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HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
A Page of Editorials for the Home and Farm Magazine
TO ADVERTISERS
Advertisers In this locality who wish
fully to cover nil sections of Oregon
and Wnshinfiton nnd a portion of Idaho
will apply to local publishers for rates.
General advertisers may address C. L.
Hurton, Advertising Malinger Home
nnd Farm Magazine Section, Orcgonian
Uuildlng, Portland, Oregon, for rates
and Information.
TO READERS
Headers are requested to send letters
and articles for'publtcntion to The Edi
tor, Home nnd rami Magazine Section,
Orcgonian Huildlng, Portland, Oregon.
Discussions on questions and prob
lems that bear directly on the agricul
tural, livestock and poultry interests of
the Northwest and on the uplift nnd
comfort of the farm home always are
welcomed. No letters treating of re
ligion, politics or the European war are
solicited. We proclaim neutrality on
these matters.
Comparatively brief contributions
arc preferred to long ones. Send us
also photographs of your livestock and
farm scenes that you think would be
of general interest. We wish to make
this magazine of value to you. Help
us to do it.
GIVING THE CHILD A CHANCE
rrllE importance of the child is
I gradually being recognized by
organized society. The wonder
of it all is that the child has been
neglected for so long. The resources
of the powerful United States Gov
ernment have always been at the
command of those seeking to stamp
out an insect plague, dr those desir
ing to improve the breeds of cows,
hogs or chickens, but how much
time has been given by Govern
mental authorities to improving the
breed of children ? And which is the
more important to the coming gen
eration, that better grades of
domestic animals shall be raised or
that a more virile manhood shall
come into its own?
The work of breeding children is
to a certain extent conducted by
state or private organizations. It is
a work that cannot be commended
too highly.
Juvenile courts are aiding now m
dealing with the wayward child.
"Child labor" laws have been passed.
Schools have been formed with the
object of teaching girls how to care
for babies schools in "mother
craft." Widows' pension bills have
been passed by 23 states. Conven
tions of physicians now find an im
portant subject for discussion in the
welfare of the child. Leaders in
educational work are considering
the training of the child.
Year by year, the demand has be
come stronger for n square deal for
the child in his right to be well bom,
in his right to have good health, a
strong body and proper training.
,With a fair chance for the child, the
results are certain to prove of in
estimable value to the country.
CAN WE HOLD OUR OWN?
AMERICA'S opportunity lies be
fore her today as it never has
lain before. The terrible war
that is devastating Em-ope has
opened a wide door of opportunity
to us, with a world of conquest lying
behind it. These conquests are the
peaceful conquests of industry. Can
we grasp the situation and do the
work before us?
There are three things necessary:
'A large population, skilled in the in
dustrial arts, an abundant capital
to pay them and also to stimulate
business in foreign countries, and a
plentiful supply of power.
in the earliest ages of our indus
tries water power was about all
there was. Then came coal, and in
spile of the discovery of oil and the
inventions that apply electricity to
industries, coal may still bo said to
constitute the most important source
of all our motive power.
The production of coal in 1918 in
the United States was 509,000,000
long tons, nearly twice that of Great
Britain, our closest competitor. At
the present rate of growth we shall
soon be turning out as much coal as
all the rest of the world together.
We are not only able to compete
with Great Britain and all the rest
of the world in the quantity and
price of coal for home use, but also
for export. When the last century
closed the total exports of coal from
the United States were 7,000,000
tons. In 1913 this was increased to
21,000,000 tons.
The figures answer emphatically
in the affirmative the question of
our ability to compete for the busi
ness of the world in one respect at
least, that of the great motive
power.
Is there any question about our
ability in other respects? To coal
we add fuel oil' and to these two
electric power from our wonderful
streams. As to capital, we are well
supplied, and our production of solid
money annually is very great. Then
for our population, it numbers today
in our continental territory 100,000,
000 of the most intelligent, quickest
witted, best-fed and therefore most
energetic people on the earth.
WISDOM AND WAR.
NINE HUNDRED years ago a
dispute between Modona and
Bologna over a well bucket
began a war which devastated
Europe. A Chinese Emperor once
went to war over the breaking of a
teapot. Sweden and Poland flew at
each other's throats in 1654 because
the King of Sweden discovered that
his name in an official dispatch was
followed by only two et cetcras,
while the King of Poland's had
three. The spilling of a glass of
water over the Marquis do Torey led
to war between France and England,
and a small boy, by throwing a peb
ble at the Due de Guise, led to the
massacre of Vassy and the 30 years'
war.
LAZY FARMERS, DON'T READ
THIS.
(Ertltorlnl In Polk County Itcmlrer.)
THE United States Department
of Agriculture, the state boards
and the experts all over the
country arc urging the farmers of
America to cultivate every available
acre during the coming year. The
war in Europe assures the sale of
almost everything that can be
raised. Every article that is ex
ported to feed the soldiers and the
citizens and the stock of Europe
means that just that much less for
home consumption, therefore, even
with big crops of everything, the
price will be high.
If it is not a good crop year the
farmer will at least raise enough
for home use and will not have to
pay the high prices that will pre
vail. Utilize every availablo acre
for grain, grasses and vegetables. It
should not be necessary, under
proper conditions, to import potatoes
into any agricultural county.
