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The Commoner
JUNE, 1922
K
An Auto Trip
Tho readers of The Commoner' may bo inter
ested in a brief accouat of an auto trip which I
recently made with. my wife. from San Antonio,
Texas, to Los Angeles. A Willys-Knight sedan
was the car used andthe distance, about fifteen
hundred miles, was made in nine days' travelling,
oxclusive-of days devoted to rest and repairs.
The six hundred miles from San Antonio to El
Paso fallowed the Old Spanish Trail, more than
half of which is a, first-class rpad, part hard sur
face and part a well graded gravel road. Of Hie
remainder more than, half is. passably good,
leaving less than a quarter of the way rough or
disagreeable. As the bad places are being re
paired and stretches of new road added constant
ly, oacli month will find the road more satisfac
tory. The trip is very interesting; it takes one
through the sheep and cattle sections which have
made western Texas famous. Kersville, a thriv
ing community about seventy miles from San
Antonio, is the last railroad town for some two
hundred miles. Junction City, the next stop, is
a very picturesque spot, sometimes called the
Yosomito of Texas. The-Llano rivers have their
junction here.
There is a spot twenty-five miles distant called
Seven Hundred Springs because springs to that
number flow from a cliff. This is also one of the
groat pecan centers, the river bottom being filled
with large pecan groves. Senora, the next count
ty seat, is the center of one of the best cattle
sections. Then comes Ozona with a similar en
vironment. In these places one becomes ac
quainted with the sturdy pioneer ranchmen who
are responsible for the development of western
Texas.
At Fort Strutton the ranchers and farmers are
brought together by the irrigation of consider
able areas made possible by springs of unusual
size. One spring bubblea up through the rocks
with a flow of some thirty-five million gallons
a day. There are other springs in the neighbor
hood of less capacity but not so attractive as the
big one which is worth travelling far to see.
Other springs with still larger areas of irri
gated land are found a little farther on at Bal
morhea. Then come the more extended irriga
tion areas watered by the Rio Grande. El Paso.
s tho terminus of tho first half of the trip, evory
hour of which is intertesting. Reception com
mutes accompanied us a large part of the way.
Prom El Paso, to Los Angeles is about nine
hundred miles, during which one enjoys an en
ure change of sceriery. Here the highway is
seldom far distant from the railroad and one
nnds larger towns, such as Demming, Lordsberg.
ew Mexico, Tuscon, Florence and Phoenix
Arizona, and Blythe, and other cities of Cali
lornia. The nine hundred miles were made in
five days' travel.
Along this part of the route also the roa'd is
jortiio most part excellent, and tho improve
3 now bein male will lea.ve but little bad
roau m a few years. The worst piece of road was
a sixty-one mile stretch in Arizona between
Pi,Sa!na river (al)out forty-five miles from
SirM, X) and Salwe. This runs through the
hn niir I)ai',t of Yu'ma County and is what may
snriGd a chuck holG road'" We broke some
springs passing over this road arid spent a day
Vflrv I n makin repairs. . While the town is
win i?,ma Ta witty Porter (Dick Wick Hall)
tew 1 J 8 ere claims for the town "from seven
cla L twe5ty when thQy are a"at home" they
wo ,i fr, K that lt has th Purest air in the
Ti.A J! thG bGSt water on tho Santa Fe route.
deiUL rs of the d0"sert add greatly to the
variP?v i m.thG trip' Tnoy ' are numerous in
conSf bril"ant ! color and are in striking
adorn the barrGn Plains which they
tho ,.nB lierJe on sees the desert blossoming as
naturS? i eels that h0 Is in thG Presence of
His )Ll bGautiea created by nature's .God, for
man? n en;ioynient so independent are they of
ThQ and culture.
throurri flMrney throueh Phoenix- carries one
gives tJ! a , famous Salt River Valley which
don ovnif, ri?ona's capital its environment of gar
in Caiifn1? and fleld At Blythe, the first town
that in B la one learns of the gigahtic project
rado onf n16 day t0 turn the waters of the Colo
's to inn . mlllion acres of land now arid and
million Ai5ve. lo thG People of tho southwest five
BotweoS iC,al h0r8 power'
stretch nf i BIytUe and Mecca one crosses a
s bad w nInQty-three miles about half of which
father nGi or InVPassable, according to the
'ornia win UI th enterprising people ofl Cali-
mn nt permit this condition to7 exist
long. The Old Spanish Trail will before manv
are Dad tho tourists are more thoughtful and ac
commodating, iam indebted tc caSontS
from Detroit for a ride of forty miles whei?S?ok-
ourScParrnlnrimPlled Uf t0 lighten tlle loJdln
our car, and had opportunity to help others.
