The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

approaching the new Si- which jut out of the off the mouth of the fn Siberia. Authorities d with knowing the Arctic cur- ts belleve the two will reach the Is early next year, the Washington No other explorers are now in the Tr and it is thought very likely 'neither Amundsen nor Storkerson the other has the same goal In They probably will not meet, for Storkerson is expected to arrive { of Amundsen and probably will far west of Amundsen's course. n, the discoverer of the ole and navigator of the diff ing the currents and life of the north- When Amundsen reaches the Stheri- an istands the current, it is believed, {will turn and carry him north. He is ~ jexpected to remain with the drift until it lands him on the Immovable ice far Wp toward the pole. There, according to his plans, he will establish a base and attempt to fly the rest of the dis tance to the top of the globe WHY IT IS 'CZECHO-SLOVAK' Sounds Awkward, but Really 1s the Only Way to Correctly Express What 1s Meant. Speaking of the awkward cognomen of "Ozecho-Blovak," the Independent | says it 1s partly due to linguistic acel dent and partly to political exigence. The old familiar name "Bohemia" has, like the name "Serbia," a territorial rather than a radical significance and $8 too small to cover the ethnical en- 5 tity on which the modern concept of Eo nationality is founded. The Slovak language is only dinletlcally different 2) from the Czech or Bohemian, but the differences were purposely intensified during the nineteenth century to keep apart from the Austrian. Even. In America Slovak and Czech newspapers can read the other language. Profey- sor Masaryk, head of the new Czecho- Slovak republic, is a Slovak. The Slovaks, being inferior to the Czechs in numbers, wealth and ediication, are naturally insistent upon equal rights and recognition, The spelling "Czech" #5 peither native nor English. It is a Polish form of the word, foisted upon the, world by persistence of Viennese Journalists. The True Bobemian spell ng "Cech" is {mpossible to our news- pers for lack of type with inverted over the C. to represent Ch. The i {8 sounded like the German dan hve SCOTUoh--oh ao in Toch," but to the ordinary ear is hard- ly distinguishable from plain k. ¢ Turned Laugh on Jokers. 'We do not think of M. Clemencean as the sort of man on whom practical Jokes would be played, vet he was the victim of an' elaborate jest some 'while ago--in pre-war times, needless to say--and he accepted the position with commendable grace. A mumber of Parisians recelved bo- gos invitations to dine at the pre- mier's house. Some were total strangers, and their grateful accept- ance mystified M. Clemenceau until ke realized the boax. i He did not put them off. He or- 'dered the dinner, and gave b's guests a pleasant evening. Not until the evening was drawing to a close did he $aform them that their invitations had been sent out by some one of whose fdentity he had not the remotest koowledge. ro £ ¥ More Americans in China. Foreign firms and the foreign popu- Tatfon of China are increasing percep~ tibly. The American population in- creased in 1917 by 10 per cent over the previous year, and American firms 'from 187 to 218; Japanese advanced from 104,275 persoms to 144,402 and the number of Japanese firms in- creased during the year by 900; the Russian population decreased by &- 925, but firms increased by 1,492; the British population decreased, but Brit- ish firms increased by 11. There was a total Increase over 1916 of 34,872 in the foreign population of China last yesr snd of 2,331 firms. © Breaking the News Gently. . In our opinion this Higginsville sol- 'deserves the medal for delicately Ing bad news of two. sorts to r. His letter in the Jeffersonian is every ene at home? 1 dandy. Say, mother, you geen mj bed last | are distinct, although either people | the Hungarinp branch of the race | | | | Arouss and Face the Crisis! i; (26> Ontarle. HE PRBOPLE OF ONTARIO are accustomed to ac- sept their food much the same as they breathe the air They read isolated items about food shortage, but such a i: thing as this affecting their own dinner table neva enters 0) their mind, and it is the responsibility of The Observer BY te bring home to its readers a realization of the faats, as un- %> less something is done, in auother year, they will not be 0 readitig about the hunger in Belgiuni but the hunger in x The following should be memorized by every reador of THE OBSERVER. Under the Presidency of Mr. J. W. Woods, a Confer- ence of all interested in food production was held in To- routo on Monday, May 7. TOOK NO CHANCE ON "HANTS" fhat Batch of Troopers Didn't intend to Be Caught With the "Goods" on Them, Shere was a colored labor outfit in the 8. O. 8. engaged In quarry work near a base port. A few weeks ago, in the course of opening up some new they discovered aki old Roman €ditis and relics. The find made quite an impression on the minds of the find- ers, and there were many speculations as to whether the shades of the de- parted legionaries still hovered around 1» the vicinity of their last resting places: The geheral opinion was that 6 man ought to be on his guard when out late at night. . About that time the sufi of 60 @isappesred from the counter of 8 desrby Y. M. C. A. but. The captain wf this outfit doesn't know a great deal about classroom peychology, but he Bas learned a lot about it in the field. in the Y hut and told them of the dis- sppearance of the money. Then be outlined the history and characteris ties of the old Romans. "Boys," he sald, "there was one thing a Homan hated Worse that any- thing else, and that was a thief. If the ghosts of those old fellows who were buried up there on the hill should learn that somebody in this outfit had 90 francs in his ket, I don't know Just what would I'm going to put my hat here on the table and turn out the lights. The guilty man will know what to do." i : There was quite a shuffiing of feet and milling around in the hut, and g ground with many skeletons, He called his outfit together one night GLBRITAINS SHORTACE due to WA tr