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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1922)
8 TllE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND. NOVEMBER 12, 1922 KTABLISHEU MY HENRY L.. HTTOC'K. Published by The Oregonian Puh. Co., 135 Sixth Street, Portland, Oregon. C. A. JIORDKN. E. B. PIPER. Manager. Editor. The Oregonian is a member of the As sociated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for publi cation of all news dispatches credited to Jr. or not otherwise credited In this paper and also the local news published herein. All rights of publication of special dis patches herein are alo reserved. Subscription Rate? Invariably 1 in Advance. (By Mail.) T)aily, Sunday included, one year .. . .JJS.00 3aily. Sunday included, six months .. 4.2." Jiaily, Sunday included, three months 2.2.1 latly, Sunday included, one month . . .75 Daily, without Sunday, one year 6.00 Dally, without Sunday, six months . . 3.25 Daily, without Sunday, one month.. .60 Sunday, one year 2.50 (By Carrier.) Daily. Sunday included, one year. ..$!). 00 Daily. 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We are reminded of a significant change that has taken place within less than half a. century in the atti tude of adults toward children's reading by an extract from a report on books and reading for the young, rendered by a middle west ern superintendent of schools forty two years ago. The public library was then relatively in its infancy; it was viewed with alarm indeed by many educators, who thought that it held infinite, possibilities for harm unless access to it by children could be restricted. "It has been urged," said the eminent school of ficial in question, "that the best way to check the circulation of bad literature is to establish public li braries." But he feared that this was not true and declared that in fact "as these have multiplied, vicious and immoral literature has increased." The terms "vicious" and "immoral" obviously were rela tive. The period of the Rollo and t'astleman books was then at its height. Questions of literary cen sorship, such as have recently vexed a newer generation, had not arisen. The fear was not that a "Satyricon" and a "Jurgen" would obtain an unhallowed circulation, but that books that we now view as harmless in themselves would cor rupt immature minds. "Tom Saw yer," "Treasure Island" and "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" would have been tabu. Juvenile lit erature was in the "poor but honest parents" stage, with only an occa sional exception to point out that the boy whose family was inciden tally well-to-do was not necessarily a prig. - "It is safe to say," said a writer of that time, "that if children are left to select what they please from a library and to read as much as they please, they will generally do bo to their harm." It is now re called, however, that the field of choice was rather definitely cir cumscribed. As between the hypo critical, obviously juvenile books to which youngsters then had open access and the dime novels to which they had surreptitious recourse it is not to be wondered in the light of better understanding that the latter were more popular. Only lately ' has a more sympathetic generation discovered that the youthful taste for travel andtdventure, for action, for play -and interplay, for thrills in literature was both natural and commendable and betokened the reverse of an unhealthy mind. Substitution of D u m a s, Poe. Stevenson, Kingsley, Verne and Scott for old Cap Collier, Frank Jteiiue anu ueaawooct U1CK nas come about within less than a quar ter of a century largely by the ef forts of boys themselves, who have shown that they could be trusted with a miscellaneous collection of books suited for adult reading and that their instincts were usually right. More recently a teacher who hit on the expedient of letting chil dren choose for themselves by vot ing found that their tastes almost universally inclined toward titles of which their parents need not have been ashamed. In a list of fifty books so designated, no fewer than forty were written originally for adult readers and none belonged in the narrowly juvenile class of a few years ago. "Treasure Island" re ceived the highest number of votes. "Captains Courageous" and "The fall of the Wild" were well toward the top of the list. Schultz' "With the Indians in the Rockies" and "Wild Animals I Have Known" took the places of the vanished yellowbacks of former days. Dic ens was represented with three titles, Scott with two, Kipling with four. Cooper with two and Verne with two. "Robinson Crusoe" holds with youth the popularity it long ago attained among those of all ages. The "Tales from Shakes peare," which even now constitute the basis of many an adult Concep ts rt iY.n U T i . Avon, and "Merchant of Venice" received more votes than "Swiss Family Robinson," which neverthe less we would not disparage. A sur prising number voted for "Lorna Doone." "Arabian Knights," "Gul livers Travels" and "King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table" appeared to have been read by all and indorsed by most of them. That the dime novel ever had its day is probably due to the want of confidence in the essential sound ness of the judgment of uneor rupted youth which marked the at titude of the elders of two genera tions ago. It is more lately real ized that hypercritical literary taste is not necessary in distinguishing the gemrinely good from the really "nad, while an evil tendency is more likely to be an artificial growth than otherwise. And both, adults and their youngsters are in a way to profit by the community of cul tural interests Which within the lifetime of men still living it was believed could not possibly exist. As if to impress us with the fact that modern science has not accom plished everything, a British anti quarian propounds the question. "How did the ancient