by Richard van Pelt, WWI Correspondent

The maw of war was quiet today, unless you happened to be Canadian. Canadian forces bent, but did not break, under a furious German offensive.

News of local interest to readers today illustrate that we have progressed very little from the world of our predecessors in 1914.

The Capital Journal reports:

LET THE WOMEN LEAD MOVEMENT, SAYS GOVERNOR
Chief Executive Is Great Believer In Woman’s Ability To Accomplish Things

“Enlist the women in the work: they are our best house cleaners and state cleaners” is the substance of the advice given by Governor Withycombe this morning, in telegraphic response to a request from the clean-up committee of the Portland chamber of commerce for suggestions as to the best means of carrying out the desire as expressed by the governor in his recent proclamation setting aside the week of May 4 (week after next) as “Clean-Up Week” for the state of Oregon.

In the Oregon Statesman, Vice President Thomas Marshall, speaking in Arizona, contrasted liberty and freedom with the dehumanizing efficiency represented by Germans and Mormons:

U.S. MUST TAKE CHOICE
Efficiency and Freedom Don’t Go Together, Says Marshall

Phoenix. Ariz, April 23. – “We insist on being efficient people and we also insist on being free people, but we cannot be both,” said Vice President Marshall, addressing the Rotary club here today.

“We must take our choice. The German empire and the Mormon church two of the most efficient organizations, but in both the individual is subservient to the organization,” he continued. “I hope some way may be devised by which we can become more efficient yet retain our freedom.”

This was the vice president’s first appearance before the Rotary club, of which he was recently elected an honorary member.

When it comes to those we consider as “other,” time passes but we seem to remain stationary, which should not be construed as a defenses of justification for the way we are today. Right or wrong, we are who we are because we seek only for those answers that justify how we want to be.