THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, JUNE 13, 1920
' .1
'A
i
unflnirCDrctrmttan
Spanish economist's deduction that she subscribes herself as "Sunny,"
the consumer "always pays the j addressing the absent czar as "Huzy
freight." as we phrase it, nor in its dear." and "My very own beloved
t.TABLiMifcu bi iic.-wti .. -"v. .,,.. tht ,h ,nrk(,r is. indeed, angel." The letters orobab y are
rubiished by The oregnnian publishing Co.. . jn many instances the consumer, genuine. They are said to be exact
C AUMUKDfNrK'' 1 B hpek, i That which is significant is that ; transcriptions, translated tn English,
Manager. Editor. ! these views of how abnormal prices of the originals now In the keeping
The oregonlan is a member of the Asm- ! Came to creation are strikingly iden- of the soviet at Moscow. The soviet
ccveu uIS-c -r"j! I Ucal in both Spain and AmeH ; butchered both husband and wife
tion of a 1 1 new tiispatcnen creuneu iu n. t uiuitrascu wagca air; a. 11 -",v- " "v
or not otherwise credited in this paper and as ever when they do not suffice to
r,rhti'of Improve the plane of living For the
herein are alto reserved. wage worker is still dissatisfied wltn
Between
his nire. and naturally so.
Invariably in Advance. hin and the manufacturer the feud
I continues. They are millstones of
S0? orrni- to rrnsh the lust flake Of ti
ters, however, stands not so much
aghast at the passing of a dynasty
as at the cruel conclusion to a very
human and tender alliance of love.
Subucripttoit Kate
(By Mail.)
Tidily, Sunday Included, one year
J)aHv. Sundav included, six nioulhs . .
Hally. Sunday Included three months,
tiaily. Sunday Included, one month . . .
Daily, witho.it Sunday, one year
Dally, wli huut bunilay. six months . . .
Daily, w ithoitl Sunday, one month . . .
Weekly, one year
Sunday, one year
1 By Carrier.
nailv. Sunday ir.ciuileu, one year
Daily. Sunday included, three months..
Daily, Sunday included. on month 10
Daifv. tthoiit Sunday, fine year 7. HO
Hally, without Sunday, three months.. 11 '5
. . . . f.UMJ
j.-ir, I nancial flour from the vast bulk of
, l the general public, which did not
sponsor their dispute but which
pays, pays, pays. Governor Allen of
Kansas holds it to be , a self-evident
truth that the public has been abused
and maltreated ' more than the
tt.UO
.no
l.on
3.UU
FOl'RTKE POINTS OF MAJDENI.Y
VIRTUE.
The mayor of Providence, Rhode
Island, had wished on him in March,
1019. by the will of an Italian mil
lionaire, the task of choosing once a
year the girl in his city "who, bein
20 years old and marriageable, and
which constitutes 9 1 per cent of
the social body, whereas capital con
In this view, as in the
others, Senor Bonna also concurs.
Daily, without ounday. one month "' stitutes " ',4 per cent and laDor out
How lo Keniil. Send postorrice money i g per cent
orner, rxpicas 01 cieim... '
local bank. Stamps, coin or currency are
at owners risk. liive postoffice address
in full, including county and atate.
ro.tuse Kate. 1 to 1 pages, 1 cent:
IS lo .:! panes. -1 cents; a 4 to 4S pages. 3
cents; in to 64 pags. 4 cents; t0 to SU
pases, a c-tiis; to '' pages, cent.1.
Koremn postage, double rates.
Kaatrm Himinrn Office. Veree & Conk
lin; Lirunswlck buildinK. New York; eree
Conk'.iu. Stcger buildinB. Chicago: v er
ree A, Conklin, Free Hicks building. De
troit, Mich. San Francisco representative,
). J. indwell.
,.,.,k, tho,iov ih riihlir- la aaugmer or tne common peupie,
. .'haul HowAfioc rnmmnnrlfltinn fnr her
conduct and family virtues, by the
unappealable decision of a commis
sion appointed by the mayor." The
reward is to consist of a gift of the
interest of a fund of $10,000. In
addition to this, the Italian eccentric
has suggested that the girl be
crowned with roses and named
"Rosaria."
All girls in" America are "daugh
ters of the common people," and all
who are 20 years old are marriage
able." Still no one, it seems, least
of all the current mayor, wants the
VACATIONS.
'increased enrollment at summer
schools is a sign of growing appreci
ation, not only of the need of educa
tion but of the value of time. Three
months is a long time to loaf, when
there is so much to be done. The
tendency to employ all the months
of the year usefully is intensified as
fixity of purpose becomes more gen
eral. Schoolmen know that young
men and young women are more
earnest than they were a few years
ago. It is not fashionable any longer
to be idle. Attendance on summer
classes is not confined to students
who for financial reasons must con
sume as little time as possible in
qualifying for their degree. It in
cludes, according to a recent esti
mate, fully as large a proportion of
the well-to-do.
The time will conic perhaps, when
colleges will see their way through
the maze of administrative obstacles
to all-year education. The present
sr-hnnl veiir of nine months is the
relic of a time when two conditions
prevailed which do not now, broadly
speaking, exist when school author
ities lacked the means for conducting
practically continuous sessions, and
when our population was so largely
agricultural and so largely given to
family-unit production that it was
necessary to close the schools in
order to harvest the crops. Now
adays students come not only from
the farm but from a hundred other
industries, not all of which are
served by vacations in the summer
time. A good many will And better
opportunities for earning money
during the winter holidays. The
four-term system has the economic
advantage of giving full employment
to the physical plant, of permitting
those who wish to do so to complete
the course in a shorter time, and of
widening the opportunities of those
who are working to educate them
selves. It is claimed for it that it
does not require a larger teaching
staff in proportion to numbers of
students enrolled and that vacations
for members of the faculty can be
arranged for by simple readjustment
Of details.
