Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 206, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 September 1918 — Page 2

MAN IS NOW AT HIS BEST

There Has Been No “Moral and Physical Degeneration” of the Race.

The big average height of the men drafted Into the United States army is being widely commented upon In the press, and it appears that the facts justify the favorable remarks being made, says a writer in Montreal Gazette. Records of the quartermaster’s office show that the Americans who are donning the army uniform today are bigger than the men who fought in former wars. The size most In demand for the standard army shoe in the past was 7E, while the average size of the marching shoe today is B%D and that of the field or trench shoe 9E. Two styles are issued, for it has been found by experiment that soldiers require a larger shoe for the trenches, It being necessary to wear two pairs of socks at a time in cold wet weather. Similarly, the present-day American soldier has to be provided with a size larger than his predecessor in coats, shirts and breeches. -He is a bigger man all around, which is decidedly satisfactory from the national point of view. Events in other belligerent lands Since the war began have served to prove that men generally are as strong physically and morally as ever they were In history. The long campaign in the trenches in Europe has put the soldiers to a greater test than the fighting men of the past were submitted to in the worst of the numerous old w’ars. They have stood that test, and the hundreds of thousands who survive the cannon’s blast and the rifle’s bullet will emerge physically fine specimens of manhood. It is not necessary to look to the United States or over to Europe to see that the human race has not deteriorated. Canada is a small nation compared with its tremendous neighbor and with other allies. It had a population at the census of 1911 of 7,200,000, about half of. svhom are males. Out of the young men part of this total 500,000 men have measured up to the severe medical test of the army, and some tens of thousands of others have been examined and rejected for minor defects that do not interfere with their life as civilians, and do not threaten to shorten their days appreciably. The men who were taken to the field of war have lived in the open, through the heat of summer and the cold and snow and wet of winter, and the thunder of guns has been constantly in their ears. a . The stress of the deadliest warfare has not broken their spirit, and they stand ready today to face attack from a powerful enemy and to deliver it in return. In view of these facts, the little bodies of gloomy and narrow-minded persons who meet periodically and resolve that- the race is degenerating physically and morally should rest from their croaking for the time being. Actual conditions are confounding their slanderous assertions. The race is stronger' today than ever.

Chemists May Win War

Seek Poison Gas That Will Destroy Whole Armies.

American chemists working on the poison gas problem may bring the war to a victorious close for the allies in their laboratories. They are working hard, together with British chemists, to find a colorless, odorless and invisible gas, which, sweeping oyer a sleeping army, would destroy it. The Germans are also working to find such a gas. Whichever side finds it first will win the war, declares a Washington writer. The “Gas shell” is not necessarily a shell. It may contain a liquid or even a solid, and it opens up the whole sphere of organic chemistry to be drawn upon for materials. In every German drive this year there has been a gas strategy. Full dress rehearsals in gas maneuvers to meet every possible situation were held by the Germans before an attack. In the March drive captured maps show the Germans had worked out a zoning system over allied territory. Some zones were drenched with gas and others left untouched. The German attacking troops w’ere supplied with maps to indicate the safety zones through which they might pass without harm. Some zones were subjected to ephemeral gases which. evaporated before the arrival of the oncoming Germans. Other areas were bombarded with several hundred thousand shells, the gas from which lingered for hours. On one seveh-mlle sector the Germans discharged 125,000 12-pound shells in one day.The “front” is not the solid line it looks to be on the maps. It is a series of strongly-held posts, often hills. The Germans use gas shells against these strongholds, attempt to drive the defenders from them and to pass through the safety zones between.

Here and There.

The duchess of Marlborough is leading a movement among English women to sell their family" jewels for war funds. There are now 29 aviation training fields operated by the government in different parts of the United States. An order for 240,000 pairs of knee-length rubber boots for the French army has been placed with American manufacturers. Australians are experimenting with a mampoth oil-driven harvester which strips grain fields at a rate of about 60 acres a day.

