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THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1913.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST.
Entered at the Atlanta ' Postoffice as Mail Matter of
the Second Class.
JAMES R. GRAY,
President and Editor.
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Atlanta, Ga.
Charles S. Barrett For
Secretary of Agriculture.
The cordial and nationwide response to the sug
gestion that Mr. Charles S. Barrett be appointed
secretary of agriculture in the Wilson cabinet is a
source of peculiar satisfaction to the people of Geor
gia. That Mr. Barrett is as highly regarded abroad
as he is at home is attested by theHiearty indorse
ments in his behalf which are reaching the Presi
dent-elect from all sections of the country. Not only
have the various State organizations of the Farmers’
Educational and Co-operative Union, of which he is
the national ‘ president, urged him for the agricul
tural portfolio, but newspapers and citizens, repre
senting all ranks of political faith, have joined in
commending Mr. Barrett to the President-elect’s seri
ous consideration.
Even from such faraway States as Oregon and
Washington delegations are said to have journeyed
to Trenton to lay before Mr. Wilson the Georgian’s
peculiar .fitness 1 for the position of secretary of agri
culture. y
By native gifts and seasoned experience, Sir. Bar
rett is eminently qualified for the duties of this im
portant station. He is in intimate and sympathetic
i ouch with the nation’s farming life. He is thought
ful and progressive. He is skilled as an organizer
and rich in Executive ability. • Above all, he is sin
cerely and intelligently interested in the country’s
agricultural welfare. He would make an excellent
secretary of agriculture.
--*■* Parcel Post Revenue.
The steady increase in Atlanta’s postal receipts
for many years paU is easily accounted for by the
city’s inherent growth. But such a remarkable gain
as that shown in January, 1913, over the correspond
ing month of 1912 calls for a particular explanation.
For the month recently ended, the receipts
amounted to one hundred and thirty-two thousand,
five hundred and eighty-four dollars; for the same
period of the preceding year, they were a little more
than one hundred and eleven thousand dollars. To
what influence can this sudden advance of twenty
per cent be due? January is not a heavy month for
ordinary mail. Business correspondence is not then
especially active; indeed, the commercial world feels
a temporary lull. Evidently, it was the new parcel
post service that played the major part in this, more
than twenty-one thousand dollar increase in At
lanta’s January postal receipts.
If other, postoffices throughout the country en
joyed proportionate gains, the Government has al
ready begun to realize a handsome revenue from the
parcel post; and, i. the system is well managed and
duly extended, it should become not only self-main
taining but really profitable.
For many years, keen s udents of tbe postal de
partment have contended that a parcel post would
be advantageous to the Government as well as to
the public. They have argued that though the rail
roads might not be overpaid, they were certainly
underworked in carrying the mail; that it to say,
mail cars were only partly filled, yet their full capa
city was paid for. They have urged, and with good
reason, that the department should seek more busi
ness in order that it might make a better financial
showing; that it should use its vast opportunity and
machinery to the utmost, if it would prosper instead
of entailing a deficit from year to year.
The establishment of the parcel post is a step in
this direction. While the expenses of the new service
will be heavy in the outsit, its ultimate returns will
be fully compensating. Especially important is the
bdhring of the parcel post on the rural mail deliv
ery. In times past, the rural service has been a
source of postal loss, but when the people on the
farms and in farming communities begin to use the
mails for buying and selling, this condition should
be reversed.
The parcel post is. as yet largely in an experi
mental stage, but it has developed far enough to
show how favorably the public is responding to the,
opportunities it offers and to suggest what its future
returns will be.
A Wasteful Policy.
The assertion in a recent issue of the Southern
Farming magazine that Georgia buys from other
States some eighty million bushels of corn a year
at a cost of not less than 58,000,000 dollars has
bestirred much discussion and incredulity. It would
seem well nigh unbelievable that a commonwe».tn
whose soil is peculiarly well adapted to the growth
of all manner of grains should spend so great a sum
of money for corn in distant markets.
