davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1916-08-20
She Advocates an Oc@am-to-Oc@am Highway

thickly most of the country is settled
through which they traverse. If they
are made the national ocean-to ocean
highway, over such road rural free
thousands of homes. Farmers by its
means can market their products to
greater advantage than ever before
and their children viii attend school
with convenience and ease.
"As a national ocean-to-ocean high
way thousands of motorists will trav-
erse the historic trails of their an
cestors and learn to know their coun-
try better. and they cannot fail to be
entranced by it's natural beauties and
amazed at the financial possibilities
awaiting development.
LAS measure of preparation for the
defense of our nation good roads are
of inestimable value, as has been
proved in the present European war"
declared Mrs. McCleary. The great
battle of the Marine. which saved Paris
from a siege and possible destruction.
was won by the French by the rapid
by the use of thousands of automo-
biles. All the foreign powers involved
in this awful struggle have been
greatly aided by transporting troops
and munitions of war over good roads
when railroad bridges were burned.
tracks torn up or trains loaded with
the wounded.
ITO me 1t seems Just as patriotic to
defend ones country. using good roads
as a means to this end, and protect
the living as to build monuments to
commemorate the achievements of
war. To fulfill this purpose a national
highway from ocean to ocean along the
lines we have outlined would prove a
means of national defense, a memorial
worthy of our early pioneers, a great
factor in the social and commercial de-
velopment of our country and prac-
tical lesson in patriotism-a monument
which would not only honor the dead
but also serve the living"
Evening star., 1916-08-20

timbered national forests are located
is still a practical wilderness. The very
foundation of any development in such
sections is the construction of roads
and bridges and this is in many places
enormously expensive.
I'm many instances the national for
ests occupy from 20 to 60 per cent of
the area of the counties and contain
timber of vast value. Is there any
wonder that the people are protesting
iect to taxes and are not yielding much
from timber sales or grazing privileges,
are not contributing as they should to
the development of their communities?
Often the phrase is used that the for
ests are blocking development or that
the resources are locked up. This is,
of course. not true, because their re-
sources are available for use. What
forests are not contributing as they
should to the development of the COM
munities in which they are located.
Various proposals have been made,
from time to time, looking to a possi-
common proposal has been to abolish
the national forests and distribute the
land among private owners in order
that it may be brought under taxation.
To make clear the utterly destructive
character of such program would
need only review of the scandals that
accompanied the operation of the land
laws as they pertained to timber lands.
prior to the establishment of the ma
tional forests, and a review of the re-
suits of private ownership of large
areas of forest land, where there has
been no public control or public par
ticipation in the protection and hand
ling of them.
The national forests will. in time, be
one of the greatest sources of local
prosperity. Publicly owned, they will
be protected from destruction and their
resources will be available for contin-
uous service in building up and per-
manentIv maintaining local industries
Above all, they serve the public and
their benefits can be shared by the
average man instead of serving to en-
rich a few who might be in position
to secure control of them.
The new policy of Congress in ad-
vancing s10,0OO.OO0 for road building
through the forests-for the entire
amount Is to be repaid to the Treasury
in time-fully meets the local difiicul-
ties arising from the fact that the
national forests are not subject to
taxatfon. II makes the forest resources
Immediately realizable for public i'm
movements; it accomplishes deVel-
opment not possible without pubic aid;
II stimulates agricultural development
it relieves the now struggling commu-
Evening star., 1916-08-20

