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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 16, 1917)
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, DECEMBER 16, 1917. PORTI.A"D, OREGON. Enteral at Portland (Oregon) Postofflce as nroiio-ciaBi mall matter. -Subscription rates invariably ink advance Iall3 Sunday Included, one year. . . . . . .f 8.00 Xa.iiv. Sundajr Included, six months..... 4.25 Xai!y, Sunday Included, three months... 2.1i5 Xai;y, Sunday included, one month 73 Daily, without Sunday, one year 6.00 lai:y, without Sunday, six months 3.5 Daily, without Sunday, three months.... 1.75 Daily, without Sunday, one month...... .60 "Weekly, one year 1.00 tiuniay, one year 2.f0 eunuay and weekly a.oO (By Carrier.) Daily, Sunday Included, one year $0.00 Dallv. Sunday Included, one month. .75 Daily, without Sunday, one year 7. SO jaiiy, witnout hunuay, tnree montns.... l.'.o Daily, without Sunday, one month 65 How to Kcmit Send postofflce money or der, express order or personal check on your local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are at owner's risk. Oive postofflce address in full, Including county and state. . PoHtage Rates 12 to 18 pages. 1 cent: 18 to 'AZ pages, 2 cents; 34 to 48 pages, 3 cents; 50 to tfo pages, 4 cents; 02 to 76 pages, 5 cents; 78 to 82 pages, 6 cents. Foreign postage, double rates. Eastern Baniness Qfflce Verree &. Conk lln, Brunswick building New York; Verree A Conklin, Steger butlding, Chicago; San Francisco representative, R. J. Bldwell, 742 Market street. MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. The Associated Press Is exclusively en titled to the use for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper, and also the local Stews published herein. All righta of republication of special dis patches herein are also reserved. IOKT LAND, SUNDAY, DEC. 16, 19V I OUR FOIXDATIOX TROUBLE. ' The Salem Capital Journal is lm pressed by certain recent observations of The Oregonian on higher taxes and cumbersome and -inefficient govern ment; but it complains that no rem edy is offered. It is not easy to devise a remedy. which the public -will accept. The Oregonian is no pessimist, but it will say frankly that it is hopeless about worth - while reform until an in formed and intelligent public opinion demands it; and then, doubtless, it will be forthcoming-. Our idea of the process by which there will be an end to the steadily ascending accumula- . tion of taxes we have no thought that there will be permanently lower taxes for a long time to come is, first. Judicious selection by the public of determined and -experienced offi cials: second, their support while in , office; third, a refusal to accept the cure-alls of administration and gov ernment constantly offered by quacks and experimenters: fourth, no poli tics; fifth, a rule that no citizen with an ax to grind shall enter the Court house, or the City Hall, or the State Capitol, except at public hearings: sixth, that it shall be a crime to dis ' cuss public affairs with a public offi- . cial on other than public occasions .seventh, renovation of the civil service. Perhaps it may be said that these Items, some of which are remote from any of the plans of reform devised and urged by our local publicists and statesmen, are offered in a bantering spirit; and it may be so. Yet The Oregonian will say in all earnestness that they reveal in themselves the essential trouble with our public ser vants, public service and the public Itself. The public gets the govern ment It tolerates; it would get better Kovernment if it took the trouble to face its own problems thoughtfully and continuously, and did not dismiss them to the thrifty custody of the politicians without sufficient consider ation. The public indifference is the politicians opportunity; be, seizes it. The public thinks of public problems a few minutes on election day; and then it translates its hasty opinions or conclusions into action that prefers a candidate for office of its own po litical party, or lodge, or neighbor hood, or church, or social and per sonal group; and it does not uniformly select its officials with real knowledge of their qualifications, even where the knowledge is obtainable. It is not intended to say that the people make always unfit selections; not at all. It is intended to say that fitness is no sufficient guarantee of retention in office. Until it is. there will be no permanent improvement in officialdom, no lowering of taxes, . no certainty that the public is getting a dollar's return on every 100 cents it furnishes. What is fitness for public office? It is not difficult to answer. It is adapti tude and taste for public affairs; knowledge of the requirements of a particular branch of service, honesty, resolution, industry and diplomacy. These things are self-evident. But even then, such an officer may find it impossible to do good work. What does he find when he is in ducted into office, with the most ma tured ideas of what i3 needed, and the proper nerve to carry them out? He finds two employes where there should be one, and he finds that they are, at least in the city and in the schools, protected by a civil service which makes it next to impossible to get rid of an inefficient employe, or to pen sion him. He must work with and through the tools he finds on hand. He becomes soon "discouraged and he drops into the routine of the swivel chair. He has been conquered by the system. Or where there is no sys S tern but politics, he yields to the cease less importunities of friends and sup porters to take care of this or that job-hunter. Equally, ' it seems as hard to get good" officers and good government with civil service .as without it. In the one instance it is possible to put men and women" into public jobs who