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Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page
Suggestions From Our Associate Editors, Allowing for an Interchange of Views, Written by
Men of Experience on Topics With Which They Are Fully Acquainted Hints
Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought
HOME AND FAKM MAGAZINE SECTION
STAY ON THE FARM
SF WE could live our lives over how
differently we would all pro
ceed? How many opportunities have me
missed? Mistakes made? Wrong
roads traveled?
What stories we all could tell! the
traveling salesman, the editor, the
doctor, the farmer, the merchant, the
thief, the rich man, the poor man,
the beggarman, the priest?
Some of the stories would be tragic;
of hopes unrealized, of ambitions
thwarted.
We would like to add one other
to the list: The Country Girl who went
to the City.
We hope that everything Is well
with her; that as she wandered down
hard streets lined with tail buildings
Instead of pleasant lanes, she found
kind friends, considerate employers,
and remunerative work, met a worthy
Prince Charming and lived happily
ever after.
Even then, no doubt, her heart Is
often sick for the old home, the dear
folks she left there, and no doubt her
eyes long for the familiar sights and
scenes, and methinks, the barnyard
sounds would be sweet and restful
music to her ears, now surfeited with
the clang and bang of the city streets.
Some of the stories we have heard
In sadness as told In low voives: The
stories of the Country Girl Who Went
to the City and Who Never Went
Back.
Stories of small wages not living
wages poor opportunities, not
enough to eat, living in cheap lodg
ings, insults, degradation and death.
Think twice, girls, before you leave
home.
Fathers and mothers, don't drive
the girls away by your own nagging
or carelessness.
Think of the Girl Who Never Came
Back.
SET
THE FLY.
JOW times have changed!
In those good old days when we
were young, we distinctly remem
ber our endeavor to slay flies by the
simple expedient of pressing them
against the window pane with an
eager thumb.
The result was unhappy to the
fly, of course, but also to us.
Father and mother felt alike on the
subject.
"How would you like to be that
poor, little fly?" they would. say.
Then we used to wish we had pad
ded our pants, for one or other would
endeavor to convey the feelings of the
fly to us.
And for a day or so we ate our
meals (standing up.
It's so no longer.
"If you see a fly kill it," says
the modern father.
"Swat the fly," says the school
teacher.
The modern father and the school
teacher are right.
There is nothing cruel or brutal in
killing a fly.
The fly is a useless pest.
It is also a very dangerous one,
If you don't kill the fly It may kill
you.
It is particularly dangerous to babies
and children.
No, it doesn't look dangerous. Neith
er does a live trolley wire, lying on
the sidewalk.
But when It comes to killing, the
fly has probably killed more people
than the combined armies of the
world. ' '
It Is more dangerous than a rapid
firing machine gun.
Of course, its danger is subtle, You
don't see It. The fly looks so small
and helpless and harmless that you
may look on it as a mere little nui
sance that sometimes tickles your
face and hands when you are trying
to get forty winks on Sunday after
noon. .
The fly carries Its weapons on its
hairlike legs and feet.
These weapons take the form of
disease germs.
There is no disease the fly cannot
carry and worse it is always to be
found in the breeding places of these
diseases.
Where there is filth, there is the
fly.
It thrives on filth and when It has
filled its stomach and smeared its
legs In filth it will fly along to greener
fields.
But on the way It will pause to In
spect Ma's pies If they are not pro
tected, or to take a sip from the baby's
milk, If it Is exposed.
Wherever It alights It leaves Its
trademark filth.
More often than not, dangerous
germs of disease are found in this de
posit Of course, this does not kill
you always; it doesn't always make
you sick.
But neither does every bullet from
the quick-firing gun kill someone.
In fact, figures show that in the
average battle more than 1,500 shots
are fired for every soldier that is
struck.
Yet the fatalities In battle mount to
thousands, and the fatalities in a fly-
ridden district are numerous in the
course of a year. You may have your
food poisoned by the dangerous little
fly a thousand times without serious
results, but you can never tell when
the poison will strike home; it is too
risky to take chances.
The thing to do is to get rid of these
busy little grave-diggers.
The way to do that is to kill a fly
when you see it.
Kill the flies in the house first
Every time you Bee one of them in
the house run It down.
Then keep them out of the yard
You can't run a fly down in the open,
but you can starve hinr.
