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THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
'■ wr! ATLAMTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST. >
Entered at the Atlanta Poatorfice as Mail Matter of
• the Second Class.
JAMES B. GRAY,
President and Editor-
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SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, Atlanta. Ge.
The Islands of Defense.
Tbe only objection hearu against the proposed
purchase of tbe Danish West Indies by the United
States is that tbe price, twenty-live million dollars,
is too high. Certainly, the islands are not worth
that much to Denmark, but they might be worth a
vast deal more to some ambitious European Power;
and. in bands unfriendly to the Monroe Doctrine,
they might become a sharp menace to American
interests
Values are relative. Whether these three bits of
sea-girt land would be a bargain or an extravagance
at twenty-five million dollars depends on who is to
acquire them and what purpose they are to serve.
Merely for territory and resources, they would be
of scant value to a nation whose domain is already
so broad as that of the United Stated, but when
their strategic possibilities are considered the ques
tion assumes quite a different aspect.
As Roland G. Usher, the noted student of inter
national affairs, points out in the Philadelphia
Public Ledger, these islands control, or might im
peril our control, of the approaches to the Gulf
and other positions in which we are vitally con
cerned The principal member of the group, St.
Thomas, has a natural harbor—"deep, broad, land
locked, protected from storms and in a measure
from observation from the sea”—which, according
to who held it, would be a great advantage or a
gteat danger to the United'States.
"Steep cliffs afford adfhirable opportunities
for fortifications, observations of other fleets,
• and excellent locations for powerful wireless
: plants. Suppose some European nation should
• seize this as a fleet base for operations against
our positions in the Gulf of Mexico or against
our own Atlantic coast. Suppose it should
fortify it secretly and then, when all was
' ready, make a dash at Panama and take pos
session. Tbe guns in the forts around the
canal are still very valunerable to a modern
. fleet, and it is difficult to see how the canal
could be retaken without the expenditure of
• many times twenty-five million dollars. We
do not know that any European nation has
any such plans or would attempt to carry them
out after the present war. But why take a
chance on it? Why sit around and wait for
trouble to come? Why not take out an in
surance policy of about twenty-five million
dollars on property worth, at a modest qom
put£*ion. about five hundred million? A pol
icy all paid up for the rest of time, so far as
that particular source of trouble is concerned.”
It Is commonly suspected that the plans of the
United States for purchasing the Danish West In
dies in 1902 were thwarted by German influence.
A deal was at the point of consummation when,
for reasons unexplained at the time, Denmark
strangely balked. The Danes are now eager to
sell, partly because they need the money and be
cause, moreover, they wish to be quit of a posses
sion which might involve them in trouble with
their mighty Teuton neighbor. The United States
will do well to act while the coast is clear from
interference such as developed in 1902.
As long as these islands are on the market
there will be a chance of some European Power
buying them, an event that would spell serious
complications; for, the Monroe Doctrine is opposed
to the extension of European suzerainty in this
hemisphere, either by conquest or by purchase.
Thus as a safeguard against vexing and dangerous
issues, as well as for purposes of strategic defense,
the United States will do well to grasp the present
unencumbered opportunity for getting the Danish
West Indies.
A Quibbling Candidate.
A peculiarly incisive stroke in the Presidential
campaign is the open letter addressed to Charles E.
Hughes by a group of thirty-seven distinguished
American authors. Declaring that they have small
interest in parties but a very deep interest in
democracy, these writers, whom millions of Ameri
cans know, remind Mr. Hughes that in no public
utterance concerning the issues of the time has he
filed a bona fide bill of particulars or offered a sin
gle constructive suggestion. Mr. Wilson’s beliefs,
on the other hand, "have been expressed in law
and in declared policies; he has made a record by
which he may be judged.” Then follows this
home thrust:
"Wise choice is not possible unless you
yourself make equally specific statement of
purposes and convictions. Generalities are
without value. Blanket criticism is worthless.
What we desire to know, what it is fair that
the electorate should know, are the exact de
tails of your disagreement with President
Wilson What has he done that you would
.’ not have done, and what has he failed to do
that you would have done or propose to do?
’ Honesty and patriotism demand that you put
• yourself on record in such a manner as to
• permit the people to judge you as they are
now able to judge President Wilson?”