For the young student Italy still
lies beyond the Alps, but it is more
and more apparent that effort is
required to reach the goal. The
vacation school is at best a sop to
necessity; it will be succeeded pres
ently by schools conducted on the
principle that every month of the
jenr is a month for education. There
is no sound reason why a quarter of
the year, in the finest of all the sea
sons, should be given to aimless play.
A yiE.MOKABI.E CHICAGO CONVENTION"
Candidates were among the first
arrivals at the Chicago convention
of the present. But ever so long
ago, when the republican party lead
ers assembled in the same city, on
May 16, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was
not in attendance. Friends came to
him several days before. "Are you
going up to the convention?" they
asked? "Well, I don't know," drawled
the rail splitter. "I'm not quite
enough of a candidate to stay away,
and too much of a candidate to
come."
It was in Springfield that Lincoln
awaited the news of that conven
tion. Such smatterings of gossip as
came by telegraph were not suffi
cient for the forming of an exact
opinion as to the outcome. To the
future president the outlook was du
bious. "I believe I will go back to
my office and practice law," was
his comment as he went down the
stairs. A moment later a boy rushed
after him, overtaking Lincoln as he
emerged from a dry goods store,
where he had made some trifling
household purchase for Mrs. Lincoln.
"Mr. Lincoln, you're nominated!"
shouted the boy.
The first official message of an
nouncement received by Lincoln
came from John James Speed Wilson,
divisional superintendent of the Illi
nois and Mississippi Telegraph com
pany. From convention workers
came others within the hour, one
reading, "We did it, glory to God!'
This message was addressed tn sim
pie brevity to "Abe," though tele
graph clerks at Chicago added the
remainder of the name before they
tapped it on its way to Springfield.
It was written by N.- M. Knapp of
Winchester, 111.
The boy who carried the first word
of nomination to Lincoln was Clinton
I.. Conkling, now as then a resident
of Springfield. How dim and far
away it all seems, this reconstructed
scene that meant so much to the
nation. Politics was not the complex
mechanism that it is today nor were
men. Personal dignities seem to
have meant but little and manhood
much. Imagine a half-grown boy
of today bearing the tidings of pre
ferment to any one of the many can
didates, either at Chicago or San
Francisco.
with these, or knew a bird for aught I of a tolerant contempt in Germany,
but scientific study or table use, or I a sentiment that Is directed toward
a river save as the haunt or iooa
fishes or the lane of commerce! And
thus does Hilda call to Siegfried:
The lady with th shell. '
The water-lady with the green hair.
Calling, cried. "Siegfried!"
But he laughed to hear her.
Laughed in the sun
And went into the woods laughing;
He was happy In his heart.
And he had golden hair
Till the son loved him.
"Siegfried I"
I will call him!
"Siegfried!"
But he will not hear me.
He could talk to birds and rivers.
And he is gone.
Hilda's mother, who is the assist
ant professor of English at Smith
college, says that the songs of her
daughter are dictated by the child,
and that the diction Is so simple and
perfect that the verses require but
little polishing, while the memory of
the small author instantly detects
each flaw created by the maternal
amanuensis and calls for correction.
Nor is the small author an abnormal
child in her amusements or school
studies, though given one may well
believe to periods of gravely medi
tative abstraction. The truth of
Hilda's authorship has been accepted
by the discriminating magazine edi
tors, and to her friends has long
since ceased to be a . wonderment.
What lovely lanes are yet to be ex
plored, when this graceful and un
erring fancy shall ripen, none may
prophesy. It Is sincerely to be hoped.
task, though it has been somewhat however, that Hilda win Keep to ner
simniiriori he- the atinmpir fnr the I own song, rather than follow the
Italian consul-general at New York,
her conquerors and their requests for
reparation asserting that enforced
demands and stout pressure alone
will bring the Germans to the con
clusion that their pledges must be
kept and payment rendered. To ex
press the idea, the German "enfant
terrible" resorts to an old New
England phrase and tells his inter
viewer that the measure of "keeping
their noses to the grindstone" is the
prescription for the mulish pride and
innate stubbornness of the Prussian.
There used to be a coterie of soul
ful singers, scattered now to the
wings of an empty theater, who
yodeled over and over the refrain that
"the German people aren't respon
sible." Harden- always contradicted.
More than any other man his con
Crude as It was, it was this work J can with only 437,000 automobiles,
that caused his wife to plead with however, there should be a certain
him to abandon architecture for the expansion of the benefits of w hich
greater promise of authorship. He we ought to receive some part. The
next wrote "Under the Greenwood foreign market, nevertheless, need
Tree," published in 1872. a shilling not concern us deeply at present,
shocker in paper covers. Incidentally when we are told that manufactur-
it made his fortune. The editor oi era pians contemplate z.uuu.uuu su
Life: The Mocker.