ought not to be put in; in the other it is impossible to put men and women out who ought to be put out. A public official in this city the other day had occasion to need an Office clerk, who should look after the telephone and receive the public, admitting those persons who should be admitted, and excluding the others. It is obvious that a, person of activity and discretion was . required. . The place was under civil service, and he was by the higher authority given three persons in the eligible list from whom to make his choice. The young est of the three was 71 years of age. The official managed to reject them all, because each failed on trial and gave it up, and he asked for a second list.. The place fell to a man 40 years of age whose chief work had been as farmhand. The Oregonian is almost ready to say that if it had its way it would put one man at the Courthouse, and make him responsible for the entire county government, and one man at the City Hall and make him primarily respon sible. It would give each of them a fixed period to make good, and then, if dissatisfied, would try another. But it knows that such public official; in either case, would be subject to con stant importunity and threats, express or implied, of the recall; and it would, therefore, further suggest that the public be privileged to go there only on its proper business, at proper times, and that the newspapers' be permtted to discuss and criticise his acts only at stated intervals at tha or hifl trial term, for example, in assessment ojiu review or nis acts. TDen we might have efficient government if we had the right man. AX ARMY CHAPLAIN. The need of chaplains for the new National Army has inspired discussion in the religious journals of the qualifi cations which an ideal chaplain should possess, and there seems to be agree ment that all-around manliness, cou pled with tact, is the chief requisite. Ability as a . pulpit orator is not likely to count for much, and the men are likely to judge him less by the literary quality of his occasional ser mons than by his behavior seven days in the week, giving no more weight to Sunday than to any other day. The fact is that being a chaplain is even more a seven-day job than holding a local pastorate, and the opportunities for exercising real influence may be greater in the Army than they were out of it. Church organizations are interested in the question because, while there is no lack of applications for commis sions, it is believed that future useful ness Of the -church may be affected by the kind of men it sends'to war. DOES SEATTLE WAM TICK? Because of the short length of time remaining in Mayor Gill's term of office and the length of time required to institute a recall, the Mayoralty recall method of setting Seattle right in the eyes of the country may not meet the exigencies of the situation. Not having at hand Information as to the in-dividual terms of office of Seat tle's Councilmen, The Oregonian can not definitely say that the same ob stacle confronts their case, but it is likely that opportunity is free to use the recall machinery as to one or more of them. There is always more or less con fusion in the public mind as to the impeachment process. The vote of the City Council was merely equivalent to dismissal by a court of a complaint witnout having heard the evidence. The charges in the impeachment reso lution were specific. Through investi gations and reports by the Fosdick Commission vice conditions in Seattle have become common knowledge. In dependent investigations by Army offi cials have led to declaration of quar antine against that city. The argu ment that the Mayor of Seattle did not know of these conditions, or if he did could not remedy them, is prepos terous. The culpability as result of its act falls also on'the Council.' ' ' Seattle does not now have a reputa tion to lose; It has a reputation to re trieve. Upon what its citizens now do will depend confirmation in the public mind of that which has been suspected and sometimes charged: That Gill is giving Seattle the kind of city the people of Seattle want, HOW NOT TO EXPEDITE SHITS. The' opinion is warranted, if not ex pressed, by William Hard's article on shipbuilding in the New Republic that the programme of providing ves sels for transport of men and muni tions would have been much farther along if the Shipping Board had never commandeered a single ship or ship yard and if the Emergency Fleet Cor poration had not let a single contract. The principal achievement of the Board so far has been to delay work on the vessels which were already under construction when it comman deered them and to prevent any other ships from being placed under con trajct. .except, .for. .itself,. . . Mr, .Hard makes this direct statement and then gives evidence in its support: We are likely to have fewer new merchant hips on January 1 than If we had never created the Emergency Fleet Corporation. We created It to get new ships, to exDedlte new ships. We are now likely to have fewer or them on January 1 than If we had never created it at all. Our yards might well have produced more ships by January 1 If the Emergency Kleet Corporation had never been brought into existence. This in substance is how he proves it: When the Fleet Corporation came into being, there were under construc tion in old yards, which were well equipped and well , manned, and in boom yards, built for the occasion, 4U4 snips of 2500 tons each or over. composing a fleet of 2,800,000 tons dead weight. These ships were- "our hope for this Winter.'