About Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1917)
4 THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL! / 'ATLAKTA, GA., 5 MOITH FOBBTTS ST.- "> Entered at tifr Atlanta Postofflce a* Mail Matter o the Second flass. SUBSCBIPTION FRICK. Twelve months . ...T 40c Six months - , Three months ” * The Semi-Weekly Journal ie published on Tues day and Friday, and is mailed by the shortest routes for early delivery. It contains news from all over the world, broug by special leased wires-into our office, it has a sta of distinguished contributors, with strong depart merits of special value to the home and the farm. Agents wanted at every postoffice. Liberal com mission allowed. Outfit free. Write R-. R- BRAD LET. Circulation Manager. The only traveling representatives we have are B F. Bolton. C. C. Coyle, votaries H. Woodllff. J - M Patten. W. H. Reinhardt. M. 11. Bevil and John Mac Jennings We will be responsible only for money paid to the above named traveling representatives. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS. ‘ The label b<*4 f*r addressing year ?«pe- sboss the time year ■nbeoirtion evpirvs By renewing at least two weeas.t*- fore the date this label, yon insure regular service. IB ordering paper changed, he sure to ment>on your old. as well as yonr new address. If on a route, please give the route eannot enter snbscrtptlons to begin with back numbers. Bemtt-ane“ should be, sent by postal order or registered Address aH orders’and notices for this <»epartmrnt to THE BEML WEEKLY JOVRXAI, Atlanta. Ga. The Test of hood Saving. The call to the American housewife to enroll tn the food saving army has met a ready and gen erous response. Pledge cards approaching the ten million mark have already been signed and the work proceeds unabated. Undoubtedly the vast majority of American households will align them selves with the purposes of the Hoover food ad ministration. - No call yet made upon this nation for the sup port of war measures has failed or even approach ed within hailing distance of the failure line. Men the country has found in abundant numbers, money it has needed has every time and every where been oversubscribed and now the call to economy to relieve the food shortage has brought its millions of volunteers. A timely caution just in this connection is of fered by the New York Evening Post, which says: Obtaining signatures to food pledges is only preliminary to the real campaign for food economy. There will have to be considerable foliow-up work undertaken, if Mr. Hoover s hopes are to see fulfilment. It is easy enough to sign a card, and equally easy to be enthusias tic and well-intentioned at the time of sign ing; but performance will be a more pains taking and difficult process. Every woman who has put herself on record f° r , saving should be gently and firmly reminded, now and again, of her promise. , Before the war Americans had a world-wide reputation for wastefulness and no where was this wastefulness more conspicuous than in the use of food. These habits doubtless came down to us from the ready abundance of pioneer days when the forests and plains teemed with game and the virgin fields in tjielr production far ahead of the demands of a sparse population. Since then the. •requirements of an increasing population has outdistanced- the food supply but the old wasteful habits have remained., and the bonds of habit are the hardest of all to break. The caution uttered by the Post is. therefore, well taken. Housewives will find the redeeming of their food pledge a test of real grit. It will mean a radical change of program. It will mean a dally, yea almost hourly pull against the weakness of. the flesh and the claims of custom. It must call into play discriminating intelligence and the acqui sition of the continuous information that will be necessary upon which to base a really effective program of saving and at the same time of meet ing the full food requirements of each family. This cannot be done merely by signing the pledge card and displaying the administration poster in the front window and then forgetting aH about the matter in the operations back in the kitchen. Putting off the adoption of the food plan proposed or omitting it for a time after it is adopted, will constitute points of danger, being assy leads Into lapse into the old ways.