This interrogatory is impressive and significant
not only because of its searching logic but chiefly
because of the men and minds behind it. They
are: Samuel Hopkins Adams. Ray Stannard
Baker.* Ellis Parker Butler. L. Ames Brown. Dante
Barton. Irvin Cobb, Wadsworth Camp, J. O’Hara
Cosgrave. Stoughton Cooley. William L. Chenery.
George Creel. James Forbes, Frederick C. Howe,
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLANTA, GA., TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 1916.
Oilson Gardner. Frederick Stuart Greene, Opie
Read. Edgar Selwyn, William Leavett Stoddard,
Lincoln Steffens, Oliver Herford, Prof. Louis John
con. Richard Lloyd Jones. Peter B. Kyne, Percy
Mackaye. A. J. McKelway, Basil Manley, Meredith
Nicholson, Albert J. Nock, Harvey J. O’Higgins,
Charles Johnson Post, Eugene Manlove Rhodes,
William McLeod Raine, Boardman Robinson. John
Reed. Augustaus Thomas, Frank Vrooman, George
West.
The majority of these writers have little or no
interest in partisan politics. Many of them are
thoroughgoing independents. Some of them are
authorities on economic or social or governmental
problems. All of them are keen students of
American life and affairs. It is peculiarly sig
nificant, therefore, when a group of such men turn
aside from their wonted interests and tasks to ad
dress a candidate for the Presidency. Will Mr.
Hughes attempt to answer their plain and perti
nent questions? We fancy that he will not; for,
having failed to utter a word of directness and
candor in his keynote speech—the speech for
which the country had been waiting as a definite
statement of his convictions and aims—he hardly
can be expected ;o be less evasive and noncommittal
in the future.
The fact is Mr. Hughes could not speak definite
ly and frankly on the uppermost issues of the cam
paign without confessing that his candidacy had
no grounds of practical justice and patriotism. On
approaching the question of our European rela
tions, he would be bound to admit that no Presi
dent could have acted differently from Mr. Wilson
without sacrificing either the peace or the honor of
the nation. In discussing the Mexican problem he
would be bound to admit, if he were ingenuous,
that the President could not have gone further
without going to war. As regards preparedness he
would be bound to admit, if he dealt in particulars
instead of generalities, that the Democratic Con
gress has enacted the most far-reaching military
bill and is about to enact the most far-reaching
navy bill in the history of American legislation.
While criticising the Wilson record in the sub
marine controversy, Mr. Hughes gives no intimaton
of what he himself would have done in the circum
stances. Would he have severed relations with
Germany immediately upon the sinking of the Lusi
tania, .or would he have given diplomacy a chance?
If he thinks the former course with its inevitable
drift to war should have been adopted, he does not
say so. If he would have exhausted the means of
diplomacy before committing the country to war,
in what particular would he have improved on Mr.
Wilson’s policy or .on the results which Mr. Wilson
has accomplished? He cannot deny that the Wil
son policy constrained the German Government to
abandon submarine lawlessness and to respect the
rights of America together with the principles of
humanity. And as this all-important end was
accomplished paacefully and honorably, why quib
ble over the methods by which it was achieved?
The Mexican problem was handled down to the
Democratic administration by its Republican pred
ecessor. Mr. Taft did not recognize Huerta’s mur
derous regime; Mr. Taft did not precipitate war
with Mexico, although the yellow press and special
interests clamored for intervention; Mr. Hughes
does not say in what respect he himself would have
acted differently. On this as on all questions of
moment, he carps and peeves and quibbles, but he
offers nothing constructive, nothing definitely dif
ferent from the Wilson course.
As the group of distinguished authors declare
in their letter to the Republican candidate, Presi
dent Wilson's beliefs and purposes are unmistak
ably clear not only through what he has said but
through what he has done. Mr. Hughes’ beliefs
and purposes, on the contrary, are so vague and in
determinate that one questions whether he has any
at all, except a traditional belief that Republican
partisans have a divine right to hold political jobs.
It is hardly to be expected that the American peo
ple will displace a leader who has been tried in
the fires and storms of national danger for a novice
whose only stroke is to cavil and complain.
Mobilizing Our Industries.
