THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, AUGUST 21 1921
W. S i
ESTABLISHED BY HENRY L. P1TTOCK.
Published by The Oresoninn Publishing- Co..
13 Sixth Street, Portland. Ormon.
C A. MORDEN. E. B. PIPER.
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ILLITERACY AND VOTING.
Two successive New York state
legislatures having acted favorably
on an amendment to the constitution
of the state which would require that
voters phall be able to read and
write English, the question will be
passed on by the electors next No
vember. The proposed amendment
is the result of disclosures made
early in the war concerning the
doubtful status of a considerable
number of non-English speaking
citizens, and the outcome of the
vote will be analyzed with particular
interest because it Is. likely to show
how far these same non-English
speaking citizens are able to think
in terms of Americanism. For they
are qualified voters at present and
will have a voice in the adoption of
the measure which would exclude
them from the polls. Nevertheless
a campaign is being conducted in an
effort to show these same voters
that their best interests are bound
up in the Interests of the country
as a whole and that by learning to
read and write English themselves
and by excluding those who in fu
ture refuse to do so they will en
hance the value of their franchise.
The educational qualification for
voters is not new. Thirteen states
now impose it in some form, al
though two require it only as an
alternative to the possession of some
property. Ability to read or write,
or to read and write, are common
requirements, but seven of the thir
teen directly or indirectly exact lit
eracy in the language of the coun
try. Our sister state of Washington
speclfices that the voter shall be
able to read and write English. Cali
fornia, Maine, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and Wyoming require
ability to read the constitution and
to write the voter's name. Presum
ably the reading of the constitution
Implies the English version, which
la a language test of sorts, although
not much can be said of the ability
to write conveyed by only writing a
same.
Mississippi offers the curious
choice between ability to read the
constitution and ability to explain it,
which would seem to lekve a good
deal to the discretion of the elec
tion officials. Not all, failing to be
able to read one of those interesting
documents, would feel competent to
expound it, and there are degrees of
"explanation," of course. The polit
ical background in Missississipi in
dicates that the issue has been pur
posely left open with a view of giv
ing election judges the power to im
pose the color line a bit of legis
lation the spirit of which was pre
cisely duplicated in the celebrated
"grandfather clauses," which were
earnestly considered in the southern
states a few years ago.
The purpose of the educational re
quirement, however, is to assure the
domination of those elements in
American politics which are most
likely to be guided in casting their
ballots by desire to promote the in
terests of the country as an Amerl
can state. It is well, for example,
that ability merely to read and write,
which is all that is required in the
Carolinas and in Louisiana, or only
to reaa, as in Georgia and Maryland
should be expanded to require that
the reading or writing shall be done
in English; if the principle of an
educational qualification be admit
ted, as its expediency seems to be
conceded, it will seem plain that ap
preciation of the American ideal will
be arrived at best through under.
standing of the language of the
country and by access to its litera
ture and its newspapers.
No one will pretend that literacv
13 necessarily a test of good morals
or of excellent intentions, or that
there are no literate rogues, but it
will be borne in mind, too, that the
proposed amendment does not pre
tend to accomplish everything, but
only seeks as nearly aa possible to
accomplish a necessary reform. It
would be ideal, of course, if we could
also detect the honesty of every
voter in advance, but this cannot be
done. The educational requirement
coupled with its specification of the
English language, will exclude
certain class, including a few per
haps who are not bad citizens, bu
the question for determination is
whether it will not be a good thing
on the whole.
Louisiana is one of the few states
of the union in which the alien lan
guage issue is not chiefly a funda
mental Issue in Americanism. Whe
we acquired the great area which
was early organized as the territory
of Orleans its population was pre
dominantly alien, as the term would
be used now, yet it was native to the
coil and it possessed rights which
we were bound to respect. In thei
awn way in original settlers o
Louisiana, and of some of the re
inaining territory embraced in the
original purchase, developed a
strongly American sense of patriot
ism, while clinging to the customs,
and in many Instances the language,
of their forebears. Here also there
has been no large problem of im
portation of aliens of another kind,
so that the state has been partly bi
lingual, but at the same time strong
ly American in sentiment. But New
York, now seeking to escape the
peril of domination that is foreign
In mode of thought as well as in
speech, is in a different situation.
The metropolis of the country has
been a dumping place for unde&ir-
since the Immigration
m Europe first set in,
g place for un-Ameri
and a breedin
can propaganda of every sort.
Restriction in the manner pro
posed ought not long to operate to
disfranchise any but the utterly dis
qualified class. It will not if the
state pursues ita present plan of fur-
nishing educational ODDortunities for
arl .., .n .vii,.. Tt
"
been shown by figures of the bureau
of education that the native-born
children of alien parents are largely
appreciative of the advantages of-
fered by the public schools.
The on-
eory school attendance laws, will
present no problem; and the alien-
born who will suffer injustice under
an. educational restriction will be
few In number by comparison with
those who ought not to be permitted
to vcte.
MYSTERY OF THE SEA.
The fact that no pirate craft has
been captured on which the wreck
ing of the schooner Carrol Deering
on the Atlantic coast can be- fas
tened adds to the probability that
there is no such craft, in view of
the modern facilities for communi
cation at sea, by comparison with
those of the times when piracy was
rampant on the seven seas.
