s
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAXD, DECEMBER IT, 1922
ESTABLISHED Btf 1IEXRY L. PITTOCK
135 Mxth strm. KrTiand.Orejon.
C. A. MGRDEN, E. B. PIPER,
Manager. Editor.
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DEMOCRATIC HOPE FOR 1924. j
Democrats see in the result of the
recent election bright promise of
their return to power, and candi
dates for president spring up on all
sides. Ex-President Wilson is at
tracted from his retreat by an en
thusiastic crowd of pro-league de
votees, makes a speech reviving the
league issue and is hailed as coming
back to public life. Democrats of
each state that has elected a demo
cratic governor or senator to sup
plant a republican laud the victor
as the logical candidate for presi
dent. The radical bloc, composed
mainly of republicans. Is greeted
as an ally in the discomfiture of the
., ... T- 4 Vya can.
repuoncun par Ly. 11. w .'
guine hope of, democrats that the
recession of tie tidal wave which
carried the republican into power
will continue, and that a democratic
tidal wave will rise in 1924.
All these hopes have been raised
by a republican reverse that was
brought about by a fortuitous com
bination of political groups which
agree only in protest against what
the Harding administration has
done or that it has not done some
thing else. Loss of many seats in
congress was frankly predicted by
republicans who saw that the huge
majority for Mr. Harding in 1920
included many who agreed with the
republican party in nothing except
its protest against Wilsonism and
that after two years many of these
would be turned against Mr. Hard
ing, no matter how wisely he might
administer the government.
At a time when the minds of
several large elements are centered
on their own troubles, when the
clash of interests is unusually loud,
when large bodies of men and
women have beanie fanatical over
differences of race and creed and
over specific remedies for the na
tion's ills, and when the relaxation
of party ties has given wide latitude
to all these elements, the opportu
nity has been seized for each to
vote against the administration for
the predominant reason that it does
not stand for what each particular
element. wui.. vu ui ujcoc &muio
were united only in protest against
what is.
In order to win in 1924, the demo
crats must unite enough of these
elements in favor of candidates and
platform to hold not only their
strength as shown in 1922 but to
gain further strength from the re
publicans. Whichever way they
turn for a candidate or for politi
cal issues, they will find that tho
choice of any particular man and
the issues for which he peculiarly
stands would drive away a large
proportion of the following of other
men and of the champions of other
issues. Those, parts of the radical
bloc's programme that are distinctly
radical are likely to be opposed by
moderate democrats as well as
moderate republicans and their in
corporation in a national platform
would be bitterly opposed and, if
accomplished, would alienate prob
ably as many votes as they would
win.
Return of Mr. Wilson to the po
litical arena will doubtless prove
a cause of internal contention.
Though his health may continue to
improve, his age is likely to be an
unanswerable argument against his
nomination for president, but as
great figure in the background he
will prove a power decidedly em
barrassing. He is as unbending in
his advocacy of the league of na
tions as ever and his efforts to die
tate will surely be fiercely resisted
by the anti-league democrats led by
Senator Reed of Missouri, whose
ranks have certainly been swollen
since 1920. His activity will revive
the issue of Wilsonism, on which
his party was decisively beaten in
1920, and under that head the re
publicans' would find excellent cam.
paign material in the books of
Lane, Page and Lansing.
Not that the league issue can be
kept out of the campaign, but that
other leaders, free from Wilson's
obsession, may bring It up in new
form. Ex Governor Cox has re
turned from Europe so deeply im.
pressed with the necessity of Amer
ican aid in reconstruction of that
continent that he Ignores party dis
tinctions by proposing that Herbert
Hoover be sent to represent the
United States In allied councils,
That proposal points to a new ap
proach membership in the league,
which -would be approved by large
numbers of republicans, but would
provoxe a ngm wnn tne anti
league democratic forces and with
the Hearst element and all racial
groups which were antagonized by
the Wilson foreign policy.
Revival of the prohibition con
troversy has brought Governor Ed
wards of New Jersey to the front as
a possible candidate on a wet plat
form. He might command the sup.
port of Governor-elect Smith of
New York, of Mayor Thompson of
Chicago and of wet leaders else
where with their foreign-bom vot
ing strength, but the drys would
rally to the standard of McAdoo,
and Bryan would come in hot haste
from Florida to fight again the
battle that he fought at the San
Francisco convention. Both wets
and drys evince determination to
fight for indorsement of their prin
ciples and, whichever win9, the
loser may carry znany votes to the
republican ticket or its votera will
sulk at home on election day.
A new political factor with which
the democrats must reckon is the
Ku Klux Klan. Its gre.-test strength
Is in democratic states, especially in
the south, and it may be expected
to attempt dictation of candidates
and platform planks. The party
which includes this element and
that represented by Mayor Hylan of
New York; Smith of New York
state who is a Catholic, and Thomp
son of Chicago with his polyglot
constituency will have an arduous
time in getting together with itself
or with the radical bloc which em
braces La Follette's German Luth
eran constituents. The klan is a
well organized and relentless dic
tator, but submission to it would
drive from the democratic party
hosts of those whose race and re
ligious creed the klan proscribes.
