8
THE SUNDAY OREGOTfTAX, PORTLAND, -.MARCH". 20, 1921
ESTABLISHED BY HENRY L. PITTOCK.
Published by The Oregonlan Publishing Co,
136 friUtb Street, Portland. Oregon.
C. A. MORDEN. IS. B. PIPER.
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rrnFRAL aid for edccatiov.
Supporters of the Smith-Towner
MI! providing for a federal depart
ment of education and for an annual
appropriation of $100,000,000 to aid
the states in carrying out their edu
cational programmes make out a
nfrrong statistical case for the need of
the measure. It Is slated that there
are In the United States more than
a million hoys and girls who are be
ing taught by teachers who have had
only an elementary school education,
that one-sixth of all the teachers in
the country arc under twenty-one
years old.; that thirty thousand, or
about 5 per cent, have no education
beyond the eighth grade, and that
four-fifths of the whole number of
teachers employed have had less
than two years of specialized train
ing in the problems peculiar to their
profession. About 40,000 are admit
tedly temporarily engaged and have
not fulfilled. what Joseph H. Defrees,
president of the United States cham
ber -of commerce, calls "even our
own'low educational requirements."
These disadvantages fall heavily
on--the rural districts and are fac
totsC.ii the movement to the cities
frettB- the farms, which is widely de
plored but which is not being
checked by constructive, enterprise.
George Drayton Strayer, professor of
eJjeationaI administration at Co
lumbia, says that it is a well-known
fact that there are many communi
ties In the United States 1-t which no
mure than three months' schooling
arfprovided, but "not so well known
that -there are tens of thousands of
children in the United States who
ar$ lanrolled in schools in which
from the beginning to the end of
their school lives they are taught in
a foreign language." There are, he
adds, ev.n today in the United
States public schools in which the
teachers are unable o speak English
correctly, and in which English, if
taught at all, has the place of a
mOSern foreign language.
Americanization of aliens. not
withstanding a good deal that has
been said about it in the immediate
pat, has scarcely passed beyond the
st4ga of discussion, and has not
reached concrete reality. Rural
schdjols still enroll more than half
the school attendants of the country.
The two problems of Americaniza
tion and of equalization of opportun
ity in the remoter districts are there
fore intertwined. Failure to provide
adequately for education of rural
America constitutes a weakness
which must be felt throughout the
nation.
Jrhe Cmith-Towner bill, which has
aroused more interest in educational
circles throughout the country than
any other proposal in many years,
provides for classification of state
aid according to the several distinct
purposes of the measure. Three
fortieths of the sums apportioned to
the respective states are set apart for
instruction of native-born illiterates
more than fourteen years old, and a
slm.ilar proportion for instruction of
foreign-born pupils above the age of
fourteen in the English language and
in J'the spirit and purpose of the
American government and the duties
of ;tltizenship in a free country."
That equal pecuniary emphasis is
thus placed on each of the two sub
jects indicates the conviction of edu
cators that illiteracy among the native-born,
as revealed by the draft,
deserves serious consideration. Half
of - the appropriation is designated
forepart payment of teachers' sal
aries, for improving the quality of
instruction by requiring a higher
standard of competency, for longer
school terms and for establishment
of libraries of educational works.
Two-tenths would .be. devoted to
physical education and instruction in
sanitation and hygiene and the re
maining three-twentieths to the
training of teachers. It is provided
thai "courses of study, places and
methods for carrying out the pur
posies and provisions of this act with
in a. state shall be determined by the
state and local educational authori
ties of said state," and that "uni
formity of courses of study, plans
an methods" shall not be required
in border to secure the benefits pro
Tided. To avail itself of these pro
visions, the state would be required
toTappropriate a sum at least equal
tohat bestowed under the bill, but
it -could elect to omit one or more
of-ihe purposes enumerated, suffer
ing; only proportionate reduction of
the- amount that it would receive. .
The duties imposed on the states
are mainly three: . That there shall
bevTmaintained a legal school term
of.at least twenty-four weeks; that
there shall be enacted a compulsory
school attendance law for all chil
dren between the ages of seven and
fourteen, requiring them to attend
"sozne school" for at least twenty
four weeks of each year, and that
English "shall be th basic language
of'Jnstruction in the common school
branches in all schools, public and
private." A significant phase of
thgse requirements is that hey
should have been regarded as neces
sary. They constitute, a reminder
that there still are many districts in
which the school term is still less
thin twenty-four weeks, and that
foreign languages are employed in
others as the language of instruction.
It is not generally known that for
two years in the history of the United
Btatea there was a federal depart
ment of education, under a bill en
acted in Hit and signed by Presi
dent Johnson. It was repealed in
1869 at the instance largely of indi
viduals who were opposed to the
principle of education at public ex-
pense. The notion that' it was pos
sible to segregate ignorance in a
modern world prevailed at that time.
and it- has been part of the task of
educators to combat it in the years
since then. Even those who' would
not permit their own children to
grow up without instruction were
among the vigorous opponents of
state aid. which was then looked on
as a species of undesirable pater
nalism.
