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Show THE CITIZEN 6 A WAR RECORD. its TO THE Democratic Party fell the task of keeping the country out of war, honorably. It Under Democracy's vacillating guidance, peace became no longer endurable. War. an Loss of men, wealth and world good-wil- l; disoil aircraft scandal that would have put the closures to shame, had it been as much investigated and advertised. The war's benefic influences were nil. The world must be made safe for democracy, that was the cry. But a sensible Europe is letting the League of Nations fade fast into the twilight, like an irridescent dream, the dream of impractical minds. Blood had been spilt for it, but America would drink naught of that cup; she flung it away. Europe even had not been, organized; nor the American continents. How idle to think the world could be! A more impartial, but firmer policy from the outset would have brought us a different legacy, gained us respect. The Lusitania would not have been sunk; innocent lives would have been spared; at least one fine mind would have been saved. Weakness makes for peace no more than jingo-isfailed. m. The Democratic Party has never been more than a party of protest. In consequence, subtle influences have ever rocked it, hither and thither. It stands for negation, for putting the brakes to progress. Humanity, aye, how that word has been abused, and liberty, democracy. But the Republican Party under Lincoln did what the Democratic Party under Buchanan would not do. It freed the negro, and incidentally relieved the South of a cancer that had been gnawing deep into her finer fiber. We had eight years of prosperity, Democrats tell us, when Wilson held the reins. But times were bad, till the war came. The war brought prosperity, not the Democratic Party, and the war made eighteen thousand new millionaires! They made their fortunes neither in agriculture nor in gainful industry. The Republican Party on claims has been the shorter; on performances, the longer. In the final analysis, it will be found to have protected wealth, surely; but in the same operation and quite necessarily the interests of the man who works, with hand or brain, were equally enhanced. fifty-twwere ReOf the last sixty-eigh- t, publican years. In that epoch the country has drifted into the Democratic column only long enough to have its fingers burnt, to find out it had better go back into the Republican fold. o COUNTRY ROADS Hitherto, state and national policy has fostered development chiefly of a network of arterial highways. The through road has been favored, with the aim a transcontinental system, east and west, north and south. New York and San Francisco are now connected by motor route as well as by rail. Railroads are losing traffic to motor transportation, and this notwithstanding they have paid, are paying their share of the taxes that are levied for highway construction and maintenance. The railroad is often the heaviest taxpayer in the community. With the coming of the automobile, loss of local traffic was inevitable; but in the long-hatraffic, both passenger and freight, the railroad is likely to continue the ul leader. There is need, now that a system of main highways is nearing realization, of developing also a network of good roads that will serve as feeders to railroads and through highways, that will give the remoter regions better transport facilities. Feeders tend to increase even the through traffic by automobile, though perhaps they will benefit the railroad more. The motor truck should gain heavily. , The tourist and pleasure-lovin- g public has had day. Let now the countryman have his. Give the railroads another chance, too. OUR GUARDIAN TREES In Maeterlincks world the trees once assembled in convention, whereat the Oak presided as chairman. He found it difficult to restrain the delegates from declaring war upon man for his brutality to trees. A legend goes the rounds in India. If in doubt about a marriage, marry first a tree. It spells permanence and insures a happy union. Looked upon only as a Supply of lumber and firewood, our forests have been denuded to a point where it is realized at last that forests mean much more than timber or wood. In times of heavy rain they check the runoff, promote seepage, prevent soil erosion, and, incidentally, keep the river waters clear. The bed of a muddy stream rises constantly. Levees do not keep it from rising; nor spillways. Forests do. They make flood-contrless troublesome. child at five should be encouraged to Every plant a tree and give it a name, so that understanding may develop. Out of love for trees could grow a legend that would do more for flood-contrand forestation than all the statutes in the books, all the propaganda in print. But, like trees, legends take a long time to grow. The bare mountains in the West bare because they are young beckon for trees. Here forests would conserve much-neede- d moisture, beautify the landscape, furnish from their natural excess lumber for building and furniture. Trees give shade and shelter to both man and animal. They