Toad in the Garden Destroys Many Insects During the Day

The toad is useful because of its diet. No less than 83 species of insects, mostly injurious, have been proved to enter into Its dietary. In his “Civic Biology” George W. Hunter says: A toad has been observed to snap up 128 flies in half an hour. Thus at a low estimate it could easily destroy a thousand insects during a day and do an Immense service to the garden during the summer. It has been estimated by Kirkland that a single toad may, on account of the cutworms which it kills, be worth $19.88 each season it Ilves, if the damage done by each cutworm be estimated at only one cent. Toads also feed upon slugs and other garden pests.—Popular Science Monthly-

Former Boston Brave Roasts Ball Players Deserting Clubs to Take Steel League Jobs

Walter (Rabbit) Maranvllle, a chief gunner’s mate on the battleship Pennsylvania, former Boston Brave shortstop, and one of the greatest infielders of the National league, criticizes baseball players who are deserting

Walter Maranville.

their clubs to take positions In the Steel league and to play with shipbuilding concerns. He says the move displays a lack of patriotism and is not helping the sport, inasmuch as the people who support the game do not think highly of these men. “Ball players who are in the draft and jump their clubs to go to work in the steel and shipbuilding leagues are not doing baseball a bit of good,” said Maranville. “They also are not helping Uncle Sam. They are not skilled enough to be of much use in those concerns and their chief object is to play ball. Fans will remember the players who left their clubs, and after the war is over those who come back undoubtedly will be tormented all around the circuit for their act.”

This Country Now Produces Indigo Made From Coal Tar

Indigo is now being made from coal tar in this country. At Midland, Mich., 1,000 pounds of 20 per cent paste are produced daily, reports Popular Science Monthly. All the tariff bills of this nation, commencing with the tariff of March 3, 1883, and including the tariff of October 3, 1913, placed indigo on the free list. Not until September 9, 1916, was a bill passed putting a duty on it. It was the first schedule that braved the anger of the German dyemakers.

Good-By, Sugar Bowl!

Sugar bowls will be eliminated on dining cars as a part of the conservation program of the f.ood administration and hereafter not more than two half lumps or one teaspoonful of sugar a meal will be served. The information was contained in a message to the food administration from B. S. Harvey of Chicago, chairman of the administrative committee of dining car superintendents.

New Electric Heaters.

Vessels lined with metal that will conduct electricity to heat liquids as they are poured from one to another have been patented by an inventor in Pennsylvania. /

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

Sensations of an Airplane Man Detailed as to Thrills Experienced at Dizzy Height

The trials for my military brevet were far the most interesting thing I have done in aviation. On finishing the 60-horse power Bleriot class, I was told that I would have to do my brevet work on a small Cauldron biplane, as 'there, were no Bleriots available, writes Nordhoff in Atlantic Monthly. Off she went with a roar, all ten cylinders firing perfectly, so I motioned the mechanic to pull out the blocks from before the wheels. A quick and a turn headed me into the wind, and the next moment the starter’s arm shot forward. Old 2887 is a bully bus. I was off the ground and heading up in forty yards. It was rather an occasion for a beginner who, had never before flown over 2,500 feet. The little Cauldrons, of course, are not high-powered, but she climbed splendidly. In ten minutes I was circling over the camps at 3,800 feet and in twenty I had reached 6,000, just under the roof of the clouds. There was only one blue hole through, so up this funnel I climbed in decreasing circles, till I finally burst out into the gorgeous upper sunlight. At 8,000 feet I began to float about in a world of utter celestial loneliness —dazzling pure sun, like the water of a coral atoll, and beneath me a billowy sea of clouds, stretching away to infinity. Here and there, from the cloudy prairies great fantastic mountain ranges reared themselves; foot hills and long divides, vast snowy peaks, impalpable sisters of Orizaba or Chimborazo, and deep gorges, ever narrowing, widening or deepening, across whose shadowy depths drove ribbons of thin gray mist. Once, as I was sailing over a broad canyon, I saw far off in the south a dark moving dot and knew with a sudden thrill that another man like myself, astride his gaunt buzzing bird, was exploring and marveling at this upper dream world.