Tb.e Smith-Towner-bill already has
served a nign purpose in stimulating
discussion of a topic that can hardly
b.e worn threadbare. It has resulted
in presentation of a greater array of
facts as to the present status of pub
lic education in the United States
than had ever before been assembled
and it has been the means of cor
recting a number of misapprehen
sions. Objections to it based on the
ground that it promotes centraliza
tion of power have been met to all
intents and purposes by amendments
It remains to be discovered, however,
whether its system of apportion
ments is the wisest that could be
devised, whether the coBt involved
would be too great, and whether it is
as a matter of fact necessary to
create a tlepartment of cabinet rank
in order to serve the purposes sought.
Perhaps, and probably, the last
named feature is non-essential. The
effort to consolidate all the present
educational activities of the federal
government, now diffused among
more than a score of bureaus and
divisions, will commend itself as a
desirable administrative feature, and
the bill a3 a whole will continue to
sustain interest in a topic very close
to the hearts of all Americans.
ACHIEVEMENT RF.COGVKTFn..
We are reminded by an article in
the current number of, the Outlook
that the tame of a good achievement
is often wider than we have sup
posed. The public library of Port
land, which not every resident of the
city appreciates, is held up as an ex
ample of the best conceptions of a
library as a real community center,
and of the principle that "the public
library is a big business in which the
taxpayers are shareholders." It is
not a "morgue of books," but it goes
to the people instead of waiting for
the people to come to it.
The success of its extension service
in inducing the interest of employes
of shops and factories js described.
A fitting tribute is paid to the late
Miss Mary Frances Tsom by whose
efforts the.se measures have been
made possible, and her definition of
what a public library should be is
worth repeating:
"A public library is the people's
library; it is maintained by the peo
ple for the people; it is the most
democratic of our democratic insti
tutions; therefore to be of service to
all the people of the community, to
meet their needs and to contribute
to their pleasure, is its simple duty."
AIT ANTI-PCMPFNG LAW VEEDED.
If congress should undertake to
pass an emergency tariff bill at the
extra session, deferring permanent
revision to the regular session, the
bill should take the form mainly of
an anti-dumping bill, for this is ur
gently needed to prevent disastrous
results from following after-war
conditions. Only by special provi
sions adapted to the evil can the de
vices of dumping be defeated and
American producers saved from ruin.
Wool is a striking example. Some
nations, especially Britain, finished
the- war with a great surplus stock
of wool on hand. Millions of people
in the old world need that wool, 'but
they have not the price and will not
have it until economic reconstruc
tion is well under way. In conse
quence, almost all of last year's clip
in the United States is still in the
hands of growers. A tariff suffi
cient to enable growers to sell their
wool at a living price by preventing
the surplus of other countries from
being dumped in this country and
demoralizing the market would help
tide growers over the period in
which the surplus will be absorobed
by the people who now shiver in
cottou garments.
Another case for action is that of
chemicals and dyes. German fac
tories have increased their output for
commerce by the quantity which
was formerly used, in making explo
sives and gas. As the United States
and the allies have Just established
the industries with a view to inde
pendence of Germany, the manu
facturers of that country are bend
ing their efforts to increase exports
to such volume at such low prices as
to kill their new competitors before
the latter can become established,
attain full efficiency and produce at
as low prices as the Germans.
There Is cause for an emergency
tariff to protect the farmer from ex
treme competition in production of
butter, cheese, eggs, livestock and
some other commodities, but not so
much in growing wheat and corn, of
which we are exporters, except to
guard against the juggling with the
wheat duty which the Underwood
law places in the power of Canada.
"HE DON'T" HAS FRIENDS. TOO.
Defense of the locution "he don't"
by a Chicago educator in a position
of authority at least has served again
to make it plain that neither logic
nor history governs word usage.
When the people, cr a considerable
and reputable section of them, assent
to a form, it probably is quite use
less to try to run counter to their
dictum. It is as bootless a task as
it would be to attempt to change the
name of a mountain to try to set up
an arbitrary standard.
It has been pointed out that "It
am I" used to be regarded as "good
English," and that this may have
had a better foundation than "It Is
I," which careful speakers and
writers universally . prefer to the
Chicagoese "It's me." But it is not
so widely appreciated that "do" as
the third person singular is sup
ported by an almost equal weight of
historical authority. It was the form
employed by Samuel Pepys through
out his diary in the seventeenth
century. When the dialectical form
"does" drove out "do" a little later,
"doesn't," for some reason which
no philologist will try to explain, was
less successful. Dr. James K. Hos
mer, a conspicuous' writer of elegant
English, prefers "he don't" on the
ground that it is "far more in accord
with the genius of English, which
has always been quick to seize upon
the swiftest and most direct means
possible." And the Oxford dictionary,
that mine of precedent for language,
cites the phrase, written in 1830:
"God don't suffer them now." Al
bany Fonblanque, the British jour
nalist, said it, Yet not even this
meticulous observer of linguistic
proprieties is likely to come to much
as an authority in the face of any
desire, however illogical, on the part
of writers to hold to a contrary practice.
The modern dictionaries condemn
"he don't" with the blasting char
acterization. "Colloq.," in brackets.
Common in colloquial language,
says the Century, "and, more im
properly, a contraction of does not
ooesn w. J. ne uncontractea
forms," says another lexicographer,
"are almost uniformly preferred in
literary us and correct speech." But
something Is left to the imagination
as to what constitutes literary form,
or, for that matter, correct speech.
Quantitatively, the yearly output of
literary matter is enormous. The
major part of it is not consumed by
the erudite exclusively. And there
is no doubt that authors who seek
to appeal to the reading "masses"
are increasingly inclined to drop into
the vernacular.
