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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 8, 1922)
8 THE SUNDAY OKEGONIAX, PORTLAND, OCTOBER 8,. 1923 jiundag (Smrmttan JtoTABUSHKU BY HENRY L. PITTOCK Published by The OreKonian Pub. Co. 135 Sixth Street, Portland. Oregon. C. A. MORDEN. E. B. PIPER. Manager, Editor. The Oreeoniaji is a. member of the As. sociated. Press. The Associated Press ia exclusively entitled to the use for publi cation of all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special-dia- P4tcnes nerein are aiso reserveu. Subscription Kates Invariably in Advance. Rally, Sunday included, one year 18.00 Daily, Sunday Included, six months . . 4.-o Daily, Sunday included, three months 2.2o ually, Sunday mciuaeu, one mumu . . Daily, without Sunday, one year Daily, without Sunday, six months . . Daily, without Sunday, one month ... Sunday one year (Bv Carrier.) .to 6.00 3.25 .80 2.50 TJatlv. Sundav included, one year J9.00 Daily. Sunday included, three months 2.25 Daily, Sunday included, one month .. .75 Daily, without Sunday, one year 7.80 Daily, without Sunday, three months 1.95 Daily, without Sunday, one month .65 How to Remit Send postofftce money order, express or personal check on your local Danic stamps, coin or tuircuw at owner's risk. Give postofflce address in full, including county and state. . PnNinrn Rates 1 to 16 pages, 1 cent 18 to 32 pages, 2 cents; 34 to 48 pages, 3 cents: 50 to 64 pages, 4 cents; 66 to 80 pages, 5 cents; 82 to 96 pages, fa cents. Eastern Business Offices Verree & Conklin, 300 Madison avenue. New York; Verree & Conklin, Steger Building, Chi cago; Verree & Conklin, Free Prelb build ing, Detroit, Mich.; Verree & Conklin, Monadnock building. San Francisco. Cal. OREGON HISTORY TS OREGON SCHOOLS. A sound reason for insisting that Oregon history shall be taught in the grammar schools of the state, and a sufficient justification for the recent announcement by State Superintendent Churchill that "in the eighth-grade examinations be ginning with January 1, 1923, pu pils must be prepared to answer questions in Oregon history when taking the examinations in United States history," are given by the author of the "Suggestions to Teachers' which constitute an il luminating preface to the outline of the history of Oregon which has just been published for the guid ance of teachers of eighth grades. "My town and my state," says this writer, "are the logical avenues of approach to my country. With the 'idiom' of his home place as a point of departure the study of American history will mean a captivating, dynamic experience to him." This ig good pedagogy be cause it is also common sense and because it utilizes the most conven ient and most efficient of instru ments for humanizing the study of history. None but an uncommonly uninspired teacher could fail to discover in the story or Oregon the materials for awakening interest in a branch of the' curriculum that has suffered greatly from want of vision in the past. "A long time ago somebody did something grand and courageous somewhere else." This, as the writer of the suggestive preface in question sagely observes, is the too prevalent idea of the study of his tory in the schools. The concep tion of history as a thing that we are making today and that our im mediate ancestors our fathers and grandfathers had a definite part in needs to be cultivated as a part of the humanizing process without which history must continue to be dull and dry. We can afford to sacrifice our tables of dates and our lists of the names of ancient kings in the interest of realities that awaken the imagination and invoke the spirits of living things. It ought to be known to every Oregonian that the very name of their region is a more recent ere ation than the Declaration of Inde pendence, that the existence of the Columbia river was unknown when the constitution of the , United States was adopted, that the first permanent settlement in all the northwest was practically coinci dent with the war of 1812 and was more momentous than the issues over which that war was fought, and that discoveries would not have been made and the country would not have been developed but for the spirit of "commercialism' which unthinking theorists now profess to deplore and condemn, It will help to stimulate interest in the Monroe doctrine to know that .it was inspired by Russian im perialism on the northwest coast. and it will give an impression of the complexity of the forces that make for world progress to learn that the prime stimulus to explora tion which resulted in the opening of the country to civilization was a demand for furs for the use of the mandarins of an oriental land. The Odyssey of adventure by land and by sea in which the his tory of Oregon is bound up lacks neither the legend nor the romance nor the practical adventure which students are too often bidden to seek in the ancient tales of alien lands. Here at home, not 10,000 miles away within the lifetime of our great-grandfathers, our grand fathers and our fathers, not in the remote and murky distances of a time Ions past deeds were per formed, and an empire contended for, and a new social order de veloped in the telling of which the teacher has the advantage of a familiar groundwork and a com mon understanding. The story of the acquisition of Oregon, of the motives underlying its settlement and development, and above all of the toil and sacri fice out of which the present has been created, is an epic without parallel in the ancient tomes. Jason in quest of the golden fleece is but the prototype of the mari ners who sought the fabled strait of Anian for the promotion of world commerce, and Marco Polo, a counterpart of a score of hardy adventurers who, faring forth into, unknown lands toward the set ting sun, thrust the frontier, a league at a time, back toward the ocean of the