In the Civil War the Sooth was
starved into submission more than it
was defeated in battle.
The same kind of warfare will de
feat the fly.
Keep refuse matter out of Its reach
The fly hates cleanliness. It doesn't
enjoy life unless there Is plenty of
nourishment, such as slops, dirty barn
yards and the like.
When you have killed one fly you
have done much.
For the fly multiplies rapidly. Mr,
and Mrs. Fly will have a family run
ning into the countless billions in the
course of their short lives.
So, when you kill one fly, you really
kill billions.
Kill flies yourself. Encourage the
children to kill flies.
And you'll be better and happier
for every fly dead.
up some of our vacant lands if It does
not settle in the city slums.
Let us hope that the benefits will
be widely distributed and that we get
our just share.
GIVE THEM A HELPING HAND.
COLONY of 152 Russian farmers
has arrived In Hartline, Wash.,
to settle on (150,000 worth of
farms in the Big Bend country.
The citizens of Hartline gave them
fine reception and turned out to
help get them settled in their new
homes.
That is the right spirit.
We want men and women In this
Western country who will work.
Their nationality, with a few excep
tions, does not matter very much.
Let's make good American citizens
of these Russians.
A HAY OF SCNSUINEI
E sometimes get blue and wond
er, after all, if the four hund
red million dollars spent on the
Panama Canal is going to benefit the
farmer and the little fellow any.
But, we met Forbes Lindsay the
other day and he reassured us.
Didn't meet him face to face, but
In the pages of "World's Work."
Mr. Lindsay Is a noted traveler and
lecturer.
"No other portion of the United
States will benefit so greatly by the
opening of the Panama Canal as will
the Pacific Coast region," he tells us.
This cheers us up.
We realize, with Mr. Lindsay, that
a vast amount of produce which now
moves to its market In an easterly
direction will take the water route
from coast to coast when the Panama
Canal is open.
Great quantities of foodstuffs that
could not stand the expense of the
rail haul will be raised in the Pacific
Northwest and shipped to the East
Tho cost of sending a ton of merch
andlso from San Francisco, Portland,
Seattle and Tacoma to New York, by
water, will be little more than one
fourth of the present rate for trans
portatlon between these points. And
the same applies to shipments from
Atlantic Coast points West.
There will be little, If any, loss of
time.
Fast freight trains occupy fourteen
or fifteen days in crossing the con
tinent. Eighteen-knot vessels will complete
the circuit In the same time.
With the extension of turbine en
gines and the Introduction of oil-burning
furnaces, such a rate of speed
will be commonly maintained by
merchant ships.
There is no doubt that the Panama
Canal will give the Pacific Coast a
wider market for its products and
lower freight rates. It will probably
enlarge the territory served by Pacific
Coast Jobbers. It will bring popula
tion to our shores, which may settle
cost of living" is not so high after
all.
But we expect still to hear that
senseless cry: "High cost of living."
HIGH COST OF LIVING? HUH!
HEAT climbed to eighty-six
cents a bushel the other day
the high water mark of the
present day.
And immediately the calamity howl
ers began to dilate on the "high cost
of living."
As a matter of fact, living now is
cheaper than it was a century ago;
or, for the matter of that many
centuries ago.
There is but one fair way to esti
mate the cost of produce. That is in
the way it compares with men's
wages.
Sixteen hundred years ago, it Is
true, wheat sold for thirty-three cents
a bushel. '
But the workman of that time re
celved only one-ninth to one-fifteenth
as much money for his labors as does
his modern prototype.
The "high cost of living" always
has been a bugbear.
They have been always going to
regulate it in one way or the other.
And they never seem to pay any
attention to that economic law that
the price is governed by the action
of supply and demand.
In 301 A. D. just 300 years after
the birth of Christ the Roman em
peror, Diocletian, found such a con
dition confronting his people that he
sought to regulate the prices of nearly
everything, including labor. Frag
ments of his tables have been dis
covered and they show how astonish
ingly high the "high cost of living'
was in those ancient days.
Barley was priced at 74 cents; rye
at 45 cents; millet at 74 cents; beans
at 74 cents; peas at 74 cents, and
mustard at (1.12 a bushel.
Pork was worth 7.3 cents per
pound: beef. 4.9 cents; mutton, 4.9
cents; ham, 12 cents; an artificially
fed goose was worth 87 cents; lamb
cost 7.3 cents per pound, and butter
9.8 cents.
