8
TIIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, PORTLAND, FEBRUARY 15, 1D20
ESTABLISHED BY HMtl L. MTTOCKJ
Published br The Oregorisn Publishing Co..
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SfRTRISING AND SHOCKING.
The reason behind the dismissal of
Secretary Lansing as secretary of
state lies deeper than the trifling
and inconsequential accusation of
attempted usurpation of " executive
power made by the president. He
travels on a single track, and is given
' to sudden and imperious divagations;
and he will not tolerate about him
. any cabinet or other advisers "whose
minds do not willingly go along with
mine," to paraphrase his own words.
He is the state. When he is ill, the
nation must also lie abed. When he
ceases to function as the executive,
there shall be no other head, but the
state also shall cease to function, in
all its vital policies.
It is an astounding revelation of
the presidential whimsicality and
pride. It is no less disquieting than
it is astounding. It is too painful and
critical a subject upon which to ven
ture any candid and searching esti
mate as to what is wrong at the
White House; but it must occur to
everyone that the protracted illness
of. President Wilson has thrown him
out of all normal relationship with
his cabinet and with the govern
ment. It will be agreed of course that
President Wilson's attitude toward
his advisers, toward congress, and
toward the public has always been
singular. No president ever pro
fessed to feel more desirous of coun
sel "the meeting of minds" -amd
none ever in practice employed it so
little. Ko president ever pursued
so consistent a policy of exclusion for
himself in the White House. No
president ver demanded and got
more of nonpartisan support from
the whole public, and gave less to the
public. No president was ever more
tactless in his relations with con
gress. No president ever defied pre
cedent so contemptuously and 80
continuously, in many matters con
trolling the conduct of the ex
ecutive. No president ever so boldly
and resentfully reduced his constitu
tional counselors to the pitiful status
of mere automatons. No president
ever before left the country to run
itself for six months, while he went
abroad, and insisted, on his return,
when a great illness unhappily over
took him, that it should remain in
a headless condition.
When the circumstances of Secre
tary Lansing's conduct are fairly
considered, it will be seen that he
was moved by an earnest desire to
meet a difficult situation, and to dis
charge with fidelity his duty to his
chief and his trust to his country.
He was the ranking member of the
cabinet, and he sought to bring them
together in conference to cover any
emergency created by the president's
disability, and to discuss inter-departmental
matters. The record
shows that the cabinet thus sought to
meet the Mexican crisis and the coal
strike, and other questions, and that
the president was aware of its pro
ceedings, or of some of them, and
made no protest; but when he was
able he took over for action certain
affairs under discussion by the cabi
net. Now after five months of this
clumsy manner of government, dur
ing all of which time the secretary
of state was denied access to the
president, Mr. Wilson suddenly dis
covers that he has a tearful griev
ance against Mr. Lansing, and de
mands an explanation, and, when it
is frankly and politely given, relieves
him of his office.
In ordinary times, it would be said
that the discharge of a high official
for such small reason, or for no rea
son, except that he was endeavoring
to rise above a trying condition, was
evidence of a too suspicious and pet
ulant executive mind; but there
would have been nothing to do about
il and no great apprehension ot
alarm over it, since it must be-con-ceded
that the president has a wide
prerogative to choose or to discharge
the members of his official cabinet
They stand in such relation to him
as do no other officers, of the gov
ernment. But in the ' present ex
traordinary situation, the public will
be disposed to seek a reason beyond
mere passing irritation or caprice,
and to fear that it lies in an inex
plicable and fathomless presidential
psychology, aggravated' by disap
pointment and illness, and unable to
adjust itself normally to heavy du
ties and pressing obligations, both to
the public and to individuals. Let
us hope that it is nothing more.
Certainly it is all that. Doubtless
when the strain upon him. is re
lieved, and physical robustness dis
Btace serious debilitation, there will
be no such grave and astonishing
manifestations of an upsetting will,
an uncontrolled judgment.
UNCERTAINTIES OF REWARD.
Aspiring song writers and libret
tists will discover, if they will take
the trouble to read the report of the
appraiser of the estate of the late
Henry Martyn Blossom Jr.. that
however greatly persistence may be
rewarded in the song-writing profes
sion, it is not safe to count on win
ning a fortune from a single in
spired thought. Mr. Blossom left a
moderate-sized fortune as the result
of more than two decades of hard
work, but a good many of his most
brilliant conceptions were disap
pointing when measured by money
returns.
Blossom ranks with the most suc
cessful of all American writers of
popular plays and musical comedies.
Checkers" will still be recalled by
many who do hot remember that he
was its author. The same is true oX
"The Yankee Consul," "The Velvet
Lady," "Mile. Modiste." "The Red
Mill," "Baron Trench," "The Only
Girl," and others. The songs in these
comic operas were sold on a, royalty
basis, after the operas themselves
had proved their popularity, with re
sults that show how fickle the pub
lic taste is in such matters. Royal
ties for six months from the songs
from "The Only Girl," for example,
give the following sharp contrasts:
"Antoinette," 52 cents; "Equal Rights,"
4 cents; "Here's to the Land We Love,"
1.0; "More. I See of Others." $1.02:
"Personality." 112.78: "Tell It All Over
Again," $6.44: "when You re Away, '
2XA.40; "When Tou're Wearing Ball And,"
H'J.18: "Tou're the Only Girl," jl.7: scores.
