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EDITORIAL PAGE The San Francisco Call and Post F. W. KELLOGG, President and Publisher JOHN D. SPRECKELS, Vice President and Treasurer The United States May Loan Money to Young Men Professor Hunt Suggests Plan Whereby Ambitious Farmers Can Acquire Independence. Professor Thomas Forsyth Hunt, dean of the college of agri culture at the University of California, has taken a step from the soil into the counting house. He has a financial suggestion to make to the United States government. It is this: That the money accumulated in postal savings banks and now loaned to private banks at a rate of 2 per cent be loaned to ambitious young farmers at a slightly higher rate. Such a system of loans would enable young men who wish to become independent farmers to borrow money for a long term and at comparatively low rate of interest. It would take a long step toward abolishing the tenant farmer and expanding the class of independent land holders. Professor Hunt does not advocate indiscriminate loans to farmers. He states that he considers what is needed is a method by which the educated, hard working, honest young men between the ages of 21 and 30 may obtain a reasonable capital with which to make a home in the open country. To quote, Professor Hunt says: "The postal deposits are loaned to savings banks at 2 per cent. The state loans its surplus at 2 per cent. Suppose a young man. having saved $1,000, could go to the state or the United States and borrow $4,000, not at 2 per cent, but at 3 per cent. If he should pay 6 per cent, or $240 annually, at the etod of 2$ years, approxi mately, he would have canceled the principal and interest." As Professor Hunt has explained heretofore, the government would make the loan on character; that is, a young man could capitalize his reputation as well as the property he acquires, to secure the advance. Pierpont Morgan said that he once loaned a man $1,000,000 on no security save the man's character. Of course, Mr. Morgan was making an empty rhetorical statement when he said that; what he meant was, he loaned the money on the security of the man's character plus his personal knowledge of the borrower's ability to handle $1,000,000 advantageously. So the government would make an appraisement of the man's character before the loan was made, but would also have the secu rity of the property which the borrower would work and improve. We hear the automatic objection: But some of the borrowers would naturally default and the United States would have a lot of foreclosed and forfeited farms on its hands. Well, what of it? The United States-has been selling unim proved real estate for more than a hundred years—why should it fear a few deals in improved farm land? If Your Child Reads "Treasure Island," What? A Well Meaning Organization Fears That He Will Become a Pirate—But He Won't. An organization, the Western Humane Press committee, has sent to this newspaper a communication containing suggestions as to what things are and are not suitable Christmas gifts for children. The list includes recommendations against giving pet animals for presents and against the giving of certain books. In warning the giver against proscribed books, the association says: "Even the author's name is no guarantee. Stevenson's name appears on a most undesirable book, "Treasure Island." So "Treasure Island" is a book which no child should read be cause it will accustom a child early to "thoughts of death and agony." However well meaning this humane press committee may be, it will find few persons who will agree with it in its classification of the stirring tales of adventure by the most gentle hearted of modern novelists. "Treasure Island" a wicked book! Surely it tells of pirates and of sudden death, of "fifteen men on a dead man's chest" and of other things that happen in that exciting haven of story tellers, the South Sea. But has "Treasure Island" created a race of pirates? It may safely be said that no recent book has been more pop ularly read by the children of literate people in the United States and England than has this tale by Stevenson. Yet the children of literate people, and of illiterate people, for that matter, are not usually criminal, cruel, piratical, bloodthirsty. As a matter of fact, the children with bloodthirsty tendencies are the exception and the adult of that type is a rarity. If children read "Treasure Isl and" will they become pirates? If they read "Little Lord Faun tleroy" will they become earls? Perodical literature has been congested recently with confes sions of erring men and women, but we don't remember that any one traced his downfall to reading "Treasure Island." If children are to be restricted only to books which are devoid of murder and of sudden death, their book shelves will be anemic. With due respect, we might suggest to the humane commit tee that the one book in the world which teaches more of human ity than any other