The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, October 21, 1917, SECTION THREE, Image 46

The Sunday Oregonian., October 21, 1917, SECTION THREE, Page 6, Image 46

Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR

About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1917)

Prev Page of 80 Next Prev Issue Next Text PDF JP2 (4.2 MB) Clip/Print Image

Return to Top

Prev Page of 80 Next Prev Issue Next

Newspaper Page Text6 THR SUNDAY OEEGOXIAX, PORTLAND. OCTOBER - 21, 1917. PORTLAND, OREGON. Entered at Portland (Oregon) Postoffice second-class mail matter. Subscription rates invariably In advance: IRv MailLl Daily. Sunday Included, ono year $8.00 Dallv. Sunday included, six months..... -. laily. Sunday included, three months.. iJaily, Sunday included, one month..... .75 3ai!y, without Sunday, one year. 6.00 Ually, without Sunday, six months..... 3.1'0 laily, without Sunday, three months... 1.73 Uaily. without Sunday, one month...... -60 "Weekly, one year - 1.00 Funday. one year 2.50 Sunday and weekly 3-ou By Carrier.) Daily, Sunday included, one year $9.00 Daily, Sunday included, one month..... .10 Daily, without Sunday, one year 7.80 Daily, without Sunday, three months 1.15 Daily, without Sunday, one month...... .05 How to Remit Send postoffice money or der, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at Bender's risk. Give postoffice address In full, including county and state. Postage Rates 12 to IB pages. 1 cent; 18 to l paaes. 2 cents; Si to 4S pares, 3 centsj fo to 0O pages. 4 cents; 62 to 78 pages. 5 cents; 78 to 82 pages, 6 cents. Foreign postage double rates. Eastern Bnninnts Office Verreo Conk in, Brunswick building. New York; Verree & Conklin, Steger building, Chicago; San Krancisco representative, K. J. Hidwell, 742 Market street. , MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press is exclusively enti tled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of republication of special dis patches therein are also reserved. PORTLAND, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21. 1017. OIR ANTI-BRITISH SCHOOL BOOKS. We are hampered in our study of the history of our own country, it seems,, not only by the studied propa ganda of pro-Germans, to which pub lic attention has only recently been called, but by the anti-British ten dency of many of our school books. However we may have been able to escape, in the writing of histories for the more mature, from narrow par tisanship which borders on jingoism, we have not always, in most of the textbooks prepared for the very young:, been wholly free from sins of com mission and omission. The latter pre dominate, it is true. There are not many histories worthy of the name which make actual misstatements as to facts, but there are not a few which fail to make a faithful impression of the underlying- spirit of events. A common example is the history of the war of 1812. which many of us read when we were young. By such liter ary devices as the glorification of the battle of Lake Erie and the glossing over of the affair at Bladensburg they create a superficial, and at least partly erroneous, idea of the relative courage and patriotism and efficiency of the peoples of the countries then at war and now allies in the great struggle to re-establish the world in peace. It will not be denied that in the present war our sympathies were most largely with France, and, also, with Belgium. We have been taught con sistently that we owed a debt to France, and we know that the actual performances of the French, without consideration of the motives of her leaders at that time, multiplied our chances of success. Our sympathy for Belgium was the natural feeling Inspired by the plain story of her wrongs. But our reluctance in the beginning to be whole-hearted in our support of the British, who were fighting the same enemy, was not due wholly to the Irish auestion, which has complicated our internal affairs, or to the pro-German propaganda to which reference has been made. It lies deeper than that. There is a good deal of justice in the contention that much of it can be traced to the man ner In which the story of our own War of the Revolution is told in the books of the intermediate grades. In "The American Revolution in Our School Textbooks," Charles Alt schul, who is not a professional his torian but is a business man, says that much of the feeling of the average American citizen toward Kngland can be traced to things which have not been said in the school histories. He has no quarrel with the pride which we are taught to feel in the achieve ments of the colonists who fought against oppression by England. The triumph of liberty, the establishment of a free Nation, the bravery of our heroes, the exactions of the Govern ment of the mother country all are impressed upon us, as they ought to be. We are taught the truth that our forefathers were oppressed but only part of the truth as to who the oppressors really were. Were they, in fact, the "English people," or only, or chiefly, the element represented by the King? Was the Government that oppressed the colonies a representa tive Government, as we now know representative Government, or did it ptand for a small minority? Were the fair-minded men of England for the colonists or against them? These questions, Mr. Altschul believes, de serve sober consideration, because they constitute a basis for all discus sions of the relationships of the people that are to follow. Pitt, and Fox, and Burke, and others, he points out, "were in spirit the allies of Franklin, Adams and Washington." "The responsibility for the Ameri can Revolution," he adds, "lies mainly nt the door of George HI and the 'Kings friends. " Parliament