Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, November 17, 1916, Image 4

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Atlanta semi-weekly journal., November 17, 1916, Page 4, Image 4

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Newspaper Page Text4 THE -SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAI r ATLAKTA, GA., 5 NOETH FOBSYTH ST. ntereU at the Atlanta Postoitice as Mail Matter of the Second Class. JAMES B. GBAT. President and Editor. SUBSCRIPTIONS PRICE. * Twelve months . Six months ........................ .........4®c Three months ................... ...... 2i>c The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on Tues day and Friday, and ia mailed by the shortest routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, brought by special leased wires into our office. It has a staff 'of d'A'iuauisbed contributors, with ttrong depart ments of special value to the home and the farm. Agents wanted at every postoffice. Libera* com mission allowed. Outfit free. Write K. It- BKAO LEY, Circulation Manager. The only traveling representatives we have are B. F. Bolton. C. C. Coyie, L. 11. Kimbrough. Chas H. Woodlilf and L. J. Farris. We will be responsible only tor money paid to the above-named trave*mg representatives. v t NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. Ihe label need lor sdureastug your paper »bows th<* time jcwr aubscr ptioa expires. rty at iraat tWv week* be fore the dale ee Una label, jo u icaure regular service. Ia ordering paper changed, be sure to tueutnm your old, as well as your new addreas. if on a route, please give the route asseber. We cannot enter eebacrlptsona to begin with bark numbers. Remittance ebuuld te eent by postal order or tegtetered man. Addreae ail orders and notices for tbis De;artun*nt to THE SEMI WEEKLY JOt'RXAL, Atlanta. G*. The Electoral College And Its Purpose. The electoral college and the functions it per forms in presidential elections is brought to the public attention once only in every tour years, and evan then no general notice is given tt unless the contest is close, as in the election just passed. Many citizens, therefore, do not understand why it is that the votes of all the States are not added together and the candidate who gets the most votes declared elected. Instead they find the news dis patches which give the returns speaking of this State having so many votes and that State having so many votes, with the assertion that the success ful candidate must receive a majority of these votes before he 1b elected. * The explanation lies in the fact that the people of the United States do not vote directly for presi dent at all. The names of the presidential can didates may be on the tickets, but if only these are voted, then the vote is invalid and will not be counted. The voter casts his vote for a list of men called, electors, and these men in turn cast their ballots for president. Each State is given as many electors and therefore as many electoral votes as it has congressmen and senators. The number of congressmen it has depends on its population, but every State has two votes for its senators, regard less of the size of its population. Some States are so smsll in population that they have only one congressman, but have two senators and, therefore, their vote Is three times larger in the electoral college than would be allowed by population alone. This provision in the constitution of the United States was In recognition of the sovereignty of the States, and it is further borne out in the composi tion of the senate. In the senate all the States are equal, each having two representatives. » The founders of the Republic were afraid to give the people too much direct power. They thought the people could not be trusted with the duty of electing their ruler. They, therefore, pro vided that the people should choose electors in each of the Stares, and that these electors should meet In the State that selected them and cast their ballot for president. The result should then be sent to Washington and there counted, and the man having a majority of the votes should he declared elected president, and the one having the next highest, vice president. After several elections were held under this arrangement, it was found to be unsatisfactory, and the constitution was amended so that the president and vice president should be voted for separately by the electors. The electoral machinery, however, has otherwise re mained unchanged to this day. Candidates now are put forth in advance, and the electors of the party offering them are pledged to vote for the party nominees, though they are not legally so pledged or obligated. There have been cases where the president received the majority of the electoral college, bur not a majority of the popular vote. This situation has brought complaints against the electoral system as being antiquated and not in accordance wttß true Democratic ideas. This agitation has been renewed following the recent election. The New York World, the leading Democratic paper of the Unite*! States, tn a recent editorial, pronounced in favor of abolishing It. Many of the Republican papers have expressed themselves likewise. On the other hand, the electoral college