8
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, SEPTEMBER 23, 1917.
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PORT LAM), SUNDAY, SEPT. ZS, 1817.
MB. GERARD'S GREAT WORK.
When the break In relations with
Germany Anally came, many Ameri
cans still cherished the pacific delu
sions born of our remoteness from
Europe and Its quarrels, of our as
sumption that, " because we were de
voted to peace and rood will, all other
nations were Inspired by like senti
ment; and that we need only keep
aloof from Europe's wars and prac
tice Impartial friendship with all
belligerents in order to enjoy un
broken peace and security. To these
people, so filled with our own Na
tional good intentions that they could
not conceive of ill-will by any other
nation towards us, the proclamation of
ruthless submarine war and the Zim
mermann note inviting Mexico to join
Germany in war upon us came as a
shock. They were reluctant to be
lieve the truth, and only by degrees
has the truth come home to them.
James W. Gerard has opened their
eyes. With all the authority of the
man who was accredited to represent
the United States in Germany, who
lias been at the center of German
government through two and a half
years of war, who has been in close
Intercourse with its rulers and lead
ing men, he has turned the micro
scope of his keen intelligence, in
spired by deep patriotism and by
fidelity to democracy, upon Germany,
and he has revealed the result of his
observations to the American people.
We know now, beyond the power of
any man to dispute, with what we
contend the great danger which
overhangs us In common with every
other nation which loves freedom,
mercy and all the virtues which are
summed up in the words civilization
and humanity.
The picture which Mr. Gerard
spreads before our eyes is hideous. It
reveals the German government as a
monster to combat which every Amer
ican who loves not only his country
but his fellow-man. should nerve his
arm and apply his powers of intellect.
Germany is ruled by men who have
elevated war Into a thing good in itself,
who despise mercy as weakness, good
faith as folly, and who have organ
ized a great nation into a machine for
the purpose of crushing other nations
and winning world dominion. If this
design were carried out, we can infer
how the world would be ruled by the
manner In which It would have been
conquered, and by the inhuman man
ner in which the people of the occu
pied territories are now ruled. The
whole world would relapse into the
condition to which the invasion of
the barbarians reduced Europe, except
that modern inventions would have
been used by the conquerors to keep
the conquered in subjection and to
enrich themselves at their subjects'
expense. Mankind would begin all
over again the climb from a state of
tyranny and moral degradation to the
state of freedom and enlightenment
which it has made since the dark
middle ages.
The cold deliberation with which
Germany and her tool, Austria, began
the war has been laid bare by Mr.
Gerard. The autograph telegram from
the Kaiser to President Wilson which
he published for the first time founds
the German cause on a mass of false
hoods. It fixes on the Kaiser himself
responsibility for having, with cyni
cal disresrard for the sajictlty of
treaties and for the rights of nations.
Invaded Belgium. It reveals an at
tempt to keep France and Britain out
of the war in order that Germany
and Austria might first crush the
weak and tottering empire of Russia,
then France, then Britain and then
America, while the thrust to the east
was to carry Teuton arms through
Turkey to India and Egypt.
The Kaiser planned a short war
this time with Russia only, but that
was to have been only the first of a
series of wars by which each nation
In turn was to have been subdued
until the pin of world empire was
carried out. He was profuse with
promises designed to keep other na
tions than Russia out of the war, but
of what value are the promises of a
man who violated Belgium "on strate
gical grounds"? He planned a short
war against Russia, and, when France
came in, against Russia and France
combined. Bitter must have been his
disappointment when Britain Joined
Ms enemies, for he then said the war
would be long. Mr. Gerard rates at
Its full value the important part
played by Britain when he says that
her entry into the war saved the
world from Prussian conquest, and
saved America.
The war is shown to have followed
long preparation, not only by mak
ing Germany an armed nation but by
training the minds of the German
people in militarism. With cunning
the ruling class played on that fear
of Invasion which had been "bred In
the marrow of their souls by cen
turies of devastating war." and upon
their cupidity and lust of conquest
by promising them untold riches and
world dominion. For these things
they were willing to submit to a con
scienceless autocracy. To keep their
minds constantly inflamed to the fight
ing point they were "stirred to a white
pitch of hatred." first against Russia,
then against Britain and now against
America.
