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4
■THE SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL
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■bSEMI- WEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta. Ga.
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■ The Journal’s Service Flag
■ In honor of the seventy-three Atlanta Jour
■l men who have entered rhe service of their
Kuntry. The two white stars are in memory
■ Captain Meredith Gray and Captain James
■ Moore. Jr.. Journal men, who gave their
■pcs tor our country in France.
■Zw/o His Courts If' ith Praise.
Thanksgiving comes with vastly
H j widened meaning. In other years we
KM- have been grateful for the blessings of
Kir own land; today we are grateful for those
■ the world —a world restored to peace and
K with new visions. The greatest of wars has
Ken brought to a righteous end. Soon men
Ky be tilling the crimsoned earth and sail-
the wide seas as in the old untroubled.
Km. Millions will take up their lives'
Koken threads and weave anew those calm
Kd cheerful destinies of which the broad
K*ft of human history is made.
■ But would the war have been worth while
■ Its end meant nothing more than a re-
Kn to tranquil living? Would peace be
Kort'a having were it merely a “sweet
antidote" that left wrongs unre
lated and the old infections unpurged? Our
Kef cause for thanksgiving is that out of the
Kffuish and struggle have come a surer gift
■F freedom and of faith. The forces of
have proved hardier than those of
Kdtur, abler to fight and endure, fitter to
They who believed in Right, though
Kgfleu for a season, have prevailed over the
■cgdom of Might. Up through ashen years,
Kiod-red with sacrifice, hrs risen the light,
■iu mi hi ng over darkness.
■ To have borne, as America has, a co-labor-
Ks part in that shining task, a lance in that
■orious crusade; to have fought by the side
■ Belgium and England and Italy and
to have helped give fresh meaning to
and a heightened majesty to the
Kpry of man:—for this we should be grate
■• indeed, entering ‘ into His gates with
and into His courts with
■ “For the Lord is pood; His mercy is ever-
■ -ting; and His tru’h endure’h to all genera-
Kit is a tribute to the secure position he
K£ds that Mr. McAdoo can publicly admit he
broke.
■ The Use of Southern Ports.
■ The accumulate n of freight at the coun-
Ky's leading ports amounted to some eighteen
thousand car’.cads n.ar the end of last month
Ki compared with more than forty-four thou-
Kad carloads in December, 1917. This Im-
Kovcment. which is of incalculable value to
nation s common Interests, resulted in
■•table measure soma larger use of Southern
■or'
■ The always inefficient practice of trying to
Krowd the entire continent's Europe-bound
wnmerce through one or two North Atlantic
Kitlets became so hazardous last winter as
threaten the very life of our war activities.
Kmditions long had teen drifting toward such
■ crisis. 'Time and again on railway lines
to eastern ports, thousands of cars of
■wight had been’tled up—not only goods for
Kreien shipment, but for domestic needs as
■•11. so that the public’s most practical In-
Krests were involve 1. Furthermore, this con-
Kwtion in the East would keep out of service
■iousands of cars which belonged to other
of the country. In the spring of 1917,
K| trunk lines north of the Potomac there
■ere upwar Is of one hundred thousand box
■uw more than were owned by those lines,
■hile Southeastern roads lacked twenty-live
cars of having what th -y owned and
needed. Thus all regions and all
suffered in consequence of the cus-
of attempting to cram into a few Eastern
■nninals more traffic than they could ac
■ These problems grew so acute under the
■rtraordinary rigors of the winter of 1917.
■hen northern harbors and tracks were
■eked in Ice, that even those most prejudiced
the old order realized the necessity of a
At that time, moreover, the Govern
■nt assumed control of transportation, so
such obstacles as had stoed in the way of
railroads diverting traffc from
to the commodious terminals were
the Government having power to
with an eye singfe to efficient service.
it was that Southern ports we re brought
play a larger part in the nation's war-time
The results were so richly ar.d so
Rudely beneficial that it is hardly conceivable
■■t the old exclusive system will ever be re
■imed.
W ‘ - ......
A Strong Navy, a Strong Peace.
THE country warmly indorses Secretary
Daniels" seasonable appeal that Con
gress abate no jot of its earnestness
for the navy’s continued upbuilding. What
ever peace plans the forthcoming conference
at Y’ersailles may adopt, it is certain that the
United States and Great Britain must assume
a major part of the responsibility of preserv
ing world order and enforcing international
decrees by means of maritime supremacy.