is thought by many to be In line with the old Democratic doc trine of States rights because of the fact that in so large away It recognizes the sovereignty of the States and makes effective the power of this sovereignty. The New House of Congress. With the election of President Wilson and the Democratic control of the Senate by a majority of twelve assured, interest now centers on the complexion and organization of the lower house with respect to its effect upon further administra tion measures. Whether the Republicans or Democrats will or ganize the next House, thus determining its im portant committee chairmanships now seems in doubt though the present indications favor the Republicans. On present returns, the Republicans seem to have 215 congressmen and the Democrats, 213, with the other six being distributed among Independents, Progressives and Socialists. Repre sentative Doremtis, of Michigan, chairman of the Democratic congressional committee, however, de ciares that the Democrats have 212 votes certain and the Republicans 211, with nine seats in the House still in doubt. Should the Democrats In combination with the representatives of the independent forces be able to organize the House, then the passage of laws in accordance with Democratic ideas will be ail the easier. But should the Republicans control, however, they will do so by a very insecure grasp and such’progressive measures as would be wanted by President Wilson would doubtless receive ap proval. It should be remembered that* practically all the great measures promised by President Wilson, which were of a strictly party nature, have already been passed—such, for instance, as the bill revising the tariff downward. It should THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1916. iii»u oe rememuereil tiiai many of the Republicans newly elected to Congress, are of progressive ten dencies and would not be found with the stand patters in blocking forward-looking legislation. In viewing this feature of the situation the Springfield Republican remarks: "It should not be forgotten that the legis lative achievements on which the Wilson ad ministration has made its successful appeal to the voters, were put through Congress with, though not' necessarily by, the affirma tive votes of numerous Republicans in one or both chambers, generally both. If Mr. Wil son can continue to make his legislative pro gram appeal to Republican representatives in a degree approaching that of the last three years, he may still accomplish much in spite of being unable to depend upon an organized majority. So to shape his program must be his study, particularly if the probable inclina tion of the Progressives and Socialists toward his liberal measures does not afford a safe working margin.” It is certain, therefore, that the progressive program of legislation enacted into law during Wilson's first administration will not be disturbed during his second and that the passage of such further wise measures as may seem necessary are more than likely to escape wreck in their passage through the House. After the president’s mag nificent approval at she polls, he will have almost a free hand no matter which party controls the House. “Strafing” the SouthNot Popular The editorial from the Chicago Herald repro duced elsewhere on this page is another refreshing proof that sectionalism is dead, notwithstanding the occasional outbursts of ill-balanced and, there fore, hardly responsible Journals in the North and in the South as well. • Mr. Hughes in his role as 100 per cent candi date could not omit the cry of sectionalism nor re frain from waving the bloody shirt. It did him no good, as the result proved. He sought to array the North and West against the South because un der the Wilson administration nearly all the im portant congressional chairmanships are held by Southern men. This only brought to the full attention of the country the fact that the'preponderance of South ern men in important chairmanships resulted not from the exercise of any sectional discrimination but waq by reason of their seniority of service—in other words; the men who had been longest tested and having back of them the largest fund of val uable experience had been given, and rightly given, the places of leadership. By keeping their repre sentatives in congress and in the senate longest the South was able to furnish the best trained men. The expression of the Chicago Herald is espe cially timely in view of the periodic explosions of the Chicago Tribune which seems to suffer from a kind of sectional insanity. It is the pre-omine”. “strafer” of the United States. It strafes the South continuously and recently it turned its strafing battery upon California, denouncing th» fc commonwealth as “the champion boob state of the American republic*’—because California cast its vote for Wilson. In this connection the Chicago Herald remarks, "There are always some newspa pers looking for a popular way of being unpleas ant and failing to find it. But nobody pays a great deal of attention to them up here and we trust they pay as little attention to the type across the Mason and Dixon line." The American people have shown that now at presidential elections they are concerned with the merits