NUMERICALLY SPEAKING

Statistics are a very useful Institution. If one is in possession of the right statistics he can prove almost anything. Some of the latest significant figures have been brought to light in Prussia where it is shown that out of more than a thousand schools 136 are named for the Hohenzolierns, 12 for Schiller, 10 for Goethe Hindenburg and Bismarck and only two for Martin Luther. This is indeed an important revelation and one which should do much to throw light on world affairs. It clearly demonstrates in the first place that a Hohenzollerns revival is immanent or that there were a good number of Hohenzollerns after whom schools could be named and in the second that the Prussians have not been honoring their poets as much as they deserve. It is also evident that Protestantism is in bad condition in Prussin.

There is no doubt that some statistics have been helpful in a great many ways, but one of the faults of this day and age is that of carrying things to excess. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the field of statistics. All one needs to discover something of value is plenty of spare time and a Saturday pencil. This may explain the appearance of so many neat columns of figures nestling in the pages of newspapers and other periodicals, but that is about as far as most of the explanations carry. The not result of all the compilations additions divisions and applications or most statistics is nil. However the labor of bringing the faces together keeps a great many people out of misdirect and most of it is good clean fun.