ing of Etain by the young warrior Is
ali of a piece with the rest OF TINS
Young day. 1t is SO fresh, ana simple
and out-of doors, so dignified and noble
withal, that one, seeking parallel fol
this beautiful wooing, finds 1t only II
the early art of Maurice Hewlett. The
whole is so remote from this mechanl-
cal day, SO personal and vivid and IN.
sistent of its youth, that one finds the
romance something like refuge from
the complex urge of the present real
isms of fiction.
land Wells Williams. Frortispiece
by ]. Henry. New York: Frederick
A. Stokes Company.
The title of this novel sums the no
very remarkable changes that sustain
and complete its plot. This plot works
out, chiefly, in the American atmos-
phere of Yale University and, subse-
uuently. in that of the social and busi-
ness life of the eastern seaboard. The
essence of the story is, however, the
romance of brotherhood. 1t is in the
development of substantial friend
ship and mutual obligation between
two brothers that this writer has
achieved a distinct triumph. The
theme an unusual one, does not, upon
its surface, look like a fruitful one.
But Mr. Williams. going below the
surface, finds there rich vein of COM
munity feeling and interest which, with
originality and reserve, he works out
through the blood bond, and the spirit
bond of these two boys College life,
business career, counting and marry
ing are the material whose natural and
happy treatment contribute interest
ineIy to the fulfillment of this novel
and suggestive theme
IN BRIEF AUTHORITY. BY F. Anstey,
author of "Vice Versa" etc. New
York: George II. Doran Company.
+. Anstey here engages in the very
creditable business of giving readers
a rest from the tones of war books
that fall from the press in dlsmaying
numbers nowadays. This is a chance
to laugh over the whimsical notion of
a whole family being whisked away
into a fairyland of gently satlrlcal nap
penings where Impossible thlhgS come
true every minute of the day The
story is a kind of glorified escape from
the stodgy rule of responsibility into a
lawless land of nowhere. One is sorry
that the writer did not choose Tor TINS
adventure a family that was IN open
rebellion against reSpectabilIty, rather
than one in body-and-soul bond to it
but, in that case the fairy tale would
have missed the whimsical irony that
constitutes it's chief charm.
A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY. By
Ernest F. Henderson. New York:
The Macmillan Company.
This short history of Germany ap-
pears in new edition-the eighth-at
exactly the right time. Germany is an
uppermost subject, one to which the
public mind is just now wide open. A
multitude of special studies on the Teu-
ton crisis has served to create demand
for background of general knowledge
upon which to set immediate matters in
something like a fair relation to the
entire fabric of German development.
This history supplies such background.
Its purpose is to furnish an outline of
those events which have contributed
distinctly to the development of the
German people, from their beginnings
in the first decade of the ChrEtian era
Evening star., 1916-08-20

road committee has made. embraces in
it's progress across the country the
Boston post road, which ran between
Boston and New York. the oldest post
road in the United States, dating from
1873, as well as the road which George
Washington traversed on his many
journeys between his home at Mount
Vernon and New York.
Historic Braddock's road, from Hamp-
ton to Cumberland. is covered, and
there the highway takes in the famous
old National pike" from Cumberland
to st. Louis. The history of this
famous road from the Potomac to the
Ohio is we'll known. II was 700 miles
in length, cost the United States gov
ernment seven millions in money and
was one of the most important steps
in that movement of national eX-
pansion which followed the conquest
of the west.
Daniel Boone. who opened many
roads for his friends of that day and
his followers who came after. is fitly
memorialized by the embodying of his
Lick road. which would carry the
Evening star., 1916-08-20

mites from a burden of taxation they
would otherwise have to assume II the
development of many OF the forests is
to go forward as rapidly as 1t should; !;
sources and in every way 1t Will work
to help the individual man. with such
plan in operation there Is removed
the one barrier that now IN rev
places prevents the farmer from en-
joying Immediately the benefits of the
national forests.
But there are other and very con-
siderable benefits which viii arise from
the wise expenditure OF this advance
by Congress- Consider, for example, the
manner in which the 500 miles of new
roads which the forest service will be
enabled annually to construct under
the recent appropriation will aid in the
fighting of the disastrous forest fires.
'T remember once, not long ago.
riding with the supervisor of the
Clearwater national forest, in Idaho,
over the crest of high range of hills
they would be mountains in the east
following an old Indian trail, the only
method of penetrating to the section
we wished to reach. Suddenly the su-
pervisor spotted curling tongue of
smoke rising from the center of the
forest, not ten miles away, as the
crow flies. The supervisor was clearly
worried over the appearance of fire
in that section and conjectured whether
the ranger in whose section 1t was
would be able to reach it in time to
get it under control.
why not investigate it ourselves? p
1 suggested.
THE supervisor shook his head. The
only way to get to that fire. he said
would be to retrace our steps for three
days until we reached the railroad and
then travel good many miles until
we got. directly on the other side OF
the fire. That trip, together with the
time we would have to spend in pene-
trating the forest on the other side
would consume not less than week
So it's hardly worth while. We will
have to depend upon the rangers to
prevent the flames from gaining head
way
Now, had a system of roads-even
If they were poor roads - existed
through the Clearwater national for
est it would have been comparatively
simple matter to penetrate to any sec
tion, carrying the apparatus and equip
ment needed for fighting the flames
Trails are we'll enough in their way
but roads are incomparably better, IN
asmuch as they permit of the passage
of wagons or motors carrying the
food, clothing and equipment OF the
rangers at far greater rate OF speed
than is possible by means OF the
trails. 1 do not think that 1T is toe
much to say that the expenditure OF
Evening star., 1916-08-20
A FOREST SERVICE ROAD MAKER IN CAMP.