was not then, as it is now, representative of the great body of the people. The population of the country was about 8,000.000, and only about 200,000 had the right to vote. Many of these were influenced by "illegitimate, disrepu table methods adopted by the King, in order to get control of the legislative body." The people of England as a whole ought not, under the circum stances, to be held responsible for the devolution, or the oppression which led up to it. In his introduction to the book, written before the United States entered the war, Mr. Altschul says: In spite of the controversies which have lit times rag-d between the two peoples, we speak the same language as the English; our customs have been fashioned alter theirs; their ideas of government and their concep lions of liberty are ours as well. In spite of the wars we have fought against them, have never thought of turning to any other nation as a model for what is most essential in our public and our private life. "Why. then, have we not in a much greater measure rallied to the moral support of Eng land in this world upheaval? It has occurred to me that the explanation of this phenomenon lies in the way in which the facts of history, superficially studied without due regard to surrounding circum stai4ces. determine our views in after life; especially if lodged in that mysterious store house, "the subconscious.' during childhood, when the spirit in which instruction is given leaves a more indelible mark than tho facts themselves. It is probably true that all the essential facts are set forth in the fullest of our histories: but as to the briefer school histories, the same can not be said. To account for our Na tional sentiment now, the author has made an examination of forty of the school textbooks in use twenty years ago. He found that all dealt fully, as they should, with the grievances of the colonies; four gave credit to prom inent Englishmen for the service they tendered, to America-is; lour . niade some reference to general political conditions in England at the time: eleven do not refer to general condi tions in England, but make favorable mention of several prominent English men: seven omit discussion of general conditions but mention Pitt, and four teen neither outline ' conditions in England nor give credit to any Eng lishman for friendship toward the colonists. Conditions have improved in later years, but The children now studying; American hls- ? ' yuuni: scnuDiB nave a lar greater number of textbooks available which give relatively complete information on this sub ject; but the improvement is by no means sufficiently marked to prevent the continued growth of unfounded prejudice against Eng- It Is the sins of omission with which the historian in this instance is most concerned, for they constitute the "spirit" of the whole. It Is, indeed, possible, as we are lately coming to realize in dealing with our own Civil War, either to create a wrong impres sion without misstating a single fact, and so to present the facts as to instill proper feelings of patriotism while at the same time giving recognition to such high motives as were possessed by the enemy. How far the tradi tional individual who never finds out that the "war is over" is kept in his cave of darkness by the school his torians is a matter for each to meas ure for himself. But if is at least encouraging that we are making progress in the right direction. It is an augury of better feeling in the world. It means, perhaps, not only a recasting of some of our histories of the Revolution, but, after this war is over, of the writing of a history-of it in which in the very beginning appro priate distinction will be drawn be tween the Prussian apostles of junker dom and frightfulness and the body of the German people toward whom, even in the midst of war, we feel little or no bitterness. ABOVE PAR. The Oregonian knows of a banker in a country town, patriotic and astute, who acquired at par ten thousand (510,000) dollars in Spanish-American war bonds, floated by the United States Government in 1898. The bonds bore three (3) per cent interest, and were sold to the public at one hundred cents on the dollar. In due time the war was ended, and the banker sold the bonds at 1.11, or eleven cents per hundred above par. It is easy to see that it was a profit able transaction for the investor, both in patriotism and in finance. The market quotation for United States registered bonds (4's) yester day was 1.05, or 5 per cent premium. The market quotation for United States coupon bonds (4's) yesterday was also 1.05, or 5 pA- cent premium. Yet the 4 per cent liberty bond sells at par. It is worth precisely the same, and in the end must sell for the same as the existing Government - bonds (4's), registered or coupon. A Government bond is the best In vestment in the world, for it is backed by the best Government, with the most ample resources, in the world. If the security is impaired, and the bonds depreciate, what other security will be better, or as good? If the bond investment is a failure. for any reason, will some one say what investment will not also be a failure? THE RECORD. When the indictment against Ger man autocracy shall be made up, it will be found that it includes the fol lowing transgressions against the laws of humanity, the recognized rules of civilized warfare: 1. Violation of treaties, beginning with Invasion of Belgium. 2. Execution of hostages. 3. Enormous exactions under guise of fines. 4. Enslavement of people, including boys and girls. 5. Exploitation of women for gratifica tion of soldiers. t. Destruction of churches and libraries. 7. Pillage. S. Frightfulness in many forms. i. Poisoning wells. 