Britons manufacture the bronze bowls re cently found among their ruins, in view of the accepted fact that in the period in which they were made there. was no other fuel than wood, with which men. now would not be able to create the enormous heat required to smelt iron and copper" The problem is on all fours with numerous others relating to the natives of our own country. The Indian arrowhead is one of them. It is not improbable that these could be reproduced with modern implements, but when it is remem bered that they were made with no instruments except stones and drills of bones, it is doubtful whether modern artisans could reproduce their work. FRAUDS IN THE MAILS. The announcement from Wash ington that 500 cases involving fraudulent use of the mails are under investigation by the depart ment of justice is a measure of the cupidity of a good many of the victims as well as of the dishonesty of the swindlers themselves. Only a small proportion are represented by transactions, such as bogus cures for disease, in which the buyer is not in some degree to blame. More than $140,000,000 reported its lost by investors, in valueless stocks through the series of oper ations now being inquired into in dicate a high degree of contribu tory negligence if nothing more. The sum would be enormously in creased if all the concerns were in cluded which are in fact lacking in merit but have contrived to keep within the letter of the lav. Their methods have been exposed re peatedly and yet it is probably true that if it were not for the guar dianship of federal and state offi cials a proposition to extract gold from the Pacific ocean would find thousands of takers, chiefly people of scant means. Federal secret service agents estimate that more than nine-tenths of the victims of get-rich-quick swindles are men and women who are seriously em harassed by the losses they sustain. The principle that a business proposition offering more than or dinarily good returns can usually be floated in well established chan nels percolates slowly, if at all. Yet if this alone were understood there would be little work for detectors of frauds to do. A COMMUNIST SCHEME SMASHED. A good job was done by -the peo ple of California jn voting down a constitutional amendment estab lishing a water and power board which would have had absolute au thority to bond and tax the entire state for construction and opera tion of water and power plants. The promoters of this scheme so overreached themselves in their grasp for autocratic power over the entire wealth of the state that they alarmed the people, and thus brought about their own undoing. The bill- for it is a complete piece ol legislation offered as a constitutional amendment might have emanated from the economic council of the Russian soviet gov ernment. It empowered the pro posed board to buy or condemn water supply or power plants, or land, or any of the plants that pro duce commodities needed in con struction of water and power works. It was to have issued half a billion dollars in bonds, and could have re quired any community to bond it self for that purpose or for pay ment of deficits on operation. If it then ran short of funds, it c'ould have dived into the state treasury, taken what money it wanted and required the state to levy additional taxes to make good the sum taken. No community could have provided its own water or power supply or have required the board to supply it. The board could have hired a great army of men in building dams and power plants and in cut ting lumber, making cement, min ing and smelting copper, making wire, building houses for its em ployes. It would have over shadowed the entire state govern ment, and no man could have called his property his own. The people of California showed good sense in refusing to create such an octopus to fasten its grip on them. The scheme was rank communism masquerading under the euphonious name of progress. It would have given them the same kind of progress that Russia has made uruier Lenin. , We must not think that its sponsors have aban doned hope of fastening it upon some state. The same crazy notion is buzzing in the addled brains of some persons in Oregon. Such peo ple can work wonders in weaving words into beautiful dreams of a communist heaven, their desire be ing to have unlimited authority to spend other people's money in erecting structures that would re quire the genius of the greatest fi nanciers and engineers; though they themselves may never have built a third-rate chicken house. Such are the self-styled champions of progress. INTELLIGENCE IN ISOLATIONS . George F.' Brown of Massachu setts, who has left the United States with the intention of living perma nently in England for the ostensible reason that "there is no intelligent companionship among the idle rich In this country," will win no more sympathy from Americans who comprehend the genius of their own institutions than did Viscount Astor, another scion of the idle rich who expatriated himself, or Edward Ashmead-Bartlett, who be came a citizen of another country, married into a fortune and there after became noted as a jingo of jingoes in his adopted land. But Mr. Brown's, utter want of under standing of the formula of happi ness marks him as a subject of discussion, with 'or without the sympathy he seems to crave. In an interview elaborating the causes of his dissatisfaction with his native country, he said: - In America I find intelligence in the middle class that accomplishes the great play in iiak ng both endi meet. The idle rich miss tnis pleasure. , The middle class is the backbone of the country the men wh . von th war. who make their wages with their minds. I ney go home sober. due to prohibition, which escapes the up per lich class, who get their supply of liquor from the boottleggers. I am go ing to England to join the leisure class tha. has intelligence, which I could have enjoyed in