Vagabond Editorials

(Continucd from Page 6) to be done; innumerable mighty problems for the benefit of humanity yet to be solved; countless amazing ideas yet to be unfolded; marvelous avenues to distinction and glory beckoning from the horizon of the future to every young man and woman with brains and ambition. Tell them that we need consider no ambition-destroying restrictions against the future of our children and of our children's children; thank God ! ***

Tell them that these inhibitions against progress that we hear so much about, are man-made; not God-madc. Tell them that only about five per cent of all humans THINK; that another ten per cent get by by following the five; and the other eighty-five per cent believe what they hear and read. Tell them to get lined up with that five per cent, and there will be no restrictions against their ' ambitions except the worthiness and character of their efforts.

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I'm muchly inclined to agree with Mr. Iferman Dierks, Kansas City lumber manufacturer, who told the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, at Chicago, recently, that the termite-fighting campaign in the United States has rapidly become a racket. No doubt there ARE plenty of houses infested with termites; no doubt it IS wise to spend something extra while building a home to furnish protection against termites; but ttrere is no reasonable reason to doubt that the termite situation is not one-tenth as black as it is being painted, and lumber and wooden construction IS getting a black eye from the ever-ready propaganda of the innumerable people who now want to protect the public against the pest.

If termites were anywhere nearly as bad as some of the stuff we read would indicate, wood construction would be doomed; something we are far from prepared to admit. Mr. Dierks says that the public needs to be protected against innumerable irresponsible people who deliberately misrepresent the termite situation, and secure fat fees for no worth-while work. There are plenty of good people furnishing intelligent termite protection and advice; but that the thing is being overdone to an extent that is hurting the entire lumber industry, there can be no doubt. There are millions of new and old homes in this country that never had a termite in them and never will, regardless of what is done about it. Some of the pictures we see give the impression that it is the exceptional home that is not already being victimized, and that the termite army has already made a thorough house-to-house canvass of the nation.

Let us wisely and properly protect our homes and other buildings against the termite menace; but let there be enough truth and wisdom in the effort to give lumber and wooden construction a fair deal.

"To be a good billiard irlayer," an old adage used to say, "is the mark of a well rounded education; but to be too good a billiard player is the evidence of a misspent boyhood."

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To furnish intelligent and honest protection against termites is an utter necessity; but to make the world think that every wooden structure has its own little termite colony, is defamation of a good building material.