10. Imprisonment and punishment of non combatants; 11. Destruction of- orchards and - fields, with their ripening crops. 12. Ruining mines after abandonment. 13. Sinkiug merchantmen without warn ing. - 14. Ignoring neutral and non-combatant rights. . 15. Blowing up industrial establishments In neutral countries. Ifi. Poison gases and flames. IT. IS. 11. boats. 20. Sinking hospital ships. Starving and slaying prisoners. Murdering innocent people in small Aerial warfare on undefended towns. 21. .Bombarding hospitals. 22. Spreading- disease - through anthrax and glanders germs. 23. Criminal diplomacy based on treach ery, falsehood, bribery. 24. ' Conspiracy against sovereignty of neutral nations. 25. Complicity in Armenian massacres. There are more to be added: but was there ever such a record of in famy achieved - by any other power, ancient or modern? A GERMAN POLITICAL TRICK. In measuring the importance of the naval mutiny as bearing on the war, Americans would do well to remem ber that1, the German government never does anything, never permits any fact to become public, and the Chancellor never says anything with out having in view the effect on the political situation within and on the military situation without the empire. By considering the mutiny in this light we may arrive at a correct esti mate of its value to the allied cause. The fact of the mutiny was not announced in the Reichstag until sev eral weeks after it had been sup pressed. The announcement was then made in connection with the charge that three Socialist members had in cited it. Michaelis being a reaction ary, chosen at a conference of the Crown Council with the military chiefs and the Crown Prince, and op posed to renouncing annexation, his double object may be inferred. He wished to discredit the anti-annexa-tionist Socialists and to cause division between them and the Center party, which also opposes annexation. He also hoped that Germany's enemies. particularly the United States, would be deluded into believing that Ger many was weakening and would be tempted to relax their efforts against her. He failed of the first object, for his attack on the Socialists has driven the two factions together. If the American people relax their efforts .he will, at least partially, have attained the second. If we fail to raise the full amount of the second liberty loan, if we do not speed up construction of ships, we shall have been the dupes of a German trick, and there will be joy in Berlin. How little the efficiency of the Ger man navy has been affected by the mutiny may be judged by -its recent success in the Baltic, by the continued sinking of ships by submarines and by the sinking of a returning transport. Internal discontent and military de feat produce no disposition to yield on the part of the military masters lot Germany, Such.- incidents, .only cause them to close their ranks, to tighten their grip on all who are In their power and to commit more deeds of ruthlessness. . FOR THOSE WHO DOST SEED IT. Some'' day some statistician "will doubtless point to Oregon's so-called "eugenic marriage law" and the ab normally large number of Oregon di vorces compared with the number of Oregon marriages. The inference that the law promotes divorce is not accu rate, but the futility of that interesting statute is disclosed. An illustration appeared In the news columns the other day when it was noted that of six new divorce com plaints filed in the Circuit Court the parties involved in five of them were wed in the state of Washington. The Oregon law requiring a medi cal certificate from the male is evaded by about 50 per cent of -the Portland persons who wed. Those who select Vancouver as a wedding place for the sole reason that a medical certificate is not there required are quite likely to be those who give scant thought to the responsibilities of the marriage lation. The mere fact that the man is anxious to escape the medical ex amination and the woman is willing that he should, makes them potential material for the divorce mill. It may, of course, be remarked that if there were no "eugenics law" in Oregon these persons would marry in Portland and that comparative sta tistics are a small thing to worry about. But the point is that they marry in spite of the law. and that It, therefore, is a financial burden and inconvenience placed almost solely upon men who have solemn regard for the marriage obligation and who, without the law, would see to it that they were fit before they wed. WESTERN APPLES. A good deal has been said about the comparative flavor of the apples of the East and those of the West. It used to be a favorite contention of the croakers that whatever the West pmight do, it could never duplicate the indefinable something that the New Yorker detected, for example. In his up-state Baldwin, or his 'Sopus, or that the New Englander found in the Roxbury . Russet. There .was some charm in the alchemy of Eastern soil and sunshine, they would have it ap pear, that was lost from the soil and sunshine of the West. But more probably It was simple, unalloyed ap petite of youth. The "good old days" are always the days when oii was young. So Leslie's is right when it remarks: ' There Is no reason for the constant asser tion that the-- Western apple, magnificent as to size and beautiful In appearance, does not come up to our Eastern apples in juici ness and flavor. .Tho Western growers make apple production their chief business. They take Infinite pains with their or chards and send to the market a product as perfectly packed as science and skill make possible. Tho few New Vork growers who do the same thing command a market as ielect and high-priced as that of the Wash