A league of nations powerless to execute
its law and will would be a dismal farce. Its
power can be entrusted most safely and most
effectively to naval instrumentalities, for it
is a common teaching of history that while
the possession of great armies will dispose a
nation to war, a great navy is of itself no
such temptation. A navy indeed is primarily
an instrument of defense and control, unless
it be employed in conjunction with a vast
land armament. This was demonstrated in
the genesis of the recent war. England, with
an incomparably strong navy, stood for peace,
and up to the brink of the catastrophe sought
to settle the issues by other means than force.
Germany, with Inferior sea strength but with
an army of forty years’ making, took the ag
gessor’s ruthless way—and yielded at last to
an exercise of international power which was
made possible largely by British and Ameri
can command of the seas. If, then, we are
to play an equal an., worthy part in future
plans for the maintenance of peace and jus
tice, we must have a navy of first-rank
strength, capable not bnly of guarding our
own rights against any conceivable danger
but also of performing our full duty to the
common interests of civilization.
This calls for unfagglng continuance of the
navy development program designed in 1916
and supplemented upon our entrance Into
the war. In the former year Congress, to
quote Secretary Daniels, "took a radical and
forward step. It abandoned the plan of a
yearly authorization of new ships and adopt
ed a three-year building program.” The
naval appropriation was increased from a
yearly average of on r hundred and forty-five
million dollars to approximately three hun
dred and thirteen million. This was a long
stride, in ‘comparison with previous efforts.
In 1914, at the outbreak of the war, the ton
nage of the world’s principal navies was as
follows: Great Britain, 2,158,250; Ger
many, 951,713; the United States, 744,353;
France, 665,748: Japan, 519,640; Italy, 285,-
460; Russia, 270,561; Austria-Hungary, 221,-
526. YY’hile in point of tonnage our navy
held third place in 1914, in some other im
portant respects it was not that high. Cer
tainly, it was far from equal to the responsi
bilities which world conditions suddenly
thrust forward; and it wa« not until 1916
that the new and far-reaching construction
program was adopted. That program was
just getting fairly under way when we en
tered the war, and it is still unfinished. That
it should be pressed promptly to com
pletion and augmented as the lessons
of the war dictate, is so obviously the
right course that we can hardly imagine Con
gress taking a contrary one.
America’s earnest hope, like that of right
eous nations the ..orld around, is that peace
henceforth .may be perpetual, and her in
fluence will be exerted for its preservation.
But we dare not steer by hope alone, ignor
ing the grim possibilities of wind and wave.
Did we not do our utmost to keep clear of
the storm that broke in 1914? And did not
the world's forces of moral suasion do their
utmost to prevent that terrible tempest?
Hereafter, while hoping for the best, let us
prepare for whatever may come —not in a
spirit of belligerency or distrust but as a sim
ple duty to the land we love and to the prin
ciples of freedom and justice that we wish to
see prevail throughout the earth. Let us
build a great navy as the first arm of our
own defense and as the readiest instrument
of co-operation for the maintenance of just
peace.
Our own unofficial opinion 4s that if the
allies insist. Holland won’t hold out for keep
ing the ex-kaiser.
If Germany If ere Dictating.
In a letter to the Allgemenie Zeitung of
Berlin, written a few’ days before his death,
Albert Ballin, whose closeness to the Potsdam
masters enabled him to speak with peculiarly
Sure insight, declared that the Allied armi
stice terms instead of being harsh were much
more moderate than Germany might have
expected. “YY’e should only think w’hat our
terms would have been if we had been vl£
tors,” he remarked, adding that they would
have included German occupation of Rome,
Paris and London and the virtual annexation
of the entire European continent.
There need be no uneasiness lest the Allies
deal too drastically with the surrendered
Hun. It is evident that he is amazed at their
moderation. He cannot understand how na
tions can fight simply for principles and settle
with a conquered enemy on a basis of justice
without revenge. The Hun idea of a settle
ment was set forth in Count von Bernstorff's
forecast of what terms Germany would dic
tate to the Allies whom he and his Berlin
chiefs then considered done for. Those terms,
the Count told us, were to include:
First—All French colonies to be given up.
Second —Northeastern France to be given up.