Br Grace E. Hall.
tomobiles and 425.000 trucks in 1920.
and that they calculate that the . en-I
the Cornhill Magazine, a Mr. Green
wood, found a copy of it in an out-of-the-wav
railway bookstall and.
struck by the occurrence of his own j In the domestic market if it were
name in the title, bought it. He
later- sent for Hardy and engaged
him to write a serial for the Corn
hill. This developed into "Far From
the Madding Crowd." the book
which of all that Hardy wrote has
probably had the greatest number
of readers. Its success was mem
orable and instantaneous. It is re
called now that when this story ap
tributions to the handbook of facts' peared anonymously it was attrib
have established the truth of the
counter claim that Germany acted in
I iitarl In fiperp-p 1-Iint not because of
any similarity of style, but because
who has been so good as to set down
fourteen points of virtue which he
believes the donor would approve if
he were alive. In his opinion the
young woman who would deserve the
prize must be: Strong, true, just,
kind, reverent, humble, dutiful, ami
able, prudent, faithful, patient, cheer
ful, decorous and (If possible) discreet.
It Is a formidable array, and re
calls a similar custom in medieval
times, of crowning each year the
young woman of a village whom the
people regarded as most nearly ap
proaching the ideal. It was aban
doned because it always degenerated
nto an affair of mere log-rolling, in
which the virtues of reverence, hu
mility and kindness were too apt to
be outweighed by other qualities
which do not appear in the present
list. Under any method that frail
humanity would be able to devise.
the violet would have small chance
in competition with the sunflower.
It will be presumed that the interest
on $10,000 will furnish greater in
centive for the exercise of strength
than for practice of truth, amiability
or decorum. The difficulty is not
that the prescribed virtues are not
possessed by many young women of
Providence, or other cities, but that
by their very nature they elude dis
covery. Nor shall we grieve for Providence
if the gift is permitted to escheat.
No girl who can qualify for the prize
will be in need of it. Others do not
deserve it. And Providence will be
spared a lot of campaigning in which
all the womanly virtues, including (if
possible) discretion, would certainly
be cast to the winds.
motley and bells of modern "new
verse." In their simplicity of struc
ture her own poems do, indeed, re
semble those of the modern school.
But they have the merit, lacking in
the latter, of presenting images that
are cameo-clear and iridescent with
the play of comprehensible fancy.
And that is much more than may be
said of Amy Lowell, who wrote the
preface to Hilda's book of fairy
songs.
I'd liken life unto a maiden fair
Who in the springtime garlands her
fair brow
With wreaths of blossoms, twining In
her hair
The tender buds most beautiful;
tire output could be sold in ten days J ana "ow , ,
...... Adnrnpil she frmea with hasket over
flowing.
With gifts from verdant shrub and
plant and vine.
Proffering each a bloom: and all
unknowing.
reached a hand toward one to call
it mine:
But quickly life drew back. and.
bending kindly
Held out to me another flower in
stead. And. humbled, I . accepted alowly.
blindly.
But all my rapture in the gift was
dead.
THE WORLD OVER.
There are times when the perplex
ities of the people, dizzy and dis
mayed by the vortex of events that
whirl too swiftly for instant analysis,
appear to thwart solution. But con
temporary opinions, at first chaotic
and at cross-purpose, gradually shape
parallel courses and establish,
through the logic of an adequate
study and understanding, the true
conception of cause and effect. It is
incidental to this observation that
one finds a Portland merchant and a
Spanish economist, with the world
between them, coinciding in views
upon the hieh cost of living a
phrase that is trite ami vexatious,
but that may no bo dropped until
it is thoroughly moribund. And both
the merchant and the senor hold this
concept in common that for every
increase of production costs the
manufacturer has doubled or trebled
that actual advance ere the goods are
relayed to the consumer. Neither
will accept the statement that labor's
demands have, as they were granted.
created more than a portion of the
burden under which the public
weaves a weary course, and of which
labor bears its proportional share
These opinions, aired for reflec
tion, are significant in that they
comprise an identical view, though
voiced in different tongues and in
widely separated nations, of an eco
nomic tumor that is common to all
countries. The Portland merchant.
returned from a survey of the great
manufacturing centers of the east,
declared his conviction that manu
facturers have taken advantage of
each increase in wages paid to
craftsmen to elevate further and be
yond Just proportion the figure that
is astoundingly printed on the price
tag. He added, as his opinion, that
merchants are finally aroused to the
deception and that, in testimony to
their indignation, the manufacturers
are receiving cancellations from
mercantile firms in every section of
America.
The Spanish observer, Senor Jose
- Carlos Bonna. in distant Madrid, re
marks that while labor gains by aug
mented daily wages, in its successful
demands of the employer, that
worthy spends few moments in re
gret but sets at once to work upon a
revised price list of his commodities
which, eventually, retrieves from the
worker all that has been granted him
and considerably more. Senor
Bonna, even as the Portland mer
chant, has noted that an increase of
20 points in 100, created by a wage
concession, is swollen to 50 points on
the basis of this pretext and is there
fore more than doubled when the
consumer reaches for his wallet.
KAI I.TS OF THE TAX SVSTKM.
Just when everybody who is for
tunate or unfortunate enough to
have a taxable income is gathering
together the money to pay his quar
terly installment, the glaring faults
of the present tax system once more
attract attention. Corporations have
to make long, complex reports which
require the services of experts, and
they do not know until the govern
ment clerks have checked their re
ports what amount they will ulti
mately have to pay. They may not
get this information for many
months. They must accumulate
largo sums to pay at stated periods,
to the embarrassment of their busi
ness. The net result is that much
money is kept idle for long periods,
either in preparation to pay taxes or
to meet demands for deficiency pay
ments. When each quarterly payment
is made the government pays off
treasury certificates and boasts of
having reduced debt, but in a week
or two it borrows again in anticipa
tion of the next payment.