With almost every ship equipped
with wireless, and with a mosquito
fleet of fast torpedo craft "rarin' to
go," and with the government alive
to its duty to protect shipping, it
seems improbable that any pirate
could ply his trade in the twentieth
century. Yet the mystery of the
disappearance of the crews of four
vessels only deepens with the pas
sage of time, and serves to remind
us that romance is not all of the
past.
We may expect to receive many
"messages in bottles," which only
confuse and do not clarify, and all
sorts of rumors will be rife, but
there is comfort in the assurance
that a navy that was capable of
checking the German submarines is
not likely to let a solitary pirate, if
there is one, go unhanged.
PORTLAND'S GROWING COMMERCE.
Almost every day records some
development in the shipping busi
ness which bears witness to the
growth of Portland's ocean traffic
and of the port's reputation for
supplying what ships most crave.
which is cargo. A few days ago it
was announced that the monthly
steamer for Honolulu, which has
hitherto called at other Pacific
ports, will hereafter come to Port-
and. Under an arrangement with
the shipping board it has called at
Astoria when a certain amount of
reight was offered, but Astoria
alone could not meet the require
ment, therefore has joined hands
with the Portland Chamber of Com
merce in inducing the owners to
send the vessel to Portland. As the
two ports together can supply the
desired Du sin ess, i-'ortland gains
traffic which has been going to
other ports and Astoria holds serv-
ce which it might have lost. By
recognizing their community of in
terest the two ports help one an
other.
Another example of the expansion
of Portland's foreign commerce is
the first direct shipment of Oregon
bacon to London. The proportions
to which the meat-packing industry
has grown her justify the expecta
tion that this will be the first of
many shipments of larger quantities
until John Bull will become familiar
with the taste of Oregon bacon and
will like it. These direct shipments
are the best means of spreading the
reputation of Oregon products
abroad. If shipped from other ports,
they are apt to appear in a foreign
country under a label that conveys
no suggestion of Oregon or Port
land. That has happened with other
commodities, the merits of which
went to the credit of places which
shipped but did not produce them.
WAR SALVAGE. THAT'S ALL.
Chairman Lasker of the shipping
board is quoted as saying that on
July 23 the board had 632 ships
in operation, 747 idle and 66 under
repair, leaving the wooden vessels
out of consideration. Taking these
figures as a basis, . be calls the
emergency fleet "a failing, sick
business" and "a wreck."
It never was a business, and the
root of the trouble consists in hav
ing treated it as a business. The
name "emergency fleet" is the key
to what it became as soon as the
war ended a huge piece of salvage
from the war, which would make
good material for a merchant ma
rine. Through not keeping the sal
vage idea in mind and through
Imagining that it had a highly valu
able prize which everybody was
eager to capture, the board over
stayed its market. It failed to get
the good salvage price that was pos
sible in 1919 and it failed to estab
lish a privately owned merchant
marine on a sound basis. If the
present board will get back to the
salvage idea, it may yet succeed in
giving us a merchant marine that
can live.
There is little, if any, market for
ships ' at present, but the board
might be able to stop a part of the
loss by giving bare boat charters to
shipping men at such low rates that
they might compete even at present
ocean freight rates. It might thus
build up a market for sale of the
ships at an improved price when
business revives. As it is, many
Japanese ships are coming to Port
land and taking cargoes of wheat
from under the nose of the board.
which pays good money to keep
hundreds of vessels idle. The board
can get business for its fleet oniy by
competing at going rates and terms.
The ships are not worth more than
the price for which equally good
ones can be bought in the world
market, and if they cannot be sold
they should be chartered on that
basis.
The board's reluctance to act on
the salvage principle may be ex
plained by such criticism as the fol
lowing In the New York Globe:
The role of the sovernment. In fact, is
to hold the bag as long aa it needs to be
held, and then, as soon as handsome
Drofits are in sieht. turn over the fleet
to private ownership, by which the rates
will be put up to "all that the traffic
will bear" and the ships operated (unless
there Is bribery by me government in the
form of subsidy) only on the most profit
able routes, resaraiess oi tne usefulness o
those routes in the country's general de
velopment. No doubt exists ln the mind
of Chairman Lasker that this is the
wisest course, so why should any other
citisen aisagraer
"The role of the government" is
to sell the ships for what they are
worth as soon as a market exists in
the reasonable belief that "hand
some proms cannot be made by
anybod-v tax several i that
not until the world's merchant ma-!
rine is fully employed. When that
happens, "all that the traffic will !
bear" will be limited by competition
among all nations and by revival of
shipbuilding as soon as profits rise
above normal and lead to more
building. The best way out Is not to
flinch before such criticism as that
quoted, but to act as a business man
would who had a lot of surplus ma-
terial on his hands.
THE URGE TO WRITE.
I
The young man sentenced to serve
eight to twelve years in prison in
Louisiana for bank robbery and who
now says, that he is glad to be sent
ir, tho nonitoniisrv sr. that he can
fulfill his boyhood ambition to be
come a writer is no more likely in
the penitentiary than he was out of
It to achieve literary fame. It is a
pretty safe generalization that those
who have writing stuff in them will
make the opportunity for indulgence
without waiting for such leisure a?
is accorded by a term ln jail.
