Newspaper Page Text
4
THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
( ATLANTA. GA.. S NORTH FORSYTH ST. b
Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter
of the Second Class.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICK
Twelve months
Six months»
Three months • • • • •
The Semi-Weekly Journal is published on
Tuesday and Friday, and is mailed by the short-,
est routes for early delivery.
It contains news from all over the world,
brought by special leased wires into our office.
It has a staff of distinguished contributors, with
strong departments of special value to the home
and the farm.
Agentg wa nted at every postoftice. Liberal
commission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R
BRADLEY. Circulation Manager.
The only traveling representatives we have
are B. F. Bolton, C. C. Coyle. Charles H. Wood;
liff, J. M. Patten. W. H. Reinhardt, M. H. Devil
and John Mac Jennings. We will be responsible
only for money paid to the above named travel
ing representatives.
NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS
Th* label fnr addrewinit yo«r ix’pcr »h< w« the
tour »nb*cription eipirr». By reneuinir at leeat two weeks be
fora the SSte on thl» label, yoo in.nre regular M-raice.
la erOeriac paper ehajged. be sure to mention your oW an
well a« yoar r.«w address. If oa a write, pleare give the rojte
Bnr we r eaaeot enter subacriptmaa to begin with
RemittaaeM aUaM be sent by p 0.1.1 order orj££••*»**
Addro** aU orders and notices for thia I»epartmet t to THE
SKMI WEEKLY JOI KN AL. Atta ata. Ga.
i|g -
The Journal’s Service Flag
In honor of the seventy-three Atlanta Journal
men who have entered the service of their coun
try. The two white stars are in- memory of
Captain Meredith Gray and Captain James S.
Moore, Jr., Journal men, who gave their lives
for our country in France.
South a Natural Hog
Producing Country
If the farm is as important in winning the war
as the fighting forces, then it should be as pleasing
to read of the victories of the soil as those of the
battlefields.
The South has borne a wonderful part in the
production of food for the furtherance of the war,
and in no department of farm activity has it
achieved greater success than in the raising of more
hogs and better hogs. That this is true is striking
ly brought to mind by a recent article in the Coun
try Gentleman by John E. Pickett, entitled The
South as the Coming Stock Land of America." Mr.
Pickett relates the story of some northern, breeders
who were attracted by the prospectus of a Southern
sale ot Duroc swine. They decided to attend the
sale, believing that Southern buyers were un
acquainted with the merits of the really high qual
ity animals offered by the Southern breeder and
that they, therefore, could easily “cop off" some
valuable purchases.
“But it was a bad day for ‘copping.’ ” says Mr.
Pickett s article. “As it turned out, there was a
large number of Southern planters present who did
know quality and were willing to pay for it, and
when the bidding battle was over and the averages
computed it was found that price history had been
Ina 4«. Forty-four bred sows averaged $419 apiece,
and seventeen sows bred to Scissors, grand champion
Duroc boar at the 1917 National Swine Show,
averaged 1632 a head. Only four of forty-four sows
left the South. . . . About all the Northern
visitors got for their long ride was a lot of informa -
tlon about the South."
Part of this information is summed up by Mr.
Pickett as follows: “They learned for instance that
the South is a natural swine country which can pro
duce pork very cheaply, because it has the pasture,
the feed, and the right type of animals.”
Among the other facts about swine culture in
the South noted by Mr. Pickett is that Georgia is
raising now more hogs than either Kansas, Wis
consin or Minnesota and that in the recent quotas
of pork production increases asked of Southern
States the result was as follows: Tennessee, asked
for fifteen per cent increase, furnished eighteen per
cent; Georgia. aske-J for five per cent, gave seven;
while Alabama increased twelve per cent; Arkansas,
fifteen per cent; Mississippi, twelve per cent, and
South Carolina, six per cent. These increases, too,
Ic was noted, were mostly in pured-bred animals.
If the North has only just discovered that the
South Is especially adapted to hog raising, it must
be said that the South is also just waking up to
this fact. It is. however, waking fast and the years
that follow the close of the war will undoubtedly
see the South's pre-eminence in the production of
hogs firmly established. ,
Don't Stop Saving Food.
