The Sunday Oregonian., August 08, 1920, SECTION THREE, Page 6, Image 48

THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. -PORTL.ANJ. AUGUST 8, 1920
EETABUSDED BY HENRY L. PITTOCK.
Published by The Oregonian Publishing Co,
135 Sixth -Street, Portland. Oregon.
C. A- MORDEN-, B. B. PIPER.
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violation of the laws of "civilized"
warfare, though no modern nation
now hesitates to employ sharp
shooters on the masts of ships if this
will serve its purpose. But the real
date of departure from the old tra
ditions may be said to be that of the
battle of Ypres, in which the Ger
mane made their first gas attack.
That they were subsequently beaten
at their own game is beside the point,
which is that when the bars were let
universally fashionable. The Van
derbilt plaint contains no recipe for
the sudden and artificial bringing on
of the millenial dawn. But it does
have a little value as showing once
more that the lot of those who have
nothing but money is not altogether
enviable. Old Cornelius Vanderbilt
got a good deal out of -life, but the
grandchildren and great-grandchildren
can't begin to understand the
kind of thrills that come to the aver
woicd is loai w lie II me oars were lei i iliiiu va. luiuih iul uwtuo w
down all sides were free to engage in I age young man who is going through
the next war there will in all proba-
MAKTNO IT HARD FOR HIM.
In the last number of the Harney
County News are three disconnected
articles which, we think, can be
combined to tell a story.
One is the announcement by the
fcounty- agent of a field day at. the
agricultural experiment station, in
which it is promised that all who
come will be shown how the soil of
Harney county, by proper use, can
be made to produce 90 bushels of
barley to the acre, or three tons of
alfalfa in the first cutting.
Another is an article telling of the
projected establishment of an air
mail service on September 1 between
New York, and San Francisco. -
The third is an editorial on the
tancellation of the mail clerk serv
ice on the Ontario-Crane branch of
the Oregon Short line with the com
ment that Harney county had more
dependable mail service thirty years
ago, when mail deliveries were by
Etage over routes the longest :in the
country. . , ; ...;,-,. :
Harney county is the center of a
vast area in central Oregon which
Invites development. The agricul
tural problems there are different
perhaps from those of any other
eection. It is the effort of one pub
lic agency to solve these problems
and bring this great area into a state
of production for the ' benefit not
alone of those who seek farm homes,
but of the folk within the cities of
ene west who are now paying a high
price for the halt in agricultural de
velopment. " '
Meanwhile another public agency
hampers this programme by cur
tailing mail service down to a con
dition less satisfactory than that of
the stage route service of pioneer
days. The rural communities strug
gling against isolations that cannot
at present be helped are to ' have
further isolation imposed upon them,
while the same . department tickles
the fancy of the great population
Centers with an air mail service.
In another connection it has been
pointed out in these columns that
despite the apparent movement from
the farm to the city, a land hunger
exists in fact. It was illustrated by
countless inquiries concerning a re
cent opening of railroad land grants
In Oregon and by the many pathetic
instances wherein former soldier
boys flocked to this state on - the
chance, in fact virtually . hopeless,
that they might acquire farms. There
Is still much unappropriated govern
ment land in Oregon, but it is in the
sparsely-settled districts, and physi
cal and climatic conditions make its
tise aproblem for scientific solution,
The agricultural college and the gov
ernment agricultural department de
vote money and brains to the latter
purpose. - :.
For homes on the land, men and
women will, endure necessary hard
ships. But needless hardships, even
though comparatively small, become
palling and finally discourage effort.
The railroads have now penetrated
central Oregon, but only two lines
venture timidly into this area, which
Is as large as the state of Ohio. Fair
means for giving central Oregon an
adequate mail service which would
relieve some of the tedium of com
parative isolation are thus available
and these means are improved by
development of the automobile. But
there is a Jack of co-operation arid
helpfulness in . one of the depart
ments of the government. 'The ef
torts or otner public agencies are
discounted - by its indifference. . It
hampers rather than helps the back-to-the-land
movement. But it has
money to burn. for air mail between
centers of population. The city man
Is to be given the inestimable pleas
ure of contemplating his letters and
of marveling over the wonders of
modern Invention.
How romantic to look upon an en
velope and realize that this scrap o
paper has traveled across the conti
nent on the wings of a bird! But
the farmer can wait for his news
papers and letters, and do without
his romance. Possibly Mr. Burleson
believes the farmer should not b
permitted to read at all. The food
shortage requires all his time in the
fields.. '
BACTERIA IX WAR.
The American surgeon who In
London recently predicted that the
next war would be won by the side
possessing the most thorough knowl
edge of the destructive possibilities
of bacteria has set certain of the
medical journals of two countries to
discussing the question seriously, but
he is-by no means the first to indulge
in This line of fancy. It was H. G.
Wells, if memory serves, who first
suggested the infinite advantage the
nation would possess which could de
velop a deadly ray, and the idea has
been worked and reworked in" a
score of forms. It is interesting to
discover that writers who have given
thoughtful consideration to the sub
ject have nearly always coupled the
employment of disease germs and
kindred agencies with the decline of
chivalry and of regard for surviving
remnants of ' distinction between
combatants and non-combatants in
war. . For waging war by creating
epidemics would necessarily include
entire populations, sparing individ
uals because of neither age nor sex.