? J8 UOt nGce88ary t0 speak of the roads aftor
?h le!g68 frm,thG ,ImPrial Valley and onto
the oiled roads of California. There one can
travel as fast as he wishes and sees about him all
the beauties of mountain and of plain.
The experience was thoroughly enjoyable;
Mrs. Bryan not only made tho journey without
suffering but felt better for tho ride. She will
spend the summer with our youngest daughter,
Grace (Mrs. R. L. Hargreaves), with our son
iim near"by l returned to cast my first voto
in Florida and then to take up my summer Chau
taquas which cover the remainder of June and
July and August. I commend an auto trip
across the country as both instructive and rest
ful. Each year will add to its pleasures and do
crease its hardships. W. J. BRYAN..
LLOYD GEORGE GIVES WARNING
(During one of the critical periods of tho
Genoa conference Lloyd George, Prime 'Minister
of Great Britain, made a personal appeal in the
interests of European harmony to the represen
tatives of the British and American press pres
ent. It was for the information of the press and
it was stipulated that his address should not bo
reported. Later, he gave his consent to its pub
lication in British and American papers. His
warning in relation to the attitude of the rest
of Europe toward Russia and Germany has at
tracted widespread attention and comment in tho
European press. The following extracts aro
taken from a published report of the address in
the London Daily Telegraph:)
"The question of whether carnage shall cease
in Europe depends on the issue o.f this Euro
pean conference. Think of what the situation
is. The whole eastern frontiers of Europe aro
unsettled. From the Baltic to the Black Sea
there is hardly a frontier line that is not con
tested. The Rumanian, the Galiclan, the Polish,
the Lithuanian frontiers are all contested, and
every one of them involves the possibility of a
terrible conflict in Europe. There is there an in
describable jumble of races which are sometimea
in one political combination and sometimes in .an
other. It is like the period when the crust of the
old earth was still in a state of flux and her sur
face was still shifting and indefinite. So now
this racial lava in Europe is boiling and shift
ing here and there, with possibilities of great
conflicts, which may draw in the whole of Europe
and in the last resort may involve even distant
America. ' Then you have Russia and Germany
in a state of semiantagonism to the rest of Eu
rope with barely suspended conflict.
"Anybody who imagines that by any combina
tion you can permanenty keep down these two
great peoples, representing two-thirds of the
people of Europe, must bo either blind or blink
ered. It is an impossibility. It is folly. It is
insanity. You must arrive at an understanding
which will include the whole of these peoples.
The peoples of Europe must be on good terms
with each other. You have only to look at the
possibilities of what may happen if Europe is
going to be permanently divided into two hostile
camps. The Russo-German agreement has been
a revelation to some people. I ventured to give
warning a long time ago as to what was inevit
able unless there was a good understanding as
to what would be absolutely inevitable when the
hunger of Russia is equipped by the anger of
Germany. How long will it be before Europe is
devastated if that represents the policy of any
combination in Europe? For the i moment" we
belong to. a dominant group which has won a
irreat war, and we are dominant and triumphant.
But these things do not last forever If our
victory degenerates into oppression, if it is tinc
tured and tainted by selfish interests, if a feel
ing arises in the conscience of mankind that wo
invA abused tho triumph that God placed in our
hands vengeance will inevitably follow as it
followed Hn the wake of the act which outraged
the moral sense of the world on the part of
Germany Wo must be just, we must be fair
Ave must be equitable, we mus show restraint
Z tfphour of our trim ph, otherwiso Europe
ln iin Sn welter of blood within the life
will bo again a we and oh9n whoflQ
jrfli!w n l7t the ord,nary
span of human life, and those who aro younger
among us will inevitably see it. That Is why I
have wrought hero to make tho Genoa confer
ence a success. I am alarmed at tho storma
which are gathering on tho horizon and rising
higher and highor in tho flrmamont over Europo.