Thanks to the excellent work of the Committee
on Industrial Preparedness, thirty thousand manu
facturing concerns have been listed and Classified
for national service in the event of war. That is
an invaluable contribution to the cause of the
country’s defense. As the New York Times well
observes, the United States hitherto hat not. only
been unprepared but has lacked the means of pre
paration:
“Guns and ammunition are not the only
things needed- when war comes. It is an as
sured fact that hereafter we shall have a body
of men trained to understand the nation’s de
fense. It has been the object of the commit
tee to provide also a large body of men who
shall be always ready to produce quickly the
materials the army and navy will need. This
general mobilization of national resources will
be of vast benefit in times of peace as well as
in times of danger."
When the Teuton armies were driving the Rus
sians in retreat a year ago, Lloyd George of Eng
land remarked that the German victories were be
ing won in German workshops and that if the Al
lies expected eventually to triumph, they would
have to equal or surpass Germany’s industrial or
ganization. It was persistent, though belated work,
in this very field of preparedness that enabled the
Allied forces to launch the far-flung and victorious
offensive they are now conducting.
The United States does well to profit betimes
from the European lesson. The committee of civil,
mining, mechanical and electrical engineers and
chemists who are carrying forward this important
task have earned a place in American history.
Books and the War.
The trend of literature as evidenced by what
readers care for rather than by what writers turn
out was the subject of an interesting inquiry lately
conducted in England. It appears that the war, far
from distracting attention from books, has placed
them higher than before among the comforts and
solaces of life. Many persons, we are told, who
hitherto gave little time to reading now devote
their leisure to the world's best authors. Signi
ficantly enough, popular taste has turned to the
more tranquil fields of literature—history, the
sciences and serious fiction. Demands from the
front include books of geography, astronomy, the
classics —and dictionaries.
In seasons of adversity and stress men turn to
inner resources rather than to outward diversion.
A nation in the shadow of war finds time read and
to think. Battle-wrought nerves demand “some
sweet oblivious antidote;” and where can it bet
ter be found than in the comradeship of a good
book?
An Authoritative Opinion
On the Highway Commission.
“It is my personal opinion that the meas
ure would not confer sufficient duties and au
thority upon the Prison Commission to make
it a highway department as contemplated by
the federal road act. I feel that a State
highway department, if it is to be such as is
contemplated by the federal road act, must be
an actual engineering department made up of
experienced road builders, thoroughly qualified
to make the necessary surveys, plans, specifica
tions and estimates, and to supervise construc
tion.”
These are the words of Mr. Logan W. Page, di
rector of the office of public roads and rural engi
neering in the national Department of Agriculture.
They are from a letter by him to Congressmen Lee
and Vinson in response to their inquiry concern
ing the dubious highway commission bill passed by
the Georgia House of Representatives. To say, as
some of the opponents of a thoroughgoing
measure are reported to have said, that Mr. Page’s
opinion on the matter is of no consequence, be
trays either ignorance or insincerity. The
office of public roads and rural engineering
is one of the most important branches of
the federal se vice; as the head of that office,
Mr. Page has broad power and responsibility. He
is charged with the practical administration of the
federal road act; and, speaking from an admin
istrative point of view, he declares in reference to
the House bill:
“I should certainly recommend to the
Secretary of Agriculture that he grant no
aid to the State of Georgia on any such basis.”
This counsel is wholly disinterested. The di
rector of the national office of public roads is not
concerned with the political game which ob
structs the passage of an adequate highway com
mission bill for Georgia and thereby threatens the
State with a loss of two million dollars. He is per
sonally indifferent to what the Legislature does or
fails to do. His opinion was not volunteered but
came in official response to a request from Georgia
Congressmen. If that sort of advice is not worth
considering, then nothing that can be said on the
issue win carry any weight.
For years our representatives in Congress have
striven to secure *ederal aid for road building and
at last, after repeated disappointments and in spite
of great obstacles they have succeeded. A fund of
seventy-five million dollars has been granted for
apportionment among the States that comply with
the terms of the new act. Is it possible that the
Legislature will let Georgia’s rightful share of this
generous aid go by default? Shall the State whose
Congressmen were so largely instrumental in es
tablishing federal aid for roads be the only State
in all the Union not to avail itself of the oppor
tunity thus opened?