$8; selections, $9.22; waltzes, S2.30, and
fox trot, 23 cents.
ruary Atlantic about the way geog-
This is typical of the entire list
prepared by the inheritance tax of
ficer. "The Velvet Lady," to cite an
other example, was a season's suc
cess at a time when the prohibition
issue was exceedingly alive in New
York. Yet "Any Time New York
Goes Dry" yielded only $2.79. He
made $1000.32 from "Love and Life,"
and $36 from "Spooky Ookum." Of
the songs in "Mile. Modiste," one,
"The Time, the Place and the Girl,"
brought in nine cents, while "Kiss
M-e Again" netted $3643.05. There
are a great many more 6ongs that
yielded less than $5 than there are
that brought more than $100. Blos
som's work as a whole was finan
cially worth while, but this seems to
have been the result rather of prodi
gious industry than of skill in esti
mating the public taste.
Blossom wrote several hundred
songs in his lifetime. He did not
succeed in averaging a larger per
centage of successes in later years
than he did in the beginning. There
is no magic in the business of writ
ing popular songs. The method
seems to be to keep everlastingly at
it, to go on working without much
thought of the reward, and to trust
Manchuria. All opposition to the
reds is dead in Russia. The old army
officers who were forced into the red
service by threats to massacre their
families now are so embittered
previous experiences which quelled
the spirit of bravado with which that
visitation was met in its beginning.
It has been shown with reasonable
certainty that chances of surviving
against the allies for deserting them lan attack are multiplied by a regimen
tnat they are ready to fight for the of sleep, moderation in eating and
soviet m an aggressive war. Lleyd avoidance of fatigue. It is rather
George now seeks to avert th'e storm
by resuming trade with Russia and is
suspected of negotiating peace under
cover of a conference on exchange of
prisoners. So soon after it has led
the allies In triumph over the might
or Germany is Britain brought to the
humiliating position of truckling to
the party which aims to bolshevize
the British isles. -
Wire DELATT
General Wood's declaration in re
gard to the league of nations is frank
and straightforward enough to sat
isfy any reasonable man, but it will
not satisfy Senator Borah or others
of the death battalion. With the
Lodge reservations attached, the
covenant would constitute a general
endorsement of article 10, but the
United States would remain free to
adopt its own application of the prin
ciple. So much attention has been paid'
to this and other controverted points
that the solid, undisputed benefits of
the covenant have been overlooked
It binds all nations to arbitration
and mediation and' to disarmament.
and it makes an outcast of any na-
tion which violates that pledge.
Five years ago we should have
considered even this much a great
advance on the road to permanent
peace. Public opinion has been so
clearly expressed that decision
should not be deferred till November
just to please Senator Borah and his
little coterie.
the rest to luck.
-The approaching distribution
among the states of the volumes
promised by the American Library
association for use of soldiers and
sailors is less important with regard
to the actual number of books in
volved than for the recognition it
gives to the reading habit created by
the book movement during the war.
THE FOLLY OF SOFT BLOWS.
While the last remnant of Deni-
kin's army flees to its ships or to
Roumania and while all of Siberia
lies open to the reds. Premier Lloyd
George says that he held the opinion
a year ago that bolshevism could not
be crushed by force. He gave con
siderable help, in the shape of arms
and munitions, to those who under
took thus to crush it, but he did so
by way of compromise with "his col
leagues who favored effective inter
vention. Hence the aid given to the
armies of true democracy in Russia
always proved Just short, of enough
to carry them to final victory. In
every quarter a little more help
should have proved decisive. Yet Mr.
Lloyd George cites the failure of his
half-hearted intervention as a vln
dication of the policy of non-intervention
which he wanted to follow
but did not.
Expulsion of the Germans from
the Baltic states, recognition of the
independence of those states, and the
sending of a small army to aid them
should- have enabled Yudenitch to
take Petrograd last October, when he
came within ten miles of the city.
The German attack on Riga divided
the white forces and allowed the reds
to gather fresh armies and crush
Yudenitch.
A moderate addition to the Arch
angel army should have given it
power to advance southeastward to a
junction with Kolchak last spring.
The allies were held to thp defensive,
Kolchak was driven back for lack of
support, and the junction became
impossible.
A field army to co-operate with
Kolchak and a force adequate to
protect his rear should have given
him enough force to extend his line
to a junction with Denikin's right on
the Volga, to cut off the reds from
the Caucasus and the Caspian sea
and to prevent the red conquest of
central Asia.
Liberal supply of arms and muni
tions to .the Poles would have enabled
them to attack successfully on the
western front. The ring of fire en
circling the bolshevists would then
have been complete.
The ground on which effective in
tervention was opposed was a mass
of falsehood skilfully propagated by
the bolshevists themselves among the
working people of the allies. To the
reds of France. Britain and Italy it
was said that their capitalist govern
ments wished to crush the first
government by the proletariat which
had ever been established. To those
whom this plea could not reach it
was said that intervention would vio
late Russia's right of self-determination.