clear the land During the period of
actually establishing the farm there is
little or no income from it. and. usual
w. the settlers cannot afford to pay high
taxes. Under such circumstances the
burden of road building is so great
that development is slow and in thou
sands of cases the settlers give it up
entirely and abandon their homesteads
The national forests comprise the
remotest and least settled localities. In
many cases farming in these regions is
still pioneer work. under as difficult
conditions as ever existed in this coun
try Near the forests very large areas
of excellent agricultural land are lying
idle-lands capable of supporting many
thousands of families and adding great
" to the food supply of the nation. One
great reason why a good deal of this
land lies Idle is the lack of roads, and
the recent congressional appropriation,
aided by the amount which we will re-
ceive from the states and counties, will
remedy this condition to a considerable
degree.
The road problem Of the forests is
Evening star., 1916-08-20

Gilbert Cannan, author OIL Olu
Mole" etc. New York: George H.
Doran Company.
-HIS is long novel, well
toward COO pages in length.
1t is, besides, in its effect
made longer than this even
by severe and unremitting
use of the modern method of realism
Mr. Cannans habit is to go into per-
son, and shut the door, and sit down,
and keep still. The person thus in
yaded, not knowing of his visitor, as
a matter of course, acts up exactly as
if he were alone. Mr.. Cannan emefses
from his retreat armed and equipped
with the truth about that person. Then,
with pen that is actually obsessed to
tell the whole truth and nothing put
the truth. Mr.. Cannan proceeds to de-
liver that person in his totality over TO
the written page. "A great method this
for those whose attitude toward the
office of fiction is similar to that OF
this writer and his school. And this Is
a great character story Margaret
Lawrie. Scotch, indomitable in her
pride and courage and instinct toward
tyranny, is the central figure here.
Around her are her three sons. bred
sedulously in the tradition that sus-
tains rigidly the spirit of their
mother The same painstaking that
fore one than his next-door neighbor
presents each of these sons in the day
by-day development of his career under
the canny patronage of the mothers
brother, Andrew Keith, successful buSi-
ness man of the bustiing town of Trigs-
by. in the north of England Mr.. Cam
nan creates in perfect hdelity the at
mosphere of commercialism in which
these boys grow, depicting in scientific
eXactness its effect upon the funda-
mental Scotch nature of each To his
interest in Margaret Lawrie, the read
er adds an equal absorption in the af-
fairs of Jamie, the eldest son. who, out
of a temperament that is free and ar
ttstic and open, proves sad rebel
against the cast-iron pride and narrow
ness of his mother. The other boys
Tom and John-remain true to the
Scotch pattern. in the main, and by this
fNity of mold prove less interesting
than the one who is in revolt. 1t is an
amazing portraiture of character, and
the whole inside equipment of human
nature embodied in this Scotch family.
THE PORTION OF A CHAMPION. By
Francis o Sullivan tighe. New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons.
Ireland, along with every other land.
has had it's heroic age, that ancient
day whose records are gorgeous with
the fictionS that time has used for the
adornment of fact. The Portion of a
Champion" is a story of Ireland in it's
youthful. heroic years. Conal, the hero,
is a chieftains son, and this is the
chronicle of his worthfulness to that
title. o Sullivan tighe here, from full
hand, sets the verdant and shining field
on which Copal. without fear OF chal-
lenge, proves himself a champion Of
warriors and prince of wooers. With
the armies of King Dathi he makes a
triumphant way into Gaul and Italy,
trying arms with many a Gaul and
Hun, with many a soldier of the Roman
legions themselves. The best of the
romance, however. is that part that is
played in old ireland itself, in the
earlier days of Conal, with the out
lawry of the lad. with the attack on
his ancestral castle, with his fight to
the service Of the king. And the WOO
Evening star., 1916-08-20

& q NCLE SAM is preparing to
III II open up a new public play
III II ground to the people of the
~ United States.
The national forests-150 of them
covering an area of about 162.OO0,o0o
acres-are to he made accessible by
the expenditure of a recent appropri-
alton by Congress of s1o.ooO,O00 for
roads through these hitherto little
known sections. A million dollars
wear is to be spent by the forest serv-
ice for the next ten years in this work
and. inasmuch as the states and coun-
ties viii contribute a like amount
Government officials figure that ap-
proximately 5000 miles of new road
will be constructed during the life OF
the appropriation.
This mileage will not only make it
possible for travellers to penetrate to
the heart of the virgin woods and
enjoy scenic pleasures which have for
merly been inaccessible. but it Will
form n species of insurance against
forest fires which has been almost en-
tirely lacking in the past. in addition
TO rendering far more habitable the
hot and otherwise disagreeable sec
tions lying on the outskirts of the
forests, districts from which the resi-
dents now have to travel scores of
miles to secure relief from the heat.
The forest service has been trying
for years 10 obtain from Congress an
appropriation which would enable
them to construct these rnuch-needed
roads. but the legislation always
failed. The BILL however. has Just
been passed and. upon its signature
by the President. the service was noti-
fed that the money was available for
the needs of the wooded sections set
aside by the government for the use of
the people.
The ten n-million dollar appropriation,
carried as part of the eighty-five-
million-dollar good roads BILL" said
Chief Forester Henry s. Graves. in dis
cussing the matter recently, will mean
a great deal. not only TO the forests
and the residents of the adjacent coun-
try. but to the people of the United
States as a whole. It will mean that
we will be able to construct about FIVE
times as many miles of road per year
as formerly; that the interior of the
forests, containing some of the most
wonderful natural scenery on the con-
tinent, will be opened to easy automo-
bile travel; that the forest rangers will
be enabled to fight the costly forest
fires with far greater ease than for
Evening star., 1916-08-20