Writer's itch" is no mere figure of
speech, and people who have it sim
ply have to scratch.
George Horace Lorimers recent
definition of the qualifications for
at the writer's trade is fairly
conclusive on this score. He believes
and so do we that the candidate
for writing honors must be born
with the right kind of imagination;
and he insists that there mast be
inherent capacity to recognize the
consequential. He mentions "com
mon sense," and this is also nature's
gift. In other words, there is some
thing in the notion that the writer.
like the poet, "Is born, not made."
A certain amount of technical
skill, which may or may not be
acquired from text books on the
subject, may or may not be acquired.
but the capacity to acquire it is in
herent, so that we have now com
pleted the circle again and are back
at the staining point. John Bunyan's
capacity for writing existed before
he was imprisoned, and the fact of
his martyrdom by itself added little
or nothing to his literary stature.
The most amazing literary perform
ances in history have been accom
plished by men who did not wait for
artificial leisure in which to write.
A near relation of the individual
who thinks he would be a great
writer if he could find time to write
is the one who believes that he
could win fame in more inspiring
surroundings than those in which
he dwells. The country youth who
wishes for the stimulation of the
great city, the twentieth century
seeker after romance who is sorry
mat ne did not live in uie ume ui me
crusades, forget that every place
and every period of time have lacked
color to the uninspired understand
ing. It is failure to "recognize the
consequential," as Lorimer suggests.
right under our noses, that keeps
our inglorious Miltons mute; but
those so ungifted are incurable. Not
even a prison sentence is going to
make a literary silk pur6e out of an
unimaginative sow's ear.
BADOGLIO'8 TITLE TO FAME.
General Badoglio's visit to Port
land Invitps attention to the mili-
tai-n nutnpv wViin-h Via h a ri the chief
r,art in r,la nnlrt ir and. next to Gen-
eral Diaz, the chief part in winning.
The battle of Vittorio veneto was
fought at a time when great events
crowded each other so closely that
its magnitude has not been fully
appreciated. It reduced to a panic
stricken mob an army equal in
number to that with which Napoleon
invaded Russia. It wrecked an em
pire which traced its origin back to
Charlemagne and was older than the
monarchies of either the Hohenzol
lerns or the Romanoffs. It was won
by a nation all but a fraction of
which had been until sixty years be
fore subject to the empire which it
destroyed
That victory was also a dramatic
demonstration of the recuperative
power of the Italian people, for it
began on the first anniversary of a
disaster to the Italian army which
seemed for a time to threaten the
ruin of Italy. Having weakened the
morale of the Italians with propa
ganda which stirred many of them to
dpsire return home at any cost to I
their country, the Germans cut a
gap in the Italian line at Caporetto
which spread panic at that point and
caused the whole army to retreat
with terrible loss of men and artil-
lery. It seemed that nothing could
Btop the enemy onrush, but with
wonderful recuperative power the
Italians formed and'held a new line
at the Piave river. This was done
before British and French troops ar-
rived, though the American Red
Cross appeared on the scene a few I turn on capital investment. But it mtttee Jjas its way. It is a sad com
days after the retreat began and re- is well known that tenancy in its mentary on the methods of some
vlved confidence with proof that
America stood beside Italy.
The disaster at Caporetto might
have been averted if the allies had
practiced the same close co-ordina-
tion of forces to which the central
powers owed a large measure of
their success. To that day Italy had
been left alone to fight unaided by
her allies, except at sea and in fi-
nance and material, as though the
war on the Italian front were en-
tirely distinct from and could not
decisively influence the result in
France, yet the Italians were in fact
defending the French frontier frofti
Switzerland to the Mediterranean.
Caporetto awakened the allies to
their error and led them to send re-
inforcements to Italy and to form a
military council which should have
supreme direction of allied strategy
on all fronts. It also Impressed them
with the high value of propaganda
in breaking down the enemy's mo-
rale. They had practically re-
nounced full use of this weapon by
refusing to include dismemberment
of the Hapsburg empire among their
war aims, though this meant blight-
ing the hopes of the Serbs, Czechs,
Roumanians and Poles. They now
declared for liberation of all these
subject peoples, which were straining
at their bonds while forced to fight
for the oppressor, and they turned
the enemy's weapon upon himself nent practice, there would be nomad- but more of their spirit of patriotism
with most telling effect. So many Ism and lower grade citizenship, and of sacrifice and of sense of ob
men of these races deserted Austria Stability is guaranteed by ownership, ligation would have been absorbed
that Italy formed them into divisions
of its army, and widespread insur-
rection broke out in the Austrian
rear. By their great reliance on
propaganda to win, the Hapsburgs
dus their own grave, for their dis
affected subjects of several races
were far more susceptible to its in
fluence man was a nation or one
race, like the Italians, whose most
recent memories of military glory
were associated with the attainment
of unity.