America had I had the good luck to be oorn in tne middle class. Triply cursed, according to the Brown formula is he who is rich, idle and intelligent all three. But it will be suspected that this poor American, who is no more repre sentative of the rich than he is of Americans as a whole, has put his effect before his cause. He can not have had true companionship with our rich men, else he would demonstrated by the drift of popu have discovered that there are I lation .to the cities without corre- some who are intelligent but not idle, and that there are a good many who contrive to keep busy too busy, no doubt, to fritter away their hours in association . with t such as he. , Whereas, if it be con- j ceded, as we do not ourselves con- ; cede, that there are bona fide class ' distinctions in the .United States, the door is always open in at least ( one direction. We know of few so- ' called "middle class", folk who are l above fraternizing with the rich, when the latter are in reality as intelligent as Mr. Brown appears to believe he is. ' " Mr. Brown might even, if he tried, find intellectual affinities among the poor. It is idleness that dulls, rather than wealth or the want of it. Somehow it strikes one as particularly incongruous to expect to find men rich or poor who are both intelligent and idle in any country, with the affairs of the ' world in the condition that they are. Having overlooked in His own country an obvious oppor tunity to find happiness through service, which his wealth would 1 fortunately enable him to render. he -is urilikely to come upon it on any foreign shore. . SCIENCE AND STATECRAFT. The statement of Dr. Edwin E. Slosson in the World's Work that "the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 was a much less important event -in the history of the world, even in our own his tory, than ithe contemporary dis covery of the possibilities of steam power" provokes thought even fheugh it may not invite unquali fied assent. It is less profitable to. debate the relative importance of the work of Watt and Washington as individuals than it is to remem ber that they were contemporaries a fact that is apt to have been lost to sigit owing to the way that history has been taught and that we cannot arrive at an' understand ing of the genius of human prog ress unless we study the influence of modern science and invention side by side with the performances of generals, statesmen and politi cians. It is possible, without dis paragement of the latter, to agree that "the extension of democracy which the politicians promise is be. ing widely accomplished by the scientists, who, by .placing the lux uries of a former age within the Jives of all, raise the humblest to the highest plane." The rapidity with which the world has moved is illustrated by the circumstance, of which Dr. Slosson reminds us, that the age of steam lasted practically only a cen tury. The premonitory rumblings of the war of the revolution were synchronous with the first revolu tions of an engine propelled by water vapor. So, too, the celebra tion of the centenary of our' inde pendence correspond with the making of the first practicable en gine run by a mixture of gas and air. Internal combustion did not indeed put the steam engine out of business hut it. enormously in creased the development of power and undoubtedly "it has already, within the observation of all of us, gone farther and come into our lives more intimately than the steam engine ever did." Man's natural laziness, exhibited, in all ages in which it has been observed that he has worked hard only under the pressure of necessity, but w hich Dr. Slosson interprets euphe mistically as shiftiness, has led him to seek out forces that he could make work for him for nothing. This has resulted in the develop ment of science. "Force directed by intelligence produces progress," ttie author says. He might well have added that the contending of indolence and newly-created desire, in which the craving for luxury has always kept just ahead of the wish for leisure, has been the most im pelling of social motives. But, as the writer quotes Macau lay as saying, "of all inventions, the alphabet and printing press alone excepted, those that have shortened distance have done the most for humanity. This estimate gives high rank to mechanical inven- tion, which made the locomotive possible, and to chemistry, by which in co-operation with me chanics gasoline was added to" the forces which move the social world. In the few weeks since Dr. Slosson's article was written it has become necessary to revise his figures as to the ultimate speed attained by men 110 miles an hour in an automo bile and 220 miles an hour by air plane. Measured by his activities, the lifevof man has been increased as the limitations of nature have been overcome; distances are cal culated by minutes rather than by mires in our modern time. It is the dream of science that the boun daries of -political divisions and con sequently the solidarity of the hu man race may be increased by im provements in the means of Inter communication. It hopes to erase the dividing lines that statesmen and politicians have erected. As the writer says: Statesmen may cut up continents into countries, but science knows no na tionality. Ideas will somehow leak through from one language to another. Print and pictures will penetrate any where. The map may be colored like 'a crazy-quilt but nobody can put up par titions in the ether. The frontier may be lined w-ith soldiers, the radio will over reach them. The three-mile limit of the high seas has ceased to have meaning. The self-propelled projectile, the auto- airplajie, carrying death in its bombs, has no limit to its range. Xo wall, trench or barbed-wire fence can shut out the molecules of poison gas. The air plane soars over custom houses, the sub marine dives under blockades. The auto mobile runs acroas tariff walls. The