west. The story of Lewis and Clark is a better founda tion on which to create a historical perspective than the musty account of any medieval adventure; the peaceful conquest of valley and plain by the first immigrants a more intimate and understandable story to the young student than that of the depredations of the Goths, the Vandals, the Mongols and the Huns. In particular it will be empha sized in any adequate teaching of the history of Oregon that the steps by which the region was wrested from primitive savagery, reclaimed from the wilderness, utilized for the growing needs of civilized men and at length devel oped into an orderly state were not the result of unguided chance. The generation which now enjoys its heritage ought not to be permitted to grow up unaware of the measure of its debt. If a certain humility be thereby instilled, if a sense of gratitude be stimulated, if a spirit of emulation be invoked and a res olution to be worthy of the past be the product of present contempla tion, the study of the history of our own state will not be in vain. .N'or need it be forgotten that the events to which allusion is made are so recent that the annals of them are even now but in the process of being set down. The preface in question properly gives weight to this consideration when it proposes that students shall be enlisted in the task of making local historical surveys and impressed with the importance of conserving the records of pioneer life.' The aim should be, as the author sug gests, "to impress young people with the richness of their own state in its historical background," and there will be no dissent from the proposition that "earnest, sincere study of the effort, made by the men and women who set them selves the task, of carving Amer ican homes in the Pacific north west cannot fail to have an en nobling influence on the sons and daughters whose responsibility it is to carry on the story of Oregon." OPENING OF THE NIGHT SCHOOLS. Resumption of classes in the evening schools of the country with a nearly universal outlook that, as in Portland, there will be a record breaking attendance this year, is significant of a number of things. The desire for education is not only insistent, but it takes a practical turn. The night schools, as it needs to be understood in order to obtain a conception of the work they are doing, are chiefly if not wholly for the benefit of adults, who have missed their opportuni ties in the past but who are now seeking to make up for lost time. They are supplementary to indus try, being patronized by students of all ages who in the daytime are otherwise employed, and they carry on the work of the day schools which embody the material and cultural aspirations of our national life. In association with the exten sion courses supplied by institu tions of higher learning, they fur nish a convincing refutation of the old theory that the period of "edu cation" of the man is definitely limited by age. It is, of course, but a part of the great movement which finds every academy, college and university crowded to the doors, but it is even more important because it repre sents the wholly voluntary efforts of a great number of individuals to atone for past omissions, rather than to sit idly the rest of their lives lamenting lack of opportunity in youth. A great deal is going to be accomplished by these -mght school pupils, whose very earnest ness minimizes one of the problems that vexes so many teachers of the young and whose maturity of judg ment atones in a measure for the quicker perceptions, the greater re ceptivity of youth. Above all is the development of character in those who are thus showing determina tion to make the most of them selves. The classes in Americanization which constitute one phase of the evening school's work are in keep ing with the spirit of the times. That there is a fairly large attend ance at these is an encouraging sign, though there is room for im provement in this regard. The es timate that there are some 6000 adults in Portland, with its slightly more than a quarter of a million population, who can neither read nor write English is a challenge to us to speed up the campaign which has for .its slogan, "One hundred per cent of literacy by 1925." The making of loyal citizens is immeas urably accelerated by their mastery of the language of the country whose institutions they are expec ted to support, and this, together with instruction in the means of making a livelihood, is one of the best avenues of approach to a con tented citizenship and an excellent antidote for the spirit of revolu tion and unrest. SPEEDING UP JUSTICE. It is not easy to find ground for disagreement with the findings of the law enforcement committee of the American Bar association where they are based on a main purpose to accelerate the criminal processes of the courts. Its pro test against the toleration of "mo tions that are purely dilatory," though it may involve a nice dis crimination between those which are intended only to delay and those which protect the prisoner in his clearly-defined rights, suggests by the very fact that it is made by committee of lawyers that the profession is alive to a common abuse, and while the law is about it there are other technicalities that might be advantageously dis carded. The committee specifies oneef these. The rule which for bids a prosecutor from calling the attention of a Jury to the defen dant's failure to take the stand in his own behalf is peculiarly incom prehensible to laymen unversed in legal minutiae, and who think that the prisoner who is innocent usu ally has nothing to conceal. The bar association committee would also curb the right of ap peal, permitting one review by a higher court but no more. It abates nothing of its regard for the spirit of the law which would give the erring one a chance to make good when it recommends