Almost from the beginning intrigue
was directed toward America. In Feb
ruary. I15. n attempt was made to
use one of our citizens for the pur
pose of dividing the allies, Wiiea
It h a t failed, submarine war began. 1 states, but Congress plans to vote an
Wlen this country exercised Its un- I other $7,000,000,000 for the war. pass
doubted right to sell munitions to 1
whatever nation was able to buy, our
citizens were murdered at sea, our
country was filled with spies who
sought to induce us to abandon our
rights and thereby to become prac
tical allies of Germany, and our fac
tories were blown up. When we re
fused to yield, the current of hatred
was turned against us, even while
German ministers were making pro
fessions of friendship. Our military
attaches and correspondents were in
sulted at German army headquarters,
our flag was treated with contumely
In Berlin and our Ambassador was
for weeks denied an interview with
the sovereign who had never con
cealed his hatred of our Nation. This
sentiment was openly expressed when
he said to Mr. Gerard on October 22,
1915:
AMERICA HAD BETTER LOOK OUT
AFTER THIS WAR.
I PHALL STAND NO NONSENSB FROM
AMERICA AFTER THIS WAR.
Contempt for this country was
never concealed. German militarists
know their own people well, but they
are densely Ignorant of this as of
other nations with which they have
come into conflict. This was proved
by Zimmermann's remark that 500,-
000 German reservists in the United
States would light for Germany if
this country went to war, and by his
astonishment when Mr. Gerard re
plied that there were 501,000 lamp
posts, on which they would be hanged
If they tried it. The malevolent pur
pose of the war-lords was revealed
by Von Tirpitx when he predicted
that the submarines would make
Britain surrender and that Germany
would then use the British fleet in
exacting from America an indemnity
large enough to defray the entire cost
of the war. Restrictions were never
placed on this brutal warfare in good
faith; they only meant delay until
enough U-boats of Improved types
had been built to give a chance of
success.
Being fully informed of the evil de
signs of Germany, we need to take
good heed of Mr. Gerard's warnings
as to her ability to carry them out,
even at this stage of the war. He
has warned us that her military and
naval, power is still unbroken; that
she cannot be starved, though she may
suffer privation; that there i no real
financial distress, and that peace
through revolution Is impossible;
finally, that Germany is still the great
est military power the world has ever
seen, with an army of 9,000,000 men
and with naval strength still unim
paired.
When we are confronted with such
a power, aiming at our destruction as
an Independent Nation and controlled
by men so unscrupulous that no treaty
can bind them, we should take heed
of what Mr. Gerard has told us of
the nature of the German govern
ment, that we may not be lured into
what Mr. Lloyd George has well
termed a "bad peace, which goes
staggering on from one war to an
other." The Kaiser and the militarist
Junkers are supreme, the Reichstag is
a mere debating society with no real
power, and the franchise has been) so
juggled that the mass of the people
have small voice in its election. The
Socialist party is so morally weak
that it at first approved the war, is
now devoid of leaders drawn from
the classes of social standing, and is
committed to such extreme views that
no reliance can be placed upon it as
means to that democratization of
Germany which President Wilson re
gards as a necessary preliminary to
a peace that will bind the German
people as distinguished from their
faithless government
There can be no sure peace with
Germany so long as her military
power continues and is in the hands
of such a government. We must turn
a deaf ear to all appeals for peace
until that power is destroyed or until
we can deal with a government which
is controlled by, and speaks the truly
expressed sentiment of. the German
people. We must not be deceived by
any sham concessions to democracy
by the Junkers, such as were made
In the revolutions of 1848, only to be
taken back when the autocracies again
got firm hold of the reins. In order
that this war may be ended by per
manent peace, it ehould go on until
Prussian militarism Is destroyed.
either by the armies of the allies or
by the German people themselves.
GREATEST WASTK OF ALX.
"Don't waste; save," Is dally dinned
in the ears of the American people
by every kind of exhorter. Congress
passes laws about it. President Wil
son writes appeals to the people about
it, and Food Administrator Hoover en
lists the housewives in the noble
cause. We are short of labor and
short of food, short of fuel and short
of paper, but Congress could relieve
all these shortages at one stroke by
passing two bills.
While Fuel Director Garfield urges
us to save 10 per cent of our present
fuel consumption by cutting five de
grees from the customary Winter
temperatures of our houses. Congress
maintains an embargo on the use of
35,000,000 horsepower of waterpower,
which would dispense with the use
of 280,000,000 tons of coal a year.
Hugh L. Cooper shows In the Elec
trical World that use of this water
power would release for other occu
pations 740,000 men who are now em
ployed in mining, transporting and
consumnig coal. We should save en
tirely or release for other use 600,000
freight cars, 20,000 locomotives and
much plant used in caring for them.
Hydro-electric power costs $10 per
horsepower yearly less than steam
power, an economy aggregating $350.
000,000 if all idle waterpower were
used. This item, interest on the cost
of railroad property set free and pro
ducts of labor otherwise employed
make a total annual saving of $1,241.
600,000. While Congress calls on
women to save pennies from the gar-
bage can, it pours this torrent of
wealth down the sewer of waste.