-- . The women of the nation have responded nobly to every call of the war and who can doubt but that they will rise grandly to the sacrifices of many kinds involved in the economy of food. If they will bnt bring themselves to know in advance its difficulties and hedge themselves against the inevitable cross-grain cutting into custom that must be endured, their work will b’e all the easier. • Godspeed to them in it! Rightful Derision. j. ' The announcement made last week by Herr Erzberger. leader of the Centrist party in the reich stag. .that Germany had changed from an autocracy to a democracy was met, as it deserved to be met, with derision from the American press. For Herr Erzberger to think that the rdst of the world could be brought to believe this but reveals anew the curi ous twist of the German mind —a psychology that disguises its schemes thinly, thinking that other peoples are too childlike to penetrate the disguise or are so gullible as to accept any story that the pon derous German brain may evolve. Discussing the announcement the Boston Trans cript says: "Nothing could be more amusing to the student of political history than the spasm of joy that prevailed amongst the idle and ill-informed minds over ‘the triumph of democracy in Germany.’ As a matter of fact there is very little real hope even for a small increase of parliamentary au thority either in Hertling's appointment or his negotiations with the political leaders . . . Hertling will go when the Kaiser's particular use for hiin is over—and the autocracy remains ex actly as strong as when the same imperial hand turned Bismark out of power.” The New York World says. “Democracy means slightly more than causual conferences between party leaders and a man who had been appointed chancellor by the Kaiser but had not yet ac cepted. . . . We shall believe that a political revolution ban taken place in Germany when the government in its entirety is overturned and reor ganized.” The Columbus Enquirer-Sun views the Erzberger statement as another Hohenxollern scheme to aid the familiar German peace propa ganda. Continuing the Enquirer-Sun says. “It is unthinkable that one who has held such power as Kaiser Wilhelm has held and still holds would thus surrender it or any considerable part of it. without something very near to If not quite a revolution, unless forced to do so from an outside force. . . . No one should permit himself to be deceived by the hypocracy of the Hohenzollerns.” THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA.. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1917. Sow More Wheat and Oats—Now Editor Journal: You have already been urging farmers to sow grain this fall and It certainly will be a great help to our country and to all our Interests for the farmers to sow plenty of wheat and oats. The time will soon be over to sow and we hope you will boom them up in the next issue of your paper to raise plenty of grain crops and be inde pendent. Whenever we have to pay out all that we make for western feed stuff there is nothing left for any of us to get a chance at. Trusting you will do all you can to encourage them to sow grain at once, we are Yours very truly, BRASELTON BANKING CO. Brdselton. Ga.. Nov. 6, 1917. foregoing letter touches a vital spot in the needs of Georgia and the south today. The cry now the world over is for more grain—more feed for animals and more food for human beings. This cry is insistent now and is destined to be come more shrill in its insistence as the war proceeds. X* The plain duty before the fanner of Georgia and the south is to raise all the food and feed crops possible during the coming year. Os these crops wheat and oats are the most important and the time to plant theip is now. The decision must be made at once by the farmer of what his allotment of acreage will be for these crops. He should not be tempted by the high price of cotton to delay making his decision till the opportunity shall be lost. The need of ourselves and our allies for cotton is large, but not so large nor so urgent as the need for food. Patriotism furnishes the argument for more food crop acreage this fall than ever before while self-interest clinches It. For as the letter of the Braselton Banking com pany points out, if we use our cotton money to buy food and feed from other sections, where are we the gainer? For if cotton is bringing a good price, so also are wheat and oats. Discussing this feature of the situation the Sandersville Progress says: Plenty "of wheat and oats should be given consideration right now, which is the best time of the year to get the grain crop started. You may calculate that it will be better to plant cotton and buy everything else, but the boll weevil may come in and take your cotton, just as the Germans took Belgium, and you would be equally as help less in preventing them doing so. But if you make your own wheat you know you have, it, and that is better than trying to make money through another crop with which to buy it. Besides the necessities of the Eu- •• ropean countries are going to make a mighty draft on our stocks of food next year, much greater than ttys year, and the price of everything eatable is going much higher than we have yet experienced. Therefore it will be wise to be z on the safe side by providing everything that possibly can be produced at home. The Progress makes no mistake in saying that our supply of food is going to be greatly depleted by the demands of the war at* home and abroad next year. We will have more men in the field and the armies and civilians