The anti-Jewish crusade of Henry
Ford, which is of the same char
acter as that of the klan, will have
an adverse effect on the chances of
those who have him in mind for
president.
The nearer the conventions of
1924 approach, the rrore acute will
become the strife among the dis
cordant elements which the demo
cratic leaders hope to gather into
their party fold. The task is to
make such a combination as will at
tract more votes than it, expels,
while leaguers and anti-leaguers,
radicals and moderates, wets and
drysi klan and anti-klan furiously
.tend. While the democrats are
thus engaged, the republicans, it
may be expected, will be busy con
ciliating many whom they have lost
in the last two years and many
whom internal dissension alienates
from the democratic party. The
president's address to congress in
dicates an advance to the genuine
progressives as opposed to the rad
icals. His policy toward Turkey
points to more active participation
in the councils of nations, and he
yet has time to evolve a plan of co
operation that would satisfy all ex
cept the extreme factions on e,ach
side. In the next two years he will
have opportunity to extend to agri
culture the prosperity which other
industries already enjoy, to give
practical proof that his foreign pol
icy is not one of isolation, and to
allay discontent, which is in large
part a nervous and moral reaction
from the war and the disappoint
ments that "followed. He has a
stormy time ahead, but he may
work through his worst troubles
and win strength while the troubles
of the democrats will be growing
more acute.
ECONOMY IN PREPAREDNESS.
How little ground there is for the
pacifist cry about the "burden" of
armament is made apparent by the
fact that only 13.5 cents out of
every dollar of national expense is
paid for national defense by both
army and navy. When we con
sider that defense is 'one of tho
prime functions of any govern
ment, this is certainly a very mod
erate proportion.
Those who clamor for a little
army and navy would do well to
turn their attention to expendi
tures on pensions and the national
debt, if they are really interested in
economy. Pensions and other pro
vision for ex-service men consume
19.2 cents and debt charges 34.4
cents, according to a graph pub
lished in the Army and Navy Jour
nal. In other words, we pay 53.6
cents on the dollar on account of
former wars against 13.5 cents in
preparation for the next war.
Our latest experience should
have taught us that, if we .had
spent more on preparedness, we
should now spend far less on the
after-expenses of war, which will
continue until the last service
man's widow dies and the last dol
lar of debt is paid. There is good
round for the opinion that, if we
had been ready, -Germany would
not have challenged us to fight, for
our unreadiness led the war lords
to believe they could win against
the allies before we got into action.
If we had doubled our expenses for
defense, we could have saved the
greater part of the far larger and
longer continued annual expense on
debt and pensions.
SEGREGATING
JIVE NILE OFFEND
ERS.
A significant disclosure in con
nection with. the arrest of the "yo
kel" highwayman, a boy of thirteen,
is that while serving a term in the
state reformatory he came in con
stant contact with youths older
than he was and i-.ore experienced
in crime, and that, as he is reported
to have said, he learned what he
thinks he knows about the under
world from them. Inspired by their
teachings, he set out on a career of
outlawry as soon as he got his free
dom. He was a dangerous young
ster while he was at large and it is
nothing to the credit of the present
system of handling juvenile crim
inals that he did not commit mur
der, as he boasts that he was pre
pared to do. ,
An institution in which boys
ranging in age from 10 to 22 years
are permitted to mingle at will in
the routine of their living is based
on a principle long ago condemned
by thoughtful social workers. Pre
cepts Instilled at much pains by
teachers and supervisors are nega
tived by the example of older and
hardened offenders. It is an of
fense against sound judgment and
the basic principles of juvenile re
form not to segregate offenders ac
cording to grade, and it puts the re
formatory on the plane of a peni
tentiary, which it is not intended
to be.
There is at present no way to
segregate these youngsters because
there is no place to which to send
the- comparatively hopeful - cases.
The institution at Salem, in which
all classes alike take their recrea
tion In a space some 150 feet square
and, as has been said, are constantly
in one another's society, is in this
respect a generation behind the
times. The better way would be to
provide a series of cottage units,
each capable of housing twenty or
thirty lnmat. j, and in which youths
can be classified in accordance with
age, mentality and probability of
reclamation. It is perhaps too much
to hope that the true home at
mosphere can be developed in any
institution where there necessarily
is restraint, but it should be ap
proximated as nearly as possible
and this is even now being done in
other states. . So situated, and under
the care of considerate and compe
tent instructors, a considerable pro
portion of youths as experience
elsewhere has proved, would be
come useful members of society.
This will not occur where the mor -
ally deficient and hopelessly crim-
inai are given tree opportunity to 1
leaven the mass.
It is particularly desirable that
the mentally subnormal types shall
be separately guided by especially
trained instructors. Actual experi
ence in the Portland schools as well
as elsewhere has indicated that re
sults can be obtained in this as in
no' other way. It is now pretty well
known to educators that youngsters
of this kind profit by being taught
in classes by themselves, where they
are not handicapped by a sense of
inferiority and where the particular
methods suitable to them can be
employed.