.' The Fleet Corporation is building three great emergency yards in which standard ships are to be built, but "we may safely say that if any one of them gets to Europe in 1918, it will be to give sustenance to Europe and to our Army in Jdurope for the Fall and Winter of 1918-19." Therefore orders were given to ex pedite work on commandeered ships, but instead of increasing the price to correspond with the increased cost of labor and material, as private owners, eager to profit by fat freight rates, would have done, the Fleet Corpora tion held them to their contract price. If the builders had expedited them by putting on second and third shifts, they would have become bankrupt so much sooner, so they continued to work one eight-hour shift. There is no chance to recoup themselves on other contracts, for the Government is their only customer. The Govern ment by building emergency yards draws away men from the old -yards and, as Mr. Hard says, speaking as a shipbuilder, "steals from me my means of speed." He raises wages, and so do his competitors. Then the Government through an adjustment board fixes wages, but it refuses to bear the added cost caused by itself. When the builder protests, the Gov ernment agrees to assume half of the added cost if the profit should fall below 10 per cent, though even Sec retary Daniels pays a flat 10 per cent. The Government which thus drives into bankruptcy the men on whom it chiefly relies for the first essential of getting its troops into the field is the same Government which some people wish to operate the railroads. It acts so as to defeat its own ends as to ships. What reason is there to expect that it would do any better as to rail roads? The spectacle is one to make the Prussians laugh in ruthless glee. When a man on the active roll of a community's useful citizens drops sud denly from the ranks, it brings home to all a startling realization of the uncertainty of life's tenure. The death of Cecil H. Bauer, in the maturity of his active professional career, was such an event. He was 47 years old, and had been a practitioner of law in Portland since early manhood. He was widely known and as widely re spected. It is not likely, however, that the loss would have been so great if Mr. Bauer's interests had been con fined merely to the law. He was ready with help, personal and material, in benevolent projects, and he had an intimate association with affairs and people artistic and musical. Indeed, it was while he was at Tacoraa, visit Ins the soldiers' campj in a philan- thropic enterprise, that he was stricken. Mr. Bauer had . been sorely afflicted during the past two or three years ky the death, of several . near rela tives, including his talented and much lamented wife. Rose Bloch-Bauer;' but he bore his misfortunes with great resignation, and appeared inspired on that account to do all the more for others. He was the trusted represen tative and counselor of many impor tant concerns, so that his place as a lawyer will not be easy to fill. As a citizen and friend his passing is also much deplored. OPEN THE LASD. Operation of the 640-acre grazing homestead law has been delayed by the necessity of classifying and desig nating land for stock driveways and waterholes. Hence the present need of meat has found the stock industry of the West in a transition state, and has tended to diminish production at the precise time when it should be increased. ' In anticipation of future surveys and of the issue of regulations, 60,000 filings have been made, covering 24. 000,000 acres, fees and commissions to the amount of $1, 500, 000 have ac cumulated in the land offices, and many settlers have gone on land be fore they have established a claim to it. Great areas have been withdrawn from entry pending location of drive ways, including 136,291 acres in East ern Oregon. It is highly desirable that there be no avoidable delay in opening grazing land to settlement, in order that production of livestock be increased to meet present needs. - The world's stock of -cattle--"has been so reduced by the wa that a large increase of breeding stock will be necessary for many years, and Eu rope must look chiefly to the United States and other grazing countries of the New World for new breeding stock as well as for current meat supply. THE LURE OF 'LOST TREASURE. An ocean bed strewn with wrecks of every description, and modern progress in the art of reaching the depths of the sea, give promise of a revival after the war is over of the fine -old industry of treasure hunting. Demand for ships to re-establish trade will furnish a powerful incentive for salvage operations and for the crea tion of machinery on a hitherto un precedented scale. From the raising of ships it will be only a step to the recovery of gold, vast quantities of which, not all uncharted, lie in the bed of the deep. ' It .would, indeed, be not in excess of expectations if serious efforts were rerfewed to uncover the fabulous treas ure of the Incas, which have been re- Icently recalled by the adventures of an .American, a Major Brooks, re corded in a publication of the Royal Geographical Society of England. This treasure was collected to ransom Ata hualpa. whom Pizzaro and his Span lards held prisoner in 1532. Atahualpa had been captured by treachery and offered to fill the room in which he was confined with gold as a condition of his release. When the Spaniards pretended to accept his offer, -Ata-hualpa's followers brought in the ran som. The Aztec's jailers broke faith again ' and executed him. But the Incas contrived to carry the treasure away. They dammed a river in the Andes and sank the gold in the' lake they thus created. The search for this lake has been prosecuted at intervals ever, .since then. Major Brooks be lieves that he almost found it, and is going to try again. But there is a chance for almost as rich a haul in the harbor of Vigo, Spain, ' where Americans have also been among the searchers. The Span ish for three years prior to 1792 had been letting their treasure in America