of the Issues then before them apd with the merits of these things alone, and are not to be swayed by the ghosts of dead and by-gone feuds and hatreds no matter who attempts to con jure them into reappearing. Corruption lund Probe. Announcement comes from Washington of a senatorial probe into the use of money in the election just passed. It is contemplated that a resolution providing all the machinery of the probe will be introduced into the Senate as soon as Congress meet's in December. The department of justice is also active in ferreting out violations of the Federal election laws. The immense funds collected and used every four years in presidential elections has long been a scandal in this country and ,is more and more revealed to be a most direct’ menace to the very existence of the Republic. “Give us the money and we’ll carry this county, this State, or this section for you,” seems to hover in the very air around a big fund collected for political purposes. If this is the way a State is to be carried, the strong arm of the law must Intervene to stop It. The danger of the misuse of money was never so sharply disclosed as In the past election, when in nearly all the States the election was close and in the decisive States the margins ran generally to the lowest figures ever before known in presi dential elections. In such cases corruption funds might easily change the result and determine the election. That -the presidency can thus .be bought is unthinkable and any possibility of it should meet the barrier of the law. A party like the Democratic party whose funds come from comparatively small contribu tors is at a disadvantage in recognized legitimate expenditures with a party like the Re publican which can boast of very wealthy mem bers who contribute freely to its campaign fund. The possession of a big slush fund is a danger to any party. The time has come when serious consideration should be given the suggestion that the govern ment itself appropriate for each party a reason able sum for legitimate campaign expenses and permit then the use of no other moneys whatever. The government is vitally concerned in the result of the elections and It is in no less degree con cerned with how these results are obtained. Any government is doomed that is corrupted at it's very source and fountain head, namely, at the ballot box. To see that elections are conducted right, the government, therefore, may have to take them over entirely, finance them and call then for a strict accounting of expenditure. We commend this thought to our readers for solemn consideration In view of the situation as it has been revealed to us by recent happenings. More men are willing to lend an ear than a hand. “Sealed Lips” is the title of a recent novel. Evidently there are no female characters in it. The First Woman Congressman ' -Montana went Democratic in Tuesday’s election, Eave President Wilson approximately 81,000 votes and Hughes only 55,000, and elected one Democratic con gressman; but though Miss Jeannette Rankin, who worked and studied for several years m this city, ran on tlie Republican ticket in Montana, the state elected her to be the first woman ever to sit tn congress. Since lite late returns have shown definitely that Miss RanKiii was elected telegrams or congratulations have been sent to her from women In this and every other section of the country until, according to reports from her home town, Missoula, she l ,as b een deluged with them. Miss Rankin announces in reply that she will represent all of lite women of the country, and not only those of her own state. Although Miss Rankin spent several years in New York City, it appears that she was comparatively little known here, and many women who nave been active in suffrage work, in this city for years have been asking during the past few days what the “Lady from Mon tana’ is like, how old she is, how she lives, and what she looks like. The fact that she was so little known in New "York is probably explained in the description of her charac teristics given by the few persons who could be found here who had known her personally w’hile she was in this city. According to tiiem, Miss Jeannette Rankin is of tiie most noted type personally, and if one will not talk suffrage or some other problem in which she is interested, she will not talk of it herself. When she began to study public speaking, according to her former teacher in this subject, who is now living here, Miss Rankin was really timid. GOT INTO POLITICS EARLY. She is about thirty-four years old and is about five feet four inches in height, slender, with light brown hair —not red, her friends insist —and has an unusual store of energy. Site is the daughter of one of the best known of the Montana pioneers, who went west when the state was so sparsely settled that it resem bled a wilderness, and she and her three sisters have learned to “rough it” in the big western state. She was graduated at the University of Montana, became an ardent suffragist while a girl and went to Seattle to study voice culture, and then came to New York City to take a course at the School of Philanthropy in this city. Miss Rankin was among the early and most ardent workers for suffrage in the west before any