Hence it came that when the Aus-
trians took the offensive in June, stall it if possible. The farm loan I rable encounter with the Modoc In
1918, they were driven back to the I act, which has not been in opera-1 dians on the shore of upper Klamath
further bank of the Piave with so -
is.imus lns Xa wiccu ktuUv
cheered the allies in France when
they sorely needed cheer, for the
Germans had just made the last of
a series of drives which had taken
them to the Marne. within forty
miles of Paris. When Italy took
the offensive at Vlttorlo Veneto on
October 24. the anniversary of Capo
retto, the moral factor had been re
versed. Italy's hopes had been
raised to the highest pitch by the
reorganization and new equipment
of its army, by the rapid succession
"l ""ulra "y LI"
OVrv rf t s f 'fiAll Qnrl Kv Vi lrnwn
. - dissolutlori ln the Austrian
dominions, while- a large proportion
of the opposing army literally hoped
for defeat and those who remained
true to the empire could foresee
nothing else and knew that it meant
utter ruin.
Attention of Americans was then I
so fastened on the titanic struggle in
fl ranee, which was then drawing to
a close, and ln which their own
army played a leading part, and they
were so dazzled by a series of vic
tories in France, Macedonia and
Syria that the glory of Vittorio Ve
neto was dimmed by contrast. Yet
it deserves to stand forth in history,
both as a military achievement and
with regard to its effects. A strate-
?ic Plan. covering movement of hun-
ureas ox. tuousanas oi men, tneir ar
tillery and supplies over a wide field
covering mountain, plain and swamp 1
was carried out to sucn perrection
that in ten days from the beginning
of the battle the opposing army, su
perior in numbers, dissolved into a
host of willing prisoners and fugi
tives, all its artillery and supplies
were captured, its commanders
sued for an armistice and within the
ensuing few days the empire for
which it had fought formed by the
gradual accretions of almost a thou
sands years broke into its several
parts.
The glory of this victory belongs
with slight qualification to Generals
Diaz, Badogllo, their associates and
the Italian army, for the allied
forces were but a small part of the
whole. Thus was completed the
struggle for the union of all Italians
under one flag which had been
opened in 1859 by the little kingdom
of Sardinia with the aid of France.
As a swift climax it has scarce an
equal.
FARM-OWNING AND TENANCY.
The percentage of farm acreage.
as well as of the total number of
farms in the United States, operated
by tenants has increased somewhat I
in the past decade, according to the I
TTnitpH Ktntes ppnRiis htirpaii. which I
l3 in accorri With prevailing ideas on
thp Rb1prt : but a. surnrLsinir fact is
that the value of the tenanted farms
has increased in greater proportion
than that of' farms operated by their
owners. Here is a complete upset
in our calculations. It has been
widely concluded that the renting I
system was destructive of agrlcul-
ture, because it was opposed to the
preservation of soil fertility, and be- heroes of a later time were made,
cause tenants in other respects had The same Parson Weems who col
less interest than owners in the per- laborated ln issuing the life of Ma-
manent value of property. But the I
figures, puzzling as they are, stand I
for themselves. 1
The census bureau finds that the 1
average value of all farms operated I
by their owners increased from
I ni, T I 1 n -1 A i ) f ..
901.01 in iiiv tu eu.uu yvr hub 111
1920, while the value of rented
farms in the same period increased
from $48.46 to $89.72 per acre. The
tenants seem not only to have had
the most valuable farms, on the
average, in the first place, but to
have improved them more highly,
both in actual and in relative values.
This vindication of the tenant will I
go a long way toward calming the I
fears of those who look upon a 1
small increase in tenancy as neces- I
sarily a national calamity. The ac-!
tual increase in acreage operated by I
tenants is in fact only 1.9 per cent
of the whole farm acreage in the I
United States, and farm owners still I
control 66.6 per cent of the acreage
of the country, only 27.7 being in 1
the hands of tenants, the remaining I
5.6 per cent being under the dlrec-
tion of managers, who are classified
as neither owners nor tenants, but
constitute In reality an addition to
the owner class.
The corresponding figures for 1910
were: uwners, os.j. per cent; ten-
ants, 25.8 per cent; managers, 6.1
Per cent. Thfcy suggest, however,
that more information is needed
than the census statistics furnish be-I
fore a safe conclusion can be reached
I as to the permanency of the drift
away irom iarm ownersnip. figures
I are lacking, for example, as to the
labor return or the tenant or the
present Jy comparison with the past,
I and also as to the comparative re-
I best aspects orten iurnisnes young
I farmers, who have small capital, but
an abundance of ambition, intelli-
gence and energy, with opportunities
to make a start toward ultimate
ownership. The statistics of in-
creased value of tenanted farms in-
I aicates mat tne quality or. tenants
at least is improving.
A permanent increase in the pro-
portion of tenancy will be viewed as
a dangerous tendency, nevertheless.
regardless of the figures, because of
the social vaiue or nome ownership
J in general. Whether or not it pays
1 better in dollars or cents to own
I than to rent, there are other meritor-
ious considerations. The farmer, no
less than the urban home owner,
who has a stake in the land is a
better asset for the community than
the mere renter. Civic improvement
is more likely to be assured and the
level of home life is certain to be
elevated. The children's bureau of
the United States department of ag-
riculture has pointed out that the
state is benefited by having children
born and reared in owned homes,
The ancestral roof-tree is a land
1 mark of pride and a heritage of joy.