Classification and segregation
should be practiced in the treat
ment of youthful offenders for the
same reason that boys are no longer
committed to penitentiaries with
adult criminals, as was the practice
only a few years ago.
THE LONG VIEW LEADS TO
OPTIMISM.
The long view is the true view
of business prospects, and such a
view inspires optimism in Elbert H.
Gary, chairman of the United States
Steel corporation, in writing for
System on "Looking Forward byi
Looking Backward 20 Years." In
the past he finds dips in the line of
progress of goods consumed, but
"in the long swing of events the
dips are purely transitory and all
but negligible," and he shows that
though there have been several
deep dips in the line of steel pro
duction, the line has risen, on the
whole, parallel with the growth of
population in this country. In twen
ty years the capacity of the people
to use steel has doubled, though
the population has not doubled.
The automobile has increased con
sumption and by adding to the effi
ciency of the individual has caused
further increase. i
When this is the experience of
the belligerent nation that was least
affected internally by the war, the
prospect of increased prosperity ap
pears far brighter after considera
tion of the situation of those na
tions whose internal economy was
most profoundly disturbed. We in
America enjoy our present measure
of prosperity in the presence of a
continent inhabited by more than
400,000,000 of the most advanced
people in the world, whose consum
ing capacity has been reduced to the
lowest point. Each nation in Eu
rope by its own effort is struggling
up toward the old economic level.
When they begin working together
instead of separately their progress
upward will be faster. At each step
their trade with America will grow,
and their renewed prosperity will
add to ours. If we can do as well
as we now do when the old world's
line of progress is in a deep dip,
how much more may we expect
when it rises from that dip?
It is this long-view optimism that
has formed the basis of success for
men of business genius. It led the
big four of California and Villard
apd Hill to build railroads through
a wilderness. It led men to plan on
a big scale development of the steel,
oil, packing and other industries.
It led the elder J. P. Morgan to say
that he had always been a "bull"
on the United States. When things
have been at the worst, it has
prompted men to say that they can
change only for the better. The
worst obstacle to this optimistic
working of economic law is the
obstructions that human law places
in its way.
BLAME FOR CRIME.
We doubt that our esteemed con
temporary, the Saturday Evening
Post, will be able to make good in
any large way its editorial impli
cation that newspapers are chiefly
responsible for the prevalence of
crime by the manner in which they
treat crime as news, and we have
an impression that upon reflection
it would not insist upon the point.
The currents of human conduct are
not so near the surface as that, and
neither the recurrence of the
spirit of outlawry nor the retarda
tion of justice is so easily accounted
for. But the issue of particular
interest raised by the Post is not
whether the printing of accounts of
wrongdoing is in itself reprehen
sible, but whether their effect upon
the average read is, on the whole,
such as would foster the sickly sen
timentality, the incapacity for
straight thinking and the tendency
to govern verdicts by other consid
erations than the law and evidence
which so characterize the modern
jury. Crime increases as its penal
ties are increasingly relaxed, and
it is a plain fact that juries do not
convict defendants as they used to
do.
Yet it is one thing to print the
news of crime even in its intimate
'and minute details and quite an
other to assume that we have by
doing so made crime pleasing to
the public consciousness. We are
invited to infer that every citizen
who enters a jury box has had his
mind attuned to the morbid and
unreal by reading news accounts of
crime and so has made himself un
fit to render an unbiased judg
ment. It is not assumed, we be
lieve, that the juror has been
warped by the news accounts of a
particular case, in view of the ex
travagant safeguards which the law
permits in this regard. The no-
tion seems to be that facts, pub
lished . as news, incline to make
crime less hateful, to obscure is
sues and to create what the modern
professors might call a "mass psy
chology" generally too favorable to
the prisoner at the bar.
Not the truth about crime, but
the painting of crime in other than
realistic colors is responsible for the
erroneous impressions we may have
of it, and in this particular we think
that the skirts of the newspapers
of the better class, which is to say
a large proportion of newspapers,
are clear. We do not recall in our
recent reading of a news account
of a crime of violence or an of
fense against good morals having
been impressed with the notion that
the prisoner was " more sinned
against than Binning or that society
and not the defendant himself was
responsible for his plight We have
not seen a murderer extolled, by
inference or otherwise, or a burglar
painted as a hero or a' drug peddler
held up to anything but the scorn
he deserves. The "frail little
women" at present occupying cells
in jails are apparently more nu
merous than ever, but the fashion
of depicting them as heroines., if it
ever was a fashion, has gone out of
date. Facts, "sordid," "turgid,
"grimy," "grisly" ail that and
then some concerning everyday
4 happenings emphatically do
not
make crime appear' roseate, and
they never have.
We suspect that if the reader
will hark back to the first real
thrill he ever obtained from an ac
count of crime, to his first herp
who was a lawbreaker and his first
heroine who was less' than she
ought to have been, he will dis
cover that it and he and she were
assembled in a magazine or book
a publication ajassified as fiction
and in every respect deserving the
designation. We incline to believe
that fiction and not fact is at the
bottom of our twisted perspective.