states had granted women the vote, it was said, and fought actively for amendments in Washington and California. In these campaigns, it is said, she went into mines and to farms to argue personally with men and women to induce them to fight for suffrage. She obtained a place as a field secretary of the National American Woman Suffrage association after leaving New York City and went to Florida to establish suffrage organizations there. Then the campaign for woman suffrage in her home state was taken up, and she resigned as field secretary of the national body to begin campaigning at home. She is credited with having done more perhaps than any other woman in the state to obtain suffrage for the women of Montana. Then, after a hard fight, she was nominated for congress by an overwhelming vote in the primaries, and between the primaries and election day, it is reported, she had to fight some of the old guard Republican leaders in her own state as well as the Democrats. She did a large part of her campaigning on horseback Her friends joined her in creating electioneering In novations. She didn’t finish her campaign until election night, it is said. On election day her friends telephoned to practically everybody in the state who had a tele phone, according to reports received here, and greeted whoever answered the telephone with a cheery: “Good morning! Have you voted for Jeannette Rankin’” MAKES FAMOUS LEMON PIE. “Miss Rankin is a very feminine woman,” one young woman who had known her here and who is now a reporter on a New York evening paper said yesterday. She dances well and makes her own hats, and sews, and has won genuine fame among her friends with the wonderful lemon meringue pie that she makes when she hasn’t enough other things to do to keep her busy. “She is the sort of girl who won't stop until she has got the results she is after; and it will be lots of fun to see her in her firsf'llght in congress. She is this sort: her father was trying to rent one of his "houses in Missoula, Mont., and there wasn’t any sidewalk in front of it. A prospective tenant was found, but the tenant said he wouldn't take the house unless it had a side walk. Jeannette called up some carpenters and found them too busy to lay the sidewalk. And so she bought the lumber, borrowed a/hammer and saw, and laid the sidewalk herself.” Among the things which Miss Rankin has announced that she will fight for in congress is extension of the child labor laws—she intends to represent children as tarell as women in congress—national woman suffrage, mothers’ pensions, universal compulsory education, and similar propositions. It is expected that she will intro duce a new national suffrage bill as soon as she has the opportunity.—New York Times. Time to Own Up r (New York World.) The severe legalistic mind of Mr. Hughes, scrutiniz ing narrowly every remote possibility and technicality, refuses to concede the re-election of Mr. Wilson until the official count in California shall have been com pleted. Meantime the unofficial figures show that Mr. Wil son has carried the state. Hiram Johnson, the Repub lican governor, admits it. The newspaper press enter tains no doubt. Men who lost money on Mr. Hughes are paying their wagers. There is no more reason to suppose that California has voted for Hughes than there is to believe that Indiana, also a close state, has voted for Wilson. To be very exact about such matters, it will hardly be possible for Mr. Hughes to admit defeat even when he receives the official count from California. After that the electors must meet and cast their ballots. Messengers must then carry the news to congress, which in due course must declare the result. In all these processes those who are precise in judicial train ing cannot fail to see at least a chance of irregularity or accident. The trouble at Republican headquarters is that all 'hands have undertaken to make politics conform to jurisprudence. They not only think they are dealing with positive law, but they imagine that admissions on their part have tiie force of positive law. It Is plain to everybody else that no congratulations extended to President Wilson will .re-elect him if the electoral votes i.appen to be against him later on, but obviously enough, men who believe they are engaged in judicial proceedings can extend no felicitations except from the last ditch of law. Nobody is disposed to complain because the Repub lican managers are watching conditions closely. That is a duty as well as a right. What must be objected to is the assumption that a small Democratic plurality in one state is less conclusive than small Republican pluralities in several other states. While hesitation in the acceptance of election returns, even when all the probabilities confirm their accuracy, may be in accord ance with the 'ronclad rules of evidence which an hon orable profession has established, it is most emphati cally in conflict with honest American traditions. Among the "essential principles of our government,” as laid down by Thomas Jefferson in his first inaugural, was “absolute acquiescence in the decision of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal but to force, which is the vital prin ciule and immediate parent of despotism.” I'hen