accumulate, and in that year set out acrossthe Atlantic only after they had obtained a convoy of twenty-three French warships to protect them from the English and Dutch who were scouring the seas. . The glimpse the story gives us of the conditions of those times is as interesting as the tale of the treasure itself. The Spanish "plate ships" were warned by scouts of the search for them, and were strongly advised by their French pro tectors to take refuge in a French port. instead of Cadiz. But kingly honor was not then above suspicion and the Spaniards seemed to fear that Louis XIV, once he got them in his terri tory, would find a pretext for keeping their cargoes. So they compromised on Vigo, where, eventually, they were found by the English and Dutch, un der Sir George Rooke, who in one of the most spirited naval battles of his tory defeated them all and sank the ships,, gold and all, in the bay. There is said to have been a treasure of more than 27,000,000 pounds sterling, or $135,000,000 in round figures, only a small part of which ever was re covered. It was the richest flotilla that ever reached a European port. Americans were searching for it as late as 19 04, with such comparatively rude salvaging machinery as was then at their command. There are other millions waiting in the West Indies, although their loca tion has not been so definitely ascer tained. Cocos Island has become cele brated in songs and story because of the treasure supposed, to have been buried there by pirates early Ln the last century. Somewhere in the cypress swamps below New Orleans there re pose certain fabulous sums supposed to have been hidden by Jean -Lafite,' who achieved dignity by having an expedition sent against him by the United States in 1814. The keys of Florida and the coast of the Caro linas and the shores of Long Island and Massachusetts and Maine all have their traditions and their treasure hunters, the latter convinced that they would be made rich if they but had facilities for prosecuting their search. The fact that most of these men could make more money than they have made if they would devote their energies to productive channels has had no influence upon them. Treasure seekers are not given to moralizing, or to the study of economics. The lure of something for nothing has al ways been powerful, and it is for this reason that we may expect, when peo ple equip themselves to recover the ships and cargoes that have been lost in this war, they will begin to seek the treasures of Vigo Bay and Cocos Island and of Captain ICidd and the Armada of Tobermory Bay, and of the Incas, and all the rest of them. There is also waiting for some one, on the Island of Luzon, in the Philip pines, an incalculable fortune .said to have been hidden by a Chinese man darin soon after the British captured the place in the eighteenth century. Sir Francis Drake is supposed to have concealed the loot of old Panama somewhere along the line of his re treat on the isthmus, not far from the site of our Canal. Somewhere- in Colombia there is a fabulous store of wealth to recover which requires only the driving of a tunnel through a mountain to. drain a, Jake, CChcra is no end of work for the treasure hunt ers to do. - Major. Brooks, the enterprising American who nearly solved the mys tery of the Incas' gold, it is interest ing to know, failed because he could not go around a certain mountain in the direction of the hands of a clock, as a diagram directed him to do, and at the same time keep the mountain on his left hand, as commanded bv the written instructions bequeathed by a dying adventurer to the King of Spain. Such are the perplexities of the seekers after burled gold. The man who can solve this problem will win the biggest reward in history, for all accounts, including those of the historian, Prescott, agree that never, even by the rajahs and moguls of the Far East, was gold ever piled so high as by the ancient inhabitants of Peru. THE HEALTH OF THE ARMY. The ' effectiveness of the medical branch of the Army in preventing disease among the men is illustrated in no more forcible way than in its "extra-cantonment" activities. This is a striking example of the advance made by science in the past few years, and also shows the value of organiza tion. Co-operation of the Public Health Service with the Army Medical Corps in this respect is explained by Dr. Rupert Blue, Surgeon-General of the Army, in a recent letter to the Na tional Geographic Society. By a com plete system of gathering data as to the presence of communicable disease in any part of the country, it has been made. -possible yg. pscSVent the entry of epidemics into camps that a few years ago would have been at their mercy. Civilians meanwhile have benefited by the measures taken to safeguard the health of the men because their com munities have been warned in time and have been assisted in curbing dis ease before it reached alarming pro portions. Dr. Blue gives a concrete instance which illustrates the value of the service, saying: It was reported, for example, that an epidemic of typhqtd fever had broken out at a city from which 100 drafted men were about to depart to a cantonment In & neighboring state. There were about 13 new cases each day, and two cases occurred among tho drafted men. Immediately the laboratory car Wyman, with its full complement of officers and men. was dispatched to that point. All water, suppljen, ice cream and milk were carefully investigated. Trie source of the epidemic, a leaky storage reservoir, was discovered, a chlorlnation plant was in stalled while repairs were being made, and the outbreak promptly snuffed out. In the meantime the Surgeon-General of the Army ordered the drafted men held until their vaccination against typhoid should have been completed. During