8
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 8, 1920
-
ESTABLISHED BY HENRY U l'lTTOCK
Published by The Oreffonian Publishing Co.
Ida suia Street, rortlana. uregon.
C. A. MOKDEN. BL. B. FIVER,
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; SOME OF THOSE "COLO BRICKS.'
Secretary Daniels showed poor po
litical judgment when he said that
the republican majority in the 66th
congress had handed the people
gold brick. That remark calls atten
tion to what this congress has ac
tually done. It has a record of
highly useful achievement, to which
It constantly adds.
Owing to the slowness with which
appropriation bills were reported
from committee, there was a conges
tion of business towards the close of
the democratic 65th congress which
made an opportunity for a few sen
ators to filibuster those bills to death.
Consequently President Wilson found
it necessary, much against his will,
to call an extra session of the 66th
congress. It revised appropriation
bills so effectually that It reduced the
sums of appropriation by $939,692,
641. A like record of economy has been
made with the new appropriation
bills for the next fiscal year. The
total asked was $4,559,581,546. The
amount upon which congress agreed
was $2,873,713,652, a decrease of $1,
685.867,893. At the time when many thousand
citizens are calculating how much of
their incomes they must hand over
to the government in the shape of
taxes, the saving of these large sums
by careful watch over the treasury
will be peculiarly welcome.
Nor is any rart of the economy cN
fected at the extra session due to the
ending of the war. All of these es
timates in which reductions were
made were submitted to congress
after Armistice day, that is, after the
war was over. The difference repre
sents the difference between demo
cratic and republican ideas of the ex
pense necessary to conduct the gov
ernment in peace time.
The 66th congress has also enacted
much highly important and benefi
cial legislation, which includes:
Submission of the woman suffrage
amendment.
The prohibition enforcement Jaw.
Return of telegraph, telephone
and cable lines to their owners.
Vocational training and rehabili
tation of wounded soldiers and sail
ors, and other measures for the bene
fit of war veterans.
Extension of food control act, and
prevention of hoarding and profi
teering. Incorporation of American Legion.
Additional compensation for pos
tal employes.
Facilitating marketing of agricul
tural products by increasing amounts
which banks may lend.
Making immigration laws more
stringent.
For completion of Alaska railroad.
Punishing transportation of stolen
motor vehicles.
7- The Edge law for promotion of
foreign trade.
Giving homesteaders leave of ab
sence and relieving miners from as
sessment work on claims.
1; Both senate and house have passed
rills and conference agreement is
near on:
Return of railroads to their own
ers. Lease of coal, oil, gas and phos
phate land, thus ending a ten-year
jimbargo on development of the west.
Lease of waterpower, with the
yame effect.
The house also has passed:
" The Greene bill defining a policy
.Tor disposal of government ships and
Xor promotion and maintenance of
an American merchant marine.
The Good budget bill, the first
definite step to introduce system into
government expenditures.
Bills repealing taxes on soft
brinks, soda water and ice cream.
Z ' Tariff bills to promote manufac
ture of dyes, production of essential
yres, glassware, surgical instruments
ehell and pearl buttons.
Amending the war risk act -to
jiiake its provisions more liberal to
Soldiers and sailors.
Z. For deportation of . undesirable
jBliens, made necessary by leniency
;of parlor bolshevists in the labor de
partment. To encourage American citizens to
enter the merchant marine.
;." ; Repealing the war law which al
lowed foreign vessels to engage In
coastwise trade.
Requiring the secretary of war to
-sell surplus food direct to the con
7umer, thus checking rise in the cost
;jf living.
Instructing the war department to
distribute among state highway de
partments 22,000 motor vehicles for
Use In road-building.
; These are the principal "gold
bricks" which Mr. Daniels says that
the 66th congress has handed the
people and it is still at work. It has
.Xeen so industrious that it expects to
complete all the great appropriation
Joills by May 1, though recent demo
cratic congresses have not been able
to pass them before July 1, when the
fiscal year for which the money is
.needed begins. More progress would
Tiave been made if the president had
not provoked a long controversy with
"the senate by tying the league cov
enant to the German peace treaty
Cand by refusing to accept reserva
tions which prove to be quite ac
ceptable to the allies. When this and
-other democratic obstructions are out
-of the way, legislation will speed up,
'and before the session ends practi
cally all that is' possible will have
been done to end democratic con
fusion before the presidency passes
into republican hands.
INFIXEXZA.
If the present influenza epidemic
runs true to form, there will be need
for patience and for enlightened and
continued efforts to minimize its evil
effects.
Life insurance statisticians who
have compared the present onset
with the course of the epidemic of
1888-9 admit that the points of re
semblance do not warrant dogma
tism, but believe that they indicate
that precautions will be necessary
for a number of years to hold the
malady within 'bounds. In the pre
vious epidemic, already referred to.
the climax was reached in 1891, with
recurrences each year, gradually de
creasing until . normal was attained.