But, inquiry shows that the figures given are sub
stantially accurate. The State food inspector whose
records on this matter are official, testifies that in
1910 there were imported into Georgia eighty-th^ee
thousand cars of corn of a thousand bushels each at
an average price of seventy-one cents a bushel, mak
ing a total cost of nearly fifty-nine million dollars.
The exact data for the past two years is not com
piled, but it is the inspector’s opinion that the record
for those seasons would vary little from that of 1910.
What stronger evidence could there be of the vital
need of such work as being done by the Boys’ Corn
Club movement? It is only through organized edu
cational methods that the State can be saved these
millions of dollars which it has been needlessly
spending abroad. By every natural circumstance,
Georgia should be one of the greatest food-producing
corners in America. Its farm should be the most in
dependent in the country. Its people should be fed
largefy from their own soil. And yet we find that
fifty-eight millions of Georgia money are flowing out
of the State every year for a staple crop that can be
raised easily and cheaply at home.
it is heartening to note that the conditions respon
sible for this shortsighted and wasteful policy are at
last being grappled; and we have reason to hope that
in the not distant future they will he overcome. The
Boys’ Corn Clubs of Georgia are steadily growing
in membership and efficiency. Already they have in
creased the State’s average acre yield of corn and,
what is most important, they have shown how profit
able scientific cultivation of the soil can be made.
Nor can any observer doubt that in every field
of the State’s agricultural life, a new and progressive
era has dawned. Farming is being placed upon a busi
nesslike basis. Haphazard ways are being supplanted
by orderly and farsighted system. The resources of
the soil are more keenly studied and more precisely
developed. Farmers are giving more and more
thought to economics; the relationships between the
field and the market are being more clearly traced.
It is inevitable that the folly of buying corn at a
dollar a bushel when it can be raised in abundance
at home will soon he fully realized and forsworn.
Let us hope that the time is not far .distant when
Georgia instead of importing corn, will be, as she
can and should be, one of the country’s largest ex
port States.
New Settlers and New
Capital For the South.
The tide of rural immigration which until a few
years ago flowed into Canada from the northwestern
part of the United States, developing the Dominion’s
lands and increasing its wealth, is now turning
steadily Southward. It is estimated that within the
past week more than a thousand homeseekers have
passed through Atlanta on their way to South
Georgia and Florida where the majority of them
will remain as settlers to press their own fortunes
and to add to the State’s agricultural output.
This influx of new energy and productive power
means much to every sphere of Southern interests.
Men who are skilled in progressive farming and
who have within themselves the fibre of good cit
izenship are valuable not only to agriculture but also
■to commerce and industry and to all fields of busi
ness. These newcomers are of sturdy Saxon or
Teuton stock. Many, if not, most, of them are ac
companied by families. They will prove home
builders and wealth producers.
The South has done well to discriminate keenly
in regard to immigration and the fqct that it has
don e so has spared it divers problems with which
other sections have been vexed. But settlers who
are American bred and whose interests and ideals
are mainly those of our own people, should he and
are cordially < welcome. Indeed, the South should
exert organized efforts to secure this type of cit
izens. Until recent years there has been no pur
poseful movement to this end but now, it is hearten
ing to note, the railroads are advertising this sec
tion and are joining with trade bodies to make the
South’s resources and opportunities better known
throughout the Union.
V «
If it is important to attract new settlers, it is
even more important to attract new capital. The
development of the South’s natural treasure demands
money as well as labor—money that can be secured
conveniently and in sufficient amounts and at rea
sonable rates of interest. This vital need is receiv
ing more thoughtful and effective consideration to
day than ever before. Investors are realizing that
there is no corner of jhe Union or of all the world
where capital can be placed more safely or more
advantageously. Soil that can produce almost every
crop needed to feed and clothe mankind, a climate
that fosters all harvests in abundance and encour
ages all industries—these are the South’s guarantees
to the men or the institutions that have money to
invest.
