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 Newi;
Suggestions of Interest to Readers; Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought.
4
TO ADVERTISERS.
Advertisers In this locality who wish to
fully cover all sections of Oregon ami Wash
ington and a portion of Idaho will apply to
lorul publishers for rates.
General advertisers may address C. L. Bur
ton, Advertising Manager of Oregon-Washington-Idaho
Farmer, Oregon Ian Building, Port
laud, 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
ire solicited, for the Oregon-Washington-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.
Help us to Ok" it.
PROFIT AND LOSS.
WHEN estimating at the close of the
season your profit or loss in the busi
ness of farming, don't be bound too
closely By the actual financial showing.
There is something in this world but wealth
as figured in dollars and cents and it is quite
important that it not be overlooked. It may
be observed, tritely enough, to be sure, that
riches do not mean happiness.
If, when you go over your accounts, you
find that you have received good prices for
your wheat or corn, that your stock has
multiplied rapidly and that the beef, mut
ton and pork represented in your holdings
are commanding a high market, you proba
bly decide it a most prosperous year. But
wait. Suppose your son has tired of country
life and has been enticed by visions of life
in bright cities. Suppose you have worked
too hard in the field and that your health
has been impaired. Suppose that your wife
is not happy with her surroundings and
friends. Suppose that your daughter is dis
contented. In what really counts in this
ilife, where do you stand?
j Let's change the scene. Your crops have
been but average. Many cattle have died on
your hajids. The market is dull and the auto
mobile you had planned to purchase this
Spring seems far away, farther away than
ever. Yet, you are in robust health. The
outdoor life has proven a tonic that leaves
your spirits high. Your son does not grum
ble at his share of the chores, and even is
much interested in the welfare of a bright
eyed lassie on a neighboring farm. Your
daughter willingly postpones her hopes of
college and decides to do much instructive
reading, that she had always wanted to do,
during the coming year. Your wife sings
as she goes about her homely duties. Man,
is there a profit or loss on your books?
If you are content, not weakly content
with that which it is in your power to make
better, but content with life as you have
made it, you are near that happiness whieh
philosophers have said is the sole aim of
human existence.
AMERICA'S RESPONSIBILITY.
IF EVER America puts its hand to the
plow in its effort to feed the world, it
has assumed that responsibility now.
Not since the harrowing days following our
own great civil strife of the 'GOs have the
tillable acres of this country faced such a
possible drain upon their bountifulness.
"Without even dimly prophesying the dura
tion of the war now raging, we are already
assured of the fact that this country will
be the storehouse of the world. Every farm
owner, every tenant and every share-worker
will have his part to play in meeting this
great responsibility. No matter how remote
his residence, he will hear Europe's call for
beef, bacon, beans and bread, and on the
amount he has to sell will depend not only
his satisfaction of having served his fellow
men, but the additional consolation of hav
ing served himself; for big crops, much stock,
many hogs, will mean big profits.
It is thus that the American farmer begins
his Spring work with two strings to his bow.
With Tone hand he is rescuing the perishing
and with the other he is reaching out for
tangible encouragement toward a bank ac
count and a better home. Now is his golden
opportunityt There are two lines along
which he should plan his work, but only one
line along which he should work his plan.
First, he should utilize every available part
of his land and then he must strive to raise
the average yield of his ranch. There will
be no danger of over-production for the erops
sown this year. The man who has a big yield
will find a big market. To get this yield
means better farming.
CURING A COLD.
DR. HARVEY W. WILEY, former chief
of the Bureau of Chemistry, is reported
as having said that the best way to
cure a cold was "to take a bottle of cough
medicine, set it on a table in the patient's
room, open all the windows, and throw the
bottle through one of them." In other words,
'instead of taking patent cough and cold rem
edies, breathe plenty of fresh air.
And without a doubt there is much wis
dom in this advice. As soon as cold weather
sets in people shut their doors and windows
tight and live cooped up in stuffy rooms.
