and cannot, be taxed, as
they have been and should be taxed,
until the private owner or owners' of
the future buy them from the Gov
ernment. The state, through the Bean bill,
seeks to declare a policy.. The lands
are here, they are privately owned,
and they are or ought to be assess
able. The Government, through- Mr. West,
its attorney, seeks to defeat the proper
effort of the state to protect" its in
terest. It is the old question between de
velopment cf lands by the state, and
of sequestration and landlordism by
the reservationists at Washington. The
litigation over the Oregon & Califor
nia land grant has given them a great
opportunity. Their voices and agents
in Oregon are backing them up strong
ly, seeking to cloud the issue with
the old buncombe about "midnight
resolutions'" and further to entrench
the Federal oligarchy in the heart of
Oregon. .
r . THE SPOILS OF DIPLOMACY.
After laying down his duties as edi
tor of an Albany -paper and spending
eighteen months as United States Min
ister to Siam, W. H. Hornibrook has
resigned and returned to his editorial
desk. '. He probably performed his
diplomatic duties as well as would any
other man without training. There
have been so many appointments of
the same kind by the present Admin
istration that The Oregonian has no
desire to single out Mr. Hornibrook
from the crowd, but his case illus
trates a general principle.
The present Administration has re
vived a pernicious practice which had
long prevailed, but from which Mr.
Wilson's two immediate predecessors
"Jiad departed, of distributing diplo
matic appointments as a means of re
warding political friends with foreign
travel and residence at the public ex
pense. The most glaring case of the
kind was the attempt to send Mr. Pin
dell, of Peoria, to Russia, nominally
as Ambassador but actually to give
him and his family a European tour
and an opportunity, in a position of
dignity, to mix with aristocratic so
ciety. In these cases no thought seems
to be given to the proper performance
of the most important duties which
are imposed on an Ambassador, or to
the manner in which the interests of
the country may be served or injured.
No other nations of any importance
follow this practice. With other great
nations diplomacy is a profession to
which men are trained, in which they
rise with experience and as they dis
play merit and on whose judgment
great national interests may hang. The
merit system inaugurated at . the in
stance of Secretary Root was founded
on the same estimate of diplomacy
and had raised the standard of the
service when it was abandoned in fa
vor of the old spoils system by Mr.
Wilson and Mr. Bryan.
No doubt Mr. Hornibrook greatly
broadened his horizon by his stay at
Bangkok, but he no more than served
his apprenticeship as a diplomat be
fore he left the service. Had he re
mained, as did that other Oregon
newspaperman, John Barrett, he
might' have risen to equal eminence,
but the view of his appointment which
has been taken by the President and
himself has resulted in waste of the
short experience which he has gained
at the cost of the Nation.
DIVIDED-LOYALTY.
There is printed elsewhere in The
Oregonian today a communication
which is a conservative example of
letters which come to The Oregonian
nearly every day, and to every other
newspaper, in all probability. The
writer, Mr. Gronnert, scents in every
breeze a conspiracy to plunge this
country into war. He expresses in
famous suspicions as if they were es
tablished facts. "Hundreds of big
newspapers" a term which includes
practically the entire metropolitan
press are, he says, clamoring for war
"determined to save England at any
cost."
Tet The Oregonian receives all the
"big newspapers" and knows of none
that is clamoring for war.. And if The
Oregonian knew of one so doing, it
would not besmirch its own Ameri
canism by charging, on mere sus
picion, that form of treason which
would plunge one's own country' into
the disasters of war merely out of
sympathy , for or loyalty to another
nation.
It is high time that someone
preached the fact that loyalty is not
fully served by waving the American
flag and shouting one's readiness to
fight under remote circumstances.
Loyalty, in one part, consists of con
fidence in one's government: faith in
the honor of one's fellow-countrymen,
and belief in the integrity of their
established institutions. In the other
part it consists of willingness to sac
rifice, to do and die if need be, in
behalf of one's country, its institutions
and its people, and to defend at all
hazards its honor against all assaults.
The Nation is afflicted today with
two types of self-asserting loyalists.
One gives lip service to the Govern
ment, its people and its institutions
and proclaims its belief in the honor
and good sense of the country's peo
ple. Yet this type shrinks from sac
rifice. The other boastfully asserts a
willingness to fight, but impugns Gov
ernment, discerns intrigue and treason
among the people and charges cor
ruption of their institutions.
