Gresham outlook., September 25, 1914, Page 7, Image 7

HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
0
Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page
Suggestions From Our Associate Editors. Allowing For an Interchange of Views, W ritten by Men of Experience on Topics W ith
Which They Are Fully Acquainted—Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought.
♦
<>
4“
€>
<>
<>
4>
♦
naval engineers, Mr. Holland withdrew hia
plans and built a boat himself. It was so
successful th at the United States purchased
<£
it outright directly after the Spanish war.
■$>
Jules V erne’s rem arkable dream has come
<e> true and the nations today are fighting un­
der the w ater as well as on it and in the air
above it. The dreamers always come first,
and then come tho practical men who put
<s>
the foundations under the dreams. After
<S>
the submarine, the airship and the wireless,
it would seem that little is left in the realm
of
the marvelous, but it is likely that we
<»
are still on the surface and that there are
depths to be ¡dumbed of which we have as
❖
yet little conception.
♦
TO ADVERTISERS.
Advertisers in this locality who wish to
fully cover all sections of Oregon and Wash-
Ington and a portion of Idaho will apply
t< local publishers for rates.
General advertisers may address C. L.
Burton, Advertising Manager of Farm Mag-
azine Co., Publishers Oregon-Washington-
Idaho Fanner, 411 Panama Building, Port-
land, Oregon, for rates and Information.
The publishers will accept business from
no advertiser whose reliability can be ques-
tioned.
"
THE HARVESTER DECISION.
NEGLECTED SOUTH AMERICA.
N ITS DECISION that the International
HE Departm ent of Commerce has issued
H arvester Company, known as the “ har­
a statem ent showing that exporters in
vester tru s t,’’ is a monopoly in restraint
the United States have neglected South
of trade, the United States District Court at
America. They have built up a large busi­ St. Paul, Minn., specifically states that there
ness with other North American countries,
is no limit to the growth of a business in
out opportunities in tho southern continent
the eye of the law so long as growth is not
have been surrendered to Europe.
the result of combination of business rivals.
Trade of tho United States with other
1 he judges concede th at the big corpora­
American countries in the fiscal year end­ tion has done good, but find th at the Sher­
ing June 30 last aggregated $1,303,000,000, man anti-trust act was violated when cer­
and constituted 30 per cent of the entire
tain competing concerns ceased to compete
commerce handled by domestic ports. Of
and began to eo-operato with the result that
this new world commerce, $950,000,000 was
the trust controls over 85 per cent of the
with North America and $347,000,000 with
trade in agricultural implements. Had the
South America.
five companies which formed the Interna­
Our imports from North Amerman coun
tional been small and their combination been
tries, valued at $427,000,000, were chiefly
essential to enable them to compete with
from Canada, Cuba, Mexico, the Central
large corporations, their uniting would not
American states and the British West In­ have been in restrain t of trade, but in fu r­
dies. Our exports to countries of the north­ therance of it. The com|>anii«s, however,
ern continent, aggregating $529,000,000, went
were the largest m anufacturers of imple­
principally to Canada, Cuba, Central Amer­ ments.
ica and Mexico. Our balance of trade with
1 nder the c o u rt’s decision, receivers are
these countries was $102,000,000.
to be appointed unless the $140,000,000 cor­
Tho United States supplies a larger pro­ poration dissolves itself into at least three
portion of Hie leading countries of North
independent concerns within ninety daya.
America than any other nation, and in the
I be only alternative is an appeal to the
case of Canada, Central America and Cuba,
United States Supremo Court, and this will
more than all others parts of the world com­ be taken, of course.
bined.
But in sharp contrast with our high posi­
IMPUDENT.
tion in N orth American markets is this
HE SULTAN OF TURKEY demands
country’s low rank among nations selling
that all ships passing through the Dar­
goods in South America. During the last
danelles shall dism antle their win l«*ss
fiscal year our imports from there aggre­
apparatus find leave it on the shore. Thia
gated $223,000,000 and our exports to South
America totaled only $124,000,000, tho bal­ may be a happy plan for the collection of
wireless instruments, hut it will not please
ance of trade against us being $99,000,000.
In the case of such im portant countries as ship captains, some of whom are sent forth
Argentine, Brazil and Chile, only about 15 by rather particular nations. Turkey may
mess around until it gets its neck wrung.
per cent of their imports were from the
United States, as compared with 14 per cent
two years ago.
In the parable in the Bible, the husband-
men asked permission to prune, cultivate and
American m anufacturers are told that
work with an unfruitful vino a few more
Argentine imports large quantities of goods
seasons. When it did not produce after that,
of the class produced in the United States,
it was dug out and destroyed. This is cor­
but Great Britain and Germany have sup
rect agricultural practice. If the tree or
plied the hulk of them. France has sold
seed docs not produce abundantly, it is right
Argentine five times as many automobiles,
to give it a fair trial and then to cast it
Germany tw enty times as many iron beams
aside. If the cow faiks to measure up to
and three times as much cotton goods, and
profitable production, she should be sent to
England twenty-five times as much coal and
the block. If the hog does not prove a
twice as much machinery as has the United
States.
money-maker, send him to the butcher. Give
Americans are told th at a great oppor­ everything a show to make good; if it doe«
not do it, replace it with something which
tunity awaits them in the South American
will.
field. The figures bear out the statem ent
that the field has been neglected.