The British labor unions took
up the cause of the reds, and Lloyd
George's abandonment of Russia was
a surrender to tnem. xne Italian
socialists forced Premier Nittl to
adopt the same policy. Clemenceau
alone stood out against any policy
but relentless war on the reds, and he
fought and routed the French social
ists at the election, but France could
not act ajope. By truckling to the
British reds the British premier has
prevented the allies from helping the
forces of democracy to save Russia
from a more diabolical tyranny than
that of the French terrorists.
The story of Russia proves the
truth of Theodore Roosevelt's saying
about the folly or striking soft blows,
It is estimated that there will be be
tween 200,000 and 300.000 volumes; That truth should come home with
left after the needs of the army and particular force to the British, for
navy have been met, and there are to bo'.shevlst power now spreads over ail
be allotted one-half In proportion to of northern and central Asia, threat
the number of men from each state j ens British supremacy In Mesopota
ln service during the war and the 1 mia, Persia and India, binds together
other half in inverse proportion to 'all the Mohammedans of Asia in an
the number of books now in the antl-Britieh alliance, and attacks
libraries of-each. state iagrogortion to Britain's ally, Japant in Corea and! greclable bounds lias beea the .costly.
RECURRENCE OF EPIDEMICS.
The conclusions of two British
scientists, based on a study of vital
statistics for a number of years, that
influenza epidemics have a tendency
to re,cur at intervals of thirty-three
weeks until they have exhausted
themselves, seem to be borne out at
least In , part by the news from
various parts of the country, and
they illustrate the importance of ac
curate records regarding community
health. There is no magic in dupli
cation of threes, as the necroman
cers of a few centuries ago would
have tried to make, the people be
lieve, but there is a warning in the
statement, if it is approximately
borne out by events. There can be
no excuse for lack of preparedness if
we can foretell the return of an epi
demic, and no reason why health
authorities should not have the ma
chinery of their departments in
working order. This would hold good
if periodicity coincided only a'pproxi
mately with the statistical conclu
sions of the British scientists.
The rate of progress of an epi
demic from point to point 13 not
easily ascertainable, and with so
called Spanish influenza in particu
lar it has been complicated in a good
many instances by failure to recog
nize it as such at its onset It hap
pens to be true, however, that influ
enza appeared in New York about
the middle of September, 1918, and
again in a milder form In May, 1919,
and that thereafter, about Christmas,
1919, it was again recognized, al
though there was at first some dis
pute xb,out it, and the health com
missioner of New York still insists
that it has not assumed "epidemic"
proportions. This, however, is only
quibbling over a word, for within a
few days the number of daily new
cases had Increased from ninety to
more than 1300, and there-were in
many of these cases the classic se
quellae of pneumonia from which
the malady derives most of its terror.
The course followed in the middle
west and in the states of the Pacific
coast was nearly the same as that o
the plague in the east. In the first
occurrence, it was on September 26
that Portland physicians began to
warn the public that the danger was
not imaginary, but very real, and
within a few days thereafter cases
began to appear. The epidemic
reached its height in point of fatali
ties the last week in October, but it
was not until the day before Christ
mas that the city auditorium re
ceived its final fumigation. Three
tragic months had intervened in
which far more deaths occurred and
more families were bereaved than by
the war. The end of the first thirty-
three weeks was not marked by
recognized outbreak, and it is not easy
to determine whether the rule was
followed with minute accuracy as to
the second thirty-three-week inter
val, but the present epidemic prob
ably had its inception within a few
days of the appointed time. It was
mild, as has been said, and there was
reluctance to identify it as-a recur
rence on that account. It had been
in existence for some days, probably.
before its effect began to be felt.
Here, because we had learned some
thing from experience, more or less
drastic action was taken, and it was
perhaps because of this that we have
thus far fared as well as we have
lone.
The event also bears out the con
tention of those who have studied the
behavior of influenza on its previous
visit to this country that it may be
expected to lose intensity with each
new appearance, and that it also maj
vary in some of its minor manifesta
tions. The shifting of the point of
attach, occurrence of cases present
ing different phenomena, a greater
number showing enteric disturbances,
and so on, with sporadic outbreaks of
greater than expected intensity, are
in line with the history of the previous
plague of the latter years of the pre
ceding century. It is shown also how
dangerous it is to dogmatize on the
subject and how the rule of age-in
cidence, for example, may be de
parted from on occasion. While
pneumonia growing out of influenza
in 1918 and 1919 was' destructive
chiefly of life in the most vigorous
period. In the twenties and thirties,
and the very young and the old were
largely spared, it now seems to have
taken a new turn, and while the mor
tality rate Is distinctly lower than it
was, the disease is on the whole morej
ominous in tne ages tnat rormerly
escaped. It is inexplicable, but' the
figures covering a wide area seem
to substantiate the statement, and to
show the importance of taking
prompt precautions without regard
for age or any other apparent pre
vious guaranty of immunity.
It cannot be said that physicians
have yet mastered the secret of the
cause of influenza, or that they have
developed, any more than general
principles for its treatment. Prompt
quarantine is believed to have helped
considerably, but probably the most
potent factor In holding it within ap
well established on the other hand
that if one deliberately conceived the
mad desire to contract the malady,
he could do so by the simple expe
dient of overworking, overeating
and otherwise by permitting the pro
tective forces of the body to reach a
low ebb.. The case of a nurse, cited
by a Kansas City authority, is a clas
sical example. After several weeks'
work In caring for influenza patients
she obtained a false sense of im
munity, and one evening sat by an
open window until she was chilled.