this period It was possible to discover other infected Indi viduals. Thus not only were measures taken for the prevention . of the introduction of typhoid fever into a cantonment, but, what Is perhaps even more important, infected Individuals were prevented from traveling Interstate and spreading the disease among civilian communities. There was, last July, another typhoid fever epidentic in the immediate vi cinity of an Army post at which 12,- 000 soldiers were stationed. A survey developed the fact that the sewage disposal system in the civil community was very primitive and the water supply extremely insanitary. There was no local health code; the milk supply was uncontrolled and the scavenging system extremely bad. Operations were immediately begun. The bad conditions obtaining at the pumping station, settling basins and reservoirs were corrected; plans were put in force for the extension- of the sewer and water mains; the food depots were put in a sanitary condi tion; the dairies were inspected; epi demiological investigations were made of the cases of typhoid fever; over 4000 persons were vaccinated against the disease in the first week of opera tions; the medical inspection of school children was instituted, and the entire community placed upon a sanitary basis which it never knew before and which it will probably never forget. These . measures, which are, the product of ' knowledge we have ac quired almost within a decade, have so fully impressed upon those familiar with them the value of co-operation in the restriction of disease that it is practically certain that we shall not return to our haphazard methods s6ter the war. A strong public health sen timent for the entire Nation, predicted by Dr. Blue, is quite within the range of probability. A DOLLAR TWICE SAVED. By' buying war savings certificates the American people will contribute to their own success in war far more than the amount they lend to the Government. Every economy they practice in order to save money for this purpose will be a double benefit. By saving food they both save money to buy certificates, and they add to the supply of food which will make good the shortage of our allies. By avoiding luxury they not only save money to help win the war but they save labor and material which may be used in producing necessary war material. In both cases by reducing the de mand for commodities of which they reduce consumption they hold in check the rise in prices and thus increase their savings. They also reduce tho cost of the war, and, consequently, the sum which the Government must bor row. They check the inflation which is inevitable in financing war and which makes everything dear. One of the evils of war is that it creates artificial prosperity, which tempts to extravagance. There is a fundamental difference between war tprosperity and peace prosperity. Peace prosperity comes from increased earn ings from use of accumulated wealth, commonly called, capital: war pros perity comes from spending accumu lated, wealth. The more of it we spend, the poorer we are. If a man spends - only money which he has earned during the year, he is no poorer than he was at the beginning; if he sells a piece of property and spends the proceeds, he has a good time while the money lasts, but he is decidedly poorer at the finish. His case is that of a nation which lives luxuriously on its government's war expenditures. Every American has a personal in terest in shortening the war, but as the British Premier, Lloyd George, Said, "the "way to shorten it is to pre pare as if it were going to be a long war." That requires us to live in ac cordance -with war needs. - If we do, we shall cut off all unnecessary ex penditure, all waste, and shall devote the money thus saved to buying war bonds and war certificates. If a per son's savings in this way amount to only 25 cents a week, they will- buy three war certificates a year by accu mulation of thrift stamps. At the end of October the British people had invested nearly half a bil lion dollars in war savings certificates. In proportion to population and to greater wealth, the American people should . buy the entire issue of two billion dollars' worth of certificates already authorized in one year; That they may do this, they should have an organization reaching -into- every corner of the land similar to the Brit ish association of four million mem bers. This association should inspire saving to provide war funds, by both rich and poor, and should encourage investment in bonds as well as in cer tificates. It should propagate the idea that the well-to-do as well as the poor can appropriately "help by buying the "baby bonds," and it could educate buyers of baby bonds to become buy ers of big bonds. , . In this manner the people could be prepared to have bonds continuously on sale as long as the war lasts. This would keep a continuous stream of money pouring into the war chest and would avoid that dislocation of the money market which results from sudden absorption of large sums by the Government in a few days. The Nation would then develop a financial heroism corresponding to the moral and physical heroism displayed by our soldiers in battle. THE SUBMARINES TOLL. Although the Germans sank twenty- one British ships in the week ending December 9 as compared with seven teen in the" preceding week.. tbe ton nage was probably less because the decrease of two in the number of large ships more than compensates for the increase of six in the number of small ships. Calculating upon the accepted aver age of 4500 tons for large and 1000 tons for small ships, the total for last week would be 70,000 tons against 73,000 tons for the preceding week. Apparently the Germans have better success in killing off small, slow ships than in disposing