One definite conclusion has been
reached, however, and that is that
previous Instructions still hold good
as to combating the disease in the
beginning by taking plenty of rest.
and by giving attention to every sus
picious ailment, no matter now
seemingly trivial. These precautions
will be indicated for at least two
years, and are doubly advisable, of
course, while the present visitation is
threatening.
effective work in the interest of unl
versal peace. He gave dynamite to
the world as a constructive agency,
and undoubtedly the major uses that
have been made of it have justified
his expectation.? Nevertheless, the
Nobel jury has precipitated a storm
by its selection of Dr. Habel, perhaps
because in its neutral, detachment it
failed to interpret the attitude of the
rest of the - world. As an olive
branch, the award has proved a fi
asco. Resumption of friendly rela
tions even between scientists of the
former belligerents is not going to be
as easy as it may have seemed.
SPRING GARDENING.
War and peace gardens are likely
to have lost interest by this time for
good many householders, who,
f they were wise; would,make their
plans for 1920 on the theory that
food is not going to be perceptibly
more plentiful than it was during the
war, or at least since the armistice
was signed. The United States de
partment of agriculture is probably
right In saying that gardens are go
ng to be fully as important during
the coming year as they have been
at any time in the past. Farm gar-
ens, village gardens, backyard gar
dens, all will help. The past season
ought to have taught a lesson. Those
who could have grown some of their
own food and did not do so have paid
for their neglect. -
February is a good month In Ore
gon in which to plan the home gar-
en and it frequently affords oppor
tunity for a good deal of outdoor
ork. The old rubbish can be cleared
away and some preliminary work
one. The veterans of the war gar
den movement will have learned by
this time that peas started early
bring their own reward, and that it
pays to take a chance on some of the
hardier vegetables. Successions of
plantings insure against loss and pro
ide a continuous supply. A point not
be forgotten by the owners of
small plots Is that an early beginning
elps to get the earlier crops out of
the way. There is plenty of time for
the chief staples, but early yields are
an important aid to thrift.
It is as true of food production as
any other industry that brains
count more than brawn. A good deal
has been accomplished when, the
plan of a garden has been made. This
is a February job. Later will come
the backbreaking work with hoe and
spraying pot, but this is made all the
easier by knowing what it is all
about-' The kind of food stuffs of
which we are mostly to be short this
year are those that can be grown at
home with moderate care. All the
other arguments in favor of home
gardening, made familiar by three
years of campaigning, are as sound
as they were in 1919 or In 1918.
SCIENTISTS ARE 1ICMAN.
The storm precipitated by the
award of the Nobel prize in chem
istry to Dr. M. Habcl, a German who
was associated early in the world
war with the development of poison
gas, although it was not for this per
formance that Dr. Habel was chosen
for. distinction, shows that there is
still a wide gap between theory and
practice as to the "internationantjr
of science, about which a good deal
has been said in the recent past. It
is still true as arrabstract proposition
that knowledge is universal in its ap
plication. Certain patent laws may
restrain and copyright regulations
limit the manufacture of devices and
the publication of books, but they
cannot and do not attempt to pro
hibit the acquisition of knowledge
itself. Wherefore it was widely pre
dicted that when the war ended the
scientific men of all nations would
be drawn together by the magnetic
power of their common purpose, and
that the entente would be promptly
restored among them.
But it is not so with the French,
and probably will not prove true as
to other nations. The Nobel awards
in medicine and physics have been
declined with indignation by the two
French savants to whom they were
made. They refuse to let their
names be linked with that of a Ger
man of the notoriety of Dr. Habef,
notwithstanding that there is, no re
quirement that they shall come in
contact with him in person. They
hold that the whole Nobel series is
contaminated by Habel's connection
with the asphyxiating gas movement,
that Habel is morally unfit to be the
recipient of any honor, and wish
their action to be construed as a pro
test against recognition of any indi
vidual, in any manner, who made use
of his scientific knowledge to further
an inhuman purpose.
For complete understanding of the
spirit that actuated the Nobel jury
of awards, it should be known that
the prize was not given to Dr. Habel,
as has been stated, for his researches
in the particular department of
science having relation to the use of
gases in war. Habel's master ac
complishment was his work on the
synthesis of ammonia in its relation
to the fixation of atmospheric nitro
gen, a subject of wide economic in
terest and having an Intimate bearing
on the maintenance of fertility of the
soil and consequently on the ultimate
cost of living. The nitrates are also,
as Is generally known, capable of ex
tensive employment in the making of
explosives. The same is true of an
other industrial chemical element
potash. The defenders of Dr. Habel
hold that it is impossible for the
abstract scientist to pursue every dis
covery to its conclusion, that he is
not responsible for the misuse that
may be made of it, that what he has
done to make nitrates more available
ought to be appraised on its merits'
aside from his work as a chemist in
the- employ of the German govern
ment. Alfred Nobel, who founded the
fund that bears his name a bene
faction valued before the war at
some $8,400,000 owed his fortune
to his invention of dynamite, but he
is known to posterity as a philan
thropist, and he stipulated that one
fifth of its income should be dis
tributed to the person doSng the most
INCOMES AND AUTOMOBILES.
We do not share the opinion of
the New Tork Globe that owne.rship
of an automobile is a fairly conclu
sive indication of possession of tax
able Income. Taking automobile
ownership as the. index the Globe
concludes that Incomes are more lax
ly appraised in the middle west and
Pacific states than in the east. In
the eastern states in 1917 the num
ber of automobiles owned practically
coincided with the number of per
sonal income tax returns. In the
middle west . the number of auto
mobiles was more than double the
number of income returns and in the
Pacific states there were 321,562
personal income returns and 564,472
automobiles. In that year the mini
mum taxable Incomes were $3000
and $4000.