If the Idea prevails that poor men
are constantly being sentenced to
long terms in prison for stealing
paltry loaves of bread to feed their
starving babies (which as a matter
of fact they are not), while the
rich may murder with entire im
punity, we think that it is due to
the fiction and not the fact on
which we are fed. The suave
swindler, the easy-going, get-rich-quick
man, the gentleman burglar
always well-clothed and well-fed
the smooth and polished mur
derer and their ilk, the Jean.Val
jeans and the Robin Hoods we
know them as we know our books,
but they are not real and they
never were news.
We have frequently taken occa
sion to indorse the sentiment that
"court reform will be futile if we
do not find some means of injecting
a little iron into our jurors." It
would indeed "be a grand thing
for the cause of justice if twelve
individuals could be assembled
with enough backbone to send a
murderess to the gallows and to
refuse precedence to the unwritten
law over all the well-tried laws on
the statute books." But we do not
see how it would materially speed
th& day for us to stop recording the
facts about crime and criminals
even the most horrid and sordid de
tails of it and them. Would it, we
inquire, subserve the cause of jus
tice to abandon the task of creating
atmosphere and background to the
fiction writers for the magazines?
"YES" OR "NO."
It is only fair to the advocates of
the so-called "true-false" or "yes
no" system of conducting school
examinations to say that they do
not contend that it is perfect. It
is nevertheless interesting as an ex
ample of the search for a better
method of testing the fitness of stu
dents than has heretofore been
found. It remains to be seen
whether the new movement is going
to prove profitable for all con
cerned. Obviously it is the out
growth of interest created by the
adoption of the so-called army in
telligence tests at the time of our
recent mobilization for the world
war and it derives added import
ance from the overcrowding of in
stitutions of higher learning, which
has stimulated desire to restrict
their advantages to those who de
serve them most.
Profejsor John E. Anderson of
the department of psychology of
Yale points out, as is known to ex
aminers generally, that present
methods lack uniformity. They per
mit a wide variation, due to the
individual factor in both instructor
and student. They do not invite
comparison as between different in.
stitutions and between different
classes in the same institution be
cause of the personal equation in
volved. It is said that they do not
cover the material of a course thor
oughly in the time ordinarily avail
able, though it would seem that the
new methods have offsetting disad
vantages, also, in the matter of
thoroughness. It reminds us of the
Inordinate emphasis put on time in
modern affairs. We suspect that if
Aristotle had been as much con
cerned over the flight of the min
utes as is the twentieth-century
teacher he would not have done
much effective thinking. But we
are reminded, also, that "tempus
fugit" was not written by moderns.
Whatever may be said of our prob.
lems, they are not new.
The gist of the proposed method
is that the student is required to
set down his answer to the ques
tion in a word. In a truly up-to-date
examination a mere check
mark suffices. Thus: "John Mar
shall was the first president of tho
United States. Yes. No. Under
score the appropriate word." "Cyrus
was a famous Roman general." "A
pound of feathers is heavier than a
pound of lead." "Old Scrooge is a
character in Vanity Fair." And
so on. -As a time-saver it has merit.
We can easily visualize the student
romping down the list. We are
ready to believe that he might "an
swer a hundred questions in thirty
minutes, covering every phase of
the work, whereas in the custom
ary form of examination he would
answer only three."
We are bound to concede that the
inventors of the system have fore
stalled at least one objection that
will by this time have occurred to
most readers. This is that a stu
dent by the law of chance ought to
score about 50 per cent without any
knowledge of his subject But the
ingenuity with which this obstacle
has been overcome fortifies our
confidence in college examiners.
Professor Anderson says:
If a man without any knowledge of
his subject simply underlined answers
hit or miss fashion he would get ap
proximately, in a test, say, of 40 items,
20 right and 20 wrong. His score would
be 2020, or zero. A man who knew
20 answers perfectly and guessed on the
remaining 20 wojuld have 20 plus 10
right and 10 wrong, or 80 10, giving
him 20. This method of scoring has
given rise to reports that a man may
get a minus score, which Is a possibility
but not a probability.
It is a sounder objection that the
method "stresses recognition rather
than recall," and if this is not in
surmountable it would seem to be
nearly so. We have too many crit
ics in proportion to the number of
constructive thinkers. The present
system is it right or wrong?
Wrong, of course; but how shall it
be 'made right? Ah, that is a dif
ferent matter. Was General Santa
Ana to blame for the Mexican war?
No. Who was? Not quite so easy,
as most of us will admit The cul
de sac into which the method leads
may be illustrated by the experience
of most students with the acquisi
tion of languages. After four years
of study they "read some French,"
but can't discuss the bill of fare
understandingly with the waiter In
a restaurant. "Recognition" is the
right word. It is nothing more. In
mathematics and in all the studies
requiring reflective thinking it will
seem that it is open to the same
objection and to the further one
that it unduly stresses information
by contrast with ability to think.