automobile is, of course, the outward and visible symbol of the chemistry of gasoline. Dr. Slosson estimates the total annual expendi ture of the people of the United States for this one necessity at $7, 783,000,000, which is tf say 'that they find approximately $8,000, 000(000 a year with which to pay for something that did not exist twenty-five years ago. To declare that this is extravagance is to ig nore basic economic facts, yet the facts themselves constitute a series of elusive paradoxus. - Savings and investments have insreased simul taneously with growth of the auto mobile. More is spent for food, clothing and amusements than be fore the automobile came. "The only lines in which a definite fall ing off can he ascribed to the in troduction of the auto are in car riages, city stables and the like," but this is trifling by comparison, The two sources of possible offset for automobile investment seem to be railway construction, now prac tically .at a standstill, and farm wages, the saving in the latter sponding diminution in the volume of farm products. The question whether an essential saving of productive time has been aceom- plished "is equally unanswerable, Undoubtedly much time is devoted to purely pleasure riding. It does not appear that this is offset by longer hours Anywhere devoted to work. It is argued with reason that gasoline has encouraged the spirit j of democracy. "Formerly, when a few had buggies and the rest had to ride to town in lumber wagons, the former, set looked down on the latter, but now that all have auto mobiles they are substantially on a level." This is particularly true in the west, of states which have an automobile to each five inhabitants. Practically every industry except agriculture has been drastically af fected by the new power derived from gasoline, and 3,000,000 motor vehicles used on the farms of America give promise in this direc tion. Not the least interesting of Dr. Slosson's speculations on the far-reaching influence of this branch of 'science on human des tiny is his suggestion that it may even modify human character. "A horseman realizes that he is dealing with a wilful, capricious and per haps vicious animal. A chauffeur knows. that he is handling a ma chine which cannot be either pun ished or coaxed. Anger has no effect on an auto engine. - To dis play or even to feel any emotion toward it is simply silly." Whimsical though it may seem, the logical conclusion is fortified by the statement that a famous psy chiatrist prescribes automobile driving for certain types, of nervous 'patients, especially such as suffer from inability to concentrate their minds on anything outside them selves or who are deficient in quick decision. Yet it is unnecessary to go as far afield as this would lead us to demonstrate that science in the single particular under review has amazingly changed the current of human events within an exceed ingly brief period of recorded time. CENTENARY OF LOUIS PASTEUR. "In the field of observation chance" favors only those who are prepared," said, Louis Pasteur in his inaugural address on taking up his duties as dean of the faculty of sciences at Lille and the essential soundness of the principle, of which we are reminded by the approach ing celebration of the centenary of the birth of the great scientist, has been vindicated in popular esteem. It is profitable to recall that the methods of scientific research, in volving insistence on precise knowl edge, which are now relatively com mon, were novel when Pasteur was a young professor. Empiricism was the rule and not the exception a century ago. It is true that he was not alone in his field but his contributions to the mode of thought, the method of approach, to a scientific problem may have been the most important of the period in which he lived. They were as sig nificant as the material results that he obtained, enormous though the latter were. Because of them the process of elimination of past er rors, which had been deliberate and gradual during the preceding two centuries, was accelerated in an in calculable degree. Pasteur's life is suggestive too of the intimate relationship of all the forms of scientific truth. The foun dation, both of method and sub stance, of his later discoveries con cerning the causation of certain forms of disease was laid by his researches into the chemistry of the lees of wine and the abnormal behavior of wine and beer in the course of fermentation. This in tensely practical matter for grape growing was the very life of France became the stepping stone to the discoveries of others, like Lister, which revolutionized surgical sci ence and produced results of vast consequences to mankind. Here was the beginning of knowledge of the action of germs, of thg establish ment of a theory the accuracy of which is now universally conceded ancj on wbich the structure of mnrl. , ern antisepsis, if not of preventiv therapy, has been reared. So also his investigation of a mysterious malady which more than half a century ago threatened to destroy the silkworm industry of his country led to discoveries which reatly promoted knowledge of "the behavior of disease in human be ings. It is peculiarly true that the world owes him a debt greater than that due to any other man for prog ress in controlling the spread of epi demics. By ascertaining beyonil doubt that each kind of fermenta tion is caused by a different organ ism, as the result of which the food industries of the world have been put on a new basis, he also led the way to definite knowledge of the causation of disease by microbes and this in turn opened a new line of inquiry into the prin ciples of immunity. In the latter respect it is also remarkable that his researches at first had a dis tinctly industrial aspect. The first disease he sought to combat Was an epidemic of chicken cholera in which some 10 per cent of French fowls were destroyed in a single year, but