Probably If a similar comparison
were possible for the period before
the popularity of the automobile it
would be found that then a greater
proportion of persons of moderate
means owned and maintained horses
for pleasure purposes in the middle
and far west than in the east. To
day, more than twice as many auto
mobiles are owned in Oregon in pro
portion to population than in New
York.
But the latter instance does not
necessarily imply that per capita
wealth is greater in Oregon than in
New Tork or thaC Oregon has
greater proportion of persons who
live beyond their means than New
York.
The answer is more likely found
in the different conditions of life.
The flat or apartment in which the
person of moderate means is gen
erally forced to live in the greater
cities has ' no place for an an
tomoblle and the public gara-ge Is
expensive and often too fax away
to be a convenience. The detached
home with its private and inex
pensive garage is an institution of
the smaller cities. Accessibility and
maintenance cost of an automobile
are important considerations for the
person of moderate income when he
feels the lure of ownership.
son, William, born not long after his Ing from high buildings came sec
wedding, of a mother of whom no ond. Drowning was unusually corn
record or tradition remains." It was, mon. The remedy must be sought
as the historian suggests, an uncon- (elsewhere than in forcible repression.
TRIANGLES.
The Spiker-Knowles "love tri
angle," with which newspaper read
ers have been regaled for a week, is
news, curiously, both because it is
and is not a new thing in triangles.
Nothing, unfortunately, seems-' less
common these days than love tri
angles in their basic aspects, as many
a motion picture plot gives testimony,
and nothing, perhaps, comes nearer
commanding attention, as is revealed
by box office receipts from these
same triangle themes. Love in its
highest manifestations is for poets,
or for folks who do not talk much
about their intimate affairs, but it
lacks the dramatic force, the "pep,"
essential to competition , with the
kind that fills a playhouse or crowds
a courtroom. The peaceful, unevent
ful and unadventurous biographies
of plain married folks who conduct
themselves circumspectly, rear their
families dutifully, and pass through
this vale without scandal, are not
news for reasons that will be suf
ficiently obvious to the thoughtful.
It is a good sign that it is so. Unas
suming virtue at least has not at
tained first-page stature because of
its rarity.
Yet only the superficial will take
it for granted that everything -sordid
in domestic life is a matter of public
concern, or that newspaper readers
would be otherwise than bored by
relation of all the petty details of
every so-called triangle. The affair
which has had its centers of interest
Baltimore, Md., and Fall River,
Mass., has had a number of excep
tional phases. The attitude of the
wife, who would be called the "in
jured" one if she herself had not re
pudiated the suggestion, and if she
had not declared that she loves her
husband more than ever, and that he
loves her more than ever, is one of its
outstanding dramatic features. There
is a brother of the husband, who has
championed the cause of the young
worrum the outsider in the case,
also a most unusual person, as most
young men who have thought at all
on the subject of matrimony will
agree.
There is the husband, distin
guished by a quite unusual and
j disarming candor, and by exceptional
(considering all tne circumstances)
willingness to tell the truth, to face
the music, and to atone, so far as
may be, for his Indiscretion. There
is the unmarried mother, set apart in
a world in which unmarried mothers
are not extinct by the fact of her
amazing good luck in having found
so ready a solution of her difficult
problem. And there is Baby
Knowles, or Spiker, who probably
will go through life as Ray Spiker,
and who may rise to a place of social
and political prominence, as at least
one before him with a similar start
in life did. Whatever may be
said of the good faith, or the wisdom,
of others involved, this innocent
member of the cast deserves and
will receive the good wishes of all
who have read the story. The tri
angle becomes a variable, .polygon.
From whatever aspect it Is contem
plated, the view is an unusual one.
The manner of people who are so
differentiated from their fellow men
and women by their singular philos
ophy, or good fortune, or good na
ture, as the case may be, provides
another topic for discussion. Not
every reader will be able to put him
self, or herself, speculatively, in the
place of every actor in the drama.
But there are Brother Spiker and
Mrs. Spiker, for example, who are
quite free from blame an excep
tional brother in one case, and a wife
in at least ten thousand in the other.
It will be wondered how far one need
go to find two like them.
There is interesting historic war
rant for hope that the future life of
Mr. and Mrs. Spiker will not be un
happy, notwithstanding the strain
that has been put on it. When Ben
jamin Franklin in 1730, at the age of
twenty-four, married Deborah Read,
"an early contribution of his own to
the domestic menage," remarks one
biographer, "was Jois illegitimate
ventional wedding gift to bring home
to a bride, but Mrs. Franklin, "with
a breadth and liberality of mind akin
to her husband's (and. It will occur
to some, akin to that of Mrs. Spiker)
readily took the babe not only to her
home but really to her heart, and
reared him as if he had been her
own offspring." James Parton thinks
that Franklin gave this excellent
wife no further cause for suspicion
of jealousy.
The domestic life of the Frank
lins is known to have been well-
ordered in other ways; presum
ably it was happy in all respects.
We throve together," says Franklin
himself, "and ever endeavored to
make each other happy." She was a
finely formed and handsome woman,
with a fair and pleasing countenance.