They may not break immediately, but thoy will
inevitably do so unloss by oorao means tho at
mosphoro can bo cleared and wo got a fair day.
"I am talking rathor in an alarming vein. I
do not think I am unduly alarmist if tho Genoa
conference fails. Frankly, I wish America wero
horo. I know evory timo a British ropresonta- '
tive says that how it is interpreted in Amorica,
how they think wo want Amorica horo for some
solfish purpose. Wo do not. Wo want America
horo bocause sho holds a poculiar position, a po
sition of poculiar authority. Her vory aloofness
would give hor a right to speak that wo who aro ,
tangled in all theso old controversies can hardly
command, and if Amorica wore horo she could '
speak with an authority, with an influonco that '
no othor country can possibly command. Wo
have all been mixed up in thoso quarrels In Eu
rope for a time that tho memory of man runnoth
not to tho contrary. There aro old memories,
there aro ancient prejudices, and thoy aro al
ways, coming up whenever you advocate any par
ticular' course. Amorica would havo como in
fresh, free, independent, and disentanglod, with
an authority which comes from her groat posi
tion, and which would have boon Invaluable, and
her voice would, I know, havo been a voice of
peace, conciliation and good counsel."
REINVITED TO S. S. CONVENTION
William Jennings Bryan has been rolnvited lo
speak at tho International Sunday School Con
vention at Kansas City in Juno. Tho original
invitation, which was withdrawn aftor tho merg
er of tho International Sunday School Associa
tion and the Sunday School Council of Evangeli
cal Denominations into tho new body known as
the International Sunday School Council of Ro
ligious Education (this merger being subject to
ratification at tho Convention in Juno) has now
been extended to him again by action of tho
Program Committee which mot in Columbus,
Ohio, April 25 and 26. Tho further word In tho
matter which was promised in last weok's Issuo
' of The Sunday School Timos comes in a telegram
from Marion Lawrance just as this issuo is go
ing to press, as follows: "Kansas City Program
Committee, Kansas City Local Committee of One
Hundred, and Kansas City Ministers' AlHanco
joined in cordial, unanimous invitation to Mr.
Bryan to speak on the Convention program. Ho
has been notified by wiro; wo havo no reply yet."
This will be welcome news to the multitudes
of Sunday-school workers and other Christian
people for whoso evangelical convictions Mr.
Bryan is such a staunch and notable spokesman.
It may not be known to all that Mr. Bryan
teaches one of the largest Bible classes In tho v
world, if not the largest. He also writes every
week on tho International Sunday School Les
sons, having perhaps more readers than any
other one writer on these lessons. And, as all
know, he stands conspicuously for the evangeli
cal positions of the historic Christian" Church.
These qualifications equip him in an unusual
degree for a message on any platform that stands
for true religious education. It is to be earnest
ly hoped that Mr. Bryan will find it possible to
accept the urgent call for his presence at tho 4
great Sunday-school gathering. Sunday School
Times.
(Mr. Bryan has accepted and will attend.
Ed.)
Many of tho best water sites In the country
were squatted upon and taken by the big pow
er companies before the government got around
to seeing any necessity of conserving and keep
ing such sites for the benefit of future genera
tions. That is a mistake that cannot well be
remedied, but hero we are at the beginning of
radio development and about this no such blun
der should be permitted. Nobody knows much
about the future of radio save that whoever con
trols it has first chance at moulding public opin
ion. This should not be left to private hands.
Senator Capper has introduced a new bill in
congress to prevent gambling in grain on tho ox
changes of the country, the supreme court hav
ing found a legal flaw in the one that 'became a
law and which levied so heavy a tax on purely
speculative transactions that It would have been,
prohibitive. It ought to bo possible to write a
bill that would meet the approval of courts that
havo consistently refused to permit the collec
tion at law of losses on the boards of trade on
the ground that they constitute gambling and
are against public pojicy.
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