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i-WEEKLY JOURNAL
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THE TRIWEEKLY JOURNAL. Atlanta. Ga.
IP hat They Think of Hoover as
A Democratic Opportunity.
THE foregone conclusion that the Repub-
licans will not nominate Herbert
\ Hoover and the probability that they
will lose in consequence many millions of
votes which a candidate who appeals to the
country’s independent thought can win, are
matters which every friend of the Democratic
party should take to mind and to heart.
There are discerning Republicans here and
there, it is true, who see what an asset Hoover
would be to their organization, beggared as
it is of a statesmanly record and constructive
principles. Tile Lincoln State? Journal thus
points out that “the powerful influence behind
the Hoover movement is the powerful, ever
increasing non-partisan spirit in America;”
the Los Angeles Express ardently declares
that “he should receive every electoral vote
in every State;” and that most genial oracle
of Republicanism, former President Taft, has
let fall more than one significant remark
touching the Great Administrator’s favor
with the American rank and file. But these
are exceptional voices in the party of Lodge
and Penrose. Typical opinion in that quar
ter is expressed by Boss Penrose himself when
he reminds his brethren that “in the last
Congressional election Mr. Hoover issued a
. . . statement insulting the Republican
party by urging the return of a Democratic
Congress;” and the Pennsylvania politician
added, with the manifest approval of his G.
O. P. peers, “Mr. Hoover is neither a good
nor a bad Republican—he is no Republican
at all.” This is undeniable. On every im
portant issue of the day Mr. Hoover’s ut
terances clash with Republican creed and
practice; so that not unless that party re
pudiated its present spokesmen and their poli
cies. not indeed unless it converted itself into
a veritably Democratic institution, could it
conceivably accept Hoover principles—as it
would have to do to procure Hoover leader-
i
3?Now the interesting question for Demo
cratic strategy is this: what will become of
the millions of votes that turn upon issues
and candidates rather than upon traditional
party allegiance, the votes that always tell
potently, and that in the next election are
likely to be all decisive? It is hardly think
able that they will go Republican with no
higher inducement in that direction than a
conventional politician on a conventional plat
form. But is it any more probable that they
will go Democratic if the Democratic clan
has nothing better to offer? We of Geor
gia and the South, of course, -will stand
stoutly by tjie party of our affections, come
£ut or long-tail. But we alone, it must be
reluctantly acknowledged, cannot elec.t ai
President. We need the help of a few mil
lion votes in the North and East, a few mil
lion in the Middle West, and all that we can
muster beyond the Rockies. Especially do
we need, in this year of years, that deter
mining power of the political balance—the
independent vote. Let us not deceive our
selves with a hope that we shall be certain
to gain that element merely because the Re
publicans are likely to lose it. The truly
independent voter (and rare though he is in
our quarter, his name-elsewhere. is legion)
is not given to embracing the frying pan sim
ply because he does not care to leap into
the fire. He has been known to refrain from
balloting at all, in which connection we shall
do well to remember that there are consid
erably more voters in the strongholds of Re
publicanism than there are in the strongholds
of Democracy. Strip us of our Independent
adjunct, and we are an outnumbered, howso
ever valiant, host.
The land lying thus, it is not to be won
dered that so many practical-minded Demo
crats the nation over are counseling the nomi
nation of Herbert Hoover as their party’s
wisest choice at this momentous juncture
They are not unmindful that Mr. Hoover has
refused to tie himself to “undefined partisan
ship.” They are well aware that he has made
no boast of his magnificent work under a
Democratic Administration, preferring to let
it go as simple service to the country rather
than as anything meriting political reward.
They realize, too, that he has incurred the
antipathy of a large number of the party’s
wire-pullers, whose first thought, genial gen
tlemen though they are, runs naturally to self
elevation. But these circumstances, instead
of lessening Mr. Hoover’s availability, make
his nomination all the more advisable, in the
judgment of Democrats far and wide who
are pondering how their party best can win
and best deserve to win. A glance at the lead
ing article in the latest number of that great
and impartial mirror of current thought, the
Literary Digest, will show that Hoover looms
foremost in Democratic discussion North,
South. East and West, and that he also is
the pronounced preference of the independent
press. “His attitude toward the great issues’
of the day,” the Brooklyn Citizen (Dem.) is
quoted, “will find favor in both parties with
those who are progressive without being rad
ical and with those who are conservative
without being reactionary.” Says the St.