which he reduced to a mortality rate of 1 per cent by the development of a suitable virus. Next came his work with anthrax, by which uncounted millions of useful domestic animals have been saved. He is best known to the layman in connection with th8 de velopment of the method of pre vention and cure of rabies in ani mals and hydrophobia in human be ings which still bears his name. This was accomplished only forty four years ago this month. His con ception of the altruistic njission of the scientist is revealed by his dec laration at that time: Two opposing laws seem to me now in contest. The one. a law of blood and death, opening out each day new modes of destruction, forces nations to be al ways ready for the battle. The other, a law of peace, work and health, whose only aim Is to deliver man from the calamities which beset him. The one seeks violent conquests, the other the relief of mankind. The one places a single life beyond all victories, the other sacrifices hundreds of thousands of lives to the ambition of a single individual. The law of which we ate the instruments -strives even through the carnage to cure the wounds due to the law of war. Treat ment by -our antiseptic methods may preserve the lives of thousands of sol diers. Which of these two laws will pre vail? God only knows. But of this we may be sure, that science, in obeying the law of humanity, will always labor to enlarge the frontiers of life. This from a man who confessed that there is no greater charm for the investigator than to make new discoveries, yet fiis pleasure is "heightened when he sees that they have a direct application to prac tical life." His motto was "Work!" How much he achieved through sheer domination of the will to do is perhaps indicated by the circum stance that there was attached to his diploma of graduatjon from the royal college a note stating that he was but "mediocre" in chemistry. It is clear, assuming that his ex aminers were not at fault, that he overcame any. early, disadvantages under which he may have labored by the intense application which marked his career. A MITT PRESERVED. . That the entente between the people of the United States and Canada, maintained since the con clusion of the Rush-Bagot conven tion of 1817 -which guaranteed against naval armament on the Great Lakes, is in no danger of be ing disturbed by the recent race off Gloucester, Mass., for the fisher man's trophy is largely due to the same causes that have made the Rush-Bagot agreement effective, rather than to the technical aspects of either case. Of provocations to acrimony there were a-plenty dur ing and preceding the series of races between the Bluenose and the Henry Ford. . ' - Indeed the -whole series was marked by tedious, childish and trivial discussions of technical dif ferences which make us wonder whether there is any hope for the spirit of real sportsmanship so long as we must have committees on rules. The parallel lies in the cir cumstance that the Rush-Bagot disarmament convention, which is not a formal treaty and probably has no technically binding effect, has been observed through the good faith of the people behind it, just as the principals in the fishermen's contest have resolved that they will not permit themselves to be irri tated by the untoward incidents that have arisen in connection with the race. The original purpose of the fish ermen's trophy was to establish a series of competitions between prac tical vessels, as distinguished from the toys 'which in recent years have contended for the America's cup. It was required that entrants should be craft actually engaged in com mercial fishing. In the spirit of the competition the test of eligibil ity was the practicability of the craft, which would seem to have been easy enough to determine, but such Is the influence of habit on j rules committees that a tendency j toward controversy over non-essen- j tials prevailed to the very last. Two examples serve to illustrate the nature of the disputes that did much to mar the sport. The point was made by the committee that the sails of the Canadian were made in England, of finer duck than is customarily used on the banks. Against the American it was de clared that in one race she set a staysail of a patte'rn slightly differ ent from one which had been previ ously used. These and a number of other issues equally aliento the genius of the competition served throughout to obscure the sporting character of the event. It is interesting to learn that the captains and crews of the vessels have maintained awarm and sin cere friendship through all. The skipper of the Nova, Scbtian is con. vinced that the cup should have gone to his rival,-though he is de barred by the deed of gift from sur rendering it. A happy incident of the last race, and one that fortifies our belief in the essential neigh boriiness of men, occurred when the American contender lost a fore topmast while leading by a small margin and the Canadian at once Shortened sail in an effort to equal ize conditions. This too seems to have been a violation of the rules of ocean racing, but it is impossible not to wish that it might happen oftener in sports of all kinds. Finally, the committee received what amounted to a demand fr6m the Americans that "to uphold the real sportsmanlike attitude . . . of fair play" the cup and prizes be awarded to the Bluenose, in order that all the unfortunate incidents might be forgotten and attention be concentrated on the race for next year. An international contest in which good feeling survives the muddling labors of technical sea lawyers be tokens a spirit that might well be emulated, particularly in times like these. The magnanimous winner, the no less generous loser, in any human competition deserve partic ular commendation. Both con tribute their mites to the creation of better understanding among the people of the world. WHENCE OUR ABORIGINES? Let us hope that "the world is on the verge of the solution of one of its greatest unsolved mysteries" as the advance agent of the Museum of the American Indian, about to be dedicated in New York to pub lic use, says that he believes it is, but facts or rather the want of them all point the opposite way. "Although centuries have elapsed since the discovery of America," writes George G u s t a v e Heye, founder of the museum In question, "science has not yet determined the origin of the many tribes and peo ples found in the western hemis phere." Ethnologists indeed have failed to uncover anything but tenuous theories to reward them for the pains of research, but it needs to be borne in mind that it is in this manner that science arrives at length at relative certainty. The forum of discussion is the. proving ground of the scientific postulate. Only to catalogue the various hypotheses offered since men be gan to inquire into the genesis of human life on the American con tinents is to indicate .the difficulty of choosing between them. Agassiz guessed that the copper-colored race was autochthonous and de fended his position with some warmth. The theory of the Asiatic origin of all mankind vies with the assumption that the real Garden of Eden was in America. Of those who hold that America came by its pop ulation by immigration there is in finite variety. The extraordinary theory of Dr. Dominick McCaus land that our aborigines were the descendants of shepherds driven out of Egypt who had found their way to America was plausibly con tended for not many years ago and obtained many converts.. The no tion that the primitive residence of all humanity "was America neglects to account for the superior ad vancement of some of the dispersed tribes, but it is- not more faulty than other guesses for-that reason. There are disappointing flaws in most of them and baffling culs de sac of doubt. Of possibilities and even of probabilities there is a be wildering choice; but all are alike incapable of proof. "Cogent and persuasive evi dence," in the language of an en thusiastic champion, points to the Columbia river basin as the cradle of the American aborigine if not of the people of the world. It is just halt a century since Dr. Lewis H. Morgan pointed out that this re gion might with reason be regarded as the starting point for a series of migrations which peopled and re peopled the continents of North and South America. He regarded it as remarkable that from New Mexico to Patagonia the Spaniards found numbers of tribes upon w'hich in common they bestowed the name of American Indians and observed no difference in type, while French and English visited the inhabitants from New Mexico to the Arctic and saw no distinction. The statement indeed is contrary to present gen eral belief that the Eskimos differ from the tribes south of them, but, excluding the Eskimo, it neverthe less invites attention to the inter esting proposition that the Ameri can aborigines were of common de scent or else that they owed their racial homogeneity to a mingling of blood. Either- lpothesis demands aj vast antiquity of population for our hemisphere. If unity of origin be assumed, many ages will, be re quired to explain the diffusion of the original language into the sev eral existing stock languages, of which there are some forty in North America alone, the number which have perished being un known. Diverse origin equally re qbires many thousands of years to acount for the complete union into a typical stock of two or more ge netically .unconnected families. Morgan was particularly im pressed with the idea that in an extremely remote period an original family of m a n k in d which he leaves us to infer he regards as in digenous though he concedes that evidence on this point is wanting constituted a kind of human reser voir from which the Americas were populated. It was his pur pose, said he to inquire whether in fact there is any one district or region which possessed advantages' so far superior- to ali others as to render it a natural center of popu lation, and consequently an initiat point of migration. . . . Thus it would dominate until conditions changed to neutralize its advantages, such, for ex ample, as the substitution of agriculture for fishing and hunting. in tne Columbia river region, in- ' eluding Puget sound and compris ing roughly the ancient "Oregon country," he found the' combined natural blessings of mountain, for est, prairie and seacoast. From the Umpqua to Queen Charlotte's sound and from the Rocky moun tains to the Pacific he saw a local ity well supplied with the means of subsistence, a mild and genial cli mate added to its other advantages, the whole without parallel for the amount and variety of its sponta neous resources for the sustenance of man. The combination of forest and prairie was excellent for the production of game while the fast nesses of the mountains served as reservoirs to prevent its extermi nation. Water and land fowls abounded, with wild fruits and ber ries in abundance. The camas root, important tit the time of the discovery of the region by the whites, was a significant resource. Other bread roots and also edible mosses contributed to the wants of the first dwellers. But pre-eminence was even more largely due, said Morgan, to the salmon fish eries, which supplied incredible myriads of fishes for the support of the earliest tribes. Morgan pro ceeded: From the superabundance of the means of subsistence which belongs to this re gion above every other already described or remaining to be noticed, the inference arises that this area would develop a surplus population from age to age: and that it would become permanently point of departure of migrations to dif ferent parts of the continent. The facts are sufficient to raise a presumption that the valleys of the Columbia were the region from which both North and South America were peopled in the first in stance