ington and Oregon producers. If the West ern apple Is to be crowded out of the East ern market, let It be done by this sort of excellence, and in no other way. This Is the true basis- of the right kind of competition. Natural advan tages being equal, or nearly so, the market belongs to the grower whose enterprise has enabled him to culti vate it. The Northwest has found out what apple-eaters want and has striven to meet the demand for a high-grade product. It has .stimu lated apple consumption by eliminat- ing the moth and the fungus and by catering artfully to the higher senses. It claims no monopoly of the bounties of nature, but deserves credit for human ingenuity and progresslveness. It has shown the way, has done the work of the pioneer, and has neither patent nor copyright on the process. Everything that there is to be known about Western methods has been widely published. Eastern growers will win their markets back only on merit. The embargo will not work. And the Northwest, with a long run ning start and constantly developing possibilities, has little to fear as to the outcome. RIOTING OVER THE SCHOOLS. School children are rioting in New York, in protest, it is said, against the introduction of the so-called "Gary system." That is the ostensible reason for the outbreak of juvenile lawless ness. .But there is nothing in the Gary plan, per se, to start a riot. The trou ble in New York is the direct out growth of. making a question of edu cational administration an issue of partisan politics. . Mayor Mitchel, who is a candidate J.O succeed himself, favors the Gary plan, and Judge Hylan, the Tammany nominee, opposes it. It ought not to be made the football of politics, but this has been done. Much intemper ance has marked the speeches of the supporters of the candidates: all sorts of charges - have been bandied back and forth; the spirit of protest has filled the air. It was not possible, in a supercharged atmosphere like that of the metropolis, that the children should escape the infection. Probably most of them do not know what the row is all about, but they have been told by one group that they were being imposed , upon and all their chances of future greatness sacrificed, and by the other that the opponents of the system are prevaricators and worse, and the impulse has become irresistible just to get outside and heave a brick. The unrest of the mob prevails, where if anywhere there should be calm and studious peace. The so-called "duplicate organiza tion" embraced in the Gary plan has nothing fearsome about it. It. pro poses to inaugurate a division of class time so that all the pupils can share classrooms, playgrounds and work shops. As one group of pupils moves from one activity to the other, another takes its place, and so on through the day. Proponents urge that first of all it increases the capacity cf the schools and eliminates the "part time" classes now made necessary by lack of school equipment. They ' declare that the varied activities of such a school stimulate interest, and cultivate ambition and initiative. Opponents hold that the physical exertion re quired so tires the children that they are made unfit for proper mental work, that the shop training tends to confine them to industrial pursuits, and in general that the system is a "fad," and as such has no place in the schools. The New York .Board of Education has expressed itself as believing that the duplicate school is full of promise, that it tends toward well-rounded de velopment of the child, and particu larly that it employs the available school buildings to better advantage. New York is always behind in its school building programme. Demand for classrooms seems to grow faster than the willingness of the taxpayers to foot the bills. The system has been ill force for. gix moatns - jnore-ia fourteen schools, and recently was ex tended to others. The pros and cons are proper sub jects for investigation calm and dis passionate investigation, of course. It is true that the plan has been success ful in large measure in Gary, Ind., from which it took its name, but it does not follow that it is adapted without modification to New York, or some other city. It is true that some pupils have complained, on leaving Gary, because the system was not universal, but It may be that New York does not feel that way about it. But these questions are not for settle ment with sticks and stones, or by the police reserves, or in the police courts of the congested districts. The elders In New York have been setting a bad example to their youngsters, that is all. Whenever they see the advantage of keeping educational questions in the non-political realm, the pupils will forget all about their fancied grievances and buckle down to work. REAL EXPERTS NEEDED. The difficulties that beset the f ramers of a trade embargo are illustrated by the situation arising from our recent war restrictions and their effect upon our trade with Latin-America. It has long been realized that the present offers a splendid opportunity for development of commercial rela tions with our Central and South American neighbors, but trade is not a jug-handled affair. We must both buy and sell, and in each instance so contrive that the exchange will confer a mutual advantage. So the shipping authorities must consider not only today but tomorrow every time they issue a regulation. They can restrict Latin-American trade with Germany by regulating the supply of bunker coal, but they also can foster our own trade interests by establishing ,ship charter and freight rates, and if they are especially adroit they can make the advantages of one offset the disadvantages of the other. But it is no job for a novice, and we