Her children and even her grandchil
dren - were celebrated for their
beauty throughout the colonies. Per
haps the secret of the happiness of
the couple lay even deeper than in
the wife's forgiving spirit. Franklin
himself was in every respect a re
markable man. There seems to have
been complete unity of thought as to
the conduct of a home. Their table
was plain and simple, as befitted the
author of Poor Richard's sayings;
their furniture "was of the cheap
est."
-Parton says Mrs. Franklin
taught her husband to be economi
cal,", but we doubt that he needed
much Instruction; nevertheless, she
helped.
one of his letters
to me to recollect that I had once
been clothed from head to foot in
woolen and linen of my wife's manu
facture, and that I never was prouder
of any dress In my life." And. a re
mark of hers, which he quotes: "If
people can be pleased with small
matters, Jt is a pity, but they shall
have them." Plainly, as the life of the
Franklins shows, it is possible to sur
vive a single "triangle" episode. The
parallel- is not complete, but there
are entertaining points of resem
blance. , A wife devoid of what more
modern women call "temperament"
and a husband "faithful, tender and
considerate," as Parton pictures
Franklin, might solve many difficul
ties.
Perhaps It is of more than passing
Interest to Baby Spiker (or Knowles)
that William Franklin was not
greatly handicapped by his unpropi
tious beginning. He distinguished
himself moderately as a soldier in an
Indian war and became a colonial
governor of New Jersey. Only the
fact of his alignment with the royal
ists in the revolution estranged him
from his distinguished father. The
The Save-a-Life league's failure to
attempt to form a conclusion is
significant of the complexity of the
whole problem.
tnfCOLN'8 BOTHOOD.
The annual debate, usually occur
ring about this time of. year, of the
issue whether Abraham Lincoln was
an "average," or "typical," American
is varied occasionally by discussion
of the circumstances under which
he was reared, and the opportunities
he had for advancement, by compar
ison with other boys of his time. It
is admitted that he was an excep
tional youth in respect of the de
termination with which lie ap
proached the task of self-improve
ment, and that he was unlike many
of his neighbors, or most of them,
in his mental makeup. Yet at least
one of the supposed facts cited in
support of the notion that he sur
mounted vast obstacles the assump
tion that his father did not share his
desire for a wider outlook, and even
discouraged It seems to have been
shaken by recent investigation. The
memory of Thomas Lincoln receives
somewhat tardy justice from a better
understanding of the part he played
in forming the character of the great
emancipator.
"It is only by comparison with its
surroundings," says Arthur E. Mor
gan, in an illuminating article in the
Atlantic, "that we can get a true idea
There is the testimony of I of the character and the significance
It was a comfort I of the Lincoln home." The present-
day sod-house of the far western
Canadian homesteader, as the author
points out, is a self-respecting struc
ture, reasonably serving its purpose.
yet it would hardly bear comparison
with even a poorly equipped" New
York tenement its dirt and its lack
of light, air and sanitation seem in
tolerable. The point is that while
biographers have described the gen
eral conditions, in and about the
home of Thomas Lincoln with rea
sonable accuracy, they have permitted
implied comparison with other
means of living, and these have been
made to appear exceptionally poor
and mean. "The fact seems to be
that Thomas Lincoln in his home
life arrived at about the same stage
of development as his neighbors." If
Abraham had grown up in a neigh
boring home, his habits of life and
his physical surroundings would have
been about the same.
The. writer found in the Ozark
mountains of Arkansas a previously
undiscovered branch of the Lincoln
family, headed by a man whose
mother, a cousin of Lincoln, passed
her childhood with Abraham Lincoln
proverbial finger of scorn does not I and ha preserved a store of family
seem to have busied itself much with I tradition concerning those early
"Cock-fighting was very prevalent
In those days, and Abe took consid
erable interest in it.".
In other words, Abraham Lincoln
was both a typical and an exceptional
American. He . had about the same
opportunities as other boys of his
time, but he made better use of
them than other boys did. The
stories about his reading by the fire
light are true. He knew "Robinson
Crusoe" nearly by heart. He was
not a sickly child, as some have
said he was. Thomas Lincoln was
considerate in disciplining his chil
dren; he never "tended to them" be
fore folks He was like many other
fathers of his time; but the new
testimony is that Abraham did not
require much of this kind of parental
attention.
The story of Lincoln's boyhood
does not, of course, explain his
genius, but It throws a good deal of
light on the opportunity any boy
had in America, even in the time in
which he lived. The basis . of his
understanding of democracy has, al
ready been explained. The founda
tion of his ability to think clearly,
of his essential scholarship, was his
intellectual industry, his craving for
truth, his willingness to pay the
price of it. This is illustrated by
the new version of his discovery
of a grammar. There was a time
when he did not know that there
was such a thing as a standard of
speech, but when the schoolmaster
told him that there was he walked
twelve miles to get a copy, "and he
kept it right with him till he learned
it by heart." There is a good deal
in this method. Plenty of boys,
though they might not become as
famous as Lincoln, would get farther
than they do if they would take this
leaf out of the great man s book.