volume contains narratives of much bloodshed and sudden death. Give the Prisoners Another Day in Jail Let Them Eat Turkey at the Expense of the County As a variation in the mass of literature printed concerning the distress and hardship of jail life comes the little story from San Rafael of a group of prisoners whose terms expire on Decem ber 24. As is the custom in many institutions of penal reforma tion—or degeneration, whichever theory you hold—Christmas is observed with a generous dinner of turkey and cranberry sauce, various sorts of pie and other seasonable dainties. But it happens that nine of the seventeen prisoners in the jail are to be liberated on December 24, and they have no turkey din ners waiting for them in the hobo camps and cheap lodging houses to which they will go from jail. So they have sent a touching appeal to the Marin county sheriff asking that he permit them to linger in the prison until after the Christmas dinner. Whether the sheriff will have pity on the men remains to be seen. But he should acknowledge their plea, let them admit, for instance, that they considered their sentence inordinately short by one day, and accept their willingness to serve out the full term. Christmas is not a day of fixed rules, and little deviations like giving poor beggars of county jail prisoners a square meal is some thing which should appeal to the humanity of a sheriff. , THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL AND POST "WOULDN'T THAT FROST YOU" BUT HOW ABOUT THE SHOP GIRL? A divorcee has scorned $300 a jnonth alimony. Yes, boy, show the millennium right in. * * * Three days more, and your stocking will be full in the morning and your belt full at night. * * * Otto Heinze, the near copper king, who has- failed for $2,500,000, must feel like his namesake, in 57 varieties of pickles. * # * The suggestion that smoking be prohibited in national parks won't apply to Hetch Hetchy when we store our water there. * * » Men have been arrested for giving short weight in butter and short, weight in coal, but few men give a short wait when you're waiting for them to repay borrowed money. i Evening Calls Everybody at Avalon is at home and in bed by 10 o'clock. What, everybody there either under 8 or over 80? Mother, said the delicatessent's little daughter, when she first saw a Christmas- wreath, "who baked that green doughnut?" * * * The telephone trust has promised to be good. Must have been rubbering on a department of justice party line. * * * Orange county has offered a bonus of $100 each for every set of triplets born in the county. Quite inadequate compensation. * # * A T.os Angeles girl got $500 for writing a song extolling the glories of southern California. But that doesn't prove much—a good journey man poet could write a lyric on the north pole for that. DECEMBER 22, 1913 ELLA WHEELER WILCOX —ON— Telling the Truth —Never Lie; There Is Always Some Way to Avoid It—But Tell the Truth With Tact and Kindness ELLA WHEELER WILCOX < Copy right. 1913. Star Company) a person had arrested and was on for a crime which that person had not committed. Suppose that person was in grave danger of conviction on circumstantial evidence. "Now, attppose that a friend of the person on trial was called as a witness, and suppose that ques tons were put to that friend, which, if answered truthfully, would be evidence against his friend on trial. Would that friend be justified before God in telling lies in answer to those questions, in order to protect his friend on trial? "My friend says yes—says he wouldn't be a true friend unless he did lie. I say no. I say he should tell the truth and trust to Gor for justice. I say the friend should stand by the person on trial and do all he can for that person, no matter how matters go with that person. I say that a person who deliberately lies in a case like this i 9 putting that friend before God, in that he is trying to save that person by his own puny strength, without trusting to God for justice. I say that the person would still be a true friend to the person on trial if he refused to answer questions, or answered them truthfully, even if his answers went against his friend on trial. My friend says that he wouldn't be a true friend unless he did all in his power by telling lies or anything else in order to help that friend. "What do you say?" It seems to be the delight of many people to imagine situa tions which make lies commend able. Such situations as the one suggested in this letter rarely occur. Little Fibs and White Lies on a Par With Petty Larceny The friend could refuse abso lutely to give testimony and prove his devotion to his com rade by going to jail for con tempt of court. The writer of thi3 article has an intense admiration for truth fulness and an equally intense abhorrence of lies. Little fibs and the white lies seem on a par with petty larceny. There are people who claim they steal to save those they love from hunger. But there is always some