All of this waste of stationery.
clerk hire, time of everybody con
cerned, interest, could be saved if the
income tax was simplified and made
to apply alike to personal and cor
porate incomes, and if a tax on sale
to consumers were substituted for
the excess profi.s tax. This tax
would be no more difficult to collect
than the present tax on luxuries.
drugs, toilet articles, railroad and
theater tickets and soft drinks. The
objection that it would tax the poor
man is the veriest buncombe. The
poor man pays the excess profits tax
half a dozen times over in the shape
of exorbitant prices, and those prices
are sustained by the restriction on
production that the tax causes. Only
one tax would be paid on final sales,
the buyer would know its amount
and the seller could not add a profit
on it, as he does with the excess prof-
us tax. Everybody, rich and poor
would pay it, and as the rich would
buy more than the poor, they would
pay more. It could be made lighter
on necessaries than on luxuries, on
small sales than on large ones, so
that the rich would pay more in pro
portion to their purchases.
An advantage to the government
would be that such a tax would keep
a steady now of money into the
treasury all the time, and the con
t'mual borrowing from Peter to pay
Paul would stop, together with in
terest on these loans.
SONGS OF SEVEN.
Elder folk, attaining the perfect
pearl of understanding, have always
known that to children only is the
province of fairyland open, with
never a sentry to turn the young
adventurer Dack toward the gray
plains of the commonplace.
In Northampton. Mass., dwells
little maid who talks with flowers
and fairies, and to such accompani
ment or musical rhythm, and rare
but simple beauty of phrase and
concept, tnat tne wisely wearied edi
tors of magazines and publishers of
books, their eyes dancing behind
great horn-rimmed glasses, have
vowed: "Here is a poet of spring,
and sunshine, and buttercups, and
childhood!" And forthwith they have
penned checks in her name and sped
them to Northampton, and asked her
please to dream again and send an
other poem. She talks with fairies,
as it were, but is dowered also with
that strange facility of genius, which
permits the translation of dreams.
When she was seven she sang:
The wartime letters of the ill
fated Russian rulers, husband and
wife, as they are now appearing in
the press, are far more interesting
for their revelation of royalty's
marital felicity than for the occa
sional political flickers they cast
upon events that have entered his
tory. As all the world knows, the
monk Rasputin was an evil genius
of the house of Romanoff and a
tremendous tool of both destiny and
the German empire. References to
this man, therefore, in the letters of
the czarina to the czar, lose their
edge for lack of surprise. But the
possessors of firesides will linger re
flectively upon the very human fact
that the czarina signed her missives,
"Ever your own old Wify," with the
same gently naive affection that an
elderly matron from Peoria. Ill
would employ In a missive to nur
There is nothing new or novel in the j husband sojourning in Chicago. Again
cannot see fairies.
I dream them.
There is no fairy ran hide from me;
keep on dreaming till 1 find him:
There you are. Primrose! I see you. Black
V ing !
No truer formula was ever written.
as all the elder world knows, though
having lost touch with childhood it
cannot follow the rule. But here
and there, in the chronicled lives of
dreamers, one finds that beauty in
art and letters came to blessed being.
and remained to garland memory
with fame, because impractical men
and women chose to "keep on dream
ing" until they gave expression to
the haunting melodies within their
souls. Some portion of the fief of
childhood remained to them in per-1
petuity. Though fame came often
late they were thrice paid in the
possession of crystalline, undimmed
visions of colors beyond the spectrum
of the humdrum.
"Poems by a Little Girl," just from
the presses of an eastern publishing
house, is a compilation of rhymeless
verses created by Hilda Conklin, the
nine-year-old daughter of the assist
ant professor of English at Smith
college, Northampton, and its five
score poems were written belief is,
difficult between the ages of four
and the present. Yet the correct
ness of the claim to authorship has
been established beyond dispute. In
a day when youthful prodigies are
more to the fore than ever they
were, when bulbous-browed savants
of seven toy with the classics or
higher calculus, it is as refreshing
as a hill spring to find precocity-
turned for once toward the weaving.
in dewy verse, of such thoughts as
children think. To Hilda the blos
soms of the garden have quaint and
human personalities, the tree-toads
are her troubadours, and the chick
adee beyond the windowpane is the
elfin purveyor of a lullaby. Some
th.ng of the witchingly fantastic
imagery of the little girl's verse may
be sensed from the "Moon Song."
written when she was maturely six
years old:
There Is a tar that runs very fast.
That goes pulling the moon
Through the tops of the poplars.
It 1 nil In slivor.
The tall star;
The moon rolls goldenly along
Out of breath.
Mr. Moon, does he make you hurry?
Or in the childish roma'nee. blend
of woodsy vacations and remem
bered folk tales, that breathes the
lonely plaint for that lost playmate
of fancy, Siegfried, who "could talk
to birds and rivers.'.' Could talk to
birds and rivers how very, very long
ago it was that grown-ups talked
DOING JISTICB TO 1ABOB.
Statistics need interpretation as
well as assembling, as is shown by
analysis of statements recently made
that labor throughout the country
is only 50 to 60 per cent efficient.