Eastern newspapers, stung by the
exactions of the paper trust, turn
longing eyes to the great forests di
rectly bordering on the power streams
of the West, and ask that the water
be set to work in converting wood into
paper, but Congress warns them oft.
The Government calls upon farmers
to increase food production 50 per
cent. This can best be done Dy using
fertilizer on the land and by bringing
arid land under cultivation by irri
gation. For lack of fertilizer the
yield of cereals per acre is little more
than half as much in the United
States as in Europe. Waterpower
would manufacture it and would irri
gate millions of acres of arid land.
But Congress stands guard over water
power and forbids its development.
Senator Walsh and Representative
Small have introduced bills to open
waterpower to development. They are
Ifalr to every interest
the developer, the Gore
Interest the consumer.
ejnmtnt and the
the war tax bill and go home, leaving
in its pigeonhole the bill which would
save $1,250,000,000 a year instead of
spending it or taking it In the form of
taxes. Congress should stay on the
job until it has passed this bill in de
fiance of the handful of cranks who
have blocked action. Congress has
preached economy long enough; It
should show us some practice.
GRABBING BrXLETS.
The following comes to us from the
Pall Mall Gazette, via the Curtis Fly
leaf. The latter aeronautic publica
tion puts a derisive headline over it:
Flylnc low oyer tho German lines a Brit
ish aviator was soon in the midst of a
whining swarm of German bullets. The
Germans In the trenches wer firing straight
up, boplnc to wing tha flyer or pierce his
Casollne tank.
The aviator a cool youngster looked
down, saw a bullet slowly ascend the laat
few feet of Its maximum height. It stopped
dead still for the smallest fraction of a
second. The aviator reached quickly,
crabbed tha bullet and put it in his pocket.
"It Must Be Very Hot In London
is the headline, but the Flyleaf fails
to disclose any practical reason for
denoting the Incident "hot alr-V
Fantastic as it appears, it would be
possible to grab a bullet that had
been shot straight upward from a gun
if one were at the exact point at
which the bullet began its descent,
The chances that an aviator would
be so situated when under rifle fire
from below only concern his elevation
at the exact maximum of the bullet's
flight. The bullet, with that coinci
dence assured, is bound to come
within reach barring obstacles in the
construction of the airplane if the
one shooting is a good marksman.
Presumably a war aviator flying
over enemy trenches endeavors to
keep Just out of rifle range unless
urgent business demands a lower ele
vation. It Is nice to think that the little
anecdotes of the almost impossible
that come out of the war zone and
give a pleasant sort of spice to a
grim undertaking are tales of true
happenings. For our part we insist
on giving them full credence. We
once heard of a village celebrity who
would sit in the door of a livery
stable and ' pick flies out of the air
as they were headed for the attrac
tions within all to the astonishment
and proper admiration of the towns
people. Why should not aviators ac
quire an equal skill, and when not
otherwise engaged grab bullets from
the atmosphere to send back home
as souvenirs?
SOME REFUTATIONS IN DANGER.
Publication of the message from
Von Bernstorff to the German Foreign
Office asking for money to influence
Congress against war proves what
every observant man believed that
German pressure was brought to bear
in order to induce members to act in
the interest of Germany and against
that of the United States. It corrobo
rates all that has been said by Mr.
Gerard and by many others about the
wide and unscrupulous use of in
trigue made by Germany.
What is: "The organization you
know of, which can prevent war"? Is
it one of the many associations which
professed such lofty devotion to peace
and such horror of bloodshed except
when Germans were shedding Ameri
can blood?
The request for "a public official
German declaration in favor of Ire
land" suggests that it may have been
an Irish organization. Several of the
kind were extremely active about the
time the message was written.
The best thing the ''willful twelve"
Senators can do is to keep quiet about
the serial story of German plotting
which Is issuing from the State De
partment. They only fasten attention
mere closely upon themselves by such
inane explanations as Senator Norrls
offers. He says: "No organization
that I know of got any German
money."
Who says it did? " He should re
member the French proverb which
means: "He who excuses himself ac
cuses himself." He says: "Assuredly,
no German money was used to in
fluence the members of Congress who
were against ' war." How does he
know? Von Bernstorff wrote to his
own government: "In order as on
former occasions to Influence Con
gress. Mr. JN orris proiesses xo mow
better than Von Bernstorff what Von
Bernstorff was doing.
Before the State Department's dis
closures are completed, the reputa
tions of some American pseudo-statesmen
will be very badly damaged.
RESULTS OF ONE MISTAKE.