The drift in this direction may
have set in longer ago than we now
appreciate. The death of Lord Nel
son was once held to have. been in
bility be elaborate provision for gas
offensives, as well as for defense
against them. .;
The final form of gas warfare, as
I regard it," said Major - General
Swinton, the British expert, ."is germ
warfare.". There are none, perhaps.
in this age of wonders who will de
clare that this is impossible, but it
ill. be borne in mind also that
science can hardly discover enough
concerning disease germs to permit
their use- as an imaginative writer,
for example, has suggested, by sow
ing plague by airplane attack with
out also learning something worth
while as to measures of prevention.
As the -shield was the answer to the
spear, and the gas mask to the gas
attack, it is fair to presume that the
bacteriologists who. are now pre
sented as our future soldiers .will
develop not only germ-sowing de
vices but also their appropriate
phagocytes. It is so true that the
two branches of warfare defense as
well as -attack- universally develop
in unison that, we see nothing much
in the prediction to justify us in los
ing sleep far in advance of the event.
, RACING THE TRAIX.
. A locomotive engineer of thirty
years' experience comments, in an
interview in The Oregonian, on the
lack of precaution taken by the aver
age motorist at railroad crossings, as
compared with that exercised by the
driver of a team a decade or so ago.
The man in the farm wagon or car
riage approached the crossing with
care. He would usually stop, look
and listen. The driver of the auto
mobile dashes oyer the track without
looking or listen jfig.
So it appears to the man in the
engine cab. Often this observation
is correct, but we think that there is
another element than wanton reck
lessness which has led many motor
ists into narrow escapes or made
them victims of, accident. They did
look and did see the approaching
train, and even so did not conceive
that they were taking chances when
they attempted to beat the train.
They were reckless without knowing
it.
In the days of highway travel by
horse and wagon," the railway train
was the speediest thing that - man
knew anything about. He was con-
CHAPLrx'S latest tumble, fined to a comparatively slow pace
The fates might have spared us I himself on the road and he had a
is no ground for belief that, if he
were to throw out the Wilson men.
he would fill their places with bet
ter ones. Men chosen through such
influences, would probably be no less
incompetent but would be far more
rapacious. The thousands of useless
clerks would not be discharged; their
number would be increased in order
to find places for "the boys." The
sorry remains of the civil service
law which survive the maltreatment
of Burleson and McAdoo would be
swept away, and we ' should have
the spoils system undisguised. A
Tammany administration might eas
ily cost as much as a first-class war.
When even democrats pine for de
liverance from a democratic admin
istration, it is plain that the over
shadowing issue of the campaign is
the Wilson record. Failure to make
peace and to form a league such as
this nation wishes to join constitutes
but one among many evidences of
its utter incompetence.
Charley. There were three before all
others Pickford and Fairbanks and
Chaplin. To Charley we gave such
tribute as- princes do not receive.
When the breath of scandal rose to a
wind and reft -lis -of his playmates
wafting them away to the seclusion
of an ill-timed honeymoon surely it
were little, enough to ask that w be
permitted to retain our illusions con-
wholesome respect for the thunder
ing cars that ran on rails. Speed is
now jthe companion of everybody
who travels the road. It has bred
not only contempt- for the speed of
other vehicles but an undue confi-
1 dence in the speed of one's own ve
hicle. ' .-- t ' - ' '.-
The automobile driver has learned
to judge speed in a way, also, but he
overlooks the fact that this faculty is
cerning Charley. Tet there he sits largely confined to judging the speed
in a divorce court, quite a different of a vehicle similar ..to his own. At
character from the happy, valorous the intersection of two country roads,
vagrant of the films, whose quaint or of two- streets, when two automo-smile,-
huge shoes, queer little ,hat, biles are approaching it, in view of
rusty attire and jaunty cane were each other, either driver is able to
but the superficial garb of a genuine tell with virtual exactness what will
genius for merriment. Behind the 'be the consequences if neither slack
farce and comicality of the Chaplin ens his pace. "Each is capable of
films the spectator always discerned I judging the time at which the other
hivalry and a refinement that rose
above the custard pie barrage. It as
nly too apparent through the revel
ations of real life that the actor on
the stage and the actor in privacy
are two essentially varying .charac
ters. Of the merits of the Mildred
Harris divorce suit against Chaplin such instances is unconsciously cal-
no opinion need be ventured. A
question suffices why should scan
dal be a concomitant of the screen
successes of, these three?
They were children of the public.
and badly spoiled children, at that. I w.hole of the other vehicle and its
The bane of the adulation we ac- I velocity is mentally recorded without
corded them was an engendered con- much difficulty.
ceit that bade them believe- them- Here we may find a reason why
selves to be beyond the jurisdiction so many automobile drivers take
of the customary conventions. They what are apparently reckless chances
walked apart from us, in an efful- at railroad crossings. They have be-
gent ether where to have one's way come overconfident of their judg-
was to express individuality, reckless ment of the speed of the approaching
of the cost to others, and the canons train as the result of ease with which
of society were less than nothing to they can determine the speed of an
them less than a maternal ordi- I approaching automobile. But . the
nance against jam is to the spoiled 1 train is usually traveling at two or
child. Censure should not be un-1 three times the velocity of the au-
mixed with, pity,' for Maryland Doug I tomobile which competes with it for
and Charley have lost that which the crossing. By reason of its length
may not bo regained. I one glance of the eye cannot take in
They had a debt to pay to the pub- its entire proportions. Objects on the
automobile will reach the intersec
tion. .
