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Show j (Keleaed by Western Newspaper Union.) ' DRIFT LAW BRINGS ABOUT HEALTHY ASSOCIATIONS , THERE IS A JOB the new army is doing that may not be realized by all. It is breaking down the class j consciousness that was growing all too rapidly. j When the poor man's son and the ' rich man's son sleep under the same canvas or occupy adjoining bunks; j when they wear the same kind of 'clothing, do the same routine Jobs ! day after day, they find they are Ivery much alike. They are both young men with the same aspirations, aspira-tions, much the same likes and dislikes, dis-likes, both of them humaa They find the top sergeant knows no distinction between rich and poor when it comes to naming a kitchen police detail; that the rich man's son can go to the guard house for any infraction of army rules quite as quickly as the poor man's son; that In army regulations there is no rich or no poor all are soldiers. Out of It all will come many thou-! thou-! sands of lasting friendships between 1 the rich and poor. When it is over and the poor boy goes to a factory Job and the rich boy to the office desk, the friendship formed in the army camp will continue and will result In a better understanding in that factory. Service in the army Is making for better American citizenship that Is fully as valuable as the making of soldiers. When the emergency is over, the draft law should be continued, con-tinued, with the age limit reduced to 22 years, so all American boys, rich and poor, may continue to get acquainted. ac-quainted. The nation will be stronger strong-er because of such acquaintance. HOME TOWN PATRONAGE OR ELSE AS A SMALL BOY, I knew the then prosperous little town of Vernon, Ver-non, Iowa. I knew its four general stores, well-stocked with the merchandise mer-chandise of that time. These stores constituted the foundation on which Vernon was built Their existence was responsible for the comfortable comforta-ble homes of the town, for its two churches and for its, for that time, excellent school. The "drummers" those stores brought to the town made possible that hotel. The bank was dependent on the stores for its business. Vernon was a market place. Then came the Invasion of the mail-order catalogue, with a concerted con-certed blitzkrieg on business of the town. The sales of the merchants declined. With that decline came a reduction in the quantity and variety vari-ety of merchandise offered by local merchants. In time the stores closed. With them went the bank, hotel, homes, churches and the school. Today Vernon does not exist, even to the extent of a post office. What was once a market place, a social and cultural center, a place of comfortable com-fortable homes, is now a corn field. The value of those acres and other farm acres surrounding the place that once was Vernon is not as great as it was 60 years ago. Ttere have been all too many Vernors throughout America too many market places that have died because ol the tendency to centralize central-ize merchandising. Whenever people peo-ple of a community permit their market place to dr from lack of home patronage they racriflce their social and cultural center, their churches and schools, and turn what has been a place of homes into a field. That, continued to a logical conclusion, would make peasants of the American farmers. It would deprive de-prive them of all that makes farm life pleasant. j NO FEAR FOR U. S. IN TRADE BARRIERS WHEN ANYONE attempts to tell you we, as a nation, must do things to protect our world markets, it is j well to remember a few simple ' facts. America represents Just about 60 , per cent of all the purchasing ' j power of the entire world. We are i as great a market place as all other ' nations combined. We do, or can, produce 97 per cent of all the commodities needed ! to maintain the American standard ! of living. We could build a trade j wall around the country and suffer jno serious Inconvenience. Our one greatest item of export is raw cotton. We import in the j form jf manufactured products practically as much cotton as we j export in bales. It is other nations, not America, j that would seriously suffer from any trade barriers they might attempt against us. A KIT COMPLICATED ARE EGG PRICES, ETC. i ENGLAND ASKS that we reduce I our egg consumption so we can sell more to her. "on the cuff." Englam does not buy eggs in Canada, where It would be a cash transaction. The price of eggs in Canada is about ? "nt.s dzen less than the price to the American consumer. We pay 'or eggs for England and raise our own price on those we eat. but the Amencan Poultry raiser profits. It is a complicated world, a complex, bewildered world. |