Louis Star (Ind.), “Herbert Hoover has ac
complished what no avowed candidate for the
Presidency has accomplished—he has made
his position and his convictions on some of
the leading questions of the day clear enough
for the public to know where he stands; there
is no grab-bag uncertainty about Mr. Hoover,
at any rate.” Says Governor Bickett, of North
Carolina, “Mr. Hoover makes a more power
ful appeal to the sanity and to the imagina
tion of the people than any other man; in
THE ATLANTA TIU WEKMA’ JOURNAL.
its finest sense, Hoover is essentially a Demo
crat.” So the comment runs, from New York
to California and back to Georgia, where the
press of the State is demanding well-nigh
unanimously that Hoover’s name be allowed
on the Democratic ballot in the coming Presi
dential primary.
If the Democrats cannot hold their lines
with a candidate like this, they cannot hold
them at all. If they cannot attract the in
dependent voters with a candidate like this,
they cannot attract them at all. If they can
not win with a candidate like this, how can
they expect to win at all? One can easily
see why Old Guard Republicans should de
cry Herbert Hoover; they know that he will
never march with their colors. But why
should any Democrat feel otherwise than
friendly toward this most typical American
of his time, whose works as well as words
prove how vital is his democracy, and whose
leadership may be the party’s one cue to suc
cess? Whatever the developments between
now and the San Francisco convention, there
can be no doubt that a host of Georgia Demo
crats. sharing the thought of thousands the
country over, are now heartily for Hoover.
But whether for him or for another or as
yet undecided, the Democratic ranks in this
State are virtually a unit in demanding that
Hoover’s name go on the April primary bal
lot. This, they rightly urge, is the least
the State Executive Committee can do in
justice to the party’s interests and the peo
ple’s rights. The Committee cannot ignore
those rights without injuring those interests.
It cannot clamp its autocratic veto on the
most liberal and farsighted movement in
Democratic lines, without doing the party an
irreparable wrong. Georgia Democrats, like
those of the nation at large, are eminently
capable of choosing for themselves. Let the
State Executive Committee acknowledge and
vouchsafe this right without further parley
or further politics.
Pork Dersus Humanity,
IT was at a recent hearing in New Jer
sey, on a bill providing a minimum
salary of a thousand dollars a year
for public school teachers in that State,
that a farmer-member of one of the county
education boards stoutly objected to what
he considered the giddy extravagance of the
proposal. Thereupon the author of the bill
asked:
“How much is your district’s annual ap
propriation for schools?”
“It is thirty thousand dollars,” the board
member replied with an impressive shake
of his beard.
“How many children has your district?”
“Six hundred.”
“Well, that’s only fifty dollars a year for
each child. You spend that much on a good
hog, don’t you?”
“Yes,” answered the objector, “but I can
sell the hog.”
When enough Americans duly realize that
there are goods more precious than those
which can be bought' and sold, and values
higher than those reckoned in dollars and
cents, then will the problem of school funds
be blithely solved and the children of men
be given as fair, an accounting as tlfe
progeny of prize-winning swine. The New
Jersey brother was uncommonly frank, and
perhaps uncommonly cynical. But do not
his views, after all, dominate in our actual
treatment of education and kindred causes
as compared with economic interests? If
our hearts be really where our treasure is,
must we not confess to being a great deal
more concerned about things than about
people and the vast issues which human
lives embody?
Deplorable as it- is that so many teachers
are underpaid and so many children under
schooled. it is still more deplorable that so
many citizens are underestimating these
needs and neglects. Happily there are
signs of an awakening. As in New Jersey,
so in many another State more liberality is
being shown educational interests all the
way from the kindergarten to the university.
In Georgia we take heart from the number
of counties that have adopted a local school
tax in recent years, that being the one
feasible and equitable plan of increasing
the common school fund; and also from the
fact that a Constitutional amendment mak
ing this plan Statewide and obligatory has
been proposed by the Legislature and is
practically certain to be approved at the
polls. We are encouraged, moreover, by
the deepening interest in higher institutions
of learning. Men and women of means are
coming to give more and more generously
to colleges and universities, both by present
donations and by bequests. Let us not lose
sight of these happy omens, nor forget that
our school facilities, taken by and large, are
much better than they were a generation
ago.
