The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-08-01

HERE are about ninety thoosaho
 motor cars in Kansas, and o1 these more than 60 per cent are owned hv farmers. The prosperity of the ,v.,s.s farmer has ceased to cause remarks. It is taken as a matter o1
 course. The expert Passing of agronomist of that Rural Churches favored state WHO
 does not possess motor vehicles of some sort IS con- sn;cnous-not the man who owns one. But the prevalence of motor cars and the accompanying prosperity hiqher education and in a less degree the rural mail route have put the rural church in Kansas out of business.
 It is estimated by an investigator for the Kansas Sunday School assocla- tion that about five hundred rural ana small town churches have been aban- doned in Kansas in the past i've wears. These churches had lost their influence largely because there was a demand for better sermons and larger churches. The motor car makes it possible for widely scattered con- gregation to worship together in a modern edifice presided over by a first class preacher.
 There is pathos in the passing of the country church, but the changed conditions are an improvement over the old, making for broader outlook on life and perhaps more religious tolerance. At any rate the poorly paid ,ountry preacher is better off doing something else.
 tC0 long as the federalized National ID Guard on an all-year round pay oasis is in the experimental stage more or less criticism from military, as we'll as civilian sources, may be ex- pected. One pertinent question arises.
 Would former Would Garrison's Plan ec tary Have Worked Better? Garris ms
 cont mental army plan have met the national de- fense situation better? In the light of recent experience it is safe to assume that it would have been far from suc- cessful.
 MT. Garrison's plan, which was pre- sumably indorsed by the war college, called for a slight increase in the regular army and the creation of a large continental force. The conti- nentals were to be enlisted for a short term of years. They were to spend two months in camp each year and be on furlough the other ten months. After three years of intensive two- months training the men were to pass into a continental reserve corps for another short term of years. In this way it was thought by- supporters of the measure that the United States would in time have we'll drilled con- tinantal soldiery of million or more. The scheme looked good on paper, just as the federalized National Guard seems to many people to meet condl- tiens in something of an ideal way. But theory that appears to be right often turns out to be unavoidable. It would have been so with Garrison's continental army.
 In the first place the continental contingent could not have been re- cr6ited as fast as the friends of the plan had imagined it would. In the seeand place, the greater number of tho eantinentals would have been col lexe students on summer vacation, many of whom, just as soon as. they had graduated, would have begged to be released in order to settle down in some profitable employment.
 
 Because the continental proposition met with opposition in Congress and in administration preparedness cir clas Nr. Garrison resigned, and the National Guard measure, strongly ad- seseted by officers of the guard and