HOME 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 tills locality who wish to
fully 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, Advertising Manager of Oregou-Washing-ton-Idaho
Fanner, Oregouian Building, Port
luud, Oregon, for rates and information.
TO READERS.
Readers are requested to send letters and
articles for publication to The Editor, Or
egon - Washington Idaho Fanner, Oregonian
Uuilding, 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
are solicited, for the Oregon-Washlngton-Idaho
Farmer proclaims neutrality 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.
llelp us to do it.
mother that he wanted to send an ear of corn
to help feed some starving little Belgian
boy. The corn clubs of the state have taken
up the matter and thousands of little fellows
in the state are giving their cars of corn,
which are being ground into meal for the
starving Belgians.
THE LURE OF THE MOVIES.
THE PROBLEM of keeping the young
man on the farm is not the same today
as it was 50, or even 10 years ago. And
one reason why it is not so great as it
formerly was is the "movie." The motion
picture fills a "long-felt want" in the rural
districts of the Nation.
Not so long ago living in the country
meant putting up with hardships that did not
come the way of the city dweller; it meant
less luxury, less amusement, less life. Today
the attractions of the country rank level
with those of the city and the choice lies
with the differences in temperament. It is
no longer a sacrifice to seek rural life, for
the farm community of today has many
things to offer that even the city did not
years ago. And the amusements it offers arc
usually cleaner and healthier.
. Are there any who do not remember the
terrible theatrical abortions that were ones
offered to the rural playgoer, while his more
favored cousin in the city had the choice of
Booth, Forrest, Barrett and Jefferson? With
the exception of the one day that the "great
est show on earth" camped on its out
skirts, the year hold little to the farm com
munity in the shape of theatrical amusement
: but the annual tour of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
or "Way Down South," with "Sallie, the
Se wing-Machine Girl" as an occasional
relief.
Today Maude Adams plays before the
patrons of the moving picture shows in the
small towns as well as in the large cities.
Sarah Bernhardt has deigned to be a
"movie" star. Dustin Farnnm, Max Figman
and many stars of the "legitimate" stage
have barkened to the call of the movie, while
a splendid array of real talent developed by
the motion-picture industry itself is at the
command of the patron of the flickering
. screen.
The dweller in the country town where
there is a single motion picture show often
has as great a range and choice, if the house
is well enough patronized to allow the man
ager to pay the high price demanded by the
more famous films, as the dweller among
the brick walls of the city.
The conveniences of city life are fast be
coming a part of rural life and what incon
veniences remain in the country are more
than offset by the pleasure of living where
there is room to stretch and brer the, whew
shams fail and where "a man is a man for a'
that."
RIGHT AND WRONG WAYS.
A BRIDEGROOM of less than six
months, out of work and out of pro
visions, says an editorial in the
Eugene Daily Guard, is now a prisoner in the
County Jail, charged with burglary. He is
charged with breaking a window and enter
ing a grocery store in Fairmount, where he
was captured by the police. That a man is
out of work and hungry is no justification
for crime. There are worse things than
poverty and there is no defense of the man
who takes what belongs to his neighbor be
cause he is too proud to beg.
There is a right and wrong way of doing
everything and in the end the right way
pays. The man who undertakes to live by
his wits, to get money or its equivalent
without working for it, is foreordained to
failure. And yet there are always men
starting on that road. The end of their folly
will be years and years of hard work, hard
living, lonesomeness and heart-breaking
monotony in prison.
A few weeks ago a man walked into The
Guard office and stated that hewas with
out work and had a family and seven chil
dren to support. He did not seek charity,
but asked if the paper would aid in procur
ing employment. Au appeal was made to
the people of Eugene' and before the paper
was scarcely off the press a'plaee for that
man to work, temporarily at least, was
found.