But at the same time let us frankly face
the immense needs which lie neglected and
the crowding opportunities which go un
taken. A\ e have merely broken ground in
our duty to education. The great sowing
and cultivating are yet to be done, and the
goodliest harvests yet to be reaped More
schools, more teachers, endowments larger
y many millions, and heartier relationships
between the life of the school and the life
of the people—these are the vital wants of
the South and of all America. Moreover
when these wants are duly supplied, we
shall have prosperity beside which the rich
est years of the past will seem absurdly
p? r , tJ l e source of Prosperity is not
in the fat of hogs, as our New Jersey friend
imagined, but in skillful hands and fertile
minds and understanding hearts.
Beat the If 7 eevil to It.
NORTH Georgia is facing invasion this
year by the boll weevil. How the farm-
, can P re J? are against the onset is
o X Hastin & s - president
art p I! a Chamber of Commerce, in an
article of the magazine section in today’s
North’GeoX' 6 '’ “ A S2s '° ,0 ’ 00 » to
• •^■ astin SS says that the weevil has been
in this region of the state for the last four
or five years, but that conditions have been
unfavorable to its propagation, with the re
sult that the damage done has been slight.
Last fall, however, the northern counties be
came well infested, no extreme cold occurred
during the winter to kill the weevil, and in
consequence North Georgia this year will feel
the full effects of the weevil menace.
But, Mr. Hastings adds, “this is no time
to be frightened or pessimistic. Cotton can be
and is being grown under weevil conditions.
The difference is one of cultivation, fertiliz
ing, and the use of some early variety.”'
He then outlines means by which the farm
ers in North Georgia can prepare against the
coming of the weevil. He says that reports by
state experts show that approximately $25,-
000,000 worth of cotton will be destroyed in
North Georgia this year by the boll weevil
if the old methods of cultivation are con
tinued. “A $25,000,000 stake is to be played
for,” he continues. “On one side of the table
sits the cotton growing farmer and on the
other side, Mr. 801 l Weevil.”
First of all, Mr. Hastings urges North Geor
gia farmers to write to the State College of
Agriculture, in Athens, for its bulletin on
cotton growing under weevil conditions.
Next, he urges that a early maturing va
riety of cotton be planted. He himself plant
ed both early and medium maturing varieties
last year in Troup county. “Our loss of crop
in the medium or later maturing variety,” he
says, “was from 25 to 33 per cent. In the
early variete the effect of the weevil was
hardly noticeable.”
The cotton should be planted as early as
CURRENT EVENTS OF INTEREST
Much indignation has been felt in Bermuda
at the report which has reached the islands
to the effect that persons desirous of visiting
the colony were being informed by some
American tourist agencies that the hotels were
full. Such a statement, if made to any pros
pective traveler, has been incorrect. There
is ample accommodation in the Bermuda is
lands for many more visitors, and the Fur
ness-Bermuda Line is to operate another steam
ship, the Fort Victoria, on the route in ad
dition to the Fort Hamilton, at present main
taining the service. The additional steamship
will provide weekly round trips.
News from Washngton states that production
of potash in Germany in January reached
the record total of 50,00 Otons. The greatly
increased output was ascribed largely to im
proved industrial conditions and to the fact
that a large number of returning prisoners of
war have gone to work in this industry.
A project is under way, the dispatch said,
to import anthracite coal from the United
States, as this fuel is urgently needed in the
potash industry.
Charges of immorality and lax discipline
among inmates of the Portsmouth, N. H.,
naval prison were held to be without founda
tion in the report of the special board of in
vestigation, made public in Washington by
Assistant Secretary Roosevelt, a member of
the board.
The first dirigible airship built for passen
ger service in this country was sold recently
to a Kansas syndicate, acording to the Manu
facturers’ Aircraft Association.
The dirigible is ninety-five feet long, has
a gas capacity of 30,500 feet, a cruising radius
of 400 miles at forty miles an hour and can
carry two passengers besides the pilot.
The machine will be used between Kansas
City and St. Louis and other Middle Western
points. It will be flown to Kansas City for
delivery to its new owners.
It is understood the senate passed and sent
to the house the Underwood joint resolution
creating a commission to treat with Canada
for abrogation of restrictions on the export
of wood pulp and news print paper. Senator
Underwood told the senate some actioh was
imperative, as the newspaper publishing indus
try in the United States “almost faced extinc
tion” because of the dwindling newsprint sup
ply.
A dispatch from Troy, N. Y.., states that
General John J. Pershing and staff made
an official inspection of the Watervliet Arsenal;
there. In an address to several hundred em
ployes in the arsenal cafeteria the general
thanked them for the part they played in
winning the war and said he had been “par
ticularly impressed with the efficiency of each
individual and with the efficiency of the or
ganization as a whole.”
