nOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Editorial Page of Home and Farm Magazine Section
Timely, Pertinent Comment Upon Men and Affairs, Following the Trend of World News;
Suggestions of Interest to Readers; Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought.
4
TO ADVERTISERS.
Advertisers in this locality who wish to
fnlly cover all sections of Oregon and Wash
ington and a portion of Idaho will apply to
local publishers for rates.
General advertisers may address C. L. Bur
ton, Advlrtising Manager of Oregon-Washington-Idaho
Farmer, Oregonian Building, Port
land, Oregon, for rates and information.
TO READERS.
Readers are requested to send letters and
articles for publication to The Editor, Or
egon - Washington - Idaho Farmer, Oregonian
Building, Portland, Oregon.
Discussions on questions' and problems
that bear directly on the agricultural, live
stock and poultry Interests of the Northwest,
and on the uplift and comfort of the farm
home always are welcomed. No letters treat
ing of religion, politics or the European war
tre solicited, for the Oregon-Washington-Idaho
Farmer proclaims nentrallty on these matters.
Comparatively brief contributions are pre
ferred to long ones. Send us also photo
graphs 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.
not considered. It is acknowledged that the
excessive finish given a show animal is not
practical, yet it is maintained that it is neces
sary to demonstrate how the offspring from
such -stock can take on a high finish.
The fat has to be cut off before the meat is
fit to eat, and in that case what gain is there
over the Jersey steer which puts the exces
size amounts on the inside t The one looks
better than the other, that's all. Many a
block test has shown that one cuts up as eco
nomically as the other.
Cannot the exhibition idea be overworked T
REALIZATION.
AS YOU sit at the breakfast table with
morning paper propped up against
the sugar bowl, you road the head
lines that tell of thousands of violent deaths
on European battlefields. You munch your
toast, wash it down with gulps of coffee,
and remark to Friend Wife:
"Sherman was sure right. I see here
where a whole corps of Scotchmen was
wiped out of existence when it was caught
between a German crossfire.".
"Yes, dear, it's awful. It's just wicked
that such things can happen in this day and
age," replies your better half.
"Uh, huh," you agree, and continue with
your persusal of war horrors.
Possibly you occasionally try to picture
yourself on the firing line with death-laden
missiles hurtling above your head or burst
ing near. You give it up, for to your calm,
ordered existence it is a thing apart incom
prehensible. Yet, do you realize that the
majority of the men now facing annihila
tion on foreign fields had no more realiza
tion of war's terror a few months ago than
you? Can you imagine the revolutionizing,
power of Mars that has made the lust for
blood dominant in the fighter who was for
merly a man at peace with his neighbors
and the world?
It is difficult. But, as you read in a matter-of-fact
way of wholesale slaughters to
which your sympathies have become numbed
by their -very magnitude, offer up a little
prayer of thanks to that Being whom you
worship, that your country is not demanding
that her male blood flow on battlefields for
a quarrel in which you do not share, either
by interest or desire.
WHITHER DRIFTING.
THE show ring does what? asks a farm
paper. It develops ideals, but ideals
are not always practical. For instance,
the ideal of ths poultry show is a creature of
appearance only. It is feathers and form,
rather than egg production or economical
meat growth, that win the prizes. We can
neither eat feathers nor form, though form
may help hold meat.
In the beef ring it is the form that wins.
The animal that puts on the best cuts at the
cheapest price is not in it with another that
has deep layers of fat all over the carcass
that is not one whit better. It is all in the
finish which no one cares a snap to eat.
The cost of putting on that worthless fat is
THE PLACE FOR WAR NEWS.
A SENSITIVE, tender-hearted person
writes to a Philadelphia paper to urge
that more cheerful things than war
news be placed on the front pages of the
daily papers. Headlines on war news should
be reduced to the very minimum, the in
genuous writer says, and the story with all
its horrors placed on an inside page.
The argument advanced in favor of this
move is that, with only agreeable matters
to confront them first each morning, read
ers would be put into a state of mind that
would benefit them morally, physically and
financially. "If you will give a man some
thing pleasant to meet his first glance, both
morning and evening," declares the would
be reformer of the press, "he is better able
to perform a day's work, meet with trying
conditions with better grace and brighter
hopes, than if at first glance yoir shock him
with something distressing and terrible."