The whole logic-ignoring phil
osophy of mutation of language is
suggested by the substitution, tt
some time since Pepys wrote, of
"does" for "do," accompanied by
contemporareous failure of the nega
tive form to obtain similarly univer
sal favor. The most Radical upholder
of "he don't" has rothing to say in
behalf of "he do." Why is it? yCer
tainly not on the ground that the
new ' form of the affirmative is
shorter, for it is not. Wo do not
always accept the short cuts that are
offered us. We rejected simplified
spelling, for example, though it was
carefully explained to us that we
might, savo thousands of years of
time by Cropping useless "ughs" and
other non-essential terminals. Our
pronunciations, too, are mostly
wanting in logic and largely lack
authority of history. It is neverthe
less not worth a busy man s while to
quarrel with them. About the most
that a serious-minded schoolmaster
can hope to do is teach the widely
accepted forms, and instill in his
pupils as much regard as may be for
standards of agreed excellence, and
leave the evolution of language to
the mysterious and illogical proc
esses of time. At least he is not
called cm to preach disregard by the
uneducated of the forms that as a
whole make speech understandable.
He don't" is in itself a matter of
no importance; it is well, however,
not to begin letting down the bars
too early. Every business man who
ever employed green amanuensis
knows that verbal bolshevism is all
too ready to sprout in an untended
soil.
ARE WE IGNORANT OF SCIENTE?
The phrase "astonishingly ignor
ant" comes, trippingly to the tongues
and fluently to the pens of those
who, wrapped in their own preoccu
pations, think that nothing else is
much worth while. It is used by a
writer in Chemical and Metallurgical
Engineering to describe the ordinary
citizen in relation to the physical
science Formerly the same atti
tude was assumed by the exponents
of the humanities school. It may be
doubted that modern pessimists are
any nearer right than were the clois
tered philosophers of medieval times.
There is reason to believe, indeed,
that education has tended toward
extension of understanding as well as
dissemination of information. Mi
chael Faraday, who tried to teach
physics to youngsters, who had not
even a rudimentary conception of its
principles, probably would laugh at
these scoffers if he were permitted
to teach a class in popular science in
a university extension course today.
So-called -general information is
not always a fair test of intelligence,
but it is reasonable to assume that
the nature of the information called
for in such a test is an indication of
the drift of the times. From one of
these examination papers we discover
that the things that young men and
young women are expected to know
about are by no means exclusively
literary and historical, as they would
have been a few years ago. There is,
for illustration, a list of names of
famous men whom the object of the
examination is expected to identify.
Six out of thirteen are scientists
Faraday, Huxley, Osier, Reed, Edi
son and Metchnikoff. One is an
actor, one a famous architect, two
are poets, one an ancient philoso
pher, one a modern philosopher and
one a statesman. Science has a
pretty fair representation here, and
while this is not proof that our stu
dents comprehend the sciences as we
might vwish they did, it shows the
direction in which the educational
wind is blowing. Technical schools
are overcrowded and dead language
classes are more and more deserted.
The phenomena of steam and the
minor manifestations of electricity
no longer awe the average yduth. It
requires at least an Einstein theory
to make him confess defeat.
H. G. Wells, who is quoted by the
writer as believing in "the need for
leavening the old-time classical
studies with a considerable propor
tion of well-taught sciences," has
less reason than had - Huxley, with
whom he agrees, for despair over the
supremacy of the cultural studies.
The system of education that Mr.
Wells assails in the course of his
account of Mr. Gladstone in the
Outline of History" probably does
not prevail outside of the college in
which Mr. Gladstone received his
early education, and that is the ex
ception that tests the rule. It is a
defensible criticism of the Gladston
ian period, but not of the twentieth
century, to quote the following from
Mr. Wells:
"When Mr. Gladstone was taken by Sir
John Lubbock to see Charles Darwin, he
talked all the time of Bulgarian politics,
and was evidently quite unaware of the
real importance of the man he was visit
ing. Darwin, Lord Morley recalls, ex
pressed himself as deeply sensible of the
honor done him by the visit of "such a
great man." but he offered no comment
on the Bulgarian discourse. . . . Again,
Mr. Gladstone paid a visit to Far-aday,
the English electrician, whose work lives
wherever a dynamo spins, who is in the
airplane, the deep-sea cable, the lights
that light the way of the world. The man
of science tried in vain to explain some
simple pieces of apparatus to this fine
flower of the parliamentary world. "But,"
said Mr. Gladstone, "after all, what good
is it?"
The point is not that Gladstone
with lack of true perspective failed
to comprehend the value of what
was going on around him in the
world, but thafthe incident probably
would not be duplicated nowadays.
Our own congress did hesitate six
years over voting $30,000 to test
Morse's telegraph, but that was in
the third and fourth decades of the
nineteenth century and a good deal
of water has gone over the wheel
since then. Congress since has more
than atoned for its incredulity by its
receptivity to the fantasy of Gara
bed T. Garagossian; .and the avidity
with which science is studied by all
classes is one of the peculiar mani
festations of the time.
It probably is far from true that
the word "metallurgy" would be re
ceived with blank stares by persons
who are deeply concerned over the
pronunciation of words of merely
literary significance, such as "iphi
genia," or "Don Quixote," or "L'Al
legro." or that these are. so deeply
unaware as the writer supposes of
the meaning of the scientific phe
nomena among which they. live. The
puhjishers of scientific books know
that, there never .has been a time
when there was so great a demand
for their wares, and the technical
departments of libraries were never
so hard-worked as now.
