It has been stated and confirmed by those in authority that $300,000,000 might be saved per year in the conduct of our government on a strictly business basis. If this be true, here reform, good and true, is an imperative need. Such a condition of affairs is in no sense humorous. For what do we choose our legislators? Is it to squander or conserve the revenues and resources of the State? Likewise, in ways of living or the conduct of life, reform is ever in order, provided thereby gain can be made. It has been said that "The whole moral law is based on health. The ideal body is the proper shrine for the ideal soul,--a truth that has yet to be educated into the modern consciousness. Righteousness and health should go together. This is an eternal law,--a law that covers society, education and morality. The real meaning of the word 'temperance' is a careful use of the body. It has nothing primarily to do with mere abstinence from certain forms of pleasure. A man says to himself, I am in possession of a mechanism which will endure a certain amount of wear and usage, but it is the most delicate of all machinery, and for that reason it must be used with more consideration than even the fine works of a watch. Intemperance, of any sort, means unnecessary wear and tear. It increases the waste of the system, the rapidity of the living process, so that repair cannot keep up with use, and it burns where there should be the clear light of life." DON'T KILL THE BIRDS For a number of years the scientific investigators have been arguing that a bird--almost any bird--was worth a good deal more to the country alive than dead; worth more in the glorious freedom of its habitat than on my lady's hat or on the plate of the epicure. It has been shown by the dissection of birds and the examination of their stomachs just what seeds and insects they eat. These examinations have made it clear that most birds live principally on the seeds of pernicious weeds, and on the insect and small mammal pests against which the farmer has to wage an increasing fight every year. It is true that some birds damage crops and it is true that any birds will do damage if there are too many of them--just as the extreme congestion of people results in disease and immorality. But under normal conditions of distribution almost any bird is an able assistant to the agriculturist and horticulturist in the protection of his crops against their most dangerous enemies. * * * * *