have been so busy in recent years with our own domestic affairs that trade experts who are really expert are by no means common. THE TRAGEDY OF LEPROSY. Discovery by a Montana State Sena tor that he is afflicted with leprosy marks the beginning of a real tragedy. The world has not made much prog ress in five thousand years toward the cure of this dreaded disease. We have improved our methods of treating the victims, and in some cases our atti tude toward them is more humane. But ' the individual leper is still shunned by society. In isolated commu nities, where there is a tendency to exaggerate all perils, extreme meas ures are sometimes adopted to be rid of what is a troublesome question at best. No district wants a leper on its hands. The penalty of leprosy is still segre gation, just as it was in the time of Moses. It falls with tremendous weight on civilized men, in whom the social instinct is especially developed. The Montana victim has been promi nent in politics and active in good works, and if the usual procedure is followed he will miss the society of his own choosing. He may busy him self among his less enlightened fellow lepers, but this will not be full com pensation. One of the chief advan tages of freedom Is the opportunity It gives us to select our own asso ciates. - It is hot generally known that there are more than 1000 victims of leprosy in the United States, in addition to those we acquired with the annexation of Hawaii, some 1100 more. But In proportion to population, the number Is far less than It was in Europe in the time of Louis VIII of France, when it was estimated that in France alone there were 2000 "leper houses," and 19,000 in all Europe. The plague has gone in waves. Our occupation of the Philippines, os well as the annexation of Hawaii, has stimulated research. An impor tant development of 1915 was that continued use of chaulmoogra oil "seemed promising." Patients so treated have been permitted to return to their homes, but have been kept under observation, but- the Hawaiian leper colony at Molokai has not been disbanded, nor have cures been au thentically reported in the United States. Much remains for scientists to do in this direction. BATTLE DANGERS EXAGGERATED. Authoritative statistics of the dan ger to the individual soldier fighting on the side of the allies grow more and more optimistic. Colonel George Harvey, editor of the North American Review, after analyzing some of the available official figures, has arrived at the conclusion that if the percent age of American casualties in an American Army of 500,000 in 1918 does not exceed that of the French last year, more Americans will perish from intentional and accidental use of firearms in the United States than In Europe. "Nor," he adds, "Is there apparent reason to doubt that this will be the case." The striking feature of the whole array of figures is the disclosure it makes of a constantly lessening death. rate. The total casualties in the bat tles of Charleroi and the Marne, at the outset of the war, were 5.41 per cent of the French troops. In the first six months of 1915 casualties were 2.39 per cent: in the last six months of the same year they had fallen to 1.68 per cent. In the first six months of 1916 the rate was 1.47 per cent, and in the last six months it had fallen further to 1.28 per cent. The figures of the battles of Char: lerol and the Marne represent a high- water mark. It should be borne in mind that it is "total casualties" that are recorded. Military experts agree that the number of killed in action and died from wounds never in this war has exceeded 20 per cent of the total casualties. This would give 108.2 casualties in every 10,000 men engaged in the bitterest period of the war. The figure would be 25.6 men killed in every 10,000 engaged if the rate established in the latter half of 1916 were maintained. A correspondent with the Canadian troops in the field in France has been able to illuminate the subject further from his own experience. After de scribing some of the severest fighting of the year, in which he was himself engaged, he writes: It Is wonderful how few the casualties are now compared with the same amount of fighting at the beginning. Our curtain fire artillery barrage now preceded our men with such absolute accuracy when they at tack that I have seen soldiers following not twenty-five feet behind without danger. Allowing for some inaccuracy in the soldier's calculations-assuming, to be on the "safe side," that he may have meant twenty-five yards instead of feet the fact stands out that the allies are growingly alive to the neces sity of protecting their man power , and . that . hq precautions are being neglected. Everything that has been learned by the British and French, out of their costly experience, will be placed at the disposal of the Ameri cans and they will profit by it. The recent battle of Messines, which was a particularly desperate struggle for possession of a ridge, in which the defenders had all the advantage, in volved casualties of less than 8 per cent of the 280,000 men engaged, and the fatalities were less than one seventh of the total casualties. There were several contributing reasons for the relatively low death rate. Perfec tion of the defensive helmet now worn in action was one important factor, but highly scientific methods of treat ing wounds and development of the medical organization also contributed their full share. The statistics, which are taken from records the authenticity of which can not be disputed, are consoling to those who have relatives or friends in the Army. War is still war, but every thing that human ingenuity can devise is being employed to make it as safe as possible. The soldier's chances of emerging alive are practically five times as great as they would have been three years ago. THE ROCKEFELLER THRIFT. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., has been setting a good example in his home In the hills of New York by practi cing thrift just as he would do If he were a poor man. Recently, he boasted, he had a pair of shoes half-soled In stead of " buying a new pair. Mrs. Rockefeller is busy knitting sweaters for soldiers at the front. She has just been having a hat made over, to save the material in It, The Rocke feller household is observing all the regulations of the food economy board. Nothing is being permitted to go to waste. Only the superficial, or the unchar itable, will confound thrift with mean ness in the case of the Rockefellers. It is as much the duty of the rich man to save leather, and of the rich woman to save the materials that go into a hat, as of the most poverty stricken in the land. No amount of money will buy non-existent leather or wool to shoe and clothe our sol- Idlers and help our allies to win the war. The Rockefellers, for all their wealth, would do a disservice by con suming any essential commodity un necessarily. There are many other things that the Rockefellers can do to aid the Nation, and doubtless they will do some of them. But they are making a good start when only they set the example of economy to other wealthy folk. The imperative duty to save rests democratically upon every Amer ican, In every stratum of society. TTOPIAS THAT FAILED. ' There died in New England the. other day a romantic and engaging man whose passing serves to remind the world briefly of the futility of efforts to demonstrate that the char acters of men are the product of their environment, which is a favorite theory of would-be social reformers. He was William Lane, of Auckland. editor of the New Zealand Herald and founder of the communistic set tlements known as "New Australia' and "Cosme." It is a curious fact that Lane should have left Australia, which since then has become a battle ground for social "freedom" of va rious kinds, and have gone to Para guay in search of a place in which to establish the ideal- community of which he dreamed. But it is not so strange that he should have failed. He might have foreseen his own doom, if he had been a reader of social his tory. "New Australia" and "Cosme" foundered on the rocks of imperfect human nature. Their industrial prob lems had been well thought out, but there was failure to take account of certain frailties with which, it would seem, we must be born. There have been a good many ex periments of the kind in our own America, but none which depended upon secular considerations made any thing but failure, and those in which there was also a religious purpose to sustain them cannot be said, to have fared conspicuously well. The Shakers, who were both communistic and re ligiously devout, and who. strove to attain high spiritual ideals and had their own peculiar ideas on such mun dane subjects as matrimony, are i declining sect. The Rappites made a failure of the New Harmony com munity before the Owens took it over and later placed still another failure to the credit of communism. That the "New Harmony Community of Equality" did flourish for a time seems to have been due to the rare executive ability of Robert Owen, and without his personality it could not persist. It was his notion that mankind is "crushed by a trinity of oppressors private property, irrational religion and marriage." He hoped to save ui all by instituting a system of exchang ing all products on a basis of labor for equal labor. No account was to be taken of skill, or zeal, or con scientious preparation. The labor of the plodding, unambitious and ineffi cient, clock-watching workman was to be exchangeable for that of the pride ful artisan, hour for hour, at par. Somehow, this failed to reform the world. One of the peculiar features of the experiment of William Lane was that It took the fancies of the land-owning classes of Australia. Most other ven tures of the kind have depended for their recruits upon those who owned no land and were impatient at the plodding methods by which the ordi nary man acquires a competence. But Lane induced men to sell their lands and place their contributions ir a common fund, with which the co operative colony obtained concessions in a new world. South America. A thousand men and women journeyed in search of the end of the social rainbow, a' thousand miles up the Parana River and many more miles by bullock carts to the land set apart for the settlement. And then Jealousy, suspicion and distrust broke out. The Paraguayan police were called in to restore order. Lane and those whe were loyal to him left "New Australia" in disgust and founded "Cosme." To strengthen the new colony more immigrants were sought. Lane went this time to Eng land, being particularly moved by de sire to get prospective wives for the Cosme bachelors. Among those whom he enlisted were several young Eng lish women, who reached Cosme at tired in the latest English mode. That was the last straw. The women who had been fighting the Paraguayan wilderness until their wardrobes had fallen into a sad state of disrepair, revolted. The men were unavoidably drawn into the controversy. Utopia faded then and there. Sixty or seventy societies, having for their main purpose the abolition of private property and the establish ment of the communal principle in some form, nave- existed at one time or another in the United States. Most of them decried "capitalism" and some tried to put all forms of labor on a common basis. Their average life has been estimated at about