6
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAXD, MAT 2G, 1918.
PORTLAND. OREGON. .
Entered at Portland Oregon)( Postoffice as
second-class mail matter.
Subscription rates Invariably in advance:
(By Mail.)
JDaily. Sunday included, one y?r: ..IS. 00
J 'ally. Sunday Included, six monthi -4.25
rnily. Sunday included, three months...
Iinilv, Sunday included, one month.....
Kaily. without Sunday, one year 6.00
Xa.ily, without Sunday. six months...... 3--i
Xailv. without Sunday, one month .60
Aeekly, one year
K u n d.iy, one year
Sunday and Weekly
l.OO
a. .to
3.50
(By Carrier.)
Daily. Sunday included, one year .I9.00
l;tilv. Sunday included, one month....- -i5
Iaily. Sunday included, three months.... J.J.
J;iil . without Sunday, one year 7.80
Iily. without Sunday, three months....
Uaily. without Sunday, one month 05
How to Remit Send poatoffice money
order, express or personal check on your
local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are jit
owner's risk. Give poatoffice address in full.
Including- county and state.
fontaire Rates 12 to 18 paces. 1 cent: 18
to 3- pages, 2 cents; 34 to 4S pages, 3 cents;
CO to 60 pages, 4 cents; 62 to 76 pages. 5
cents; 78 to H2 pages, 6 cents.- Foreign post
age, double rates.
Eastern Business Office Verree. Conk
lln, IJrunswick building. New York; Verree &
Conklin. Steger building. Chicago: Verree &
Conklin, Free Press building. Oetroit. Mich.;
San Kranclsco representative, K. J. Bidwell,
742 Market street.
21EMBER 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 to this paper, and also the local
news published herein.
All rights of republication of special dis
patches herein are also reserved.
PORTLAND, SrXDAI, MAT 26, 1S18.
VACATION TIME.
Neither the fact that the time of
ievery individual in the country is ex
fccedingly valuable this Summer, nor
the closing: of many of the routes of
travel to the tourist, -will stand as a
reason for omitting the usual vaca
tion of 1918. It is probably true, on
the contrary, that most men and
women will need a vacation more than
ever, and that in the interest of ulti
mate efficiency vacation plans ought
to be laid with exceptional care. Re
laxation from the strain of increased
business effort is highly essential. We
cls a people are working under higher
tension than we ever felt in all our
history. Employers and proprietors
fire embarrassed by shortage of help;
executives are under the necessity of
doing much of the detail work which
formerly they committed to subordi
nates; there has been speeding up all
along the line. Our business organi
zation even before the war began was
B. breeder of neurasthenia. The re
sponsibilities and anxieties of the past
year have only Intensified the need
of suitable relaxation- and ' complete
rest.
For something like two millions of
tour young men the vacation problem
Is taking -care of itself. They are be
ginning by "seeing America first" a
part of America, at least and pres
ently they are going abroad, where
they will be personally conducted over
regions in Europe where history is be
ing made. For the present they are
to have a monopoly of foreign travel.
Sundry difficulties of transportation
present obstacles to civilians who
would like to join them in foreign
lands. It promises, therefore, to be
pre-eminently for the 98,000,000 or
eo of those, who are not, in the
military service an opportunity to
develop a different set of vacation
plans. Now is the time to see our
own country,- to make ourselves fa
miliar with its great outdoors, and to
relieve the pressure upon shipping by
finding .enjoyment nearer home.
It is a good time, for example, for
people who live in the Pacific North
west to learn that there are something
like thirty Switzerlands within easy
travel distance of their own homes.
From British Columbia to California
the mountains beckon to the venture
some. The Pacific Northwest Touring
Association, for example, has per
formed a real public service by point
ing out that there is no similar region
in all of Europe which possesses so
many snow-capped, peaks, or beauti
ful inland lakes, or deep forests, and
none which is so alluring to the fisher
man. We have our own spas and our
own yachting harbors and bathing
beaches and well-developed roads. It
ought to be known to more people
that there are in the terriitory men
tioned more than 15,000 miles of
splendid roads, that hotel facilities
liave been wonderfully developed
within a decade and that there is
economy as well as pleasure in the
vacation near home.
The essence of the vacation, wher
ever and however it is taken.
Is complete change, which means
riot only change of locality, of
weather and scenery, but of occu
pation, of personality and of thought.
The high value of a rest in the deep
woods, s on a fishing trip, lies in its
remoteness from the affairs? of the
outer world. It is difficult at best to
escape from the cares of the day.
lUodern inventions have conspired to
keep us too much in touch with
events: the wireless at sea and the
telephone- line to the heart of the
forest reserve keep up the pace of
Civilization everywhere. But it is pos
sible, with some determination and a
little self-denial, to dedicate the period
at least to a complete change of
thinking. "Feeding the soul" is not so
mysterious a matter as it may seem:
It needs only to be remembered that
the soul requires a complete change
pf diet once in a while.