True Americanism has patience with
neither. If compelled to choose be
tween them, it - would accept those
partakers of fatted ease who squeal at
thought of sacrifice it would elevate
the referendumltes in preference to
the traducers. The coward, forced to
fight for an acknowledged truth, is
more dependable than one who volun
teers to battle for that which he be
lieves to be false. .
No man is entitled to the name loy
alist unless he accepts the whole prin
ciple of loyalty. A proniissory note
to shoulder arms, which one may never
be called upon to pay, is not the Na
tion's crying need at this hour.- Rather,
it is a universal expression of faith
that the decisions, of those in whose
hands the welfare of this Nation have
been voluntarily placed by the people
will reflect their judgment, their spirit
and their honor. Only if given that
much can America face the future,
whatever that future may be, "with
malice toward none; with charity for
all; with firmness in the right as
God gives us to see the right."
ART AND INDUSTRY IN WAR.
The great industry of munition man
ufacture in Great Britain has furnished
Joseph Pennell with suggestions for
some of the most impressive pictures
which modern artists have produced,
pictures as graphically illustrative of
national life in this war-time as have
been those of more peaceful scenes in
other times. Sixteen of these pictures
ar published in a number of the Lon
don Times History of the "War, which
is devoted to munitions work. They de
pict the building of a great turret
for a battleship in a lofty building
where the workmen appear to be a
swarm of pygmies. They show huge
furnaces where p'g iron is made, all the
processes of shell-making from the
forging of the case from a white-hot
steel bloom to the finishing by a host
of women. They show the progress of
big guns to their emplacement in tur
rets and the growth of ships as long
armed cranes swing their parts into
place.
Though less attractive to the eye.
yet more impressive to him who con
siders the effect of war on British in
dustry and the tremendous effort
which the British nation puts forth, are
the figures relating to the increase in
munition output. For every ton of ex
plosive used in September, 1914, be
tween 11,000 and- 12,00 tons were used
in July, 1916. Taking the amount of ex
plosive used in charging shells in Jan
uary, 1916, as 100, the quantity had
grown to 1120 in November, and the
weekly output of rifle and revolver
cartridges nearly trebled in one year.
The number of bombs multiplied 33
times, and the amount of explosive used
in them 150 times in the year ending
May, 1916. Production of artillery am
munition in the last week of November
was 43 times that in the last week
of June, 1915. , Toward the end of 1916
it took little more than one day to
produce as many shells for heavy guns
and howitzers as were produced in the
entire first year of the war. Taking
the output in the first year of the war
as 100, that of the first four months of
the third year was equal to' 3600 a
year for medium suns and 1089 a year
for heavy guns, while that of machine
guns was 1250, and on December 2 bad
reached the rate of 2000.
This great national feat has been ac
complished by an industrial revolution
one of the important phases of which
was the use of woman's labor and the
discovery of woman's unsuspected ca
pacity. At the end of the second year
of the war over ' 400,000 women were
employed by the Munitions Department
and, we are told, "they were not merely
attending to automatic machines which
go on producing' repetition work, but
were also carrying out the more intri
cate operations- of the machine shops."
Mechanical appliances .enabling them to
handle great weights they "found their
way into the heavier branches of en
gineering work," and one engineer de
clared that, "when they had had two
years more of experience, he ' could
build a battleship complete from keel
to aerial entirely with the aid of their
labor."
HELPING THE WORTHY POOR.
Pans for conserving waste and . at
the same time help the deserving
poor of a city are combined to advan
tage in the work of the Pittsburg As
sociation for the Improvement of the
Poor, an outline of whose work has
recently been issued. The method is
not wholly new in all its aspects. It
has been employed in part by various
other charitable organizations in dif
ferent times and places. But it is
interesting to note that it is wholly
free from maudlin sentiment, so far
as the confirmed vagrant is concerned,
and that it puts uppermost the idea of
doing justice and giving opportunity
to those who ought to have first con
sideration in all such plans. Emphasis
is placed on the word "deserving" in
the name of the association, and that
is where emphasis ought to be.