that parole. probation and the indeterminate sentence be limited to first offend ers, while it insists that means shall be provided for the segregation of the latter, now too commonly con demned to association with hard ened criminals in institutions which are little more than schools for crime. - - There can be no complaint that under the existing system the de fendant is not fully protected in his rights, all of which, and more, are safeguarded to the last degree The trouble has been that the sen timentalists in their excess of zeal have overlooked the rights of the lawabiding .citizen to protection, and in doing so have made life and property increasingly insecure. The other factor that has been ignored by the extremists is that the pros pect of swift and certain punish ment is a practical deterrent to many who are on the borderline of criminal careers. The courts would have less to do if that which they now do were performed more speedily, and so celerity of justice would operate in two ways to re duce the number of criminals, to promote public confidence in and1 respect for law and to abate the pressure on our penal and reforma tory institutions. In indicating that its policy will be to strive for standardization - of criminal law and practice in the various states the committee has taken on a big job, but it is pos sible that it may accomplish some thing even in that direction. If it will concentrate on the speeding up of trials and on curtailment of the right of appeal it will have a programme that ought to accom plish a good deal toward reducing the incidence of crime. MAPPING THE OCEAN'S FLOOR. With the possible exception of wireless telegraphy, no device of greater significance to navigation has been perfected since the varia tion of the compass needle was first noted by Columbus than the new radio sounding device which the navy department announces has proved its efficiency, and the development of which is credited wholly to an American. A survey ship of the navy has just com pleted an experimental voyage from Newport, R. I., to Gibraltar, in nine days, hy which it was de termined that the ocean floor for that distance consists of an exten sive plateau, bordered by moun tains and table lands, some of which rise 4000 feet above the plain. Several deep depressions, none of which are shown on any previous chart, were revealed, and positive depth data were secured in the vicinity of the Azores, where heretofore the deep sea lead had found no bottom. Exploration of all the oceans on the globe, 'here tofore regarded by oceanoghaphers as a task too extensive to be ac complished within a period of measureable time, is now made an early probability. The invention ranks with radio telegraphy as a means of promot ing safety at sea. It operates never theless on a principle as simple as the fundamentals of physics and its technic is far less complicated than that of the old-fashioned and cumbersome deep sea lead. It is based on the length 'of time re quired by sound to travel to a given point and back again, the re turn being recorded as an echo. Successful soundings can be taken at intervals of less than one min ute in the deepest water. Charting of the ocean bottom along the principal trade routes is expected to furnish an accurate topographical map which can be used to determine a vessel's posi tion in darkness or in fog, leaving nothing to chance or to the in accuracies of dead reckoning, the significance of which all mariners will understand. But the larger meaning of the device to navi gators on the Pacific coast, and particularly in the northwest, lies in -the promise it holds out that surveys, hitherto neglected, will be perfected in a relatively early time. The fact that the navy survey ves sel was able to take more than 900 soundings in the course of a short voyage, and to make an accurate ocean map of an important trade route in about nine days gives mariners of the Pacific the right to expect that the hazards of navi gatlon in thes- - waters will be promptly reduced to their lowest terms. SEEN WITH AN EASTERN MIND. Findings of an examiner for the interstate commerce commission adverse to the application of the Wenatchee Southern railroad for a certificate of convenience and ne cessity for construction of its line is one more example of the imper viousness of the average eastern mind to the essential facts about western conditions. The proposed road is desired by the people of a large part of central Washington in order that they may -not be de pendent on a single railroad-. for shipment of their products out and their supplies in, .or a single port for export of their produce, and may not have to travel half way across the state of Washington and back in order to reach a neighbor ing town by rail. Because the Great Northern railroad is enlarg ing its yards and is building 1000 new cars and promises to haul 400 carloads a day from Wenatchee, the examiner holds that its road is sufficient and that the new line is not necessary. A few facts which were presented at the hearing and were adduced in the briefs should have convinced the examiner to the contrary. As to volume of traffic, from an irrigated area of only 28,000 acres the Wenatchee valley shipped 13,400 carloads of fruit in 1919, and all kinds of farm produce and lumber to the value of $35,000,000. In 1920 it shipped out 10,542 car loads of apples alone and shipped in 8400 carloads of merchandise. In 1921 it shipped 15,613 carloads of apples besides other fruit and farm products. To these totals should be added the traffic from Beverly and the country between there and Wenatchee, including the great Priest rapids tract, also be tween Hanford and Kennewick. As to convenience of travel for passengers who wish to visit nearby towns, the distance from We natchee to Ellensburg via Seattle over the Great Northern and Northern Pacific is 