The Washington times., 1920-09-28

is. Great lack of intelligence"
thinks the learned writer. You
could not chase gorilla or lion
in that fashion. Possibly not, but
the elephants intelligence may ac-
count for its superstitious fear OF
the little wooden bell. 1t is not
long since Intelligent man, king Of
the primate tribe, used to ring
bells to scare away thunderstorms
and witches and evils supposed to
be riding in the air. When 1t
comes to a fear of the bells, the
elephant Is not much inferior to
man.
In Borneo they hunt heads. They
kill the owner, save the head, dry
il with the hair on and the teeth
showing, and keep it as an inter
esting curio. That is considered
all right. For a Borneo man must
have heads to ornament his home,
and he can't get them unless he
kills somebody.
But, in that same Borneo, if you
steal one of these dried heads
from the owner the penalty is
death. This, you say, is barbar-
ism. How horrible to permit the
collecting Of human heads, then
punish with death the stealing OF
one of those heads. You see a
good imitation of that in our civil
cation. Men that like to collect
gold are allowed to work children
to death in factories, mills, and
mines to get the gold That is all
right, quite legal.
But once the gold is got, il some
body else steals it, thsy put him in
Jail. What is the fundamental
difference between this country
and Borneo?
If the money of the people were
used persistently, scientifically,
and wisely to increase the wealth
of the nation, how quickly might
the problem Of prosperity for all
be solved.
For instance: The Government
spent a quarter of a million to es-
tablish the growing Of Durum
wheat in the United States. The
crop now amounts to fifty mil
lions a year, good return on a
quarter of a million.
The rice crop of California
amounts to twenty-one millions
year. Less than two hundred thou
sand dollars were spent to estab-
lish California's rice industry.
We raise twenty million dollars
annually Of Egyptian cotton, the
cotton with the long staple. best
for automobile tires and other
uses. It took only forty, thousand
dollars to establish that crop in
the United States.
The Government, by q small ex-
penditure, developed the serum
that checks hog cholera. Forty
millions q year are saved by that
What could have been done with
the thousand millions that this in
telligent Administration spent for
flying machines without getting
any flying machines?
What could have been done with
other billions that we're wasted or
stolen in the war by an incompe-
tent Administration, guided by ex-
tremely able "S1-a-year patriots"
from the Wall Street neighbor-
hood?
What could be done by the cleo
ton OF intelligent and honest Off
ciaIs, spending intelligently and
honestly part Of the public taxes
to increase public wealth.
The people OF this country need
houses. They are not built because
savings banks, instead OF lending
money on building mortgages, pre-
fer more exacting Investments Of a
speculative kind.
Every dollar in savings banks
belongs to the people, and they
should have something to say
about what Is done with their saw
ings.
1t would be easy for the people
to persuade savings bank officials
TO continue investing their funds
in building mortgages.
The first step would be for a
million citizens TO draw out five
hundred dollars apiece from saw
ings banks and invest tho money
in Government bonds, safer than
any savings bank, and paying s
per cent interest In place of the
B or 4 per cent paid by the savings
bank.
A few newspapers could carry
on a campaign that would cause
billions Of dollars TO be withdrawn
from savings banks and invested.
more safely and profitably, in the
Government bonds selling below
par.
That IA scmething for the saw