It is not altogether an encouraging
sign when people in large numbers
develop a habit of taking the "easy
way" of evading the solution of so
cial problems. This tendency has been
marked in some sections of the coun
try that have preferred paying a sort
of blackmail to the lawless to making
strenuous effort to suppress them. The
Plttstmrg scheme hits the nail on the
head when it takes as one of its fun
damental considerations the principle
that aid extended to the unworthy is
necessarily at the expense of - those
who deserve to be helped. Every
unearned dollar extorted by the hobo
means a dollar, that will not find its
way to the widow, the orphan and the
man who ought to have it. "Viewed
in this light, it is easy to see that suc
cor of the unworthy is an offense
against justice. It does more than
pauperize; it Is a direct deprivation
of those who are little to blame either
for their own misfortunes or for the
existence of the vagrant and unworthy
class.
Citizens of Pittsburg, as represented
in their association for the aid of those
who deserve aid, simply refuse to be
responsible Tor the man who, though
able-bodied, has adopted "the world
owes me a living and I am simply
collecting it" as his motto. Men of
this stamp are not controlled by self
respect, and have wholly lost sense
of pride and independence. Lack of
energy has driven them into the path
of least resistance. But Pittsburg is
obdurate. It tells them that they may
have food, lodging and other neces
sities If they will pay for them in work
and not otherwise. They are as
signed to tasks fitted to their ca
pacities; the opportunity to earn a
living is there if they will take ad
vantage of it; but no time and no
money are wasted on them if they
turn it down. Those who have a valid
claim to help get that much more.
It is strongly urged, on the other
hand, that the man who is merely
"down and out" is not to be con
founded with the professional vagrant.
arid that provision for a test of sin
cerity makes for the best sort of up
lift. It means much to preserve the
self-respect of the recipient, as well
as a sense of adequacy in the giver.
So far as possible, effort is made to
the end that improvement shall be
permanent, and that recognition shall
be given to the fact that men have
needs of the soul as well as of the
body, although the work is not re
ligious in its character in any sec
tarian sense. But the important fac
tor in its success is the absolute elimi
nation, to which reference has been
made, of the undeserving. Cutting out
this one item of waste has had won
derful results in increasing capacity
for effective benevolence.
THE NEW VALLANDIGHAM.
When a man is about to engage in
a fight for a cause which he is firmly
convinced is just, he naturally re
gards as an enemy any man who whis
pers doubt of its justice, fear of the
pain he will suffer or fear of the out
come. So is it with a nation. When
it has borne patiently with gross and
repeated injury, when its patience is
rewarded only with threats of further
injury, when it finally resolves to en
dure no more, but to strike back, it
should, regard as an enemy any man
who instils doubt and fear in the pub
lic mind.
Such a 'man Is W. J. Bryan. After
President Wilson his exhausted every
honorable means of keeping peace
without sacrificing American rights to
the military necessity of Germany. Mr.
Bryan' still preaches peace when there
is no peace. He still whispers coun
sels of prudence, which is a euphem
ism for cowardice, in the public ear.
After the Nation has taken ample time
to deliberate and to form its resolve,
and when nothing remains but to
carry out that resolve, he calls for
further debate. He proposes that the
people vote whether they shall carry
out thetr decision, this referendum to
be preceded by a political campaign
in which he and his coadjutors would
do their utmost to weaken the Na
tion's will and. to divide it into two
opposing camps.
Mr. Bryan is not content with these
efforts to divide the Nation at a time
when all Americans should unite in
support of their Government. He se
cretly aids an unofficial agent of Ger
many in an attempt to induce this
Government to recede from its de
cision to defend .the rights for which
we fought a century ago and for which
we have always stood firm. At the
solicitation of George W. Kirchwey
he gave Dr. Barthelme, correspondent
of the Cologne Gazette, a letter to Sec
retary Daniels, in order that Mr. Dan
iels might permit the sending of a dis
patch stating that America was most
anxious to avoid war. As censor of
the wireless, Mr. Daniels eliminated
quotations from Mr. Bryan's speeches
and mention of Mr. Bryan's name, but
he permitted to pass an opening para
graph concerning "high sources whose
identity cannot be disclosed." The
natural inference was that these "high
source" were the President or others
high in authority, and that the Presi
dent might be induced to recede from
the position which he had taken.
Events proved that this pretended
news dispatch was taken as an invita
tion to Germany to reopen negotiations
which had been closed by the rupture
of diplomatic relations. It was sent
between February 4 and 6, but had
not been published in the Cologne Ga
zette up to February 13. A few days
after it was sent, however, an offer
to reopen negotiations came from
Germany through Dr. Ritter, the Swiss
Minister, the Cologne Gazette having
been used as a means of communica
tion with the German government.