New Seed Oils Will Supply Valuable Food, Tests Made By Government Have Proved

In experiments to determine the digestibility of oils made from corn, soy beans, sunflower seeds, Japanese mustard seed, rape seed, and charlock seed —oils not now commonly in use—the United States department of agriculture found that they are well assimilated, and in value compare favorably with other vegetable oils. These digestion experiments, reported in Bulletin 687 published by the department, are a part of the series which is being conducted by the department to determine the digestibility of various foods. During the test period (three days) in which the oils referred to constituted practically the entire sources ofefat, the subjects ate on an average of 58 to 90 grams per day, and did not report any ill effects. To judge by their digestibility these oils, according to the bulletin, should prove satisfactory sources of fat for the dietary.

IT IS TO LAUGH

Getting the Expression. “Will you take something to drink?” asked the photographer. “With pleasure,” the sitter replied. The photograph was taken and the sitter said: “But what about the little invitation?” “Oh, that’s just a professional ruse of mine to give a natural, interested expression to the face.” * In All Sincerity.

A Hot One. Mrs. A.—You were such a charming debutante, my dear, five years ago. Miss B. —Was I? I only remember you made such a lovely chaperone for me when I came out. Just Like People. “Microbes are . not all of one kind.” “No, indeed; there are romantic microbes that live in kisses, and mercenary microbes that live on dollar bills.” Strayed Away.

Adv ertisement —“Lost while going home to Brookline, black leather handbag.” You cannot always trust a black leather handbag to go straight home every night.

A Bad Start. Bride —Pm so afraid people will find out that we’re just married, that I’ve made Jack promise to treat me in public just r as if he had no thought of anyone but himself Mrs. Longwed—My dear, I adopted that plan when I was married, and my husband never got over it. Personal. He—The fools are not all dead yet, She—That’s as sure as you live.

“I made a bad break just now.” “How so?” “I told Miss Passee Td ask her to dance, only there wasn’t room on the floor to swing a cat!”

Ready-Made Farms for Returning Soldiers

PUn for Crering Homesteads for AO Who Have Fought er Served in the Great War.

By GEN. J. D. McINTYRE,

United States treasury homestead notes can be issued to cover the total cost of each project for making “Ready-Made Farms” and building community centers. The currency to be secured by 50-year amortized mortgages without interest on these soldier homesteads. The treasury noteti to be cancelled as fast as payments are received In liquidation of these noninterest bearing mortgages. The first step is for the homesteader to make allotment of a small part of his monthly government pay, and whenever he leaves the government service he or she will be eligible to select one of these “Ready-Made Farms, including a 'garden lot in the community center of not less than half an acre, and he will be automatically entitled to one share In the town, or community center. His allotment payments will be his first payment and all future payments will be collected as ordinary taxes. Let us take a small project for an example of say 1,000 homesteads. First 1,000 homesteaders make their allotments. The government surveys and estimates the cost to build 1,000 “Ready Made Farms” of from 5 to 80 acres,' according to climate and richness of soil, etc. The engineer at the same time surveys out a townsite with 1,000 half-acre garden lots, located

PLAN SUGGESTED FOR HOMESTEADS.