. The accuracy of this judgment Is
aided by the fact that each is gen
erally traveling at approximately the
same rate. It is farther aided by the
size of the other vehicle. Speed in
culated from the rapidity with which
objects on the other - side of the
approaching automobile are first
hidden and then disclosed to view.
The eye is capable of taking in the
lie the debt of irreproachable pri
vate life. It was our right, as. we
paid at the window, to feel that the
real characters of the three stars
were as fine and genuine as those 1
other side of it remain longer hidden
to view and it seems to be traveling
at a much slower speed than Is ac
tually the case.
To attempt to beat a railway train
CALL, FOR SIR. RILEY.
While the late Dr. James Hervey
Hyslop, decidedly over there in that
stygian incertitude we term the here
after, continues to be heard from
through various mediums in most
fragmentary and inconclusive fash
ion, there apparently exists no diffi
culty whatever in locating and iden
tifying various other shades of more
or less illustrious fame. To those who
patiently await the marvelous mo
ment when the departed spiritualis
tic savant. Dr. Hyslop, shall reveal
the whereabouts and the text of the
test letter he secreted while on earth,
some degree of satisfaction may be
found in perusing the astral com
munications of those who are instant
at the call of the psychic centrals.
There is the ghost ot James Whit
comb Riley, for instance. A- friend
who loved him in the old days, ere
he was "lost awhile," has received
through the versatile ouija board a
contribution of characteristic verse
which he makes no doubt of, but
readily- asserts must have .originated
with the disembodied entity of the
Hoosier poet. It jingles even as
Riley's country poems did, with a
wistful tang to it, like a sprinkle of
rain on the bright leaves" of autumn,.
Whereat the friend Is moved to
maintain that none other .-than the
well-loved Riley himself - made the
meter and wrought the thought.
In, the. dark tangle of dissention
over the question of life after death,
and the authenticity of spirit com
munication, one guess is as good as
another. Consciously, as a hoax, or
unconsciously; as a telepathic phe
nomenon or the. whim of the subcon
scious mind, the creation of a Riley
esque verse is no difficult matter. In
life he had scores of Imitators, of
admirers whose fancy followed the
lovely, homely humor of his rhythm.
Imitation of Riley was far from per
plexing to any wight with a sense of
the metrical. That the imitations
were at best but poor things, lacking
the flame, did not lessen the super
ficial resemblance of the counterfeits.-
If Riley writes now through
the ouija one must confess chagrin
that his genius has been dimmed by
the winds of space.
There are far too many of these
purported proofs of survival. In
their plenitude and inadequacy they
are apt to discourage attention from
the real marvel, if ever it cornea
Folks will say that so-called psychic
messages -are unworthy drivel and
will deny attention when the investi
gators cry out for it. If the shade of
Riley contemplates this latest fatuity
an amused smile must wreathe those
unseen lips. For Riley was himself
a master of the hoax. Did he not
write in his youth an imitation of
Poe that caused the critics to pro
claim the discovery of a new and un
published gem?
the exception that tests the rule is
proof of nothing except that some
people are out of touch with the
spirit of the times.
The" fact is that the very anxiety
manifested by some folks to get back
to- work is a sign that the vacation
has done Its perfect work. The zest
that comes from rejuvenated brain
cells supplies all the needed proof.
One need only glance at any return
ing vacationist to discover that the
medicine has been good for him. Va
cation ia an economic as well as a
physical necessity; in the long run
production will be fostered by the
greater efficiency that it promotes.
MEDALS WITHOUT CLAIMANTS.
The war department has discov
ered a flaw in its deductive logic, and
must plead a lack of understanding
toward the young men who so re
cently served it and their country in
the field and on the seas. When the
Victory medal was designed and
struck, for issuance to these veterans.
the department prepared to supply
35,000 daily. Four months would '
have been consumed in the distribu
tion. Yet in the first thirty days of
distribution but 60,000 applications
were received for the iits of metal
that commemorate accomplished
duty. At that rate at least six years
will be required to complete the dis
tribution, if all eligible applicants
are recorded.
Lack of interest in the Victory
medal presents no puzzle. The for
mer service men are once more in
tent upon their' own affairs. They
have put the victory itself behind
them, as an achievement of the past.
and the receipt of a belated reminder
in the form of a medal is a trivial
matter to most of the veterans. Na
tionally speaking, the men who fol
lowed the flag to its latest triumph
are not caught by the glitter of
bronze nor entranced by a ribbon.
Were - the Victory medal near at
hand, perhaps, they would accept It
and even occasionally wear the token
of their nation's pride. But they did
not put on the olive drab in quest
of decorations, and in civilian clothes
they are. even less inclined toward
display.
- Undoubtedly these men are both
entitled to receive and to wear the
decoration. In time, but in time be
yond the original expectations of the
department, the medals will probably
be generally distributed. Meanwhile
the average observer will not be crit
ical of the veterans because they be
tray no insistent haste to obtain one.
we endowed them with, through the I over, a .crossing is one of the most
films in which they played. Perhaps") dangerous things the driver of an
that, would be asking too much, but I automobile can do.
at any rate it was our privilege to
expect of them such conduct as does
not lead to scandal and the divorce
court. So each has lost a portion of
capital, of the public confidence that
made for supremacy. Never again
will their more discerning following
witness the pictures in which they
star without the feeling that a fraud
has been perpetrated; without a
twist at. the lips that signifies cyni
cal appreciation, of the joke or down
right disapproval. One has the feel
ing that he has lost three friends,
and that a trio of strangers confront
him. But Chaplin, they might have
spared him to us, just as he was.