Third—lndemnity of 10,000,600,000 francs.
Fourth—During twenty-five years no taxation
a German merchandise in France; but Ger
many not to lift the duty on French merchan
dise in Germany. Fifth—For a period of
twenty-five years France to have no compul
sory military service. Sixth —Destruction of
all French fortresses. Seventh—France to
abandon to Germany 3,000,000 rifles, 2,000
cannon and 40,000 horses. Eighth—Special
privileges to all German patents in France.
Ninth—Renunciation of any alliance between
France, Russia and Great Britain. Tenth—An
enforced alliance of twenty-five years between
France and Germany.
If these were to be the exactions after a
few months of fighting, what demands would
Germany have made it she had emerged vic
torious at the end o’ more than tour years?
The Allies, of course, are not German in any
of their principle? and cannot afford to be
German In any of their methods. Still, it is
well to bear in mind the character of the
nation that muht be disciplined in the inter
est of civilization and humanity.
TTTF ATLANTA SEMI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, ATLAT7TA, GA. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2C. intß
The RepublicanSchisni.
The "reunited Republican party” begins al
ready to show signs of what is known in Ger
many as “separatism.” YVhile the Congres
sional campaign was in progress the factions
forgot their grudges In a common enthusiasm
for political pork. But scarcely were the
spoils weighed before the old bickering began
anew.
Ten Republican Senators and Senators
elect, all from the West and most of them
from States beyond the Mississippi, have is
sued a virtual manifesto to the effect that in
the reorganization of the upper House the
chairmanships of important committees shall
not be given to reactionaries of the Penrose
clan. That clan, denying the Impeachment,
begins whetting its steel. Similar divergences
among the House Republicans are not im
probable, so that the new Congress may re
semble that which was last under G. O. P.
control, when Insurgents and Standpatters
were continually tarred on to controversy.
It is earnestly to be wished that such a
condition of affairs may not hamper Congress
in dealing with the tremendously important
problems that will come in tlie wake of the
war. But at best, a party with no more real
concord and no more effective leadership
than the Republican party of today possesses
cannot offer the country a very heartening
prospect. If it has any program of con
structive policies, no Intimation of them has
been given. If it has any Ideals above its
traditional belief in its "divine right” to of
fice, they have not been discovered.
There is a great body of Americans who
by custom call themselves Republicans and
who have more or less clearly defined po
litical convictions. But these are not "the
Republican party,” nor are they likely to
find their wishes represented or fulfilled
through a political machine that is composed
of stubborn standpatters and ineffectual
"progressives.”
- 4
The World's Creditor.
Observing that the war has changed the
United States from a debtor to a creditor na
tion, the New York World reasons that as a
matter of self-interest we can no longer cling
to old notions of an arbitrary control of our
foreign trade. For,
“We can better our export trade and
our new position as a creditor only by
bettering the situation of neutral mar
kets and our new foreign debtors for
making payments in goods instead of
gold, of which they have little and we
have much. Large annual excesses of
merchandise exports over imports have
been for us heretofore no measure at all
of progress in wealth accumulation, but
rather a measure of our foreign debt
and its annual interest charge.”
Obviously, there must be, in place of those
export excesses, a closer approximation to a
balance if our new position as a creditor is
to be fortified and secure. That is to say,
we must think in terms of other nations’
trade interests; as Secretary Redfield of tho
Department of Commerce recently declared,
"the United States must lend itself to the re
habilitation of the Allied belligerents before
going out after the new business which the
war has brought within its reach.” Other
wise, tho renewal of prosperity in those
countries, which is a matter of both material
and moral concern to us, will not be assured.
Our Government credits to the Allied nations
now amount to upwards of six billion dollars,
in addition to large private loans negotiated’
for them in this country. These friends ex
pect to redeem their obligations by means of
restored industries and revitalized foreign
trade. In serving them to that end, we shall
serve our own deepest welfare.
Indeed, American interests in every direc
tion will best bo promoted by generous and
sympathetic policies. Our failure to make
more headway in Latin-American markets
prior to the war was due largely to unac
commodating methods of dealing with the
peoples whose trade we sought. It was the old
handicap of provincialism which, thanks to
our great-hearted participation in the world’s
common perils and problems, will now surely
be shaken off.