of large, fast ones. To defeat them we must build more of the latter class for service in the danger zone, but that is no reason for not building slower ships for com merce outside of that zone. There is a wide field for wooden ships in the Pacific, Indian and South Atlantic oceans and in coastwise trade, both to relieve railroads and to carry for eign commerce. . KrBAL SCHOOL TEACHING. There are 350,000 rural school teach ers in the United States. One-third of the number have little or no pro fessional training for their work. The average rural .teacher remains in her profession less than four school years of 140 days each. An average number of 87,500 new teachers must be pro vided annually to maintain the supply actually necessary to keep the country schools open. These striking figures are given by the United States Bureau of Education in a recent study of the educational situation, made timely by the growing demand for better school facilities in the country districts. Bet ter roads, settlement of the farming districts, improved transportation fa cilities and frequent mails have left the farmer no longer isolated except in the respect that he still must de pend upon schools, which, upon the whole, are inferior to those of the city, for the education of his children. This ought not to be true in a period in which the farmer is emphatically a leading citizen, and . when to-be of highest service to the country he and his should have every possible facility for training. Demand for education in the United States is widespread, and any lack of it is reflected in the rural districts in two ways. It seri ously hampers efforts to hold farmers on the land, and it detracts from the efficiency of those of the new genera tion who do remain. The farmer has a greater measure of independence in most respects than the city dweller he earns more than the average small merchant, clerk or factory worker; but the urban wage-earner even of the lowest capacity has access, for his children, to all the educational advan tages of the city schools. In this re spect alone the residents of most coun try districts suffer by comparison. The per capita cost of teaching is quite obviously lowest where density of population permits reasonably large classes and where the primary cost of buildings and of supervision is di vided among large numbers. This has enabled city schools to pay higher salaries, and, as a corollary, to set a higher standard and to obtain better service. But the growth of city schools has more than kept pace with the out put of graduate teachers. There are 273 public and private normal schools in the country, and these in 1915 en rolled 100,325 students' and graduated 21,944. "It is quite certain," says H. W. Foght, specialist in rural school practice of the Federal Bureau of Education, in a pamphlet on the sub ject, "that most of these found posi tions in the towns and cities, as did most of those who graduated from the schools of education in universities and colleges." Even if the entire number had taken positions in the country, they would have furnished only about one-quarter of the neces sary quota. Various states have endeavored, it appears from the summary made by Mr. Foght, to solve the problem by providing some form of training for rural teachers in the secondary schools, but it would seem that the systems -are not much more than makeshifts, although they are superior - to no preparation at all. The factor that in an' ideal society would dominate in rural teacher instruction would be the need of special education, almost equivalent to the creation of a sepa rate profession. The rural teacher requires not only academic and pro fessional preparation, but highly spe cialized knowledge and experience of modern agricultural life and rural needs. It is conceivable that a teacher. so equipped and assured of a life workl in the country districts at a salary commensurate with the work required of her, would prefer this work to teaching in the city. Under present conditions teachers seldom remain longer in the country th;vu is necessary to obtain a certain amount of "experience," required by city superintendents and boards of education. The drift cityward is in evitable at present, because of the allurements of better pay and more constant employment, and it is largely responsible for the movement of the people from the farm to town. "Going to the city to send the children to school" is so common a practice in every state in the Union that it does not even excite comment. It, too, operates as a double disadvantage - by removing from the rural school one of the elements of its financial support and by continuing to discourage longer terms and permanency of the teach ing force. The "twenty-one states which have attacked the problem are providing county training schools, teacher-training departments in connection with high schools, or teacher-training de partments as parts of the regular high school courses. Wisconsin is the only state in the' first class. Oregon is listed among the thirteen states which have training courses as part of the ordinary high school work, leaving all except the professional work in charge of the regular high school instructors. It is interesting to note that Superin tendent Churchill is quoted as strongly commending this practice in general, and also as declaring that the co-arse would be stronger if it were extended to a fifth high school year.. The sys tem in vogue in Oregon at least has the advantage of providing better qualified teachers than the old, hap hazard method. But no rystcm in any of the states gives recognition to the special, place which the rural schools deserve. It is not the business of the teacher so much tc help the pupil to accumulate facts, as, Mr. Gradgrind would have him