The wheat surplus which the United
States will have available for export
to Europe this year is estimated at
220.000,000 bushels, that of Canada at
150.000,000, leaving from 130,000,000
to 150,000,000 bushels to be obtained
from other countries. Australia and
India have a surplus estimated at
825,000.000 bushels, but it is inacces
sible for lack of ships. The allies.
who are the greatest wheat-eaters in
the world, must learn to eat corn, or
the American people, who have cul
tivated a corn appetite, must help
them by eating less wheat and more
corn and by exporting the wheat thus
saved.
This situation might have been rad
ically different if the western allies
had opened the line of communication
by land with Russia early in the war.
If they had sent an army to Serbia
instead of Gallipoli :n the Spring of
1915, Roumanla would probably have 4
joined them much earlier, Bulgaria
would not have been likely to turn
against them, and the surplus wheat
of Russia and Roumanla could have
been hauled by land across the Balkan
states and by water across the Adri
atic Sea to feed Italy, France and
Britain. Russian credit would have
been sustained, the Russian army
might then not have been beaten and
then the revolution might not have
happened.
That is as far as one need go In
speculating on how greatly the course
of events would have been changed
by avoidance of a single strategic
blunder. The failure to reinforce
Serbia and thus to block the Teuton
drive into the Balkans was one of the
gigantic blunders of the war. It wiped
out Serbia, threw Bulgaria into the
arms of the enemy, put Greece on the
fence, contributed to the defeat of
Russia in the Summer of 1915 and
was a link in the chain of events
which drew the United States into the
war. In the outcome, we have adopt
ed conscription and food conservation
because an obscure kingdom in South
eastern Europe was crushed by in
vasion. Yet who in the United States four
years ago would have dared to pre
dict that anything which, might hap
pen in Serbia would involve the United
States in a world war and cause the
American people to economize in eat
ing bread? We know now that the
fate of any nation, even the greatest,
may be deeply influenced by that of
the smallest and most remote. In
this modern world every nation has
an interest in the affairs of every
other nation. That is the basic reason
for a world league of peace.
WOMEN AS SURGEONS.
The question of the special fitness
of women for surgery is left open in
the announcement of the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, which is the
medical school of Columbia Univer
sity, that after 10 S years as a man's
institution it is to be opened to wom
en, but the step indicates an impor
tant change in the attitude of the
people toward restriction of women's
field of endeavor. It is officially ad
mitted that this step has been has
tened by developments in Europe re
sulting from the war.
It is still regarded as doubtful if
women In any great number will be
able or willing to stand the physical
strain of private practice, but the dean
of the Columbia medical faculty be
lieves there is no question that they
will come more and more to have a
place peculiarly their own. This is
likely to be particularly in the labora
tories of the medical sciences, where
the work is regular and peculiarly
fitted for women. Women have done
admirable work in municipal labora
tories and the disappearance of many
men who have enlisted In the Medical
Corps will give the sex new oppor
tunities to show its fitness.
The new educational policy is the
open field. Whether women shall
become operative surgeons, and
whether the public will accept them
as such, will be left to the women
and to the public. They are matters
for future adjustment. But oppor
tunity is to be made universal. Knowl
edge is not to be a sealed book. All
alike are to be permitted to learn.
QUITTING SCHOOL.
The most striking feature of a par
tial survey of the public schools of
Fort Dodge, la., is a statistical reply
to a question uppermost In the minds
of many boys and many parents:
"Does it pay to stay in school?"
The report is written by Edward T.
Snively, supervisor of manual training
in the Fort Dodge schools, and it is
Issued as a bulletin by the State Agrl
cultural College of Iowa. The pur
pose of the survey, as outlined in the
report, was to discover:
The chief reasons why so many boys leave
school before completing the course; In what
grades the greatest number of boys drop
out; what they do after leaving school;
what their earnlnc capacity Is, and what
readjustments should be made In the present
course of study to meet, even more fully
than now, the needs- of the bora of the com
munity.
The Inquiry went Into the earning
capacity of boys who had not com
pleted the school course, and the fol
lowing averages were disclosed:
Time of leaving school. Seventh grade
First year at work, 128.88; sixth year at
work, $41.38.
Time of leaving school. Eighth crad
First year at work, $40.01; fifth year at
work, ass. on.
Time of leaving school. Ninth arad
First year at work, $42.tJ; fourth year at
work. ISO.
Time of leaving school. Tenth grade
First year at work, fit; third year at
work, sod.
Time of leaving school. Eleventh cradi
First year at work. $49; second year
work. ISO.
It will be observed from the fore
going that the average boy who
leaves school while in the seventh
grade does not after having been at
work six years earn as much as the
average boy earns Mn the first year
of employment after having remained
in school until the eleventh grade.
It is suggested in the report that
possibly the better chance of success
possessed by boys who remain in
school is due in part to native ability.