29 2 miles, over the Milwaukee road 28 0 miles; via Spokane over the Great Northern and Northern Pacific 446 miles, over the Milwaukee, 368 miles. Over the Wenatchee Southern it would be S9 miles. From Wenatchee to Yakima over the Great Northern and Northern Pacific is 328 miles, over the pro posed line via Beverly '125 miles. From Wenatchee to Kennewick via Seattle over the Great Northern and Northern Pacific is 416 miles, via Spokane over the Great North ern, 332 miles; over the proposed line via Beverly 133 miles. From Wenatchee to Hanford via Seattle over the Great Northern and Milwaukee is 362 miles, via Spokane over the same roads 378 miles; over the proposed new road 100 miles. t Apples, the chief product of We natchee and the other irrigated districts, must be shipped in re frigerated cars and kept at an even temperature while in transit either by rail eastward or by rail to Pa cific ports for water shipment. The only road now available is often snowbound in winter and, being farthest north of all American rail roads, has lower temperatures than southern lines. Risk of damage to fruit is great and, when that road is blocked or short of cars, the shipper has no alternative. Build ing of S 3 miles of railroad from Wenatchee to Beverly and of 26 miles from Hanford to Kennewick, with the use of 47 miles of the Mil waukee between Beverly and Han ford, would give a short route southward to connect with the Northern Pacific, Milwaukee and Union Pacific. The entire territory traversed would then have four alternative routes east and west and could make water shipments from Portland as well as Puget sound. There are north-and-south lines through Washington west of the Cascade mountains and through Spokane far to the east. Central Washington needs one, and the Wenatchee Southern by connection with the Great Northern line up the Okanogan river would provide it. T,he opinion of the examiner ap pears to have been founded on the tonnage now moving and to have assumed that a new line would simply divide it with the present line. That may be a sound view of a fully-developed section in the east, but it does not fit the west. If that view had been taken before the first railroad was built to the Pacific coast, no railroad would have been built and the west would be a wilderness. Western railroads were built to develop traffic, not merely to carry that which already existed. The traffic of central Washington is already ill served by existing roads. The new road is needed to give good service and it is justified by the new traffic that further development will pro- duce. Before an examiner is quali fied to judge of a case like this he J should be sent west to get his mind westernized by seeing western con ditions. He cannot learn them by reading a transcript of testimony in an office on the Atlantic coast BEING A NONOGENARIAN. The most that can be said con cerning these secrets of long life with which those who have at tained it ever and anon are wont to edify an anxious world is that they prove inothing whatever that bears in any particular on the point. It is but natural that we should seek information from those who have had experience, but we incline to give too great weight to what the last speaker has to say. A recent discussion of the old New England custom of eating pie for breakfast evoked the reminder, for example, that New Englanders are an exceptionally hardy and long- lived folk, but we are not war ranted on that account in suppos ing that a double ration of matu tinal pastry would make us a race of Methusalehs. The fact prob ably is that if one set out to do so he could prove by indubitable sta tistics that buttermilk and potatoes and longevity go together. Metch nikoff got his notion of the health giving function of the bacillus Bui garicus from the circumstance that certain peoples in the Balkan re gion, who have a perverted taste for sour milk, also live long. The factor of coincidence con stantly sets the labor of statist! cians at naught. We no sooner wring from some nonogenarian the boast that he never chewed tobacco in his life than another comes along who has been a constant user of the weed. Dr. R. N. Foster, who died in Chicago the other day, be ing then 90 years old, ten years ago made himself a set of rules by following which he said any man ought to live to 90 or so. Dr. Foster lived to justify his reputa tion as a prophet in his own case, but it is worth noting that he and most others like him seldom begin taking precautions until they have passed well beyond the allotted span. Dr. Stephen ' Smith, who missed being a centenarian by only a few months, used to think that the way to live long wasto keep as busy as possible; ex-Senator Cole of California prefers the more placid way and passes the century mark. These are but examples of con trasting methods of achieving identical results. The nonogenarians of history have mostly led active lives; other wise they would not have been his torical figures, but any scientific inquiry into causes and effects should ask whether there may not have been an even larger number remarkable for nothing else than nonogenarianism. It is but natural that John Adams, who lived to be nearly 91 and was famous for in dustry, should find in hard work the recipe for ripe age, but Thomas Parr, the most noted old man of them all, excelled Adams' record by a not-inconsiderable lifetime. and there is no record that he ever did anything else worth mention ing. Neal Dow, father of the pro hibition movement, was 93 when he died: - but Lord Brougham, noted for his eccentricities, and especially for the novel quality of his disso luteness, rounded out a good 91 years. Among our own nonogenarians we have a variety of occupations that quite puzzles one who seeks to discover a system running through it all. John Stark, whose wife would have been a widow if the tide of