I at the same time that it gives host-
age to the future. Certain standards
I are set up by home-owning parents
that are not associated with ten-
I antry. If renting became a perma-
I both in the country and in the
town.
I As has been suggested, we are far
from calamity while more than two
I thirds of the farm acreage of the
country is operated by owners, and
the Increase of less than 2 per cent
In tenancy in a decade is not par -
ticularly alarming, especially when
It Is accompanied by improvement
in the character of tenants. It is
wise, nevertheless, to consider well
in advance what a large increase In
I tenancy would mean, and to fore-
I tioa long enough to show results in
Una ftnaiit is expected to increase
the proportion of ownership in the
next decade, but an even more im- and self-sacrificing American rather
portant change is counted on from ( than the mere swashbuckling adven
the general movement to improve turer which he has been made to
the conditions of country life. A
very considerable proportion of pres
ent tenancy is due to pressure on
owners of farms to move to the 1
towns in order to educate their chil
dren and to enjoy social advantages
not common to isolated communities.
But these conditions are, being cor
rected most rapidly in regions where
the proportion of tenancy is small
est, which furnishes an additional
argument in favor of the operation
of farms by their owners.
RETURN OF THE BUYER.
Reminiscences of the role of the
beaver in the civilization of the west
are Invited by the announcement by
the United States department of ag-
riculture that beaver in the national
forests have increased with amazing
rapidity within the past few years.
In a certain area in southwestern
Colorado in which it is estimated
there were 200 of the little animals
two years ago, the number is now
believed to exceed 12.000. In some
states, notably Wisconsin, they have
become a menace to artificial res
ervoirs. When the Oregon country
was in its Infancy they were found
everywwhere. but bv 1840 they were
regarded as so nearly extinct that
the Hudson's Bay Company seriously
laid plans to abandon the fur trade
for manufacturing and agriculture.
The recent reappearance of the
beaver is due to game laws which
protect it in no fewer than twenty-
four states, and to its natural ability
to adapt itself to varying conditions,
so long as it is protected in its Isola
tion. It will interest the wearers of
fur garments to be told that some
authorities believe that there are
now more beavers in the country
than in the palmiest pre-pioneer
times.
dime novelist and historian.
A correspondent suggests that the
makers of popular histories missed
an opportunity by failing to take a
leaf from the book of the authors
of the dime novels that were so pop
ular a generation or so ago that
they were a problem to all well-
meaning parents of lively boys. He
takes as his text the adventures of
some of our own pioneers and haz
ards a guess that if the stories of
their lives were presented without
much embellishment they would be
read with avidity by the young. It is
rerallpd.for PTnmnle.that in the earlv
days of the territorial government
the Weems-Horrv life of General
Francis Marion was so widely read,
by adults and youngsters alike, and
so fired the Imaginations of the
people that the name of Champoeg
county was changed to Marion as
a mark of tribute to a popular hero.
The "swamp fox" was precisely the
type out of which the dime novel
rion was the author of the life of
George Washington in which the
cherry tree fable obtained currency
for the first time, and it can at
least be said of Weems that he un-
derstood boys. No biography of a
national hero has been "so effective
as his was in creating popular
interest in the .character the author
set out to depict.
We pass over the question of the
wisdom of changing the name Cham
poeg, which had a definite local
historical value, to that of a military
figure of more remote repute, in
order to emphasize the point that
the writer of popular histories can
be a man of . tremendous influence
and that he is especially fortunate
when he is endowed with what
might be termed the journalistic
sense, or capacity for determining
the points of essential interest in his
own narrative. It is not by accident
that a county in far-off Oregon was
named for Francis Marlon, and that
the names of Kit Carson and Wild
I Bill Hickok and William F. Cody
I are known to practically every boy,
I while those of many more preten-
I tious soldiers and, statesmen are now
forgotten, if indeed they were ever
remembered by young students. It
is the essence or sound pedagogy, as
has recently been recognized again
by the committee on history of the
American Schoo Citizenship league.
to present history in human form
The type studies which commonly
begin with Columbus too often end
i about tne period oi t-apiain jonn
J Smith or William Penn. Daniel
Boone, who was dime novel material
l if there ever was such material, is
I going to be recognized if the com
teachers or. nistory mat tjeorge
Washington even now owes more to
Weems than he does to modern
writers, and that Thomas Jefferson
is left to politicians to interpret as
a partisan character when the true
story of his life is as full of romance
l as that or any cnaracter wno ever
strode through tne pages or a dook
Young students of the history of
Oregon will be more than casually
Interested in knowing that Kit Car-
son, about whom our fathers read
surreptitiously in tne yenow-oacKed
literature of their time, cut a noble
figure in the trail-blazing era when
I the way was being opened to Ore-
gon. A good deal of the credit that
has been given to Fremont, the
"pathfinder," is due to the work of
Carson, who was his guide in 1842
when Fremont made his first ex
ploration trip west of the Wind
river mountains, and it is not as
widely known as it ought to be that
Buffalo Bill was a terror to Indians
only as an Incident to his career as
a pony express rider, and that he
performed yeoman service in open
ing the way for the transcontinental
railroad across the plains. Histo
I rians show a tendency to reject Car-
son and Cody and men of their com
I pany because they became dime
novel characters before professional
I educators had time to adopt them
by youngsters in the school room,
and there, would have been less oc
casion for secret thumbing of the
forbidden books, if their deeds had
I not been ignored.