It is nevertheless possible for
a physical scientist to be as parochial
In his view of life as any student of
the abstract, or the merely cultural
There is danger that the pendulum
may swing too far in the opposite
direction. It is in ordinary affairs
as little necessary for the citizen to
understand the minutiae of some
physical science, its nomenclature
and the cant of its devotees as for
him to be able to identify the clas
sical Illusions, in "Paradise Lost."
One is no more lost who does not
know the meaning of "ohm" than is
one's brother who has never heard
of John Gales-worthy.
THE OREGON QfUPTION 100 TEARS
AGO.
One hundred years ago this year
the first bill containing a concrete
proposal for Ajnerican occupation
of the Oregon country was intro
duced in congress. Representative
John Floyd of Virginia in the pre
vious year had offered a motion that
"an inquiry be made as to the situ
ation of the settlements on the Pa
cific ocean and as-to thw expediency
of occupying the Columbia river."
This was reported on by the house
committee to which it had been re
ferred, the committee holding that
the United States had the right to
possess the Pacific coast to 53, if not
to 60, degrees of north latitude, by
virtue of rights acquired from Spain,
as well as by virtue of discoveries
and settlements. The bill which ac
companied the report, which was
framed by Floyd, provided for occu
pation of the Columbia rive.r and for
regulation of trade with the United
States. It was this pioneer measure
of which the present year is the cen
tenary. Floyd was chairman of a com
mittee on occupation of the Colum
bia river. He had been moved to
action by the recommendations of
John C. Calhoun, who in 1818 sug
gested that the only means-of de
fending the Indians of the west from
the cupidity of traders was to turn
the western country over to a com
pany for the p'urpose of trade, under
government regulation. This would
have amounted to a grant of mo
nopoly, such as the Hudson's Bay
company then possessed in upper
Canada, and afterward was to ob
tain in the country west of the
Rockies. Floyd contemplated intro
duction of Asiatic labor with which
to develop the newly opened region
until free white labor could be in
duced to go west. Hawaiians had
been previously employed in neces
sary unskilled work in the Columbia
river country. Floyd, pursuing the
plan of Jefferson in sending Lewis
and Clark to'- the west, outlined a
road from the falls of the Missouri to
the headwaters of the Columbia. It
was then believed that a gang of
twenty men could build the road in
about ten days. There was at that
time no Asiatic question before the
people, but for other reasons, chiefly
apathy on the part of congressmen
toward the unknown and unconsid
ered western coast, the report and
the bill which accompanied it were
suffered to lapse for that con
gressional session. It nevertheless
marked an important step toward
acquisition of Oregon.
The bill was revived in 1822.
Floyd's speech in that year, in which
he discussed the value of the fur
trade of the country and the impor
tance of the proposed new overland
route as a means of communication
with the orient, served to bring the
western region to the attention of
many eastern people for the first
time. He would proceed by steam
boat, he said, to the falls of the Mis
souri in twenty-four days, whence he
estimated it would require fourteen
days to travel by wagons to the
mouth of Clarke's iver, and seven
days more to reach the mouth of the
"Oregon" river, or forty-four days in
all. Opposition to the plan was based
on the ground that the movement
would dissipate the population in a
region whrre it would be less eco
nomically useful than formerly. The
time was not ripe for the considera
tion of any measure for the opening
of the Pacific Coast country. The
bill was defeated in January, 1823,
by the overwhelming vote of 101
to 61.
Thomas H. Benton took up the
fight in the senate in the following
month, with a motion that the com
mittee on military affairs of the sen
ate be directed to inquire 'into the
expediency of an appropriation to
enable the president to take and re
tain possession of "territories of the
United States" on the western coast
of America. The Benton resolution
was adopted, but no committee re
port was forthcoming. In Decem
ber, 1823, a committee appointed by
the house, of which Floyd was chair
man, to inquire into the expediency
of occupying the mouth of the Co
lumbia, submitted a report which
included a lertter from .General
Thomas S. Jesup, quartermaster
general of the United States army,
recommending immediate dispatch
of 200 men across the continent to
establish a fort at the mouth of the
Columbia, and also dispatch of two
vessels via Cape Horn with materials
tor the expedition and for construc
tion of the fort. He also proposed
a line of posts along the overland
route for protection of American
traders, and argued that these posts
would protect us in the event of for
eign war by keeping the Indians of
the interior at peace or by com
manding their neutrality.
' This measure of preparedness,
although the lesson of the war of
1812 should have been fresh in the
minds of men, was received with In
sufficient enthusiasm by congress,
but agitation of the issue stimulated
interest in the west still further.
Authentic works on the Oregon
country were few, and writings
on the subject were just beginning
to be received with interest Presi
dent Monroe in his annual message
in 1824 invited attention to Oregon,
and in December of that year Mr.
Floyd got consideration of .a bill for
the occupancy of the Columbia river
district. He then delivered another
address vindicating ihe title of the
United States to the Oregon country,
and the bill was passed in February,
1825. After some vicissitudes in the
senate, which gave Senator Benton
opportunity to champion the claims
of the far west, the bill was tabled
by a vote of 25 to 14.