We have our own doubts as to the
efficacy, for very many persons, of
the plan adopted by one superior in
dividual, who "stole." his vacation one
busy season by getting up an hour
earlier in the morning and giving the
extra time to outdoor adventures. He
has boasted how he was able com
pletely to submerge himself in his new
personality for a brief period each day.
and to emerge fresh as any daisy and
ready to take up the old threads
where he had dropped them. He was
able to point out that he thus en
joyed ISO hours of complete rest,
. which is as much as the average busi
ness man counts on in a vacation
taken in a single piece, but he was
an exceptional individual a highly
exceptional one and his scheme pre
supposes certain intellectual and
spiritual capabilities which most of
us do not possess. But he was right
in principle, for the basis of his vaca
tion was a complete change of him
self. One need not travel far afield to
find new and strange surroundings if
he has the gift of minute observation.
But the point is that the change ought
to be found. Those who need to go
to a foreign country to find some
thing vastly different from that to
which they are accustomed are lack
ing in a faculty that it would be to
their own advantage to cultivate
especially in times like these.
Our own attractions this year ought
to suffice for most of us. We in Ore
iron have our Mount Heod and Mount
Jefferson, and Crater Lake and the
Pauline lakes and the Oregon Caves,
and a. Ions stretch, of the finest beaches
in the world and trout streams almost
innumerable. The mountains will call
to those who have lived on the lower
levels and the seashore to those whose
homes are in the mountains. Camping
out is especially to be recommended
for those who dwell in apartment
houses, and travel for those who dur
ing the past months have lived too
close to Wieir work. It will bear repe
tition, that the essence of the vacation
is the completest possible change.
The annual vacation" is a compara
tively modern innovation, but it is
made necessary by the way moderns
live. It is absolutely essential to effi
ciency under present conditions. Least
of all should it be omitted in times
Jike tlie present. . It is no sign of lack
of interest in the affairs of the world
for a man to abandon the world to
its fate,, at least occasionally, while he
is gathering" new reserves for the
fight.
TRIUMPH OF .AMERICAN CHEMISTS.
The United States bids fair to wrest
supremacy in the chemical industry
from Germany, and is already making
triumphs in that line that contribute
to new mechanical successes. As a
result of establishment at Columbus,
G-a., of a mill which is capable of fifty
three different kinds of cotton weave,
the Government has placed orders for
many million yards of cotton goods of
peculiar weaves. -It has found that
these weaves with certain chemical
combinations have made it possible to
substitute cotton for linen on aircraft
wings, and to use cotton cloth In place
of rubber in gas masks and in air
men's coats. Research continues with
a view to using cotton in many other
ways. '
These discoveries compare well with
Austrian invention of cloth made of
nettle fiber and with the -German use
of paper for clothing, which are re
sults of war necessity. They may well
be followed by many others, in which
the newly awakened energy of Ameri
can chemists will combine with our
well-recognized superiority as me
chanics to take the lead in chemistry
away from Germany. This is the more
probable because. Germany has ex
celled in developing the discoverits of
other nations rather, than in original
invention. America has already made
great progress during the last four
years in making coal tar products, ex
plosives, photographic paper, optical
glass and other things which were
formerly bought from Germany.
By the assault on civilization Ger
many has done more than array the
world in arms against her. The em
pire has awakened the vast, dormant
energies of other nations and has di
rected them into channels which were
formerly t occupied exclusively or
chiefly by Germans. By trying to
seize supremacy in world trade, Ger
many has made her rivals more for
midable and has bred a race of new
rivals. Since these rivals will be ani
mated by common distrust, if not
hatred, of Germany, that country will
suffer a serious handicap in future
commercial competition.
DOWN TO A WORKING BASIS.
The compromise between the Ad
ministration and opposing forces in
the Senate on the Chamberlain reso
lution authorizing investigation of
War Department activities should
prove a basis of a good working ar
rangement between the President and
Congress for effective co-operation in
the conduct o the war. It authorizes
the military committee to inquire into
production of aircraft and ordnance
and other work for the War Depart
ment, but it omits the phrase "conduct
of the war," which was so. obnoxious
to the President that, in his mind, any
resolution containing it would have
been a vote of no confidence. Such
a vote, in countries where the life of
the government depends on a majority
In the Legislature, would have meant
the downfall of the Cabinet. Mr.
Wilson objected for the further reason
that the committee on conduct of the
war is held to have been a serious
obstruction to President Lincoln's ac
tion half a century ago.
The outcome is that by bold strategy
the President has won in .a contro
versy. in which he was under hot fire
because of the aircraft scandal, while
his critics by faulty strategy have
failed to gain their broadest ends,
though they have gained their imme
diate end. Senator Chamberlain and
his associates in both parties had a
good case for inquiry into the aircraft
scandal and delay in machine gun pro
duction, but they tried to use it as
the thin end of the wedge to open
inquiry into all war activities. While
some of them were doubtless ' ani
mated by sincere anxiety to speed up
war industries, others were with some
cause suspected of a desire to use
the Administration's shortcomings for
political effect. The President took
the wind out of the sails of those
who charged that an inquiry by the
Department of Justice would end in
a whitewash, for he put that Inquiry
in the hands of Charles K. Hughes,
his rival for the Presidency in 1916.