ten years. Every conceivable form of co-operation" has been tried. The North American Phalanx inaugurated a system of co-operative feeding, but this was found to entail certain sac rifices on the part of the members. and sacrifices- are always easier for the other fellow to make. The vege tarians and the meat-eaters and the dietary freaks of various kinds fell out, and everybody was glad when the community established a restau rant at which each patron ate what he liked and paid for It In a bona fide circulating medium. The Amana, of Iowa, which had 1800 members and a few years ago figured in the Iowa courts in litigation over their right to hold property, conceded the right to each familyto live separately and privately, but formed "eating groups" In a vain attempt to solve the house work problem. It boasted a commer cial rating of AA Al. and gloried in having no lawyers, no Sheriffs and no beggars. Its members were sure of enough to eat every mealtime, but that was about all they were sure of. Their lives, although untrammeled by capitalistic oppression, were not at tractive enough to cause a stampede to the colony. The Topolobampo ven ture of more than thirty years ago, organized by an American engineer and having the indorsement of Presi dent Diaz, of Mexico, overlooked nothing "except," as one of its his torians has said, "a few of the most fundamental qualities of human na ture." One of the striking phases of every communistic movement has been the failure of the most vociferous advocates of the system to put their own capital into it. And it frequently J has come to pass, as it did at New Harmony, that utter financial collapse has been prevented only by return to Individual ownership. When Robert Owen saw the light and began dispos ing of property to thrifty members of the community, new energy, was immediately instilled into it. That convinced Owen of the hopelessness of his original scheme. No plan has been found that was practical in modern society that did not require organization, and organi zation means leaders, while leaders mean that there are some "Ins" and, as a consequence, some "outs." The "outs" have always rocked the boat. Their characters do not seem to have been sufficiently changed even by the environment 'of their own choosing to make them philosophical when they are in the minority. It takes a cer tain amount of mutual self-denial to make co-operation successful, and self-denial is the last thing most of the self-appointed reformers are cap able of. Probably if they had sensed the necessity of giving and taking in the fi'st instance, they would not be so keen for reform. The fundamental moral earnestness of Russians of the better class Is shown by their fondness for Emerson and Whitman, who are among their favorite foreign authors, according to David A. Modell. a writer in the Rus sian Review. Their mysticism is in dicated by their interest in the world of Edgar Allan Poe. and their optim ism by the popularity of Mark Twain and Jerome K. Jerome. - American authors covering a wide field, in fact, are familiar to educated Russians, whose diversity of taste is shown by the sale even in war tirje of such works as "The Scarlet L9ter," "The Crisis," "The House of Mirth" and "The Call of the Wild." English writings share favor with those of America, and there is a decided Dick ens cult. The writer intimates that Anglo-American influence on the fu ture of Russian literature is certain to be noteworthy. He observes that "ab solute independence in literature is as impossible as the human relations with which it is concerned. Interde pendence, in other words, is the rule here as in everything else dealing with the life of men." Keep in mind the words of Lord Reading: "Pour out your money. Help the Administration to shorten the war." That means that the more money we pour out, the less blood we shall pour out. We can make more money,' but we cannot bring back the lives that will be lost. No man will dare to say that the drafted men are unwilling victims of compulsion, for they are backing Uncle Sam not only with their bodies but with their money. They proudly regard themselves as the elect, not as conscripts in the commonly accepted sense of the word. Knitting is to be taught in the Chi cago schools, and the mother who didn't raise her boy to be a soldier ought to be particularly pleased with his opportunity to become proficient in this essentially peaceful occupa tion. Finland Is preparing a new consti tution, but it will not be worth much if the Germans land on those shores. People must defend themselves before they govern themselves. The Russians with their 170,000,000 population ought to be ashamed to accept help from the Italian navy, but its disorganized elements are just now a little short on pride. The Russian government is moving to Moscow, hoping, no doubt, that the Germans will be deterred by Napo leon's example from attempting a raid at least until Winter is passed. The poet who wrote about the "melancholy days" of Autumn cer tainly could not have had an Oregon October in mind not one like this, at any rate. We hesitate even to try to predict what would happen to those Germans If every American regiment should be led by an honest-to-goodness jazz band. New York saloons are coming to two-bit whisky, which will do no harm. The less a man gets for his money the better it is for his health. Albany high school boys are re quired to take two girls apiece to re ceptions, but we do not hear any of them complaining about their lot. Every time we read of a short crop in an allied country, as in Canada, the lesson is impressed upon us that we must save save save. Alsace-Lorraine has no illusions on the subject