of the natidns allied with us will find their sources of production yield ing decreasing returns —a lack that we and we alone can supply. That the food situation both now and for the future must be given grave consideration is pointed out by the Manufacturers Record, which says: This year’s wheat yield is 150,000,04)0 bushels less than the average of the last five years. It Is 88,000,000 bushels short of the crop of 1901, or sixteen years ago. though we had a population at that time of at least 25,000,000 leas than we have today. At the average rate of consumption, based on an increase of 25,000,000 people, we need at least 125.000,000 bushels of wheat more than we needed for domestic* consumption in 1901: but instead of having an increase, we are 88,000,000 bushels short of that year’s yield. This year’s wheat crop is 70,000,000 bushels short of/the 1912 yield and 103,000,- 000 bushels short of the crop 366,000,000 bushels less than the wheat yield of 1915, which was our record wheat crop, but which was not in excess of our needs and those of the allies. Georgia and the south have already made a good beginning in breaking away from the one crop system, in raising more hogs and hay and cattle and velvet beans and oats, wheat and other grain. This beginning should be accorded heavy reinforcement this year. The movement should score a noteworthy gain. Let the farmers every where rally to this call for if they heed it and sus tain it generously, they will be doing some of the most effective kind of fighting for their country. Fuel Economy. The saving of coal this winter will be just as necessary as the saving of food. With the supply on hand already short and the fuel administration wrestling with the question of fair prices and in numerable difficulties of equitable dis/tribution. strict economy is called for. Individual house holders and managers of theaters, apartments and hotels should effect such saving of heat as Is pos sible and who can doubt but that ordinary cus tion in this regard has been wasteful? Says the Louisville Courier-Journal in enforcing the les son of economy: It is well known the world over that Americans habitually bake themselves in win ter in overheated homes, clubs, hotels, restau rants, railroad trains and elsewhere. The average American agrees heartily that too ‘ much heat is worse than too little heat and then piles coal in his furnace until the tem perature in his living room is around 80 or complains to the porter if the sleeping car is not as warm as a hothouse when the sun is on the glass roof. This paper declaring that 70 degrees is suf ficient for comfort in houses during winter ad vises the general buying of thermometers so that it may be known when the comfort point is being exceeded and fuel wasted. Overheated houses mean not only extravagance, but also danger to health. Innumerable ailments of winter may be traced directly to the oven-like temperature that is to be found in many homes. Health, patriotism and the war-time pocketbook will all be conserved if fuel is used with discrimina tion this winter. Southern Investments During the fall and the early part of the coin ing year the indications are that there will be a greater number of investors in the South than at any period since the Civil War. High prices for all crops produced in the Southern states directly are responsible for this‘business expansion. Coup ling this with the wide fluctuations and. in some instances, heavy slump in what we are pleased to call gilt-edge listed securities Southern farm loans reach an importance and value not hitherto obtained. War conditions have brought about an unpre cedented increase in demand for food products with the result that the American farmer may rightfully be regarded as a dominant factor in the affairs of. the world. For a long time to come, even though the war should end in the next few months, agricultural products will be in tremend ous demand with prices larger than ever known in the history of this country. Southern farm lands, always considered good security, undountedly will be In great demand and it behooves our farmers to make note of this. There was a time when farm loans w*ere considered a sort of badge of poverty; nowadays, these same loans are held as the high sign of agricultural growth and expansion. On this point Mr. Janies L. Wright, president of the Bankers’ Loan and Se curity Company, of New Orleans, said recently: “Instead of diverting this year’s surplus funds, with which nature and the law of supply and demand have blessed our section of the country Into speculative industrial or munition stocks, or into distant bonds sub ject to the wide range fluctuations of a far off stock exchange, let us keep these funds at home, where they properly belong by invest ing them in our own Southern mortgages, in the bond Issues of our own states and their political subdivisions, and in the securities of our own institutions having for their prime