We doubt that It would possess
much value "in the sciences, where
a considerable body of information
is required," since acquisition of
information is nearly inseparable
from capacity to assign it to its
place in the scheme, and it would
be worse than useless as a test, for
illustration, of English composition.
We hesitate to affirm without
reservation that the effort to stand
ardize education might profitably
be checked, yet there are signs that
the present trend is in a direction
opposite to that which produced
sound thinkers in the past. We
regard as less important than some
do the elimination of the "personal
equation" which the proposed sys
tem stresses. At the cost, even, of
considerable waste, it were desirable
that individuality and constructive
thinking be encouraged. This, more
than standardization, is the mission
of the school.
DOES THE
PIONEER
VI VET
SPIRIT SUB-
"Is the spirit of adventure which
conquered, peopled and brought
into productiveness the great west
gone out of us forever?" Rhine
lander Waldo, interviewed by Ed
ward Marshall, asks the question
and answers that he does not be
lieve it has. He is puzzled never
theless by the failure of Americans
of the present generation to re-,
spond to the call of pioneer oppor
tunity. "I wonder," he says, "if
the young American conceivably
may, not have softened. Has he
degenerated till adventure means
a mask and an automatic gun, or
perchance a thrilling risk of scan
dal? I don't believe it. The war
proved that we etill possess brave
youngsters with initiative and with
out superiors. Why do not they
tackle these great opportunities?"
- The all-pervading restlessness
which we think of when we recall
the era in which the pioneers
settled the region west of the
Rocky mountains was a complex.
Mr. Waldo outlines a field which
he regards as ppfesenting a present
parallel with the opportunities of
eighty years ago, and mentioning.!
Alaska, notes that where we sup
ply practically all needs, Ameri-I
cans are not making definite and I
earnest effort to build the country
with the thought of creating resi
dent business and export and im
port trade." Alluding to our fail
ure to take advantage of oppor
tunity in the Philippines, he sees
innumerable neglected chances
such "as were built into the foun
dations for great fortunes and fine
lives by Americans of old, who were
the pioneers of the United States."
Conditions were different at the
outset of the western movement
as the annals of the period bear
witness, but a fair comparison re
quires that account be taken of the
situation in the states from which
the immigrants came as well as, of
the relative opportunities offered
them in the new country. The large
proportion of those who reached
Oregon directly from the middle
west were not rooted to a particular
spot in the sense that most people
now are." Many were but recent
arrivals from other localities. Per
manent improvements and the
comforts and conveniences of life
had not obtained the importance
they now have. "Youof the old
states," wrote an Iowa pioneer on
the eve of departure for Oregon in
1843, "cannot readily conceive the
every-day sort of business the 'old
settler" makes of selling out his
'improvements,' hitching the horses
to the big wagon, and, with his wife
and children, swine and cattle,
pots and kettles, household goods
and household gods, starting on a
long journey of hundreds of miles
to find and make a new home."
Populations of entire localities were
migrant to a degree that now
characterizes small groups only.
One difference between Oregon and
Alaska is that the latter was peo
pled by unmarried men, chiefly
under the impulse of gold-seeking,
while the northwest was settled
by families with whom the home-
building impulse was paramountj
yet they had little to leave behind
them, and they expected to fare
better because, in so many in
stances, they could not easily have
fared worse.
Unsettled financial conditions in
the Mississippi valley in the late
thirties undoubtedly contributed to
the spirit of unrest a universal
phenomenon at the time. "Fear
lessness, hospitality and independ
ent frankness," says a commenta
tor, "unitedxwith enterprise and
thirst for novelty and change, were
the peculiar characteristics of the
pioneer."- These and the fact that
the opportunities he had encoun
tered before reaching Oregon never
quite measured up to his hopes. It
needs to be noted, in comparing
present with past opportunities for
expansion, that the pioneer was es.
sentially a family man and first of
all an American. We see little simi-
1 MGIVWGU UIO UULlUUlk ill I.I1BJ
Philippines or in equatorial Africa
and that in Oregon in the early
forties because of these two factors.
Alaska has had similar drawbacks
from the viewpoint of the settler
seeking a permanent abiding place.
The "restless tide of western im
migration," as the Rev. David
Leslie described it in 1840, a little
ahead of time, promised "to roll on
and fructify the plains till met by
the tidewaters of the Pacific," for
two reasons that there were
homes in prospect and lands to be
claimed under the American flag.
Peter Burnett spoke for a great
number of his countrymen when
he confessed that he was attracted
by the land- bill of Senator Linn,
which promised 640 acres of land
for himself and 160 acres for each
of his children. Since he had a
wife and six children, the prospect
Of an estate of 1600 acres was
"sufficiently inviting." . Besides.
Burnett was in debt, as were many
others in the middle west and saw
no probability of discharging his
obligations if he remained where
he was. No fair appraisal of the
motives of the pioneer will leave
national feeling out of the reckon
ing. "Oregon, the future home of
the power which shall rule the Pa
cific," was widely advertised
throughout the east. "I saw," said
Burnett, again speaking the senti
ments of many of his associates,
"that a great American community
would grow up in a few years on
the distant shores of the Pacific,
and I felt an ardent desire to aid
in this most important enterprise."