protect alike against the hot sun and the cold winds. They welcome birds. Instead of cemeteries where monuments run riot, let there rise forests in miniature, with the temple of a departed soul given into each living tree's keeping. The fallen in battle also would be thus more fittingly honored. Trees are our guardians. They are our friends. ol ol TAXES AND MONEY The Aryans held that a tax collector should go among rural folk, much like a garland maker goes among his rose bushes. Take when there is aught to take. When there is naught to take, take naught. Farmers shouldnt pay taxes when pests or elements have ruined their crops. He who would be hard on farmers needs to know them. But for the men of the soil, city man could not exist. Breadwinning isnt easy when one has to stir the earth to grow the wheat, the rye or the com. So much in present taxation is unfair, but attempts at readjustment, however sane, meet opposition at every turn. Taxation is much misunderstood. For example: The public clamors for taxing the rich, but the rich cant be taxed, not in the final outcome. From the top, down along the line, taxes are passed from one to the other. The last man in the row, the ultimate consumer, is the man that pays them, and hepays only when he cant pass them back, as usually he cant. Government cant print the money wherewith to pay its operating expenses. If it could, it wouldnt be levying taxes. Otherwise intelligent men sometimes insist that government can make money. But when government goes to printing money recklessly, without resources, it is much like when a man issues a check, with no funds in bank. The check passes for coin till it is found to be bad. Not even government can make a success of counterfeiting. IT IS conceivable that religion may be morally useful without being intellectually sustainable. J. S. Mill. ANCHOR IN THE STORMS OF TIME. By the Late James J. Hill. AS FAR BACK as we know anything about civilization, the cultivation of the soil has been the first and most important industry in any thriving state. It will always be. Herodotus, the father of history, tells the story of the human race in the valley of the Euphrates. He says that with poor cultivation those who tilled the soil there got a yield of fiftyfold, with fair cultivation and with good cultivation two hundredfold. That was the garden of the world in its day. Its great cities, Babylon and Ninevah, where are they? Files of desert sand mark where they stood. In the world, place of the millions that over-ra- n there are a few wandering Arabs feeding sheep and goats. The Promised Land the land of Canaan itself to which the children of Israel were brought from Egypt, what is it now? A land overflowing with milk and honey? Today it has neither milk nor honey. It is a barren waste of desert, peopled by scattered robber bands. A provision of Providence fertilized the soil of the valley of the Nile by overflowing it every year. From the earliest records that history gives, Egypt has been a land of remarkable crops; and today the land thus fertilized by overflow is yielding more abundantly than ever. It is made clear by every process of logic and by the proof of historic fact that the wealth of a nation, the character of its people, the quality and permanence of its institutions, are all dependent upon sound and sufficient agricultural foundation. Not armies, nor navies, nor commerce, nor diversity of manufacture, nor anything other than the farm, is the anchor which will hold through the storms of time that sweep all else away. one-hundredfo- ld, half-starv- ed WHAT HALLOWS MAN Theres a saying: Gray skies tell no lies. Out of it is bom this view: To keep disappointment away, see things gray. But the heavens are blue. The gray is only a cloud. And there are white clouds, too, and black and red. Rainless skies are rainbowless. The soul that knows no sorrow likewise knows no joy. Dwelling long upon seeming imperfections in the parts but proves the perfectness of the whole. Nothing is wrong with this universe; nor with man. Only, when men become afraid they begin to stampede, like sheep; and, stampeding, they say much and do much and think little about the damage they do. Paint not things gray. Wear not sackcloth; wallow not in ashes. Recoil not before life. Meet it. Live! Be hallowed by the love that is unafraid. Thou hast strength. Have will. BUILD new railroads, construct motor highways, supply cheap water transportation for bulky materials, open up the thinly peopled sections which lack transport, power, and water, keep the heavy hand of the government off corporations, and the whole country will enjoy a new level of prosperity. Henry Ford. VALUABLE ASSETS The world is tired of erratic geniuses men who flare like great rockets in the sky and leave a great darkness behind them. One steady, shining candle is of more rSf service to the world than a ton of fireworks. One man absolutely faithful, prompt, dependable, undismayed by difficulty, is a tremendous asset in the world to himself, his employer, his city and his nation. Broadcaster. T, |