SIGNS OF GROWING OLD
—o
By H. Addington Bruce
ONE of the first signs of growing old is a
dulling of ambition and enthusiasm.
Eagerness to achieve is replaced by a
more or less apathetic quietude. The divine
discontent of youth flees before an increasing
self-satisfaction.
The mind, ossifying, becomes less receptive
to new ideas. Opinions are tenaciously held
and dogmatically expressed. Opposition is
less patiently borne, giving rise to irritability
and querulousness.
The memory is not what it used to be.
Neither is the power of concentrating the at
tention. except in respect to personal comforts.
The self-regarding instinct asserts itself more
and more at the expense of the altruistic in
stinct.
Hence the whole personality narrows until
there may develop, in the apt phrase of a
Philadelphia physician, Dr. J. Madison Taylor,
a "shut-in-ness” which leads to habitual con
centration on self and a lamentable disregard
of the rights and feelings of others.
With increasing mental sluggishness an in
creasing physical sluggishness goes hand in
hand. Interest in earlier muscular activities,
whether of work or of play, subsides.
The step becomes less brisk, the pose less
vigorous. Arm chairs exercise a peculiar fas
cination, unsuspected in days gone by.
A tendency to put on weight may now come
into evidence. Sometimes the change in this
respect is gradual and almost imperceptible.
Sometimes it appears with startling sudden
ness.
Or it may never appear. More than this,
many of the other physical and mental signs
of growing old may be indefinitely postponed,
as is evinced by the number of physically and
mentally vigorous old men whom we daily see
on our streets.
On the other hand, these tell-tale signs may
manifest themselves long before they would in
the natural order of things. When they do
manifest themselves in men still chronologic
ally young—men in the thirties or forties—
they are warnings that should be promptly
heeded.
For they indicate that something is radical
ly wrong with the mental or physical life- i
habits. They may even indicate that a serious
organic degeneration has set in, calling for
careful medical treatment.
Consequently a thorough examination, par
ticularly of the heart, kidneys and blood ves
sels, is at once in order. The man who is
obliged to confess to himself that he is grow
ing old before his time, should lose not a
moment in consulting his doctor.
Acting on the latter’s advice he may check
the untimely senescence and regain in some
degree his vanished youtn. This he can never
do if he persist in the ways that are prema
turely aging him.
(Copyright, 1918, by the Associated News
papers.),
THE THINGS NOT SEEN
By Dr. Frank Crane
Over and above and behind and within
the things seen are the things not seen, and
they are the most important.
So much more vital are they that a great
thinker said: "We look not at the things
that are seen, but at the things that are not
seen; for the things seen are temporal, but
the things not seen are eternal.”
For instance, the house is a thing seen,
but a home is a thing unseen; a brain can
be seen, a mind is unseen; you can see a
mother’s face, but not the love behind it,
yet it is the latter that affects you; flags are
seen, patriotism unseen; and you can see a
body, but not a soul, a i ord, but not an idea
a church, but not God.
Our first crude notion is that the things
seen are real and the things not seen are
fanciful. We call those who handle stone
and wood and meat practical, and those who
deal in theorems, sentiments, and morals,
theoretical.
Sometimes we hear one say that he goes
in for the tangible goods of this life, such
as food, clothes, and money, and he prides
himself upon his sound common sense.
But the truth is that what is seen is most
ly illusion. The earth seems flat; it is not,
it is round. The sun appears to revolve
around it.
YVhat we call education is but the process
of correcting the false ideas we get from
things visible by the things invisible. The
baby, who can see as well as we, is contin
ually bumping himself against the things
seen until he learns how to use his judg
ment, reason, ar.d other unseen faculties.
It is the unseen things that matter. So
true is this that the Hindu philosophers
speak of all the things we see as Maya or
Illusion.
Behind every tangible thing look for the
intangible, which is more solid and essen
tial. For it is not lust you need, but love;
not money, but abundance, which is a spirit
ual substance; not clothes, but self-expres
sion; not bread, but truth; not beautiful ob
jects, but a mind that can see beauty any
where; not an amulet, but courage; not
wine, but health and enthusiasni.
YVhy are you unhappy? Because you are
hungry. You put material food every day
into your stomach and you drink water, but
you do not draw into your inner man, into
your real self, the boundless supplies of the
infinite. Love, joy, peace, mirth, and all the
good vital forces are about you, as the at
mosphere is about you, but your spirit's
mouth is shut tight, because you are stupid
and vain; and think you are clever, in that
you will only believe what you see.