The action of the Food Administration in al
lowing an additional pound of sugar per person per
month is gratifying for two reasons. It assures a
larger share of sweets during the months to come,
and indicates the readiness with which the Food
Administration will lift other restrictions at the
earliest possible moment.
At the same time, the warning must be sounded
as to the necessity for continued conservation along
all lines. The latitude of the Food Administration
in regard to sugar carries no suggestion of an ex
cuse for relaxing the rigid denial and economy
which the people have been practising to aid in the
prosecution of the war. Everywhere the warning.
“Don’t Stop Saving Food,” may be read; and It js
the reminder of the Food Administration that we
are shipping soldiers overseas faster than any na
tion ever before put an army on foreign soil and
that those soldiers must be fed.
Besides our fighting men. we are feeding the
hungry nations ot the world, and even the cessa
tion of hostilities will not mean tne end of food
conservation. The end of the war may be in sight,
but the great task of returning our soldiers to their
native shores will confront the nation later, and
there will yet be hungry mouths to feed in many
war stricken nations.
The more we save now, the greater will be the
accumulating surplus of supplies, and the quantity
of that surplus is the determining factor in the
food situation
THE ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL', 'ATL’ANTA, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1918.
The Crisis m the Home Field.
There is a crisis on the home front—in the
fields of Georgia. Within the next thirty days
<he wheat and oat crop of the state must be plant
ed for the year 1919. Since the beginning of the
' European war in 1914, food has become scarcer
and scarcer and higher and higher. With our
?utr> into the war in 1917, the food problem took
: on additional seriousness which has increased
i month by month since then as our soldiers in
France have grown in number and the needs of
our allies both for their civilians and soldiers have
become more urgent. All of this is but an indica
tion of the fact that next year will see the great
est demand, and perhaps the greatest scarcity of
food that the world has ever known. Whether the
war continues or whether peace comes will make
no difference in the food situation for next year.
More wheat must, therefore, be planted in Geor
gia this year than ever before. The crisis men
tioned is due to the fact that not enough acreage
for this important food crop is at present indicated
for next season. In view of this fact the State
Council of National Defense has issued a clarion
call to the farmers of Georgia to put in a largely
increased acreage in wheat and oats immediately,
and has likewise called to the people of the cities,
towns and villages to co-operate with the farmers
by helping them do the work necessary for this
planting. What must be done must be done quick
ly. The effect, the desired end, a monumental
task, must he achieved. First of all, the farmers
must bestir themselves, but they cannot bring to'
completion the great work without the help of
every citizen. The situation in its critical aspects
is outlined in a recent bulletin issued by the State
Council of Defense as follows:
“The State Council of Defense is in receipt
of rather disquieting information as to the
acreage which is going to be planted in wheat
in this state this fall. Never has the need for
increased wheat production been more acute.
_e demand .or food will be heavier than ever
in 1919. Military conditions will not alter
this fact at all.”
Following this statement, the Council of De
fense declares that the corn and cotton yet un
harvested must be cleared from the fields, and
these fields ploughed and harrowed at once for
the reception of the grain. All of this work must
be done in the short space of a few weeks. Realiz
ing that the task is large and the time short, the
Council of Defense stresses two factors that can
be and should be brought to the aid of the farmer.
The first of these is that, because of the scarcity
of labor, the farmers unaided will be unequal to
the task; and, therefore, they must have the active
assistance of the people who live in the cities,
towns and villages. If necessary, the defense bul
letin states, organisations for farm work should
be formed in the towns and iu this way bring to
the fields labor that it would be impossible other
wise to obtain. The second thing stressed by the
council is the use of tractors. “The number of
tractors,” says the defense bulletin, “in each county
should be ascertained by the local city council of
defense and should be put to work as far as pos
sible. Private owners of tractors if requested, we
feel sure, will help in every possible manner so as
to substitute this labor-saving machinery for farm
help. Farmers in every community should en
deavor to get together and as far as possible help
each other, and to use all the available tractors in
the state both in ploughing and in harrowing.”