THROW OUT THE INCOMPETENTS.
What chance has Governor Cox to
escape bearing the odium that at
taches to the democratic party for
the failure of the Wilson adminis
tration? The nationally-known cor
respondent, David Lawrence, himself
a democrat, says that "the people
are eager to know how far this dem
ocratic nominee is obliged to main
tain in office incompetent demo
crats"; that "a large body of voters
want a house-cleaning in Washing
ton, and they don't care much who
does it"; that "this element as well
as the people who are democrats
anyway but sick and tired of the
handicap or inherited weaith. Rnrlpsons and the Creels and not
Casual bio'graphers of the late Wil- I altogether happy over Attorney-Gen-
liam K. Vanderbilt, who died in eral Palmer's policies, can be reached
France recently, have unearthed a by Governor Cox if he makes it very
statement said to have been made by plain that he "will do a thorough job
him some time before his death, to of housecleaning if elected."
the effect that, whatever may be said I The main indictment which the
of ,the man 'who makes money for I people find against the Wilson ad-
ttiff saice ot maKing it, tne one who is ministration is that it utterly rails
born with the proverbial spoon in to do the nation's business promptly
his mouth is doomed to fall short ol and well, and does it badly at ex
happiness. "Inherited wealth," he is cessive cost. They trace its failure
quoted as saying, "is a big handicap to the type of men that Mr. Wilson
to happiness. It is as certain death appoints and to his refusal to remove
to ambition as cocaine is to moral- them, no matter how incompetent
ity." ;-" . they pmove, provided they please him
Making due allowance for the hy- I personally.
perbole of an embittered man, it is Mr. Wilson is not content to ap-
possibl'e to extract a grain of wisdom point democrats; he must have dem-
from the homily. It is unnecessary ocrats whose minds travel along with
to assume -that the chief end of ex- his own, who are subservient, lack-'
istence is the accumulation of riches ing in independence and 'initiative;
in order to reconcile with the prob- I therefore dull, even stupid. If the
abilities Mr. Vanderbilt's suggestion law requires an appointee to be of
that destiny was unkind to him be- some other than the democratic
cause he was left from the beginning
"with nothing to hope for, with noth
ing definite to seek or strive for."
Therehave been sons of rich men who
have made their way upward in the
world, who have found zest in new
problems, and who have made names
for themselves in fields not associ
ated with money grubbing. But it
remains true that there is no motive
that so sharpens the wits as the da-
sire first to win in the struggle for
existence and then to improve on its
party, the president goes anywhere
than to the republican party, which
is the only other great party.
Effects of this method of selection
became glaringly apparent during
the war. - Men whom he put. at the
head of departments failed miser
ably; for example. Baker, Daniels,
W. B. Wifcon, and the real work
was done by men whom he called
to their aid temporarily from outside
the political field, like Baruch,
Hoover, Stettinius, Ryan and others.
material conditions. As fruitful soils I The emergency no sooner ended than
and sunny skies are apt to breed I these men retired, and they were
physical indolence, so great riches quickly followed by the most corn-
are likely to work unfavorably on I petent men in the cabinet McAdoo.
those who are born to them.' .The Lane,- Redfield. The only incubus
youth who inherits the modest com- I of whom he got rid was Creel, whose
petence, the business and the sound 1 style of advertising the administra
traditions of a father who left him I tion is contrary to the ethics of every
something to build upon may be bet
ter off than he who makes his start
in grinding poverty, but there "is
small doubt that the chances are
greatly against the over-rich. Even
the satisfaction of building the foun
dation of a great fortune, whatevet
this may be worth, is denied him.
"He must labor," as this descendant
of the greater Vanderbilt put it.
"simply to add to an oversufficiency."
It is not enough to say that those
who are born too rich can give their
money away if they want to, and
start at scratch with the rest of the
world. The answer is that it isn't
done, and isn't likely to be done, nor
do we suppose that our social prob
lems would be even approximately
solved: If the potlach were to become
ad club in America. He clings
tenaciously to Burleson, who has
outdone any predecessor in incompe
tent and tyrannical mismanagement
of the postal service. He put Glass
at the head of the treasury depart
ment just long enough to force fur
ther inflation of the currency at the
precise time when deflation should
have begun. He would not part
with W. B. Wilson and Post, though
they have constituted themselves
guardians of the right of aliens to
plot revolution. He makes no im
provement in the war risk bureau,
though it has had more than twenty
months to catch up with arrears of
work. - ..
.' Affiliation "of Mr. Cox with Mur
PuY Nugent, Taggart and. Ere n nap.
ARB VACATIONS NEEDED?