Semi-official denials that the offer
originated in Berlin were made in Ger
man newspapers, but, when shown
these denials. Dr. Ritter said, "Do you
think I am an ass?" resenting the im
putation that ne- would have made
the move without a request from Ger
many, for which he is acting.
Of course the President is anxious
to avoid war, but he has given Ger
many to understand that" only on
terms which he has laid down' will
he refrain from giving that protection
to American seamen and ships which
will almost certainly bring war. The
entire effect of Mr. Bryan's meddling
aid to Dr. Barthelme is to create the
impression in the German mind that
Mr. Wilson's determination is not "un
shakable," to use one of the Kaiser's
favorite adjectives. Hence it strength
ens Germany's determination to per
sist in the course which the President
has condemned and causes Germany
to believe that either Germany may
extort concessions or that the Presi
dent will not adhere to his announced
purpose. The tendency, is to thwart
the purpose to maintain American
rights without war if possible, and to
make necessary either warlike action
or abandonment of those .rights.
As Representative Gardner said In
denouncing Mr. Bryan to the House of
Representatives, there have been Bry
ans in every great crisis of Americail
history, who appealed to cowardice in
the name of peace and humanity. Dur
ing the Revolution they were called
Tories, being secret supporters of the
British cause. During the Civil War
they were called Copperheads, and
their .leader, Vallandigham, was sen
tenced to prison for making incen
diary speeches, but the great Lincoln
most fitly changed the sentence to
deportation to the Confederate lines,
where he belonged.
Mr. Bryan is the Vallandigham of
the present day. Not a single true
American now defends the whisper
ings of peace which would have led
the patriots of the Revolution or of
the war on secession to stop short
of the complete triumph which they
won; all condemn the men who stirred
up dissension while the Nation was
battling for life or for unity. Like
condemnation should now be visited
on the new Vallandigham from Ne
braska, who by raising doubt of . the
President's firmness of purpose gives
aid and comfort to a possible enemy.
AUTHOR'S DAY COMING.
Those who have been wondering
what would be the next innovation in
the motion-picture situation may find
their answer in the prediction of an
Eastern manager that the author of
the future is going to be better paid.
Except where it is found necessary
to buy the rights of certain stories in
which previous reputation is the chief
consideration involved, it is a more or
less notorious fact that writers of
scenarios under present conditions
come out at the little end of the horn.
Their compensation compares neither
with that of the actor nor of the pro
ducer. Reform is to come about, it
is indicated, by. the increasing demand
for really good stories suitable for pro
duction on the screen.
Patrons have been complaining that
while the scenery is' more and more
gorgeous, there is monotony of plot, a
situation that only the employment of
better authors can improve. When the
star actor in the poor play palls on
the people, it is possible that man
agers out of financial considerations
will make an effort to reverse the sit
uation, or at least to hang up a real
bonus for better authorship.
THE WOMAN ON THE FARM.
The board of home missions of the
Methodist Episcopal Church has taken
up in earnest the problem of the wom
an on the farm, with a view of find
ing a practical means of improving
certain conditions that it is generally
admitted by students of rural condi
tions bear most heavily upon her. It
is pointed out in a recent announce
ment by the board that any movement
for true spiritual uplift must be pre
ceded by, or at least accompanied by,
better physical surroundings. It is
plainly set forth that sermons on the
delights of the New Jerusalem are not
fitted to strike a responsive chord in
the breast of the woman who all week
has been preparing three meals' a day
for a lot of hungry men, done the
washing and ironing, kept the house
clean and orderly, fed the pigs and
chickens, helped with the milking,
churned, pumped the water and gen
erally "made herself useful" at tasks
no one else can be found to do. This
woman, typical of a large group, sees
no poetry in the old oaken bucket,
fifty feet down at the bottom of a
well, and when she meets her neigh
bors at church she is likely to be more
responsive to a talk on the subject of
windmills and gasoline pumps than to
a sermon.
