The Washington herald., 1920-09-30
In the Linelight
By George Perry Morris

They talk threatened fuel short
age this winter in Minneapolis at
this season of crop-harvesting on 3
splendid scale. OF food they have
a huge store. But unless Pennsyl-
vsnia anthracite gets up to Duluth
before lake traffic closes thousands
of residents of the small towns and
cities between here and the Pacific
Coast will suffer bitterly of cold ere
spring comes. The local demand is
strong for priority rulings by the
Interstate Commerce Commission,
even IL some Eastern State indus
tries have to shut down.
Citizens of a worlds milling CEN
ter like Minneapolis, whose invest
ment or whose employment Is in
the -four mills also are far from
happy over the state Of the export
trade in wheat and -four. The fall
| ing of in Asiatic demand, Canadian
lcompetition in English markets and
the appearance OF wheat from Aus
tralia and China on the Pacific
Coast do not make for optimism.
II you talk with Minneapolis
| bankers you will find them cOur-
ageous, prudent, fully aware Of the
process OF defation Of values and
lowering OF prices which is now Un-
/ der way and determined TO do their
part in aiding businesses that have
/ extended their credit to make the
shift to a new price scale. They
| sympsthize with the farmer and
wage-earner and do not expect
| their respective returns from busi-
ness to be as low as they were prior
I to the war: neither do they expect
war prices for basic foods or for
labor to last They will not be sur
prised IL the country sees some
| failures" but they scofT at the
idea Of a panic. Much. however, in
: their opinion, depends on labor's in
| creased productivity and its atti-
tude toward the revised and low
cred wage scale.
! Minnesota's State University has
an enrolment OF 5000 students this
autumn. Two large cities. Mime
apolis and St Paul feed it daily
| with local attendants. Youth OF
both sexes from homes in the wiids
along the Canadian border and the
highly titled prairies OF the South
pour in year after year in ever
| increasing numbers. Neither direct
taxes. special appropriations by the
! Legislature nor royalties from State
owned iron deposits C$6OO.OOO this
year, can meet the Unsuitable de-
mand for new plant" increased
stan Of teachers and added costs
of administration. The legislature
thinks that the regents are "leeches"
! when they ask for more millions
but what can the regents do in
the face OF the passion for the
new learning" Hundreds OF fami-
lies with no academic traditions are
beginning to create them now. New
strata of society are being tapped.
The Minnesota democracy is being
given education Of a vocational, Util-
itarian type which will add i'm
menseIy to the States wealth.
The burden Of directing this in
stitutional evolution now rests on
President l. :. Coffman. He for
merly was dean OF the School OF
Education. He was not imported
'ccessors had been. He knows the
institution from the inside" He
is a specialist in pedagogy as We'll
as a proved administrator.
Minneapolis. like Washington, IS
short on school buildings. They
need to spend $4,000. 900 immediate
ny to bring the plant" up to stand .
ards set before the war. But the
Board of Education hardly expects
10 get what il needs. As for the
famous Public Library, where
Herbert Putnam. now Of the Con-
gressional Library, first made his
reputation. its present Chief-s
woman-sayS that the enforced wal
economies have set its work back
twenty