other way open. Were a human being to go from door to door saying: "One I love is dying from starvation or lack of care; give me food and money for God's sake!'' there is no street in any land on earth where all doors would be closed and assistance refused. Yet men have broken into houses and robbed the inmates and killed their fellow beings when put at bay, claiming their actions were forced by actual need. It is indeed a terrible thing to be forced to beg. But theft is a more ignoble act than begging. There is always a way to avoid theft. There is always some way to avoid a lie, even when speaking the truth is to seemingly harm a friend. It is far more courageous to say: "I know my friend is innocent; and I refuse to state facts which might seem to incriminate him. Therefore I declare myself guilty of contempt of court." Beautiful as is the truth, si lence should sometimes take the place of the spoken truth. Truthfulness loses half its charm when coupled with vul garity and lack of tact and kind liness. Co mmunications from Readers FROM A ROSE GROWER Editor The Call and Post: I was much interested in your editorial anent American Beauty roses and cold storage. Having grown that great rose you refer to as about to be put in cold storage for the Christmas demand, X know from experience that the rose can not be kept but for a very short time in storage. A florist has good reason to try and keep this popular rose In good salable shape as long as possible, especially at Chrißtmas time, when the demand for This world would be wor«e than our conception of the lower regions if each one o: us on all occasions spoke truthfully every thought in his mind. Si lence and tact are necessary to save us from giving and receiv ing hurts. A very sweet woman who is popular in her own town was much troubled by fond mothers who insisted upon showing her their babies and demanding her opinion of their beauty. Finally, when all fier tact and all her principles were tried to the utmost by being asked while gazing at an especially ugly baby girl: "Did you ever see a pret tier baby?" the lady replied: "She is just as pretty as SHE can be." The Lady Had Spoken the Truth Just as She Saw lit The mother was satisfied; and the lady had spoken the truth as she saw it. For she said it was impossible for THAT baby to look otherwse than she did; so she spoke the truth. Surely this particular wording of a dubious compliment was better than to say: "She is the ugliest baby I ever saw." Another tactful woman who was asked by the wife what she thought of a musician who was the feature of a concert, re plied, hurriedly: "I think he has the most beautiful hair I ever saw." This relieved her of saying what she thought of his music. Later to the musician him self the lady made criticisms •which were helpful to him. while giving him more or less pain. But these same criticisms given to the wife would have done no good. Absolutely truthful people are very rare. Tt is one of the greatest if ru>t THE greatest of the virtues; and it is the most difticult to find in its unalloyed purity in human nature. Imaginative people arc almost always guilty of exaggerations in relating facts, and after telling i story with its embellishments .. few times they believe they are telling it correctly. People with an oversupply of the sense of humor seldom tell the truth when relating inci dents and happenings. Very vain people are prone to tell things which reflect more glory and honor on themselves than is their due. Timid children with an inor dinate love of approbation are sometimes made liars by stern parents who believe in corporal punishment, or who are severe in reprimands for small offenses. Such children,* unless their natures are balanced by a great sense of justice, will lie them selves out of misdemeanors and lay the blame on others. This is a particularly cowardly and self ish phase of lying, but is to be met with almost every day in some one. It is rare to find a grownup culprit who, when caught in wrongdoing, will say: "It is my own fault. There is no one else to blame." It is a great thing to teach children from the start a large respect and reverence for truth fulness. Teach them to be ex act in their statements, and to take pride in having their word reliable. And with this teaching im press upon them the necessity to be sometimes silent when the spoken word would do more harm than good. They also serve the god of justice who knows how to still. this rose is greater than at any other time in the year. The growing •<( all classes of cut flowers has been reduced to an exact science. I sup pose it is well known that all ro» buds worth while sold in flower stores at this time of the year are produced in expensively built gUss houses, where night watchmen are employed to watch the temperature. There is really more skill required to produce flrst class flowers than many people give us gardeners and florists credit for F n wiv I.ONSDAI.RI Lompoc, CaL