Dr. John Whyte, of the department
of research of the National Associa
tion of Credit Men. on the basis of
an extensive questionnaire addressed
to manufacturers, declares that the
estimate is. "clearly an overstate
ment," It is conceded that there
was a considerable slump in effi
ciency just after the war, but there
Is noteworthy improvement of con
ditions. A few employers are be
ginning to report that efficiency is
higher than before. The average
ratio of labor efficiency is found to
be 73 per cent of pre-war times.
But here the returns will bear
further dissection. Conscious slack
ing is not the factor that it was once
declared to be. There is some in
competency, which is a different
matter as entering into our appraisal
of the spirit of the man on the job.
because this is due to change in per
sonnel, rather than to lower rela
tive output by individuals. On ac
count of scarcity of highly-trained
men for a certain job, to illustrate.
It is frequently necessary to employ
workers less well trained. The
skilled artisans may be producing
as much as ever, but the apparent
average is reduced by dilution. It
is no one's fault, where good faith
is shown- to exist. The fact that
Improvement is progressive indicates
that in a good many instances men
are actually doing their best.
More than 10 per cent of those
who replied to the questionnaire said
that the old labor was as efficient
as ever, but that new labor was less
efficient. The latter statement is
by no means surprising. Even more
significant is the statement that only
6 per cent reported decreased pro
duction in March, 1920, by compari
son with December, 1919, while one-
third reported an increase. If the
rate of improvement continues, we
shall know that we have passed the
turning point. We can put up with
a certain amount of excusable lack
of skill, due to absence of oppor
tunity for training, if we know that
the heart of the worker is in the
right place. It would seem from
Dr. Whyte's report that there is rela
tively little organized determination
to "go slow," and that men are be
ginning to realize that to hold the
advantages they have gained they
must make a reasonable effort to
furnish a quid pro quo.
concord during the war and will act
in concord thereafter, when she
shapes again her world relationships.
In concord and contempt, rather
and this should be remembered un
til, if the day ever dawns, Harden's
homeland brings proof of the birth
of a liberal and lofty spirit.
INCREASING SUICIDE.
We need someone to interpret for
us the significance of the report of
the Save-a-Life league, which finds
that suicide is on the increase in
the United States. Mere statistics!
are not satisfying. To the careless
assumption that the suicide is moved
to despair over the outlook, the fig
ures answer that more people kill
themselves in summer, when the
skies are fair, than in winter, when
they are dark; that the rate of self
destruction is higher in times of
prosperity than in years of panic:
that peace intensifies it and war does
not.
The analogy continues with the
showing that the proportion of
women among suicides is growing
steadily; as constantly as the lot of
women as a whole improves, as wider
opportunities are open to them, as
sex discriminations are abolished.
More than one-third of the total
number reported in 1919 were women
the highest proportion known since
collection of data on the subject was
begun
The child suicide problem is even
more perplexing. Youngsters who
cannot have reached the age of mor
bid introspection are taking their
lives to escape what? We are not
less humane In our treatment of
children than we were a century
ago, when child suicide was un
known. It does not answer the ques
tion to speak of the "spirit of the
time."
When psychiatrists confess them
selves bewildered, what shall the
layman do? The issue eludes both
science and common sense. The
Save-a-Life league does not even
scratch the surface of the ground
in its report. Only to set down the
figures is only to add to the burden
of our perplexities. '
it was believed no other living au
thor was capable of writing it. This
was in 1874. Only seventeen years
before this, when Eliot's "Sad For
tunes of the Rev. Amos Barton" and
"Mr. Gilfil's Love Story" appeared
in a single volume, Thackeray praised
the book in the belief that its author
was a man and that no woman
could have' so well succeeded as a
novelist. But Hardy soon emerged
from anonymity. "The Return of
the Native," an unpleasant, if a pow
erful, story, came in 1878, and is
still regarded by many critics as his
masterpiece
That the Hardy vogue should have
continued to the present day is in
part a refutation of the often-ex
pressed notion that people in the
complex state of twentieth century
society have no time to read long
novels, particularly those containing
long and trosy descriptions of wood
land scenery. Without consciously
pandering to any class, for Hardy
was above that, he found a wide
following among those inclined to
ward fatalism. Nothing in Hardy's
fundamental makeup prepared him
to believe that as a man sows he
shall reap. Circumstances he re
garded as uncontrollable. The fates
he invoked are as unjust as possible.
His characters are cften punished for
the sins of others, as he conceived
it to be true that events come to
pass in life. This is his realism.
Though the fallacy be ever so ap
parent, his craftsmanship is so skill
ful that he carries the reader with
im. There is nothing to be said
s to the morals of the Hardy cult.
ndoubtedly he has been sincere.
We would not wish to censor him.
It is even possible that his gloomy
pictures may exercise a beneficent
nfluence. But they should be con
templated with mental reserve. It
would be a sad world if the isolated
sketches of it that Hardy has given
s were true pictures or It as a
whole.
available.
It Is significant that the automo
bile makers do not regard the fuel
problem as a permanently obstruc
tive factor. Yet while we are deal- j
ing with startling figures, it is inter
esting to note that manufacturers
themselves estimate the probable
waste of gasoline by needless or un
economic use at 3,000,000 gallons a
day for the United States. This is
considerably more than a billion gal
lons a year. Perhaps the real point
of saturation win be found here; it
may be that expansion will cease for
want of motor fuel some time be
fore we cease to find new economic
uses for automobiles. It is an en
gaging topic for speculation, and the
incentive for finding a substitute for
gasoline will be intensified by the
showing that the "pleasure car" of a
few years ago has justified itself by
its ability to put into the economic
structure as much actual value as it
is taking out of it .