It is undoubtedly true that boys
who had left school because of failure
in their classes or who had been com
pelled by ill-health to quit their
studies would be at a disadvantage
In a general comparison. But in
Fort Dodge and the town is probably
typical the percentage of those who
failed was only 6.6 and of those who
left because of ill-health only 8.8.
Most boys dropped out because of lack
of interest, induced by desire to go
to work or trouble with the teacher
or a failure to see a permanent ad
vantage in further education.
Presumably among the boys who
remained were those who on occasion
felt that they were wasting time, or
who had trouble with the teacher or
who felt a desire to go out into the
world as money-getters. Inclination
to leave school usually does come to
the average healthy boy before he has
progressed as far as the public school
course permits, and this inclination
comes to most boys from no economic
pressure. Indeed, the survey con
ducted at Fort Dodge discloses that
economic necessity was the cause, of
only a small part of the school deser
tions that occurred there.
Thfc point we desire to make is that
it cannot safely be presumed that
the boy who continues his studies
is brighter than the boy who does not.
If It were not for parental discipline
If boys were always permitted to fol
low their own Inclinations the schools
would be depleted of scholars except
for the few who have an Inborn
liking for the pursuit of knowledge.
The chances are very slight that na
tive ability has anything to do with
making the earning capacity of a boy
of 18 who left school in the eleventh
grade and has worked two years
higher than that of the boy of 20
years who left school in the seventh
grade and has been working six years.
The process of education encounters
two tendencies in pupils that are more
pronounced in boys than in girls. In
earlier years' of the child the para
mount desire is to play: that desire
gives way later to a wish to become
independent, to earn money for one
self.
One of the educational methods
advocated for very young children is
that knowledge be imparted through
games. A noted child prodigy of the
day is presented as a living example
of the value of making play of every
sort of study. In the general run of
schools the Idea has not been put in
general practice much above the kin
dergartens; but In lower grades chil
dren can be held in school by com
pulsory attendance laws. It is in the
later period of childhood that the
main problem arises, and the author
of the Fort Dodge report recognizes
the need of means to hold boys in
school longer if they are to earn their
living soon after leaving school.
Vocational and manual training de
partments are partly filling the need
of which he' speaks. They in many
cases allay a lack of Interest that
would otherwise exist. The danger
is that they may develop Into
trade preparatory courses to the
neglect of other studies. Some boys are
not inherently fitted for trades or are
better fitted for something else. But
there is no question that such train
ing is an incentive to interest. There
is hardly a boy to whom tools and
machinery are not an attraction. They
offer a good bait for the imparting
of general education and cultural
knowledge, and as such deserve sin
cere consideration.
But there are others than the boy
to be impressed with the value of
schooling. It does not strongly ap
peal to a youngster of 14 to tell him
that if he quits school at that age
he will earn $28.SS a month, whereas
If he remains in school until he is 16
he will probably be able to earn $49.
He does not see the reason for it, and
is likely to consider it a mean argu
ment to keep him where he does not
want to stay. The disparity of the
earning power between the half
schooled boy and the one who has
gone through high school ought, how
ever, to appeal to the maturer judg
ment of the parents. It is a good
thing to impress upon them in order
that family discipline may be eier
cised, and that the boy of school age
may be compelled to do that which is
best for his future.
GROW JVOOL ON THE FARM.
Not the least serious of .the famines
which have been caused by the war
Is that of wool. It is estimated by the
National Sheep and Wool Bureau that
the wool clip this year will be 230,-
000,000 pounds, against demand for
750,000,000 pounds. The clip of the
British colonies is practically absorbed
by the British army and by the Eu
ropean allies, the war has cut off any
which might have been obtained from
Turkey,, and the United States Is
thrown on Its own resources. Yet
American soldiers must have.- woolen
clothing for Winter, and our needs
will be greater than ever.
The Bureau, therefore, calls upon
farmers to grow more sheep. That is
the only hope of increased production,
for settlement under the new home
stead law has cut down the free range
on the public domain. Under ordl
nary conditions, this would not be a
paying investment, but the great de
mand for wool has combined with de
creasing supply to raise the price to
a point where It will pay the farmer
well, and there is no prospect that
flocks will Increase to pre-war di
mensions for several years after peace
returns. Every farmer can make good
profits by raising a few sheep, though
he will need to guard against vagrant
dogs.
The Wool Bureau is arranging with
Western woolgrowers to place sheep
on about 30,000,000 acres of logged
off land in the Great Lakes timber
belt, but is also taking speedier meas
ures by offering to sell ewe lambs at
cost to prospective growers and by
arranging for Federal farm loans for
the purchase of sheep.