object the development of the resources of the states in which we gain our livelihood.” The advice Mr. Wright gives the farmers of Louisiana is equally good for the farmers of Georgia. There is plenty of farm money in the South now and there will be more next year. Farm loans and farm lands in the South are exceptionally good securities, and we believe it the part of wis dom for our' rural citizens to Invest their surplus money in these securities. SOCIAL PROGRESS By H. Addington Bruce STEADILY the world is being made a better place for those who live in it. Social prog ress is unmistakably and every day in evi dence. It is in evidence notwithstanding the terri ble actualities of the great war into which many nations have been plunged by one mad ruler. A few days ago I watched two sharply con trasting spectacles. On the outskirts of Toronto, at an aviation field, I saw airplane after airplane leave the ground, till the sky above seemed dotted by mon ster dragon flies soaring to dizzy heights. As they rose to take their flight some aviators passed directly over the automobile In which I was seated, and close enough for me to see them hur riedly wave a cheery greeting. It was a thrilling sight, yet a depressing one. For it was a reminder, however picturesque, of the German made war which has spread such suffering and desolation. From the aviation field I was motored to an altogether different place. In a bright, clean, attractive dining room, seat ed on both sides of two long tables, I saw some fifty little boys and girls happily eating a bounti ful supper. They were Inmates of Toronto’s “Pre ventorium,” beneficiaries of a splendid agency for social reconstruction. From slum homes these children with tubercu lar tendencies had been taken, to be given a fresh start in* life, taught health habits, and built up physically. Ad.' the Preventorium they slept on broad verandas, had a pine grove in which to play, a wonderful glass enclosed playhouse, and gardens in which to work. ‘Every day they were given some schooling. The whole course of their lives was directed to raising their resistive powers: mental, moral, and physical. Four days later in the Rhode Island city of Newport I beheld equally impressive evidence that social progress is continuing, despite the blighting influence of the war the Germans have forced on America. * In one of the rooms of Newport’s beautiful high school I saw a demonstration by members of the Little Mothers’ Welfare league. To help save the babies of today and to enlighten the mothers of tomorrow 15 the double object- of this happily conceived organization. It is a product .of dawning recognition that efficient motherhood is not an instinct but an art, which may best be learned through the practical instruction of young girls in the scientific care of babies. What I beheld in Toronto and Newport may be seen In one form or another through all the cities of Canada and the United States. While in every city war work .is being done — and in most cities splendidly done^ —uplift work is likewise being done. Which is exactly what should be. ‘ -• For the Germans are not the only enemies that menace our national welfare and happiness. Dis ease, poverty, Ignorance, vice, crime, Insanity com pete with the Huns in frightfulness. If uplift work stopped for the period of the war, war's aftermath would be fearful indeed. But it has not stopped and it will not. The instinct for social betterment is too deeply rooted in the heart of civilized mankind. Remember, though, that' uplift work, like war work, requires many hands and makes great de mands on the purse. Do your part in It, as in the work of the war. (Copyright, 1917, by The Associated Newspapers.) QUIPS AND QUIDDITIES Though she was old, she wasn’t by any means Incapable of supporting herself, and at the fresh, youthful age of seventy-nine she went into the bus iness of providing teas for perspiring cyclists and storing the cycles of those travelers who decided that they had better return by train. Her first customers were four young men who left their cycles in her charge while they explored the neighborhood. For each cycle she gave them a ticket with a number upon it. Late at night the tourists returned. The old woman led them to their cycles with a smile of self-satisfaction on her face. ' ‘‘You’ll know which Is which,” she told them, "because I've fastened duplicate tickets on. them.’’ They gratefully thanked her, and when they found their cycles they discovered that the tickets were neatly pinned into each back tire. "Waiter,” said the diner, "it says here on the menu ‘green bluefish.’ ” "Yes, sir. That means fresh—right from the water, sir.” "Nonsense!” said the diner. "You know well enough they do not take bluefish at this season." The waiter came up and looked at the disputed item. “Oh, that sir,” he said, with an air of enlighten ment, "that am hothouse bluefish, sir.” j CANNED GOODS ARE SAFE—By Frederic J. Haskin WASHINGTON, Nov. 9.