By so doing he silenced the cry of
whitewash, for Mr. Hughes is .known
as a man who will dig to the bottom
and who would not accept the task
under any restrictions on his digging.
The President now makes practical
admission of the benefits to be de
rived from independent inquiry, as
well as of the right of Congress to
make such inquiry, by assenting to
the military committee's investigation
of this and like matters. The former
extensive changes for the better in
the War Department are certainly the
result of public criticism evoked by
the exposures made . last December,
and the aircraft exposures have caused
radical reorganization pf the Aircraft
Board.
On the other hand. Congress is
estopped with its own consent from
invading the entire field of military
operations with its activities. If the
military committee .had limited its
proposal to aircraft .affairs and had
then discovered serious wrongdoing.
it would have had a good case for
further inquiry until it might have
finally gained its full purpose to in
vestigate the entire conduct of the
war. By trying to base a case for
sweeping Inquiry on exposures in a
single branch of war industry, it has
lost the chance to go beyond the limits
now placed on its activity. Tet it may
go to great lengths, so long as it does
not invade the field of actual mill
tary operations. wfaich is reserved to
the President as commander-in-chief.
This settlement should be highly
satisfactory to the people, whose chief
desire is that the war be won with
the minimum of waste and who re
sent any attempt of either party to use
success or failure for its selfish ad
vantage. Both the President and his
critics asked too much, and neither
gets all that was asked, but each gets
what is for the good of the Nation.
The President, perhaps with reason,
suspected that his political opponents
designed to use war inquiries to his
injury, and, therefore, he sought en
tire freedom from them. His critics,
resenting this attitude and, probably
suspecting that the facts were worse
than they are because he opposed ef
forts to shed light on them, tried to
widen thcfleld of inquiry to an ex
tent which would have hampered him
and might have invaded his Execu
tive powers. A balance has been
struck by which Congressional vigi
lance will act as a driving, and at
the same time restraining, force upon
officials who are prone to become too
complacent and too arbitrary, yet by
which the President will suffer from
no legislative interference with his
exercise of the Executive power. The
people recognize that this power has
been and must be greatly enlarged in
order to meet the imperative neces
sities of war. They only demand that
the men who are entrusted with this
power, outside the field of actual mili
tary operations, shall do so in the
open and shall be held accountable to
their representatives.
This definition of the war powers
of the President and Congress having
at last been made, it is time, that both
make up for the time spent in con
troversy by speeding up their work.
The President is at last surrounding
himself with a splendid organization.
and he should begin to show substan
tial results. Congress has much vital
legislation to pass. . and should not
think of adjourning until it is passed.
War legislation, like battles, will not
wait while anybody rests.
WHERE COLLEGES HAVE SUFFERED.
It is deducible from the figures just
compiled by the Federal Bureau of
Education that college students have
not been deeply impressed by efforts
to - restrain them from completing
their education with a view to en
hancing their usefulness to the coun
try, in peace or war, later on. "Do it
now", is the motto of young America,
and "now" is visualized as a state of
war. The boys prefer tangible serv
ice to the promise of greater efficiency
in the future.
The total loss in numbers of male
students of colleges of liberal arts
since the war began has been more
than one-fifth the entire enrollment,
or 20.6 per tent., while the gain in
women students has been 1.6 per cent,
and the loss in the entire enrollment
has been 11 per cent. Comparison is
made with the last preceding school
year. Normally, a gain of 5 per cent
was to have been expected.
There are 625 colleges and univer
sities in the United States, and the
figures are based upon returns from
313 of them. These Indicate that the
war has deterred many high school
graduates from continuing their edu
cation, and also that the higher grades
have contributed the largest propor
tion of their men to the National
forces. Of juniors 2 3.7 per cent and
of seniors 2 9.4 per cent have taken
up war work of some kind. This has
been due, no doubt, to the greater
maturity of the students in the higher
grades. -
The .same explanation probably
holds good for the fact that the
technical and professional schools
have furnished even larger propor
tionate quotas. Only the medical
schools show a gain, and this is due
to the definite policy of the War De
partment to encourage medical stu
dents to complete their work. It is
obvious that a potential physician can
be of greater service to the Army by
perfecting his education than by hur
rying into .a branch of the service In
which his special education would be
wholly lost. But the schools of for
estry have lost 61 per cent of their
men, those of journalism 48.3 per cent
and of the law 40.1 per cent. The
War Department's order to engineer
ing students, corresponding to that
applicable to students of medicine,
was issued too late to stem the tide
of enlistments, and this class of
schools lost 18 per cent of their male
students.
Viewed in the abstract, the duty of
the student, as Dr. Eliot, of Harvard,
pointed out more than a year ago,
would be to continue to equip him
self, by increasing his technical knowl
edge, for future service. But abstrac
tions have ceased to count for much,
in the presence of the reality of. war. -
CENTENARY OF A REFORMER.