of liberty bonds. It knows they cannot be made in Germany. No matter how much yeast it re quires. Uncle Sam. tiruply has tot to raise the dough. The Peripterous. Perlpterous A Structure Having Rdti of Columns on All sides Dictionary. (Synopsis of preceding synopses.) The Oregonian, a great morning news paper, employs a distinguished Uteraj-y architect to construct a peripterous. lie does it. It has rows of columns on east, west, north and south. The Perlpterous becomes a Free Audito rium for the expression of incompetent, re relevant and immaterial opinions, news, vers and anecdotes. The Peripterous discovers five wonders of Oregon and gives the first authentic explana tion of the presence of Professor U. H-ee-p. lecturer on Appreciation of Bathtubs at Guff University, with a party of train robbers. "Wonders of OreROa, No. 5. A shecpherder who owns an auto mobile. This unprecedented wonder of Ore gon exists in the Cascade National Forest. Every Sunday ho cranks up "lizzie" and travels 70 miles over tho old Immigrant road to Wapinitia to see his best girl. His pardncr hords the sheep until he gets back. Old Stuff. Mrs. E. R. sends by special delivery' the announcement that this Hoover business Is nothing new in her young: life. She began Hooverizing when she married Ed 12 years ago. War Garden Note No. 3. H. H. H. writes to say that In re sponse to patriotic demands last Spring he planted his first garden. He succeeded in raising some caln with the neighbors' chickens but that was about all. Exchange of Compliments. The poetry editor just dropped In to say that he has received a bound pamphlet from Hawaii containing four war poems. He promptly reciprocated by sending his Hawaiian friend 150 war poems unbound. Vote of Confidence In Prof. Herp. WHOOPLA, Or.. Oct. 10. (Special.) A petition for retention of Prof. U. Heep, Saturday lecturer on Apprecia tion of Bathtubs, who participated in the robbery of the Overland Limited, was circulated today among the faculty of Guff University. The petition expresses abhorrence of crook literature, condemns the robbery of the Overland Limited, and asserts faith In Prof. Heep's conversational adherence to Lord's Oregon Laws. For some mysterious reason - the names of the signers are denied pub lication. It is now assured that future hear ings of the regents will not be dis turbed by Mr. Bill McGinnis, of the Whoopla Commercial Club. Mr. Mc Ginnis has become obsessed with the strange notion that he is the college fool-killer and has bean placed under restraint. Great New Humane Society. The humanitarian efforts of the Peripterous to protect the titles of all Colonels by Courtesy is receiving com mendation from all quarters. The idea is rapidly coming into favor that these men who have for many years enjoyed the distinction of com plimentary military rank should not at this late day be deprived of them, merely because the Government is creating so many real Colonels.- One of the most enthusiastic In dorsers of the movement is a well-, known manufacturer of the gray. cam paign hat universally known as the insignia of rank of Colonel by Cour tesy. This manufacturer is now so wealthy and has Invested so heavily in liberty bonds that his motives may not be questioned. "It would be cruel," he writes, "now to deprive so many elderly gentlemen of a cherished and unsullied honor. Let us mitigate the horrors of war as much as possible." The League for the Preservation of Colonels by Courtesy will soon, it is expected, have a membership National in scope. The only avowed hold-outs are a few dollar-chasing dealers in safety razors who have a selfish ob jection to the cultivation of goatees. It Was No Circus. Mitchell Sentinel. Arthur Winebarger returned from Prineville Sunday. They all report the fair at that place was much better than it was advertised to be. Spring;. To demonstrate on this fine October morning that this is an absolutely free Auditorium, there is therewith pre sented a poem on Spring, offered for our August columns by E. W. P., of La Grande: Awakening comes! What cheer! Bluing skies. Robin's cries. Myriad blooms appear. Spill of fount. Joy of mount. Echoing shepherd's mere. The greening time! What fun! Grass spear's dress. Leaflet's caress. Pussywillows in sun. Bulrushes out. , Weir "plash'd shout. Remodeling times begun. ;k The blushing time! Sol's boastt Blood-roots spring. With red'ning wing. Willows blush their toast. l Wind-flower blows. Blossoming rose. Red'ning Winter's ghost. All earth awakes!" What joy! Birdletts fly. Laddies cry. "Nature's melody enjoy!" Bub'ling brook. Quiet shade nook. Glad'ning Spring's sweet alloy. All the Modern Conveniences. Skullspring Sentinel. Beside the road that leads from Prineville to Burns, in the Blue Moun tain Forest Reserve, stands Buck Moun tain Hotel. It is nothing but a scorched juniper tree and there is no habitation for many miles around. This Is bow it got its name: Four railroad men traveling In an au tomobile were wrecked near the spot. Another automobile carrying Colonc Bill Hanley. the guide of the party, and Louis W. Hill, was in advance. They knew nothing of the plight of tho oth ers, but went on and on and on. The stranded ones found Colonel Rill and the railroad president at Burns 34 hours later. They had a tale of won and were sore over their ciescrtion. They told feelingly of an all-night camp around a burning juniper tree la the cold air of a mountainside, sere naded by snarling coyotes, and of th rain that made cute llttie rlvulats about their reclining forms. "I see." broke in Colonel Bill. "All outside apartments, open fires, musio by the band and running water in every room. Whatlnell do you cxpocj 150 miles from, & railroad 2"