The fight begun in 1820 and 1821
was still in progress in 1828, when
Hall J. Kelley appeared with a pe
tition for a grant of land and pro
tection for a colony of settlers, in
the interests of an association of pro
posed immigrant s. The pioneer
spirit was stirring in the people,
though there was a vast expanse of
sparsely populated territory nearer
home. Other groups, including one
organized in Louisiana, presented
similar petitions' at this time. This
led to introduction by the persistent
Floyd of a bill providing for mili
tary occupancy of the territory The
bill was ably championed and also
ably opposed. One of its vigorous
opponents was Edward Bates of Mis
souri, to whom Oregon republicans
gave five votes on the first and
second ballots in the national con
vention that nominated Lincoln in
1S60. The chief contention of the
opponents of the measure then was
that military occupancy would con
stitute a violation of the convention
for joint occupancy by Great Brit
ain and the United States. The
house in January, 1825, refused to
order the third reading of the bill,
and at this point efforts in congress
to open the Pacific northwest rested
for a number of years.
Floyd retired from the house in
that year to become governor of
Virginia, and this able champion in
(.he house was lost to Oregon's cause.
It is of incidental historical inter
est that Floyd received the electoral
vote of South Carolina in the presi
dential election of 1832.
TERCENTENARY OF THE POTATO.
The roundabout way in which our
potato reached America the year
after the Pilgrim Fathers landed on
Plymouth Rock has been revealed
by historical inquiry conducted in
England and the Bermudas. In
some manner, either direct from
South America or by way of Holland,
it reached England about 1 586. The
archives of the Bermudas show that
in 1613 the ship Elizabeth carried
from England a consignment of po
tatoes for planting there. Eight
years later the governor of Bermuda
sent from St. George to Francis
Wyatt of Virginia two large chests
containing all sorts of plants and
fruits of the country, "such as Ber
muda had at that time and Virginia
did not,"' These included figs, pome
granates, oranges, sugar cane, potato
and ca-saba roots, red pepper and
prickly pears.' The potato alone
seems to have caught the fancy of
Virginians, who procured at least ten
tons of the tubers from Bermuda in
the following year. Dr. Laufer, cu
rator of the Field museum, Chicago,
cites documentary records to prove
that potatoes were actually planted
in Virginia in 1821.
There must have been a good deal
of confusion in that time as to the
names and uses of plants. A work
on herbs printed in England in
1597 mentions the "batata Virginia,"
which has led historians to believe
that the potato was a native of the
Old Dominion. Laufer's discovery
confirms the claims of students of
Aztec lore, who hold Chile ana t-eru
to have been its real home. It is
said, indeed, that a potato probably
mtich superior in keeping quality
and in ability to resist cold was pro
duced by the Aztecs long before they
were despoiled by the whites. The
secret of some varieties' of this plant
was lost when that people perished
from earth. The potato of the pres
ent. is the result of patient redevelop
ment, and is a vast improvement
over the original which found its
way from Europe to America.
It has been, nevertheless, one of
the most important gifts of the new
world to the old. Except for tobacco
it is the most widely used of all of
there. Who is there who does not
believe that its tercentenary is an
occasio'n worthy of being celebrated
throughout the land?
KEAL DOW AND PROHIBITION.
Tt is the fashion to regard Neal
Dow, whose birthday is being com
memorated today, as the "father of
prohibition," but that vigorous,
thnne-h cranial, reformer would be
first to disclaim pioneership in the
field. In his reminiscences Dow tens
us that the cause of temperance owes
miir-h to Dr. Beniamin Rush, a cele
brated statesman and surgeon of the
revolution and one or tne signers oi
the Declaration of Independence.
Long before the Maine prohibition
law, which Dow drafted and for
which he campaigned, was thought
of, Dr. Rush contributed to an alma
nac "calculated, for the meridian of
Portland" jl lecture on The .rrect
of Spirituous Liquors Upon the Hu
man Body." That was in 1793, more
than a century and a quarter ago
and more than half a century before.
rt Ktjit prohibitory statute
was an accomplished fact in Maine.
Dr. Rush conceived, me luea,
quaint even in its time, that a gov
1H rise no higher than
the people who authorized it, and
that individual sinning soon or late
would he reflected in the conduct
of the state. "A people," so he
wrote in the almanac, "corrupted
with strong drink cannot long be a
f... nnnic The rulers of such a
community will soon partake of the
vices of that mass from wnicn tney
or. tolRcted. and all our laws and
governments will sooner or later
bear the same mars-s oi spini-uuuo
liquors which were imbibed for
Krr iiiman Individuals." This
was one of the arguments employed
by temperance orators in me time
when the prohibiUoa idea was
young. , ,
Dow had a nara ngm, urm siua
iv. hiiitv nf the liauor traf-
IUO . t Of.-...-
fic, and then against its entrenchment
in industry. He was i o years om
when he began the writing of his
memoirs. Eleven presidents had
been born during his lifetime, while
iiiun nil from the founding oi
the republic until the time of Ben
iorr,in Hirrlaon only Washington had
not been alive during his day. It is
revelation of contemporary con
ption of one whom we now regard
, immortal that when Dow was
young it was the manner of bitter
partisans to decry the ratner or nis
ennetrv. "The venom of faction,"
said Dow, "did not lose Its poison for
his high name and sacred. lame un-
years after my birth. xe re
calls: .