Army authorities recently authorized the pub
lication of details of a new automatic air
plane cannon motor, which while driving battle
planes through the air automatically fires one
pound shells, capable of piercing armor plates.
The motor is a recent invention and is of the
Wright-Martin, Hispano Suiza design. It is
a modification of the 300-horsepower type, and
is geared down. Through the center of the
driving shaft, a thirty-seven millimeter auto
matic cannon is installed, its muzzle projecting
through the hub of the propeller.
The cannon is capable, acording to army re
ports, of piercing the armor of tanks and
submarines. The motor is also equipped with
two machine guns. These are synchronously
attached to the engine so that they can be
fired through the propeller.
The new airplane motor cannon is to be
exhibited at the second aeronautical show in
New York.
The tree on the courthouse tower has made
Greensburg, Ind., famous and given it the
name of the ’’Lone Tree City.” This tree first
appeared in 1871. It is still vigorous, leafing
out in the spring as soon as the other trees!
and waving its beautiful branches at a height!
of 110 feet from the earth. It is said these
in only one other place on earth where there
is anything of the kind, and that is on the
chimney of an old mill in Scotland, not far
from the birthplace of Robert Burns.
Whenever a passenger train goes through
DON’T NURSE YOUR AILMENTS I
By Dr. Frank Crane
Whether or not you believe in Christian
Science, at least Reversed Christian Science'
is true. That is to say, if you want heart
disease, lie awake of nights and listen to
your pulse; if you want stomach trouble,
inject your thought regularly into your stom
ach trouble; if you want a bad-looking mouth,
keep fixing it and screwing at it; and if
you want any member gland, or organ of your
physical frame to go oi. a strike and begin
to act up, give it a good dose of self-conscious
ness. So that I say that whether or not your
thought can cure anything, it can certainly give
you something in the way of disease.
The same is true of the soul. There is no
recipe so infallible for giving you the mulli
grubs and the moral pip and spiritual colic
as to keep prying into yourself. Analyze all
your good motives and pretty soon you won t
have any. Suspect your good impulses and they
will soon wither and die. Go around in your
soul with a dark larttern, like a Sherlock
Holmes, and before long all your decent, self
respecting, manly elements of character will
get disgusted and move out.
The one sensible, moral and religious th ; ng
to do with yourself is to let yourself alone.
“Look out, not in,” was a famous saying
of Edward Everett Hale. The reasonableness
of it is herein: That when you look out you
can see something, and —hen yo.. look in you
can see nothing.
Outside are the sun and trees and sky and
people. Inside is a deep, dark pit.
You cannot see yourself by looking within
yourself. There is a deal of danger in this
same self-examination, self-study, self-culture,
self-improvement and the like.
The way to ruin your watch is to tinker
with its insides; the way to ruin your crop
of beans is to dig them up every day to see
how much they’ve grown, and the way to ruin
your body and soul is to think about them.
“He that saveth his life shall lose it.”
The place to see your real self is outside.
There are mirrors all about you in which you
can see your soul if you wish. I will name
some of these.
First, if you want to 'see how good you are,
look into the eyes of the one who loves you.
Cheer up! It’s true. You are as good as
that.
If you want to know how mean you are
listen to your enemies, those who envy you
and bite you. Be humble! its true. You
are as bad as that, too.
If you want to see what you amount to, look
at your work. The psychological function of
work is to reveal a ma., to himself. Wh?n
Wagner had finished a part of his “Tristan
and Isolde,” he’wrote: “As the good Lord
said some four thousand years ago, when He
had made the earth that it was good, having
no one else to say it for Him, so 1 say of
this work of mine, having no one to praise
me, ‘Richard, you’re the dickens of a fellow.’”
That was proper, sane, and reasonable self
appreciation.
If you’ve never -done anything, in all proba
bility you are nothing.
(Copyright, 1920, by Frank Crane.)
possible, he adds. No more acreage should be
planted than can be well cultivated. Fer
tilizer- should be heavy and of a sort that will
give the cotton a quick start.
should be prompt, regular and of a shallow
, character.
Greensburg the windows go up and heads
are thrust out. Every one is craning the neck,
hoping to see the wonderful tree. Joseph
Moss, a druggist in Greensburg, says that in
1875 a photographer, Ji H. Matthews, made a
picture of the tree and sent it to Queen Vic
toria of England. He received a beautiful
letter of acknowledgment, with the Queen’s
own signature.