battle had turned against the patriot army on a certain his toric occasion, had a stormy-petrel career and lived to be 94. Gen eral Thomas Sumter, the last sur viving general officer of the revolu tion, fought in many wars and went nto politics and was a lively citizen almost to the day of his death at 98. Commodore Charles Stewart was 91 wiien he died. General George S. Greene, born in J 801, was graduated from West Point in 1823, fought through the civil war, sur vived Gettysburg and Sheruian's march to the sea, and was busy planning the construction of rail roads until shortly before his death in 1899. These men were soldiers. But George Bancroft, whose monu mental history of America from the discovery by Columbus to the inau guration of Washington, published when he was 83, constituted but a fraction of the labors of a busy life, died in harness in his 92d year. Peter Cooper, who touched on almost every .form of human activity and was successful in all except as an independent candidate for president, and Richard S. Dana the elder, a noteworthy poet and essayist, each exceeded Bancroft's record by a year. Europe has had its share of famous old men. Enrico Dandolo, the Venetian, lived through ninety-seven years in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Sir Moses Monttfiore was 101, Gladstone lived to be 89. Professor Francis Newman, a great scholar, was 91. and James Martineau was 95. Alary Somerville published a monumen- tal work on molecular and micro scopic science at 86 and lived to be 92. There is a story about a fond mother who took her young son to a seer to obtain a forecast of his future. The man of wisdom peered Ions and intently into the depths of the crystal ball. "Your boy," he said, "will be a very distinguished man if he lives long enough." "Dis tinguished for what?" the mother inquired. "For old age." was the reply. Which we submit is not ' in itself a distinction to be craved, whereas the true measure, of life is its quality rather than the number of its years. Extremely long life in the instances to which allusion has been made was but a by-product. It was not the chief purpose of those who achieved it and it is far from having been their principal claim to fame. THE PIONEER "SAVED OREGON." In his study of the forces which combined to decide the title of the Oregon country in favor of the United States, James Christy Bell Jr., author of "Opening a High way to the Pacific," has done less than justice to the factor of actual settlement and to the individuals who participated in the great westward movement in the fifth decade of the nineteenth century. It is true, as the writer points out, that the convention of 1818 -between the United States and Great Britain establishing joint occu pancy of the whole Oregon conn try did state "that this agreement is not to be construed to the prej udice of any claim which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of said coun try," and it is also true that this qualification was interpreted by the statesmen of both nations as meaning that "in future negotia tions the question of territorial sovereignty would be discussed and settled solely upon the basis of facts which occurred prior to 1818." In theory the issues were thus drawn and in the history of the open diplomacy by which the boundary was ultimately deter mined, the principle was only once departed from; yet final adjust ment was the result of com promise, in which the moral posi tion of the United States was strengthened by the fact of ac complished settlement, while that of Great Britain was correspond ingly weakened by failure of her own subjects to avail themselves of the opportunity equally pre sented to them for settlement of the northwest coast. The whole region was in fact regarded as unimportant alike by Americans and British in the years immediately following the negotia tions of 1818 and also following those of 1827, by which it was also agreed that nothing ' should "be construed to impair, or in any manner affect, the claims" of either nation. There was then no public demand in the United States that the Oregon country should be "saved," and except for John Jacob Astor and his agents none appeared to give the subject any consideration for a time after the first joint occupancy conven tion was made. A brief awaken ing of interest in 1827 was due to the efforts of a few whose motives may have been influenced by -self-interest, but this was not long-lived, and did not measurably influence the result. British policy n this particular period was dic tated less by desire to rest British claims on "facts which had oc curred prior to 1818" than 'by the personal ambition of George Can ning, to retrieve the restoration of Astoria, which he regarded as a national blunder and for which he was determined if possible to atone. Viewed broadly, the probability that the boundary would be fixed on the basis of the status quo ante 1818 will seem to have been ex ceedingly small, when this situation was reached; in contending that the United States offered no quid pro quo in exchange for abandon ment of Great Britain's title to the northwest coast, then claimed by the United States as far north as parallel 51, Canning injected an element of barter into the contro versy which virtually constituted a retirement from the exclusively legalistic position by which Brit ish claims based on events prior to 1818 had previously been sus tained. The -issue was more than a diplomatic one, and it was decided by circumstances over which the international lawyers had little or no control. No one realized this better than did Albert Gallatin when he declared that the region west of the Rockies was destined to be populated most largely by citizens of the United States, and Secretary Calhoun but voiced an opinion developed by events when he said that "our well-founded claim, based on