WThat a difference between these two men
when confronted by adversity! One, with
an even greater burden than the other, was
willing to go to the extreme so far as pro
claiming his poverty was concerned, pro
vided he might retain his good name, while
the second entered a grocery store, a half
block from his home, and helped himself to
provisions, destroying his citizenship and
. bringing disgrace upon his bride of a few
mouths. The one man will remain and be
respected in the community, the other may
go to prison; one home will be happy, the
other sad; prosperity may come to the fam
ily of the honest father, while poverty, so far
as the wayward husband is concerned, will
be the lot of the young wife who was to
have eaten the stolen food.
Honesty in the face of poverty is to be
admired. Men, though poor, who turn to
crime are not to be excused. Their state of
mind may contribute provocation, but the
man who in youth learned the lesson of in
dustry and whose idea is not to get on with
as little effort as possible will not take the
path which leads to the criminal courls.
There are things more humiliating than ask-
- ing for alms.
Ladle Charley McDonald, of Oklahoma,
started something when he tcld his grand-
HEALTH AND THE FARM.
DON'T get the mistaken idea, altogether
too prevalent, that farm life is healthi
est because it is farm life. Farm life
gives ample opportunity for an abundance
of health, but neglect that opportunity and
your chance for health is not so great as it
would be in the city.
In a recent address in Chicago, Dr. Carl L.
Alsbcrg, chief of the United States Bureau
of Chemistry, declared that the city is
healthier than the farm. He substantiated
that statement by statistics.
"The largest cities," he said, "need Fed
eral protection far less than the small town3
or rural communities. In many states the
large cities are the only points which have
any real sanitary protection.
"Our rural population of 49,000,000 per
sons, including the 30,000,000 that live on
farms, receive little state health protection,
and maintain no local protective system of
their own. They are not safeguarded from
polluted water supply or sewage disposal, nor
against contaminated milk, meats and other
foods."
And Dr. Carl Alsbcrg ought to know.
There can be no disputing the fact that
precautionary measures reduce the death
rate in the city, and lack of precautionary
methods increases the death rate in the'
country.
AN EXCELLENT BEGINNING.
EVERY one will be pleased to learn that
the Panama Canal, which required
years and millions of money to cos-,
struct, is already on the way to a self-sustaining
basis. From August 15 to October
1 the earnings of the new waterway amount
ed to more than $700,000. The increase in
October was 40 per cent over the preceding
month, the receipts totaling $377,086. WTien
it is taken into consideration that the canal
has been open only a few months, and that
the European war has stagnated commerce,
this is indeed a satisfactory showing.
The first consignment of cotton to go
through the canal left Galveston on the
steamer Penrith Castle for Yokohama, with'
3270 bales. Other ships with this' com
modity will soon fall in line, because by.
using the canal the vessels will save between
those ports 5280 nautical miles, 22 days'
time, or .5000 on the outward voyage alone.
Here is only a straw, but it is an excellent
example of what the canal is to do for our
commerce.
With lines of steamships between the At
lantic and Pacific oceans soon to be inaug
urated, tlie Panama route will be the fa
vored one for Easterners who visit the bit
.exposition nt San Francisco next year, par
ticularly for those who have plenty of time
nt their disposal and who desire to acquaint
themselves with the big waterway about
which they have read so much in recent
vears.
Norway and Sweden combined would be
j hard nut for either Russia or Germany to
crack. There are few more hardy or brave
fighters limn the descendants of Eric the
Red, et al., (hough their numbers may be
small.
It is still mighty hard to get more than
100 cents' worth of anything for a dollar,
in spite of the fact that the Federal bank
reserve system is in operation.
No favors arc to be shown by equal suf
frage, lament the women who are older than
they look, but must register their correct
age. Wonder if they all will!
Pictures of the Kaiser, King George and
the President of France, with the motto
"Peace on earth, good will toward men,"
make a fine Christmas card. ,
There is this to be said in favor of tlie
spiked helmet worn by the German soldiers
there is no danger of them blowing oft,