and afterward resupplied with in habitants. The assumption does not conflict with later opinion that the first Americans were Mongoloids; it re quires us, however, to believe in the almost incalculable antiquity of the race. The circumstance of a greater variety of dialects among the inhabitants of the old Oregon country than are known to have been employed in any area of equal extent in North America is an indi cation of the length of time that must have been consumed in the process of change. Our idea of a waste of paper is that consumed in spreading the nevs that Thrift week begins on January 17. People who haven't had thrift impressed on them in the last year are not likely te be turned from their ways in a week. A quarter of a million trout eggs are relatively a small number in piscatorial economics, but what a lot of problems would be solved if a new way could be found to cross the chicken with a fish! Now that it is all over w,e. are reminded that there was an election in New Jersey, too, the fact having been almost obscured by the pre dominance of murder mystery in the New Jersey news. The best possible reasons for dis. counting the fashion makers' pre diction that hoopskirts wil come back are the automobile and the crowded condition of most down town streets. . The "eighth child and up," ac cording to a British investigator, has the best chance of good health. Where do they go to find a family of eight r more children -nowadays ? , By way of giving us something to be truly thankful for .we have the announcement that turkeys are not going to cost as much as they did last Thanksgiving day. Appropriately enough, book week and fish week fall at the same time, fish being still reputed to be good "brain food," even by some folks who read books. A Chicago scientist makes it known that tears will pot kill germs. Ella Wheeler Wilcox would have been able to write a poem on that. There will be plenty of time here after to compare candidates'-' rec ords with their pre-election prom ises, but how many people do? The Listening Post. By DeWItt Harry. N' OW that Oregon has picked her governor there seems no harm in relating an incident of the cam paign. Mr. Pierce was in conference one Sunday afternoon with a half a dozen of his trusted campaign aides and they had settled back to an ex haustive analysis of every angle of the situation. The war council was held in Pierce headquarters. It seems that it was the habit of the caretaker of the building to. close the front doors Sunday afternoon, as the firms therein transacted no business that day. However, the Pierce henchmen considered that they had provided ample protection against being locked out when they notified the head janitor that they would be there for the afternoon. Before the conference was com pleted one of the men had to leave to keep an appointment. On reach ing the front door he found it se curely bolted and no one nearby whom he .could call to his aid. Now, here was a pretty pickle, for it would not do for them to inform the police of their predicament, nor to call for the fire department, it ljardly would be a dignified pro ceeding for a candidate for governor to make his escape by means of a fire ladder and undoubtedly it would provide some splendid comedy for the opposition. So the half dozen men. after vainly trying to locate the janitor or caretaker by phone, obtained a long board and laid it from a win dow sill to the firewall of an adjoin ing building, Jumped to the roof thereof, made their way across the intervening spare to a hotel nearby, climbed up a fire escape and knocked at a window, that was lighted. ' A woman answered and kindly allowed them to pass through her room to the street when they explained their difficulties. When th'ey passed the door of the building In which they had been jailed they found it open and the porter on duty. He had gone on an errand, he explained. i Home. v house 'is built of brick and stone, or sills and posts ar.d piers. But a home is built of loving deeds that stand a thousand yenrs. A house, though but a humble ot, with in its walls may hold A home of priceless beauty, rich with love's eternal gold. The men on earth build houses, halls and chambers, roofs and denies. But the women of the t-arlh. God knows, the women build the homes. IOMMAC. He was a snappy dresser. Light cream paddock coat, pearl gray derby, spats and button boots, chamois gloves, and a straight cane with a gold top. His nose wa bashed in, he had a cauliflower ear and several scars on his face. Yes, (je was a prize fighter. It was nearly 'midnight. He was talking with a shivering little newsy. The street gamin, soaked with rain, no overcoat, stamped his feet to keep warm. He looked at the dapper hero with worship in his eyes. They exchanged a word or two and the newsy dug down in his pocket. He handed the gentleman pug abig silver dollar. Easy come easy go. Reggie Blyth. "apple knocker," blew in from his Tualatin valley ranch yesterday. Reggie served through the Boer war, then as a member of the South African mounted police, later with the Royal Northwest mounties, served through the late war where he was badly wounded, invalided . home and ' then put some of his early training into use when he shipped as a mate on one of the Columbia river schooners. And now he is raising apples. Anyhow the point of this is that Reggie says every apple raiser these days should have a prune orchard to pay his expenses. One of our cherished war-time recollections that returns afresh each Armistice day is of the big English . motor busses with their great gas bags atop. Those were the days when gasoline was con served and when none was used ex cept for war purposes. What a change a few short years will make! Now that the defeated candidates are emerging from the debris and getting a look around at the effect of the recent storm would it not be a fitting finale for Mayor George Baker to