Naturally, therefore, as such resources become
duly known, the South,will find closer and easier
connections with th e sources of capital and its de
velopment will he proportionately helped and has
tened ,
Menelik Dead Again.
Once again—whether it be the seventh or the
seventeenth time, we cannot recall—marvelous old
Menelik, king of Abyssinia, yea “King of the Kings
of Ethiopia and Conquering Lion of the Tribe of
Judah,” is dead. Such at least are the tidings
which have drifted from his little mountain-hugged
empire between the Red Sea and the Blue Nile; but
so often has Menelik died within the past few years,
only to be found hale and regnant when his obitua
ries were being read, that the world may properly
restrain its tears a little longer. This Interesting
sovereign has been dying as easily and as frequently
as the old-fashioned actress would lose her diamonds
and each demise had heightened and extended his
renown.
But who will begrudge him the publicity? Who
could weary of his romantic tale? Born and crowned
on the jungle’s rim, Men’elik has made a court that
has interested all Europe. He has given his people
many of the arts and amenities of civilization. He
has led a life which Plutarch would have loved to
portray. He found his kingdom, like himself, in
virtual savagery. He has left it with schools and
railroads, and automobiles, not to speak of phono
graphs and motion pictures; with courts of justice
and with a stable commerce of its own.
It is said that Menelik was one of the first
monarchs of the East to buy an automobile and one
traveler reports that he showed his originality by
having the chauffeur beheaded every time the ma
chine ran over a subject. There is another story
illustrating his minute grasp of business details.
On one occasion when a State conference yas in
progress, a carpenter who was stopping leaks in the
palace roof, appeared and asked for more nails;
“whereupon,” says the chronicler, “Menelik took a
buch of keys from his pocket and, going to the royal
nail house, gave the man what he wanted.”
Menelik unblushingly avowed that h e was a
direct descendant of King Solomon, tracing his ma
ternal ancestry to Queen Sheba, whose visit to the
wisest of met is one of history’s most engaging hits
of gossip. Whatever his ancestry, Menelik himself
was, or perhaps is, one of the most picturesque per
sonalities of the time; and should he cease to die
as regularly as he has in the past, the day’s news
will lose a particularly sparkling feature.
Good Roads and Social Progress.
It is seldom that thp gospel of good roads finds a
more liberal or trenchant expression than in the
recent inaugural address of Governor Sulzer, of
New York- The economic value of well-built and
well-kept highways is taken for granted, but it is
doubtful that their intimate and far-reaching influ
ence upoh the civic and social life of the people is
yet duly appreciated. W)icn we have measured the
benefit of a good road to the farmer and the mer
chant, we have still to gauge its manifold blessings
to the school and the home and its ministrations to
the higher needs of men. It was this phase of the
subject that Governor Sulzer illumined when he de
clared :
“We knoiv that good roads, like good streets,
make habitation along them most desirable; they
enhance the value of farm lands, facilitate trans
portation, and add untold wealth to the producers
and consumers of the country; they economize
time, give labor a lift and make millions in
money; they save wear and tear and worry and
waste; they beautify the country and bring it
in touch with free city; they aid the social and
religious and educational and industrial prog
ress of the people; they make better homes and
happier firesides; they ar e the ligaments that
bind the country together in thrift and industry
and intelligence and patriotism; they promote
social intercourse, prevent intellectual stagnation,
and increase the happiness and prosperity of our
producing masses; they contribute to the grt,.l-
ui.w} g/ the city and the glory of the country,
encourage energy and husbandry, inculcate love
jor our scenic wonders, and mak e mankind bet
ter and happier
1 his appraisement is no less true than eloquent.
The State or the county that builds good roads is
promoting not only the agricultural and the business
nterests ot its citizens, but their speial and educa
tional interests as well. There is, no field of public
endeavor that is worthier of a people’s thought and
money or that repays them more abundantly.
