Evening star., 1923-05-04

In the pioneer. days there was:
travelling preacher who wanderSd
through Ohio. scattering apple seedE
wherever he went. He believed in
fruit raising, and his devotion to his
zeal in preaching the gospel. He be-
came known as Apple Seed Johnny"
and many a. locality owes it's first
apple orchard to the sprouts from his
seeds.
How did vegetation first get to the
earth, after the original gaseous
chaos had cooled enough for vege-
table life? 1t Is no denial Of the
miraculous creation that some scien-
fists believe IL came floating through
space with fragments of star dust or
|meteors. from other worlds, for that
in no degree explains how it origi-
mated in those worlds. 1t must have
been created somewhere and at some
time. Science has overturned with
in the last fifty years all theories OF
spontaneous creation of life out of
chemical substance. Pasteur settled
that with his demonstrations in bac-
teriology. Bacteria never originate
spontoneously-tf1ey come floating In
the air, until they find Judgement In
some substance which will feed them
What is true of invisible bacteria
is equally true of mighty forests.
Trees do not reforest cut-over land
spontaneously. There are vast acre
ages, formerly growing forests.
cSo la
and it would be practically impossi-
bic to replant such land with the mil
lions of trees which, if planted.
might eventually rerreate forest.
The latest plan for meeting such
problem is that millions OF. forest
seeds may be scattered over the land
from airplanes. Oddly enough the
first experiment with airplane refor-
estation has been made. under the
direction of the Department of Agri-
culture, in Hawaii There two air
eight square miles in few hours-a
task which should have required
months and great outlay, II done In
the ordinary way. The seed blew and
drifted, but finally reached the
ground. Thus we find either a mod
ern meteor shower of seed, or a mod
ern Johnny Appleseed' with wings.
The world do move
x X Il 4
Some. folks are distressed because
President Harding. in his recent ad-
dress to fellow publishers, declared
that "our drift today is toward pure
democracy. and no pure democracy
has ever long survived
There is meat for a, thesis in that
text Are We really drifting toward
| pure democracy? Only 46 per cent
of the men and women who are en-
titled to function as rulers of the
pure democracy" care enough about
| their royal attributes and obliga-
| tions to cast their ballots, even at
voteless 81 per cent ruled by de
spotic'' minority? Call that a pure
democracy:
We talk much about the need to
Americanize aliens. Why do we not
| AmericaniZe native Americans? Has
| q man or woman right to enjoy the
| liberty and opportunities of this, the
| freest and richest country upon the
portunities for life. liberty and the
| pursuit of happiness" that any coun-
| try in all history has ever afforded
SO long as he or she persists in dense
ignorance of the important issues
they are required-or ought to be re-
quired--to help solve rightly for the
benefit of all? Why should any citi-
! zen retain hts or her citizenship when
they atrophy their rights and obliga-
tions? Are they not. in principle
slackers of patriotic duty, as truly as