the decision of the majority has been duly ascertained in the usual way, no citizen, no matter how eminent or how learned in the law, divests himself of any rights and privileges by recognizing it. If he is found to be In error, no decree from the bench is neces sary to set him right. The corrected vote itself will overrule him. Furthermore, unless he chances to be a contract lawyer, he w’ll have pleasure in the reflection that he yielded promptly and generously in true Amer ican fashion to what at least appeared to be the voice of the people. Out of the Mouths of Babes Little Bessie —What's fiction, Tommy? Small Tommy—Pa says it’s a story that ends by saying ‘ and so they were married and lived happily ever after.” If you want to be well, and if you want to think well, keep your mouth clean. This as rule of personal hygiene on which medical men are putting ever greater stress. And keeping the mouth clean means more than merely cleaning the teeth regularly. Though, to be sure, cleaning the .teeth regularly is indeed of ut most importance, from the standpoint of mental efficiency as well as health. Teeth that ar© not kept well cleaned are teeth that decay. In the process of decay they become laden with disease germs. Often they become ab scessed, with pus germs of special virulence. By absorption, and by being swallowed along with the food that comes into contact with the de cayed teeth, these germs get into the blood and into the stomach. Indigestion results. Also there results some form of poisoning of the blood that circulates to the brain. Fed by poisoned, impure blood, the brain works badly. For this reason the man wjio wants to think clearly, alertly, vigorously, needs to keep a tooth brush in commission. And he needs to make peri odical visits to the dentist, to have his teeth ex amined and given a more thorough cleaning than ordinary brushing can effect. These periodical visits should be made at least once every six months. Some men, whose teeth are peculiarly subject to decay, ought to make such visits oftener, once every two or three months. Moreover, besides taking good care of the teeth, good care must be taken of the mouth in “Under Sentence” is one of the new plays that have bid for public favor this year. It contains an Interesting story because it was written by Irvin Cobb. It is full of admirable action and stagecraft because It was written also by Rol Cooper Mergue. It is well produced because Janet Beecher and George Nash play the principal roles. But its reason for being mentioned In this col umn is that it contains an Idea, it has a purpose and a punch. It is aimed at “what s wrong with the world.” It depicts the life of an American peniten tiary, and shows, as the stage only can show, so that we can realize It, the inhumanity, cruelty, folly, and stupidity of our whole system of dealing with criminals. Most people have an idea that the day of mon strous brutality in prisons has passed. It belongs to the middle ages. We think of the slow torture of human beings as pertaining to the times of the Borgias, and when we read the rldeous experiences of Casanova in the roof prisons of Venice (Sous lea Toits), or the accounts of the convjct ship of Brit ain or the dungeons of Ratisbon or the Castle of Saint Angelo, we seem to be perusing curious chronicles of bygone barbarity, now happily Im possible. We thought that sort of thing about war, too, until 1914. , It is time Americans were realizing that many prisons in this country arß still veritable hells. WASHINGTON, D. O. Oct. 30. 1910.— According to the best estimates of ths Department of Agri culture, nearly- sixty-eight million barrels of apples will be -placed upon the market this season. This is nine million barrels less than last year’s crop, but inasmuch as no experts whatever are going for ward to Europe, Americans will have to eat a good many apples this year If they expect to use the entire supply. Many new cities have been added to the num ber which hold annual “apple days" when every citizen is urged to buy apples; an increasing number of large mercantile firms are adopting the policy of giving ap ples away with each purchase of goods, and members of the American Homological society are required by the laws of their organization to order baked apples whenever they enter a hotel ot restaurant. The farm ers, however, as usual* are-.placing their main confi dence in the American appetite fdr fruit. * * * Fruit Is the one big staple in the American diet which has retained Its normal equilibrium during the European war So far apples, oranges, tigs and apiicots are not necessary to modern warfare. They can t be used in the manufacture of high explosives and they do not mase a practicable food for the trenches. So they stay with us. The price of bread and. milk is continually on the brink of a rise; potatoes are fast approaching the class of luxuries, and it has even been recently whispered that the price of chewing gum is going up. But we can still buy American apples and Central American bananas at the same old figures. Outside of the Orient the United States la the greatest fruit-eating nation In the world, and Americans are born fruit-growers. When our ancestors landed on the Atlantic coast it