The Omaha Bee]
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AlORNIN G—E V E N I N G—S UNDAY
THE BEE PUBLISHING CO., Publisher
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OrnateVhefettie^bst is at its Best
MAKING EDUCATION BETTER.
President Coolidge, addressing the assembled '
teachers at Washington, spoke strongly for improve- ,
menta in education. He had, in his message to |
congress and in other addresses, endorsed the move
for a Department of Education with its head a cab- j
inet officer. In this later address he gives approval
to the principle if not the text of the so-called
Sterling-Reed bill, which has been before congress
since 1919.
This provides for federal aid for education, not
•exactly on the dollar-matching plan, but requiring
■ that no sum can be obtained by a state from the
• federal treasury greater than the state itself ex
' pends for the specific purpose. The law con
templates the eradication of illiteracy by the im
provement of school facilities and compulsory at
tendance. Attention will be given to the American
ization of immigrants, so far as instruction in the
.language and fundamentals of the nation are con
cerned. Special efforts will be made to improve the
. physical status of the boys and girls. Defects now
i common will be attended to, and it is hoped eradi
cated by proper courses in exercise. State laws
and state authority will, however, control the
schools in all matters. The federal effort will be
merely to assist such states as need the help and
apply for it, complying with certain definite re
quirements.
• • •
President Coolidge may cling to the “Little Red
School House’’ as an emblem, but he i; looking for
ward and not backward. He realizes the shortcom
ings and deficiencies of the old-fashioned one-room
building, and has this to say about the district
school:
“The old one-roomed school such as I attended
ought to give way to the consolidated school, with
a modern building, and adequate teaching force
' commensurate with the best advantages that are
provided for nur urban population. While. life .In
the open country has many advantages that are
denied to those reared on the pavements and
among crowded buildings, it ought no longer to be
handicapped by poor school facilities. The re
sources exist with which they can be provided, If
they are adequately marshaled and employed.”
This should not be regarded as an encourage
ment to extravagance in the schools, hut as a stimu
lus to advance in methods. Primitive habits and
customs in other ways have passed. The primitive
school should follow them.
* • *
Nebraska is very directly concerned in this. Sec
ond in the nation in point of low percentage of adult
illiteracy, Nebraska has some of the finest and some
of the poorest schools on the continent. The Omaha
Technical High school, costing $5,000,000, is ad
mittedly the finest of its kind in the world. We are
proud of it. At the same time we know In gome
parts of Nebraska school is maintained In the sod
house of a bygone pioneer day, and in other dis
tricts no school Is held. The district is too poor to
employ a teacher.
The wealthiest district in Nebraska has property
to the amount of nearly $24,000 per capita per pupil
* in attendance. The poorest district has only $1,100
per capita per pupil in attendance. How can a stand
ard be set between these two? One of the bills be
fore the last legislature looked to a survey of the
school situation in Nebraska. It was hoped that an
intelligent hasis might be had for studying the prob
lem, to the end that a solution may be reached. The
' measure passed the house, but went down In the
,iam in the senate at the lart minute. The next leg
islature should see that something of the sort is
provided.
* * *
The republican platform endorses the proposal
. to set up a Department of Education and make its
head a member of the president’s cabinet. The
republican party has always been the champion of
the American public school. It proposes to footer
und encourage education of the people and their chil
dren as far as the state may rightly go in the effort.
The president is in line with the platform. We be
lieve tils appeal to the public through his address to
; the teachers will strike a chord responsive to hi.:
! thought.
* WHAT THE PRIMARY DID NOT DISCLOSE.
Nebraska had a primary election in April, and
; now in July we get the official abstract of the vot
1 ing then done. So much for speed. As a matter
of official duty, Secretary of State I’ool found no
• occasion for frantic haste in mnking up the record.
• Plenty of time before November to do all the
' speculating that will be required, if any. Nothing
' noted in the figures suggests the presence of
novelty.