continuity, has been greatly strengthened during the same period by the rapid ad vance of our population toward the territory." "An immigration estimated at one thousand during the last and fifteen hundred dur ing the present year," he added. has flowed into it." This was in 1844. Immigration to Oregon had begun in earnest. The im portance of this factor had been recognized in a slightly earlier time by the efforts of British in terests to encourage colonization of the Puget Sound country by settlers from the Red river dis trict, and though the attempt failed it was an earnest of the bearing upon the outcome of facts which had not existed when either treaty of joint occupancy was made. Calhoun was less trained in the arts of diplomacy than the Brit ish statesmen were, but he had more than a glimpse of the true issue when he declared that the superior availability of the Oregon country to the people of the United States had been proved, that events had shown that while the region could hardly be expected to become more than a colony in its relations with Great Britain, it was rapidly developing into a home for people from the United States. The events which culmi nated in the "fifty-four-forty or fight" campaign slogan of 1844 and in the formal instruction to the president to give notice of abrogation of the treaty were the products of natural developments which, rendered futile the tech nicalities of international law upon which previous arguments had been founded. Precedents, prior discoveries, pretensions based on our accession to early Spanish rights ani controverted on the ground that Spain had no valid I claims to barter away these and 1 all others were overshadowed by a series of accomplished facts , which reduced the issue to the I relatively minor question of a par- J allel of latitude at which the'.- TRESCOTT was looked on st boundary should be fixed. These facts were the immigra - tions of the successive years from 1842 to 1845. It is probable that they were motivated by no well formed nationalistic intention and that most of the plonetrs of those years were not individually con- scious of a mission to save Oregon to the stars and stripes. "He (the pioneer) only wished for what he refclly needed;" health and a suf- ficient reward for his labor." as the author truthfully notes. Never theless, the pioneer was the de termining factor; he created a na tional interest which had no paral lel with the people of Great Brit ain and which gave an enormou moral advantage to the American claim, and the latter was success fully asserted because of events arising after 1818, and not on the strength of the situation, debatable even now, which had existed prior to that time. The fact that the relation be tween prices of the commodities the farmer produces and the goods he must buy is not yet normal ought not to obscure the hopeful signs of returning prosperity seen in the season's summaries of the crop re ports. It is estimated, for illustra tion, that the staple farm crops of the country will bring about a bil lion and a quarter dollars more this year than last: that corn, cotton and hay have been produced of a value of about a billion dollars each; that there is a big wheat harvest and that farmers in in creasing numbers have given thought to conserving the fertility of their soil. Costs of production, too, have been reduced, taking the country as a whole, by diversifica tion and rotation which have meas urably reduced the necessity for employing additional help. It has not been a bad year for the farmer, as years go, especially in the view of those who put down on the credit side of the ledger the lessons it has taught. Without reference to the merits of the particular case, the recent sentencing of a reckless mojtor-car driver who ran down four persons. killing two of them, to life impris onment in Oklahoma, and a sen tence of four years for a less grave offense in California are indica tions that the pedestrian worm is about to turn. Only the most con cl tsive testimony as to culpability, o.' course, wuld have justified the judgment in either case, but it is beginning to be understood that the automobile driver who makes liquor his boon companion does so at his own risk. The plea of irre sponsibility is not likely to be toler ated and the best way to make temporary insanity an utterly use less defense would be to invoke it in cases of the kind. It must have been a shock to the defendants, ac customed to expect dismissals with reprimands or fines, but the warn ing will not go unheeded in other states, if those who have heretofore disregarded the laws are wise. French savants have been mysti fied by the arrival in that country of a penguin and the seers are try ing to figure out what it portends. The theory that it escaped from a returning ship divides credence so far with the notion that it is a hint to French statesmen to take a trip to the Antarctic to cool off. An increase of 100 per cent in convictions of narcotic-law vio lators, as reported by the national prohibition commissioner, is all right as far as it goes, but the work will not be ended until the traffic is 100 per cent suppressed. The governor of Georgia has ap pointed a woman to the late Sena tor Watson's seat in the United States senate, probably on the the ory that in a body where so much talking is done a woman will be right at home. Official action is promised against fictitious European noble men who come to the United States. It is rapidly coming to a point where all European noble men are spurious. The German university which has placed its tuition fee at 150 pounds of rye has gone back to the status of the country newspaper that used to take cordwood on sub scription account. Fine state of things when a four-year-old child dies of starvation in an automobile in the land of plenty southern California while its parents were on the