The people wil’ do well to realize that this dan
ger is imminent. Georgia is one of the only
three States which have not already established a
competent highway commission, and the other two
are preparing to do so without quibbling. The end
of the Legislative session is near. If anything is
to be done to protect the State's interests under
the federal law, it must be done speedily.
The House bill, which merely bestows the
empty title of a highway department on the Prison
Commission, will not suffice. Nothing short of a
highway department endowed with genuine re
sponsibilities, charged with definite duties and
composed of efficient officers can suffice. The only
hope of an adequate measure now lies in prompt
action by the Senate and fair-minded concurrence
by the House.
The time is short.
The need is imperative.
The responsibility cannot be escaped.
Quips and Quiddities
“O-b-00-oh! 80-o-o-ho-o-o!”
As the childish wail rang through the house the
anxious mother sprang to her feet. Rushing into the
hall she met her little daughter coming in from the
garden and carrying a broken doll by the leg.
“What’s the matter, darling?” she asked tenderly.
“O-o-oh, m-o-other,” howled the child, “Willie s
broken my do-oll!”
"The naughty boy! How did he do It.
<•lii hit him on ve head wlv it!” was the slow
response.
• • •
“Heck,” growled the old man, returning to the bed
room, “I stubbed my toe.”
“Wen.’' replied his wife, "that’s what you get for
going down stairs in your stocking feet.”
“That's so,” Pop said. "If I hadn’t gone down In
my stocking feet that young man of Ethel’s might
have heard me and got away before I reached him.”
• • •
“Five shillings, please," said the dentist.
“But,** protested the patient, “your sign reads
‘Painless extracting free,’ and now you want 5 shill
ings.”
“Certainly,” replied the dentist. “You remember
that this dees not apply in your case. I do painless
extracting free, just as I advertise, but yours evi
dently was not painless, and so I make a charge for it.
Five shillings, please.”
e • •
As she stood outside the little country inn two
great tears shone In her innocent eyes, tears so large
that the passing cyclist saw them.
Beauty in distress caused him to dismount and aak
if he could be of any assistance.
•T’m afraid not, thank you,” replied the damsel,
sorrowfully, as she pointed to an automatic chocolate
machine attached to the wall of the Inn. "I’ve just put
a penny in that thing, and nothing has come out.”
“That’s soon remedied,” said the young man con
fidently.
He slipped a coin into the slot, and then another
and another. After the sixth he muttered angrily,
raised his cap and pedalled wildly away.
As he disappeared a female head peeped round the
door.
"Any luck?” asked the owner thereof.
"Oh, yes, ma,” replied the simple damsel gayly.
"That's the tenth. I’ve netted 50 cents since dinner
time.”
• • •
An Irishman with a very thick head of hair was one
day the center of a ring of English farmers who were
endeavoring to crack jokes at his expense.
•’Why,” exclaimed one of them, "you’ve got a head
of hair like a stack of hay.”
“Ah,” returned Pat, unruffled, "that's just what I
was thinking; that accounts for so many assets around
me.”
• e •
Mose was desirous of opening a grog shop in his
town and sought a license. The commissioner listened
to his plea. "AU right, Mose,” he said, “the fee ia SSO.
And, of course,, you have to get the consent of 75 per
cent of the people in that block.” Mose looked a trifle
puzzled. “Le's see, sah,” he said, "dey’s Jim an’ Sallie,
an’ de fo’ Joneses —dat’s six—why, mister, dey ain’t 75
per cent of people in dat block, sah!"
• • •
Tommy came out of a room in which his father was
tacking down a carpet. He was crying lustily.
"Why, Tommy, what’s the matter?” asked his
mother.
"P-p-papa hit his finger with the hammer," sobbed
Tommy.
"Well, you needn’t cry at a thing like that,” com
forted his mother. "Why didn’t you laugh?”
"‘I did,” sobbed Tommy disconsolately.
NERVOUSNESS is not a disease in itself, it
is, rather, a symptom of ill health from any
one of a number of causes, some of which
are primarily physical, others primarily mental.
It Is important to have this clearly understood.