There were seven trees in all appearing in
the early seventies and an eighth tree in
1900, which only lived a short time. Four
of the original trees were removed as they
threatened to weaken the masonry. Two of
the remaining trees, died. There is only 'one
on the tower now, a soft maple. It is six
teen feet from where the tree grows out of
the tower to the farthest twig. From where
the tower begins to slope it is filled in with
broken stone and mortar, which is solid and
yet roots are able to penetrate it. The court
house was built in .1856 and the mortar used
at that time was not as compact as that used
now. Just how the tree has sustained its
life during nearly fifty years is quite a mys
tery.
HOOVER AND PENROSE
(The New York World)
Senator Boies Penrose, of Pennsylvania,
who is the real leader of the Republican
party in so far as it has a leader, has is
sued an edict in regard to Herbert C.
Hoover:
Herbert Hoover could never be con
sidered by a Republican convention as a
fitting candidate for die presidential
nomination. Mr. Hoover is an adherent
of the Wilson end of the Democratic
party. Any good Republican can be
nominated for president; but Mr.
Hoover is neither a good nor a bad Re
publican. He is no Republican at all.
Senator Penrose will have more to do
with the selection of the Republican candi
date for president than any other man, and
his arbitrary exclusion of Mr. Hoover moves
the Philadelphia Public Ledger, a Republi
can newspaper, to ask:
Why are the Republican staff officers
driving Herbert Hoover into the Demo
cratic party?
Why are they presenting a discredit
ed Democracy with its one chance of
winning the election?
The answer is simple. Senator Penrose
and his associates in the Old Guard are con
cerned first of all with the control of the
Republican organization, which means the
control of the Republican party. A Repub
lican president is of no value to them un
less he is their kind of Republican. On the
contrary, he is a menace, for he would try
to destroy their power, take the organiza
tion away from them and ruin them political
ly. No Democrat could do that. Conse
quently, they would prefer any kind of
Democratic president to the wrong kind of
Republican president.
In this respect Senator Penrose and the
Old Guard do not differ from the ordinary
run of professional politicians, whatever their
party affiliations may be. There are plenty
of Democrats who would rather lose with
an organization candidate than win with a
candidate like Hooper who would give or
ders and not take orders.
In his uncompromising opposition to Mr.
Hoover, Senator Penrose is following the in
stinct of self-preservation. Nobody knows
better than he that if Mr. Hoover were the
Republican candidate for president he would
be elected, and that if he were elected the
Penroses and the Lodges and the Barnses
and all the rest of the reactionary crew
Would soon cease to dominate the Republi
can party. The leader would be Herbert C.
Hoover, and Hoover’s opinion of Penrose
politics is a matter of record.
In asking Boles Penrose to take up Hoover
the Public Ledger is asking the senator
from Pennsylvania to cut his own throat po
litically. It ought not to be astonished if
he vigorously protests and resorts to drastic
protective measeures, like reading Hoover
out of the Republican party and defining him
without qualifications as a Wilson Deniocrat.
If the Public Ledger belonged to the Old
Guard wing of the Republican party it would
feel as Penrose feels about it. Safety first!
KNOWLEDGE BY CHANCE
By H. Addington Bruce
ONE summer day a scientist stood gaz
ing idly out of his study window.
Nearby he saw a cat sunning itself
on the roof of a shed.
As he watched, the cat happened to rise
a.nd move a little in order to get out of the
shadow cast by a house wall. A few min
utes later the cat again moved, as the ad
vancing sun lengthened the shadow.
Amused and at the same time in a ques
tioning mood, the scientist continued to
watch the cat. A third, a fourth, and yet a
fifth time he saw it change position to keep
in the sunlight.
He noted its attitude of complete relax
ation, its evident feelings of contentment.
The thought occurred to him:
“It must be that this cat is getting some
thing out of the sunlight of great benefit
to it. Would human beings get the same
thing?”
Thus, the story goes, originated the work
of Finsen, the famous “light cure” specialist.
It is a typical instance of what is so often
termed “knowledge by chance.”
And, undeniably, chance played a part in
Finsen’s notable discovery, just as it has
played a part in many other discoveries and
inventions. The names of Newton, Da
guerre, Galileo are three of the many that
come thronging to remembrance in this con
nection.
Yet, it is important to appreciate, in the
instance under discussion chance did not
play nearly as big a part as that played by
Finsen himself.
Hundreds —nay, thousands—of other men
had seen cats basking in the sun. It re
mained for Finsen to raise the practical
question of a cat’s passion for sunlight.