The 27th of May. 1918. ought not
to pass unnoticed by those who ob
serve the centenaries of impprtant
events in our history, for it is the
100th anniversary of the birth of
Amelia Jenks Bloomer, who was a
famous woman in her day. It is no
longer commonly known that she was
a gifted orator, a clear thinker and
a noteworthy leader in charitable en
terprises. Her name is indissolubly
linked with a certain article of wear
ing apparel which she tried in vain to
persuade women to adopt, which
has been known as "bloomers" for
more than sixty years. It is a curious
fact that she finally abandoned the
effort because she feared that she
would be known to posterity for her
connection with dress reform rather
than for her connection with other
movements which she valued much
more highly. But precisely the thing
which she sought to avoid came to
pass.
It is recorded that Mrs. -Bloomer
laughed heartily, for she had a strong
sense of humor, when she ' first saw
the daughter of Gerrit Smith attired
in a short skirt, with full trousers and
regular bodice. A few days later Mrs.
Stanton appeared in a similar costume,
consisting of trousers only partly
softened by a short skirt. Within a
week, it is said, Mrs. Bloomer herself
was persuaded to discard her con
ventional dress in favor of the bifur
cated garment. But she designed her
own costume and tried to .reserve
some of its feminine qualities. It was
fabricated from figured silk, for ex
ample. .There was an open front
jacket and the skirt was of modest
length by comparison with some
skirts which excite no particular com
ment nowadays. . The trousers were
the revolutionary feature, ' but they
were not tne trousers worn bv men.
They were wide, like those worn by
the Turks, but were gathered closely
just above the shoe tops. , Later the
figured silk trousers were made more
ample and the skirt was laid aside
as a superfluity. The resulting cos
tume was not "immodest," even ac
cording to the standards of that dav.
but it drew upon itself a storm of
ridicule which it could not survive.
Bloomers were more famous in Eng
land than in the United States about
'tne middle of the last centurv. Mrs
Bloomer had worn them publicly for
the first time in 1849, in delivering
a lecture in wnicn she made no refer.
ence to the subject of dress, and she
continued to appear in the costume
during an extended tour of the West,
which she made in 1852, in company
with Rev. Antoinette Brown, who also
was a famous woman of her day and
was one of the first to break down
the barriers which excluded women
from pulpits. American women were
slow to follow her example, but there
were smouldering in London some of
the fires which, afterward burst into
flame in the militant suffrage move
ment, and bloomers were adopted by
a considerable number of women in
the fashionable West End. who wore
them militantly in the face of the jeers
of unsympathetic multitudes. A good
deal of the fame of Mrs. Bloomer was
due to . the drawings of the artist
Cruikshank. who caricatured the cos
tume good humoredly. Mrs. Bloomer
stopped wearing it after six or seven
years, but it was in vogue in reform
circles in England for some years
after that.
Mrs. Bloomer deserved better than
to be known chiefly as a dress re
former. Bloomers were a compara
tively trifling incident in her career.
She was early in her life impressed
by the growing evil of intemperance,
and her investigations Into this sub
ject led her to make further efforts
to obtain greater legal rights for
women, the statutes of the times being
notoriously unjust, and her efforts
were all the more praiseworthy be
cause they were the efforts of the pio
neer. She was for years the editor
of a semi-monthly magazine the Lily
devoted to temperance and the legal
rights of women, and the magazine
acquired a circulation previously un
heard of in those days as a result of
the bloomer Incident. She was an ex
ceptionally graceful and forceful
writer. Mr. Bloomer, who has been
doomed to obscurity through no fault
of his own, was a modest but effective
philanthropist, and the couple worked
in sympathy to accomplish many
things which the country now takes
for granted.
The intrinsic merit of the idea
which Mrs. Bloomer championed Is
only now obtaining general recogni
tion. Her notion was distinct from
that of Dr. Mary Walker and others
who sought only dress as nearly like
men as possible, but it suffered fro
the same prejudice which professed
to see in every effort of women to
improve their condition an attempt to
break the boundaries of their pecu
liar "sphere." Dr. Walker's example
did not advance the cause of dress re
form. It is significant, however.' that
Industrial needs are now beginning to
accomplish the very things which
Amelia Bloomer set out to do. Under
various names, and with numerous
modifications, the bifurcated garment
now seems to have come to stay. The
flowing skirt was doomed as a work
ing garment when women began ' to
be employed in the running ot ma
chinery: it was no more than a step
to the highly convenient and not alto.
gether ungraceful coveralls of the
farmerette: and there is ground for
suspicion that a good many women
who are not quite ready to brave
public scrutiny' have dared to adven
ture in the direction of comfort in the
guarded precincts of their own homes.
For, after all, a movement that is fun
damentally sound may survive even
ridicule, and there are signs that Mrs.
Bloomer will be vindicated before
many years.
BOOKS FOB WAR PRISONERS.