Georgia so far has done a wonderful work in
its share of the production of food as a means of
winning the war. Substantial increases have been
noted in thp yields of all kinds of grains and vege
tables and meat animals, but the food work of the
war is by no means ended. In fact it must be car
ried on in greater measure than ever before. More
heroic endeavors in this respect are now demanded
and It is not likely that the people of this common
wealth will fail to heed the call so timely and so
forcibly presented by the Council of Defense.
It may be said that the old order of farming
has passed away, never to return. This is quite
clearly shown in the appeal of the Council of De
fense when it points to the scarcity of labor and
the prospect of relieving it by the use of tractors.
This means that in the future the old style, slov
enly labor on the farm, leisurely in method and
wasteful in operation, must be superseded by labor
of greater efficiency which will be adjusted to a
more general use of improved farm machinery.
Never again, too. will the South rely upon the
one-crop system, based upon cotton. War condi
tions have forced the Southern farther to diversify
his crops, and war demands have shown him the
profit of home-raised grain and hay and meat. The
new order thus is clearly revealed and nothing can
help to advance the new order more effectively than
a triumphant compliance with the appeal «f the
Council of Defense to plant at once largely in
creased acreages in wheat and oats.
We believe that the Georgia farmers are fully
alive to the necess : ty of this immediate planting,
and we would urge upon all other peoplei in the
towns and villages to lend active personal aid in
helping the farmer to put over this great task which
is so essential to the welfare of the state and the
nation.
Overseas “Rotation.
The decision of the War Department by which
henceforth all army officers in this country will be
sent overseas in the order of their length of service
will be hailed with intense satisfaction wherever
1 bold hearts beat beneath the olive drab
There are hundreds of men in America who
offered themselves to their country at the first
stirring call of war. but who have been fated to
drudge out their days at desks and in cantonments
where the life was far from the red-blooded action
they had anticipated. The lack of instructors when
the army of the United States was only an army in
the making, often made this necessary and none is
I gainsaying the fact that these men served their
•lag as splendidly as did any who fell on the field
of battle. At the same time, they could not but
feel chagrined at their own lot where their mere
fortunate fellows, many of whom were months
later in receiving commisisons, preceded them on
the coveted road to France.
It is but just and fair that officers who for so
long have chafed at the bridle bit should be given
first call from now on. With an ever-increasing
number of veterans returning from France, the
number of instructors is sufficient without them.
It is safe to say that not one among them but
will be radiant when at last his overseas order
arrives. May they each have the opportunity to
strike a blow at the Hun on the firing line, and
may they all one day return safely home again.
War Winning Ships.
In no province of war work are American energy
and efficiency more strikingly manifest than in ship
building. Recent reports show that on the Pacific
roast seagoing vessels are being turned out at the
rate of more than one a day. In the Oregon yards
alone, one hundred and thirty-four ships, of which
twenty-nine were steel, were delivered to the Gov
ernment up to July the first; and today one hundred
and twenty-seven additional ships are in process of
construction. The aggregate tonnage produced in
these yards amounts to approximately nine hundred
thousand. Furthermore, the giant Douglas firs of
the Pacific Northwest have made possible the five
thousand-ton wooden steamers of which the heads of
the merchant fleet construction long dreamed.
Vessels of this type will have a third more cargo
space than the largest wooden steamers hitherto
built for the Government, and in the judgment of
competent observers will be particularly advan
tageous as Regards cost of operation. Says a recent
account from Portland: “While great gangs of
workmen are launching hulls of eighty-eight-hun
dred-ton fabricated steel ships at the Northwest
Steel and Columbia shipbuilding plants on the banks
of the Williamette river, ofter clipping sixteen days
from the contract time of seventy-five days, other
gangs are fashioning monarchs from the Western
forests into thirty-five-hundred—and soon five
thousand-ton —cargo carriers in yards dotting the
Williamette and Columbia rivers for more than
one hundred miles.”
When one reflects that these numerous and stu
pendously productive plants constitute only a frac
tion of the'nation's total shipbuilding machinery,
the magnitude of the American achievement can be
imagined. All along the Atlantic coast the hamiqers
are thundering and the rivets driving ceaselessly
home. Never was there an enterprise in construc
tion comparable to this gigantic output of ocean
carriers; and when we remember that the very
foundations of it all were laid less than eighteen
months ago, the result appears doubly marvelous.
