The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1928-03-09
On This
Occasion
Just few thoughts by the Edior on ithings
Material and Immaterial.

over the temerity of some of the
citizens of the state objecting to his
gigantic scheme of dams in the
boundary waters to the north of us.
Since he has jumped into the politi-
cal game for Lowden delegates to the
National convention, some have queS-
toned his motives in thus coming out
at this time knowing that his ambi-
ton is to make an ocean of the north
ern section of the state and thus
make useless large part of the
Playground of the Nation" The
Izaac Walton League and the Ameri
can Legion do not exactly relieve all
of Mr.. BackuS' interesting and lurid
rhetorical Sops thrown to the farmers
and have said so. This end of the
state, the one to be most seriously
affected by the damming of the
waters, also is not overly impressed
with the honesty of his purpose and
are not slow in letting it be known
that they deem the dam proposition
as one StupendouS move in the in
terestS of the power trust with the
promoter as the chief beneficiary
We might be more kindly disposed il
someone would tell us how the rails
ing of the water in Eastwood Lake,
(the Ely entrance to the Superior Ma
tional Forest and the Quetico Forest
in Canada) a matter of Is feet and
thus flooding all the islands out OF
existence, besides inundating miles
and acres OF Shoreline; raising ano
impounding all the intervening waters
between Eastwood ana Lac La CroiX;
the waters of Sagnaga and Crooked
Lakes; of the Quitico district; Name
kon and waters west and sending
them down the Winnipeg River, Q5G
miles away will benefit this imtuedi-.
ate neighborhcod or the neighbornood
of the created ocean, now or III the
future. The draft of the propused
impoundage of waters as proposed
and presented to the International
Joint Commission shows that there
would be 23,019 acres flooded in the
United States and 14,060 in Canada
not now under water. This is only
very conservative estimate and does
not take into account Eastwood Lake
at all Now comes the best part OF
the argument and clearly gives rea-
son why the public is alarmed over
the political alliance made by Mr..
BackuS. The United States and
expenses of constructing The dams
and the damages sustained by their
construction. Look at the scheme as
you may. 1t must be admitted, how
ever, that II is a well thought out
plan showing the thoroughness and
r-sightedneSS of its author.
Augusta E. stetson, over in New
advertisement in the New York Her
ald-Tribune and paid good money for
the purpose of hitting the Star
Spangled Banner" right between the
eyes. She says in the ad that the
anthem is "a bar-room ballad COM
posed by a foreigner" and feels very
much miffed because we teach our
children to sing about the rockets
red glare and bombs bursting in the
air" and "the foes naughty host with
in dead silence repoSes." Augusta is
all wet" and very much so. The Ma
tional anthem is one of the most
beautiful pieces of music written and
full of patriotic sentiment that never
fails to appeal to those singing it. We
admit however, that the song is
dinged hard to sing Notwithstanding
the fact that it was sung and played
in every place in the land during the
war, at every army camp, concert,
dinner or gathering as an opening or
closing selection and always filled the
listener with great love for his coun-
try. And, we failed to note where
anyone felt any extra hatred for
Great Britain, whose war ally we
were. Augusta is plainly off her mood
lie. If it is publicity she was after,
she certainly pulled fast one. We
expect that another issue will soon
carry her ad telling the public that
she is selling blue sky, white mice, or
what have you.
Grove Patterson says there are two
kinds Of thrifty folks-the smart
thrifty and the dumb thrifty. The
smart ones are those who spend but
spend moderately and give away gen.
erously and use their brains to make
more. The dumb are those who fear
they can't make any more. They
spend nothing and give away less. He
cites the case of the widow who was
left fifty millions. "She gave away
thirty-one millions and when she died
left more than a hundred millions"
Thrift, generosity and money sense
combined Shrouds have no pc ckets
and money out Of circulation Is just
so much junk. Money is only OF value
pro rata to the amount OF good it
does.
France may he just little out
spoken in the matter of the national
debt and some other matters, but
credit must be given her for the most
tremendous after-war job done by any
nation. At the time of the armi-
stice there were 7,250,000' acres of land
in that country made unsuitable for
use by war More than 95 per cent OF
this land has been restored for profit
able use. 1900 buildings were de-
stroyed. Nearly 5000 Of them have
been restored. $4,000 factories were
destroyed and 81, 900 have been rebuilt
While the propogandists tried to con-
vey the idea that France would not
be a healthy place for the Legion
Convention of last year, those return
ing from there state that the French
people were the souls of hospitality
and looked upon the American army
boys as brothers.
The people of the country are not
all rotten Notwithstanding the stink
ing mess brewed up by that fellow
Chisholm of Indiana Harbor, Illinois
wherein he drowned his two boys, age
9 and because the boarding house
mistress nagged him about their pres.
ence in the house. News from Duluth
Sunday morning brought story Of
mother who desired blood for trans.
fusion to save the life of her babe