THE GOOD GERMAN NETTLE.
Maximilian .Harden, who scored
and scolded Germany from within
when less privileged persons would
have been removed to the celestial
choir, still scolds. He has won the
right, and none will gainsay him. A
fearless, trenchant speaker and au
thor when kaiserism was in the
saddle, ready to ride roughshod over
all opposition, it was not to be
fancied that, his predictions fulfilled
by the defeat of his nation, he would
stay his lively tongue from the moot
subject of the aftermath. From
Harden the allies learned many an
abiding truth concerning German
character, and profited thereby. That
the Germans themselves did not
profit was due ' to the elemental
complacency with which they re
garded all criticism of their habits
of thought and methods of attain
ment.
Speaking in Copenhagen, with the
fluent and cynic sarcasm of which
he is master, and which etches like
acid, Harden recently observed that
the allies were far too gentle and
lackadaisical in their enforcement
of the pledges exacted by arms. Such
treatment of hi3 conquered country
men, said Harden, betrayed a genu
ine paucity of understanding on the
part of the allies, to whom not even
four years of strife had made fa
miliar the German psychology. Your
genuine German, continued Harden,
in dilation of his topic, is in the
world of flesh a counterpart to the
nettle in plant life. Even children
know that the approach to a nettle
must be bold, determined and ag
gressive. Grasp the maleficent plant
swiftly and firmly and its power to
sting perishes with the crushed 'and
infinitesimal spines. But dandle it,
toy with it, treat it with tenderness,
and it leaves the weal of its irra
tional rancor. So Harden says of
the German people:
If you treat them, collectively or Indi
vidually, with consideration. If you handle
them gingerly, you are certain of burning
your fingers, but grasp them firmly and
you are quite safe. They have learned to
love an Iron hand and they do not oare
even for the proverbial velvet glove to con
ceal it-
THOMAS HARDY AT EIGHTY
Like his contemporary, William
Frcnd de Morgan, Thomas Hardy
laid the foundation for authorship
in a field as far removed as possible
from literature. De Morgan was a
potter until he found that he could
write. But he waited until he was
sixty-three, while Ha.dy had a sen
sible wife who appreciated his genius
and who early urged him to abandon
his nrofession of architect for the
field that certainly was much more
to his liking and that was afterward
to make him one of the most widely
ad of the authors of his day. One
will discover by the simple expert
ment of trying to borrow "Tess of
the D'Urbervilles," "Far From the
Madrliner Crowd." "The Return of
the Native" or "The Mayor of Caster
bridge" from his own public library
that Hardy's novels are being read
and in America, now. As to his
verse, of which he has written two
fair-sized volumes and which he pre
ferred to his prose, there is a dif
ferent story to tell. It is as a realistic
novelist, who did not need the device
of the happy ending to hold his pub
lic, that his name is most secure
Hardy was born in a little village
in Dorsetshire, in tne counirysme
that had been his lifelong home. He
won when only twenty-three years
old a prize for an essay on "Colored
Brick and Terra Cotta Architecture.
The impress of his early studies and
associations is left on his writings.
Two architects appear in the first
novel he wrote, and there Is another
in "A Laodicean," a novel that is
regarded as largely biographical
considerable portion of several of his
works is taken up with description
of architectural detail, but his early
profession is mon manifest in what
Professor I helps calls his eye fo
the precision of form than in th
technical minutiae with which som
of his pages abound. Having framed
a pattern, he is likely to follow it
rather closely. His descriptions of
nature, tedious as they are to some
ought not to be skimmed by those
who read philosophically. They are
more than mere descriptions. At
least they form a background, some
times of contrast but more often of
allegory. The inevitableness of nat
ural processes is depicted in them.
Fate pursues the individual as it does
the tree. Man is no greater than the
leaf on the bush. The happy ending
is no more to be assumed in the one
instance than in the other. Nature
is inexorable. Hardy is not always
pleasant, but he Is impelling. In the
century that produced a dozen great
English novelists including Dickens,
Reade, Kingsley, fhackeray, the
Bronte sisters and Disraeli he was
a commanding figure. He stopped
writing novels at sixty, when he was
three years younger than was De
Morgan at the beginning of his ca
reer. In "Judo the Obscure" it is
hardly probabp. that he had ex
hausted his material. A rare sense
of self-repressioi may have gov
erned him in setting an example that
in the case of Hardy may have re
sulted in a loss to the public, but
that could be followed with advan
tage by-others who linge superfluous
on the literary stage.
Something of chance entered into
his success. His first article for gen
eral publication was entitled "How
I Built Myself a House." It encour
aged him to think that he could
write, but it had no other value.
A story called "The Poor Man and
the I.ady" was submitted to George
Meredith and elicited the latter's ad
vice that it be entirely reconstructed.
His first novel. "Desperate Reme
dies, was a rcarsome tning, now
The principle of benevolent aid to
purely scientific research, such as
may involve great expenditure of
the time of learned men without def
inite promise of immediate reward
is not vitiated by the suggestion that
the appropriation by congress of
$250,000 to promote the discovery of
a substitute for gasoline, recently
asked for by a Minnesota member,
is not needed. If there is anywhere
in the land an industrial chemist
ho has not had the subject in mind
e is a curiosity, and if there is a
concern interested in motor trans
portation that wouJd not foster such
discovery its name is not known.