Surely, an enterprise that lies so close to the
nation s common life should receive the national gov
ernment s support. Thus far road building lias been
left chiefly, if not entirely, to th e individual States;
and many States, to the individual counties. The
results that have been achieved are gratifying in
that they reveal an intense popular interest; rbut
they are far short of what they should be and will
be when the feueral government shoulders its share
ot the task and when each of the State governments
places its organized strength and resources behind
the work in every county.
Mexican Diplomacy.
From Senpi- Manuel Calero, formerly Mexican am
bassador to the United States, comes this naive and
interesting confession: “I lied to the American gov
ernment for ten months, telling them that the
Mexican revolution would be over in a few weeks.
I was forced to invest my diplomatic mission with
a domino and a mask.”
Diplomats have often practiced the Calero art,
though they have seldom indulged in such an after-
math of candor. Time was when statecraft itself
was in many respects a matter of ingenious dis
sembling and official speech with foreign nations
was conducted after the rule of Talleyrand who de
clared that words were invented to conceal thoughts.
Modern diplomacy seems to have found a higher
ideal and directer methods, but Mexico still lingers
in a Machiavellian past. ' Under a government where
free speech has so long been forbidden at liome v it
is not to be expected that frank speech will bo offered
abroad.
, The conditions which Senor Calero took such
pains to conceal ar e now a matter of common knowl
edge. The situation in Mexico has shown little, if
any, imprqvement. President Madero has given re
peated assurance that the rebellion was squarely
under the government’s heel and would soon be
crushed. But the uprisings in one province after
another continue, the reign of pillage goes on and
business finds it it, as difficult as ever to proceed in
peace and protection.
To be sure, there are no reports of hard fought or
important battles i.« Mexico. The warfare is largely
from the hush; but for that very reason, it is all
the more a menace to political stability. It is a pity
there is not some one party or some one man strong
enough to give the country a firm and orderl/ ad
ministration. t
CAPTAIN BARNACLE’S LOG
BY JOHN H. WISHAE,
"During my younger days I was down in the South
Seas freighting and haulin’ missionaries around where
they could civlllz the heathen,” said Captain
Barnacle. "M,
vessel was an
old-time side-
wheel steamer
with a pulling
capacity of an
ocean liner.
She was noted
all around the
South Seas.
“I got pretty
friendly with
an old planter
on the Island
o f Palatava,
about 200
miles south of
Suva. This old
planter, who
was an ex-
mission-
ary, was clear
ing some land and anted me to help him pull some
stumps. So to oblige him I gets a heavy hawser
ashore and made it fast to one of the big palm roots.
I started my old ship to steaming, and we pulled
and pulled and pulled. But that stump seemed to
Jje too solid to move. X couldr’t understand it. For
two-solid weeks _ kept steaming and pulling on that
stump, but ther e was no sign of it giving. At last
I had to give It up as a bad job.
"About that time I decided to take a sight to
determine the island’s true position. When I worked
out my figures I found I had pulled that whole
b.oomtn’ island more than 200 miles from its original
position. When the old planter-missionary found ou.
what had happened he was as mad as a wet hen
and he insisted that I take his island back where it
belonged. Well, sir, it took me all summer to tow
that blanjed island back to i. original location, and
even then the old planter wasn’t satisfied. He swore
I’d tried to steal his blamed island and he had me
arrested for grand larceny and they came near send
ing me to England to stand trial.
’That was the last time I tried to do a South Sea
isla ;d planter a favor."
THE HIGHER
PROBABILITIES
Bv
Dr. Frank
Crane
It is not facts that save men; it is probabilities.
The greatest truths, in the realm of human des
tiny, are not demonstrable. You cannot prove them,
you must believe them.
The highest laws of life are
inherently dubitable.
You cannot be certain about
whether your beloved loves you
in the same way you are certain
about a piece of cloth being a
yard wide.
