The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1916-08-12
As The Editor Sees 1t

Several years ago a cumbersome
contrivance on two wheels made its
appearance and created a furore of rid
icule, laughter and jeers. 1t was the
bicycle. 1t was called a rich mans
toy and a mollycoddle's plaything and
a short life was predicted. But the
prophets were at fault, the bicycle be-
came the greatest craze of its day,
and now is in general use as a practi-
cal necessity for people who find it
necessary to cover ground hurriedly
and yet can not afford the more ex-
pensive means.
A few years later another ugly look
ing monster pulled and snorted and
ratified its way into public notice, leav-
ing in its wake a streak of smoke and
foul smelling odors. 1t was the auto
mobile, and it, too, was greeted with
wild shouts and grimaces of ridicule.
The wise and the unwise both predict
ed it's failure as a practical vehicle of
motive power. Yet the millions in
use today testify to the falseness of
the greatest of our prophets.
A few weeks ago there appeared in
one of our Atlantic coast ports a great
and powerful merchant submarine. 1t
came from Germany and had nosed its
way beneath the surface into neutral
waters despite the watchfulness of the
warships of the allies. Another fu-
rore was created and the newspapers
were filled with accounts of the Won
derful craft that had made it's way
across the Atlantic with a cargo of
goods. Again the prophets see fail
ure ahead, but there are those who
believe the Deutschland to be but the
harbinger of a great fleet of underwa-
ter craft capable of conducting COM
mercial relations with other coun-
tries irrespective of blockades or enc
my ships of war.
These few instances but illustrate
the fact hat the ingenuity of man is
yet in it's infancy, that the surface of
scientific discovery has scarcely been
scratched, and that our children and
our children's children will look back
upon 1916 as we think of the Dark
Ages, when the mind of man was
sleeping in its cradle of lethargy.
X X X
When the war in Europe is over
there will be one great scramble by
the nations at strife in an effort to
regain the commerce of the world
which they have lost to the United
States while engaged in the doubtful
pastime of Sitting each others
throats. Desperate measures will be
devised by the shrewdest minds of the
old world in their campaign for COM
mercial self preservation, and to meet
this united onslaught the fnanciers
and manufacturers and other powers
of the business interests Of our own
country should be ever now entrench-
ing themselves and building a bulwark
of protection which even time itself
will find indestructible. We can not
hope to retain the advantages we have
gained unless extraordinary measures
are pursued, and any relaxation of
vigilance now or in the future will
result in commercial loss and eventual
disaster. 1t is time to act.
X X X
We are a firm believer in education.
We believe in the erection of build
ings that will not only afford the nee
essary opportunities for instruction,
but that will be strictly modern in
sanitary measures. We believe in
employing the best of instructors for
the guidance of our children in their
s%choolhood days, and we believe in
the selection of members of the Board
of Education and other public school
officials who will give their best
thought, energy and action to this end.
The right kind of a school board will
employ the right kind of teachers, and
they in their turn will produce from
our unlettered youth the keenest in
tellectlal minds of the fl1t11ra. LET lis