She Immediately developed an un
mistakable case of influenza. The
germs of influenza had been in her
throat all the time; they had been
prevented from gaining mastery until
she lowered her resistance to them
by violating a simple rule of health.
The moral is, of course, obvious to
those who believe that an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure
The possibility of further recurrence
will also be borne in mind. It is not
a matter to be trifled with. Even
those who prefer calling it "grippe"
to "influenza" will not, if they are
wise, trust to a difference in termin
ology to pull them through.
AN UNDERPAID JfECESSITT.
The cause of the rural mail carrier
will need no other champion than
the natural course of events if resig
nations continue at the rate recently
reported. More than fifty a day on
an average are said to have been
leaving the service, because they find
it impossible to earn a living, to
gether with the upkeep of the fliv
ver and also the horse or two re
quired in the northern regions in
winter if schedules are to be main
tained. There has ieen, it will have been
observed, no talk of a rural mail
carrier's strike, but there has been
a movement comparable with that
the schools, to leave the job be
cause a better living can be mad
In other ways. It goes without say
ing that something will be done about
it some day. The R. F. D. has
become too well established as
public necessity to warrant the sup
position that the people will ever be
content without it. To abandon
now would be to remove the last
prop from under the movement to
nduce more farmers to stay on the
land. ,
Indirectly the future of the mail
carrier Is bound up In the solution of
the high cost of eating problem.
population about 10,000,000 persons.
which reduces its alarming character
still farther.
But in truth there is no satisfac
torily significant relation between
statistics on ownership of wealth and
statistics on total population.' Wealth
in the main Is divided among persons
of earning capacity; population in
cludes men, women, boys, girls and
infants, the greater proportion of
whom have little or no property of
their own, either for the reason that
they have not reached the property
acquiring age, or if so, prefer not to
have the responsibility of ownership,
or lack thrift or earning capacity, or
the fortune of birth.
So it appears that Mr. Plumb in
withdrawing for inspection from his
filing case Plan 3 (three, count
them) is stating pretty much of a
platitude when he exclaims against
the unfairness of requiring the 65 per
cent who own but 5 per cent of the
wealth to pay more than their pro
portion of the national debt. No i
scheme of direct taxation has been
proposed which would exact money
from babes i arms or the children
going to school or the beginners in
gainful pursuits or those who lack a
reasonable earning capacity. These
are probably more than 65 per cent of
the population. The most generally
applied direct federal tax is now- the
income tax. The famliy head gets a
certain exemption for each child and
the poorly paid individual 13 not
taxed at all. Mr. Plumb need not
worry about the 65 per cent. But
the advice is doubtless of no value to
Mr. Plumb. Even one of his capacity
must be in' a highly nervous state
after conducting the exhaustive re
search necessary to determine the
impossible as to the relation of
wealth and population.
their teacflers inspired them, while Bl -PRODI CT8 or TUB TIMES
others did not. The fundamental im-1 ' ,
portance of teaching geography jSom Peculiarities of Public That Mrr.
with imagination" will be conceded,
PIXMB PCLL OF TLANS.
Glenn E. Plumb gives promise of
becoming our busiest adjuster
economic wrongs. He has settled the
railroad problem to his own satis
faction and that of a great many
railroad employes. Now he Is at work
on a farm-labor co-operative plan by
means of which 20,000,000 citizens
will be interested in an enterprise
embracing every step from produc
tion of raw materials to collection
manufacture, storage anf distribu
tion. And he also gives hint at the
farmer-labor conference that he is
working on a plan to pay off the na
tional debt.
Such intricate matters are easy for
Mr. Plumb. A close insight into his
genius may I be derived from his
statement that 2 per cent of the pop
ulation own to per cent of the
wealth; 33 per cent own 35 per cent
of the wealth and 65 per cent of the
people own 5 per cent of the wealth
The statement is not unfamiliar. It
often appears in the speeches or
writings of those who are determined
to correot all Inequalities. The cen
sus bureau thoughtfully provides us
with an appraisal of the wealth of
the people, but It has not issued one
since 1912. Its last estimate is di
vided into twenty-one items, of which
real property taxed constitutes about
one half. Other items include live
stock; farm implements and machin
ery; manufacturing machinery, tools,
etc.; railroads and equipment; street
railways; telegraph systems; tele
phone systems; light and power sta
tions; agricultural products; manu
facturing products; clothing and per
sonal . ornaments; furniture, car
riages, etc. The difficulty of segre
gating the millions of owners of this
wealth Into classes of very rich, rich,
near rich and poor, if names of own
ers are indeed available at all, is to
determine whether the John Henry
Smith who owns a tract of timber
land in Oregon is the same John
Henry Smith who owns a block of
stock in the Pennsylvania railroad.
Multiply this problem by many
thousands and the impracticability of
determining the percentage owner
ship of national wealth becomes ap
parent.