So with Newton and the falling apple,
Galileo and the swinging lamp. Chance
alone, that is to say, is not sufficient, is
never sufficient, to effect a scientific discov
ery or create an invention. In the absence
of a keen-minded observer chance could
operate to doomsday without producing such
a result. As Professor Mach has put it,
with reference specially to “accidental” in
ventions:
“In all such cases the inventor is obliged
to take note, of the new fact; he must dis
cover and grasp its advantageous feature,
and must have the power to turn that fea
ture to account.”
And, just as truly, it may be affirmed
that chance is, in fact, operating all the
while to make discoveries and inventions
possible. Only, alas! keen-minded observers
are not sufficiently numerous.
Nor will they ever be unless men are
trained, more effectively than at present, to
use their minds when they use their eyes
and their ears, to ponder causes as well as
perceive effects, to discern the significant in
the seemingly trivial.
We boast of our wonderful educational
system. Yet, as clearly shown by our as
tonishment at the occasional gaining of
knowledge by chance, radical reforms in
schooling are needed if most of us are to
avoid going through life in mental semi
blindness.
(Copyright, 1920, by the Associated News
papers.)
TUESDAY, MARCH !), H)2<>.
THE SEMI-WEEKLY EDITORIAL DIGEST
A National and Non-Partisan Summary of Leading Press Opinion on Current
Questions and Events
Congress and the Merchant Marine
In giving his views about the American
merchant marine General Leonard Wood
avoids details, as does almost every public
man who ventures to say something about
this irrepressible and difficult problem. AH
agree that we should have cargo carriers un
der the American flag in suficient numbers
to transport American products to all parts
of the world. It is like the question of con
tinuing to pay rent when a man should own
the house he lives in. Why pay the British,
Norwegian and Japanese for cargo space
when we can build and operate our own
ships? The war gave us our opportunity.
Ships were built by the gross to carry troops,
munitions and supplies to Europe, and the
war over, the building program was contin
ued in order to found an American merchant
marine and put the Stars and Stripes in port
where for forty years it was rarely, if ever,
seen. “Let us see to it,” says General Wood,
“that to as large an extent as possible they
(the ships) remain in the hands of Ameri
cans.” He adds that “the government will
have to sell its ships at considerable loss,”
and there the general stops. He does not
trust himself to details. He steps warily.
Some questions of prime importance re
main unanswered. Can the ships be sold
cheap enough to tempt firms and companies
to buy? What government control 4 shall
there be over private operation, if any?
Would it be expedient for the government
to lease some of the ships, retaining title?
Is government ownership to have any con
sideration? Can officers be provided for as
large a merchant marine as- would be able
to compete with the British before they
got the cream of the ocean-carrying trade?
Can Crews be obtained and kept at living
wages, American standards? Is it practi
cable to operate American ships profitably
without amending the navigation laws?
Would passenger ships pay in competition
with foreign liners not handicapped by
prohibition laws?
The American merchant marine is in an
inchoate state, waiting for congress to do
something, with congress reluctant, back
ing away, fearful. The problem must soon
be dealt with courageously and with reso
lution. One thing is certain—if those
questions relating to operation cannot be
answ'ered satisfactorily, the sun rising on
the American merchant marine will be ob
scured by clouds.—NEW YORK TIMES
(Ind. Dem.)
The Railroad Labor Board
The chief objection of the labor repre
sentatives to the railroad bill seems to be
directed at the provision for representation
of the public on the board that is to deal
with labor disputes. This will be interest
ing to the public, which is really the chief
party in interest. What is derived is that
disputes shall be submitted to a body com
posed solely of employers and employes.
Such a tribunal could easily agree to any
increase of wages that might be asked, for
the roads could appeal to the Interstate
Commerce Commission for permission to
raise rates sufficiently to cover the increase
and incidentally give them a 5% per cent
return—and the commission would be
bound to allow the increase.
It is well to remember that wages of rail
road workers are paid by the public, and
that it is out of the public that the earn
ings of the roads must come. The proposi
tion, therefore, is to exclude the paymaster
from the board. This same public, too, is
deeply interested in preventing strikes, from
which it is the greatest sufferer. Every
rule of fair play demands that it should have
a vote on the proposed board.—IN
DIANAPOLIS NEWS (Ind.)
Dentist Restores Eyesight to Viscount Grey
A copyrighted dispatch from London to
the SUN AND NEW YORK HERALD says:
Owing to an operation by an American
dentist Viscount Grey’s eyesight is now al
most completely restored to him and he is
returning to active politics with a view
eventually to the premiership, your corre
spondent learns in well informed circles.