To the energy and efficiency thus exerted, is due
in large measure the fact that the American war
program is six months ahead of schedule. Ocean
transportation was the pivotal problem. Had it not
been solved, we never could have had an army of
two million men in France by this autumn, never
could have kept them provisioned and equipped.
Our ship-building deserves liberal credit as a factor
in hastening the war’s victorious end.
If we could, we would send the boys turkeys for
Thanksgiving.
• —♦
Military Salvage Plants.
Not all of America’s splendid war achievement
has been demonstrated in front line operations.
The gallantry of American soldiers in attacking and
withstanding attack has evoked the admiration of
the world. Its citizen soldiers after a comparative
ly brief period' of training met and bested the
Kaiser’s veteran legions. German military effi
ciency, boasted the world over, went down before
the newer efficiency of the American freemen.
American genius, working under the stress of
imperative war conditions, has evolved other forms
of adequacy that will be revealed when actual hos
tilities have ceased and public interest is released
for the contemplation of other things. Significant
in this connection is the recent telegram from Gen
eral Pershing to Secretary McAdoo, praising the
work of the- American military salvage plants in
France. General Pershing said;
“The salvage service is effecting a saving
to the Government considerably in excess ot
SIOO,OOO each day. But the saving in money,
while of great importance, is not the vital part
of the work. We are saving material impera
tively needed at the front, material that no
expenditure of money can immediately replace.
We are directly saving ocean tonnage, which
is seriously needed each week and indirectly
releasing labor for service in the shipyards, on
the railroads and in other essential industries
in the United States.”
These salvage plants, under highly organized
forces, collect and repair or make over shoes, cloth
ing and other equipment of the soldiers which have
become unsuitable for further wear. The plants
are really immense rehabiliment stations for worn
out and cast-aside equipment. As modern war
surgery is able almost to make a new man out of
a terribly maimed soldier, so these salvage plants
have acquired such a degree of proficiency that they
can turn almost frayed leather and gaping holes
into serviceable footwear and rents and tatters into
renewed fighting clothes. We have heretofore been
regarded as a wasteful nation, but in this as in
hundreds of other things connected with the war,
the genius of the American people has again been
demonstrated. To a free people seem open un
limited sources of inspiration.
Now that it is nearly over, how weak Ger
many seems.
♦
Bank Examinations.
That Georgia needs a better system of state
bank examinations is a fact that probably no one
will deny, but in order to bring about the neces
sary rearrangements it will be necessary to amend
the constitution of the state.
The Legislature at its 1918 session passed a
constitutional amendment authorizing the Legis
lature to create a department of state bank ex
aminer. This amendment will be voted on by the
people, along with numerous other constitutional
amendments, in the general election next Tues
day. November 5.
Every citizen who believes in improvement
should vote in favor of this amendment. The con
stitution at present imposes on the state treasurer
the duty of examining state banks, but does not al
low him either the time or the funds to perforin
the duty. Hence state bank examinations are
neither as frequent nor as thorough in Georgia as
they ought to be.
The amendment in question removes this re
striction by authorizing the Legislature to make
all adequate and necessary provision for bank ex
aminations. The change will not cost the taxpay
ers any additional money, as the bank examina
tions are to be paid for by the banks themselves.
Depositors in state banks in Georgia are en
titled to full and complete protection. This pro
posed constitutional amendment will open the way
for giving it to them.
Germany's punishment is comihg during the
reconstruction period.
STANDARD SHOES AT STANDARD PRICES—Bv Frederic J. Haskin
WASHINGTON, D. C., November I.—“ Shoes
are going up something awful!” exclaimed
a sensible looking young lady to her dear
est friend. “Why? Oh, the government’s going
to fix the prices after November first. I bought
six pairs last week.” Whereupon, the dearest
friend, firmly believing that she had received a val
uable “tip,” also invested in a few pairs of unneed
ed and expensive shoes.
