ctric light
companies have been far behind those of Europe in making it
possible for poor people to get their service. It is interesting
to note that the Indiana and Michigan Electric Company, which
operates in South Bend, Ind. (plows, wagons, sewing-machines),
has started a campaign to do just this thing. About a third of
the inhabitants of South Bend are laborers from Poland, Austria,
and the Balkan countries, whose wages average about $1.50 or
$1.75 per day. The electric company has figured out plans
whereby houses can be wired at a cost of from $9 to $15 each,
and lighting service can be given for a minimum of $1 per month.
A Polish sales agent has been hired to talk to the newcomers,
write advertisements for their papers, and attend to their
complaints--in short, to translate electricity into Slovak, etc.
The men engaged in the work are confident of success and are
going after it. The effect in giving these people better ways
and standards of living, in getting them a share in our modern
American civilization, and a feeling that they are so sharing
will necessarily be very great. This is solid public service,
and it is far better than any charity. What is being done on
this problem in your town?--_Collier's Weekly_, November 28,
1914.[10]

[10] Reprinted by permission of _Collier's Weekly_.

IV. Comments and Exercises

1. This is a constructive editorial with just a hint of argument.
Find the argument.

2. Note the framework of the paragraph: (Sentence 1) Topic;
(Sentence 2--Sentence 6) Story; (Sentence 7) Conclusion.

3. Find the "Four W's."

4. Remember that the perfect tense denotes an act begun in the past
and completed in the present. Does its use sufficiently tell
when a thing is or was done?

5. Write a similar editorial commenting on some improvement in your
own town.

V. Model II

Were we suddenly called upon to face a crisis such as Europe was
called upon to face with but very little warning, it would find
us wofully unprepared. In the security of our peace we have
neglected to build up an organization capable of performing the
multitudinous services of war, or of any great disaster, either
political or physical, which may come into a nation's life. The
thousands of young men in colleges and universities offer a field
for the development of such a f