I It will be recalled by a few of
I the pioneers, for example, that the
I same Kit Carson who figured in the
old Beadle books was closely asso-
elated with the history of Oregon
by his role of guide for Fremont on
the latter's third western expedition,
which brought him north into Ore-
I gon and involved him in a memo-
I lake; that he and Fremont helped
I to add California to the galaxy of
states, and that Carson was a brave '
appear. No dime novel contains a
chapter more thrilling than the true
story of the organization of the first
pony express by Russell, Majors &
Waddell, or, fdr that matter, the tale
of the adventures of Ben Holladay
in the pre-rallroad times in Oregon.
The travels of Douglas, and of Will
iamson and Warner and of Talbot,
Kearney and others whose achieve
ments are commemorated in the no
menclature of the region, and the
part played by a hundred trail build
ers of an early time whose names
are read on the maps without much
understanding of their significance,
furnish almost innumerable ex
amples of opportunities to make
authentic history significant and life
like, which have been neglected in
favor of the dry-bones method of
instruction which has prevailed.
A noteworthy episode in the an
nals of the western frontier was the
completion of the first lap of the
transcontinental telegraph line, the
sixtieth anniversary of which will
occur in a few weeks; which is also
a reminder that the name of Edward
Creighton is forgotten) although he.
too, deserves a place in history be
side Carson, Fremont, Cody and the
others. The great race to win the
federal subsidy which had been
promised to the first company to
succeed in establishing ocean-to-ocean
communication, the prodigious
and nearly superhuman exertion that
it inspired, and the final linking of
the Atlantic seaboard with the dis
tant Pacific coast were events which
were ignored at the time of their
performance because they had not
obtained the perspective which is ac
quired with the passage of time. But
these events had their part in revo
lutionizing the thought of a people,
and if more were made of them in
their proper place there would be
less cause for complaint that youths
find history dull "and seek relief and
excitement in prohibited tales.
Ever and anon we are reminded
again that where there are no trees
civilization declines. The deserts of
Arabia and the steppes of Russia no
less than the wastes of the frozen
north illustrate the point only in
part, for it is doubtful if the ma
terials of a civilization ever existed
there, but the vast Interior of China
would seem to prove that a people
who deliberately destroy their for
ests and make no provision for re
placement invite famine, plague and
ultimate annihilation. The function
of the tree as building material may
be made good by employment of
brick and stone, and even mud, but
as a conserver of moisture and of
the soil, and particularly as a spirit
ual uplifter and a giver of bounteous
and grateful shade, it has no sub
stitute. T,ie chamber of commerce
of the United States undoubtedly has
these facts in mind, and the reflec
tions which they impel, in its cam
paign to awaken people to the de
sirability of planting trees and of
conserving those already grown.
Mr. Kdison has the support" of a
number of college professors in his
contention that college graduates do
not measure up to expectations
and If he will wait until the present
generation is older he will have the
indorsement of some of the college
men as well.
Mary Pickford's celebrated di
vorce case isn't ended yet, for the
Nevada authorities say they will ap
peal to the supreme court. Perfectly
right and proper. Every modern
thriller should have at least five
reels.
It is a noteworthy fact that John
D. Rockefeller seems to arouse less
and less animosity as he approaches
the day when the inheritance col
lector will have an opportunity to
perform his perfect work.
Women in Massachusetts still
balk at the requirement that they
shall tell their ages to the registra
tion clerk, showing that there is at
least one secret that they are de
termined to keep.
When preachers disagree over the
"gravity" of the short skirt and
bobbed hair crazes, there is a pros
pect that they will be permitted to
run themselves out, as other fads
have always done.
The motion pictures of the Demp
sey-Carpentier fight being offered
at popular prices," we may expect to
b told that the movement to pro
hlblt them is a blow at the "poor
mans sport.
Lenine talks of taking a vacation
in Scotland. Evidently he wants
complete rest from his labors. He
can have no thought of trying to
convert the Scots to bolshevism.
What a stimulus it would give to
donations for the starving babies of
Russia if a free crack at a bolshevist
head were given as a premium with
every subscription to the fund. .
The new army of conscientiou
objectors to the war taxes is much
greater and far more respectable
than that which was heard from
during the war.
There is said to be money in
garbage, but the one chap whom
few people begrudge whateve
money there is in his trade is the
garbage man. .
And now we have the trollibus as
an addition to our language no less
than to our means of going to places
that we do not necessarily have to
reach.
Maybe it was the prospect of hav
ing to live In Salem during a session
of the legislature that made Judge
Tucker decline that supreme court
post.
Every new swindle is a reminder
at least that the day of implicit faith
has not entirely given place to the
age of skepticism.
With such low rates to the beach,
we may expect a revival of poems
dealing with what the wild waves
are saying.
This new rate war to Astoria wiil
make good reading for the "Do You
Remember" column twenty years
from now.