Women of the rural districts are
classified by the board into three
groups. The first group consists of
those who have been fortunate in their
environment and opportunity for
broader living and "are content with
the sweet, joyous country life." The
second group, which is declared to be
by far the largest, includes those cast
in heroic mould, who "carve out the
wilderness of work, worry and care,
who buy a piano on the installment
plan, give the girls a chance at school
by means of the butter and egg money
and with the proceeds from the pickles
and preserves pay the first installment
on the automobile." These labor long
and hard, and grow prematurely old
in a hand-to-hand struggle with a
situation far too difficult for the in
dividual to master. Their heroism is
undoubted, but their lot is nevertheless
hard. The fervor with which they
attack each new problem and the pa
tience with which they continue to
bow to the old ones are factors mak
ing life bearable, but that is no rea
son why conditions should not be im
proved if possible. The third group,
already referred to. Is, if not openly
rebellious, at least unreceptive to im
practical and ineffective efforts to
"uplift" her.
As a means of striking at the root
of the problem, it is designed that bet
ter provision shall be made for the
education of ministers who feel the
call to the rural field. The part taken
by the church in the crowded city has
assumed growing importance in re
cent years, yet it Is not more impor
tant than the opportunity afforded by
the country. Complete study courses
in rural sociology in the theological
seminaries are planned, in order that
the church shall keep fully abreast
of the age. It is not many years since
in England a knowledge of the ills
of the flesh was regarded -as part of
the essential equipment of the clergy
man assigned to administer also to
the spiritual wants of the rural parish
ioner. The newer idea is to extend
this field of usefulness to cover spe
cial social needs. The country pastor
of the future will need to be some
thing more than a preacher if he is
to accomplish results, and something
more than a minister employing the
country pastorate as a mere stepping
stone to the higher temporal emolu
ments of the city charge. He will be,
if all goes well, a. specialist in rural
work in all its phases, and if he knows
as much about it as he ought to know
he will have his life's work cut out for
him among the men. and women of
the farms.
MISFIT MEN. .,
Only a few days before he died.
Professor Hugo Munsterberg deliv
ered an address in Boston on the re
lation of business and psychology, in
which he declared that Americans
showed their wastefulness as a Nation
in no way more clearly than in their
failure to make provision for the mis
placed men of industry. Men, he de
clared, are selected too often by
chance, and the efficiency of the social
structure suffers as an inevitable con
sequence. The ideal condition, he
pointed out, would be one in which
affairs were so scientifically adjusted
that a man could do fthe maximum
amount of work with a. minimum of
effort. In other words, every man
should be helped to a place in the
world's work for which he Was by ma
ture and capability best fitted.
As an arraignment of Americans
alone, and to the exclusion of other
nations. Professor Munsterbergs state
ment of the case was not altogether
fair. It is true that hardly a nation
in the world has made a comprehen
sive effort to fit the man to the job.
The reverse has rather been the case.
The work of the world has gone along
haphazard for thousands of years. A
common form of selection has been
that by which trades and even pro
fessions were handed down from
father to son, and. in some countries
this still largely prevails. Young men
have nearly always taken up this line
of work or that for immediate rea
sons seldom with an eye single to the
future, or after careful appraisal of
their qualifications. History is re
plete with examples of men -who
started their careers "on the- wrong
foot." and were set right quite by acci
dent. Christopher Columbus, who was
apprenticed to the wool trade, and
Benjamin Franklin, who was first in
tended for the ministry and later put
to work in a c.-widle shop, are exam
ples of a large class who escaped be
ing misfits because of their own en
deavors. Independently of the plans
that were made for them. The idea of
Professor Munsterberg would be to
apply in the beginning the - known
rules of mental psychology to every
individual, and then bend all efforts
to equip him for the vocational activ
ity for which he is presumed to be de
signed. A difficulty is that in so many cases
the "rules of psychology" to which
Professor Munsterberg referred are
known only to a few of the elect, if
to anyone, and that under the direc
tion of psychological novices these
rules have a way of playing strange
tricks on us. The ancient Japanese
had the same thought crudely in mind
when they placed the youngster In the
midst of a variety of implements
typifying different vocations and per
mitted themselves to be guided by
the interest he showed in them. But
this interest was mistranslated more
often than otherwise. It did not fol
low that because he was attracted by
a beautiful painting the youngster had
in him the making of an artist. He
might have been curious only about
the nature of the pigment, in which
case he ought to have been, perhaps,
a chemist instead. The lad who gazes
in rapt attention at the moving wheels
of the steam engine is not necessarily
an embryonic mechanical genius he
may only be hypnotized by the whirli
gig. And so it goes. If psychology,
so-called, were an exact science, our
course would be plain enough. But it
is not, and in experimenting with it
ineptly we run in danger of losing
sight of the fundamental value of gen
eral training in the essentials, such as
character-building in its broader sense,
and perseverance and attention to lit
tle things.