It was while Viscount Grey was on a
special mission to the United States that he
was troubled with his teeth and went to a
well-known Washington dentist, who dis
covered a large abscess and removed It from
HABANA STREETS—By Frederic J. Haskin
HABANA, Cuba, Feb. 24.—T0 the visitor
who has just landed and goes for his first
. stroll along the Prado, the leading Cuban
industries seem to be the purveying of smokes
and drinks and the shining of shoes.
This impression will be corrected when he
pushes up some of the narrow business streets
lined with retail stores of all kinds, but of the
Prado and of the principal squares it is cer
tainly true. You can turn in anywhere and buy
the best cigars in the world at amazingly low
-prices, and you can generally get food and
drink at the same place, while it is never
more than thirty or forty feet to a shine.
Habana must support more bootblacks per
thousand of population than any other city in
the world. And they are all kept fairly busy,
too.
The term bootblack does not seem to apply
to these gentlemen of comparative leisure, each
of whom owns a chair for his customer and
another for himself. Between shines he-almost
invariably improves his mind with a newspaper
or a book or by gracious and polite conver
sation with any who happen to be near. Be
sides being a beautifier of shoes, he is an
information bureau and a language teacher for
the benefit of visitors. He knows his city. Ask
a policeman how to get somewhere, and he will
almost invariably go and ask the nearest boot
black. He will then write the necessary in
formation in Spanish oi a sheet from a little
notebook which he carries for the purpose. The
visitor gives it to a jitney driver, and is
promptly set down at his destination for one
peseta, having received the assistance of three
public functionaries.
The Cuban shoeshiner is an interesting con
trast to the type who practices the same call
ing in our American midst. The shoeshiner in
the United States is often a poor foreigner who
works for a corporation. The Cuban is an in
dependent and dignified operator. He sits down
to the job, and having finished one shoe he
leisurely moves his chair over to the vicinity
of the other. Neither doej he affect the vig-.
orous rubbings and slappings of the vulgar*
American bootblack. His attitude toward shoe
leather is contemplative rather than aggressive.
He is more an artist than an athlete. He takes
a long time and does a nretty good job, though
he does not go in for aver; high lustre. He
also foregoes the heroic labor of brushing your
clothes. You go away with the impression that
your shoes have been shined by one who is a
gentleman and a scholar, and is saving his
energy for some great effort to be made in the
future.
The policeman who co-operates with the
bootblack in sending you where you want to go
is also worthy of a word. He is a man of
ferocious appearance, who carries an enormous
six-shooter strapped on the outside of his
clothes in addition to his club; but his severe
look is deceptive. He never bothers anyone.
He is not heard telling people to move on or
to get back, nor does he prowl around and peer
into windows and rattle doors He discharges
his duty by selecting a shady spot with con
genial company and-standing there. You get
the impression that nothing less than murder
or larceny would galvanize him into activity,
the ambassador’s mouth. Immediately after
ward his vision improved and continued to
improve until now it is restored perfectly,
or nearly so. Indeed, it was said by a close
friend of Viscount Grey that hig eyesight is
stronger than it ever was before.
In due course of time Viscount Grey will
attempt to fuse the scattered unionist groups
into a solid compact whole—such a party as
he led in the house of lords.
What Happens After a War
A shrewd business man describes the
usual course of events after , war about
like this: First, the people weary of de
privation turn to buying in great quantities
the things they could not get during the
war. That stimulates production, partic
ularly of luxuries and non-essentials. The
stimulus leads inevitably to over-production
along these lines. Over-production leads to
a clogged market, difficulty in selling and
consequently difficulty in meeting financial
obligations. Now, banking is the most
timid profession—bankers have to be cau
tious. Bankers, therefore, observing the
situation, naturally begin shutting off credit
to the business institutions concerned. Thus
begins a wave of business depression which
may sweep the country.
After the Civil War it took eight years
to reach that point. How long will it take
now? The business man referred to re
minds his friends that “things move faster
, than they used to.” Are we to expect, then,
another “panic of ’73” in five years, or four
years, or three?
The situation is not entirely parallel.
Fortunately we have the safeguard of a far
better banking system now. But current
developments seem to run pretty true to
form. And there is aTways the possibility
of being side-swiped by a European panic.
No financier, however pessimistic, sug
gests that a panic is inevitable. The only
question is whether the nation will take, in
time, the measures necessary to forestall it.