If you would be happy come, buy without
money and without price; eat and let your
soul delight itself in fatness, for the infinite
storehouse is yours, and the humblest soul
may revel in its unseen treasures.
(Copyright, 1918, by Frank Crane.)
■ ♦
ANIMALS THAT WEAR ARMOR
—o
Os all the queer little people for whom
Mother Nature has found use in the great
world, there is none more queer than Hard
shell the Armadillo. Hardshell belongs to a
very old family. In fact, there are few who
can trace their way hack so far as can this
little animal. He belongs to an order called
the Edentata, which, in turn, is divided into
three families, Armadillos, Ant Eaters and
Sloths.
Some of these animals are toothless and
others are nearly so. All of them live in warm
climates, and Hardshell the Armadillo is the
only one found in North America. The nine
banded Armadillo is found all the way from
southern Texas and Arizona, through Mexico
and Central America, down to Venezuela,
South America.
Slow Poke the Box Turtle, as you know,
carries his house with him, and in time of
danger can pull himself into it and close the
doors. Hardshell the Armadillo, instead of
having a house into which to retreat, wears
a suit o. armor. t Even the top of his head
■and his tail are protected in this way. Un
derneath he has no protection. In this re
spect he is like Prickly Porky the Porcupine,
and like Prickly Porky, he can roll himself
up so that he is wholly protected. The armor
on the back of Armadillo the Hardshell is in
bands ano is jointed.
Hardshille is an exceedingly timid fellow
and is not seen abroad during the daytime
very much. "He prefers the night. His legs
are very short, but for a short distance he
can run very fast. He has a funny way of
running on the tips of his claws, which are
long. He is a great digger. He can dig him
self in faster than his enemies can dig after
him. His food consists of worms, ants, snails,
beetles, small raards. grasshoppers and other
insects. He eats some soft fruits and vege
table matter, and is something of a scavenger.
He is harmless to m:.n; but man is not alto
gether harmless to him, for the natives con
sider him very fine eating. They roast him
in his shell. The shell is ornamental and is
often used for making fancy baskets.—From
the People's Home Journal.
DO YOU KNOW THAT—
> o
Lemon drops are so popular in the army
that about 200,000 pounds are needed every
month to fill the demand. This, however, is
only about 15 per cent of all the candy our
soldier boys get away with once a month.
* « •
One thousand tons of American sugar con
signed to German firms three years ago has
just been turned into chocolate candy for our
boys in France. It was confiscated by the
French government as contraband of war,
and was held in bond until a few weeks ago,
when the Y. M. C. A. bought it and turned it
into candy.
• « •
It will be necessary to continue the con
servation of wheat flour next year in order to
pile up reserves against a possible short crop
throughout the world, on account of labor
shortage. Now that .we are getting used to
bread made from mixed flours, and liking it
better, we shall feel it no great hardship to
continue. It Is estimated that the hotels, res
taurants, clubs and dining cars of the coun
try saved, from October 1, 1917, to August 1,
1918, between 175,000,000 and 200,000,000
pounds of wheat and its products, as well as
150,000,000 pounds of meats and 50,000,-
000 pounds of sugar.
* • *
It will be news to most housewives that
jelly can be made just as firm without sugar
as with it. Sugar in jelly simply supplies a
sweeter tatse. YVhat maKes the fruit juices
“jell” is a certain ingredient called pectin,
which is present in applds and pears more
than in any fruit. Pectin is most abundant in
fruit that is not not quite ripe enough to eat.
• * •
Approximately 225,000,000 pounds of
sugar was used by our army during the year
ending September 1918. About 237
pounds are consumed by every thousand sol
diers every day. This figures out about 87
pounds a year for eaclynan.
THE JOURNAL’S BOOKSHELF
"The Edge of the Quicksands,” by D.
Thomas Curtin. George H. Doran company,
New York City.
Mr. Curtin, while an American, kept in
close touch with affairs in Germany as well
as England and neutral countries. He em
phasizes the differences between the German
people and the Americans, and describes the
quicksands into which the German people and
army were being driven.