way from Cor. vallis to Florida. Ex- King Constantine of Greece blames America for his troubles. All these little European kings want us to pull their chestnuts out of the fire for them and get burned ourselves. The curfew law is in order and parents are liable to arrest. - The man whose wandering girl is held at the station will be overjoyed on being dragged from home to an swer. Being only a scientist and not a social reformer, it is but to be ex pected that Luther Burkank would deny that he has a comprehensive plan to make over the human race. The only gain thus far from the war in the near east seems to be the short name "Irak" for . the schoolboy's old bete noir "Meso potamia." The coal fact-finding bill is now a law of the land, but whether it is capable of enforcement in spirit re mains for the future to reveal. As the flights grow longer the cold grows stronger, but there is still a prospect of a good old Indian summer out this way. In view of the imminence of the "talking movie" it is no wonder that the film queens object to being called "dumb." When doctors disagree the sick man of Europe seems to improve in health a clear reversal of the an cient rule. Europe is constantly furnishing new reasons why people in this country should "see America first," The Listening; Post. By lr III Harry. ; I , ... m OUMr . of . 1 'ln- 11 " m6 "bou' nrut hl efforts to find in the sturgeon some commercial value. When flhln was first started alone th Co lumbia there were many more fish to b caught than in the days, Then the sturgeon was considered I nuisance for they would come In I such numbers aa to clog the salmon I wheela. For that matter the salmon runa in the early days were onan so large that the fish wheels had to ahut down to get their gear clear of the tons of fish. Trescott first discovered that stur geon roe was valuable and later helped materially in developing the market for freah sturgeon, thua con verting a waste Into an asset. The roe Is in great demand theae days for the manufacture of caviare. On BradH 'Ida laland. In the long ago. they uaed to haul the sturgeon out of the wheels, kill them, and then throw the flesh awav. They are a alugglsh fish, when Yaugh'l on the hook, and for all their aise will not put up much of a fight. They art tenacious and will live for 24 hours cr more when out of water. Trescott and the old-timers spent a great deal of time speculating on the ways of different fish and. lack Irs the facilities to check up on the migrations that the fish commis sions have theae days, they could not fnd out a great deal. However, ore of their pusaVa never has been solved satlafactorily to this day. That Is the secret of the great smelt runs that occur each year In lev el al tributaries of the Columbia. Though theae little fish come up stream in solid formation and make the water a mass of silver their young are never seen. How tlYwir fry manage to make their way to salt water and -why their annual run should increase when other fish are on the decrease, will likely be a mystery for some time. The ex planation has never been put for ward that will be fully accepted. e PERPETUITY. Youth is the end of the quest for some For those who are free and fond. But not for me and my eager feet I had to look beyond. Lfve is the guerdon of all their hopes For some; 'tis a faery'e wand Touching the dross with a Midas hand. 1 had to look beyond. Joy of the earth Is the end for some; A mask for a gay round donned: A word and a jest and a brimming flask. I had to look beyond. Death is the end of all things for some: A grave by a grass-edged pond. And a sleep that is free from trou bling. I had to look beyond. JOSEPH ANDREW OA LA HAD. e Children are Instinctive animals. They revert to type. Among the rights of boyhood are play and the open. They should have trees to climb and green fields In which to run. On a vacant lot close to the center of the city is a feeble, leafless old tree. Its bare branches held aloft lr pitiful, sunless effort to reach the sky. Every afternoon the kids of the neighborhood gather there to" climb that tree and play In the , lot tha'. is a mass of tin cans and refuse. Likely they have never Vtiown the country but they do feel the urge to play and climb. In the group will be several little Japanese, a young Chinaman or two, always a negro lad and the rest axe of Italian, Greek, or Scandinavian attraction with possibly one or two sl.owlng real traces of the United States. Young America in the making. A scrawny, dirty, bed rag sled little vhlte kitten stopped traffic on Union avenue the other afternoon. It fol lowed a couple who were waiting for a street car and when they got aboard it calmly walked right under the front trucks. The motorman saw It and spent five minutes down on his knees in the dirty street pok ing the helpless little animal from its dangerous position. V "Mockery," from the unfettered pen of Polnaettia Keralcam Hast ings, was written near the sea, pre sumably at Reedeport, where resi dents have plenty of time to listen to the waves. It Is an unusual ex ample of Ingenious composition, out doing even some daring ventures into vers libre. There is, we think, a message in' "Mockery." The sin cere searcher for It will doubtless read the pcem several times. MOCKERY. The sea seems to mock at the earth as of yore In plunges and strikes, then recedes; With each breaker, piled, hish All crested with foam That tells me, are mine, for toys. Its peace, seem to tell Of that Triumph of old As It surslee and rushes and roars To then dash away on- Us Ood-glven way And return to me asaln. As the breakers, plied full with bubbles All burst round my feet Each one to caress me anew; I smile with the surf, as I laughingly call I'll return all my baubles to you. The Guli who nit en the white raps To just sing and dance with the tide And. seeming to talk with the breakers, that