There is a fine opportunity here for
the Oregon farmer. If the slashings
were cleared off stump land, many
sheep might be grazed there. There
is room for many more on the ever
green fields of the Willamette Valley
and the Coast counties. There is the
double inducement of both patriotism
and profit, for next year it will be
necessary to provide warm clothing
for probably another million Ameri
can soldiers, and for the sailors who
will man the new destroyer fleec
MAXIM GORKY'S PEOPLE.
How difficult are the paths that the
Russian people must tread before tljey
attain any measure of freedom worth
while can be appreciated by one who
has had a glimpse of the almost com
plete lack of education among the
masses, and who realizes that educa
tion is essential as the foundation of
liberty; that without it liberty would
degenerate Into mere license and be
come anarchy, which is not freedom
at all.
Maxim Gorky, in the second volume
of his "Life," which has Just been
published, draws a rather gloomy
picture of the people who are now
engaged in working out a salvation
of their own. He makes no argument
and ventures no predictions; but his
delineations are, to Bay the least, dis
couraging. He is a realist, with no
illusions. In telling of his own strug-
gles to obtain an education, to get
out of the rut, to attain what he
would regard as success, he tells also
of obstacles in the way. For a long
time he met only with discouragement
and could see no light ahead. He was
thrown on his own resources early
In his youth, and among other Jobs he
had was one with a boot seller.
Here, as. in other places, life was
constantly revealing its seamy side.
Whenever a visitor to the shop went
away without making a purchase, the
most offensive epithet would be ap
plied'to the offender, such as "pig o
a woman!" and other expressions so
outrageous that, Gorky says, he was
often seized with a desire to run after
the persons thus abused and tell them
what had been said about them. The
atmosphere In which he lived seemed
to arouse the spirit of devilment in
everybody concerned. Clerks and
apprentices were constantly playing
shabby tricks on one another, and,
occasionally, on their employer, al
though with due precautions for their
own protection.
One swallow does not make
Summer, and an isolated community
does not stand as the index of a peo
pie, but Gorky gives the impression
of sad lack of breadth of fellow feel
lng among his compatriots. As fo
himself, he had hard knocks enough
But he was not the only one. The
people seemed to be in small degree
drawn together by the mutual hard
ships of existence. They were selfish,
in a dog-eat-dog sort of way, and if
they planned at all for the overthrow
of autocracy, or of the powers above
them, it was rather that each indi
vidual, according to his own desire,
should profit by it rather than that
the level of the whole people should
be raised. It recalls, somehow, the de
scription of the situation given sev
eral months ago by Foreign Minister
Tereschenko, who said that, while it
was true that capital had been guilty
of many injustices, when the situa
tion had been reversed the people
themselves . were perpetrating many
other injustices in their turn. And it
recalls, also, the warning words of
Premier Kerensky, who said the other
day:
An autocracy of workmen or an autocracy
of soldiers is as bad as an autocracy of
aristocrats. Rossla must have no autoc
racies. Each man must be a free citlxea of
new Russia, - with as much respect for his
neighbor's rlshta and prerogatives &a tjr
his own.
But respect for the rights of one's
neighbors presupposes a certain
amount of charity, or at least good
will, and Gorky in his "Life" pre
sents a Russian commoner who pos
sesses very little of either. Travel
ing, working in town and country, in
whatever occupation he might be en
gaged, he found them quarreling
among themselves, bandying cruel
jokes and lying constantly. They
seemed to take their situation for
granted." We have no picture of a
people inspired by any desire for
moral or spiritual improvement. One
time he was employed as a pupil in i
the shop of an ikon painter in Nijnl
Novgorod. "The people of the dis
trict in which the shop was situated
lived a strange life full of stupid,
puerile and always malicious adven- J
tures." I
One could see hope if it were only
a matter of stupidity, or of childish
ness, which could be accounted for
easily enough, but . the malice will
make it all the harder for Russia to
find itself, if. as Gorky indicates, it
is a characteristic of the proletarian.
If a passing peasant asked which was
the nearest way to any place in town,
they always gave him the wrong di
rection. The fact that the peasant
was a fellow human Deing. or mat
they might some day be seeking a
direction, never seemed to occur to
them. The golden rule had few fol
lowers. It will need them if the peo
ple of Russia are to be saved in the
years to come. The little practice.
malicious as it was, of misdirecting
the wayfarer was almost universal.
It became such a habit, says Gorky,
that the deceit no longer gave them
pleasure, but they persisted in it as a
matter of course.
We have in our own waysides a few
mischievous boys and some older per
sons who ought to know better who
get joy out of tying cans to the tails
of dogs, but it can be said for us
that as a people we frown upon the
practice, and that we have evolved
societies for the prevention of cruelty
to animals out of our more refined
sense of the humanities. But if
Gorky has painted true to the life.
the Russian commoner has yet to go
through a long process of uplifting.