A man with so much as the glimmer
of a good idea probably would have
o difficulty in obtaining backing.
The rewards certainly would be large
nough to the successful, since it
seems to be less a question of price
than of obtaining any satisfactory
ubstance promising development on
sufficiently large scale. It is one
epartment in which the govern
ment might well save its money and
rust in private initiative to see the
business through.
Harden discourses further to the i Interesting chiefly for the . light it
cxiuie cactu xie cues toe existence 1 cast on me writers loriuaiive stage.
A LCXt'RY OF YESTKRDAY.
It is capable of proof, as J. George
Frederick shows in an informative
review or tne automobile situation in
the Review of Reviews, that the au
tomobile no longer deserves to be
classified as a mere luxury, or even
as chiefly an instrument of self-in
dulgence. One needs only to study
the amazing figures which Mr. Fred
erck presents to be convinced that
this is so. "The economic aspect of
the automobile industry admittedly
educes costs, annihilates time and
supplements other facilities of trans
portation." To the extent that this
process dominates industry it un
doubtedly is sound; there is little
doubt that it largely does so. The
attitude of the public toward self
transportation has undergone a com
plete change in less than two decades
The opinion will be confirmed by the
most cursory observation that "the
greatest demand for cars will in
creasingly come from those who
make beneficial use" of them. One
fact alone, culled from a mass o
data bearing on the subject, is il
iuminative. t orty-nve per cent o
automobiles, for example, are sold to
farmers and small town inhabitants.
Here the claim that the motor make
two minutes grow where only one
grew before is least likely to be dis
puted. In the small town and in th
rural regions transportation is an
obvious ingredient of time economy,
The same thing is perhaps equally,
if not so obviously, true of motor
transportation in general.
When will the point of saturation
be reached? To ask the question is
to open the whole economic issue. To
appraise our absorptive capacity for
precious stones, of which American
are now said to own two-thirds of
the supply of the world, would tn
volve less intricate calculation. Motor
transportation depends for its con
tinued expansion on its ability to jus
tify itself as a necessity. "Service
is the watchword of the time, an
service means something more in th
vocabulary of society at large tha
the hurried satisfaction of a whim
Even in its recreation aspects, it pos
sibly is true that the automobil
"provides the incentive for men to
work harder to produce other goods,
It is declared on erood authoritv that
aDDrOlimatHl V 9ft noe' Panl ftf no a- 1
senger cars are employed at least
part time for some business purpose.
Present inadequacy of railroad trans
portation gives the automobile a
chance to shine. Motor busses and
private automobiles have leaped into
the breach In every failure of con
ventional transportation, caused by
strikes or other causes, to function.
In a single city in New Jersey, for
example, more than 30,000 passen
gers were carried by automobile
busses in 1919.
The relation of the motor car to
freight hauling is appreciated by few
persons. There are about 800.000
truoks in the country, hauling 3,600,
000 tons a day. or about 15 per cent
of the total haulage of the country.
Railway transportation is obviously
cheaper in transit, but for short
hauls the difference is largely re
duced by terminal charges in the
case of railways, and by the fact that
unloading, motor hauling and other
costs are entailed, and much time is
lost. Up to seventy-five miles, door
to-door delivery may be cheaper, all
things considered. The number of
horses released for use on farms rep
resents the tillage of 15,000,000 acres
more than otherwise would be culti
vated.
The total number of cars now in
use in the United States, about 7,
750,000, is approximately one car for
every thirteen inhabitants, by com
parison with one for every 2182 per
sons in Europe. Here we are in
danger of drawing unwarranted con
clusions; it is unsafe to count too
much on Europe's absorptive power
in our time. With 449,000.000
Life passed upon her way and others,
choosing.
Stretched forth a hand to grasi
that selfsame flower.
Eut she in obduration most confusing.
The other blooms gave out from
hour to hour;
It was as though she said emphatic
ally: "I give more than you ask, ofttimes,
and yet
Because but one rare bloom you seem
to see.
I must be blamed; while you in vain
regret
Gaze on the gifts I leave, and grieving
view
The single bud that could not be
your own.
Although perhaps could Truth explain
to you
The one I left might for that loss
atone.
But all along the way I heard the cry
Of disappointment as the maiden
passed.
Giving her gifts so freely going by.
W ithholding that one longed for to
the last:
And gazing on the blossoms she be
stowed, v
Yet knowing she was deaf to plead
ing voice.
she seemed a scornful mocker on the
road.
For few indeed were given of their
choice:
And though we oft compare our gifts
and say
Perhaps she knew which one be
came us best.
Still flow our tears for what she took
away.
When she passed by. ignoring our
request.
Whether or not it is true, as stated
hat $250,000,000 worth of treasure
has been recovered from the bottom
of the sea since the war ended, treas
ure hunting will continue to chal-
enge the attention of inventors and
adventurers as it has done since the
beginning of time. There Is ev
dence, too. that practical men are at
work, and that with the mechanical
facilities of a modern age a good deal
will be accomplished that would
hardly have been dreamed of a third
or a century ago. Two inventions
alone, both made by Americans,
promise to revolutionize salvage
One is a diving apparatus making it
possible to descend to previously im
possible depths and the other an oxy
acetylene torch that can be operated
under water and used for cutting
holes in the sides of submerged ves
sels. Yet no invention can overcome
the perils of the sea and new chap
icrs vi ueiprivauon ana heroism are
HRely to be written when the details
of the search become known. A life
on the ocean still holds possibilities
enough to satisfy the hardiest and
the most venturesome.