congratulate someone on the success of the defeat of the ex position bill? ' "After looking at them auto fel lows streakin' it by here," observed the old farmer as he spit in the dust, "I wonder sometimes who's doing the work up there in town these days." In explaining the variegated veer ing' of the voting last Tuesday a local .politician insists that the "hand that rocks the cradle rocked the ballot boxes." A DAY FOR DREAMS, ARMISTICE DAY. Veterans, comrades all, Ien who went to the wars. Fronting the foe at freedom's call, 'Xeath the alien stars. Cease from labor awhile; Think how the wars were won. Tramp it over, each weary mile. Charge till the battle is done! Veterans, soldiers true. Comes a day. it seems. When you must do as poets do. Live in a world of dreams. Leave the dull marts of trade. Wander from toil away, Ljve it again, the charge you made, When the light was dawning gray. Veterans, men we love, Hark you, the battle shout! Again you win to the heights above. And take the staunch redoubt; But some from the ranks aro gone When the cannonade goes by; They fell by the way while you sped on. Shouting your triumph cry. Veterans, comrades all. Scattered to etery shore. Tear after year you shall hear the call. The call o' the dreams once more. Though the locks grow silver gray, The sound of battle, it seems. Will bring each year your poet's day, And a wonderful store of dreams. EVERETT EARLE STAXARD. Disappointing Father. Boston Transcript. Daughter But. papa. Jack is man you can trust. Father (disgustedly) Trust? want you to marry a man I borrow from. can My Themes. By Grace E. Hall. Themes are the spools On which I wind The threads of thought I manage to untangle ' From that stransre mass , Stowed somewhere In my brain. Sometimes there is a bit Of brilliant hue Or bo it seems to me In my delight - And carefully I pluck' The gleaming length From out the ugly snarl And disarray. IP But these bright threads Are always very short While those of other tones Are endless in their lengths: And winding them in beauty On the spools I find Is quite beyond My hand's dexterity. But cotton threads Have countless uses, too. For in the coarser garments Is the world's work done; And these are Just as vital, Great and1 fine As robes of brocade. Velvet or rare lace. And so I wind my threads Upon the spools And sing and wind ' The little lengths of silk Against the longer bits Of cotton stuff and drab And sing and turn the spools That all may eee. I've tried to use my lot Of broken, twisted threads The gray lengths and the gay Giving to each my best attention, too And unto every thread Its proper place Claiming- no more reward Than joy of winding them. THE FIRST FROST. But yesterday the garden stood un touched By, frost oik blight; the dahlias in their pride Held high Wiir heads in haughty arrogance. The cosmos, starry-eyed. Turned smiling faces to the sun's bright rays. The bees were humming drowsily at noon. The skies were fair and of that deep, clear blue Seen after summer showers; the ail was sweet, A balmy west wind blew And larks sang joyously their notes of praise. But with the coming of the evening hours The warmth and gladness sud denly were gone; The golden sunset faded into night, A slender, pale moon shone In ghostly, silvered radiance from on high. No breezes stirred; a quietness pre vailed 1 As though the earth was waiting, hushed and still For blasting toucliof winter's icy hand; The air grew sharp and chill And twinkling stars awakened in the sky. When morning dawned the garden stood forlorn; The cosmos but a blackened, life less row. The larks were mule that sang their songs of praise. The dahlias' heads hung low, And nature seemed in dull and sad dened mood. But when the sun arose, the place became A fairyland of glittering, crystal . white; Each faded blossom wore a diamond crown. And with those jewels bright The beauty of the garden was re newed. MYRTLE BLASSIXG. .' ARMISTICE DAY l!rJi. We have signed a truce with the world and its wars, We have buried our countless dead; We have nursed our wounds and healed our scars. And triumphed where once wo tiled. Grief may plead in vain lor the spoils we share. We have signed a truce with care! We have shut our ears to the bitter cry Coming faint from the far-off seas; We have closed our eyes while God's children die. We have clenched our hands to their pleas. Life, with its lure, lies wide and fair; We have signed ia truce with care! Wc have turned our steps from tliu narrow ways That a lonely Christ once trod: We have locked our hearts from the shining rays That point to the peace of God. Death may lead tomorrow to dark despair. Today is our truce with care! We have built our idols of bur nished gold. And laugh round their feet ot clay. For the joys of the earth our souls are sold. And eternity lost for a dead today. But the God of the flesh will hear our prayer When we end our truce with care! MART ALETHEA WOODWA RI. A GLIMPSE BEYOND. A single cloud floats in the evening sky: Its under side shell-pink against the gray. As if it caught the vanished sun's last ray And sent it earthward ere it fade and die. As souls poised on the borderland can eee Visions of heavenly glory far beyond. And radiantly their faces bright respond. So seems this fragile evening cloud to me. It fades 'tis gone. Night settles like a shroud. The world moves on its patient, plodding way. And yet my spirit, for another i day. Has caught an inspiration from 'he cloud. GRACE PADDOCK EDGERTOX. COMPA N ION SHIP. We sat on a cliff above tire sea And watched the setting sun; Wordless moments memory Hired And we loved them every one. We three saw the golden glow-ttnts fade. We three met the dusk alone. And the mantle of perfect com panionship Softly o'er all was thrown. We three, oh, the magic of happy hours! Oh, the days of joy we have known; Be gone, dark hint of a tragic hour. That has power to Have alone. JANBTTE MARTIN.