Congress promises to repeal the
luxury tax on silk stockings on the
theory, probably, that they are now
- luxuries.
observations of philosopher'
Sage of Potato Hill Discusses Foibles
of Hsmn Family.
E. W. Howe, in Howe's Monthly.
Love stories are almost as much
alike as market reports.
So many thlr.es in books sound
written instead of. natural.
I like books and newspapers: but
I prefer that they Instruct rather
than fool me.
I confess I do not greatly care for
the lady Ring: Lar"dner who is lately
writing for print.
When a man or woman has lost the
power of being ashamed, he or she
has lost the power of improving
morally.
I have never read of an age when
writers did not say the people were
robbed, oppressed and bullied. Look
Into any history, and see if you do
not, in a few pages, run into this
statement.
All the calamities in history have
been due to contests over the tax
ing privilege. A man appears, and
ays he wishes to save me. What
he really aims to do is to tax me.
The colleges are In effect, turning
out thousands of Fierce-Arrows and
Cadillacs when the demand is for
Fords. (More free advertising for
Henry Ford, found in a magazine.)
1 do not believe there ever was
' man who actually believed in
spiritism. Even a savage has a lit
tle of the reasoning faculty, and.
fter he has made incantations for
years without result he must in-
vitably realize that there is some-
hing wrong with bis Joss.
There must be considerable satis
faction in being crazy. Such a man
is to blame for nothing: he is wise,
benevolent. makes no mistakes
others are always to blame. The
ane men about him are not only
tools; they are rogues'. It is a sane
man who tosses on his bed at night
because of mistakes.
I am weary of fault finding; of
men spending their lives in pointing
out the faults of others, and recog
nizing none in themselves. Some of
my readers may say I am a fault
finder. I find no fault except that
we do not do as well as we might;
I object to nothing except bad habits
we might get rid of. and thereafter
be better off.
It is said the Jews are material
istic. Are they not. on the contrary,
the most spiritual of all races? They
are the founders of our spiritism;
they are the oldest undivided race
and cling together more closely than
any other because of spiritism. Our
prophet "is the Son; theirs is the
Father. . The Jews are one great
family; spirituality is the cement
that holds them together.
As practically every head of an
American family must have an auto
mobile, and the expense of such a
machine is around $50 a month, of
course everybody must have more
Income. A plasterer lately came to
call on me, driving an automobile
He recalled the time when he worked
ten hours a day for $2.50. Now he
receives $8 for a day of eight hours
and is clamoring for $10.
The attempts of law makers to help
the people not only do no good; they
result In unnecessary expense and
harm. After this year there should
not' be a session of congress or
state legislature until 1926. And
during the remainder of this year
congress and state legislatures should
repeal thousands of Ineffective, trou
blesome and expensive laws, and re
tain only the bare essentials of gov
ernment. I often think there is indelicacy
in the manner ln which cemeteries
are usually placed In sightly places.
We properly hide certain parts of
our bodies and certain of our neces
sary acts; we should be equally
modest in hiding our graveyards.
On every railroad train there are
passengers going to hospitals, or to
a different climate where they hope
to be better. Such passengers can
not look out of the windows without
seeing a cemetery at least every half
hour.
Every man who habitually tells
lies, or drinks intoxicants, or refuses
to pay his just debts, should be ar
rested and punished as are vagrants.
These habits are as annoying and
harmful to his community as is
vagrancy. Besides, it a man is ar
rested for vagrancy,- he is usually
humiliated, and shows a disposition
to go to work; arrest would do as
much for the habitual liar, drunkard
or dead beat. A man must do a
certain amount of work in order to
be respectable. Se he should be
forced to be reasonably truthful,
sober and honest.
The preachers are making a mis
take in trying to bring back the old
blue laws regulating Sunday. If such
laws could be adopted, they would
not increase the attendance at the
churches. But such laws cannot be
adopted, and the agitation will bring
out a lot of unfriendliness to the
church which would otherwise lie
dormant. One of the certain things
is that the average red-blooded Amer
ican does not like the old-fashioned
"bossy" preacher. If the church
leaders were as wise as the political
leaders, they would realize that the
blue Sunday agitation is a very bad
measure.
Upton Sinclair impresses me as an
immensely industrious man. Prob
ably no farmer works longer hours.
Had Mr. Sinclair devoted his great
energy to legitimate pursuits, ne
might have been a prosperous and
useful man. I recall only one man
who has made a really conspicuous
success of socialism: Lenin, the Rus
sian. He is very wealthy, and for
all time his name will be preserved
in cyclopedias and histories. Rosseau
and Marx are noted because of their
devotion to socialism, but neither
was really successful. Lenin, with
all his success, is confronted with
a disagreeable future; he nas yet
to be assassinated, a fate sure to
overtake him. Socialism is a poor
profession; not half a dozen socialists
have been really successful men.
Safety of Headtns: Apparatus.
PORTLAND. Aus:. 19. (To the Edi
tor.) I wish to install a certain gas
heating device, but have been in
formed that it is unsafe. I have also
been told that the fire marshal or in
surance companies test such things,
but do not know where to apply. Can
you tell where I can get reliable, dis
interested inlormauon on mis sud
ject? I would rather be careful than
collect insurance.
EDWARD JOHNSON'.