Probably thi3 person, who represents a
considerable class, does not suspect that he
is a humorist, nor does he understand that
the province of a newspaper is to publish the
news, whether it be pleasant or unpleasant.
Stories of battles and suffering are not
agreeable reading, but while the great Euro
pean conflict is the tremendous event of the
world which it is likely to continue to be
for many months to come those stories go
on the first page even at the cost of shock
ing the people who would like always to
smile.
If burying war news on' an inside page
with inconspicuous headlines would abate
the war itself, every editor would follow that
courae and place the most inane of society
news on the front page along with columns
of jokes; but as this would not lessen the
terrible facts, the sensitive feelings of molly
coddles who "can not bear to read about
battles" will continue to be harrowed as
heretofore. War news will be "played up"
in a manner befitting its importance.
THE FARM REPAIR SHOP.
THE man with a good repair shop on the
farm will often wonder how he got
along without it. The building need
not be expensive, but light and warm. One
end should be rigged up for blaeksmithing.
Build a hearth of stone and ordinary clay
mortar, with a good-sized flue, about nine
bricks to the round. An opening should be
left at the proper place for the admission
of a five to six-inch stovepipe.
Procure a blower, or bellows, an anvil, a
drill press, a vise, some dies and taps, one
quarter to five-eighths-inch, for cutting
thread, a hammer, tongs, and two or three
sizes of heading tools. Steel punches for hot
iron are also necessary, but these can be
made.
After some experience, many other tools
can be made that come handy. Much of the
equipment' mentioned ' can often be gotten
Becond-hand from machinists or blacksmiths.
Collect all kinds of scrap iron, bolts, old
horseshoes, etc., from about the farm. Much
useful iron may often be gotten for a trifle
at public sales.
As to the actual work in this line, many,
valuable hints may be gotten from a good
natured blacksmith. One may need instruc
tion, particularly on the working and tem
pering of steel. For a time the novice may.
be discouraged by his seeming awkwardness,
but after he gets the set of his hammer and
the hang of his tongs, some experience in
welding, etc., there will be little repairing
that need be taken away from the farm.
Put in the other end of the building a
bench or table. Provide a cross-cut handsaw,
nine teeth to the inch, a square, a smoothing
planea jack and fore plane, a brace with at
least seven bits differing in size one-eighth,
three or four sizes of chisels, drawing knife,
miter square, a hand ax or bench hatchet,
and a supply of different sized nails and
wood screws.
This will equip the woodworking end of the
shop for all ordinary repairing. Many new
implements can be made and ironed complete
later. Now get or make a sewing or saddler's
horse, procure some needles, wax and thread,
harness rivets, etc.
With this equipment, a farmer will find
that he can save much money and time. For
any work on a large scale, such a repair shop
is well worth the initial investment.
THE FARMERS' VOTE.
A CAREFUL study of the farmers' vote
in the recent elections in Oregon,
Washington and Idaho proves that
they are doomed to defeat who are the foes
of practical, up-to-date laws which really
permit a voter to do as he sees fit.
We have been told repeatedly that the
farmer would not sufficiently acquaint him
self with proposed legislation to vote intelli
gently. No longer can intelligent, fair
minded persons make such a charge.
It is not our purpose to discuss politics as
politics, but we are interested in the general
upbuilding of the Pacific Northwest and
every meritorious law that is placed on the
ballot should have the support of every per
son interested in the growth of this section.
It is indeed gratifying to analyze the
farmers' vote. Practically every county,
having no large city, shows a majority in
favor of each and every meritorious pro
posed law.
Farmers, we congratulate you.
News that the Turks are planning to take
the Suez Canal confirms the wisdom of the
United States in rejecting the water-level
Panama route for a canal with locks.
It seems to bo a great source of sorrow
over in Europe that they have not been able
to get us tangled up in the fighting.
David Starr Jordan thinks famine will end
the war in another year. Meanwhile let's not
. permit it to end Belgium.
Brazil's President is named Wcncslau
Braz. Wonder if he came from the vicinity
ofTrzemysl?
Watchful waiting now means watching Eu
rope and waiting to hear what happens in
Mexico.
Carranza and Villa Reem willing to fight
it out, if it takes their last peon.
Rain checks for forest fires will always
meet with approval.