Included Is a nonsectarian church, theater, public hall, public school, playgrounds, hotel, department store, library, bank, conservatory of music, band stand, dancing pavilion, Roman baths, lawn tennis grounds, roque grounds, roller skating, garage, baseball grounds, railroad station, gatekeeper's lodge, lake for boating, mineral water well, electric light plant, water works, telephone exchange, parade grounds, ten acres of flowers, birds and trees.

around a community center of say 40 acres. His estimate includes the cost of all public utilities, educational, amusement and business buildings on some such plan as shown in the accompanying picture. The town belongs to the homesteaders, share and share alike, and their farms are near by. The people live on the half-acre garden lots around the social or community center. This is done to eliminate lonesomeness from rural life. Lonesome- ( ness is the father of farm tenantry and soil depletion. The town should be managed by the government the first five years; by that time the people will be trained and skilled sufficiently to manage it successfully on some commission form of government. For convenience we will name the town “The White City.” If the people by their labor make a city possible they should own it; but the main object is to secure by a fixed program and by co-operation the highest ideals in education, amusement, the science of health, fertilization, marketing, cooking and horticulture. Music should be part of a public education. The old selfish ways of living should be forgotten and the government is the proper authority to set the new twentieth-century pace. In this way the projects would cost the government nothing. The payments for homesteads cancel the treasury notes. In case of foreclosure the property could be sold as in. other delinquent tax sales. The treasury notes must be made receivable for all government' dues and taxes. This could not be called inflation of the currency, because the loan of the government credit is secured by an improved farm and the town besides, the best security on earth. If Hon. Frank K. Lane, secretary of the interior, and the congress would evolve a law on some such plan as this it would equalize the overgrowth of cities and the undergrowth of the country. It would solve the imperative need of homesteads for our warriors and it would settle up the vast waste places of rich land In this great continent.

Dry Bits.

Dry and put by for a rainy day.# It’s hard to beat nature’s way —save by drying. Food is mighty as the sword — save so we may send. Each pound of food dried now may save a life next winter. Can what you can—then dry the rest so that no morsel wastes. The apartment house drier — an electric fan and a window screen. Starvation has killed more people in Europe during the war than all those lost in battle.

Procedure in Becoming a Citizen of United States

Naturalization may take place in any United States court or in any state court of record. A foreigner desiring citizenship must first file with the court a declaration of intention, setting forth the main facts of his residence. Then, not less than two years after his declaration, and after a continuous residence of five years, he may apply to petition for citizenship. In this application he must declare his .allegiance to the United States and renounce other allegiance. He must not be an anarchist and he must speak English. If the applicant can pass a satisfactory examination on all these points, the court will order his admission to citizenship. , ,

Egg Candling a Science; Kansas Laws Demand It

Fifty egg-candling schools are conducted in Kansas by Dean E. C. Johnson of the Kansas State Agricultural college. These schools travel from place to place where there is need of instruction. They were created because many storekeepers do' not know how to candle eggs.- Candling is a food-sav-ing measure and the food administration has. ruled that all eggs must be so treated. State and city laws of Kansas also require candling.

Civil Engineer, Chicago.

THE PARTING

You go. And with you all my heart’s delight. I walk in darkness. Yet you leave my side That all the black world may again know light You go. I weep; and yet with perfect pride And glory born of sorrow, know you fight , , . Till all the bitter tears of earth are dried. You go. And o’er Spring’s gardens sweeps a cruel blight Yet, you depart that one day far and wide The poppy fields of Flanders may bloom bright You go. I bear a cross. And yet you ’ ride To greet mad Death, agrope in war s strange might. For him the unbelievers crucified. Today as then! Ah —go—in Youth’s pure might, . . „ . And should I lose you on that red, red tide _ Know that I shall not question Gods good right. —Faith Baldwin of The Vigilantes.

Quality of Memory of Boys and Girls in Early ’Teens

Some tests of hundreds of boys and girls between the ages of eleven and fourteen recently disclosed interesting results, writes a correspondent. The memories of boys up to ten years of age were infinitely better than those of the girls; after ten years the girls .leaped ahead. Then at fourteen the boys excelled the girls again. The girls were found by a large majority to have a truer idea of colors than the boys. Inaccuracies were, by a large majority, more prevalent among the girls than the boys. The moment an occurrence touched a girl’s personal interests, she at once began to exaggerate; a boy. immediately became silent or noncommittal.

Rock Baby to Sleep.