is said that their first act was to choose the sites for their orchards and afterwards decide where they were going to place their houses. Today the average American does i»ot feel satisfied un less his country estate or back yard is planted with at least a few fruit trees. Not long ago, a builder was asked how he managed to be so successful In selling his newly-built houses. “I will tell you,” said the builder, “but you probably won’t believe me —I plant a few pear and plum trees In every back yard.” • • • Today fruit growing is one of the most Important factors in agriculture. There are not only numerous fruit farms devoted entirely to fruit growing but every other farm that does not specialize In one thing has its orchard and usually its berry patches. The apple orchards are, of course, the largest. Beginning on the eastern coast with lower Virginia and extending north to New England apples are grown all through the north west to the Pacific coast representing a total value of some $83,000,000. Peaches come next occupying a much smaller area and aggregating $28,000,000 a year. Grapes and citrus fruits are grown in the next largest quan tities, and is the last statistics were valued each at $22,000,000 a year. From these figures It may be seen that the apple crop Is over Jour times as great as that of thfe peach, the grape or 1 the citrus fruit. • • • Since these figures were compiled, the fruit Industry has increased its area and value to much greater pro portions. The number of large fruit companies oper ating throughout the United States Is no longer limited to a few, and many individuals have Invested their capital in fruit orchards. In going into the business of fruit growing, however the individual should cort sider the problem thoroughly and study all the‘factors besides the actual ability of the ground to grow fruit trees. At the present time for example, there is no doubt but that the production of some fruits Is over stimulated; every time a big crop occurs many of the farmers lose money. This was so last year with peaches. One man had twelve carloads of peaches and expected to make a lot of money on them. As it happened, however, every other farmer had just as large a crop and the price of peaches went steadily down. Instead of making on 1 his .peaches the man lost a hundred dollars on each car, the price he got for them being insufficient to cover the cost of tree cul tivation, labor, packing and shipping. • • • The question of shipping fruit Is most Important. New York and the larger eastern cities of course are the great fruit markets of the nation and the central points of distribution for all fruit coming from every section of the country. New York state itself produces more apples than any other state in the Union. Some of them are of very fine quality, and others are only fair, .but in any case the New York farmer makes more profit off his product than does the Pacific coast farmer who grows a splendid variety of apples in Washington and Oregon. This is because the Oregon farmer pays about four times as much freight on his product as the New York farmer. The department of agriculture urges every person who is thinking of growing fruit to study this aspect of the business carefully before he makes the investment. KEEP THE MOUTH CLEAN BY H. ADDINGTON BBUCE “UNDER SENTENCE” BY 08. FEA EK CRANK POPULAR FRUITS SY I KLDEBIC J. HASKIN general. The reason for this is well stated in the words of Dr. Eugene L. Fisk: "Tartar often forms on the horny projections on the root of the tongue, and a condition of sep sis develops in this region, which is often responsi ble for foul breath. “The tonsil, supposed to be a defender of the body from infection, is, as a matter of fact, in most cases a menace because it is seldom in a sound physiological condition. “The endamebas, supposed to he a factor in pyorrhea, have been found in the recesses of the tonsils. Streptococci frequently settle there and give rise to acute rheumatism and other troubles at distant points.” Manifestly, aside from the danger of serious ill health, there is the danger, like decaved teeth, unclean mouths will cause mental impairment through the action of the disease germs they *- bor. These, too, like the germs of tooth decay, get into the stomach and the blood to affect the brain. Frequent washing of the mouth is therefore desirable. Fisk recommends, especially as a pre ventive of pyorrhea, a mouthy wash made by ad ding two drops of fluid extract of ipecac to a half glass of water. This is to be used as a rinse and gargle the last thing at night. Water alone, used regularly, is Itself most help ful. It has the advantage of being always avail able. And, cleaning the mouth, it helps to bright en the mind. (Copyright, 1916, by the Associated Newspapers.) Men’s bodies are still being poisoned by vile food and broken by physical torture, their minds blotted out by the solitary cell, and their souls imbruted by studied diabolism. Here and there are saner prisons and more hu mane wardens. But the system still grips the most. And the whole system of criminal procedure « rotten with fatuous reasoning and cursed with the dominance of dead ideas. We are never going to get an intelligent pro gram with the criminal