This means, on the part of the general pub
lic, the stopping of unnecessary expenditure
and the saving of money, which is an old
story. On the part of business it means
something of which little has yet been said,
but which is bound to be forced on the at
tention of business men more and more
earnestly. That is the necessity of curtail
ing expansion in industries that produce lux
uries, and concentrating capital and effort
on the production of necessities. —LANSING
STATE JOURNAL (Ind.)
Beware of Class Rule
The New York Republican state conven
tion said in its platform:
“The chief enemy of democracy based up
on universal suffrage and majority rule no
longer is the arbitrary government of a
monarch or of a hereditary aristocracy, but
thj cruel and relentless domination of a
class bent upon protecting liberty and equal
ity of opportunity, but upon exploiting ail
who are not of their own kind and group.
We support and urge the most vigorous
measures to prevent by education the spread
in this country of the doctrines of this dan
gerous and undemocratic movement.”
Wise words and sound; but always to be
construed in a manner so comprehensive
as to include among the groups that menace
democracy not only the red radicalism
against which these words are directed, but
also the group of red reactionaries whose •
ideas color and dominate the platform of
the New York Republican state convention.
—Duluth Herald (Ind.).«
Our Share of Russian Trade
The United States, dispatches from Wagh- »
ington indicate, plans to ignore the Rnssian ‘
peace plea.
But the allies are not planning anything
of the kind. They are giving it careful con
sideration. The great possibilities of com
mercial relations with Russia are in their
eyes and minds. They are looking to the
future.
America should not ignore the peace
plea. It should at least be given enough
consideration to learn .if it be sincere. If
it is not it can be refused. If it is sincere,
America will be far behind other nations
when the flood of Russian commerce is let
loose to the worId.—QUINCY (Ill.) JOUR
NAL (Ind. Dem.)
ing of a brief case makes one an object of sus
picion, and where not only one’s conduct, but
one’s conversation and reading are subject to
censorship, this unaggreSsive attitude on the
part of authority is a welcome relief. The fact
of the matter is that the vanishing boon of
personal liberty may still be enjoyed in Cub*
to a surprising extent.
Next to the übiquitous bootblack the thing
which most strikes the eye of the visitor is
the vast swarm of jitneys which fills the streets.
There cannot be a more completely jitnified
city on the face of the earth. You can catch
a jitney in two minutes literally anywhere in
Habana. They are along both sides of the main
streets in waiting lines. They dart and circle
about the squares like minnows in a clear pool.
And they are the hardest jitneys on earth to
dodge. The reason for this is that traffic in
Habana moves On principles which it takes years
to grasp. The Spanish custom is for all sorts
of vehicles to keep to the left side of the
road, and this custom still obtains in most
Spanish-speaking countries. In Habana it ap
pears to have come in conflict with the Amer
ican idea that one should travel on the right
hand side of the street. On some streets traf
fic keeps to the right and on others it keeps
to the left. There must be some underlying
system, but it cannot be deduced by observa
tion. When it comes to squares, all the traffic
goes around one way, cutting the corners very
fine, causing the unwary pedestrian to make
many a sudden back jump. The jitneys fre
quently collide with each other, but they sel
dom run down a pedestrian. A native desiring
to cross a crowded street, proceeds to do so in
a leisurely fashion, putting his safety entirely in
the hands of the drivers who exhibit great
skill in missing him.
A jitney in' Habana is not the drab affair
that it is in the United States. Whatever a
Cuban jitney may lack, it is bound to have a
suit of highly ornamental seat covers, usually
of stamped leather in bright green or buff or
some mixed pattern with bright nickel mount
ings. A big brass horn i also very fashionable.
Some of the effects are really georgeous. if
there is a single jitney in the city wearing its
factory upholstery we have not seen it.
The jitney service is really good, for you
can go almost anywhere in the city for twenty
cents, and thirty cents will take you even to
outlying points, while tc get a car you have
but to raise one finger. To find an English
speaking jitney driver, however, is almost im
possible.
Next to the jitney, the American product
which has made the most complete conquest of
Habana is that ugliest of all headgear, the
chip straw hat. In Habana you can buy a
real Panama hat for a very low price, and
there are other nativ- weaves pleasing in line
and easy on the head which can be bought still
cheaper. But for some obscure reason the Cu
ban chooses the hard straw with its milkpan
shape and its tendency to check the circula
tion of the blood and cause premature bald
ness. A large crowd in Habana viewed frqan
an upstairs window looks like a river of flat
straw hats, not one head in a hundred wearing