—There are one bil lion cans of home-canned fruit and vege tables on the pantry shelves of American homes today. Those billion cans are a huge monu ment to patriotism and the speed and efficiency with which democratic America can rally to meet an emergency. They are a weight of some size on the spirit of German autocracy and a colossal stumbling block in the path of Germany s march to world domination. They are the most impor tant collection of cans the world has ever seen. And it is vitally important shat the American peo ple should realize that these cans are cans of good food, safe to use. safe to eat, and that certain fan tastic tales being circulated concerning them av> utterly without foundation. * * ♦ The home canners of America canned one bil lion cans of fruits and vegetables this year. Next year, if all goes well and the spirit of the people remains equal to the t'asks of war, they will can one and one-half billion cans of fruits and vege tables: This is a war measure, and one of vital importance. Any tale or rumor which tends to discourage the use of this year s billion cans, or the preservation of next year s billion cans and a half, is of aid and comfort to the enemy, al though it may, in some instances, be repeated in all good faith. Also such tales and rumors — you have the unqualified assurance of expert scientists to this effect —are quite without truth. Some of the rumors are so ridiculous that few people will believe them. Some of them have a superficial appearance of verisimilitude. Here are a few that have been discovered, investigated and exploded by authorities of the federal gov ernment. fit ■ ♦ * Exhibit-A is the tale, circulated early in the canning season, that a part of the glass jars and rubber rings in use had been poisoned by German spies. Although the tale is a wild one, it’ has been carefully investigated In no spirit of levity, and the department of agriculture finds that there Is absolutely nothing In it. Not a single poisoned rubber has been located. Not a single poisoned jar has been found. • • ♦ Exhibit' B is a rumor of Immense persistence and vitality, to the effect that the government is going to seize home canned food products. This tale is surprisingly widespread, judging by the number of anxious letters concerning it that come to the government departments, the federal food administration and various newspaper bureaus in Washington. Whether the story was started, as most people believe, deliberately to hamper the canning campaign and render it less effective, or whether it simply arises from an utter tlon of the nature . and purposes of the food ad ministration is not important. What is impor- WHY TO SAVE FOOD, AND HOW —The City Woman By Dr. Ray Lyman Wilburn (President of Leland Stanford University.) IT has been said that the modern home cannot navigate without a can opener. Whether or not this is universally true, it must be admitted that it is a shrewd thrust at the city housekeeper. To her, food has frequently /meant' a commodity which grows inside boxes, like matches or thumb tacks. Too many a city wopian feels no more responsibility in regard to food than toward those same matches and tacks. She knows there is a part of her house known as the “kitchen,” but all it means to her is a place which produces bills, bad coffee, fend frequent vis its in search of new servant's. Many a country school teacher or hired m*an knows more about the mysteries of food and cooking than does such a city woman. Now is the time for her to wake up and begin to educate herself. And at least she has one ad vantage over her country sister: knowing next to nothing about' culinary affairs, she has that much less to unlearn. When it comes to food conserva tion she can start with an open mind. With a multitude of markets to choose from, she should be a careful buyer and equally careful user. In order to learn those arts she need not feel that she is foregoing her usefulness in the war. More attention’ to food, more efforts to pre vent its waste, may not fire her imagination like knitting sweaters for soldiers, but it has fully as much to do with winning the war. Moreover, she owes such endeavor both to her family and to the vast' army of food producers outside her sphere. There will be times when the clj'y housewife may feel that all her efforts toward economy are nulli fied by the high prices of various staple commodi ties. At such times she must remember that every effort is being made by the food administration to keep the cost of living as low as possible and to eliminate any sort of undue profit to producer, dis tributor. and retailer. By a system of licensing those persons engaged in the import, manufacture, storage, and distribution of certain fundamental foodstuffs, it is hoped that the prices of these com modities may be kept from any undue rise. The commodities in question are wheat, wheat flour, rye or rye flour; barley or barley