The consequences are that the entire "Winter
is one long siege of colds and other catarrhal
affections. Less medicine and more fresh
air and outdoor exercise would prevent a
great deal of the suffering and inconven
ience from these bad-air maladies.
MILITARISM IN SCHOOLS.
STATE MASTER REAM, of the Nebraska
Grange, introduced in the meeting
of the National Grange a resolution
protesting against the War Department
installing in the schools of the country a
military system. It appears from the t'.nor
of the resolution that the department has
secured the organization of rifle clubs in
42 universities and in 84 private and pre
paratory schools of the country and is press
ing the work. All the high schools in New
York are utilized as rifle clubs and more
than 700 boys between 10 and 18 years
qualify annually as junior marksmen under
a course approved by the departmeut.
The objections to the action do not appear
to be well founded.
The trend of sentiment in America has al
ways been against the maintenance of a
large' standing army. So long as that senti
ment is existant the first line of defense fol
lowing the Navy will be the militia. Will it
not be better, in the event of trouble, to have
such militia, or volunteers, composed of men
skilled in use of weapons, rather than raw
recruits who would not know the difference
between the bayonet, and a cleaning roil ?
In common with millions of men and wom
en, this paper believes the war Is folly, and
hopes the day will soon come when it will be
no longer the means of adjustment of ques
tions affecting the welfare of the people of
the earth. But so long as war exists it
would be folly also to take a step that would
leave us entirely helpless simply because we
advocate a policy of peace. Until other
lands agree with ours for general disarma
ment, simultaneous in character, it is the
duty of this country to be prepared for pos
sible contingencies.
SOMETHING NEW IN TAXATION.
TAXES are taxes the world over, of
course, but once in awhile something
startlingly different appears even in
this line. This time it is an account sent by,
United States Consul Andrew J. McConnico
from Trinidad, in the British AVest Indies,
of a tax imposed there to "meet the ex
penses incident to the importation of coolie
laborers from India and to maintain the sys
tem under governmental supervision."
The tax is imposed on the produce of the
colony, and for this year it includes the fol
lowing items: On sugar, 3G cents per 100
pounds; molasses, 24 cents per 100 gallons;
rum and bitters, 68 cents per 100 gallons;
coffee, 8 cents per 100 pounds, and cocoa
nuts, 8 cents per 1000.
How would our American workmen like
it if the goods they produced were taxed to
raise a fund to bring cheaper labor to this
country? A great system is it not? Of
course conditions in Trinidad and in this
country are vastly different, and no doubt
plenty of fault could be found with any at
tempt to draw a parallel. But the fact of
the Trinidad system is interesting to every
student of taxation and industrial problems.
INTEGRITY.
THIS was the right kind of a description
we heard the other day given by one
breeder to another concerning a third
breeder :
"No matter what you buy of him, yoy will
get the truth, of the matter. He will not dis
appoint you. lie is one among many whom
I would rather trust to pick out a young
bull for me than trust myself."
What a splendid ambition for any man to
build up a trust and confidence in bis honor
and integrity like that. Before it the few
dollars to be gained by deception pales into
insignificance.
A high-brow professor says the United
States will bo compelled to fight the Avinnner
of the present war. But, then there are so
many things said by a professor that never
happen ,
The colored troops from India and Africa
are fighting nobly for the allies. And the
battlefields of our own civil war are proof
that the black soldiers can be depended on.
Hats off to Holland! She doesn't want
anybody to assist her caring for the
stranded Belgians who are in that country.
That is the Dutch of it.
In some colleges they are now reducing
the time of the courses to equal that re
quired to make a good football player of a
student.
,
When the European capitals have no vic
tories to report, they even up by counting
over again the number of prisoners they
have.
The pursuit of pleasure is by no means the
same as the pursuit of happiness.
You can listen to any kind of political talk
you want to hear.