In some countries national wealth
is estimated upon the basis of the
total income, by multiplying the in
come by five and sometimes seven
this country because of the fluctu
ating character of Incomes. Probably
the total of income tax returns is
available for reaching a similar es
timate, such as it is. In the United
States, but the individual income
standing alone is not necessarily in
dicative of the possession of wealth.
The lawyer, architect, doctor, ma
chinist, office holder or other per
son encaged in gainful pursuit, who
earns $3000 a year, may possess only
office furniture, or tools, personal
clothing and ornaments. The total
of bis possessions may be $500 In
stead of the multiple of his income,
which would be $16,000.
Thus it appears that the 2-per-
cent-of -the-people-own- 6 0-per-cent-
of-the-wealth estimate was made by
some one who had little to work with
except his own ingenuity for guess
ing, whether he was a government
statistician or not, unless it was made
by Mr. Plumb himself, to whom
nothing is impossible. The phrase is
quite a mouthful and tends to cause
a sinking at the heart. But in itself
it is deceptive, true or not More
than one-half the population is under
21 years of age. Property accumula
tion generally comes after that
period of life. Two per cent of the
oeoDle is approximately 2,200,000.
The census department's appraisal of
national wealth in 1912 was 187 bil
lions. If 2,200,000 persons own
60 per cent of this wealth they
own an average of about $51,000
each. Put that way the statement is
not so staggering. But wealth Is gen
erally distributed among heads of
families and persons of mature age,
so the 2,200s000.-.actually represent in
SLANG..
The protest from London against
an incursion of American slang.
which is manifested by British play
wrights and song-writers in their de
sire to please the public, will be
mildly interesting to those of our
men who, having sojourned in Eng
land on the way to France, have
had their own difficulties in inter
preting the slang of the British them
selves, but it will serve a good pur
pose in the war on slang in general
by letting both people see how it
sounds when others use it habitually.
The objection here voiced is not,
apparently, an objection to the coin
age of strong words and phrases,
but to their parrot-like repetition
in a sonse far-rernoved from' the
purpose they were originally called
on to perform. This is, indeed, the
essence of the case against slang 'in
general. Few who employ it do so
to give emphasis to "a thought, but
more use 11 to conceal tne vacuity
of an empty mind. This has proved
particularly true where one people
have tried to adopt the slang of an
other, without meanwhile obtaining
an approximate idea of the mean
ing it was intended to convey.
and it also will be believed that every
other branch ought to be Included in
that category. But It will be ques
tioned whether geography now suf
fers more from neglect in this re
spect than other studies. The prac
tice of linking school instruction with
current news is sound pedagogy, and
is growing rapidly. The war has
furnished one effective means of
humanizing geography, and no de
partment has obtained greater ad
vantage from the perfection of edu
cational motion pictures. It would
be Ideal, of course. If the geography
of the farthest north might always be
taught by Arctic explorers (who also
happened to have the gift of impart
ing knowledge), but it would be Im
practical in a country having more
than 22,000,000 children to be edu
cated. It is almost as difficult as
to realize the ideal that "if you want
to teach children geography in the
best way, you take them to the place
you wish to have them learn about."
There is, nevertheless, some profit
in reviving occasionally the discus
sion of the place that imagination
has in teaching. It is a reminder, for
one thing, of the value of the kind of
teaching that embraces general cul
ture and Is the antithesis of special
izing from the very beginning only in
the branches that it is- imagined will
have a bearing on the vocation that
the pupil may be going to adopt. By
whatever method the imagination of
the pupil is stimulated, desire for
knowledge will be increased, and
when this has been done the process
of acquiring necessary 'information
becomes secondary. The problem is
a highly practical one, not to be
solved by railing at teachers be
cause they need to eat while they are
teaching, but perhaps approachable
through the indirect method of mak
ing the reward attractive enough so
that they will be able to let their
imaginations soar, unhampered by
the bread and butter considerations
that are so effective in keeping their
feet constantly on the ground.
TEACHING WITH IMAGINATION.
Edward Yeomans, who writes in a
rather pessimistic vein in the Feb
ruary Atlantic about the way geog
raphy is taught in the schools and
outlines the way he would have it
taught, gives the impression, perhaps
unintentionally, that the shortcom
ings he describes are peculiar to the
teaching of the branch of knowledge
in which he is so greatly interested.
The burden of his complaint is, in
short, that teachers lack imagination.
There is, of course," he says, "a
geography of information, but it does
not become educational until it is
transformed into a geography of in
spiration." Most persons who re
member their own school days will
recall, of course, the time they spent
in committing to memory certain
prosaic facts and formulas that
meant little or nothing to them. It
used to be and in some places still
is the practice to require the pupil
to learn a great humber of place
names, unassociated with facts of
definite human interest. Lakes of
the interior of Africa, mountain
chains in Asia, islands of the Pacific
just their names and little more
were favorites. Tanganyika, Popo
catepetl, Raratonga, were words to
conjure with. Like the bishop who
could charm a congregation with the
unction with which he pronounced
the sonorous "Mesopotamia," the
geography teacher dwelt on sound
and gave relatively little thought to
sense. It is no wonder that Ameri
can children grew up with only a dim
idea of their relation to the world.