You can never know tl^at it
pays to be honest in the same
way you know that water is
composed of oxygen and hydro
gen.
You cannot know that virtue
is best for you, that purity of
mind * will bring you happiness
and power, in any such fashion
as you know that there are a
dozen apples in a box, where
you may count them an4, see
them.
It is impossible' to prove there is a God, and that
He is good, as you can prove that the square of the
long side of a right triangle is equal to the sum
of the squares of the other two sides.
The evidence that the soul lives on after the
death of the body is not at all the kind of evidence
that there is such a city as Paris and that it is
situated on the %>eine.
If you could prove these things of the spirit
mathematically they would b e of no use to you.
Nothing you know for an absolute certainty has
power to do you good, because such things impose
upon your mind like dead matter. Only those truths
which call forth your faith and will-to-believe are
potent to help your character.
Moral truth, redemptive, life-giving, does not
strike you like a brick, it quickens you like a medi
cine.
The niost important things you have to deal with
aro necessarily subject to doubt. For it has more
to do with your ,oy or sorrow, whether your beloved
loves you than whether boards are level or stones
square; it means more to you to believe in honesty,
virtue, purity, God, and the life hereafter than it
does to Know all the laws of steam and steel.
It’s the uncertainties of life that count.
To know how to weigh probabilities is more vital
than to know how to- measure accuracies.
“Philosophical truths,” says Barthelemy Saint-
Iiilairc, “have value only as they are disputable;
they do not atfect your reason like the axioms of
geometry; their very power to save or* ruin a man
lies in fhe fact that they may always be freely ac
cepted or freely rejected.”
All moral truths have two ma'rks of force: First,
they arouse opposition which proves their force of
resistance; second, they stimulate thought, emotion,
and action, which attests their fecundity.
A truth nobody denies is of no spiritual use.
Aerograms From Antiquity
BY EDWARD J. COSTELLO
AGINCOURT, Feb. 14 (A. D. 1416).—The custom
of swains inditing amorous epistles to their sweet
hearts on this fourteenth day of February every year
was partly accounted for today. The discovery near
here yesterday afternoon of a weather-worn bundle of
.letters, which apparently once belonged to Charles,
Duke of Orleans, has helped to explain the mystery.
The Duke of Orleans, it will be remembered, was
captured by King Henry V. and his army during the
terrific battle near Agincourt, October 25, last year.
It is supposed during the combat he dropped the let
ters. They were in a ravine on the road leading to
Harfleur.
In the package were found several amorous epistles
addressed to various French ladies of quality, some
of them containing poetry, and all of them indicating
that the duke was something of a ladies’ man. tie
was known in Paris as an indefatigable writer of
these amative addresses..
In one of the letters it is stated that the day
shall henceforth be knoWn as “Valentine’s Day,” in
honor of the saint of that name who was beheaded
on a February 14, in the third century. It is related
that formerly the custom was for boys and young
men to draw the names of girWs in honor of their
goddess Februata Juno, which is considered heathen
ish, and that in order that the day might become
Christianized it .s to be called after the saint.
In accounting for this observance, the duke says,
there is a disposition ,o indulge in foolery occasion
ally, and an inclination on the part Tjf most every
body to believe that a person drawn as a valentine
has considerable likelihood of becoming the associate
‘of the drawer in wediock. Formerly the proper
ceremony of the day was a kind of lottery, in which
girls were drawn, followed by ceremonies not much
unlike what is generally called the game of forfeit.
But the Duke of Orleans thinks the proper cele
bration of this day is to send valentines or love sen
timents to the loved ones, and cites himself as a
glittering success along those lines.
Another letter tells of an old custom in which it
was supposed, for instance, that the first unmarried
person one met on St. Valentine’s morning in walking
abroad was a denned wife of a destined husband.
At any rate this amusing observance of the day
is popular with the Ripper classes and is in vogue
at practically all of the European courts. The im
aginary engagements made> in sport today are sup
posed to hold good through the year, and really often
result in weddings.