This point that, after all, nothing
can quite replace the determination of
the man himself is curiously illus
trated by the efforts of Herman
Schneider, dean of the school of engi
neering of the University of Cincin
nati, to save men from failure by
fitting them to their Jobs. It was he
who perfected the plan of "co-operative
education," by which students
are employed half their time in prac
tical work and pass the other half in
classes in which they study correlated
subjects, thus combining theory and
practice in the best possible way. It
is his idea, as related by a writer in
the Metropolitan Magazine, that no
man of average intelligence is a "fail
ure." He applies the term "misfit"
to the large class who are not doing
well in their present occupations. If
the student at the university is not a
success, Schneider regards It largely
as the fault of the university. It fre
quently takes many months, with
many shifts of occupations, to deter
mine just what work a youth is fitted
to do. But the shifts are made, and
success attends them. The most in
teresting phase of the system, how
ever, is the process of elimination that
precedes entrance into the school.
There are in the first place some
thousands of applicants, who are put
through a course of preliminary letter
writing designed to discourage them
from "getting beyond the letter-writing
stage." All the difficulties are
pointed out. The course Is depicted
as a long, hard grind; the shop is de
scribed as a veritable treadmill. Only
the most persistent survive the wet
blanket process. The others, for all
that the university knows of them,
may become misfits somewhere else.
The drastic eliminative process has the
distinct advantage of giving the teach
er the cream of the material at hand.
It is not easy to believe that a young
man Is going to be a failure who has
shown the fundamental qualities de
manded of him at the outset. He has
refused to be discouraged by obstacles
and he has stepped over the doubts
ingeniously sown' in his pathway by
those who would put him to the test.
It would seem to be a matter of rela
tive unimportance whether he were
afterward set at surveying a railroad
or building" a battleship. He has
shown that- he has initiative and
chances are that this kind of young
man would find his groove if left
wholly to his own resources.
The system, therefore, still takes no
account of the vast number who have
been left out of it. These comprise
the really great army of the misfits
of the world. They turned back be
cause they were told the way would
be hard; and they will find other dis
couragements wherever they may go.
They are quite obviously not to be
reached by any method that eliminates
all but the "best material." They are
not best material to begin with. It
is these who must be taught, long
before the fine-spun theories of the
psychologists are applied to finding
for them the jobs in which they can
do a maximum amount of work with
a minimum of effort, that nothing
worth the having is to be had without
work, and a good deal of work, and
that nothing takes the place of indi
vidual effort in getting ahead in the
world. It is a point that ought to be
emphasized in the home, of course,
and at every step along the educa
tional route. There are not a great
many failures in life, misfits or other
wise, who have been willing to pay
the .price of avoiding failure. Real
success in anv callinsr is won only by
V long, hard grind.
Bolton Hall, who has written much
on the subject of intensive agriculture
in its economic aspects, has revived
the movement for the cultivation of
vacant lota in cities, his propaganda
being especially timely in view of the
present food situation in the centers
of population in the East. Mr. Hall
makes a plea for the wheel hoe as one
of the real blessings of agriculture
conducted on a small scale and thinks
that not enough credit has been given
this modest but useful implement for
Its part in increasing the productivity
of man. He points out that the wheel
hoe is capable of doing the work of
five men with -hand hoes, in keeping
down weeds and preserving the top
mulch necessary for the conservation
of moisture. But he still believes that
keeping the soil busy is the best meth
od of all, and he would impress upon
every city the importance of cultivat
ing its waste spaces constantly. The
extent of these waste spaces is illus
trated by the case of Brooklyn, which
covers 49.000 acres,, less than half of
which are built upon, and which if
used for intensive farming would
grow food for 125.000 persons. This
food would be at the door of the peo
ple, with the transportation problem
already solved.