It Is Impracticable to catalogue
all the motives cf those who headed
the great westward movement
which rolled first across the Alle
ghenies and then over the Rockies,
or to define with precision the
proportion in which love of adven
ture, desire for new scenery, of
mere change, or curiosity prevailed.
or how conscious the pioneers were f
of their political, destiny, tames
Christy Bell, in his "Opening a ,
Highway to the Pacific," probably :
strikes nearer to the truth than do i
most observers when he suggests
that "in spite of the great distance
to be traveled, the sentiment really
developed as the next natural step j
in an already habitual growtn 01 j
the frontier." That is to say, a
region comprising more than two
thirds of the present continental
United States had not passed out of
the frontier stage; immigrations in
volved mainly the mere exchange
of one set of frontier circumstances j
for another, and the human ma
terial for pioneership was never
exhausted while the so-called fron
tier held out
There is not now a spot on the
globe that fairly bears comparison
with the Pacific northwest in its
relation to the older settlements in
the period which Mr. Waldo fears
may have forever passed. Nor
were the purposes of the early
colonists of America a criterion by
which to judge Americans of today.
None of the conditions existing in
the seventeenth century or in the
fifth and sixth decades of the nine
teenth century are duplicated by
opportunities now offered in lands
which are alien to the hopes of the
American home-builder and which
hold the prospect only of tempo
rary residence and commercial ex
ploitation. Mr. Waldo ventures
that "it will be a serious matter for
the nation" if the "pioneer instinct
has gone out- of the American
blood." We surmise that the in
stinct has not been vanquished. It
is more plausible to suppose that
it seeks an outlet in keeping with
the wholly changed demands of a
new time.
Depopulation of the rural dis
tricts of their feminine inhabitants,
as indicated by the farm census of
the United States, has a peculiarly
illuminating illustration in Ver
mont where although men out
number women in the state as a
whole, practically all the cities
show a preponderance of women.
Burlington, the state's metropolis,
has 12,075 females to 10,705 males
in Rutland the figures are 7S24 and
7130 respectively, and the propor
tion holds good with modifications
as to Brattleboro, St Albans, Mont-
peller and St Johns. It is not the
business of the census-takers to
theorize as to causes but a plausible
reason is easily supplied. This is
mainly, as in the general movement
throughout the country, that
women are rising in revolution
against anti-social conditions which
have prevailed in the country by
comparison with the town and are
determined to have their share of
the amenities of life. The bleak
winters of New England are no
doubt a contributing factor, but the
phenomenon is not confined to that
region. It is general, as has been
heretofore stated, throughout the
United States.
The Bpint Or inquiry Knows no
bounds. Once it has been stimu
lated there is no telling to what
destruction of ancient formulas it
may lead. Every pioneer plains
man knows, to cite a recently em
phasized example, that for half a
century it was accepted as fact that
a horsehair rope laid in a circle
about a sleeping camper was an in
fallible protection against ' rattle
snakes. It was as widely believed
as the now-discredited notion that
one could tell the age of a rattler
by the numbe- of rattles on his tail.
After nearly half a century of fron
tier life a cowboy has put the
horsehair rope theory to what the
scientists would call the "labora
tory test" The result was that the
rope did not stop the snake, or
even discourage it. Tet the old
superstition had its value. Thou
sands of men have'Blept in peaceful
security who would have" died of
insomnia if they had known the
truth mercifully deferred until
most of the rattlesnakes have gone,
The brevity of the Georgia woman
senator's tenure of office fortu
nately forestalled the inevitable
proposal to coin a new word to dis
tinguish her. Yet it "might be well
to be prepared. One can never tell
when a woman will be elected to
the senate for a full term.
The tragedy in the news that In
come tax collections have fallen off
by $1,400,000,000 is that this vast
sum does not represent saving any
where along the line. Nobody has
it. It is simply that that much
money doesn't exist
Debs is incurable. Now he is all
for the soviet system, which, were
it not for our repugnance for cruel
be ,ncUned to give Wan oppor.
.
Now they're making a liquor
breath prima facie evidence of in
toxication against the motorist who
has an accident. Well, that's likely
to give him an alibi on the spot by
taking his breath away.
Five hundred saloon keepers
have opened drug stores in New
York city, a knowledge of antidotes
being appropriate to the business of
selling the kind of stuff they prob
ably will dispense.
With the heroine of the Ante
gonish ghost incident in an asylum,
psychic research gets a setback
from which it will not recover un
til the next "inexplicable manifes
tation" occurs.
Two weeks have passed since
Mr. A. B. See suggested that
women's colleges ought to be
burned and not a single college has
offered him so much as the degree
of A. B.
"Auto bandits get Fels soap pay
roll,!' says a headline. Not how
ever, the fund for the propagation
of the single tax, which might bet
ter have been spared.