The cynicism attributed to the late
Elbert' Hubbard, "the only time
man needs a vacation is when he has
Just returned from one," shares the
quality inherent in adages over-
hastily ' made. Returning wearily
from a sojourn at mountains or sea
chore, on a train that is late, to a
house that is gloomy and cluttered
up, the citizen will be sometimes in
clined to the pessimistic view. Re
sumption' of the year's routine con
fronts him on the morrow. Almost
any man with experience can analyze
his feelings. "I said in my haste" that
vacations are a nuisance. Of such
f!:msy material a vast lot of so-called
aphorisms are made
We do- not suppose, notwithstand
ing the testimony of all the grouches
who come home - tired from their
fortnight's outing, that a movement
to abolish vacations would have the
slightest chance of attaining even a
limited popularity. For the same
reason that weather superstitions by
constant reiteration become reput
able, anti-vacationists are able to as
semble a certain amount of argumen
in support of their illogicl cause. The
exceptional event lingers longest in
the memory, the usual is soon forgot
ten, and the smartness of the proverb
atones for its superficiality.
To judge from a typical article by
a lately . returned pessimist one
would be inclined to believe that va
cations are a delusion and a snare
that they not only waste our money
but menace our health and endanger
our future happiness. As to the first
specification, it depends, of course
, pi the views we hold as to what our
money is for, and as to the second,
there Is plenty of competent scien
tific testimony that a change of occu
pation, if not complete cessation of
labor, is a therapeutic necessity.
Psychologists and efficiency experts
have shown by elaborate (tests that
brain and body may cease to function
capably because of the mere monot
ony of the demands made on them.
The rest periods allowed in modern
factories are cunningly contrived to
give a maximum of refreshment with
a mininrUm of Joss due to necessity
ot getting back into the swing. The
annual vacation decreed by custom is
a more general application of the
same principle. The trouble with the
enroarfc objector to vacations is that
he deliberately constricts his view.
He- either: judges from the unhappy
experiences of the few or he fails to
take into account the effects of the
vacation on the output of the whole
year. In either, instance, because his
data, are inadequate, his conclusions
are" unsound.
It probably is not true that most
men mismanage their vacations, or
teturn home sorry that they . went
away, or seriously resolve never to
go through the ordeal again. The
vast armies of those who return
again and again to resorts that have
caught their fancies, or who look for
ward with pleasurable anticipation
to new and enlivening experiences in
years to come, are a sufficient refu
tation of the all-work theory. This
Is true of perhaps 999 out of the
DEAD WOOD DICK.
The encyclopedias have not done
justice to Deadwood Dick, a name
brought newly to memory by the
news Uiat one Richard Bullock, sup
posed to be the original Deadwood
Dick, is dead at the age of seventy
five in California. Whatever may
have been the moral shortcomings of
this wild western Robin Hood, he
furnished the inspiration for a litera
ture that was typical of more than
appeared on the surface of it. Dead-
wood Dick and "Wild Bill" Hickok
and Buffalo Bill and a few others to
whom the grandfathers of the pres
ent generation owe more than they
probably will admit were the fore
runners of the real, live story of ad
venture, in western America TRuf
from thai point of view of the literarv
and ' social philosopher they were
more than that.
. At about the time that the Dead-
wood Dick library became popular
openly with youths and secretly
among grownups we had been sur
feited with the Rollo books and their
ilk. William Taylor Adams, whose
real name Is forgotten by those who
remember Oliver Optic well enough.
had put the goody-goody boy on an
undeserved pedestal. Dinah Mulock
Craik's "John Halifax. Gentleman."
published in 1853, represented a
trend in books of the better class, but
a sun unsatisfactory one. Cooper
and Marryat were on the shelves of
everybody willing to make the slight
est concession to tne iove of ad
venture that Is the natural heritage
of boys, but had a hard time making
neaaway against the prevailine doc
trine that books for the young must
De nigmy "moral" and must deal
only with "facts" to be acceptable.
ine period of the Sundav school
library, it will be conceded now, did
not attain Its purpose of inculcatine
the habit of reading In the young.
j-nirty years ago," observes a Dead-
wood Dick panegyrist who writes in
mo lAtuuuu xaiion, mere was a
great wave of objection to all save
nam iacts. The writer Is possibly
mistaken as to his dates. The wave
was at its height somewhat earlier
tnan tnat; it was close to half a ren.
tury ago that demand for something
"better" than facts began to assert
itself. George Borrow was being
read not for the facts he accumu
lated on his colporteuring tour of
Spain and Portugal, but because he
gave a new glimpse of the life of ad
venture as iar rack as the early
lomes. me nation's critic truly ob
serves - that "to well-intentioned
eiders tne title was the book's trana
port," although the thing that was
responsible for its being read was the
irrepressible yearning of young
people for the picturesque, but the
necessity tor camouflage had meas
uraoiy disappeared by the time
Verne wrote his "Twenty Thousand
and the fruits of them were not har
vested until some time after his
death, which occurred' in 1S52. For
some years 'after Elizabeth Peabody
began her uphill task of enlightening
American mossbacks in the mental
processes of children, little or no
progress was made on this side of
the Atlantic. We were well into the
eighties before systematic effort to
broaden the hard-and-fast curricu
lum of the primary schools began to
be made. Meanwhile our youngsters
had access to two kinds of books
chiefly those which they dreaded be
cause they were so didactically moral
or so obviously educational, and the
kind their elders lumped -under the
classification, "trash." Nothing much
was known about sugarcoating the
pill of education. The old system, so
far as its effect .on the formation of
reading habits went, was a failure.