He says it was the common amuse
ment of the people among whom he
dwelt to catch two rats, tie them to
gether by the tails and turn them
loose in the road. "They loved to see
how the animals pulled in opposite
directions or bit each other, and
sometimes they poured paraffin over
the rats and set fire to them." It was
cruelty of the most debased sort, and
the authorities did not interfere. In
deed, one of the "rights" the peo
ple seemed to enjoy immensely was
the right of being as cruel to one
another and to animals as they
pleased. They would have resented
deeply any interference with their
sports, slow as they might have been
to awaken to the abuses heaped upon
them in other ways.
This is the Russia of a realist
and a Russian. No one will want to
believe that all Russians are as Gorky
draws them, but it is hard to escape
tho reflection that if such conditions
are widely tolerated by consent. If
not by law there is a long road to be
traveled before the nation will have
been regenerated. So much remains
to be done, and so many sacrifices will
be necessary, and there is so much
call for. exercise of the spirit of for
bearance. And yet, another Russian,
the poet Tiuchev, has said:
You cannot understand Russia by tha in
telligence; You cannot measure her by tha ordinary
foot-rule;
She has her own peculiar conformation;
You can only believe In Russia
Negative comfort, but some com
fort, nevertheless.
The one great battle that never
abates in fury is the fight to eradi
cate weeds. Samuel Champlain, who
kept a Journal of his voyage from the
St. Lawrence to Cape Ann, recorded
the names of numerous weeds which
he saw Indian women hoeing with
hoes made from the shells of horse
shoe, crabs, and the Hartford Courant
notes that the same weeds are still
to be found in New England gardens
and apparently in as large numbers
as ever. In spite of all the farmer's
efforts to kill weeds as fast as they
germinate, enough always survive to
reseed the land when the first oppor
tunity comes. No one has yet devised
a plan of making weed seeds sterile or
killing them before they can germi
nate, without also destroying the fer
tility of the soil. Nor has success at
tended any effort to produce a useful
plant that would drive weeds out, ex
cept in a limited sense. Land once
left to itself soon yields to weeds,
which have their own systems of crop
rotation and are kept under control
only by constant work.
Another American city has solved
the problem of what to do with
brewery by making one over into a
cocoa and chocolate factory. New
Orleans capitalists have seen the op
portunity to add to the list of new
American industries and further re
duce our imports of finished mate
rials after the war. The cocoa beans
will be imported, but the entire sub
stance, including the important fat
content now used in the arts, will be
utilized at home. The cocoa tree is
classed among the "beverage" plants
in the encyclopedias, but the nut is
an important food, possessing, in addi
tion to a high content of vegetable
oil, an important proportion of starch
and gluten. American consumption
of it has increased enormously in re
cent years, and will continue to in
crease, - candy manufacturers predict,
because the confections made from it
have much economic value as food.
There is a' world of meaning in
President Wilson's exclamation to the
wheat-growers: "I have only twenty
four hours a day." A man who is
conducting a great war must pass on
endless questions, yet many persons
would pass many more matters up to
him, and a forty-eight-hour day would
be none too long for him. There is
the more reason to wish that he
would surround himself with men of
the highest quality, chosen from
among those of known loyalty, to help
him to carry the burden. It Is im
perative that he last through his term.
It is so natural to associate a
Chinaman with the kitchen, the Ce
lestial drafted from Vancouver makes
haste to assert he cannot cook and
wants to fight. He must be given his
chance.
A woman up Aberdeen way seeks
a decree because her husband works
sixteen hours a day. As that leaves
but eight for sleep and recreation, she
has a grievance.
If they want to put La Follette on
a pedestal, they will arrest him for
sedition. His is a case for a com
mission in lunacy.
There's a great stretch of baseball
between Johnny McGraw and Connie
Mack this year.
It is perfectly proper to put the
blame on the cow. All she can do is
kick.
General Bliss heads the Army, and
that's what the Army will have.
The $18 hog makes the pork chop
much ol a. chip.
Through the Periscope.
Periscope a General sr Compre
hensive A lev" Standard Dictionary.
Breathes there a school child so
young. In Freedom's land, that doesn't
know what a periscope is, or cannot
describe to you with great degree of
accuracy, the most Important weapon
that our 20th century war has de
veloped the submarine?
I think not.
Yet It Is only the latest editions of
dictionaries in which you may find
the word "periscope" described as the
eye of the undersea boat. In the sense
In. which it Is used at the head of this
column it is as old as the departed
civilization of which the Parthenon and
the Acropolis are pathetic reminders.
The derivation Is Greek: Peri, around,
and skopeo, look.
One of the fine things about the
periscope is that it looks In all direc
tions at once, and no apology la neces
sary if it sees one minute the grave,
the next the gay, or If antipodal views
frame the sights of our own mountains,
hills and valleys.
