The spectator., 1919-02-14

1 because they did not come under the eye of some officer in command they are not recorded in the official reports. The people are so proud of their sol l diers in this war that they ought to know of all the heroic exploits and will no doubt be received with popu- lar acclaim.
 After suffering in silence for some months, Senator Smith of Arizona finally brought up again the question of printing extraneous matter in the Congressional Record. As chairman of the committee on printing Senator Smith exercises general supervision | over the Record and has felt 1t his duty to keep out of 1t all petitions, letters. newspaper articles and other | matter that by rights ought merely to be referred to committee For a while this crusade was successful but couple of months ago the senate
 
 has been indulging in an orgy of inser- tions of outside matter. The Arizona senator took up the question the other day in plea that there be halt, say ing: Tt Is costing more money than senators conceive of.'
 There is very widespread feeling tv, Al ss icanizing" of our people must not be allowed to lag. It takes great crisis like the war to show the weak points of nation and our weakest point was undoubtedly our large foreign popula- tiOn. There are 1000 900 people in the United States above the age of ten years who can neither read nor write the English language. During the war it has been declared by every great American that citizens of this country must be absolute in their loyalty. This cannot be accomplished unless some method is followed by which our for eign population may be educated to see things from an American point of view. How to do it is a question that is one of our great reconstruction problems.
 Figures have been collected from the states by the agricultural depart ment showing the number of returned soldiers that can be used for road building work. According to these fig ures more than 100000 of the demo- bilized soldiers can be employed in this kind of work, either as skilled or unskilled workmen. It will be killing two birds with one stone if employ meEt can be furnished that many men after their discharge from the army. and at the same time provide effective organizations for the building aud up keep of good roads.
 AS Europe looks toward peace Mex leo looms upon the horizon as trouble maker for this country. Are we ever going to get back again to the tranquil days Of peace and quiet which the country enjoyed for quarter of century before the Span- ish war? Of course there were little difficulties with foreign governments, but they were easily settled and of small moment compared to those which have come upon us from the days we became world power. After the acquisition of the Phil ippines we thought we had 10 have an eye out as to the purposes of Japan in the Orient In later years the troubles in Mexico have been ours to large extent and have necessi- tated the use of our fleet and our army. At the present time there is great uneasiness along the border, which accounts for the movement to extend our southern boundary line still farther south In order 10 insure peace along the Rio Grande and in southern Arizona and New Mexico. II is asserted by some who think they know what is going on that when President Wilson gets through with his peace negotiations in Europe he will have another great task in pacify. ing Mexico.
 People desiring to travel in any for eign country experience great deal of difficulty in obtaining passports. Before the war people could travel in Great Britain. Germany. Holland. Bel gium, France and Italy without pass ports. Now no one can land h any European or South American country without passport and our govern ment has been warned by most of the countries that the fewer passports is- sued. the better they will like It. It Is rather surprising to 0nd that the English government is one of those which has asked the United states to restrict the issuing of passports to those persons who absolutely must visit that country. The scarcity of food in the European countries b siv- en us the main reason why people from America are not desired at the Al a~i