THE CASE OF THE BAD BOY—By Frederic J. Haskin
WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 25.—At 1
the age of thirteen Robert Field |
broke into the hardware store in his
town, and stole a casefrl of jacknives. His
guilt suspected, he was searched and the
missing property found in his clothing. The
owner of the hardware store agreed to leave
Robert’s punishment to his father, who gave
him a vigorous thrashing.
Since then, Robert has not been caught in
any delinquency, but he appears to have a
bad influence on the rest of the small boys
in town, and is accused of having encourag
ed one boy to seal a bicycle. His school rec
ord shows that he is always out of school
because of alleged illness, and consequently
has never progressed beyond the fifth grade.
He claims to have "heart trouble,” "kidney
trouble” and "stomach trouble”—claims in
which his mother strongly supports him.
Further Investigation of Robert’s history
reveals the fact that his father, who died
of tuberculosis shortly after the incident of
jack-knives, was a drunkard and ne’er-do
well. His mother also has a very bad repu
tation.
The case of Robert Field is only one of
many uncovered in a recent investigation of
juvenile delinquency undertaken by Kate
Holladay Claghorn of the United States chil
dren’s bureau. Out of twenty-one communi
ties investigated. Miss Claghorn reports 185
cases of erring juveniles, 119 of whom were
boys and 66 of whom were girls.
Never has the connection between hered
ity and crime been more clearly illustrated
than in this investigation by the children’s
bureau. In nearly every base the parents of
the delinquent child are shown to possess
mental or moral defects.
Why, for example, did Robert Field,
among all the other little boys in his village,
show an irresponsible tendency to lie and
steal? Some will contend that it was the
environment, but at the time that he broke
into the hardware store his environment was
much the same as that of the other boys in
his community. Only he was handicapped
by his heritage—a drunken father and a dis
ruptable mother.
Here is another case reported by Miss
Claghorn: At the age of eleven Harry
Porterfield stole a watch from a neighbor.
The neighbor immediately got out a war
rant for the arrest of both Harry and his
father, and the watch was discovered in
the possession of the father. The father
asserted that llarry had stolen the watch,
and that he was going to make him return
it, but this was doubted by all who knew
the father. Two years later, Harry had be
come the leader of a gang of boys who were
causing the village all sorts of trouble.
Among other things, they wrecked several
buildings on the local picnic ground. An
Investigation of Harry’s family showed that
his father had a reputation for stealing,
principally chickens; that he had been on
probation twice for deserting his family,
and that he was in the habit of going on
sprees every time he got money enough.
JIM HARDY’S IOWA TEMPER GOES BLOOIE—By Herbert Corey.
WITH THE FIRST AMERICAN ARMY
FRANCE. Oct. 14. —All the tankers
say that Jim Heady, of lowa —Corpor-
al Jim Heady, thank you— ’ s a rotten
temper. He is apt to get irritated in battle.
Some little thing happens to him, like get
ting shot or sticking his tank's nose in a soft
bank, or outrunning the infantry which is
supposed to be in support, and which—take it
from the tankers —very rarely is, and Jim
Heady’s lowa temper goes blooie.
“He just runs that tank around like it
was a squirrel,” his admiring associates as
sert, “jumping on boches and things and
paying no attention at all to what his gun-<
ner says to him. His gunner says that up
at Varennes he kicks this Heady guy in the
back.
“You stop horsin’ around with them boche
and pay attention to me,” his gunner said,
“or I’ll blame well drag you onta this tank
and knock your dang block off.”
HUNDRED TANKS BUSY.
The tanks had considerable of an innings
in the fight which opened on September 25
between the Meuse and the Argonne. More
than 100 or of them were employed at their
usual job of breaking down wires and root
ing out ihachine gun nests. That job was
complicated and thickened on this occasion
by the fact that a heavy mist clung to the
ground when the tanks began work at dawn
on September 26.
Hardly had they clattered over tha first
line than they were lost —lost from each
other and the doughboys and the high com
mand and the aerial patrols and the runners
and every one else. They fought the first
hours of that battle on their own hook, each
tank for itself, rumbling and snorting
through the mist and grinding over enemy
nests. Hours passed before the sun came out
and cleaned away the fog, so they could give
and receive signals.