The dime novel, most often surrepti
tiously read, bridged, a gap. More
men. than many will' suppose who
were youngsters In that time owe
their first awakening of curious In
terest in books to the literature of
which the death of the original of
Deadwood Dick is so redolently rem
iniscent. What more sincere tribute, for ex
ample, could be penned to a writer
than that which, afteY nearly half a
century, is indicated by the critic
who recalls that it was the valor of
Deadwood Dick that taught him how
to take a "licking" from a callous
school teacher who held all books
not devoted to dispensing facts to be
anathema. It was, strangely, only a
teacher of literature who had any
sympathy for boyish affection for the
outlaw of the Black Hills and he
must have been an exceptional
teacher for Lis time. Something has
been accomplished when a boy, in
the age of self-consciousness, has
been taken out of himself and
speeded in his natural flights of
fancy, a service which Macaulay per
formed with "Horatius at the
Bridge." Deadwood Dick was only
a more mundane Horatius. and there
was not enough of the original Hora
tius to go around. He was a man of
action and a man to inspire longings.
As the critic says.
I have forgotten exactly how he robbed
the stagecoach that ran from the Platte
through the sandhills of North Nebraska
and on Into the B-lack Hills and Dead
wood. I have forgotten even If the ex
press messenger was killed by him; but i
have never forgotten the country Into
which he led me. . . When I was a
boy. and could travel only on the atlas.
Deadwood Dick took me up winding roads.
between scattered bull pines. Into Tiring
hills. The trees were very tall. The
forest glades were very quiet. I some
times wish I had a complete set of tin
stories In my library now. to turn to oc
casionally from the classics of the schools
and from the discoveries of the coteries
which are thrust at us with an Intolerance
worse than that which accompanied the
advocacy of "Ministering Children." What
are these compared with Deadwood Dick,
donning his mask, and riding down the
North Platte road In the golden twilight
of youth?
We no longer need Deadwood
Dick. He was the avant courier of
better things. The original" of him
outlived the popularity of the tales.
But a volume of the history of juve
nile training might be written , with
this not altogether Bavory human
character for a text.
BY-PRODUCTS OF THE TIMES
The Secret.
Br Grace E Hall.
Gold Hoards in Old Missions of Cal
ifornia Declared Fiction.
mere are very many suiy tales in witMn the frame nnTU whit and
taut
Upon the easel stood; the pliant
The rainmakers continue to fall to
make good their promises of arti
ficially created moisture. An occa
sional attempt apparently succeeds,
but the proof is clouded by the fact
that rain occurs over a more or less
wide area on the same date, and the
department of agriculture sees no
reason to withdraw its condemnation
of the theory. And while It was about
It, the weather bureau, which is a
part of that department, gathered
data that indicate that neither de
forestation nor the plowing of large
areas of the plains has any appre
ciable effect on rainfall. There are
arguments enough against reckless
destruction of forests; their preser
vation helps to maintain rivers at
relatively uniform stage and is
check on soil erosion, but the records
do not show that rainfall is affected
All the Investigators agree regulation
of rain is too big a job for any man
or even a nation of men.
books concerning the old Franciscan
missions of California, but the silliest
of them all is that one which is for
ever cropping up to the effect that
many hundreds of thousands of dol
lars in gold were hoarded in these
establishments, says the Los Angeles
Times.
One has only to ask one's self.
Where did this huge store of money
come from? California had little
traffic with the outside world In the
days of the missions. Hide and tal
low were traded to Yankee ships for
clothing and ornaments, but not for
money; And gold had not yet been
discovered here.
Next to Junipero Serra himself, the
most respected figure in the early
history of California is Padre Lasuen
Even . Bancroft glows over Lasuen.
Surely the word of this venerated
man may be taken for truth.
When the king of Spain once sent
to the California missions for money
Padre Lasuen answered the request
as follows: "Inasmuch as the fathers
are placed .in poverty by their profes
sion and in the Indian wards by their
nature. I think that his majesty does
not want of us a temporal offering.
I am myself without even a sti
pend to which I am entitled, and the
stipends that my brethren receive
they turn over for the advancement
of the missions."
Anything that purports to be his
tory must be supported by the tes
timony of an authentic and reliable
witness. And here we have the tes
timony unimpeachable of Padre La
suen. There are a lot of lying books
that should be fed to bonfires.
What's going to happen to the re
public of Georgia if Americans and
Europeans stopping there continue to
carry off her fine looking girls? asks
the New York Evening Sun. Nex
to bolshevism the principal product
of this part of the Caspian sea dls
trlct is beautiful women big Brun
hllda blondes and petite brunettes, as
well aa the strawberry type that fol
lows In the wake of white horses. In
fact, any 'variety of the fair sex on
likes best can be found in Georgia,
and British, French and of late man
Americans have been doing the Loch
invar and bearing back Georgian
brides to the west.
Everybody in Georgia that is any
body at all is a prince or princess,
explained Miss Katherine Dokoochleff.
Just arrived here from Tiflis. where
she took refuge three years ago from
bolshevism activities in her home,
Samara, Russia. "And there is al
ways a romantic lure to your west
ern men in the vista of marrvin
beautiful princess.
"But meantime Georgian men are
getting uneasy. It's nice to have th
men of other countries appreciat
one's native women, but when they
begin exporting them in great quanti
ties It's time. to look out for posterity.