playing with urchins in the street, boys
Ot into quarrels over ' aim, aa nine
iTo,K,n" nr-amns would burl the cbarg
into the teeth of their "federalist" fellows,
WOOHl 1 WAS HUB. IUBI ONIIUEIUU
- 1 hM -u.hln, a a
thua airing -the spiteful calumnies against
the
father or nia country teamea mrongii
talk of their eldera at fajnily f I reside
board.
the
and
The Vfrinninfir rf DoVs work ante.
rintnrl tha Tjeriod of general regula
tion by license of places where in
toxicants were sold. There is a.
curious bit of archaism in his recol
lection of a state law which permit
ted town boards to "license aa many
persons of sober life and conversa
tion" as might he deemed necessary
for the well-being of those who de
sired to buy liquor. Rum and gin
were sold at grocery stores and
puncheons containing them, were ex
hibited on the sidewalks in front of
merchants' places of business. The
custom of New Tear's calling, which
fell into disuse with the advance of
temperance, was universal. The
first large building in his state to be
erected without supplying its work
men with liquor marked an epoch
in the industrial history of Maine.
"Indeed, liquor was generally ac
counted to be one of the good gifts
of God, not to be lightly, refused,
and rumsellers, far from being
looked upon as enemies of their kind,
were by the overwhelming propor
tion of the people regarded as com
missioned for the distribution of a
great benefaction." This was the so
cial status of the demon rum 'less
than a century ago.
Historically prohibition is older
than even Dr. Rush, but the move
ment was a long time getting under
way. The first continental congress
in 1774 recommended that the states
enact laws to put a stop to the "per
nicious practice of distilling," but
the notion that alcohol fortified
against exposure prevailed during the
war of the revolution. When a na
tional church conference in 1812 re
fused to adopt a resolution disquali
fying ministers from preaching who
sold liquor to eke out their salaries
there was little adverse comment.
The irst temperance society formally
organized with constitution and by
laws was formed in 1808, but it
would not be recognized as a tem
perance society nowadays. Its mem
bers were forbidden to drink "except
on the advice of a physician" and
were fined only 50 cents for intoxi
cation. The word, "teetotal" was
added- to 'tho language about 1826.
when a New Jersey temperance so
ciety prefixed a "T" to the names of
its members on the roll who would
agree to abstain from intoxicants in
every form. The right of a state to
deal in liquor was not seriously ques
tioned until 1833. The Good Tem
plars were not organized until 1851,
the year of Dow's victory 'n Maine,
although a considerable area of the
country was under no-license in the
forties. Even then moderate drink
ing was condemned by few. Those
who volunteered to . abstain did so
as a conscious sacrifice for the sake
of their weaker brethren.
Dow saw the movement that he
worked so hard to foster pass
through the stages of oratory, of sci
entific investigation. Cf organization
of women, notablyMn the Women's
Christian Temperance union, and of.
all three, combined with consider
ation of its economic side. He died
in 1S97, and ten years after that
there were only three prohibition
states Kansas, North Dakota and
Maine. As late as 1910 leaders of
the movement believed that national
prohibition was fifty years away.
They had seen various substitutes
tried, the state dispensary law, the
3.99 per cent beer law that made
Georgia the "wettest dry state in
the union," and other modifications
of the temperance plan. It is one
of the social phenomena of all time
that the' culmination of the fight
carried even the "dry" leaders off
their feet. The most ardent among
them were as much surprised by the
outcome as were the unreconstructed
"wets."
That the mandate for Palestine
contains a provision of interest to
postage stamp collectors is a matter
that will interest some millions of
persons throughout the world who
would take small interest in the
event otherwise. These stamps will
be peculiar in the respect that they
will be inscribed in three languages,
while heretofore the bi-lingual stamp
has held the record. Arabic is re
garded as the official language of
the country, English is added be
cause the mandate is held by Britain,
and further provision is made for
Hebrew in recognition of the fulfill
meht of the long cherished ambition
of that race to inhabit the land of
its forefathers. Thus three elements
are satisfied and the purposes of ad
ministrafran served, while there is
an impressive lesson in history to be
learned by all who have imagina
tions to visualize the momentous po
litical changes that have taken place
in the holy land since the time of
Abraham and Solomon.
A man has just been sentenced for
selling mcronshine falsely labeled as
Scotch whisky. The reputation of
our well-known brands must be
maintained.
The old-fashioned mustache is re
ported to be coming back. Ditto, we
suppose, the old cup on the shelf
that has been doing service as shav
ing mug.
New York city puts a new face on
the little red school house issue with
the announcement that it will cost
$63,000,000 to construct buildings
enough to furnish a "eat for every
child."
The attempt to revive interest in
geography by giving it, a. commercial
turn will not, however, ,have the
benefit of a simplified spelling sys
tem. Boston's elite are said to have
taken to the wearing of cotton
hosiery, but nothing is said as to
whether the prevailing color is blue.
The United States is shipping
spaghetti to Italy. Next thing we
know they will be exporting lim
burger cheese to Berlin.
With Secretary Baker out' of of
fice, the draft dodgers may be re
minded that the government 'really
has a loner arm.
We look now for a new propa
ganda to show the people that beer
is a cure for everything from cancer
to gout.
With two ex-presidents alive to
watch him, it Is more than ever up
to Mr.. Harding to watch his p's
and q.'s.