until we abandon the idea of punishment and substitute that of cure. It has taken the world two thousand years to learn that Jesus Christ was not mooning when He told us to return good for evil. That is not goody goody, namby-pamby stuff. It is the only possible way to abate the evils of society. Good is the only thing that can overcome evil. Evil only makes evil worse. A course of §ane, humane, scientific, Intelligent, firm, and kind treatment of the very worst of men will cure nine cases out of ten. The course pur sued in many prisons, of brutal violence, only makes bad men worse. Os course we have heard all this so often we heed it no more. But to go and see a play like “Under Sentence” is to have the truth of it branded indelibly upon your conviction. To produce this play in every capital of the United States would be a measure of public welfare. Besides, it’s a corking good show. (Copyright, 191 G, by Frank Crane.) In addition to growing mono fruit than .any other nation the United States is a large Importer of tropical fruits, including the lemon, the date, the fig and the banana. Os these the last Is the most popular. Ba nanas are in dem?nd both Jp the tenements and the drawing rooms of the nation; they are the cheapest fruit on the market and they are nutritious. At the Centennial exposition held in Philadelphia in 1878. the first banana tree was on exhibition and attracted a great deal of attention. Bananas wrapped tn tin foil were then selling at a few exclusive fruit stands for ten eents apiece and sometimes more. Now millions of bananas are imported and sell for ten cents a dosen or less. i’• • • Perhaps no other fruit has ever been quite so mar llgned and discredited as the banana with as little effect on its universal popularity. Because It does not agree with some people, the impression has been created that anyone who eats a banana Is taking a large chance with his digestion, but every day several million Americans see fit to disregard that chance. We are also fre quently told that the banana as we get it in this country cannot compare with the native fruit as It is eaten straight from the tree tn the tropics; that ship ping the fruit while green destroys its delicious flavor. As a' matter of fact, the bananas that are sold at Kingston and Havana are no better than those sold tn the United States because the ripening process has been Just the same. Bananas are never permitted to ripen on the trees, for if they were they would not be fit to eat. • • • Another erroneous impression concerning the ba nana Is that It grows wild all over the jungles of the tropics, and that all the native has to do when hungry is to wander into the Jungle and pluck a good-sized bunch of fruit from the nearest banana tree. There is a wild banana growth in the tropical Jungles, but it does not bear edible fruit. The banana is a culti vated fruit of the plantain family introduced Into South America fdom Asia by the early Spanish conquistadors, and grown in groves that are cared for as scientifically as any citrus-fruit plantation. The banana is often confused with other species of plantain which grows prolifically throughout Central America and is cooked by the natives who use it as a vegetable. It is the principal staple In the tropical diet, having spmewhat the same place as potatoes In this country. • • • Today the American demand for bananas far exceeds the importation, although the fruit companies are con stantly increasing the size of their equipment with a view to supplying more of them. One problem has never ceased to bother the industry—the problem of getting bananas in New York before they ripen. Every year whole shiploads are thrown overboard because they turn black while only half way up the coast. A fruit expert formerly with the department of agricul ture ’is now employed by one big fruit (jompany for the purpose of studying conditions in the holds of the ships and ascertaining, if possible, a new method by which the bananas may be landed unripe at New York. • • • Since food prices have gone up, the banana has come into use as a vegetable on the American menu, as has also the apple. Both crops are large this year, and even the poorest citizens will be able to take the advice of the medical men of the country and eat more fruit. The old axiom. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away,” is said by the doctors themselves to be more truthful than poetical. If so. this will be a hard year on the doctors, for Americans are preparing to eat nearly sixty-eight million barrels of apples. Faith • I found myself one cold, drear day— A day when e’en the sky was dead And still; and every tree was bare. And Nature, dying, only moaned As through the naked limbs she wailed— Beside her grave, all hid by leaves, And looked about. Would these dead trees e’er stand again. All decked In lovely green and gay? I saw no sign of life anew. Or budding leaves, but yet I know That it shall be, and that the fair One lying there in that cold place Shall live again. —LEWIS LEE. t “Is your teacher an advocate of corporal pun ishment?” asked the visitor. “No, ma’am, I don’t think so,” replied little Willie. "I guess she believes in moral sauslop, ’cause she just jaws us ail the time.”