If the stores had ten times as
many kinds of Christmas presents
as they have, it would still be im
possible for the average shopper to
make up his mind.
Passenger rates to Europe are to
be reduced, notwithstanding which
the man who really wants to travel
in solid comfort will plan to see
America first
The 'ten days between income tax
paying time and Christmas will be
ample,-considering what some folks
will have left, to do their Christmas
shopping in. -
The Listening Post .
By DeWlrt Harry.
A minister rode in the parlor car
of a Portland-Seattle train. He was I
young, carefully groomed, fine
appearing and evidently cultured.
The trip was a tiresome one, most
of the other passengers soon paired
off and whiled away the time in
conversation. But none seemed to
care to talk to the minister. 1
That he would make an intelligent
partner for a discussion was evi
dent, and that he probably would
be an Interesting talker was more
than possible. That he wanted
companionship was also apparent
but all seemed to avoid him. He had
an engaging smile but did not force
himself on anyone.
At his approach, whenever he
found it-necessary to shift his seat
or move about the car, conversa
tions ceased as if the participants
were afraid -the man of the cloth
might overhear something he should
not. Everyone seemed afraid of
him. He was as a being set apart
from he , rest of the cheerful
humans of the parlor car, not of
their kind
The man who told this watched
the actions of his fellow passengers
and sympathized with the minister.
But he took refuge behind his news
paper and did not try to make the
journey any easier for the man who
was not of the usual class.
lou explain this for yourseir.
We are not wholly indebted to
Booth Tarkington for the discovery
that boys like to eat, for most
adults (know that the greater part
of the growing boy's time is spent
in eating or longing and plotting
out some way to get something to
eat In fact food might be said
to be the boy's besetting sin.
Take the case of young Steve,
leader of the neighborhood pirates
one day. His gang were making
both men and women walk the
plank before they scuttled a ship
they had Just captured when- Steve,
as pirate chief, interposed with a
merciful thought. He stopped the
slaughter by ordering:
'Don't drown the women. Save
them. 'Cause they do the cooking."
The brunette waitress told this one.
The man was short and bashful,
his companion gay and (several
inches taller. A bronze giant strode
past.
"What a fine looking fellow," he
exclaimed.
"I don't like them so big," she
replied.
And just at that minute he
noticed that she had finished her
shrimp salad.
"Will you have a little shrimp?"
"O Bill, you know I will. You
may be small but you're a fast
worker."
We are reliably informed that the
woman who advertised her home
for sale and stated that it was
"wired for gas" has just finished
planting her spring bulbs. Our In
formant goes on to state that ahe
stuck them in upside down as she
thought the tops were the root end.
'
"Young Pete had accumulated a
bunch of fall complaints and was
taken to a specialist and thoroughly
tested. The doctor handed Pete's
mother a bottle, saying, "have him
gurgle this" and then another bottle.
"drop some of this into his eyes at
night" and with the third one, "put
a few drops of this into his ears
6Very day."
Pete was all attention and ex
pectant, but this seemed to be all
that was coming. So he spoke to the
doctor in an imploring voice:
"Can't you give ma something for
my nose. It'll be the only thing on
my face left out and I don't want it
to be lonesome."
After a recent suspicious fire an
adjuster was called in and left the
premises in a few minutes. It did not
seem that, he had taken time for
even the most superficial examina
tion. The owner did not like the
quick manner of his work and ap
proached him as he left and asked
if he had found the cause of the
fire.
"Yes, a plain case of friction," re
plied the adjuster. "The.ftre was un
doubtedly caused by rubbing a J5O00
policy on a $3000 stock of goods."
He was worried and showed it as
he almost ran into the Southern Pa
cific electric station at Fourth and
Stark. As he approached the young
lady at the counter bearing the "in
formation" sign he said:
"I have to go to Oswego."
"Well," said the young lady as she
toyed with a vagrant curl, "are you
asking for information or just tell
ing me your troubles?"
BLACK EYE IS GIVES HIGHWAY
Upper Columbia Counties Clear, But
Not Multnomah.
The Dalles Chronicle.
Remember the big snow storm last
year? Of course.
Remember how Wasco county and
Hood River county had the Colum
bia river highway within their
bounds cleaned off and in condition
for use within a comparatively short
time after the blizzard was over?
Right again.
And do you remember how long
the Multnomah county end of the
highway remained blocked and
blocked and blocked? Days swung
into weeks. Cars buried at Multno
mah falls remained there buried
while county commissioners fn Port
land haggled over who should un
dertake the job of digging out the
road.
In the meantime, while this debate
was going on, autoists from all over
the northwest and from eastern
points jammed the parages in The
Dalles and at other points east and
west of here, waiting Impatiently
for the open, road or else loading
their cars on boats and sending
them to Portland in that manner.
Portland finally wakened to the
fact that the laxity of her officials
was giving the highway a serious
black eye, and the storm that went
up finally brought results.