The movement to teach' children
how to play is not, as some will as
sume, a new1 scheme to make play
unpopular.
For oAce in his life Mr. Weather
Observer Well is not announcing
that the rainfall shows a deficiency.
It is a cold day when the reds win
in Russia, but, the trouble is that
most days In Russia are cold.
The Listening Pot.
Another Bullet-Torn Veteran I
"Pukhing Daiaiea" In Portland.
Good soldiers never die.
They only fade away.
SO READS a ditty that is a part ot
the British army, the soldier hav
ing ingrained the 'belief that even
though his term on earth may end he
is not forgotten and yet lives in the
memory of a grateful country. Tbey
are jiot spoken of as dead, but js
"Pushing Daisies" or some other term.
William Flett, veteran of the famed
31st Alberta battalion of the 2d Cana
dian division, went to his last rest in
Portland a few days ago,-Just as much
a battle casualty as if he had died
under shell fire.
Flett, his body torn with bullets,
his lungs affected from gas. ill, no
job, funds about gone, likely had a
recurrence of that terrific depression
that comes only after humans have
stood all they can. Men who held
trenches for months, standing the
shock of continuous shell fire, their
nerves worn to breaking, their phy
sical resistance near an end, .were
known to seek death ai a surcease
from their pain. Soldiers who have
been through this can look back and
remember their comrades who sought
eternity, can even remember those
who begged to be relieved of their
suffering.
Pictures like this will serve to
darken the lives of those who saw
some of the worst of m'odern war,
but as timo goes on they lose some
of their vividnass. Most of tho men
who came back to civilian life re
gained their natural tone and whole
someness. Others,like Flett, no home,
troubles multiplying, seeing no way
out, again came under tho spell of
the torments of those awful years.
Flett tried to kill himself. He
slashed his throat, but help tame in
time, and he aftervyards died from
pneumonia. He lay out all night
and his weak lungs could not stand
the exposure. He enlisted in Van
couver. He was born in the Orkney
islands, both parents being dead. A
detail of British veterans escorted
the body and the pallbearers were a
captain and subaltern of infantry, a
naval lieutenant, an able bodied sea
man, a sergeant ot engineers and a
private of Infantry. As "Last Post"
rang out, played by a comrade from
the same infantry brigade, a little
Scotch woman approached the grave
and tendieriy laid a sprig of heather
on the coffin as tha clods of earth
rattled on the lid.
Hubbies 'ware your pocketbooks.
Easter and spring are near. The lure
of wonderful creations displayed in
store windows charms many a dollar
to Its finish at this season. The de
vclopment of window dressing his
been phenomenal of late- years. Sler-
chanils now realize that the most valu
able space they have is that for
public exhibition. The result has
been tho staging of stylo shows on a
scale never before thought possible
v ho has not stood in front of the
masked window and speculated on
what is Inside. Sheets of canvas
served for years to i-ide the creators
of all this display from the public
and few know who they are. In the
course of time the canvas sheets would
get soiled, and as they were hung by
nails on either edge and generally
jerked down, badly torn. The result
was rather an untidy effect from the
street when the. windows were
covered.
This morning the curtains were
drawn on the Meier & Frank spring
exhibition. Gene are the soiled and
ragged canvas sheets, the new cur
tains are a part of the windows and
a decoration, made in a similar man
ner to theater drapes and handled
with cords. The backgrounds are all
new materials from the drapery shop
and even the floor covering is de
signed to blend into the tone poem of
the whole. Gone are the gaudy
screens of past seasons. It js a new
idea and while it is more than likely
that most eyes will be for the mer
chandise shown, the manner in which
the decorators manage to achieve
the effect is worth noticing.
There are those who might chal
lenge this episode, but might we ask
you first to investigate.
A young matron of this city recent
ly decided to have her hair bobbed
and then permanently waved. The
operation required1 four hours. Her
husband called for her when it was
completed. She gently presented the
bill to him. It was for J54.75. He
asked for an itemized bill. It came:
Haircut, 75 cents; eyebrow trim, $1;
53 curls, $53. Total, $54.75. Since
then the male half of the sketch has
been roasting the cavalier-poets of
old who used to write lovely sonnets
to ladies eyebrows.
However, this roust have been
rather an extreme case, for an ordi
nary first-class permanent wave costs
anywhere from $10 to $25 and beauty
doctors state that dyed or bleached
hair will take the wave as well as the
kind that nature provided. At one
hotel in New York last year 15,000
women received a permanent wave at
$54 each.
And now comes the home-made per
manent wave engine that is to be
marketed in the new future. This
contrivance is to sell for $15. The
curler consists of tubular heating
units around which the hair is
wrapped and then moistened by a
solution and the current turned on
for. from 10 to 13 minutes for each
wave. Lucky are those born with
curly hair.
Harry Fisher has an attractive per
sonality and frequently is the re
cipient ot smiles from the opposite
sex. Yesterday he was wafted a
charming bit of toll of this character
and noticed that there was a strange
twist to the bright red lips. Harry
likes to know why so he went around
the block and met her face on again.
"She put her lip on crooked, that's
all," he explained confidentially. "It
makes a great deal of difference
sort of gives a warped appearance."