Jim Heady’s gunner was found at Varen
nes. On the third day of the fight some of
the battered tantfs limped into this battered
town to rest up. Not much was left of
Varennes, except little piles of broken stone
that had been walls and streets that were
filled with stone the American shells had
broken and that the doughboys were
now clearing away, and here and there
the mouths of dugouts. On the sunny brow
of the hill in which a troglodyte colony of
German officers had once lived in under
ground burrows the tanks gathered to be as
suaged and petted. One is always tempted
to compare these uncouth devices to un
familiar beasts. I» action in the open a tank
reminds one of a charging rhinoceros, as
seen through the pages of Stewart Edward
White. Like the African terror it tosses dirt
on its snub brow, and is low and ugly and
powerful and uncannily quick.
LIKE TIRED BEASTS
So on this bright hill in dusty Varrennes.
hidden from enemy eyes under the warm
shelter of a bit of shattered wall, they seem
ed tired and happy beasts. One almost ex
pected to see one of them stretch an appre
ciative nose toward the friendly hand or wag
an absurd little steel tail. Their masters
hung about them jealously. A tank might
seem deserted, lonely, altogether empty—its
scars of rust and oil and fire raw in the piti
less sun—but if a stranger ventured near the
dozing creature a man was certain to ma
terialize from the vague background of ruins.
He never spoke first, but went about his pet,
rubbing his hand over it, turning something
perhaps opening a door. He seemed to re
sent a stranger’s familiarity.
“This is my tank,” his manner indicated.
“If you want to play with a tank, go get a
tank of your own.”
After listening to the other tankers it
seemed necessary to find Corporal Jim Heady,
of lowa, but he had disappeared. The gen
eral conviction was that he had crawled into
a dugout somewhere to sleep, few of the
tankers having had more than ten minutes’
sle€p at a time in four days and nights. By
petting the Heady tank, however, his gun
ner was discovered. Corporal Joseph Eccles,
of Harrison, N. J., rose from the warmest
corner of a shell hole and came over, rub
bing his eyes. He said he didn’t know where
this Heady guy "was and he didn’t care.
“I never saw him before I got into the tank
with him,” said Corporal Eccles, “and won’t
write home about it if I never see him again.
All I know about him is that he comes from
some place in lowa, and that he gets mad if
any little thing happens. That’s a hell of a
way to do.”
OFFICER TOOK* HIS TANK
<Coporal Eccles* own tank had been taken
Another case is Bert Snyder, who com
mitted his first offense against society at
the age of fourteen when he broke into the
schoolhouse, locked up for the noon hour,
and appropriated money from the teacher s
desk. Encouraged by his success, Bert
tried this a second tim« and was caught and
thrashed by the principal of the school. A
year later, Bert, in company with another
boy, broke into the local grocery store and
stole sls. The boys were suspected and
put through an Informal third degree, In
w~ich the other boy confessed. No action
was taken, however, since the owner of the
grocery and Bert’s father were friends. At
the age of 16 Bert left school, having com
pleted only the fifth grade. His latest oc
cupation is collecting money on deliveries
of meat for his father, who is a butcher,
charging them on the books and keeping
the money for his own use. Some light Is
shed on Bert’s propensities when we learn
that his father is what is know-, as a "bot
tle drinker” and has recently had a case of
delirium tremens which nearly left him In
sane.
The same kind of heredity Is found in
the case of Jennie Park, fifteen years old,
who recently became the mother of an il
legitimate child, the father of which is a
man twenty years old who has finally de
cided to marry her. Tracing Jennie’s rec
ord, the investigator found that she had
scarcely gone to school at all, and that the
school authorities had not been troubled by
her absence because she was believed to be
feeble-minded. John Park, the father of
Jennie, i? immoral and lazy, and is probably
subnormtl mentally. His wife, who pro
vides moii of the support of the family by
scrubbing, is unquestionably subnormal.
Richard Park, Jennie’s cousin, is also a
delinquent of fifteen who has committed
several offenses of a feeble-minded nature.
He has given his teachers a great deal of
trouble in school, where he has never ad
vanced beyond the third grade. One of his
first caprices was to take a horse from a
pasture and ride it so long and hard that
the animal died. He also bought eggs on
account at one grocery store and then sold
them for cash at the grocery store across
the street. It is believed, however, that a
maturer intellect instigated this particular
proceeding, since it involved a business
sense which Richard is not believed to have.