Persons who have made gifts 'oi
books to soldiers' libraries, or have
contributed money to- the library
fund will find incentive for contin
ued effort in a discussion by Theodore
Koch, of the Library of Congress, of
the Important bearing of books upon
the psychology of the war prisoner.
It is even more necessary that the
spirit of the prisoner should be main
tained, if he is to return from cap
tivity efficient and undeteriorated
than that the soldier in camp should
be entertained and instructed. The
purpose of the book movement is to
minister to both, but as facilities are
presented it is intended that books
shall be sent to prison camps in ene
my countries in increasing quantities
Mr. Koch quotes . Professor Gilbert
Murray as saying that one of the most
demoralizing aspects of prison life is
the utter aimlessness of existence. Re
ports both from escaped prisoners and
from visitors to the camps agree as
to the principal facta. "The men.
says Professor Murray, "who fill their
days with some purposeful occupa
tion come through safely; the men
who cannot do so in one way or an
other break or fail." This is particu
larly true, it would seem, of the pris
oners who before the war were men
tally alert. As to these. It, is essen
tial that the occupation should have
a definite aim. Playing cards or
walking up and down the prison yard
will not suffice. The best antidote of
all against dejection and surrender to
the "fates" is some species of educa
tion, which contains the important
elements of hope, of preparation for
the future, and of visible progress.
Americans number among their
men an especially large proportion
who chafe under conditions of mental
stagnation. Professor Murray cites
instances in which prisoners have
been saved by the effort to learn a
foreign language in order to be able
to talk to foreign prisoners. An elec
trician who is able to employ his
leisure in the study of electricity is
helped by the thought that he will be
a better craftsman when he regains
bis liberty. Students who left school
in mid-term to enter the Army are
buoyed up when they find opportuni
ties to tak-e up the threads of study
where they left them off. But in
each instance - the underlying prin
ciple is the same. It is demanded that
a. useful purpose shall be served by
the occupation undertaken. Digging
a hole and filling it again would give
employment only for the hands. It Is
the mental phase of prison life which
most requires attention.
This will require different treat
ment by the book distributors than
the mere selection of volumes to while
away odd hours. Fiction does not
find so much room in the scheme of
things, and obviously a large percent
age of the books donated by private
givers will be found unsuited for the
purpose. It is one function of the
American Library Association, ' in
whose behalf Mr. Koch writes, to as
certain the precise needs of men in
differing circumstances and to meet
them whenever possible. The prison
library will require more educational
books more books on technical sub
jects and ot foreign languages. The
British have organized a' "Prisoners of
War Book Scheme." In which this has
been dealt with rather effectively. On
account of the throwing together of
English and Italian prisoners in one
German camp, it is reported that
"more Italian is now being studied
there than at the Universities of Lon
don, Oxford and Cambridge in normal
times."
To go Into details would be only
to multiply instances, but it will re
quire no extended argument to sup
port the contention that the plan of
supplying prisoners with the right
kind of books is worth all that it will
cost. The slow demoralization of
prison life is an important item on the
casualty list, not less real because It
does not appear In any list of tabu
lated causes of lessened ' efficiency.
Only the physically incapacitated are
being . exchanged; for the others
there may be a long period pf con
finement and idleness. Plans to as
sist them in self -education are a
practical part of the scheme of "re
habilitation" which is now receiving
attention everywhere.
MORE REFORM?
If the plans of some of the state's
well wishers are fulfilled by the next
Legislature we shall have an amend
ment to the corrupt practices act lim
iting the amount of money that may
be expended by others in behalf of a
candidate. The law now limits only
the amount that may be expended by
the candidate himself or by relatives,
employers or employes in his behalf.
One may be pardoned some curi
osity as to how the proposed change
Is to be accomplished. If Smith pays
out of his own pocket the maximum
permitted in behalf of Jones, and
Robinson does also, who is to be pun
ished. Smith, Jones or Robinson? Aid
how are. Smith and Robinson to know
what the other has spent? There
might be an election commissioner.
who alone would be authorized to re
ceive contributions and make expendi
tures in behalf of candidates. But
that would mean another office in a
state now well supplied with offices.
But what of the candidate who Is
already in office? He has innumer
able ways of advertising his activities
and virtues and as many more ways
of getting his mere name before the
public. If he Is in Congress he can
conduct a circular campaign without
payment of postage, while his oppo
nent . out of Congress can. out of his
own pocket, circularize just 37,500
voters.
That is for postage alone. The sum
would exhaust the entire amount that
could be expended by him or friends
under the proposed amendment. It
would cost him in stamps alone his
entire fund to reach far less than one
fifth of the Republican voters, figur
ing on the first-class postage rate. By
sending unsealed letters he could, after
paying for printing, possibly reach
one-third of his party voters with one
letter. If the newspapers conspired
to publish nothing about his candidacy
his aspirations would be practically
unknown. ,
This is said with doe regard to the
fact that one may advertise in the
official state pamphlet without having
the sum thus expended counted. A
census of those who did not look in
side the last edition of that interest
ing work would without doubt reveal
a painful state of affairs.