Many people do not so understand it, as is evident
from leters that have come to me. Typical of these
is the recent query of a correspondent from western
Canada:
“What, in your opinion, is the best remedy for
rervousness?
If nervousness is not a disease in itself it, is
evident that there can be no “best remedy” for it.
The thing to do is to ascertain the precise cause of
tbe nervousness in each individual case and give
treatment appropriate to the particular case.
To be sure, there are certain measures which
are beneficial to all kinds of nervous patients.
The cultivation of emotional control, pleasant
occupation of mind, the taking of sufficient exer
cise and getting plenty of fresh air will help any
one who is nervous from any cause.
And in many cases nothing more is needed to
bring about a complete restoration to health.
But there are many cases in which a cure is out
of the question without skilled medical, surgical,
or dental aid. For this reason it is well for every
nervous patient to seek medical advice as to the
proper treatment for nervousness.
Don’t patronize “quacks.” Don't dose yourself
with some nostrum. Go to a reputable physician,
preferably a nerve specialist, and let him advise
you.
He may find —it is probable he will find—that
all you need is a readjustment of your living hab
its along mentally or physically hygienic lines.
He may, however, find that your case is more
complicated, that your nervousness is rooted in
There is a school of writers who declare that
we always get what we want, if we want it intense
ly and persistently enough.
I wonder if that is true. It can hardly be true
literally, for the world is too full of frustrated de
sires and disappointed folk.
But perhaps it is not Intended to be taken as a
mathematically exact statement, but rather as a
sort of oriental form of emphasis upon a neglected
and obscure law.
It is an oriental trick to overstate a matter,
even to the point of apparent absurdity, in order
to pique the attention and make one think.
Such are many of the sayings of Jesus, who
was peculiarly eastern in his style; as, for instance,
“Whosoever will save his life shall lose it,” "Sell
all that thou hast, and give to the poor,” “So ought
ye to wash one another's feet,” “If a man strike
thee on one cheek turn the other also,” “If one
compel you to go with him a mile, go with him
twain,” and the like. No one but a hard, western,
logical mind could imagine that these dicta were de
signed to be accepted with servile literalness. The
people to whom He spoke were oriental, were accus
tomed to that form of teaching, and did not need
to have it explained to them that these were strik
ing and highly imaginative settings of truths that
stated carefully and exactly would have been plat
itudes.
Bearing this in mind, we accept the creed that
in the long run we get what we want.
The successful people are the people with strong,
dominating wants. The failures are those who have
not the strength of soul to want anything hard
enough, and long enough.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4. —A few months ago a
plate printer employed in the bureau of engrav
ing and printing at Washington hurt his
thumb. The Injury appeared slight and he neglected to
have it attended to until a bone felon formed, which
greatly interfered with his work. When he finally did
seek medical attention it looked as if the entire tlfumb
Would have to be amputated. Instead, however, at the
suggestion of his physician, he entered the polyclinic
hospital In Philadelphia, where his thumb was restored
by a unique method. Unscientifically speaking, a piece
of flesh was removed from the right side of his abdo
men and molded into a new thumb, which for all prac
tical purposes is as good as the old one. To be sure,
there are a few things to be desired so far as the
sculpture Is concerned, and the digit lacks a certain
natural flexibility, but the important fact remains that
the printer has a thumb with which to resume his
work.
• • •
With surgery in this high stage of perfection, joy
riding and the handling of high explosives begin to
lose their terrors for us, and to suggest the possible
means of changing certain facial characteristics that
tend to mar our beauty: Many people are constantly
Irritated by the shape of their noses, for instance, and
if these could be mashed into a pulp and then sculp
tored by the plastic surgeon at th® expense of a gen
erous slice of double chin, the accident Insurance com
panies would be compelled to go out of business. In
order to protect these last brisk and up-to-date busi
ness concerns from bankruptcy, however, it should be
stated that the substituted anatomy is not always
beautiful, and during the process of manufacture is
something of a nuisance.