Celebration of the centenary of
Christopher Latham Sholes, the
"father of the typewriter," is a re
minder of the insecurity of fame
resting on an invention. Most of the
basic features of the first typewriter
are found in the type-bar machines
of the present day, but it is safe to
say that few operators would be able
to give the name of the pioneer
manufacturer without consulting an
encyclopedia. But Sholes himself
had several predecessors in the con
ception of the idea, and at least one
writing machine Is known to have
been patented as long ago as 1714,
while ten years before Sholes began
work still another inventor con
structed a fairly successful machine.
but changed it at a certain stage of
its perfection into a device for print
ing raised letters for the blind.
Nevertheless Sholes deserves the
monument that his friends propose
to erect to his memory, for he did
succeed in building the first typo
writer that worked.
the developments from this classical
"triangle."
SUICIDE IN 1919.
One Interesting thing about the
year's suicide statistics, compiled by
the t Save-a-Life league, is that they
are so paradoxical. Almost anything
can be proved by them, which makes
them ripe raw material for study by
philosophers, moralists and scientists
with notions .-already formed as to
whether theJforld is growing better
or worse. I'essimlsts will discover
in the fact that self-destruction
shows a njarked increase full con
firmation 01 tneir Denet mat tne uni
verse is going to the dogs; opti
mists, looking a little further, may
detect in the workings of the Save
a-Life league itself, which has been
organized to help people in despair,
a ray of light amid the gloom. But
the open-minded student is likely, we
think, to be frankly puzzled by so
many contradictions.
We ourselves, for example, would
like to have the opinion of a quali
fied psychologist on the showing
made by the figures that, among all
the professions, newspaper editors
alone appear to be immune. The
thought occurs, without much reflec
tion, that it may be because editors
concern themselves so much with the
affairs of other people that they have
little time left to brood over their
own but this theory does not ap
pear'; to be tenable in the face of
the circumstance that lawyers, who
make a living attending to other
folks' business, stand at the head
of the list, in proportion to numbers,
of those who destroy themselves. We
were about to suggest, too, that dally
contact with the troubles of others
might have a tendency to make one's
own seem trivial by comparison,
when we were confounded by the
suicide rate for physicians. Mem
bers of- this profession, though they
minister constantly to the suffering,
including the terribly handicapped
and the utterly incurable, are sec
ond in comparative frequency of self-
destruction. . Plainly we shall need
to look elsewhere for a reason for
the unfaltering optimism of editors.
It is at least as difficult to solve this
problem as it is to discover why a
far greater proportion of hopeless
mortals select spring and summer,
when the sun is shining and the
birds are singing, for suicide ' than
give way to despair In the gloomy
days of winter.
Few generalizations are made pos
sible by the league's data. It was
reasonable to expect that social
chaos in certain European countries
following the signing of the armi
stice would further disturb the al
ready shattered morale of many In
dividuals, but it is not plain why a
nearly equal increase should be
recorded in countries not deeply
scarred by the war; yet this paradox
is also recorded. Despair leads some
to end their lives, as in lands where
anarchy and. famine prevail, and
prosperity unsettles others, as In the
neutral Scandinavian countries and
in the United States. The economic
motive for suicide ceases to be pre
dominant. The poor have no mo
nopoly of the mortuary column. Life
is too much for 28 presidents of
large business concerns, for more
than 60 clubmen and for 28 mer
chants. Women, despite the onward
march of progress of the sex and its I fore breakfast for health.'
Jack Johnson, the negro prize
fighter who fled to Cuba with a fed
eral sentence of one year and one
day in the penitentiary over him
when convicted of white slavery,
now wants to "negotiate" with a
view of returning to tne 1 nitea
States. Having deported himself, the
concerning Lincoln s best solution of his case is to mane
that Lincoln was him deported for the rest of his life.
years. From a clew obtained here
further data were obtained which
led to Riddle, Or., near where John
Hanks, one of Lincoln's "adopted
brothers," lives. The substance of
the conclusions he is able to draw
from these supplements to the
hitherto exceedingly meager infor
mation had
boyhood is
reared in "average" surroundings.
considering that he lived on the fron
tier; that his father was perhaps a
little more enterprising than tht
average of his fellow men, and that
the father not only met "the usual
social standard of social and com
mercial success," but in two instances
he gave evidence of aspiring to a
higher life than the neighborhood
afforded. These were connected
with two commercial ventures, in one
of which he lost a boatload of
whisky. In the other, he built a
flatboat and filled It with hogs.
"mostly bought on time
He started down the Patocah. and then
down the Ohfo. He got way down there
somewhere by Devil's island, and his flat-
boat upset and he lost everything, and
pretty nigh got drowned himself. He
didn't have no boat to rome back with.
he came back up the river on foot, all the
way. Then he went to work at his trade
again, and paid up all his debts.
That Thomas Lincoln worked and
saved for several years to pay the
debts incurred by these Ill-starred
speculations prepares us to believe
that Abraham Lincoln, "as a primary
essential" to his development, was
of sound stock. But this was not
the only reason why it could come
to pass that he could become the
interpreter of democracy to all the
world:
Very generally, American public men be
fore Lincoln had grown up In the environ
ment of slave and tree, master and serv
ant, employer and employe, rich and poor.