If every other avenue were closed
and they are not there still would
be work for an army of industrial
chemists in devising new uses for the
waste of forests. Distillation for the
purpose of producing methyl alcohol
is still in its infancy, because of the
industrial factors involved, and possi
bilities of increasing quantity of out
put and reducing costs loom large in
the commercial scheme. Bark is still
a great waste and scientists are trying
to find a way of making wallpaper and
other useful articles from this by
product of wood. Sawdust has been
utilized for the manufacture of oxalic
acid, but the demand for this acid is
not sufficient to take up the enormous
amount of sawdust made annually. A.
W. Schorger, a chemist in the United
States Forest Service, says that a re
cently discovered carbohydrate in the
conifer promises to furnish an excel
lent constituent of baking powder.
Prizes offered for a substitute for
rosin never have been claimed, but a
plan for doubling the amount recov
ered from the tree has been developed.
Wood chemistry is only in its infancy.
The Netherlands, in the event it
were drawn into the war, would dread
a cold Winter for a double reason, for
that nation relies upon flooding a
great area of low-lying country as a
means of keeping out invaders, and,
indeed, its principal system of de
fenses is built upon that theory. To
flood this district and then to have
It freeze over would be disastrous, as
it was more than a century ago when
the armies of the French defeated the
Dutch and forced the latter to retire
behind their natural defenses. A spell
of unusually cold weather ensuing, the
French made a quick drive over the
ice and conquered the country with
out a real battle. It was perhaps the
only time in history in which cavalry
was . used successfully In an action
against warships, the Dutch vessels
having been frozen fast at their an
chorages. Strategy for The Nether
lands is clearly a warm-weather game,
and not, as In the case of Russia, one
that is assisted by the cold.
Potatoes are said to be costing the
people of Maine, who raise them, as
much as they do the people of New
York, who look to Maine for their
supplies. But if the Maine farmers
had their crops back- they probably
would sell them right over again. It
is a common custom on the farm to
sell everything under the temptation
of a good price and let the family go
without.
The appeal made by the French
government to the boys of the coun
try to cultivate as much vacant land
as possible would not be amiss if di
rected to young Americans. Under
wise direction the youngsters of the
United States could easily raise enough
of certain easily grown staples to make
an important dent in the cost of living.
The Mexicans' idea of reprisal, ex
pressed by compelling us to bathe be
fore entering their country because
we made a similar requirement of
their people, can be comprehended in
all its horrors only by those who have
seen the inside of a Mexican bath
house. A few days ago there were people
who wanted a food embargo, and now
that Great Britain has declared against
the purchase of certain foodstuffs
that we have to sell there will be
more complaints. We live in a world
that is hard to satisfy.
Though the Navy gained 1413 men
in twenty days, it will take many
months at that rate to bring it up to
full strength, and each man is costly
to secure.' The voluntary system is
slow and wasteful.
Butte cannot get postoffice clerks
because the pay for labor in other
lines is much higher than ihe Gov
ernment scale. Who wants a postof
fice job when he can have a nice, com
fortable mine to work in. anyway?
Lest we forget, it might be men
tioned that a Vice-President also is to
be inaugurated at Washington on
March 5. and that so far as the time
consumed is concerned he is almost
half the show.
What a business opening there
would be for that reported Japanese
deep-sea magnet that raises sunken
ships if the thing were only practical.
About the only thing that is cheap,
it seems, is money, and we are just
beginning to learn that this has its
disadvantages.
- At last we have something definite
in the way of a universal military
training system to debate about, - if
nothing else.
To the man riding in a crowded jit
ney, the high price of onions will ap
pear to be a not unmixed evil.
In substance, Lloyd George tells his
coilntrymen they will need to draw
their belts up another notch.
Once more the wets of the District
of Columbia are shuddering in their
shoes.
The British idea as to travelers
seems to be that woman's place is the
home.
King Constantine evidently has been
reading up on United States hlbtorys .
Gleams Through the Mist
By Dean Collins.
A YAWP TO THE BEN.
While the high cost of living
Such sorrow is giving.
And the trouble o'er onions . 4
Is worser'n bunions, , -
And the cost of a steak J
Is far more than I make, i
Let me rise, let me rise.
With glad tears in my eyes.
Let me rise before m.en.
In these here parlous days.
And yawp in the praise
Of the life-saving hen.
I yawp in her praise,
A loud yawp in these days.
When food has arisen, arisen, arisen
Up, up to the skies that the star-lights
bedizen.
When man pawns his soul for a plat-
ter of greens.