Government fixed shoe prices have recently be
come a standard topic of conservation. Unfortu
nately the persons who converse fluently on the
subject often display a complete misunderstanding
of shoe facts, as in the case of the sensible looking
young lady and her dearest friend. The war in
dustries board has brought about standard shoe
prices to avoid further rises in the cost bf an al
ready expensive commodity. Comparatively few
people have been able to purchase shoes in the past
3ear at prices lower than the government figure;
while the comfortably well-to-do and even the less
wealthy have been paying unbelievable rates for
the privilege of wearing a favored color or style
of heel.
Now standardized shoes —if a range of 150
styles can be considered standarization —will be
sold at your nearest shoe store at from three to
twelve dollars. Os course, the 150 styles include
high and low shoes for inen, women, misses and
children. The problem of selecting a pair of shoes
will be simplified almost to the point where you
can send the maid around to the shoe store with
directions to get you a pair of number six blacks,
C width, with extra long shoe strings.
The United States has not simplified shoe de
signs so complete! ’ as other nations at war. In
the leather and hide office* of the war industries
board are two pairs of shoes: a man's pair, heavy,
black, no stple or shine, and a woman's pair, al
black, no style cr sh.ne, and a woman’s pair, al-
These are not the shoes of somebody’s great-grand
parents. as might be carelessly inferred. They are
the accepted footwear of England for the period of
the war, and are the cheapest and most comfort
able standardized leather shoe which can be made.
Only twenty-seven styles of boots and shoes are
being manufactured in England now for men,
women, and children. This means that the Eng
lishman has a choice of not more than three styles
of high shoes, all built for service at the expehse
of beauty.
More people in the civilized world are without
shoes than ever before. There is no question that
shoes are a necessity in any climate outside the
tropics, but necessities as well as luxuries are few
and expensive in Europe now. ifecause of the ces
sation of industry and small importatiohs, the Rus
sian and Italian people are hjird put to obtain any
foot covering even of poor quality. In French
cities good shoes are still seen, for people who can
afford to buy high grade shoes are urged’ to do so
and thus leave the French standarized war shoes
for the poor.
Shoes made in the United States are known all
over Europe and America for comfort and style.
It is not the intention of the war industries board
that they shall forfeit this reputation. Semi
standardized shoes to be worn by the American
people will not offend the nicest taste nor, which
is more important, the feelings of the wearer.
“American people want nice looking shoes, and
OUR ENEMY THE GERM—By H. Addington Bruce
PRESENT events are forcibly impressing upon
us the fact that in those tiny beings known
as disease germs the world is menaced to
day by an even more dangerous enemy than the
hellish Hun. The Hun threatens to enslave man
kind. The germ w’ould blot mankind entirely out
of existence.
And there are not lacking observers who mourn
fully suggest th'at, though worsting the Hun, we. are
waging a hopeless battle against our other en
emy, the germ. Thus one celebrated English phy
sician, Dr. W. Trotter, declares:
“Recent developments in the study of disease
have shown us how blind and fumbling have been
our efforts against the attacks of our immemorial
enemies, the unicellular organisms.
“When we remember their capacities for varia
tion and our fixity, we can see that for the race ef
fectually and permanently to guard itself against
even this one (larger, are necessary that fineness
and complexity of organization, tha‘ rendering
available of the utmost capacity of its members,
against which the face of society seems so steadily
set. . . .
“It needs but little imagination to see how great
are the probabilities that after all man will prove
but one more of nature’s failures, ignominiously to
be swept from her work table.”
Germs, it is now known, menace us continually
and everywhere. Continually, moreover, we are
hearing of the appearance of new germs, inimical
<o health and life.
Whether these really are “new” germs is open
to question. They may always have been with us,
though unrecognized.
But it is not open to question that, despite the
progress of medical science, the germ is steadily
, , T T ERE’S the back door key,” said my neigh
• * J —I bor, Kelsey, as he fumbled over his ring.
A “Julie n ask you for it when she comes to
clean up after we're gone.” He was frozen out,
moving up to town.
“Do you want me to walk through it?” I sug
gested. “I might give it the once over in a week or
so. just to be sure it s all right.”
‘‘No, thanks. I’ve closed it very carefully.
Then there’s no chance of any one leaving a window
unlocked by mistake. I’ve got the thing down to a
system by now.”