'Hipping" is the newest contribu
tion to "The American Language." I
The word was coined to meet the
6xigiencies of prohibition and de
scribes the person who carries it on
the hip. Numerous patrons of cafes
carry their own liquor stock with
them in the east, but the federal
sleuths have now forbidden this prao
tice and the boisterous cafes are
"bone dry." A number of arrests have
been made for "hipping" though
there is little of it reported locally.
THE SCOUT.
The Lost Recipe.
By Grace C Hall.
Fate brewed a strange mixture one
night o'er her fire
In a cauldron that Destiny made;
And the flames in abandon leaped
higher and higher.
Til tha gods were alarmed and afraid:
For Fate worked with a feverish eai
' to attain
Some strange new concoction to heal
human pain.
Full many a time had ehe ladeled
her brew.
When the cauldron had steamed on
1 the coalA.
To find it, alas! but a miserable stew '
That the devil had cursed for men's
souls;
So this night, all alone, she was care
ful indeed
To see that the mixture was true to
man's need. "
She added, but slowly, the spicy an
sweet
She had placed within reach of her
hand,
'Til the essence from blending was
perfect, complete,
A potion seductive and bland:
Then she lay down to rest, smiling
still as she slept.
And the 6ec.ret of brewing forev-
more kept.
The gods took the brew that was
stronger than wine
And gave it to man in his need.
And it had a quick power, a healing
divine.
That the strongest and weakest must
heed
And down through the years it has"
stood every test,
A rasgic elixir wherever possessed.
The man who partakes of this won
derful brew
Nevermore is content when tls
' spilled.
And the rest of life's scenes he wiTl
pass blindly through
Though a thousand new winea be dis
tilled: For no eearch of the. rerords on
earth or abo've..
Has shown what Kate used in the
mixture of Love.
THK TARDY Rrif.
It was t'ward the last of April.
And the fruit tree r in Mnnm
WTiile the winter had vanished.
W ith its chilliness and doom.
That old-timers met together.
Chewed and smoked and spat to
bacco. Laughed and! gassed, and solemn
swore
And the truth they did but states
Never in their experience
Had the smelt run been so latB.
-Airtight Smith asseverated that
In forty years right here
lied ne'er seen smelt so tardy.
And he thought it mighty queer
That no sitrn of 'em was here.
Elam. Plunkit.t of the vintago
Of eighteen-slxty-eight
"Squirted ambor through a knothol-e"
And proceeded then to state:
"That he'd sieen the crystal Sandy
Killed so full of rushinir smelt
One could not see tho bottom
With a pole could not be felt."
Marveled why the lateness
Of the run could be;
It was due, in his opinion.
To an earthquake put at sea
And while they were debating
Influence of sun and tide,
Down the street a man came.shonting.
"Sandy's bilin' with the run!"
Then the stampede was begun.
Autos, buggies, carts and wagons
Hit the highway on the jump.
And th housewife peering street
ward. Felt her heart tumultuous thump.
Soon the town, it was deserted'
L"en- tha town doga joined the
throng
When belated, yet elated.
Came the smelt run full end strong.
GEORGE H. GREY.
K.r,LU ( BEKK.
Would you like to go to fairyland?
Then come along with me,
I know just where the fairies dwell,
A place where you will sea
Rushing crystal waterfalls,
Rippling silver streams.
Spray, sunkissed and sparkling,
Mist with opal gleams.
I know where roaring torrente rush
Down rugged mountain side.
And lose themselves in still, deep
pools.
Where strange dark shadows hide.
And soft green moss, spray covered.
Clothes the rocky walls
With diamond sprinkled garments.
Robbed from the noisy falls.
4
I know where purple orchids grow
Near a little hidden spring,
And If you listen closely.
You will hear the w:iter sing
A low sweet song of triumph.
As it tumbles on its way.
To join the flashing river
In the clear light of day.
Would you like to go to fairyland?
Then come along with me.
I'll show you all the beauty
That you could wish to see.
Tower'ng peaks and winding trails.
Canyons, wide and deep,
Mighty trees and golden shrubs.
And nooks where violets sleep.
YVOXXK JARR1STT.
THE TORCH.
I know a mind well stored and strong.
Yet bound by trivial things
One who unknowing hath the power
To mount on eagle wings.
I ponder what Is lacking
That gifts should dormant be.
Why from an endless petty round
This soul strives not to free.
Have hablf s chains become toe .
strong
Eyes too close ranged to rise?
ts broad expanse awaiting.
Deemed but far alien skies?
Oh. hut to bear the torch aloft!
To kindle latent fires.
That dormant souls might flame
anew
To strong and true desires.
JEANETTE MAHTTN.
TUB GLADNESS OF SPRING.
There is gladness everywhere,
On the earth and in the air.
In each bird and flower fair;
All are glad for it Is spring.
Each fair bird with swiftest wing
B'rora the south the Bummer brings,
And successful, sings and singa!
Watch his little feathered throat
Swell and burst with each sweet note.
Filling each green deil remote
With his whistle, chirp and song;
Even flowers think no wrong
To show themselves among the
throng.
For life is gay and spring Is long!
MERRILL ARTHUR YOTHERS.
TO
Words are such a little part of you.
And you have made them very need
less too.
For all the great sweet secrets cf
your heart
Are spoken in the gentle things
you do.
Fine thoughts unsaid
Have made your smile more sweet.
And tears unshed
Have made your eyes more blue.
Your life is like a. lovely silent sonar
For words are such a little part ot
you.
e DOROTHY E. HALL,