Desirable as it may have been to
know the names of the capitals of
the states and of the rivers on which
they were situated, it is fair criticism
to say that the manner in which
these isolated facts were taught left
the pupils cold.
Yet one is reminded again by read
ing Mr. Yeomans' all too gloomy re
view that nothing is quite as bad as
it seems. He pictures the typical
geography teacher as "a girl of
twenty-five or so, who touches up
her face with a little paint and pow
der, wears the high-topped and high-
heeled shoes and short skirts of the
shop lady' and her customer, and is
teaching until some male picks her
ff the tree of knowledge of good and
evil as a ripe and desirable apple,
thinking, that the Garden of Eden
goes with it." This is not, of course,
a fair indictment either of teaching
in general or of geography instruc
tion in particular, but it is a fair
specimen of the kind of criticism in
which some educational Pharisees
habitually indulge. It does, however.
conceal a vestige of truth applicable
to the teaching not only of geog
raphy, but of physics, and the lan
guages, and perhaps of mathematics.
and certainly of history. But it is
ftardly fair to measure the develop
ment of teaching by the statement
that we use only a book "written by
man who was interested in writing
bout geography as a means of mak
Ing a living," or with the help of
globes manufactured by people who
care no more for geography than the
people who make stoves or hats.
There is, too, a familiar sound to the
charge that the teacher is interested
only in "putting over a certain proc
ess called 'teaching geography,' to
get enough to pay room and board
and allow something for her real In
terests besides."
The fact Is, of course, that the cir
cumstance that a teacher of geog
raphy or any other branch Of knowl
edge is also interested in "getting
enough money to pay room and
board" ought not to count against
her (or him), and that the problem
of finding teachers possessed of the
rare quality of imagination probably
Is no more or less difficult than it was
half a century ago. Most adults of
the' present time, reviewing their
The feeling in the Oregon Agricul
tural college student body that the
dress suit does not fit in with the
scheme of democracy is probably
based on estimates of the cost of
broadcloth and moleskin rather than
on any affectation of superiority that
evening clothes can possibly imply.
There is perhaps no more effective
leveler of rink than the traditional
"soup and fish" and no closer ap
proaoh to uniformity of dress than it
provides. Yet on economic grounds
the dress suit is indefensible, as the
students at Corvallis know, and they
are wise in declining to burden them
selves at the outset of their promis
ing careers with investments that
will yield them small returns at best
A new dress suit at present prices
costs more than an average scholar
ship and is the equivalent of about a
month's salary of a college professor,
and it will be admitted that there are
things that a college student can put
to a good deal more practical use.
When the democratic party tries
to annex Herbert Hoover without his
consent, what becomes of the right
of political self-determination to
which its leader Is devoted? And
what a confession of poverty in
statesmen is this attempt to put a
republican at the head of the demo
cratic ticket! Any way you look at
It, the democratic Hoover boom is a
piece of freak politics born of a for
lorn hope.
chants Have Discovered.
That the question of whether the
public knows merchandise must ba
answered with both yos and no, is
tifo verdict of Ernest C. Hastrop. who
contributes to Leslie's. Fill a table
with merchandise of assorted grades
and the best will go first put fill
three tables with the sarao merchan
dise at different prices and tho most
popular price for that store will lead
in volume of business at the end of
a day. Several years ago a western
store put three tables full of the
same hosiery in the main aisle. On
table bora a sign 15 cents a pair,
another two pairs, 25 cents, and the
third 20 cents a pair. Tho lj-rnt
table sold almost twice as many
stockings as the other two put to
gether. It was a medium-priced store.
The same experiment with a popular
clientele would, no doubt, have founJ
the two for 23 cents far in tho h-aJ,
and a bon ton store would have M
more of tho 20-rent hos. Another
store advertised tome yarn on one
occasion at S9 cents per hank. Knit
ters examined It on the tables, then
went to tho department and bo-.iijht
the same yarn at $1.13: per hank,
thinking it was better.
The remnant is second only to the
rummage sale in jjopuluriiy. W omen
will buy yard goods in short pieces
at regular price wheo they won't
event look at the same thing in I ho
bolt. Store buyers of cotton and
woolen goods have (rotten rid of m:iny
undesirable patterns and colorings by
cutting the pieces Into short lengths
and piling them oti the remnant tablu.
Geographically speaking, there is
still "a place on the corner." reports
the New York Times. It Is a dlnniinu
tive islet and its name Is Himlni.
Nearest of the Bahamas, it lies only
45 wnlles off tho co.t of Florid:!.
Because of Blmtnl and similar tali s
In the same locality, the winter ro-1
sort of Miami hag come to be called
the "port of missing men," for nearly
every day some vessel wclerhs anchor
there, bound for one of those islands.
If the weather is good In about three
or at tha most five, hours later, du-
pending on the speed of tho boat, the
pilgrims rind their boat tiorl up to
the British government pier. Aiso
some of the thirstiest or the hastiest
fly over. The Aero Limited, Inc.
which Is conducting a passenger serv
ice in Miami, has established what la
called the Highball Kxpress, by which
route the trip takes only about 40
minutes no longer than from New
York city hall to the Bronx by sub
way. There are two Islands, North
Bimlnl and South Blmlnl. The natives
are nearly all blacks and are gath
ered into two small settlements,
Alicetown and Baileytown, whose
combined populations number about
1000. Aside from the fact that a
man may buy a drink six days
week without risking a jail senle ico,
there is tha added attraction of win
ter fishing.