But what is there so wrong about
expenditure of money in a political
campaign for legitimate purposes
traveling, hiring halls, circularizing,
advertising? The large expenditures
charged against certain candidates in
the late primary came a long, long
way from electing the ones most in
veighed against on that account.
There was no attempt to corrupt the
voters and the mind of the voters
was not changed by circulars or ad
vertisements. But, assuredly, if there
Is to be a further limitation It ought
to be made to extend somehow to
those in office who can campaign at
state or Government expense. Other
wise we shall make politics a profes
sion and erect a bar to the election of
any man to important office who has
not somehow at some time slipped
into a minor office.
FRUITS OF GERM-VN ZEITGEIST.
No ' better way of realizing how
deeply the American people were de.
ceived about Germany can be found
than to compare what we know abou'
that country today with what we
thought of it in the early months of
the war. An opportunity to make
this comparison has been afforded by
the discovery among a pile of old pa
per In -a Portland hotel of a piece of
an old newspaper containing an ar
ticle by Elbert Hubbard under the
suggestive . title, "Germans Wiser
Than Americans in Many Ways." The
date of the paper is unknown, but
apparently it. is early in the war.
Beginning with the statement,
"Germany is the land of education,"
Hubbard said that "Germany main
tains the biggest, best and most ef
fective publicity bureau in the world"
under the immediate supervision of
the Kaiser. Saying that publicity bu
reaus are "interested in leading the
public to certain conclusions," he
said that they "have certain alleged
truths that they desire to fix in the
public consciousness." He laid down
the axiom that "governments exis
through and by being backed by pub
lic opinion." which Germans call
Zeitgeist, and quoted the Kaiser as
saying:
My business Is not to rule; it Is to edu
cate, so as to form a highly Intelligent and
efficient Zeitgeist.
Through the publicity bureau the
Kaiser "evolves the Zeitgeist of his
country."
Hubbard said: "The Emperor is not
a warrior primarily. He is a busi
ness man first and second a soldier."
As such he is "a great economist, an
efficiency engineer. . . . intent on
having his people well fed. well
clothed, well housed. . . . stands
for education. industry, economy,
knows especially 'the value
of advertising' and 'plays no favor
ites.' "
The Kaiser was quoted as saying
that German army discipline "makes
for manhood" and that its "business
is not to destroy it is to protect'.':
that it is "a vast school, which not
only makes good soldiers in time of
war, but good citizens in time of
peace." Hubbard's concluding com
ment was: .
These ringing words of-wisdom were given
out to the Uerman public through the offi
cial publicity bureau and. let us hope, passed
Into the sum of conscious thought that
makes up the Zeitgeist.
One of the first results of the ef
ficiency produced by the German
Zeitgeist was the killing of Hubbard
by the sinking of the Lusitania. 1
would be interesting to know whether
he changed his opinion about "these
ringing words of wisdom" as he sank
with the cries of drowning women
and children ringing in his ears.
The German publicity bureau is
still at work. - and an official of the
Federal Government, "one of whose
duties brings him into contact with
German propaganda in all parts ' of
the world." is quoted by the New
York Times as saying that it has be
come "a very wonderful organiza
tion" whose "tentacles reach into
every country in the world." and
which costs $500,000,000 a year. It
is developing the desired Zeitgeist by
spreading "discontent. particularly
among the uneducated people in all
the countries of the allies." It has
ruined Russia and has brought that
country into the clutch of the Kaiser.
It almost destroyed Italy. It culti
vated hatred of Great Britain and
sowed distrust of that country in
France and Italy, and it now diverts
German hatred to America and sows
the same evil sentiment against us
in the minds of the allies. It main
tains In the United States a "whis
pering: propaganda" against the war,
which, "has penetrated into the moun
tain fastnesses of the Carolinas and
Georgia"" and to the negroes of the'
black belt. It tries to terrify the peo-
pie with stories of fake disasters to
transput la kb ar nuu lu uui ai luy
in France. j
A propaganda "directed from Spain
and inspired and paid for in Berlin"
spreads all over Central and South
America, where a, pamphlet is circu
lated which calls the United States
"the Vampire of the Continent" and
which contains "the most vicious at
tack on a nation ever published." It
has published a spurious edition of
the American official pamphlet. "Why
America Went to War." inserting a
preface which contradicts every state
ment contained in the text. It has
bought up newspapers in South Amer
ica and Mexico, and the propaganda
in the latter country "is more pow
erful than In any nation of the world,
with the possible exception' of Spain."
Any business man in Mexico who fa
vors the allies is refused advertising
space until he Is ruined or turns proi
German. It employs "nothing but
expert liars, trained in falsehood
from their youth," and German
owned newspapers "print the most
scandalous stories about public men in
America." It alarms fathers and
mothers of American soldiers by
painting "French women as moral
lepers and the men as little better"
and by circulating stories "to the ef
fect that the morale and health of
the American troops under General
Pershing had been destroyed as a re
sult of the ravages of disease."