The total vote cast was several thousands below
>hat of 1922. To account for this one must fall
hack on the fact that this year the primary was
held in April. This was at a time when all things
wore favorable to working in the fields. On this
hypothesis mny rest whatever explanation of the
! discrepancy is needed. Republicans cast 136,614
< votes; democrats, 80,761; progressives, 2,170; pro
hibitionists, 126. This makes n total of 219,671
voles, as compared with 230,233 cast at the prl
,nary in 1922, in July and with several really inter
t.;'.i g contests in progress.
This total is just about 66 per cent of the vote
of the state at the November election in 1922,
when 407,673 ballots were cast. That was about
70 per cent of the possible vote of the state. Those
who argue against the primary system may find a
little consolation in the light vote. In the end it
discloses an unhealthy disposition on part of the
voters to disregard their duty on election day.
Enough politics is talked in Nebraska year after
year to justify expectation of a full vote. Such
anticipation is seldom realized.
What the primary does not disclose is more im
portant than what it does. One thing, the totals
afford no basis for judging the strength of any
party or movement. A warrantable inference is
that candidates will have to keep moving until
"sugaring off” time comes, near the end of Octo
ber. Republicans have every reason for confidence,
but that is not an excuse for indolence.
AT THE BOY’S BEDSIDE.
It is but natural that the American people have
turned their chief inquiry from Madison Square
Garden to the Walter Reed General hospital, in
Washington, where Calvin Coolidge, jr., is fighting
for life. A very simple thing is a blister on the
heel. Many a lad has one, perhaps none ever es
caped one. This one provided an open door through
which a deadly germ entered the body.
The staphylococcus is defined as being one of a
number of micrococci that form in clusters. In
young Coolidge it met little resistance, and swiftly
ran through all his veins and arteries. Almost be
fore any one knew it, the lad was sick unto death.
All that medical science or surgical skill can do is
being done for the sufferer. By his bedside father
and mother watch, anxiously noting the changes
ns they pass, for good or evil. Praying that the son
of their loving hearts be spared.
So all fathers and mothers, nay, all Americans
pray, hoping the fine lad will come out of the Valley
of the Shadow, into which he has descended, and
that he may grow to manhood.
America’s heart is again in Washington, beside a
sick bed, that of a boy whose passing would bring
much sorrow to the nation, because his father is
our chief magistrate. It is the touch that makes all
men and all women kin. All look eagerly for good
news from the siclj room.
RAIN AND THE GOOD ROAD.
Nebraskans will very soon be taking stock of
what the big rains left of the highway system. They
will discover washouts, great gullies across dirt
roads. Embankments will have disappeared in many
places. A lot of work on which time and money
has been spent will have to be done over. Not a
few piers are standing alongside creeks and small
rivers, with the superstructure gone down stream.
Generally havoc has been wrought.
One thing is certain, though. The well built,
properly drained, hard surfaced road is still there,
giving its sendee. It served during the worst of
the rains, just as it does through the hottest of
drouths. So, too,, with the permanent bridge. It
stood the floods, and was safe when the freshet was
most threatening. The good road and the good
bridge are a comfort in time of storm as well as a
great help to business all the year through.
Nebraskans have had plenty of experience. They
ought to be ready to seriously take up the high
way problem. Right now $4,000,000 is waiting in
the United States treasury for Nebraska. We only
have to appropriate $983,000 to Bet it. This is at
the rate of 24 cents on the dollar. The problem is
one for the next legislature.
Will the people of the state continue to emulate
the backwoodsman, who couldn’t fix the roof V1 en
it was raining, and let it go because it wasn't neces
sary when there was no rain? Or will they go
after the federal money that is waiting, and see
that it is Used for good roads?
Remember, Nebraska contributes proportionate
ly to the federal fund whether any of it comei^ack
to the state or not. How long will our people be
content to hold rank as forty-fifth in the matter of
highways?
JAMES W. METCALFE.
It is said that every man in the world has his
special work, but some never find it. James W. Met
calfe, whose body was laid to rest at St. Louis by
his brother, Richard Lee Metcalfe, on Monday, found
his. It was a singular sort of service, one that is
very essential to all, and which requires a peculiar
gift of character and application alike.