do, as to stimulate his mental development, and the way of approach to the mind of the coun try child differs, by reason of his very surroundings, from the pedagogical methods which would be employed successfully in town. . This is an added reason for the special preparation of teachers for rural school teaching as a separate career. It is quite generally recognized as an essential part of the duty of the teacher to inculcate patriotism in his students. It would be equally a duty of the rural teacher to develop love of the soil, and of the calling of the farmer, in the country pupil. This need not' "be done in a narrow, or parochial, sense. There is much to be said truthfully on the score of the dignity and the importance of agricul ture. Teachers imbued with the spirit of it, preaching the gospel of content ment and opportunity and progress, could do much to check the .drift toward the centers of population. The people would be called upon to foot the bill, it is true, but recent events in the world ought to reconstruct our sense of values somewhat. After wt have spent billions on war, we, per haps, will not begrudge a few more millions for improvement of country schools. i The Government Is looking to the small creameries and to dairies in regions in which, the dairying industry is as yet not developed for the larger part of the increase in butter pro duction which . is regarded as highly desirable. It is not generally known that slightly more than 60 per cent of the total of 80,000,000,000 pounds of milk now produced annually is made into butter and that the remaining 40 per cent is divided in the produc tion of cheese, condensed milk, milk powder and other products and also consumed raw. It is believed that the large creameries and the established dairy districts are already doing near ly as much as can be expected of them, and every possible effort will be exerted during the coming Winter to induce small farmers to increase their herds and to foster creameries on a smaller, scale. The threatened shortage of fat in our diet is not mini mized and unless production is in creased it may be necessary to put the people- on rations. American mechanics have proved their efficiency again by saving every one of the 103 German and fourteen Austrian vessels interned at the begin ning of the war, despite the efforts of their crews to cripple them. Work which the Teutons believed would re quire years has been accomplished in weeks instead. It is estimated that the tonnage of the ships taken over was about 1,100,000, which is consid erably. more than the entire tonnage built in the United States in 1916. Some of the vessels were brought to this country from our island posses sions, and at one time no fewer- than 15,000 workmen were engaged in. re pairing them. It is now revealed for the first time that the contingency that bombs might have been concealed on board some of the ships was met by threatening the crews with extreme penalties If they did not accept the opportunity given them to remove them ln advance. Repair work and reconstruction to fit the vessels for war purposes have cost $30,000,000. It would be a pity not to waive technicalities in letting all 'who want to volunteer do so. To shut out the boys who counted on being accepted any time before December 15 would be clearly unfair to them. They are not to blame for the Government's inability to make the necessary exami nations. Even if it has been held that Red Cross seals should go on the backs of letters. It will be observed that noth ing is said about leaving them off the letters altogether. Every letter that goes into the mail should carry a Red Cross seal. Someone is to blame, of course, but the fact remains that we still do not have guns' enough to equip our men. Let us hope the arsenals are working full time, notwithstanding the investi gation. The only thing that seems to have more lives than a cat just now is the old falsehood about the Red Cross. Repetition of it brands the teller as either an enemy sympathizer or a fool. One of the encouraging signs that we are awakening to the situation is the total lack of friction that accom panies enforcement of the meatless and wheatless days. It should be remembered that when he eats Oregon cheese the citizen not only conserves meat, but gives a new lease oi life to one of our most deserv ing and necessary industries. Hungary's desire for peace without annexation may be inspired by fear that Germany will gobble her, which is certain to happen if Germany should win the war. It is a good plan to conserve sugar, even when there seems. to be enough of it. There will be plenty of tomor rows before the world is normal again. Bulgaria and Turkey have a few weeks left in which to experience a change of heart before they, too, are included in the list of our enemies. The first day of the questionnaire has passed. It is also the first time anything of the kind has happened in the history of the country. It looks as if Oregon would exceed its "quota" of enlistments, having done more than was expected of it in almost every other direction. Cuba's declaration of war on Aus tria shows her entire confidence in our ability to protect her, no matter what happens. The Kaiser, with tho help of Lenine and some others, is about to put a capital "P" in front of Russia. Thrift stamps make the most prac tical kind of Christmas presents, espe cially for the children, . , , . The Peripterous. Perlpterous A Structure Havine- Rows of Colu tins on All Sides Dictionary (Synopsis of preceding synopses.) The Oregonian. a great morning news paper, employs a distinguished literary archi tect to construct a perlpterous- lie do It. It has rows ot columns on east. west, north and south. The Peripterous becomes a Free Audit rium. for the exprension of