Visitors to the Owosso sugar beet farm in
—•
Michigan
find 350 houses for the employe^
USELESS LABOR.
all on the farm and all ju st alike. They
< < /'”'\ N E HALF of the work of the world
have their own school, church and posh-
is either useless or positively harm ­ office. Two of the largest pepperm int dis­
ful, because it is unnecessary,” said
tilleries in the world extract the essence
a recent noted speaker at the Oregon Agri­ from the mint grown on 1,000 acres, and
cultural College. “ It is the mission of learn­ besides there are 540 acres of sngar hwi«.
ing so to direct labor that its product shall
100 acres of cabbages, 100 of alfalfa, forty
be community betterm ent. Learning means
of wheat, 200 of corn, ten of carrota, 130 of
more than training the eye and the hand to
barley, tw enty of bluetop turnips, seven of
do the task skillfully; it means supplying the
horseradish, 500 of hay, 1,000 of pasturage,
desire to do the thing th at produces useful
and stock to carry on the work of this ua-
commodities.
mense farm.
“ There is a useless toil as well as a use­
ful labor. The pyramids were built not for
One of the most valuable factors in the
the good of the people, but to perpetuate the
growth of farm communities is the inter-
memory of those who never did anything
urban line. Vast networks of electric roads
worth while to perpetuate it for themselves
are spreading over the Northwest and are
There is no dignity in such labor, or in any
b rin g n g prosperity in their wake. Easy
other that serves no good purpose nor allows
communication with centers of trade is essen­
time for the laborer to lift his head into the
tial to the successful farm er and the electris
light of the natural and social world around
railway furnishes this.
AM ERICAS GAIN.
N E l ROPE today are some of the most
skilled mechanics in the world. Forced
by the demands of war, thousands of
prosperous businesses have been abandoned
while owners and employes take up arms.
M any will never return. Those that go back
after w a r’s gruelling struggle may find
ruins where once splendid factories had
stood; they may find the savings of a life­
tim e swept away, the business that genera­
tions had built up destroyed. Ashes will re­
place many a workshop.
The higher class workman of the conti­
nent or of England is a thinking man. A
very little thought leads to a most certain
conclusion. It is folly for a man to live in
a country where at a moment's notice the
hand of steel may show beneath the velvet
glove of diplomacy and a spark set the na­
tion on fire. In spite of patriotism th a t de­
mands he support the land of his birth,
man s first duty is to his family when
patriotism means blind obedience to a call to
the front over a cause in which the worker
• is not concerned. The petty differences of
kings have little in common with the man
who must enforce the will of his emperor.
As in previous wars, when the present con­
flict is over, thousands of highly educated
men, skilled in many trades as yet not prac­
ticed extensively in this country, will flock
to America. They are not undesirable citi­
zens, but the best that the lands can give.
They aro not the pauper laboring class, but
men of knowledge and of skill. They will
not hinder the growth of trades unionism,
but will be a valuable asset to the better
class of workmen in this country. And this
result is a certain one. Who cares to see the
labor of years destroyed, his own life placed
in hazard, over the jealousies of govern­
ments? The workman will seek a land where
there are no entangling foreign alliances, a
land which will be the commercial leader
of the world if the w ar continues until
European industries are laid waste.
America is the logical place.
I
FICTION A FACT.
ET HIM who thinks the dreamers have
little influence on the world consider
the life of John P. Holland, who died
in Newark, N. J., recently, at the age of 72.
Born in Ireland, Mr. Holland was a school
m aster in this country when the Monitor
and the Merrimac fought their epochal
battle. This historic event and the reading
pf Jules V erne’s “ Twenty Thousand Leagues
Under the S ea” led him to investigate the
possibility of submarine navigation. After
live years of experiments he evolved plans
for a boat which he felt sure would solve the
problem.
Two boats were actually constructed to be
used by the Irish revolutionists against
Great Britain, but they came to nothing.
But he clung to his idea and in 1875, after
nearly fifteen years of study and experi­
ment, he submitted his plans to the United
States navy department. The naval en­
gineers reported them practical, but doubted
if any one would risk his life in such a craft.
So the departm ent refused to go further.
Undismayed by the decision, Mr. Holland
retired to his shop and for eighteen years
more continued working at his plan and per­
fecting it. until in 1893 Congress made an
appropriation of $200,000, and the first real
Holland submarine was constructed. Be­
cause of criticism and interference by the
L
him. I he labor that slants the brow and
bows tho shoulders has no dignity.
Modern as well as ancient times wit­
nesses this form of folly. An eastern poten­
tate had a canal dug to his doors merely that
he might have fresh fish for breakfast The
m anufacture of harmful luxuries and of the
gim-cracks and gew-gaws of fashion repre­
sents toil that is useless. The modern fre;ik
of fashion that paraded herself in a two-
million dollar gown loaded with spangles
and other trimmings strutted in products of
iiselcss toil. All labor that ministers to the
idle Iaticies of the idle rich is but labor in
v ain .”
T
I
T