One quality of sea fish was quoted
at 14.6 cents; river fish was 7.3 cents;
salt fish, 8.3 cents; pysters, 43.5 cents
per hundred; sardines, 9.7 cents per
pound.
Vegetables were much cheaper than
today, but the cheapness was not com
parative.
Manual labor received a wage of
10.8 cents per day, with keep; brick
layers, 21.6 cents; carpenters, 21.6
cents; stone masons, 21.6 cents; wagon
makers, 21.6 cents; smiths, 21.6 cents;
bakers, 21.6 cents; drivers, 10.8 cents.
A barber could charge only one
cent for a shave.
Teachers were paid so much per
month per pupil, as follows: Ele
mentary, 21.6 cents; mathematics,
32.6 cents; stenography, 32.6 cents;
writing, 21.6 cents; Greek, Latin, ge
ometry, 87 cents; rhetoric, $1.09.
It can readily be perceived that a
carpenter who earned 21.6 cents per
day and keep could not afford many
of the necessities and none of the
luxuries of that time.
Proportionately, thirty-three-cent
wheat was as prohibitive to the work
er as wheat today at ? 3.50 per bushel
would be.
It will be noticed from the above
list that fish cost as milch or more
than it does today which means that
it was from ten to fifteen times as
high, when the worker's wage was
considered.
A little study of this list will con
vince any man that the present "high
A LITTLE WORK WONT HURT.
THERE Is a good deal of talk now
adays about commercializing our
public schools.
The question is asked: "Are the boy
and girl mere tools to be sharpened
for the purpose of making dollars, or
are they breathing human beings, cap
able of the highest personal development."
Then the professor who asks the
question says: "There are four func
tions of education:
To make one see clearly, imagine
vividly, think accurately and will
nobly."
Granted.
But we don't like those sneers at
the good old spread-eagle American
dollars.
Not many of us have ever seen the
day when the jingle of a few dollars
together In our pants' pocket was not
the sweetest kind of music.
Besides teaching our boys and girls
to see clearly, to Imagine vividly (we
remember getting licked for "imagin
ing" too vividly), to think accurately
and to will nobly, what we expect of
the public schools is to teach them to
live useful lives.
Teach them to appreciate the dig
nity and the necessity of labor.
Teach them to realize that often
times the kid glove and white collar
occupations are the most futile, heart
breaking, despair-provoking profes
sions that any boy or girl could
choose.
Teach them the value of money
and thrift.
Teach them to work with their
hands and heads, to love growing
things and the out of doors, and above
all to love and honor the toller and
the producer, whether he be the art
isan in the city or farmer in the country.
LET THE WATER BE USED.
SENATOR JONES, of Washington,
has introduced a bill in Congress
providing that private landown
ers holding lands within government
irrigation projects may acquire water
rights from the government without
being compelled to live on their land,
provided they irrigate the full Irrig
able area of their holdings, and pro
vided their holdings do not exceed
the stee of an established farm unit
usually 160 acres.
Before their water rights become
permanent, however, such landown
ers must show Irrigation and cultiva
tion for five successive years.
This is a 'good bill.
It should be supported by the
congressmen of Oregon, Washington
and Idaho.
The water of government irrigation
projects should be sold and used.
What else is it for? j
HERE IS CONSTRUCTIVE WORK.
HE Holden Improvement Com
mittee, which is preaching the
gospel of corn, alfalfa and hogs
in the Pacific Northwest, is doing
good work.
Mr. C. W. Farr, who is in charge of
the campaign, is a live wire. So
many demands have come upon him
for speeches that he has been given
an assistant to help him with routine
work.
The campaign was handled in a
masterly way.
Here's hoping that Mr. Farr will
soon have a dozen assistants.
One concrete result of the move
ment already is the fact that seed men
in Eastern Washington have had to
triple their orders for seed due to in
creased acreage being planted this,
spring.
ALTHOUGH he may not be a good
judge of precious stones, the
farmer who is a good judge of shoots
and knows how to make a poor soil
yield a big return is the one with can
celed mortgages and a bank account.
I.
certain farming districts the
farmer who docs better tilling
than his neighbor must pay the pen
alty: Success is an offense to the gnat-minded.