flour; oats, oatmeal or rolled oats; corn, corn grits, corn meal, hominy, corn flour, starch from corn, corn oil, corn syrup or glucose; rice, rice flour; dried beans; pea r seed or dried peas; cotton seed, cottonseed oil, cot tonseed cake or cottonseed meal; soya bean oil, soya bean meal, palm oil or copra oil; oleomargarine, lard, lard substitutes, oleo oil or cooking fats; milk, butter or cheese; condensed, evaporated or pow dered milk; fresh, canned or cured beef, pork or mutton; poultry or eggs; fresh or frozen fish; fresh fruits or vegetables; canned peas, dried beans, canned peas, salmon or' sardines; dried prunes, dried apples, dried peaches or raisins; sugar, cyrups or molasses. And while the government is doing its utmost to eliminate wasteful practices on a large scale, it behooves the city woman to set her house in order. If she does not prepare her own food for the table —and many city women do not—she must exercise her prerogative of housekeeper by assidu ous supervision to see that no food is wasted under her roof. And I certainly hope that it is not necessary to add that she should be a member of the food administration and should see to it that the coun sel of the administration's home card is scrupu lously observed by all her family and by her serv ants if she has any. Nor need her influence cease there. The city woman lives in a congested district; but if she must pay the penalty for that she also possesses it's advantages. The country woman often com plains that her own range of influence is limited, but shat cannot be said of the woman in the me tropolis. She is constantly brought into contact with people of all sorts, and accordingly has the chance to influence others toward wise conserva tion* - . » The qity invariably boasts that it constitutes a vast clearing house for ideas. If that is # the case, the city woman ought to profit by ideas re garding the saving of food. And she should give as well as receive ideas. The patriotic woman nowadays has little use for the slacker. She should include in her scorn the slacker in food conservation. All about her are many public eating places. If she has reason to believe that these restaurants are making no effort to curtail their waste of food, are doing nothing whatsoever to conserve the needed wheat, beef, pork, dairy products, and sugdr. she should not rest until she has pointed out the fault, and if possible its remedy, to the proprietor of the hotel or restaurant. One restrained but logical word from a patron of this sort will do more to in duce a restaurant to modify wastefulness than any amount of blatant protest or temper losing. That is but one illustraion of the opportunities to serve which the city woman has. Her aim should always be to bring into her city home —simplicity. After all, a vast number of city women are country bred, and they should tant is that the story is not true. The govern ment' is not going to seize any home canned goods. ♦ ♦ ♦ A story related to this last is the report that the government is contemplating a war tax on home canned fruits and vegetables. Careful in vestigation here has failed to show the slightest basis for this report. Not only is the government not planning to tax home canned foods—it is even planning to spend a good deal of money in en couraging the people to do more canning and in teaching tlrem how. • • 9 Another report circulated in some sections of the country says that not only home canned foods, but also commercial canned products, have in some cases been poisoned by German spies, and that it would be unsafe to eat any canned foods this year. Such a tale, if deliberately invented and set afloat, is no compliment to the, intelligence ot the American people expected to refrain from eat ing canned goods in consequence. More aptly, it is just one of the war rumors that seem to start themselves. At any rate, so far as the authori ties here know, there has not been a single authen tic or official report of any home or factory canned foods being poisoned in this manner. • ♦ 9 Perhaps the most annoying report that has been making it's unpatriotic rounds is the report that fruits and-vegetables canned by what is known as the "one-period cold pack method” are liable to be unsafe as food. The cold pack method Is the one that the department of agriculture demon strated all over the country. It was carefully se lected as the best all-round canning method for all the regions where it was recommended and taught. It is at least as safe as any other method of home canning. Although not known by this specific name, it is the method used in all up-to date commercial canneries in the United States. For those f who may have canned foods of this sort on their storeroom shelves, the following ab solutely authoritative statement is offered byway of reassurance: “The cold-pack process has been in use for five years and not a single death or se rious illness has resulted from the consumption of food saved