It's the same old story this year
The fairly sizable snow storm lasl
week banked the highway deep in
drifts. The state highway officials
got out scrapers and went after the
blockade in Hood River and Wasco
counties, and the road as far as
Cascade Locks is in fairly good con
dition today. But that isn't true
when you cross the Multnomah
county line. The drifts down there
are deep and nothing has been don
ta relieve tho aituatioa,
Visions.
By Grace E. Hall.
Lift up your eyes and look across
The desert of your days.
The sands have parched your weary
feet,
The sun shed blinding rays.
But you may build white cities still.
From tender thoughts and high.
And stately castles, turrets tall,
Against the bending sky;
A gentler mood will quickly sootho
And cool the burn of tears.
While charity lays kindly hands
Upon the scars of years.
Build new white cities in your
dreams.
With every outline true.
And sparkling fountains ' tossing
spray
Like iridescent dew;
The deserts that are here to cross
May strain all earthly powers,
But even cactus on the sands
Yield gorgeous, flaming flowers;
And though our visions disappear
Mirages great and small
'Tis better to have seen them thus
Than hadio glimpse at all.
BEAl'TY EVERYWHERE.
Some souls there are who yearn in
vain for beauty.
Who go about with dull, unseeing;
eyes.
Feeling their lives are sacrificed to
duty.
Falling to see what all about them
lies.
Oh, souls that hunger in a land of
plenty.
That thirst beside a river, broad
and still.
Reach out and take what God has
freely given;
Kneel down beside the stream and
drink your fill.
There's beauty in the sunset's glow
ing colore;
In wind-blown trees; In slowly
drifting cloud.
There's beauty in the peaceful, sun
lit meadows,
And fences, lined with sturdy
goldenrod.
There's beauty in the falling leaves
of autumn;
In flash of bluebird's wing; in
fresh plowed earth.
There's beauty in the pearly light
of sunrise; '
In rippling grain; In children's
carefree mirth.
There's beauty in the flower In your
window.
Drawing its life from Juet a bit
of sod.
Yet every day in each new blossom
Bhowtng
The wonder of a miracle of God.
There's beauty In a baby's dimpled
elbow.
In spite of grimy hands and tear
stained cheek.
There's' beauty in the power of
thought and motion;
A chance for beauty in each word
you speak.
Oh, say no more your lives are void
of beauty.
While beauty fills the earth and
sky and air;
But use your eyes, the while you do
your duty.
And thank the, Lord that beauty's
everywhere.
GRACE PADDOCK EDGERTON.
WIND HORSES.
Crouching half-mantled in their fly
ing manes
I stride the withers of the roaring
winds.
We rush upon the sleeping town
at our first breath
Tall steeples shake and signs come
clattering down; -
We swerve across the water, and
our fetlocks churn
The bay to lashing silver-frenzied
waves.
Race with us in our sport to smaslt
men's boats;
Our hoofs pound through the forest,
affrighted dawn
Awakes to see proud tree-stems
trampled down.
Then, wearied of my far-spent
steeds, I homeward turn
For morning bread the while my
earthly self has lain
All safe and warm at home in bed.
MAUD BRODIE.
LIFE'S ECSTACIES.
I have known happiness,
Laughter and surprise,
The holiness of love, its mystery;
A sweet unrest,
Like shaking leaf and bud,
I have known love.
Its gladdened ecstacies.
I have known gray skies.
Misted in gloom.
Beaten and storm-swept incessantly;
A surging spirit.
Like leaping, crested waves,
I have known longing,
Its saddened melodies.
I have known life, i
Flaming and yielding, ;
Claiming. me still, reslstlessly;
I am bereft, ,
Alone and uncomforted,
Like the shelterless wind,
That blows restlessly. 1
HELEN CRAWFORD, j
OREGON IN WINTER.
She stands, like Chaucer's gentle
nun.
With eyes of limpid gray;
With quivering lip and trembling
tears.
She quickly dries away
To smile with sudden golden light
Illumining her face;
While tears and sighs go swiftly by
To' give the rapture place.
And when a sudden passion swaya
The mirror of her mind.
Through marble cloistered mountain
ways
She brings tho eastern wind.
And though she have a hundred
moods,
We love them, everyone
For smiles will follow fast the
frowns
Of gray-eyed Oregon.
MARY ALETHEA WOODWARD.
DAWN ON MOUNT HOOD.
From heights 1 looked into a valley,
filled with pale gray mist;
It lay, impen'trable and cold as mar
ble brow by mourner kissed.
But high above in clearest air Oh,
wondrous sight.
A snow-clad peak arose, tinged coral
in the morning light.
At once the baffling mist became a
fitting base a God-wrought
scheme
To rest a statue that surpassed the
greatest sculptor's loftiest
dream. ,'
JANETTE MARTIN.
LOVE.
The golden thread that mankind
binds
And everywhere expression finds
Is love.
Deep underlying all the deeds
That we perform, us onward leads
Is love.
.The greatest gift that God the Lord
In our tiny hearts has stored
Is love.
And when your heart's deep sorrows
tore,
What will your happiness restore--Is
love.
r-RICHARD F. WOLFS.