• • •
Thus the printer who was given a new thumb was
to the unmedical mind the victim of a somewhat har
rowing experience. First they cleansed his thumb
thoroughly, then they made an incision in his abdomen
near the appendix and attached the end of his thumb
to the flesh with several stitches. Here it stayed for
several days, until It had grown fast to his body, after
which it was separated by the knife and the skin
molded Into the thumb contour. The cavity left in the
abdomen was taken care of by another skin-grafting
operation. In the case of face wounds, however, this
method is, of course, impossible, since, unfortunately,
nature made no adequate provision for grafting the
face on to anything but the neck.
• • •
Plastic surgery has been practiced more or less
Indifferently throughout the ages. One occasionally
reads of some learned Italian of the sixteenth century
who was exceptionally skillful in building out cheeks
and noses, and many remarkable tales have come from
the beauty parlors. But plastic surgery today is sav
ing the lives of half the wounded of Europe. Owing
to the great amount of trench fighting which is taking
place in this war, the majority cf the wounds are he.’d
wounds, and the surgeons of Europe are daily per
forming surgical feats in fact construction that are
little less than miracles.
Moreover, some of the greatest of these surgeons
are Americans, so that If the war ever ceases we have
a biK bunch of medical talent coming back to us. The
American Ambulance hospital at Neuilly, France, is
known throughout Europe for its expert surgery and
for the lowest mortality rate of any hospital in any
war. It is housed in large French school buildings
which were just completed at the beginning of the
war and is under the authority of the French govern
ment but it is financed and run by Americans. The
most difficult surgery cases are handled here. It has
one of the most remarkable dental departments in the
world; opera singers and portrait painters for orderlies,
and a’ certain very famous woman portrait painter in
charge of the hospital supplies, who is using her talent
in the invention of mechanical appliances for the sur
geons in making their operations.
The surgeons themselves have ceased to be sur
prised at their own ingenuity in reconstructing what is
commonly termed in the war zone "cannon fodder.”
One man was brought into the hospital not long ago
with hardly any face left at all. His cheek had been*
shattered by a piece of shrapnel four inches long and
two inches wide, which in passing had fractured one
jaw. dislocated his teeth and planted a few in his
palate and had loosened both jaws. He was imme
diately hustled into the dental department, where
metal bands were made to support his jaws and a
bridge-shaped bar extended from side to side, which
also held a set of new teeth improvised by the dental
WHAT NERVOUSNESS IS
BI B. ADDINGTON BBUCB.
YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT
BY DR. FRANK CRAKE
MAGIC OF THE KNIFE
BY FREDERIC T. BASKIN.
some organic trouble, or in some Unfavorable men
tal state requiring expert psychological treatment
for its correction-
Among organic troubles most frequently re
sponsible for nervousness, eye weakness, due to
eye strain, has a prominent place. A pair of well
fitting spectacles may be all that the nervous pa
tient needs.
Tooth decay also is responsible for much
nervousness. Here trouble is caused both by
dental irritation and by poisoning of the system
by germg swallowed with food that hag been in
contact with the decayed teeth.
Anything that causes digestive disturbance may
be a cause of nervousness, through mal-nutrition
of the brain. Consequently diet may be an im
portant factor in the cure of a nervous case.
The physician will also inquire carefully into
the condition of throat and nose. Many cases of
nervousness, especially among children, are sym
tomatic of throat or nose disorders.
Nervousness may also originate from unsus
pected muscular strains, as in the case of persons
afflicted with flat foot. In fact, virtually any dis
ordered bodily condition may give rise to nervous
ness as a reflex symptom.
Again, nervousness may be a symptom of seri
ous brain disease or progressive disease of the
spinal column. Happily for the peace of mind of
nervous patients, it has this dread significance In
only a small percentage of cases.
Usually it is resultant from readily remediable
physical or mental troubles, and particularly from
unhygienic habits.
But since it is important to learn just what
its cause is, if you are nervous, act on my hint and
consult an experienced physician. Don’t try to
guesb its cause yourself.
(Copyright, 1916, by The Associated Newspapers.)
A human soul is a kind of electric force, at
tracting, moulding, bending to itself all things
with which it comes in contact If this force is
feeble, it dissipates; if it is strong, it reaches its
goal.
So there is a sense in which it is true that the
successful writer is simply the one who wants to
write, and wants this so violently and continuously
that he cannot be stopped; the man who attains
wealth is the one that desires wealth always more
than anything else; the great artist, musician,
painter, inventor, politician, or what not, is the
one in whom all lesser wants are fused Into one
hot, undying flame for a particular object.