.
"Yes," said Professor Brown to his
bosom friend, "I cannot understand
how people forget the ages of thlr
children. I have no trouble. For in
stance, I was born 3M0 years after
Socrates; my wife 1800 years after
tho death of Tiberius Caesnr; my eon
John 2000 years after the entrance
into Rome of Titus Sempronius
Gracchus, and our Amanda 1600 years
after the beginning of the Folk Wan
dering. It is perfectly simple, you
see." Houston Post.
The Urkharitable.
By tiraee l:. Hall.
Tou, too. hsva met them thos elf
atl.fled. Who through eternal sacrifice have
gained
A measure of such goodness that,
though tried.
They hold themselves immune to
in; refrained
Have they from common earthty
things,
Denied themselves) and kept the
narrow way,
I'ntll in truth they almost hsvs grown
wins".
So all-Intent on being "good" ar
they!
Not wide enough has been the scope
of Minif
Who claim deafness to the tempter's
call,
That they can fairly Judge when trials
coma
That cause another man to flip
and fall;
For untried strength Is not a thins
to boat.
And he is victor who o'ercomea the
most.
Thus, In 'a lovely life that 1 well
know,
Sraree one sweet thouRht of charity
remains.
So saintly i the narrow path below.
That every other Instinct fade and
wuium;
So tensa the on desfre hut to be
"Kood."
That she disdains to mortal who
cun fall.
Condemns most bitterly and thinks
sho should
Dcclurlng none should lift to evil
call!
rorhap this view la right I do not
know;
It mny be mortal man should guard
his soul
Against each human Impulsa and
- show
No Interest save In promised heav
enly gnal;
But Hitne way. Uvea that narrow
down to see
One siiik'le thing and keep no com
mon touch,
Peclarlng man deserves his fat
If he
lcnure the standard that they
value much
Who, In the hour of frailty and sin.
Sweet charity of spirit quite deny.
Aro not the sort of aoula 1 thought
passed In
When KiilJen portala open In tha
sky I
M. Maeterlinck's notion that wine
is a necessity of the soul corresponds
with the message received the other
day from the other world by a ouija
board operator, to the effect tnat
everybody drinks in heaven. But
perhaps the operator had his wires
crossed.
Goinsr to Cuba may be a popular
diversion on the Atlantic coast, but
most of those who have money
enough" to go to Cuba probably got
it through habits of temperance that
will make the trip to Cuba unnecessary.
Another unfortunate thing about
the high price of potatoes is the
temptation it offers the farmer to
plant only the culls, thus inviting
a poor crop next year and a further
continuance of high prices.
Somebody in Wall street predicts
o shnrn decline In stocks; but we
can't eat stocks or wear them or live
in them, so the announcement fails,
somehow, to arouse our enthusiasm.
The man in Ohio who has won
$75 a month alimony, but loses it
if he marries again, will be careful
to get a wife who can support him
or remain single.
Among minor economies still worth
mentioning, we might count the
il. 000. 000 a day the government will
save by turning the railroads back
to their owners. -
Ttin onen season is now on for
poultry raisers who think they can
e-pt esrsrs with magic powders, and
without paying attention to feeding
and breeding.
We used to hear about how a
Chinaman found it necessary to carry
his money in a wheel barrow. Now
it seem that the German must be
in that class.
It mav be admitted that the cost
of living has not been reduced with
out proving how tying up business
all over the country is' going to bring
it about,
There is a story from New York
that storage eggs dropped as low as
1 1 cents a dozen, but It is not siatea
what the eggs were to be used for.
A man has been arrested, in Port
land on a charge of making counter
feit dimes. We wonder what he
thought he could buy with them.
Since the allies have left the Poles
to do their fighting against the reds,
the least they should do is to feed
the hungry, ragged legions.
Non-smoking students at Walla
Walla appear to be putting it all
over the smokers and saving a lot
of money besides.
sciool days, will recall that some pt a,Dlys
We are more than ever convinced
that there is little or nothing in the
groundhog superstition.
Twins are accused in a moon-
shining plot1 Heavenly twins, prob-
The Japanese workmen have devel
oped what Is now known In their
country as tha "lazy" or "go alow"
strike They present themselves daily
at their regular hours, prepared to
work and remain prepared to go to
work until closing hours. The Japan
Advertiser, commenting on this, says
"The obvious raison d'etre of the
"go slow" strike is, of course, tha
fact that It offers means of circum
venting tha law which by forbidding
tha organization of trade unions de
prives workers of funds with which
to carry on a strike. But it would
seem that the idea appeals to sonic
thing in the Japanese mind. It quiet
the doubts of the weaker vessels who
feel that their action is disobedient
and disloyal, and incidentally, by
keeping the men together In the place
where they are accustomed to work
It makes unity easy and strengthens
the influence of the ringleaders. The
method, also seems to have a psycho
logical effect on both parties. It ap
peals to something which each rec
ognizes the feeling of loyalty on the
one hand and of paternal responsl
blllty on the other, both well marked
features of the national character as
it has been developed by a paternal-
feudal system. To go to tha factory
loyal and ready to work If only con
ditions are made just and fair, seems
to the Japanese mmd a nobler atti
tude than that of the arrogant west
em Individually t who. walk out and
refuses to work unless, on his own
terms. It puts tha employor in tho
awkward position of having to dis
miss his whole staff If he cannot
come to an agreement. This he does
not wish to do, both for material rea
sons which are plain enough and be
cause he dreads Its eriect on putiiic
opinion. In short, the "slow" strike
is a successful adaptation of a west
ern theory to Japanese conditions,
and it is not surprising that it should
have captured the Imagination of tha
public."