How many of them were born and bred
aristocrats, trying to Interpret democracy
to America But Lincoln grew up in a
democracy. The economic equality of his
boyhood neighbors would satisfy an ad
vanced social revolutionist today. None
were rich and none without food and shel
ter. If one man worked for another, it
wan to accumulate a stake, that he might
soon become Independent. It was not nec
essary for Abraham Lincoln out of his
mind bo create a new conception of democ
racy. He grew up in a democracy, on-
served It, and appreciated It, and then
lived and snoke what was in his heart. As
a man he did his best to do away with the
physical limitations of his boyhood en
vironment by the building of roads and by
encouraging Industry, while at the same
time trying to retain equality or oppor
tunity. He did not confuse primitive liv
ing with democracy.
Thomas Lincoln's neighborhood
was very nearly self-contained. His
tory has set Thomas Lincoln down
as "shiftless," put mere are ex
tenuating, or at least explanatory,
circumstances. There was no in
centive to raise a surplus crop be
cause there was-no market for it
The spirit, Mr. Morgan comments,
still lingers In out-of-the-way places,
where in response to the question,
How much corn did you raise this
year?" the answer frequently is, "All
the corn that we need." The only
significance of an especially large
crop of any staple was vthat the
planter would not need to grow so
much next year. Isolation gave small
stimulus to commercial ambition.
A few things that are new are
added to what we have already read
of Abraham Lincoln's boyhood. We
are deeply gratified to learn that he
did not use tobacco as a boy, was
not profane, and did not drink
whisky, "except as Uncle Tom would
have the children drink a dram be-
Bank Clerk Walter Watcrhouse of
BY - PRODUCTS OK THE TIMES
Nantucket Folk Sufficient 1st
Themselves is All TblnBS.
The ice blockade cutting Nantucket
off from the United States will not
disturb the 5000 natives of the ls'and
a little bit, writes the "Looker-On" In
the New Tcrk Globe. The world Is
divided between Nantucketers and
off-islanders, and If the latter are
marooned, so much the worse for
them.
Justice Crosby of Massachusetts, In
his stories of Nantucket, says when
an Islander goes to the mainland ha
Is said to "go to America," or "to the
continent." This form of expression Is
In everyday use without any con
sciousness of its peculiarity.
As emphasising the self-complacency
and self-satisfaction of .the av
erage Nantucketer concerning his
native Island the following Instances
are significant. A Nantucket school
boy being asked to mention the sit
uation 0 Alaska located It as "being
in the northwest corner of off-Island."
Another began a' composition thus:
"Napoleon was a great man; he was a
great solditr and a great statesman,
but he was an off-Islander."
The self-satisfaction of the Nan
tucketers was not confined by any
means to the boys, as the old native
residents of the island have always
felt a sense of superiority over "off
Islanders." as they called people from
the mainland, and fever hesitated to
express themselves accordingly.
When the late Oliver Ames, on
time governor of this state, whose
wife was a Nantucket woman, came
to the Island to be married, he was
accosted by a native, who asked him,
without knowing who be was. If he
had come down to the wedding.
"Whose wedding?" ashed .Mr. Ames.
"Why. Anna Ray's," answered the
man. "She's a Coffin, but he's noth
ing but an off -Islander."
On the day of Charles Sumner's
funeral a good Nar.lurket lady, hear
ing the affair discussed, asked: "Was
he of Nantucket origin."
Humidity is the moisture or aque
ous vapor In the atmosphere. The
vapor is really an invisible gas.
When this vapor becomes visible It Is
called dew., toe, mist. haze, clouds.
rain, snow, hall, etc.. according to the
sixe of the drop or water or the
method by which the vapor condenses.
A given space at a given tern porn ture
can contain only a definite amount of
moisture. When a given space con
tains all of the Hjolsture It Is capable
of holding. It Is said to he saturated.
The percentage of moisture in the air
to what it would hold If saturated is
called he relative humidity. When
the air Is saturated with moisture the
humidity would bo 100 per cent, three
quarters saturated, 75 per cent. The
Increased humidity has much to do
with the effect of the temperature on
the Individual, which is the reason
he subject is so commonly discussed
during very hot periods.
Religious Friends.
Hy linn K. Hall.
Why do they urge me to their way,
nines ism I and they are thsyt
It was not meant that I should be
Subservient; for mentally
l-Juch one must reason, weigh and
choose
Who trusts another- mind shall loss!
Why do they claim the clearer slant.
And stubbornly assort they're right?
Presumption, this, and eno plsln.
To try to rule another's brainl
While others still. In faiths remote,
Another set of ethics quote!
The one who fashioned mortal man
Must need all creeds In his great plan
Some minds he made to trust and
yield.
While some to these same things er
sealed;
Rut he must know the reason why
That they are they and I am I!
I'd gladly honor their queer claim.
If they would treat my vle the
same.
There seems to me largess of room
Wherein each lovely faith mav bloom;
Hut whan with them I disagree.
They prophesy It's hell for me!
Life-A
The words snd music, of the French
national hymn, "MarsolHu iso," nere
composed on April 24, 17D2, by Uouget
de Lisle, a young French officer of
engineers, then stationed at Slraas-
bourg. It was called by him "I,
Chant He 1'Armce nil I?hln ' hilt re.
Seattle, who confessed to embezzling, . . nresent r,am. because suns
S3500 by taking the money In little
amounts from inactive accounts, de
veloped a line of criminality whose
exposure will be beneficial if it spurs
the "lazy" accounts Into activity at
a time when no money 6hould be in
active. .