Tou can probably secure the in
formation you desire at the office of
the fire marshal on the lower floor of
j the city hall.
The Healer.
By brace E. Hall.
Man breaks the tender plants that,
mingled, grow
Across the woodland path where he
would tread.
With ruthless hand the clinging vine
flings low.
And snaps the boughs that cluster
overhead;
With sharpened blade hacks into
hearts of trees
That, through the years, have hun
gered tor the sky;
Compels the rocks to yield to his
decrees.
Yea, robs the stream and leaves it
hot and dry.
The flowers must cease to bloom
upon the road
That man has gashed across the
forest's breast;
- ..u " u 1 1 j lvj ix new
1 abode.
But discord breaks forever on their
rest;
The drooping ferns hang heavy with
the dust
That smothers all their beauty,
fresh and green.
But man is blind when in his head
long lust
He hurls his energies against tti
scene.
But let the old road lose its useful
way ,
And lo! kind nature hurries to the
spot;
Rebuilds the "havoc of man's heed
less day.
With sweet commiseration In her
thought:
A verdant carpet weaves of softest
mo66.
Loops tendrils of the vine from
shrub to tree.
Sets brighter flowers to recompense
ior loss.
And paints the scene anew, most
gorgeously.
CLACKAMAS RIVER.
Spoiled child of sun, and tear
be.
clouded skies!
Of silent ages of eternal change:
cradled by wrinkled cliffs, whose
patient eyes.
Gaze on the wilful wandering of your
Play;
Where armored mountains, spread in
steadfast range.
Hold, with scarred Hood, a mighty
secret, strange.
Of cloud-capped thunders of a long
lost day:
Of fiery war with molten lava
streams.
Of fearful trembling of the fright
ened earth;
Where the sharp sword blade of the
glacier gleams;
These, careless river, were watchers
at your birth.
For you, a thousand caverned springs
From snowy sleep were drawn;
For you a hundred million moons
Sank, wanly, toward the dawn;
Toward you, the coral salmon leaped.
To die In your embrace;
By you. the painted savage paused
To see his mirrored face;
For you. the ponderous caravans
Of giant spreading fir.
Brought, weighted with the western
winds.
Their frankincense and myrrh.
And you. xh wayward, wandering
child
Of laughter and of light;
Were made to show
The endless flow
Of everlasting might!
Love fails not of its purpose, God
fails not of his plan.
Eternal hours are none too long, to
shape the soul of men!
MARY A. WOODWARD.
A MONO THOSE PRESENT.
"Among those present" at the batbjng
beach to be!
To feel the surf and view the beauties
of the scenery!
"Among those present" when the
weather's dry and somewhat
hot.
Along the sandy ocean shore who
could, re ruse to trot?
Those captivating whitecaps for me
brinff forth an urge;
Say. don't you feel it. almost, the dip
into the surge?
I'd have the cheery thought abide, end
so. would you. I ween.
Although the ocean waves this year I
haven't even seen.
Imagination always helps when one
feels somewhat jaded.
And keeps one's hopes a-sparking.
one's dreams from getting
faded.
"Among those present" on a camping
trip far out.
That for me would put such things as
grouches to rout.
Why don't I tune the little old gas bus
up end vamoose?
Er no one yet has lent me theirs.
and none is nigh me. loose.
I guess the thing is up to me to look
ahead a bit.
To gather first more jingling coins.
instead of sighs to flit;
Then, when I get enough ahead, to
tep right up and buy
A thoroughbred a car, I mean and
for the brookside hie;
Some time, however, must elapse be
fore the plan gets ripe.
Till then the old job holds me. so I'll
fill the cool corncob pipe.
A. O.
THE LAND THAT USED TO BE.
The flicker of the firelight in mj
grand and lonely hall
Like a moving picture story casts a
shadow on the wall:
And time turns back to by-gone days
and scenes again I see
Of a dim-remembered childhood, ln
the land that used to be.
I've wandered to the village, to mj
boyhood home once more
In the twilight I am standing, jusl
before the open door.
The scent of honeysuckle that I used
to love so well
On the evening breeze is brought m
and wraps me in its spell.
The image of dead friendships from
across the span of years
Smile to me a welcome and my eyes
grow dim with tears:
Like a song that's half forgotten
comes the sad sweet melody
Of the whlppoorwill's low crying down
the path of memory.
But the light fades from the window
for the hour is growing late
And the darkness settles downward,
like the silent hand of fate.
The embers in the fireplace that gav
this gift to me.
In their dying shadows steal me. from
the land that used to be.
HITTT MAG INN.
SELF".
I -note on every hand a restless turft.
Each one is hastening, and whit s the
urge
That leaves no quiet hour wh-"
phantom doth purine
That all seem fleeing from, tho n- k-
'tis in view?
The phantom's name is self s". e.
dom faced.
In efforts to escape, hours are la:d
waste;
Self (like a waiMni? task, that waits
tho' we evade)
Responsibility upon each one is laid
And with each fleeing one. ft If :-
the throng
Is ever present, too. although evad-
long
Waiting a reckoning hour and intro
spection's goad
Self must be fairly met. sorrv -n-here
upon life's rond.
JANETTE MART lit.