He organized the Omaha Retailers’ association,
the purpose of which was to secure concerted action
on matters of common interest. Retail merchants
have many such Interests. They found in the as
sociation of which Mr. Metcalfe was secretary for
so long the solution of many of the problems that
had harassed and vexed them. One of them was
credit. Out of the Retailers’ association, Mr. Met
calfe organized the credit bureau, w’hich has come
to be an institution of importance to the whole com
munity, to those who buy as well ns to those who
sell. It has the quality of being the cog that holds
the machine 'together and keeps all wheels tnrning.
Mr. Metcalfe gave himc.elf entirely to this work,
once he had sot his course. Ho made for himself a
name that extended far beyond Omaha. Out of his
venture here grew the national association of retail
credit men, of which he also was secretary. Thus
his ideas expanded and not only is business in Omaha
bbtter because of his work, but that of the country
, has largely been put on a more stable basis through
“Jim” Metcalfe’s endeavors.
He found his plnce and filled it W’ell.
Homespun Verse
—By Omnha'i Own Poet—
Robert Worthington Davie
s-—_——-/
REACHING INTO THE DARK.
Jf wo nil wore In our fitted places,—
1 la^l position! which of yore have made
Progress true among tho various races.
And pursued a long apprenticed trnde—
Few mistakes would lie and fewer sorrows.
Faster to a worthy plane we'd soar;
Wonderful todays and bright tomorrows
We would share and welcome more and more.
If, perhaps, our friendships bore no flavor*,
If our honest worth was measured aa are feet,
If possession yielded not to favors—
Bitterness would mould our deeds more sweet;
If. perhaps, there were no wings In rising,—
If equality wag not so much a name,—
If there was no nldlng, no devising—
There would be less failure and no shame.
Here In mart ns In the halls of honor
Oft. wo tlnd a mighty sovereign who alone,
By the hand of a recipient donor.
Has both fame and wealth upon him thrown:
Thus success grows less a dream, and glory
From Tradition draws to shallow thought,
While Old Time writes out In full the story—
Much Is promised, asked—hut little wrought.
\ And It Was an Unbossed Convention •
'
Letters From
Our Readers
All letter* mtiftt be nlpncd. but nnme
will be withheld upon refluent. Cun- -
municjatioim of 2li0 word* and lea* |
will be liven preference.
V_/
Socialism, Communism, Sovetlsin and
Inionism.
Omaha.—To the Editor of The
Omaha Bee: The platform on which
Hon. Robert Marion I>n Foliette
launches himself as a candidate for
president is carefully designed to
catch the pecukar type of voter he
has always catered to. Now, I do not
want to be misunderstood in my atti
ture toward l.a Foliette. He has done
some very worthy things in his time,
and he lias done much that is un
worthy. For instance, in the last ses
sion of congress he was the only real
leader who appeared. He took a little
group of senators and so. maneuvered
them as to thwart the administration
Rt every turn. But he did not suc
ceed in putting over a single I .a Fol
lette measure. His triumph was mere
ly negative. He has many of these
to his credit, and not very many of
the positive sort.
In the main, the program as out
lined by the Cleveland conference that
accepted Mr. Iai Follette’s platform
and approved his seif-starting nomi
nation, Includes about all the social
Ists have been contending for since
Carl Marx propounded his theory of
communism, even the dictatorship of
the proletariat, although that is not
baldly stated. For example, govern-'
merit ownership of railroads, with
democratic management (the Plumb
plan), varies so slightly from the Rus
sian model that even an expert must
look closely to note the difference. i
What will become of the railroad
brotherhoods and shop craft unions
once the roads pass Into public own
ership. and the men have a share In'
the management? Fnder the Plumb
plan they will have a double share,
for representatives of the govern
ment, the workers and the public arc
to make up the beard of control, and
the government will lie controlled by,
the workers, if their hope U realized.