The Duke of Orleans and the Duke of Bourbon,
who were prisoners to the English after King Henry
won his remarkable victory with ten thousand soldiers
over fifty thousand Frenchmen, are not so situated
that they can meet very many persons, being under
guard, so it is not likely they will make any extended
search for “Valentines” this year.
A Batch of Smiles
Joe was down in bis luck—lower than lie had been
for a long time. That is why he decided to turn his
hand to crime. He had never dab
bled in crime before, but,being lone
ly now, out of work and hungry,
with..one old pistol in his possession,
lie could see n^ alternative.
So one evening, happening to meet
an old gentleman in a deserted
oad, he gravely levelled the afore
mentioned -pistol at his head, de
manding with traditional fierceness, his money or his
life.
“Come,” said the old gent, “we can settle this mat
ter better than that. How much do you want for
that pistol?”
“Ten pounds,” came the answer.
Without a murmur the old gentleman forked out
the notes and in a moment the sale was completed.
But, just aj Joe was preparing to move on with the
money the purchaser turned on him.
•*That money back,” he demanded, “or I’ll blow your
brains out!”
“Blow away,” said Joe sweetly, as he began to walk
away. “The pistol isn’t loaded.’’—London Answers.
Professor Metchnikoff (sneezy name to pronounce,
but we are never sure about the spelling), in his
latest book asserts that with sour milk and its^ by
products as the chief articles of
diet one may defy time and the,un
dertaker and easily live to 200
years of age or thereabouts.
A friend of ours who has given
the Metchnikoff bill of fare a
month’s trial says that, while 200
years of life on earth may sound
like an attractive proposition, if he has got to stick
,o the sour milk dietary as a steady thing he would
be perfectly wiling to die at the end of the first 100.
—Judge. *
PLANT QUARANTINE
By Frederic J. Haskin
Thpse interested in the agricultural welfare of th«i
United States are rejoicing that this year will see put'
into full effect the
various provisions of the law j
passed by congress last year!
authorizing a quarantine]
against all plant products af
fected with any kind of insect |
pest or disease which may be !
spread and thus cause the trou-j
ble to extend to other parts of I
the country. The importance!
of some method of protection
of plant life has been actively \
urged by the department of ag
riculture for a number of years. |
The new law gives to the
secretary of agriculture the
right to issue a quarantine
against the plant products of,
any region in which insect pests
or disease may be discovered,
to regulate the importation of
nursery stock and other plant
products and to regulate the
movement of fruit plants and vegetables in such
manner as may best serve for the protection of the
country from an increase in any pest.
Soon after the laws became effective in October
last, four quarantine notices were issued. These are
regarded as a good beginning to the great preventive
work it is hoped will be in operation against the
many pests that cause such enormous annual waste-
The first is against the white pin e blister rust which
is a new disease not yet widely prevalent but which,
if not checked, may become as serious as the chestnut
canker. The quarantine forbids the Importation into
the United States of three specified species of pine
from Great Britain, France, Belgium, Holland, Nor
way, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Germany, Austria,'
Switzerland and Italy.
• • •
The second quarantine was placed against the
Mediterranean fruit fly which is prevalent in Hawaii
and is new to and not widely prevalent as yet in the
United States. This prohibits the importation into
the mainland from Hawaii of a considerable number
of fruits and vegetables excepting those which have
been passed upon by special inspectors appointed for
that purpose.
• • •
The third,, quarantine is against the potato wart, a
disease which has been fouijd to exist in Newfound
land, the islands of St. Pferre and Miquelon. Great
Britain, Ireland, Germany and Austria-Hungary. The
fourth notice was directed chiefly against the spread
of the gypsy moth and the brown tail moth. It chiefly
affected the New England states and was slightly felt
by dealers in Christmas trees and other holiday
greens, although its effect was much less serious
than was at first feared by the dealers in those prod
ucts.