These are the fruits of that "most
effective publicity bureau in the
world" of which Elbert Hubbard
wrote in such high praise. The gov
ernment which maintains it has the
audacity to Invite self-respecting na
tions to enter into peace negotiations
with It, and some citizens of those
nations are so blind or so craven that
they would have their statesmen
grasp the filthy hand which Gcr
many extends. There still are Ameri
cans who conscientiously object to the
war, though that is the only means
by which t2e world can be rid of this
foul thing." The greatest danger to
democracy is not the German army:
it Is the mental and moral poison
which is spread by the German prop
aganda to infect the minds and weak
en the wills of the peoples who are
fighting against . Germany to de
velop in the allied countries a pro-
German Zeitgeist.
The President's call upon the Boy
Scouts to help in taking a census of
the black walnut trees of the country
is another reminder of our past prodi
gality, and yet our forefathers will
not be seriously blamed for their de
struction. Great areas covered with
this now valuable wood were settled
in times when transportation was dif
ficult, there was no local market and
it was necessary to clear the land In
order to produce the necessities of
life. There are regions in the Middle
West in which houses and barns made
from walnut still bear testimony to
the enduring character of the wood
and its former plenitude, and there
are isolated groves still standing that
will bring more to their owners than
the farms were worth when clearing
was begun. It is possible that half a
century hence we shall look with the
same feelings upon the people who
are now burning fir stumps to be rid
of them, but meanwhile the clearing
of land will go on in the same old
way. -
Advocates of the too-much negcted
Jerusalem artichoke for planting as
part of the ration for hogs will be
stimulated in their propaganda by the
statement of Montague Free, writer
of a book on "War Gardens," that
practically every vegetable has its par
ticular enemy except this particular
artichoke, which is not an artichoke,
-but is. nevertheless, an excellent article
1 of food for pigs, a substantial soup
vegetable, and especially valuable for
its starch content, which is higher than
that of the potato. It deserves atten
tion also because it thrives on poor
land, which otherwise would go to
waste, and because it requires no labor
of harvesting if the farmer breeds
hogs with intelligence enough to root
for themselves. Recent discovery that
the tops make a fair quality of silage
also points the way to its wider use
In seasons when feed of other kinds
is scarce, although no one contends
that it is superior to corn.
"Peace with economic advantages"
may sound better, in the case of Rou
mania, than "peace with indemni
ties," but we have the word of the
German expert that it amounts to the
same thing. Meanwhile it must be
kept in mind that the war is still be
ing decided on the western front.
The red man as a contributor to
the Red Cross is a final testimonial
to the influence of civilization upon
the Indian. We may have been a lit
tle slow about It. and undoubtedly we
have made our mistakes, but at last
we are winning Lo's confidence to the
mutual advantage of both.
The proposed charge for baggage
shows what Government, control
means. Consider the postal service
when you buy a money order the clerk
does not throw in a stamp or two.
It's a cafeteria sort of Government.
Some statistician will soon be figur
ing how far those $6,000,000,000 worth
of guns would reach if placed end to
end, but what we all want to know is,
how soon they can begin shooting up
the other bank of the Rhine.
The Council of Soldiers and Work
men at Kursk has just discovered that
Germany is violating the Brest-I Jtovsk
treaty. We would hate to be Trotsky
when the whole Russian nation wakes
up to what is going on:
Kaiser Wilhelm announces that
"Lithuania will participate in the war
burdens of Germany, which secured
her liberation." There you are, Lithu
ania! What are you going to do
about it?
If Jeff Baldwin joins the Army, as
he Is said to have announced he will
do, there is a fair prospect that the
Germans some day will have a mighty
slippery prisoner on their hands.
J Wouldn't it be an ideal situation If
the "non-essential" line should con
tinue to be drawn voluntarily even
after the war Is over?
When Oregon gets under way you
simply can't stop her, as witness the
runaway finish she made in the Red
Cross drive. "
Treason is treason in France, and
it looks as if the United States would
soon begin to view it in the same
light-
After all, why should a British
naval raid on Heligoland be consid
ered as beyond the possibilities?
The Peripterous.
Peripterous A Structure Having Row
of Columns on All Sides. Diet '.oners.
(Synopsis of preceding synopsee.
The Oreconiao. a great morning news
paper, emptoya a distinguished Uteimry
architect to construct a peripterous.
He does It it has rows of columns oa
eau west, north and south.
The Perlnterous becomes a Free Avails-
rl u m for the expression of Incompetent. Ir-
re.event ana immaterial opinion. sew
verse and anecdotes.
KCI.1PSI IS ECUPM5D.
The pacifist board of scientists hav
ing settled numerous enthralling ques
tions, such as the great hatrack prob
lem and the Identity of the tripe fish,
has, after a season of rest, attacked
with great vim and determination an
unusually important problem submitted
by a bewildered housewife as follows:
"Pear Spicy Sandwich Between the
War Bread slices of Earnest Editorials
and Relics of the Past: I have a bou
quet of wilted roses which I wish to
dispose of and nowhere on my card of
garrmge instructions can 1 find a Place
for them.