Put the hens and the turkeys to
work and give them a square deal.
Raise hogs, cattle and horses in as
large numbers as the accommoda
tions of your farm will justify and.
any losses that any fanner, planter
or rancher may have sustained last
year will be more than made good.
The war in Europe may last for
months or years, and while it con
tinues there will be an active de
mand for everything we produce.
Should the war end this week the
nations engaged will need all our
surplus products for a year at least.
Take our advice, for once, and do
not permit good, tillable land to lie
idle in 1915.
Sect
IF THERE MUST BE ALLIANCES
IF THERE must be European al
liances though tragic events
have proved them to bo danger
ous we may hope though hardly
expect in view of the bitterness that
will follow war a new alignment
when peace once more reigns over
battle-ravaged Europe.
Why is it not possible to have an
alliance between France, Germany,
England, Italy and the lesser pow
ers with its sole aim the beneficent
development of Europe and the
peaceful curbing of the less ad
vancedf nations of Europe and Asia?
Not an alliance for the offensive,
not for conquest, not to deprive
Russia or Asia of a "place in the
sun," not to limit their right .to de
velopment, prosperity and enlight
enmentbut to keep them in check
until they have risen in culture and
democracy to the level of Western
Europe and to help them rise, if it
is not asking loo much.
It should be a league for develop
ment, not for repression; for civi
lization and peace, not for barbar
ism and war.
The bitterness between England
and Germany Affects us in America
like bitterness between two of our
good friends and neighbors, both of
whom we love and respect, nnd for
both of whom there is -room and
honor and glory. It is not good for
England, for Germany or for the
world.
Such a league, formed honestly
for peace and working for peace,
not hypocritically for peace and
working for war, would help each of
its members, would help Russia,
would help the Balkans, would help
the world.
It would spread enlightenment,
intelligence, civilization and the as
piration for human liberty. It would
dispel the cloud of fear that kept
the nations armed and on the brink
of war, and that cast the shadow
of coming tragedy over the fields
and factories and into the homes.
But will international hatred,
born afresh by the war, remain to
make this impossible?
THE HIGH COST OF LIVING.
WE HEAR a great deal these
days about the high cost of
living, and it certainly docs
cost us a good deal more at the pres
ent time than it did only a few years
ago. But before we groan too much
about what it costs us to live these
days, we would better slop and con
sider what we are getting for our
money.
You know we have a few things
at the present time which seem to
be necessities, that our fathers and
grandfathers could not afford, even
as luxuries, as only a few years ago
they could not be had at any price.
For instance, there is the tele
phone. That adds quite a bit to the
high cost of living, but how would
you like to try to get along without
the telenlimwT'
nw getting your i Coiul
don't von 7 l"ew'plift
Then utmost any , 1
Astern, even JfttlliJ
Pump on thn J?n "feJ
hard cash ,"TViWi
from a spring or W
wholElntJL5.Hfcl
are wllih.7L?i
It costs quite 7 btJnct
WOUlfl in .V!V?1,&
gooiibuilVo&S
just the samo. auT!
Ammh ,..:"" 'J Ui
Uwo-roomlooJ
on funi sh mo- , n"
teW
.,.i ... Tr: "7 iane
.. nve Mttcrandb
privileges, and it all cosW
";"' -'uain more, k
ccturcs, sco more playii
"vuno uuu spena more i
many things that make)
llVlllOr thnn urn AiA
ago, and it all add lotted
vj. ji villi;.
Thon Utva iB It,...!.
... . "AUWIK
mid Will Irmtr IUl i
an expensive luxury, yel(
uiiyo uiiu uim canauordt
irood mnnv lmv inum tuu
lo, -and yet we go on cons
nhmit (ho lilirVi i tj.
it looks as if we were ptt
moneys worm, and if we n
lllnitl Mrltir ma(- mm.I.L .
jmcuii, irujr nub (.Ullipiam &t
cost of high living? That i
seem more consistent, U)
wuy cumiJtuiii at nil (
Why not live as well in
within our income, enjoy slD
vrminnnna nnrl nminlAftA. .J
...... i.. iv-. uuu (Jitiutiu in
fi""-" j,v, ami ov iiu (
ford, pay the price of hijiS
unjuiiwii, nisu'iiu oi TO
about the high cost of M$
The farmer whomakejc
living is said to be lesingt
cause he is not making; a p
on his investment or i
wages for his time. Nerenbi
man may toil away in the e
in nnd day out and at the eH
year find he is not anythnu
of the game, yetheisireTBj
of as failing to make
Isn't there a little ina
hero?
The only sentiment in 1
famous sea song, "Rule 1
which anneals to the I
is that part of the refrain
runs:
"And he mar-n-ade :
In the bottom of Uic deep.ti
We rend that a great Bid
22-carat European operas
flntninedin this country c
of the war. Yet this doai
to affect the high cost of i
Mntinir that the Bo
i.mwinff ".Tnck Johnson"
i.nn...A.iv v mnv infer I
j3 a stiffer punch in llatk;
t., i,a matter of advert
seems to us that the W
Germans are genu u v
out of this war.
Thoro. will be some da
t ..!... jninriwements w
ar'B.flS-'"
nclles.
A learned authority J
l, Mm Inst War. Un4"
for many thousands!
yk