incompetent, ir relevant and Immaterial opinions, news, verse and anecdotes. The Peripterous discovers seven wonders of Oregon. A Department of Science Investigation Is established and solves the (treat Hat Rack and other fascinating problems. Professor G. Howe Mustie, curator of the museum of ancient literature at Guff University, sends in a marked copy of the Ostia Evening Journal of August 12. A. D. 64. It appears that tho country-wide excitement over the burning of Rome in the preceding month had not yet subsided. The article in the Ostia Journal seems to refer to publication in some rival newspaper of the har rowing details of the torture of Ostlan Christians accused of setting the conflagration. The publication of such matters in time of national crisis is sternly rebuked by the Journal. It publishes from its Rome corres pondent interviews with, two Senators who witnessed th inquisition and who assert that they talked with the Chris tian martyrs and heard no word of complaint about their treatment at the hands of the Emperor Nero. The, Journal in rebuking its contemporary says: "Above all, there is full Information that the Ostian martyrs had suc cumbed by the time, if not before the story was printed in Ostia, a fact which shows how wanton and foolish was the circulation of a tale that could serve no purpose than unduly to distress the folks at home." Professor Mustie's researches will prove interesting to the student as re vealing the habits of thought of an unenlightened people under the rule ot a tyrant. How fortunate it is that we live in an enlightened age of demo cracy in which no one need knuckle to a ruler, and needless suffering is not ordinarily inflicted but when it is, is not condoned or excused simply be cause news of it comes after the suf fering has ended. , As 'having somewhat of a bearing upon the foregoing dry and learned discussion, the I-eripterous is pleased, to present the following pathetic little peom from tnat sweet synger of symphonious pseudonym, Alyce Rosa lyee Rustung: The Shiverlm Soldiers). Las' night, I built . fire: The wood was so blamed wet, my ire Got raised up purty high; I -used some words not fittin' for the sky. But anyway, I sot flat on the floor. While wood juice trickled out that old stove door. Las' night, I built a fire. Fore long, I got pervoked. The front and back drafts all got choked A paper laid right nigh I aimed to cram it in, but then my eye Got sight of soldiers shiverin' in the muds. Their tent floor froze and short of beddin' duds'. Las' night, they needed fire. I quit my grouchin' then, When I thought of them soldier meii, I hain't said nothin' yet. I'm glad I'm where it's rainin' now. you bet! I'm powerful thankful that I've got stove. Three blankets, lights and yes, a floor. by Jove! I didn't need that fire. Son for an Interesting Referendum. . Now that the Winter storms are upon us, the Oregon public is discussing on every possible occasion the propriety of Mr. U'Ren's donning a hat. Mr. U'Ren, known far and wide as the bareheaded statesman, has been called upon by several delegations of sympa thetic friends but is still in a quandry whether to sacrifice principles for comfort or defy the elements and taka the consequences. The People's Power League, it is un derstood, has offered its vast organiza tion and unlimited filnds for the pur pose of instituting a referendum on this fascinating yet complicated issue. It is known that thousands of voters . are eager to vote on the question. "We wish some of the poets who are making a mess of the cut-and-dried subjects would try their hand on a pean or two to fried corn meal mush." Oregonian, December 9. Ode to fried Manh. I sing, I sing! Ton warbler's wing Ne'er compass'd carol's flight. As fine as mine nor vintner's wine E'er urged man to its height. No lady love, no sin-soiled dove. Nor silv'ry song of thrush Cause this proclaim O, sweet acclaim; 'Tis Thou, fried cornmeal mush! I sing. I sing! A tinkling thing. As whiskers whisk to brade And in my soul, face in the bowl. There sounds a serenade. For what care I for Wint'ry winds Beneath, the browning blush Of frying fire spreads o'er remains Of yester-morning's mush! I sing. I sing! Poor kecked Khayyam- Sweet singer or the wine; Unlucky him, in maple swim. Ne'er tasted Thee, divine. O, love-lorn youth, before thy troth 'Tween kneels and kisses' hush Ask maiden fair this question square, "Cans't thou fry cornmeal mush?" The Architect of the Peripterous does not know the name of the responsive genius who wrote the preceding poem, but regardless of the pangs of poetry editors, he is not one to deny the war poets a chance. Therefore this slap bang ditty from Walter Foster, of Somewhere in British Columbia: The Kaiser on the Phone. The Kaiser .sat at the phone. With a smirk upon his face. And called, "Hullo, Von Hindenburg, How goes der merry chase?" And Hindenburg he answer back: "Der battle haf begun. Und soon ve take our places in Der middle off der sua!" The Kaiser sat at the phone, , With a wrinkle on his face. And called, "Hello! Hello! Hello! V But couldn't raise the place; He heard a thud, and then a bang. Which chilled him through and through; Then, "Kamerad! Kamerad! !" And "Yankee-Dcile-oorOo!" Right Ip to Date. It is opportune to stato that any an nouncements of news importance -will be given promptly in this column. If any more stars in the firmament have a collision and knock each other into smithereens, the story will not be with held 20.000.000 years. The Pacifist Board of Scientists, meeting exclusive ly in the Peripterous, knew of the in cident that that Lick Observatory pro fessor announces immediately niter it happened. If it were) not for a short age in its clerical forco the lloard would dig up and quote ita records of the time to. prove it...