Instead of the transportation system’
icing managed from Wall street, it
will be directed from the roundhouse
or the switch shanty. Even that
might be an Improvement.
However, we step to the next point.;
A direct route from the producer to
the consumer. This Is the elimina
tion of all middlemen, except such as
are unavoidably needed to carry on.
In order to avoid a clash here, there
must be coordination between the
transportation system and the produc
ing and consuming. That, of course,
is a detail, but it may be a mighty
interesting one before It Is settled
Any doubt ss to this may be referred
to the experiment of North Dakota,
where the route was made direct from
the wheat field to the bake shop at
bast, anil the wheat refused to travel
that path.
As to work and wages: Well, every
body who Is displaced from another
occupation by reason of the ellmlna
tlon of a great many Industries that,
now employ men in the distribution
of the country's production will
it once attached to the federal pay
roll. We may note what took place
when the government began to oper
ate the railroads in 1918. Or what
happened in Canada, where in 1920
the government employed 380,000
more men to operate 1,200 mil A leas
road than in 1914.
By the way, that -overnment rail
road Job of ours o.--.it to be one of(
Mr. Ua Follette's strongest talking;
points. From January 1, 1918, to
April 1. 1920. the government oper i
att-4 the railroads of the United
States. Twenty-seven months of the
greatest glut of tratlic ever known.
More tons of freight hauled, more pas
sengers carried, and higher rates
charged, and yet It cost Uncle Pam In
ad'lition to all the revenue Just $100,-j
000,000 a month, or $2,700,000,000 In
all. La Follette may be a better
railroad man than McAdoo, at that.
Wbat I want to inquire Is. Where
do the trade unions come in?" They
will be asked to vote for all this, but
what does It mean to them? One of
the first institutions to be demolished
I will be the American Federation of
Labor. In 1910, at Pt. Louis. Mr.
■ Victor L. Berger declared the Amerl
jean Federation of Labor had outlived
its usefulness, and that he would
; w aste no time attending its sessions,
j He has not. What he would substi
tute is something like the British
Trades and Labor Congress, which
has nothing to do with either trades
or labor, but is a clearing house for
British socialist politics. The mem
iters of American trades unions, par
Iticularly those who are engaged in
j skilled crafts or callings, will do well
i to ponder this situation. Trades
unionism may be swallowed up in so
cialism In the United States as it has
been in Europe. UNION MAN.
Nothin' makes an' author as
mad as receivin’ a request fer his
autograph when he’s lookin’ fer
money. Next t’ payin’ 50 cents
fer a bnked Idaho p’tater, th’ short
est run fer th' money we've ever
heard of wux th’ late four billion
dollar congress.
_(Copyrlghf. mt)
Circle 'round the west this summer. Visit charming California.
Enjoy Its matchless beauty of tea and mountain. Know the scenic
grandeur of the Pacific Northwest The American Wonderland.
Go to California via Denver, the Colorado Springs-Pikes Teak
Region, the Royal Gorge, Scenic Colorado and Salt Lake City; then
return via the North Coast. Motor over the wonderful Columbia
Rivet Highway from Portland; from Tacoma or Seattle visit the
Rainier Park flowrrland and make a sea voyage on Puget Sound.
Stop off at Glacier or side trip to Yellow stone National Park or both.
All this you can do on your comprehensive Burlington Tour of ftOOO
thrilling miles. Special summer excursion fares reduce the cost
to only
Typically superior Burlington service is at yout disposal going aud
returning. Through cars—or stop off where you wish.
Information, reservations, descriptive
booklets tickets- service
BURLINGTON TRAVEL BUREAU
Uth and Farnaas, Omaha, Nsh
Phones Atlantia *«7S ssS SStl
J. W SHARPE. City Fan Ast..) *. REYNOLDS.City Tti Ajs.
Burlington
l>».Hail.»naira^Um, _
| SUNNY SIDE W\
ckJce Comfort nor foroet
9Kat sunrise nm/tr^ttra^aiyet^uforl
A Kansas editor thinks he has hit on a great idea, that of j
starting a "For Men Only" barber shop. But he wouldn't get
to first base with it. The big majority of men are decent
chaps, and they prefer tije present situation to the old one
where lewd stories, obscenity and profanity prevailed.