"The visitors see these beautiful
girls In the near east relief bread
line or waiting at table with some
of the Russian nobility in the restau
rants and fall kerplunk in love with
them Then, next thing; you know
there's a Georglo-American wedding."
brush
Lay on the waiting palette; deep In
thought
The artist lounged. The - pulsing,
vibrant hush
Of silent places, when the soul and
brain
Bring forth a vision birthed of mu
tual love.
And offer it to man In Joy and pain.
Throbbed like a benediction from
above.
Since he had labored last his soul had
known
A bitter sorrow; felt life's cruelest
grief;
He heard upon the winds a well-loved
tone.
But from the ache of loss had no
relief:
The footsteps and the laughter loved
of yore
Came back In memory's echo with a
stintr.
i silent sloom life passed his dark
ened door, .
And all the hopes of years had
spread a wing.
The secretary of state's office fig
ures that there are automobiles
enough in Oregon to carry the entire
population of the state, and judging
by observation on some of these
pleasant Sundays, they come pretty
near doing it.
The mysteries of foreign exchange
are past finding out by the ordinary
man, but we observe a general ten
dency not to crow so much over a
favorable "trade balance without
comprehending just why it should be
called favorable.
The owner of the fifth largest art
collection in the United States died
the other day, but it was necessary
in order to Identify him to recall that
he was also a board of trade oper
ator and former partner of "Bet a
Million" Gates.
An anonymous individual has of
fered 85,000,000 francs for the
French government's entire stock of
Mumm's champagnes. He believes in
keeping mum in more ways than one.
Leagues Under the Sea," just half
century ago. Even "Robinson Cru
- .w ...u, vk . riqq tnat a
tolerant twentieth century will find
it nara to understand, and It is like a
breath from the ancient past to be
reminded tnat it stood the fire only
because of the protection of the
name of Alexander Selkirk, who was
a real character, though the "facte"
of his life furnished little more than
the bare suggestion for the marvel
ous tale by Defoe.
Then came the happy days of
Deadwood Dick, i.nd later Old
Sleuth and Frank Reade and the
hosts of their companions, to bring
to juvenile literature, if not the cold
facts of science and of realism, at
least the facts as youth would like
to fancy them. It is not too much to
say that Deadwood Dick did more to
make books in general popular with
the young than did all the Rollo
books employing the term as de
scriptive of a class that ever set
down the orderly comings and go
ings of a pious and precocious young
blade.
The universality of the appeal
that made the dime novel a serious
problem in that period has since
found recognition in better books,
and. more than that, in more intelli
gent instruction in the art of reading.
A curious fact about the adult of
about two generations ago was his
nearly complete lack of appreciation
of what a child might really enjoy.
Child study never had been syste
matically pursued. Froebel's early
works, which laid the foundation for
the kindergarten, which he estab
lished in 1840, did not rapidly pene
It's a queer form of human activ
ity that doesn't contribute a new
word or two to our language. Take
moonshining, for example, with its
early offering of "white mule."
We are far less Interested In the
recent "breaks" in the Chicago
wheat market than we would be in a
single break in the price of a loaf of
bread.
The barrel apple crop is reported
much larger than usual, but the ap
ples in the middle of the barrel will
be no bigger than they used to be.
The New York police would tell
us, if they were asked, that there is
nothing in the popular saying that
"murder will out.
Another argument against cam
paign tours by party spellbinders will
be found in that increase in passen
ger fares.
Underworked and underpaid! The
sorrows of the poor vice-president
are unique as well as heart-rending.
What use can a reporter possibly
thousand who. take - vacations, - ajjd, ; trate the Eonsclounnesg of educators ; find, for ,500,000 7
A woman of thirty who has taken
five husbands can be set down at the
start as a real optimist.
The constitution of the Confederate
States of America, recalls the Kansas
City Star, differed from that of the
United States in the following im
portant particulars:
1. The term of the president and vice
president waa fixed at six years, and the
president could not succeed himself.
2. Members of the cabinet were given
seats In congress with the privilege of de
bate, but without the right to vote.
3. Foreign slave trade was prohibited,
but slavery was sanctioned.
4. Congress was forbidden to make ap
propriations for Internal Improvement, to
levy a protective tariff or to give bounties.
. 5. A two-thirds vote of both houses of
congress was necessary to admit a new
state into the confederacy or to make ap
propriations not asked for by the heads of
departments through the president.
. The first cabinet was composed of
six men. With the progress of events
changes were made and a number of
other names were added. The fol
lowing is a complete list of the cab
inet members:
Judah P. Benjamin, secretary of state;
Charles G. Memmlnger, secretary of the
treasury; George W. Randolph, secretary
of war; Stephen R. McHory. secretary of
the navy; Thomas H. Watts, attorney
general, and John H. Reagan, postmaster-general.
m
There are over lO.OOO.OOfl motor
vehicles in the world and America
manufactured more than eight-tenths
of them. This country during the
past six years has exported over a
half million passenger cars and trucks
valued at over a half billion dollars.
and at this writing is supplying prac
tically the demands of the world
with automobile apparatus. Iuring
ths year 1919 we exported nearly
150,000,000 worth of tires alone and
almost $40,000,000 worth of automo
bile parts. In 1919 alone this conn
try exported close to 70,000 passen
ger cars and 16,000 trucks, the com
bined value being about S110, 000.000.