As a matter of fact, that's the only fault I have
to find with Kelsey. He’s got all of lite worked out
to a simply infallible system. Though it’s my ex
perience that life sometimes refuses to be worked
out that way.
Anyway, it, took a load off my mind. 1 didn’t
want to be responsible for his house.
Ten days later Julie came for the key. Ten min
utes later she was after me again, hex- big black
eyes fairly popping out of her white face. ‘‘Mr.
Breck,” she called; ‘‘come kvick! Dere’s sometings
in dat house. Ghosteses.”
‘‘Skittles,” I derided. “It’s squirrels. Wonder
where they got in.”
“It's big! Bigger nor squirrels ” she gasped.
“It shaked der fists on me.” She stood there tying
her apron into anxious knots. “I vas sveeping in
der blue room, und it standed in de dark on de
stairs, und shaked its fists, und den it goes up stairs
—all so qvuiet like.”
“What did it look like?”
“1 trowed mines apron up kvick, as it shouldn't
put de eye on me.” Julie comes from the far con
fines of Hungary, where they still have were-wolves
and evil eyes.
Well, I went to see the ghost. But nothing
broke the stillness, of that deserted dwelling—not
even the gnawing of a tiny mouse. We looked and
searched. I came to think that the ghost was “in
her eyes.” But undoubtedly she was too scared to
go on with her work. So we started to lock un
again and go away. Even as we stood at the door
her keen ear caught a sound. “Wish, wish!” it
went. And then I heard it, too. - •
1 bounced up those stairs, three steps at a time,
Julie, still wringing her hands, in full pursuit for
fear of missing a distant view of the grewsome de
nouement. She seemed to feel that the ghost would
take the bigger game to cast its basilisk eye upon.
Through the attic, into the little storeroom over
the back porch! There, outlined in the light from
the window, stood a familiar form, wagging a
stubby tail. “Aw, Julie,” I said. “You just pro
nounced v wrong. You meant goats, not ghosts!”
For it was herself, and none other! Nancy, my
GHOSTS—By John Breck
demon goat, had added another triumph to her long
list of ingenious misdeeds. Here she had found a
cosy refuge from the cutting winds and the autumn
rains. An old straw mattress served her as bed
and board. We had heard her tearing mouthfuls
out of its inards for her ascetic repast while she
meditated upon new angles of a lady goat’s philoso
phy. Perchance she was still chuckling over Julie’s
screech when she shook, not a fist, but a playful
head, at her in the hall below.
She recognized me, gave a conscience-smitten
dive, and escaped down the carpeted stair—most
quiet-like, as Julie had said. Down still another
hastened her guilty steps, through the swinging
door, into the kitchen, then cellar-ward.
My systematic friend had overlooked the coal
chute. She went through it like a rabbit through
his hole.
And again Julie threw up her apron, but this
time it was to laugh herself into tears.
The question now before the house is this: Do
I dare tell my systematic neighbor the little joke
about his system? Better not. It might prove too
inelastic for the strain.
QUIPS AND QUIDDITIES
“But, my dear madam,” said the admiral, “it
is hard to discuss these matters with one so un
familiar with the terminology of the subject. You
remind me of the young wife who was speaking to
her brother about her volunteer husband.
“ ‘lsn’t Jack just wonderful?’ she said. ‘He's
already been promoted to field marshal.’
“ ‘From private to field marshal in two months?
Impossible!’ said the brother.
“ ‘Did I say field marshal?’ murmured the
young wife. ‘Well, perhaps it’s court-martial. I
know it’s one or the other.’ ” •
• • •
He had been promoted to captain’s rank and
decided to celebrate the occasion. He entered a
swagger west end restaurant and “did himself”
handsomely. The waiter fussed around, smiling
and obsequious and expectant. He brought back
the change after paying the bill and was very
wroth when the officer pocketed the lot. But there
was still time and, bowing and smiling, he hand
ed the man his hat and cane. Nothing happened,
so the waiter ventured meaningly:
“Haven’t you forgotten something, sir?”
The officef started. ‘‘By Jove!” he said. “I
have!” .
He turned and picked a quarter from be
neath his plate and put it back in his pocket.
they are going to have them,” declares the board.