And in spite of what men say, they like to sit in the next chair
and cast surreptitious but admiring glances at the young
woman who is getting tv r shingle bob or shampoo. Money in
vested in wildcat oil stock is a safer investment than money
put into a "For Men Only'' barber shop.
Frank E. Helvey of Lincoln and elsewhere tenders a sort
i f apology for his poetic effusion in which he sought to cast
aspersions on the Oregon town named after us. But he need
not apologize. Our municipal namesake is larger than Frank’s
native town, and 100 years younger. It has a good newspaper,
two railroads, a bank with real money In It, salmon canneries,
and a mighty good name. Besides, the fishing round about is
said to be superior. In all kindness we suggest to friend Frank
that he re read the story of the gentleman who was hoist by
his own petard. By the way, our friendship with Frank has a
sound and substantial basis. He is the only man in the west
who knows as many of the old church hymns as we do.
Thursday, July 10, will be the annual grouch chasing day
of the Ad-Sell league, the occasion being a family picnic at
Elmwood park. Among other athletic attractions will be a pie
I eating contest between Dr. Stuart MarDairmld and ourself, i
"Doc" furnishing the pies. "Doc” wanted blackberry pie,
knowing our dental deficiencies, hut after arbitration pumpkin
was decided qpon as having the least resistance.
To date we have managed to restrain our natural tendency
to get all het up over conditions in New York. Fruit canning
being on In full blast, domestic conditions furnish about al!
the mental torridlty we are able to assimilate. When Lottie
Clifford ties a dust cloth around her head and begins filling
fruit jars, she becomes a veritable besom of destruction to
home comfort. The only comforting thought in connection
therewith is of the gustatory delights sure to come between
the first frost and the awakening of spring.
It is surprising how many successful men in big business
and the professions were once members of the Home Town
Silver Comet Band. Also, how many men who have not
achieved success who were also members of the organization.
We have one of the latter in mind. He played a yellow b-flat
clarinet by ear and awkwardness.
For several months we have been devoting our spare time
to the reading of sacred history, trying to find some record of
early Christians who were careful to wear masks when they
bore aloft the cross as the emblem of their faith. To date our
search h,!” been nnaw ling, but we haven't yet exhausted the
books In that section of the library.
We hear quite a lot shout the desirability of deporting
aliens who persist in violating the prohibitory laws. The sug
gestion would meet with heartier approval from us if it were
coupled with some equally good suggestion as to the proper
method of dealing with those who boast of their Americanism
while persistently violating those same laws.
WILL M. MAUPIN.
w. ■ -
YOU CAN RIDE
FROM OMAHA TO
NEW
YORK
FOR
1
I
y*ur tkkit rtMi rU
ERIE RAILROAD
FROM CHICAGO
Tb« M«ole p*M«ti|tr root.
Two of the finest through trains dailr. ;
Nightlv slr< rer to Columbus. Ohio
Ask any Ticket Agent of connecting
lines or writs
S. L. CLARK. General Agent
Woodmen of the World Bldg., Omaha. Neh
A F. Wainscott. Trav. Tas*. Agt., 339
Fiilwiy Exc. B'dg., Kansas City. Mo
H. C. H0LA3IKD, G. P. A., Chicago
nrr.r
The Third Party.
"What are you doing here?’’ Bald
the young man to his sweetheart'*
little brother. "We ran get along
here on the porch without you."
”1 know." replied the lad. "but you
see I'm the third party that is al
ways bobbing up to Interfere with th*
pleasure of the regulars."—Detroit
Free Press.
W hen in Omaha
Hotel Conant
250 Rooms—250 Baths—Rues $2 to $3
STAR
Special Touring
$735
At Omaha
Disc Wheel*
Cord Tire*
Nickel Radiator
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Colors—Blue or Maroon
Here 54 Year*
Andrew Murphy & Son
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