fsll O'er each other. In haste to be, each On Its turbuient way. It we only could know What the hungry waves say they majestically roll out to sea What will you have they angrily rail As they upward fly 'Neath the wind To march on their way te a- Then It mist-crested billows, left burst round my feet: Brought peaceful happiness to me for ever For the sea "evr mocks at the whims of earth As she speedily glides on her way. a In response to an ad for stenog rapher asking applicant to state qualifications, one answer read: "I am 19. a slender brunette, with big brown eyes." It's not known whether she got the Job or not. A fashionable tailor has recently begun sending a sprig of Imitation I forget-me-nots to his customer with . . I overdue accounts. ' The man of the bouse should al- : ways be In perfect trim. In summer he keeps fit for the coal shoveling season by pushing the lawn mower, And the Woman Paid. fir Ciraee R. Halt. If he bad read the strong white soul or ner. That like some prisoned dove must beat lis win Against all sordid bra where data occur The tragedy killing tender things (Because they will combat the groaeer rage From natural law. nor ever rest content). He would have pondered long above life page And studied ta decipher whst It meant. 8h was not like the rest. Moms adept hand Had fashioned her. a bit of earthly clay. Into an alien being, strangely planned. And given her a dual role to plar; Both saint and sinner truly, too, was she. A complex creature to herself un known. The tiger sprang to life aa suddenly As did the sngel In her grieve and moan O'er someone s sorrow, someone's anguished tears: Thus ever waged a warfare fierce and strong And she. a one apart, throughout the years Beheld the conflict as It moved along. And marveled much that e'er eaes hard-won goal The angel smiled and stronger seemed to grow. For, lacking creed, she pondered less on soul Than those who follow where the Uod-wlse go. Of coaraer clay, be sensed not what he'd won. He only knew that she was fair to see. And. a mankind for ages past has done. He held to his poaeweslon greedily; Her spirit met no answering spirit there. , They were ss stranger who but coldly meet; The angel slrkened sadly In despair. The tiger broke the bars of his retreat. The world, unknowing, paused not to Inquire. But wagged Its head beeauee It thought It should. Then eened her soul pest earing, with the fire Of four terse lying words "She was no good." SEPTEMBER'S DANSAMTB-THC Come forth, desr love, and share with m September's hospitality. Kor where, o' mirror of the brook. The dreaming bitches lean to look At their own loveliness and beds Of goldenrod and aster spread Purple and gold for us te tread . . . September gives a danaante-the. And greets her guests right royally. Her robes of sapphire blue and gold. Hlase sumptuous; a fillet holds With scarlet leavea. her blowing hair; Amethyst shadows, amber air. Mistily veil her beauty rare; Exquisite, languorous, dreaming lias In the smile of her sweet, drowsy eyes. The dancers dance In bright re- treata Of purpling grapes and bitter- sweet. And sumach leaves weave gey fes toons Among tha greens, like srarlel runes. The river's silver ripples bat rhythmic time, with tinkling feet; The clouds, their fleecy troops, wind In And out. the males of the dance. Aa hand In hand, they all advance To flutlngs of the wind sort rail. Then whirl and flee, and thaise all. And o. dear love, come share with me Hepterrber's hospitality. HENRIETTA J KW ETT KEITH VOl'l) THIK IT RtltK Jt a AGAI. If all the roses of all time Were garnered in your heart: The ye, low, red and pink ones. 1 he white, the golden-hued; And all their winsome witchery Were bound with fragrant bands And you could pluck them out agala And hold them In your handa. You'd think it were June again. If all the song bird of the world Were singing In your heart. The oriole, the bluebirds. The linnet, wren and thrush. And all their gold-tongued singing Found echo in your soul. And you could loo their fllgsl again And hear their glad song roll. You'd think II were June sgsln. If all the lovers of sll yrsrs Returned a loving host. The silent, and the singing. The young, the old. the new. And all their happy loving Became a rhapsody; And you could Join the choral throng And swell the melody. You'd think It were June again. HuWAIUJ M. I'UIIM.Mi. Al'TlM OH THE W II.I.AMETTK. Shining spirals trtretch and oulver: Bllppery shadow anakes of gold and red. Tremble, half afraid, and shiver lown dark reaches of the river's bed. Russet ribbons, flung by fading trees Along sweet Autumn's wedding aisle. Where each bush bend to be the first who sees The bride, with love's unfethom eble smile! MARY ALETHEA WOODWAIII" Mr. Ulskar Denies Taassaaar Tie. A 811 LAN I. Or, Oct. i tTo the Editor.) Will you trmlt me to say the recent etatement that I am an ex-Tammany boea la erroneous? The fact Is that I wa never a mem ber of that organisation. 1 never contributed so much as one cent to Tammany hall. A never eought office for myself or my friend from Tammany hall I do not recall ever having voted a Tammany hall ticket I waa one of the managera for Marcus M. Marks, a life-long repub lican. In hi campaign f-r president of the borough of Manhattan, and we elected him I wa also on of the manaeer for Owcar Hlrsus. a strong repub lican. In hi campaign for -ner.or of New York state on the bu:i moo- ticket, and w failed to elect l.im I have voted the republican tirk't oftener than the democratic It ta my policy to vote for IU man rather than f'r the label pasted upon him 1 have met Waller I'leroe but three times and never atone I have asked no favors from him and have none to ak fM.iti Mm or ny one Im. .c.Pt that I a.k the good opinion of every ore r'm I'vee (nlPbrul(,ul , .,,. k wtst'.i ,(V Kdltorlal rf.tm i eiade to this communication Mainrdsy It was iuadvtrtantly umttU.