One of Thomas A. Edison's atories
of bis trip to Bcrln not long before
the war Is retold by Thomas Commcr
ford Martin In tha Springfield Itepub
lican. One of Edlson'a old bench
workers la Sigmund Bergmann, who
went back to Germany with money
mads In manufacturing for Edison,
and became a privy councillor of the
empire. Bergmann brought Ediuoa
into the presence to exhibit the oper
ation of his latest phonograph, where
upon the kaiser got Edison to take
tha machine apart slowly and assem
ble it. Next day before a gathering
of bis notables as though It was
a startling novelty to him the kaiser
repeated tha performance himself for
the benefit of an astonished court.
and got away with it except as to
Edison, who remarks dryly that then
and there he "got the kaiser's num
ber," so that the episode of the
Meteor pewter racing cup had no ele
ment of surprise for him in it. Edi
son tells the story almost sadly, for
he likes real smartness.
"The system of debts and taxes Is
leveling all governments in Europe.
We must ultimately go the same way.
There Is no practicable or Imaginable
expedient to escape it that 1 can con
ceive." The forern'ng is a quotatlt from a
letter by John Adaina, written at
Quincy, July 27, 17S9, to his secretary
of war. '
IXJI'STIt K.
The hraih of demons, rising out of
hell;
A thing of hate, linked with each
evil spell;
A force (h.it wakes resentment hearts
to swell
is rank Injustice.
The blow that fulls upon tha faithful
. beast.
The atlng to Innocence hy He r-
leased.
The claim unfair, another'a effort
fleeced
Deeds of Injustice.
Yet some must feel and hear It every
day.
With steeled control refrain from say
ing nay;
Unaided, puny effort may not slay
The demon of injustice.
Offering; naught, yet teaching self-
control
It tries the mettle of the atrongest
ooul;
A foe to grapple with while acea
roll
Ilijusf ice.
JANETTE MARTIN.
M'uim;.
I am coming. I am romiiiK. hear the
south wind blow;
You may see the crocus blooming, daf
fodil in long alralght row;
Pussywillows now are bending, o'er
the beds where violet mow;
And the warmest wind Is lending
softest broese to melt the snow
I am coming, I am coming; 'ere th
winter's sleet Is fcone.
You may are the robins gathered. 011
the Kreen patch on the lawn;
Curious cotyledons .folded round the
early planted pea.
And the newer borrles molded on
the Christmas holly tree.
I am coming. 1 am coming, over hill
and over plain:
All arrayed in Kaycst aarniriits, you
may ace my courtly train:
O the joyous Incantations, that do
through tha breexes ring.
O'er the marvelous creations nature
tenders to tha sprlns;.
BKRTU.V K. HLGI1KT.
FATIEM'K.
I passed her by, I knew her not.
An ancient dame I never aought.
Her wrinkled vlsasa quite repal.'ed
When once her shackles I beheld.
1111. still she waited, stern as death
She seemed to count my every breath
CauKht every quick Impulsive deed.
To each mistake gave careful heed.
If I would haste aha held me hound.
Enchained, encircled, hedaed around,
If I would fiy she rllmied my wlna
And wfiispered moat retarding things.
Her messengers were everywhere,
Their presence filled the Very air
With littla cords to bid me wait.
To bide my time, be imt elate,
t'ntll at last Imprisoned so.
Her faintest step 1 cams to know,
And even clasped her In tha end.
My safest, aaiiest, staunchrst frlsnd
EVA EMEIIY DYE.
A AVTI.
What joy. what gladness fills th
heart.
When rambling round on nature's
breast.
As from our cares and work depart.
We aeek the balmy peaceful rest.
When through tha woodland on the
hill.
We loiter round with laay ease.
We're wafted heavenward until
We're bitten by those cussed fleas.
Or when soma winding path leads
through.
A flow'ry meadow to a brook.
Where free for all yet seen by few.
Are jewels hid in v ry nook.
We note the mosa, the birds, the skv.
All that'a sublime and full of grace
Our lofty thoughts are stricken by
The fragrant polecat's smutty fare.
WILLIAM VAN OKO3.
Ml' ST.Wt.
Just as you are,
My Morning Star:
When the song rT t lac bird
In the dewy hour.
In the tree la heard
Amid the flowers
I await thy word.
Just as yo.i are.
My Morning Star!
Just as you are.
My Evening Stir!
When the night dews fall
Over the flowers
And over the wall;
In the twilight hours
I await tliy cm I
Just aa yoj are.
My Evening Star!
-JIERlilLL AiiTlit'K 10TU1R3.