And must mortgage his home for
spoonful of beans;
When all the cartoonists with -infinite
pains
Draw pictures of food up In swift aero
planes; "When all this is thus,
I rise, not to cuss.
But to praise with my might
The industrious hen.
Who lays eggs for men
And the price remains right.
BURBLED INTERLUDE.
Higgledy, piggledy. my Black Hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen:
She lays so many In the town
That the price keeps down, the price
keeps down;
So let potatoes soar and soar.
And onions rise I'll eat no more;
I'll eat no more when I can get
The eggs to make an omelet.
Higgledy, piggledy. my Black Hen,
She lays eggs for gentlemen.
Who'll keep down the price.
And check living's rice?
"Not I," said the bacon;
'You're wholly mistaken!"
"Not I." said the 'tater,
"Ira some aviator!'
"Not I." said the bread.
Way over our head.
And the little Red Hen.
Said: "I will then!"
While prices climbed a few more pegs.
She laid more eggs, and eggs and
eggs
The only thing, at present date.
That hasn't begun to aviate.
YAWP CONTINUED.
0 woman who can afford costliest duds.
Soon, soon shall you have a bright
necklace of spuds;
And burglars shall pass up the banks
more and more
To raid the rich stocks in the grocery
store;
And grand dames shall frequent the
pawnbrokers' shops
And pledge their sunbursts, to buy
spare ribs and chops.
But still with a will
1 will yawp once again,
A vigorous yawp in the praise of the
hen.
Who still in the famine and riot and
ruction;
Keeps right on the job of initial pro
duction. INWARD BLURB.
Serene I fold my hands and wait.
And let the cost of living rise;
Against the buffetings of Fate
I do not show the least surprise.
Though from the menu ev'ry day
High prices make some new dlsn
flee;
I shall not worry any way
For two fried eggs ehall come to me.
YAWP CONCLUDED.
O hen. that can with logic absolute
The aviation corps at length confute;
I draw a trumpet from beneath my
arm.
And Joyously and jubilantly toot.
Yawp for the hen, a loud yawp and a
long.
Who keeps on earth when other things
go wrong! 4
And while we see the cost of living's
rise
Yawp for th hen who still keeps down
the price.
"Sir." Bail the Courteous Office Boy.
shaking the snow out of his ears and
unwinding his scarf.
"Whatizzlt?" I snarled without look
ing around.
"Don't you think that you and the
ground hog have uncorked this Spring
song stuff too soon?"
"Well, the geese have been coming
north within the past two weeks,
havent' they?" I excused.
"That explains it!" said the C. O. B.,
chiseling the Ice off his eyelashes.
"Explains what?" said I, very dys
peptic. "Science never makes a mistake," re
flected the C. O. B. "I used to wonder
why they named 'em geese."
And he began thawing out the paste
over the radiator.
BARD'S SPRING TWITTER.
This Twitter is continued in spite of
the Japes of the C. O. B.
One who signs himself "Hank" calls
attention to the Importance of brev
ity, precision and perfection of rhyme,
meter and sentiment and offers the
following for other bards who purpose
Joining in the Twitter:
I sing
Of Spring!
That's all
Till Fall.
We do not intend to let "Hank'get
away with the impression that thTs
cadenza is original with him.
As nearly as we have been able to
ascertain it was one of the first com
positions of Richard W. Jubal, the
brother of Mr. Tubalcain, the well
known Neolithic blacksmith. (See Gen
esis 4:21.)
We have, however, a twitter from
May Anderson, of this city, which ap
pears to be genuinely original and has
a direct bearing upon the prevailing
conditions of the present Spring. We
gather from the context that Miss An
derson has been out roaming over hill
and dale, plucking the sweet Spring
blossoms and wading through the lush
grass of late.
She sings, or rather, sigs:
Where iz thad Sprig
Of whidzh yoru sig?
, Id cad be worth a dibe. J
I'll show you wud.
Guarandeed do rud
On thirdy daz o'tibe.
(Note for Hank's poem: "And his
brother was Jubal; he was the father
of all such as handle the harp and or
gan." Gen. 4:21. Richard Wagner
Jubal isn't what one can call an ultra
modernist, and so after all, we feci that
Hank shouldn't boast of having opened
up a really, truly new vein, in his
Twitter although we admit that it Is
brief and to the point. Ed.),