The motor vehicle industry In this
country has merely begun to supply
foreign markets, manufacturers have
just awakaned to the fact that for
eign countries ought to be consid
ered as so many additional states."
Alfred Loomis in July Motor.
The success of a baby show In an
adjoining town moves E. J. Melton of
the Boonville (111.) Republican to a
comparison between the baby shows
of old time county fairs where the
Judge happened to be anybody who
dared risk being hated the rest of
his life. "Poor man!" writes Mr.
Melton, "he could judge only from a
winsome smile or the baby's frilly
dress. Today the baby Is scored by
experts, weighed and measured, mer
ited and demerlted by judges who
announce their findings with the
coolness of army physicians. A baby
show Is more important than a pig
club, as high as we value these or
ganizations. Better babies are of
more importance than better hogs.
He seized the brush and pressed the
tubes in turn.
The combination he alone, must
know,
Then spread the color, but as quickly
spurned
T'je first result; then tried again,
and, lo!
The master-mind, exalted, seemed to
pierce
The waiting canvas; vistoned one
' ideal.
He touched tire lighting in with pas
sion fierce.
Held to his thought felt only that
appeal.
Day followed day and still he slaved.
His skill
Was known afar, yet always It had
lacked
One element to win: It did not thrill.
Though painted by a master; and
the fact
Was known to none so well as he;
his heart
Ached with- this failure he had
wrought in vain;
Until he mastered that defect In art.
He had his highest, noblest goal to
gain.
'Twas finished! And they hung it
with the rest
Upon the spacious walls. Wise crit
ics came
And gazed and marked it was it
worst or best?
Ah, none could say, for in that hall
where fame
Or hopeless death to high ambition
falls.-
And laurel waits the treasured
thing of worth.
None knows 'til victory to the victor
calls
With sweetest voice that's ever
heard on earth.
The study was a child with golden
hair
Within a snowy casket heaped with
bloom:
A mellow radiance lingered in the
air.
And through the seeming silence of
the room
A line of shadow figures passed, to
lay
A bud or broken blossom on the
bier.
Then onward moved, to others giving
way.
And on each cheek was seen the
crystal tear.
The judges came and placed the vic
tor s sign
Upon the frame; the crowds passed
by and smiled;
The picture roused a sympathy divine.
For each had known and loved a
little child.
The learned asked for reasons of the
choice
Though none had missed the touch
upon the heart:
The judges answered: "Make some
soul rejoice.
Or weep or pray for that in truth
is art."
It begins to look as If there
wouldn't be a bit of Turkey left by
Thanksgiving day.
A lot of fathers nowadays are get
ting ready to work their sons' way
through college.
Just now it is the average citizen
of Denver who is holding the bag for
a while.
FRENZIED FREEDOM.
The sky was clear and blue and still,
Without a current in the air.
Yet birds in terror swiftly flew
To hiding places everywhere.
Wild squirrels chattered In the trees;
The cougar growled In his lair;
No storm was seen from o'er the leas.
Nor hunter came forth unaware. .
Eaerles dropped to modest height;
Bears hid in mighty canyons, deep.
While hoot-owls, blinded by the light.
Awoke In wonder from their sleep.
A herd of cattle, long content.
Listened, sniffed, then gathered
speed.
Ere like a shot away they went
Thru creek and wires in a stampede.
Whales Jumped from the briny sea
Then turned tall and dove again.
As tho some great catastrophe
Caused their forms to writhe In
pain.
And then a noise far up above.
A buzzing, whizzing, whirring
strain
From some great object on the move
Outvying all within its train.
With pinions spread and head alert.
(All else seemed as standing still)
As tho with death it loved to flirt.
Spanning chasm, tower and hill.
The beasts and fowls of land and air
Were not prepared for such as that,
(And seldom fearful) 'tis not fair
To scare them with a human bat.
But thus it proved that man Is king
Of dauntless seas, of wild and main.
And man-made birds a monstrous
thing, "
E'en tho It's an aeroplane.
MILTON C. ARMSTRONG.
A West Plains (Mo.) woman is ex
plaining her early return from the
Pacific coast. She declares that a va
cation in her own little, solid Ozarks
beats one on a California beach that
Is visited with five quakes in less
than a month. Kansas City Times.
Jud Tunkins says he's never going
to allow any summer boarder to re
main for more than a week, because
It's too much to learn new stories to
entertain the same old crowd. Wash
ington Stat, .
MY FOUR BOATSi A MOTHER'S
PRAYER.
I've four small boats In my port today.
Four emal! boats soon to sail away
Out ot the harbor and over the bay, -Away
from the shelter of home.
I know not when those boats will
ride
The restless, rising outgoinsr tide.
At morning, noon or eventide.
unaer tne mianigm aome.
I only know I shall gaze afar, '
where the untried seas and the
surges are.
And wave, as they cross the distant
bar,
PaEsing one by one from me.
Ah, gladly I'd sail with each little
bark.
And gladly I'd brave the waters dark.
And smile amid storms and wreckage
stark.
If only they safe might be.
Hut each must sail the sea alcme.
Mid perils rare and ways unknown.
Till each young heart hath stronger
grown.
And braver from every blast.
Sr I'll waft a prayer to those fairer
lands.
Where the soft waves beat on goldea
sands.
And leave each bark in the Pilot's
hands.
To guide safe home at last.
ELIZABETH E. SHERMAN.
Salem, Or.