merly. and that the residents of nearly
low sections. who formerly had no re-
lief from the heat of summer, will now
be able to enjoy the GOODNESS of the
woods nearby. instead of travelling
many miles to some more accessible
spot. Congress has done great good
in appropriating this money, and it is
proba BILE that, in only n few years. four
or five million persons year Will be
enabled to enjoy the benefit of the ma
tonal forests. while in the past the
average number of pleasure seekers
and tourists was about 100000
"One of the farmers first needs is
adequate transportation. Millions of
acres of farm land are today unde-
veloped because of the lack of good
roads. In opening new rountry road
building constitutes a hard problem
for the settlers. At first their num-
ber is small; every man is struggling
to erect home and farm buildings and
Evening star., 1916-08-20

100000 by the government would
be entirely justified IL only on the
ground of fire insurance, for the ma
tons holdings in the forests are OF
tremendous value, and the road system
will render II far easier for us to hight
the progress of the flames. no matter
where they may spring up.
1T is not our intention to construct
expensive roads. Passageways, rather
than boulevards, will be the aim of the
service The roads which we are now
constructing cost us in the neighbor-
hood of $4,000 mile, when the coun-
try to be traversed is not too dificpit
and there Is no solid rock to be drill
ed through or blown away. Our desire
is to build a network of roads, giving
access to all the principal parts OF the
forests so that the people OF the United
States the real owners of the forests,
may share in the benefits of the reser-
yations Many of the forests contain
really remarkable natural scenery.
waterfalls are abundant and for
sheer rugged beauty l could name half
a dozen almost unexplored portions OF
the forests which are comparable to
ANYTHING on this continent. The roads
we build may not be of the very finest
nature. neither will they be entirely
smooth and free from ruts and depres-
stons. but they will form a passa geway
for automobiles and vehicles of all de-
scriptions, and they will open up the
forests to all lovers OF nature and nat
ural beauty.
Another benefit which will como
from the new system. OF road building
will accure to the residents of certain
sections which are almost contiguous
to the forests, but where the interior
of the government property is tnacces-
sible Consider, for example. the peo-
ple living in certain sections OF the
northwest. Summer in those places is
not only warm-it is hot. But the resi-
dents have nowhere to go. There are
national forests only a few miles away.
but at present there is no way for
travellers to penetrate to the cooless OF
the interior Therefore the residents OF
these sections have to travel many
miles away to secure the beneht OF
mountain resorts when there are places
nearby which would serve quite as
well IL only the roads were built. The
forest service, following receipt of the
recent congressional appropriation, In
tends to construct these roads and
throw open to the public what is really
their property-the vast GOODNESS and
wonderful beauty of the interior Of the
national forests.
"'See America First will be some
thing more than a slogan when the
service gets through with its work, for
the act of seeing will be rendered
much easier and far more pleasurabls."
Evening star., 1916-08-20
If Only.

mRESIDENT WILSON said one day.
during his Princeton presidency, to
an athlete who had flunked:
MY boy, it's too bad you do SO wretch
edly in the lecture room and SO well on
the gridiron! All. my boy, my boy; II
people only hoped up and cheered us
when we quote Greek the same as they
do when We score tqSchdowns. eh!''
Evening star., 1916-08-20

traveller on the ocean-to ocean high
way from ST. Louis to New Franklin,
whore ;he famous Santa Fe trail, re-
plcte with historic interest would
take up the burden of modern travel
from New Franklin TO Santa Fe.
As men rode over this famous old
trail they could point out TO their
children the very spots made famous
by the pioneers who opened the way
for the commerce which brought much
OF the early wealth to the new country.
Kearney's road. from Santa Fe, via
Phoenix, to San Diego, would tell OF
American conquest over the early pos
SCISSORS of the southwest.
FL Canine Real, the old Kings high
way. running from San Diego to San
Francisco. and named in honor OF
early Spanish rulers. would speak 10
it's travellers OF peoples and events
that made the Spanish designation