Collier's last week has a picture on
its front cover that calls to mind a
story by H. G. "Wells, published many
years ago in the Strand Magazine,
London, entitled "The Land Ironclads."
As Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea" forecasted the submarine, so
did Mr. Wells describe with fair ac
curacy for a flctlonist the tanks that
now terrorize German trenches.
Uncle Sam's boys may need some
training when they get to France in
modern war methods, but it's a safe
prediction they'll not be there long
before they will have improved on
those methods, be what they may.
Already they have astonished the
French at the proficiency displayed in
throwing hand grenades, which a
French writer declares they take to
as naturally as a duck takes to water.
Whether the American soldier comes
from the metropolis or the cow coun
ties he has played ball almost from tha
cradle and his friends, the allies, and
his foes, the Huns, are destined to
learn the mystery of curves and drops,
hot ones and fadeaways and most Im
portant of all the art of "putting it
over" where it will do the most good.
Up-to-Date Conundrum.
Why are women and L W. W. alike?
A headline in an Eastern paper starts
us on the right track:
"Knit for Democracy, Slogan of
Women."
Ouija Tellai of War's End and After,
R. A. Morgan, of Chicago, has a
"Ouija" board, such as was familiar
to many of us old folks when we
were children. Mr. Morgan sits up
nights communing with tthe "Oulja"
spirit and gives this lot of questions
and answers for what it is worth.
That Is the view the Periscope takes
of it and whatever one may think of
it, everyone will be sure to read it,
whether or no it is held with Shakes
peare that "There are more things in
heaven and earth, Horatio, than are
dreamed of in our philosophy":
Who will win the great war An
swer: Germany.
Will Germany win the war? Yea
In what year? 1918.
In what month? June.
Will It be by victory on land? No.
Will it be by sea? Yes.
What is Germany's strongest weapon?
Submarine.
Where is the ex-Czar? Tobolsk.
Will America play an active part?
Yea
Will the United States pay an in
demnity? No.
Who will rule the seas after the war?
All members of the allies.
Does that mean America and its al
lies? Yes.
Are you positive Germany will win?
Yes.
Will the United States be defeated?
Yes.
Will Germany be a democracy after
the war? No.
Will the Kaiser be overthrown? No.
Who will rule Germany after the
war? Wllhelm.
What nation is ahead in the war so
far? Germany.
Will the allies force Germany to tne
Rhine? Yes.
Will Germany be forced out of Bel
gium? Yes.
What month? November.
Are you sure? Yes.
Will Germany receive any indemnity
when peace is declared? No.
Will there be any battles on German
soli east of the Rhine? No.
Will Germany get back any of her
colonies? No.
Will Albert rule Belgium? Yes.
Will' France get back Alsace-Lor
ralne? Yes.
Will Italy get possession of Trieste?
Yes.
' What government will get possession
of the Holy Land? England.
Will Turkey be driven out of Europe?
Yea.
Who will rule Constantinople? An
swer Siberia.
Do you mean Serbia? No.
Do you mean Siberia? Yes.
Will Siberia be a separate nation
from llusaia? Yes.
There might have been more of this,
for "Ouija" never sleeps, but Mr.
Morgan says he couldn't keep awake
longer, and, having learned all that it
was important to know, went to bed.
e a
Ernest Altherr, of Deen Creek, Grant
County, up In the Blue Mountain coun
try, is not a German, as his name would
Indicate, but a Swiss. Probably 99 out
of every 100 of the men In Portland
who go about talking hard times and
$ for eight hours' work never heard
of the Blue Mountain country. It Is a
fine section of this great state of Ore
gon, for all that. A lot of land Is lying
around loose up there. In fact, it is
one of those countries where they have
so much land, to use an Irish metaphor,
"they have to stack it." Now, Herr
Altherr. being a Swiss, quite naturally
"gravitated" upward and located his
homestead on a barren hillside, some
hundreds of feet above Deen Creek, at
the foot of Canyon Mountain. Prob
ably the fact that he found bismuth
cropping out of the rocky formation
had something to do with the location,
but that Is a mere Incident, for what
this energetic Swiss has done is to es
tablish a mink farm on his mountain,
with concrete dens and wire netting
enclosing long, open runways. He now
has eight pair of royal Imported pedi
greed mink, which are described, so
the layman will understand, by the
Blue Mountain Eagle as "about one
kitten high and four cats long." They
are a hungry bunchy and Deen Creek is
put to It to produce enough suckers
and crawfish to feed them. Mink are
prolific, and hides are worth from 16
to 8 each. So Mr. Altherr la quite
justified in thinking his new Industry
will make him rich. At all events, he
Isn't kicking about the times being out
of Joint. A, JJ, S,