"They are certainly neither ashes nor
cans, so cannot find a home in the ash
can. "It would not do to put them In the
fuel box. and thus give some lovely
ararbargess a taste for luxury. Imagine
the result: Her poor husband working
overtime to keep the home fires bright
in these Arctic May days, wlt hot
house roses as the fuel.
"I debated as to the last receptacle
-2 the food can. Roses are surely food
for the soul, but are they food for piers?
And the fate of our cast-off food. wtii-h
at 53.50 per goes to feed pigs otit Ken
ton way. deters me. Would it not be too
much like casting pearls or roses
before swine? And that, of course. Is
the last word in criminality.
"I await your verdict. Where shall I
throw my roses, "A L."
The board announces that it will not
be overshadowed by the' trifling pur
suits of other scientists In relation to
the forthcoming total eclipse of the sun.
nor will It be distracted by an unneces
sary and wholly unjustified public in
terest in a perfectly natural event, from
researches so Important to tie real
public interest. m
A Tight I-lttse Job That Kit..
Ex-Candidate Heehawtry. having
failed to secure the nomination in the
late interesting event known as the
Republican primaries, announces that
he has offered his services to the Gov
ernment as a "dollar-a-year patriot."
Now that the Government Is regulat
ing the Importation of crude rubber. It
Is intimated that Mr. Heehawtry stands
a good chance of being named garter
administrator for this district a posi
tion for which it is known he holds
peculiar qualifications.
It Ala Startea a Klght.
Portland, May 25. To the Architect:
I notice that a famous editor has delved
into a book on Ireland for sesquipeda
lian words.
In the days before the ordinance pro
hibiting smoking onhe streetcars was
passed one of our learned citizens' was
heard to address this remark to an
Irish laborer:
"Sir, the fumigation arising from
your tobacconlstlc reservoir so over
shadows the organlstio powers of our
oculars and so, obfuscates the atmos
pheric validity that our apparel will
shortly become abominably odoriferous
unless through the abundant sauvity
of your eminent politeness you disem
bogue the luminous tube of the sten
torian "ingredient which replenishes Its
concavity."
I understand thet a candidate for
Councilman later slid into office on
that slogan. S. LOGAN SLIDER.
She's Kle.
Statistics have proven, alack and alas.
That poets of war are a husky, bold
. class.
But Oregon's legions have caused roe
to go
Where poets are fewer Into Idaho.
No essence of firs nor the ocean's
moist breeze
Ignite the war-fuse or disturb the
mind's ease:
No lines from "Peripterous Columns"
to show
The strength of war poets In Idaho.
No editors' fires to rekindle with work
From poets who've striven to never
once shirk.
The pines, in compassion, shed cones
which you know
Blaze brighter than poemfrln Idaho.
However, if ever the Kaiser lands here.
I fear that again I will turn in great
fear
To Oregon's poets for shrapnel, since lo.
The snipers are fewer in Idaho.
In Idaho.
ALYCE EOSALTEE RUSTING
Mistake Identity.
In California, so they say.
An auto met a bike one day.
Said the auto to the bike.
"You're a chap I seldom like.
For you often cross my path
Giving rise, to auto, wrath.
Can't you use your biky. wits?
Shall I smash your frame- to bits?"
Said the bike then ,to the auto.
"You don't go the way you ought to.
You get drunk on gaedtine.
Then you vent your metal spleen
Running over folks and chickens.
Raising dust to beat the dickens!'
Auto answered, "You're a simp.
Your first name is 'Satan's Imp!
You ape of wheeldom. skinny gink.
Wobbly, one-eyed missing link
Talk about my 'metal spleen'
You use legs for gasoline!"
Bike replied. "That's what they're
made for;
Anyway, by George, they're paid for!
Growling hard his rage to smother.
Auto shouted. "You're another!"
Had not Something Intervened
Little Bike would have been beaned.
Suddenly, with direful sound.
A dreadful earthquake shook the
ground.
Making more than usual din.
Like dishes in a house of tin!
They rubbed their lamps from being
dizzy "Gee whiz!" they both exclaimed,
"that's Lizzie."
EDGAR M. M CM FORD.
Where la Hef
It is reported that a tracer has found
In- Clearfield. Penn.. the old-fashioned
man who wears a peach stone watch
charm and carries a combination pen,
pencil, button hook and rubber stamp.
This search having been so satis
factorily rewarded, it is now necessary
to find the other old-fashioned man
who wears congress shoes and picks
his teeth with a telescopltfg gold tooth
pick. Plrtwrea sr S Idlers.
PORTLAND, May 24. (To the Edi
tor.) Is there a law prohibiting the
soldiers in France from sending pic
tures of themselves or snapshots to
this country? Are officers granted
more privileges than privates in this
respect?
MISS MAE STERLING.
Pictures mailed by American soldiers
in France are subject to a rigid cen
sorship. Photographs and snapshots
which disclose no military information
of value to the enemy are mailable
without hindrance. Officers have no
more privileges in this respect than the
privates enjoy.