Since then, Richard has stolen everything
within his reach —chickens, vegetables,
firewood, boots. Richard's father, who is
a brother of Jennie’s father, is mentally
subnormal, illiterate, and incapable of sup
porting his family. His mother, also a vil
lage scrubwoman, is mentally deficient..
All of this goes to prove what European
psychiatrists have long known—that crime
is due to mental defect, which is generally
both hereditary and incurable. A man who
is a thief generally has a child who is a
unless the mother’s heredity is suf
ficiently strong and untainted to counter
act the effect of the other.
away from him, it appears, because his offi
cer’s tank had been hit. “When that hap
pens, the officer always takes a man’s tank,"
he explained. The tank organization, by
the way, is five tanks to a platoon and three
platoons to a company, with an odd tank for
the company commander. Three or four
companies make a battalion and three or four
battalion make a brigade. These units are
variable. Two battalions of light American
tanks and some French heavy tanks took
part in the fight on the Meuse. Heady’s gun
ner had been knocked out, and Eccles got
into the turret with the lowa man.
"We was getting along all right,” said
Eccles, "stomping on machine gun nests and
shooting at boches, when a sliver of a bullet
came in through this little eyeslit the driver
looks through and hits this Heady guy on
the nose. It didn’t hurt him any—didn’t
even b.eak the skin—but it makes him mad.
So then he goes on a joy ride through this
town, with me yelling at him to stop and him
a-swearing.”
Eccles, could see more than Heady could,
because he was in the turret, from which he
had a view around the whole circle. But that
made no difference to Heady. Glaring
through the little eyeslits he charged head
down, rhinoceros-like, at every boche defense
he saw. The frantic Eccles in the turret
would catch sight of many things he wanted
to shoot at, but he got no chance. The one
thing he could do was to ride along with the
angry Heady—“and him a-swearing”—and
shoot at what Heady saw. Now and then
Heady caught glimpses of boches running at
right angles to his course —out of the tail of
his eye—and then he whirled the tank on a
pivot and started for the runaways.
A LITTLE ALTERCATION
“I might just as well been back on the S.
O. 5.,” said Eccles, “as be riding along with
this Heady guy. He didn’t have NO sense.
Just kep’ rammin at boche stuff, whether it
had men in it or not. I’d just set started
nice to shootin’ at somebody when —whang!
Around he goes on his ear after somep’n
he's seen somewheres else. I up’n kicked
hifti in the back and told him to behave.”
Eccles was right, of course. He was in
command of this mad tank, rambling and
roaring through the gray mist, and command
is taken seriously in the army. You ought
to see a first lieutenant address a second
lieutenant some time! If his command did
not obey orders, it was his duty to make his
command obey. So he patiently kicked away
at Corporal Jim Heady’s back until that
angry soldier consented to do as he was told.
“But I’ll get you for this,” promised Cor
poral Heady.
“Wait till I haven’t got a battle on my
mind, and I’ll trim you up like a cane.”
Corporal Joseph Eccles’ reply was cryptic,
when asked if Corporal James Heady had
made good his threat:
QUIPS AND QUIDDITIES
Caller —I sent you a poem about three
weeks ago. What have you done with it?
Editor —I’m holding it. Every little while
I get to thinking that we are not getting out
as good a paper as we ought, and then I take
out that poem and see how much worse the
sheet might be, and that makes me cheerful
again. Say, how much’ll you take for it?
Some time before the war a British naval
officer went to China to inspect a station. He
found a sergeant in a neat cottage on a hill
side. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“Taking care of Admiral Fremantle’s goat,”
replied the sergeant. *
“But he has been dead for twenty-five
years,” said the officer.
“So has the goat,” answered the sergeant,
“but they’ve left me here.”
The youth seated himself in the dentist’s
chair. He wore a striped shirt and a wonder
ful check suit and had the vacant stare that
so often goes with dignified clothes.
The dentist looked at his assistant. **l am
afraid to give him gas,” he said.
“Well,” said the dentist, “how can I tell -
when he’s unconscious?”
There are about 800,000 retailers in the
United States who sell chewing gum. Great
Britain and Canada have recently recognized
the manufacture of chewing gum as a war
essential. Our men crave chewing gum when
they cannot get water, and vast quantities are ,
being supplied to the allied armies and navies.
—From the People’s Home Journal. _ W| .