In an item about a whisky burg
lary, the age of the burglar is given
as seventy-two years. If his loot i
only half as old as he is there are
a lot of people who will think it was
well worth taking a long chance to
get.
Blasco Ibanez, who spent a few-
days in Mexico, is satisfied that th
country will soon settle its own in
ternal problems. But there are peo
pie who have lived there all thei
lives who are not so sure of it.
The fact that the cow that sold
for $30,000 recently was bought by
a man named Pabst has given ris
to a wild rumor that her milk ma
be valuable for something besides
casein and butterfat.
THb; TOILER.
Have you ever been just weary.
Just tired and all fagged, out.
Sick and disgusted with scheming.
And wondering what it's all about.
This looking and longing and search
ing.
Working and toiling for gold.
Just to build up a quiet retreat
For shelter, when you ve grown old?
I've worked, I've toiled and I've
striven.
At times been almost counted out.
I've looked for some years for one
thing.
But sometimes I've been ready to
doubt
That I'll ever find this gold-stuff.
That all of us hanker for.
This stuff that causes such heart
ache,
With its glittering, shimmering
lure.
Some of us are born in riches
And never know sorrow or care:
While others at birth begin striving.
To gain just a part of their share.
Some of us wear our silks and satins.
Others wear nothing but rags;
A few have the cream of the nations.
And the rest get only the dregs.
Somehow I've dreamed of a future.
Resplendent and blessed with the
sun.
When J could be quits with this
scheming.
And my striving for ever be done:
But now must 1 give up my dreaming.
Must 1 walk with defeat as a pal.
With nothing to see in the future.
Just a miserable, weather-stained
hull?
But somehow. I can't cease my striv
ing. And somehow I ever can smile,
And look far over the horizon.
And content for many a mile.
For I've love to strive along with me.
And that can't be bought with gold.
So perhaps some day all my day
dreams. Slay come true, be I ever so old.
PATRICIA J. EVANS. '
r '
.
: .
r,
Excluding those who contemplated
a bit of profiteering in streetcar
tickets, the rush for books was a not
discomforting assurance that people
have not wholly lost their sense of
thrift.
We are now at the time of year
when the girl who wears a filmy
gown and a fur neck piece is not
altogether a joke. Both garments
are justified by this kind of June.
A federal judge has found that
radical literature is only "dull."
Which is probably the reason why
those who have read it are doing
the least worrying about it.
Fourteen thousand tons of sugar is
about a quarter of a pound per cap
ita for the people of the United
States. It is not as imposing as it
sounds.
Soon the business statisticians will
be able to stop puzzling us with talk
about "replacement values." There
will be nothing to replace things
with.
The celluloid collar movement has
small chance so long as the Parisian
ivory industry continues to absorb
most of the raw materials of celluloid.
TIIK UIMiKR.
There's a demon who sleeps with his
heurl nn in v heart.
And his slumber is light as the leaf S
of a willow, y
For he wakes at a touch which is soft
as that leaf
When, moved by a zephyr, it kisses
the billow.
There's an angel who steals like a
vision of God
Half seen and half felt through the
odorous gloom
Where Conscience sits writing a won
derful book
With a magical pen in a mystical
room.
And the demon lies still when the
angel is near.
As still as the grass for a century
dead:
As still as the stones which are put
at a grave.
Th stone at the foot and the stone
at the head.
Then Conscience and Fancy and Ro
mance and Joy,
And Beauty and Truth and the
Mother of Love.
Looped round with white lotus and
sweet-breathing gul.
Through the halls of my spirit ma
jestically move.
Then the demon springs up in the
strength of his mane.
And kindles my he-rt with a con
suming fire:
And always a hag chatters close at
his side.
The hideous, horrible soul of desire.
GUY FITCH PHELPS.
The man with the hoe was brother
to the ox only twenty-one years ago.
We wonder what Professor Mark-
ham would think of him now.
Long live the dandelion wine in
dustry or at least until the dande
lions in our lawns have been exter
minated by the booze hunters.
The time has gone by when any
body can ' promise the support of
"labor" to any ticket and deliver the
goods.
Four deaths from heat prostration
in Chicago emphasize again the
beauties of Oregon as a summer
resort.
Still one wouldn't care to live in
New Zealand, just for the privilege
Europeans getting along as best they , of buying sugar at 8 cents.
TO TH K SLAVES OK THE IDEAL.
Arise, ye servants, and defend the
gods
Whom ye in honor claim to worship, as
With hearts now saddened by the
turn of fate.
And hope ' expiring swiftly in your
breasts
Ye cow'r before the broken, mold'rlng
shrine
O priests and priestesses who yet hold
dear
The sacredness of Beauty s altar fires.
The solemn grandeur of Contentment's
halls.
Tha lnftv mafestv of Nature's realms.
I Arise! unsheath thy tarnished, rusted
swords
Those mighty swords which have
turned red with age
And not with blood. Throw off the
binding cords
Of inert laxness. and with ardent
hearts.
Souls flaming with a vow to -ecreats
A gleaming rhrine to Art and noble
SOU1S. -Vvf. v
Go forth tnd gather gems. The jew- .
els of e .
God's goodness hidden lie. in spots F ,
unknown. p -
LOIS SMITH. - .
5 ;