Judge McCourt's suggestion that
the parents of a couple seeking di
vorce "spank them if they cannot
unite them in any other way may not
be practicable in all cases, but It
contains what they would call on the
vaudeville stage the germ of a great
idea.
The consolidated New Tork Sun
and Herald will need to go some to
make for Mr. Munsey a reputation
equal to that of the distinguished
personalities, Charles A, Dana and
the Bennetts, that the names recall.
A witty paragrapher suggests that
the only question now being asked In
teachers' examinations is "What is
your telephone number?" Yet If
teachers continue to resign, it' may
come to nearly that.
They will have to trot out anothe
objection to tobacco than its odor to
iret awav with their campaign. That
battle cry will only rally the onion
eaters to the nicotine standard and
there Is an army of them.
It is time for the bolshevik! to turn
their paper money printing presses
into plowshares and. get ready for the
fine spring weather that comes to
Russia along about the middle of
June or the first of July.
About the last thing in the world
we need is a new South African dia
mond field to lure our boys away
from the wheat and other fields that
mean so much, to those who love to
eat.
The home chicken yard is a nat
ural corollary of the backyard gar
den idea, but it is necessary in the in
terest of neighborhood harmony to
keep them a suitable distance apart.
It is not the first time the Pacific
Northwest has been able to call at
tention to the superiority of its win
ter climate over that of the blizzard-
swept east.
So far Vladivostok holds the rec
ord for revolutions against all other
places in Russia. This exercise 1
needed to offset the rlgy of the
climate.
After a while our aviation service
will learn to furnish an extra gaso
line tank to its men before sending
them in the direction of the Mexican
border.
constantly widening horizon of op
portunity, more and more regard life
as not worth the struggle. There
have been more suicides since peace
came than in the same number of
months of war and world calamity.
The Save-a-Llfe league enumerates
5121 suicides in the United States
during 1919 but admits that the rec
ord is probably far from complete.
Its registration area is circumscribed.
and the total for the whole country,
it says, may not be far from
20,000. It has been able, how
ever, to establish the fact that
suicide is increasing" alarmingly.
Restriction of sales of firearms and
poisons has not accomplished any-
John
Hanks, of Oregon, remembers that
the nickname, "Honest Abe," at
tached to him while he was a boy.
He was not sober and gloomy when
a youth, but bright, full of life and
fun, and very talkative. He was
quick to learn and forgot nothing.
That he was an "average Doy," con
sidering these gifts, is attested by
hid weakness for "putting in,
There are men who on reading
that Germany is getting whisky from
America will think that this was part
of the peace terms of victorious
army.
with great fervor ty a body of volun
teers from Marseilles, who entered
Tarln on July 20 of the same year,
and thus mude the son known to the
Parisians. The statement Is, however,
doubted by som. "The Marseillaise"
was forbidden to he sung under ths
Hestoratlon and the second empire,
but speedily bceime the national song
on the outbreak of the Franco-German
war.
The 20s have plsyed quite a con
siderable part In history. The chief
of the centenaries to be observed will
be thru of the nailing of the May
flower, which landed the Pilgrim
Fathers on Plymouth Mock on Christ
mas day, 1620. It was In l.r'2 that
Luther burned the papal bull In Wit
tenberg, an event which also had Its
repercusslcuis on the times to come,
George HI (already moribund for two
years) died in 1820, as did his son, ths
father of Queen Victoria; and It wsi
In the same year that George IV In
augurated his reign by holding the
trial of hi? wife. The Field of the
Cloth of Gold (1520). the drowning of
Trince William, the only son of Ilcn
rv I f!120). are among the other
events of the 20s. London Observer.
"Fifteen dollars! Why, that's cheap
For ladies' hats," they Bay;
But father loses coin and sleep
At what he has to pay;
For ma no sooner gets her lid.
And dad assessed the dues.
Than she looks at her pumps of kid
And says, "1 must have shoes."
Then daughter kicks her sandals off
And telephones the store,
And poor old father has to cough
Up eighteen dollars more.
The ladles have a llne'of thought
Where reasoning la lost;
They say all these things must be
bought
No matter what they cost.
If merchants choose to profiteer
That's strictly their affair.
And though all hats and shoes are
dear
They must have things to wear.
LlrK.
-a swift shuttle, weaving, weav
Ing.
rosary of dajs with r'ndsnt
crosj:
A path which winds by shore and fell
and mountain.
And mj.st-hune; pines forever grlsv-
trig-, grieving
With the old history of pain and
loss.
Written in rocks and svery sobbing
fountain.
And every sea' on which our ships
must toss.
A few swift scenes of meeting and of
parting,
With wavering sunlight on th
withered gras.i;
The memory of words by dear 'lips
spoken.
Lying Ilka thnrna upon the red
wounds smarting.
Which cannot stay and yet can never
pass.
Until the heart lies quivering and
broken.
And the lonely spirit cries, alas.
The priests of wisdom ever chatter,
chatter.
The monkish dot-tors In their drear,
gray halls
Ulow elhic bubbles like a young child
playing.
The jugglery of laws prescribed In
matter,
As dead an their dead creeds upon
their walls;
And far from that sore grief which
lends to praying
When proftrate iingui-h for swift
hi-allnt call.
And so I watch ths shuttle flying,
fbliiK.