The man who succeeds is the man who keeps,
on; the man whp fails is the man who quits.
It is easy to disprove this by many instances)
yet it is deeply true none the less.
Hence it is a good thing to select as the thing,
we want most something that is worth sacrificing
one’s life for.
“For,” says Arthur Symons, "it may come true
when we have no longer any use for it, when we J
have gone on willing it out of habit, or so as noc
to confess that we have failed. But it will comeJ
So few people succeed greatly because so few peo
ple can conceive a great end, and work towards
that end without deviating or tiring. The man
who works day and night for no matter what kind
of material power, gets the power. It 1b the same 1
with the deeper, more spiritual issues which make
for happines and every intangible success. It Is
only the dreams of those light sleepers who dream
faintly that do not seem true. <
(Copyright, 1916, by Frank Crane.}
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laboratory. This work completed, he was taken to the j
operating room and turned over to an American «ur-(
geon, who connected the skin fom the upper and lower <
part of his face and fashioned him a brand-new cheek. J
This man now bears only the reminder of a small scar, |
which does not detract at all from his appearance.
•• • I
A bullet hole in the forehead is a simple matter and|
is immediately filled in by the same abdominal opera
tion that was used in the case of the plate printer. It |
is a curious scientific fact that only the man’s own
flesh will suffice for an operation of this kind, or that!
of his twin, so that there is not the trouble of
ing material as is often the case with blood trans->
fusion. One young woman who visited the military i
hospitals of Europe asserts that a protuberant lip is;
sometimes made use of by the surgeons, and cites the)
case of a soldier who gladly gave up part of his In *
order to supply a portion of his nose which had been,
shot off in battle. He is now able to sneeze with per-!
feet equanimity.
Another man brought into the American Ambulance,
hospital had a fractured jaw and an ugly void wherei
there should have been a chin. After much painstak-!
ing work, the surgeon was able to rebuild this man’s
face out of chaos. The dental department first at-;
tended to his jaws, and then, the wound clean, the
surgeon succeeded in drawing the man’s lips up and In:
stretching and molding his cheeks so as to form a parti
of his chin, the other part being formed by the new*
skin which grew up from his lower jaw. This xnan,
of course", will always have a marred face but if it had,
not been for the skill of the surgeon he would prob-'
ably not have any at all.
Plastic surgery is not the only kind of surgery that;
has developed in the European war. The wounded have
poured Into the military hospitals throughout Europe,,
crowding the wards and straining the equipment to the
utmost. Surgeons have been known to operate on as
many as 300 patients in four days, yet the majority ofj
these are major operations—and, what is more impor-j
tant, a majority of them pull through. A common case,
for instance, is that of a man who has been wounded
in the leg and a nerve thereby severed, which causes
instant paralysis. Under these circumstances, tho
military surgeon sews the pieces of the nerve together!
and the man is again able to walk. Also, there have
been several successful operations In which the sur
geon has removed a bullet from the heart, or extracted
masses of decayed brains resulting from head wounds.
Indeed, in almost every case where surgery is pos
sible at all it has been amazingly successful. The
great trouble lies in the fact that often the men are
four and five days in transportation between the battle
field and the hospital, which usually allows tetanus or
gangrene to set in and work their havoc. Frozen,
hands and feet are also one of the great afflictions of
the war and are rarely curable by anything but ampu
tation, although they are now treating them with hot
electrical current. During the winter there are thou
sands of these cases. /
While the American hospitals In Europe are pri
marily for the wounded, they make also for the ad
vance of medical science. The American Ambulance,
for example, has invited several American universities,
including the Western Reserve university, of Cleve
land; Harvard university, Johns Hopkins and the
Universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago to send over
representatives to work in the hospital for periods of
three months at a time. Thus ,we are constantly
receiving a new influx of ideas with the return of our
young surgeons, who, in attending the military hos
pitals of Europe, get more practical experience in a
month than they would in this country In a year.
Already our citizens are keeping their Injured thumbs,
and our victims of accidents are having their beauty
preserved, so that our future American surgery, like
that of Europe, will doubtless be increasingly construc
tive as a result of the war.