An attachment has been patented to link together a rocking chair and baby coach, the motions of the former making the latter serve as a cradle.

POULTRY KEEPING IN BACK YARDS

Poultry keeping, although ’a' comparatively simple undertaking, will be successful in direct proportion to the study and labor which are expended upon It There is an abundance of good material on the subject but Backyard Poultry Keeping (Farmers’ Bulletin 889), a publication of the United States department of agriculture, contains all the general directions needed to make a start. It tells how to overcome the objections to keeping poultry In the city, what kinds of fowls to keep, the size of the flock computed according to the size of the back yard, gives definite instructions as to the best kinds of chicken houses to build, with bill of materials for same, directions as to feeding the fowls, hatching and raising chicks, prevention of diseases and many other matters essential to the success of the undertaking. Another helpful bulletin of a general character is Hints to Poultry Raisers (Farmers’ Bulletin 528). This gives a great deal of useful and authoritative information within a very small compass.

47,500,000 Acres of Wheat Should Be Sown This Fall. For 1919 Liberty Harvest

A great liberty wheat harvest in 1919 is asked of American farmers in a national growing program issued by Secretary Houston after full consideration of the increasing needs foi this essential food at home and in the allied nations. .* Not less than 45,000,000 acres of winter wheat is called for in this fall’s sowing and Secretary Houston sug; gests that approximately 47,500,000 acres could be sown if conditions are especially favorable. The larger acreage, it was pointed .out, would better meet the estimated needs of the allied nations and the population at home. From the minimum acreage called for, which is only about the average of the five years 1913-17, it is estimated 636,000,000 bushels of winter wheat might be expected; from the suggested larger acreage, approximately 667,000000 bushels should be harvested. These production estimates are based upon an average yield of 15.7 bushels an acre and an abandonment of 10 per cent in the area sown, on account of winter kill. «...

Mother’s Cook Book

The grandest of heroic deeds are those which are performed within four walls and in domestic privacy. To be able to have things we want, that is riches; to be able to do without, that is power.—George McDonald. Food for the Family. Skim milk may be used in countless dishes where whole milk was formerly considered indispensable. Milk Soups. Take one quart of skim milk, onefourth of a cupful of meat fat or oleomargarine, one-fourth of a cupful of flour, two teaspoonfuls of salt. Melt the fat and stir it into the flour; when well mixed add the cold milk and cook until the flour is well cooked, stirring constantly. This thickened milk may be used as a foundation for any cream soup. Add two cupfuls of corn, peas, beans, or potato pulp. In using tomato, add a fourth of a teaspoonful of soda. One-half cupful of grated cheese or the same amount of peanut butter will make cheese or peanut soup. Peanut Loaf. Take one cupful of toasted bread crumbs, three-fourths of a- cupful of peanut butter, one-half of a cupful of rice, one teaspoonful of salt, a speck of pepper, and a teaspoonful of poultry dressing,' with a tablespoonful of chopped parsley. Combine, make in a loaf and bake thirty minutes; unmold and serve with tomato catsup. a Nut and Cheese Loaf. Nuts like legumes are rich in fat and protein. To aid in digestion they should be ground or chopped. Take one cupful of grated chOese, one cupful of walnut meats or hickory nut meats, one cupful of bread crumbs, two tablespoonfuls of water, one teaspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of onion and a few dashes of pepper; Cook the onion in a tablespoonful of oil and water until tender, add the other ingredients and bake in a loaf until brown. Garnish with lemon points.

Nut Muffins. * Take one and a half cupfuls of whole wheat flour, one-half teaspoonful of soda, the same of salt, a half cupful each of molasses and sour milk, one egg and a half cupful of nuts. Mix the dry ingredients, and the ground nuts, add other ingredients, stirring enough to mix and put into greased muffin pans. Bake thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Nut, Cheese, Date Salad. Stuff eighteen dates with seasoned cream cheese. Roll in chopped nuts. Arrange three on a salad plate with a pile of mayonnaise in the center.