Shoe manufacturers are agreeing to turn out
shoes at twelve dollars or less that will equal
shoes sold at higher prices because they will be
shorn of needless refinements and trimmrngs.
ornamentation, such as extra straps and buckles,
and perforations forming designs, is omitted from
the new styles. Button shoes, high heels, and
other whims of fashion which can be dispensed
with are to be conspicuous by their scarcity.
For some months yet, possibly until next June,
there will be scattered lots of fancy and high-pric
ed shoes on the market. These represent th? *'
manufacturers’ last fling at novelty and were cut
before the new ruling was adopted. The public is
not urged to ignore this old stock, because to leave
it on the dealers’ hands would involve waste rath
er than saving. All shoes now being built con
form to the new regulations.
Need of a war measure to adapt the shoe In
dustry to war conditions has been felt for some
time both by the government and by. the industry.
No leather shortage is imminent, but with our im
portations cut off and with labor steadily going
into the army, it was impossible to supply the
country with shoes on the usual scale.
The civilian shoe supply is depleted by the
heavy demands of the army. A soldier’s shoes re
quire the best materials and workmanship to
stand the hard wear to which they are subjected.
The present army shoe, which is the most substan
tial piece of footwear that can be made, lasts
about four months if kept in repair. Some idea
of the leather requirements of our army can be
gained from the fact that 4,000,000 pairs of theye
structures have been sent to the overseas forces
alone.
“"^Ttje^ announcement “United States army to to
tal 4,000,000 men” was the bomb shell that start
ed definite planning to put the shoe industry on a
new war basis. An army of 4,000,000 men means
1,000,000 men taken from our industries, and the
shoe industry expects to give its full share of the
million.
The war industry board did not arbitrarily fix
retail prices on shoes according to its own con
clusions. It conferred long and amicably with
shoe industry representatives, and terms agreed
upon are pronounced fair by all concerned. When
staple designs only are built, the manufacturers'
work is less complex. For instance, no highly
paid designers need be employed .to evolve new
kinds of fashion. The proposition is the same as
that in building standardized submarines or auto
mobiles—higher efficiency in manufacture and a
lower price for the finished product.
The retail shoe merchant profits by the edict
of. fewer styles and fixed prices. He no longer
needs to worry over shelves of shiny patent leath
er pumps which the fickle public refuse'- in favor
of oxeford ties. His stock is reduced about forty
per cent and there is small danger of goods going
out of fashion so long as war conditions prevail.
The only person who will not find government
fixed shoe prices satisfactory is the bargain coun
ter fiend. When shoe styles do not change, bar
gain counter riots will be a practically extinct form
of amusement so far as shoes are concerned. How
ever, this phase of the shoe question Ips not yet
assumed sufficient importance to claim the atten
tion of the war industries board. .
becoming a more formidable foe. This, too,
through our own fault.
Unwittingly we have made things easier for
the germ by herding together into large cities,
where we have permitted the development of con
ditions favorable to the spread of germ-caused dis
eases.
Sunshine, fresh air, and cleanliness are fatal to
germs. Sunshine, fresh air, and cleanliness also
fortify the human body against their inroads.
But—
For the sake of mere wealth we have permit
ted manufacturers to darken our cities, pollute
their air, and cover with dust and dirt their streets
and habitations. ,
We have permitted money-grabbing landlords
to herd our poor in filthy slums, a veritable para
dise for germs.
We have permitted monopolists still further to
reduce the national vitality by demanding prices
for life's necessities so exorbitant that underfeed
ing is rife among the masses.
And, withal, we have permitted millions of men
and women, even of mere children, in factories,
stores and offices, to toil under conditions that by
themselves would lower germ-fighting capacity al
most to the vanishing point.
Need we wonder that we have epidemics? Need
we wonder that germs multiply among peoples who
themselves have turned the earth into a germ
heaven?
Health ideals must supplant wealth lustings.
The dollar motive must be overwhelmed by the mo
tive of true human solidarity. Social justice must
rule throughout the world.
Else, of a surety, the world will pass from
man’s keeping to become the undisputed posses
sion of man’s enemy, the germ.
(Copyright, 1918, by the Associated Newspapers)