according to its direction.” Os course, a certain amount of common sense is needed in the use of canned foods, just as it is needed in crossing the street or getting off a railway train. Fruits or vegetables that show any signs of decay should not be canned. Canned fruits or vegetables whose looks, or taste, or odor, when the can Is opened might indicate that they are spoiled, are perhaps best thrown away by the inexperienced canner; although experienced housewives often make use of canned fruits that show mold, for example, by “boiling them- over” , before putting them on the table. • not allow themselves to forget that fact, nor what they once knew in regard to country methods that make for simplicity and efficiency. She has another great opportunity open to her. That ij protection of the city’s children. Their health is vital to the success of the nation, yet in every period of food stringency they are the first to suffer. The city woman should be on guard— vigilantly and ceaselessly—to forestall any such suffering. Finally, the city woman has one privilege de nied to her sister in more thinly settled districts. She is able to watch results. * Beholding vast masses of people at close range, she can often see theoretical reform blossom info practical fruition. Jhe stimulus of this should spur her to redoubled efforts. And those Efforts,. rightly di rected, will bring vast results in food saving. For the city woman has proved over and over that when once she is roused no one can outdo her in enthusiastic fervor and tireless work in a worthy cause. It is only necessary for her to awake to her responsibility and her opportunity. THE AMERICAN WAY —♦— By Dr. Frank Crane In North Dakota there is a farmer by the name of A. C. Townley. His main crop was flax. This was what happened. I quote from Eleanor Taylor in the Survey: “In’ order to buy new equipment, seed, etc., he borrowed a large sum of money from a group of Interests which controls not only the credit offered to the farmer, but also the transportation and mar keting facilities of the state. When his crop was ripe it necessarily passed through the hands of this group to be put on the market. They paid Mr. Townley, as they did many of the farmers, a low price for his flax, and sold it for a high one. Their price to him was so low that he found it impossible to make the required payment on his mortgage. The mortgage was foreclosed, therefore, and his farm taken to liquidate the debt. * “Townley saw other farmers in airpost similar predicaments. In spite of hard work and intelli gent efforf they were so at the mercy of food -and grain speculators that they, barely made both ends . meet. He gathered a few together, therefore, talked the situation over, and out of their con ference grew the North Dakota Non-Partisan league, with today a membership, of 130,000 farm ers and an annual income of about >1,000,000.” Very soon the combined farmers saw that they could not do much toward relieving their economic troubles without going into politics. The old par ties, both Republican and Democratic, had been side-stepping in their usual way. The farmers put their own men in the primaries. The 1916-191 T elections seated their candidate in the governor’s chair, and got them three supreme court judge ships and 105 out of the 138 members of the legis lature. The labor unions have co-operated with them. The point I want to bring out in all this is that this is a fine sample of the real way to run a democracy. Instead of standing about berating your coun try and mourning the injustice of the laws, why not get busy and create a majority to remedy the bad conditions? Why complain of politics? Why not go into politics, clean things up, and get what you w*ant in a straightforward, American way? If you don’t like the parties on hand, start a new one. ' • Anything that will break up the old, traditional political alignments, that' have come to mean noth ing but phrase-making, is welcome. Perhaps Townley and his co-workqrs have shown us the way. At the recent convention he said: “The farmers control 35 per cent of the vote of this country; labor controls about 27 per cent; a com bination of these two elements w-ould make itself felt throughout the nation.” (Copyright, 1917, by Frank Crane.) THE SEARCHLIGHT CHINESE STUDENTS. The number of Chinese students at American universities is on the increase. In August alone, 84 students left China for American colleges. It Is not generally known that when the United States waived its claim to the Boxer idemnities, a stipulation was. inserted under which a certain proportion of the indemnity money must be ex pended by the Chinese government in educating Chinese youths in the United States. When China entered the war. all the allies waived the payment of the Boxer indemnities for the time being, but the United States stipulated that the sum expended on sending students to this country should con tinue to be forthcoming.