And kisH the broken sunbeams as
tiny fall
Where ehaiio of cypress and drear
stonca are l Ing,
Not knowing but this sighing may be
dying,
Vet hoping that my fainting, fal
tering rail
May bi'itiR to me what I have Insi
st last, ,
The consummation which will
plain sll.
-GUT FILCH niKIJ.
mimi: 11 .: Mi:i-:Tif..
mot a one-armed milkman at
the
gate.
SliiKlna- a lively air, dflnc fat.
1 aHketl him whent-o tho cause of his
retrain.
"Whv not?" hs asked, "with one arm
lout. 'Us pi. tin
I think un well as when I bad the
twain."
I aw an old man leaning on his staff.
Ills eyes a-lwinklo, rraily fr a lauuli
"l"o ynu not fear the grlve?" I asked
snd smiled.
"Ah, no." he rrlrd. "unit praise the
fndeflled,
I fear It b'sa than when I wss n
child."
A little girl placed roses In the hand
Of a blind newnhuy, shouting hy Ills
stand.
"Vou'rs wanting much." I whispered
"He can't see."
"Oh, yes he tan; great tales he ro.vls
to me
From petals of the rose and loaf of
tree."
And as I found and touched ths
strings of life,
I heard above earth's discord and lis
Htrtre,
The lyre eternsl, melody divine.
I 'lead 1 111; with men to worship al the
shrltie
Of wondrous love God's love, and
yours and mine.
W. It. MeCnACKKN.
Pendleton, Or.
Germany can save a lot of trouble
by deporting those 800 or so high of
ficials for whom the allies are about
to issue warrants.
interrupting a conversation when in
the relation of some incident the
truth would be departed from or
some item of the account which he
considered important would be left
out. It has not been related before,
we think, that the achievement that
he most prided himself upon was
At the present price of the pound
or ' sterling, the buyer of British goods
thing. Turning on the gas was the standing flatfooted and leaning back
favorite method in 1919, and jump-until his head touched the uround.
will realize that foreign exchange is
no robbery.
This is the shortest month in the
year, but it has the most holidays in
it counting Groundhog day as one.
The best wishes of this city go to
Judge Wolverton at San Francisco
lor a speedy recovery.
It's different, tho', the shoes of men
Will stand another sole,
And dad, perchance, can save a ten
To helu him buy the coal;
Though mother bought the Uilngi
she did
And tries to make a show.
roor dad can wear the same old lid
He wore long years ago.
L, T. Heatley In New Tork Globe.
One hundred years ago, on March
15, the province of Maine, until then
a part or niassacnuscLto, uc,.ou,n
separate state of the ui.lon. This
year the centennial Is to be fittingly
observed In every town and city, and
a big official celebration Is to be held
at Portland from June 28 to July t.
A committee consisting of promi
nent citizens of the state and headed
by Governor Carl E. Milliken as
chairman, is to have charge of the
affair, end It Is planned to make It
the greatest event in Maine's history.
Promenent people from ail over the
country are to be Invited to be pres.
ent, as well as warships of the allied
nations. The programme Is now be
ing made out and will be a notable
one.
Invitations signed by Governor Mil
liken will be sent to every Maine
born citizen now living outside of the
state, whose address can be obtained,
and the committee Is asking all who
claim Maine as their birthplace to
send their name snd address to the
oemmittee headquarters at Portland
that they may receive one of these in
vitations. Over 200,000 sons and riaiiKhterH of
Maine are now living outside i f the
state, a great many of whom are
leaders In I he a 1 fairs nf ti e na
tion from sections in which they now
reside,
TIIK IMMI.Ll XIO.t-tlKM'.
I saw a cnstle from afar,
A haunted place of mystery,
With crimson towers and turrets hlilh
That spoke of ancient chivalry.
It stood upon a statly crest.
Atnld a grove of pine trees old;
And when the sun was In ths went
The 'window panes were gold.
And many a wondrous tale I dreamed
Of high romance that ones was
there.
Of brave and glorious knights who
deemed
It sweet to die for ladles fair.
And I was filled with deep dexlre
To enter those heroic walls.
To climb Into the hlchest spire
And linger In the atatsly halls
Alas! My youthful dream Is o'er.
I reached the csstle s heights and
found
Our gardener's name carved en the
door.
And -eggshells on the ground.
DOROTHY K. HALL.
My
fair
WAIST VALKKTISR.
heart awakes with love's
light.
Although the sky Is gray;
I must my secret to her tell.
Saint Valentine, today.
The sun shall rise from out ths mist.
This day of ail the yenr,
We'll let the gloom and shadows pay,
And laugh at doubt snd fear.
A toast to thee. Paint Valentine,
So silent, secret, wise.
The world today set ins made for two,
And they're near paradise.
JUNE Mc.MII.I.KN OI.DWAT.
WHO A1S I.O K l Ml.ltDt
Parents of old "ft" used to say
To dear St. Valentine:
Keep love away from youthful hearts.
Let not his charms cntwtne."
Yet love would come to sll fond
heart a,
Neath blue or darkened skies.
Itefore they knew youth mated wen
I'.efore their very eyes.
Ah! es, the nuth of obt'n time
Kept love aflame ala;
Parents forKot and careless grew.
Just as thev do today.
J INK McMILLLN OUDWAT.