« • •
The white pine blister menace is partially the ef
fect of the movement in favor of refojestration which
has become so widespread during the past ten years.
In their efforts to replant ground from which all the
pine timber hgd been taken, hundreds of thousands of
trees were imported. Some of these imported trees
were infected with the disease and as a result have ’
had to be taken up and burned. The cost of the cure
of the disease has already greatly exceeded the value
of the importation. It is now possible to secure the
trees for planting in this country, so there is no real
need of importing them. It was recently necessary to
burn an entire shipment of 25,000 young trees re
cently received in New York state, each of which was
infested with the blister rust and Would, therefore,
help to spread the disease.
* * •
The state.of California for years has maintained a
plant quarantine at San Francisco which has been the!
only port in this country so protected. A number or
years ago California suffered the loss of millions of!
dollars from the phylloxera, a small insect which at
tacked the roots of grapes. This pest is known in 1
France, Germany and Italy. It is best under control
in the United States, although it cost California enor
mous sacrifices of vineyards, which have in most
cases been replanted with a species of grape less sus
ceptible to the insect, while a vigorous warfare is
constantly being waged against its complete exter
mination. The Mediterranean fruit fly is most apt
to affect California and the southern states, and its
progress will he checked by the rigid enforcement or
the quarantine which prevents any additional infec
tion being brought into the country.
• • •
Of the four quarantine notices, perhaps that
against the potato wart attracted most notice for the
reason that some New York dealers who had invested
in large quantities of potatoes in Newfoundland etA
deavored to secure a suspension of the law in order
that this special importation for which they had ar
ranged might be admitted to the New York markets.
Their efforts were unavailing, however, and the quar-
antine has been rigidly enforced *from the day it was
issued, and will be so long as tljere is any need of it.
Notwithstanding the number of potatoes raised in the
United States, over 13,000,000 bushels were imported
last year, so that there is a possibility that this quar-
antine may have some effect upon the price of the
popular tuber which is in daily use upon most Amer
ican tables. There would be a more permanent scarc
ity of the supply, however, if this disease were to
become established in this country as, when once in
the soil, it absolutely destroys the potato and, there
fore, prevents its culture. This disease was first
discovered in Hungary in 1886, and has since spread
over different parts of Europe. It has also reached
England and Newfoundland. The latter territory has
been the greatest source of danger in the United
States. This potato wart is a much more serious
pest than the Colorado beetle or potato bug on ac
count of which the German government nearly thirty
years ago issued a quarantine aginst American po
tatoes.
• • •
The most serious pests with which the forestry
service of the United States now has to deal are the
brown tail motli and the gypsy moth. These tw>»
pests are now costing the New England states an ex
penditure of more than $1,000,000 annually merely for
their control. In addition to this, the United States
government has been expending $300,000 a year to
aid hi controlling this pest along the highways and*
by this means check its more rapid distribution. In
spite of these efforts it is spreading and the yearly
damage done to private grounds, woodlands and or
chards can hardly be calculated.
* * m /
The gypsy moth is most frequently found upon
coniferous trees. The insect destroys the leaves of
the tree and it dies in a few months. Scattered over
New England are acres of dead pine trees or of un
sightly stumps of trees which have been cut down
and removed, and many, parks and pine groves which
a few years ago were the delight of villages are now
places of utter desolation. The brown tail moth at
tacks the deciduous trees but does not always kill
them the first year because a new leaf crop is more
readily formed. ‘ This pest extends its ravages to
many kinds of trees including those bearing fruit.
LENT
Well may the millions destitute repent
That they exist; they keep perpetual Lent.
But, those with ample store for every need;
Strong in observance of all form and creed;
Forward in every soothing word and deed;
Self-satisfied their thrifty life’s well spent. •
Why should thiese fortunate repent, or plead#
Their lives arc full of all that’s comfortably
If Lent they’d keep, then must they borrow
• trouble.
—WILL HERFOBJX