Atlanta tri-weekly journal. (Atlanta, GA.) 1920-19??, April 01, 1920, Page 4, Image 4

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4 THE TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL ATLANTA, GA., 5 NORTH FORSYTH ST. Entered at the Atlanta Postoffice as Mail Matter of the Second Class. Daily, Sunday, Tri-Weekly SUBSCRIPTION PRICE TRI-WEEKLY Twelve months $1.50 Eight months SI.OO Six months 75c Four months 50c Subscription Prices Daily and Sunday • (By Mail —Payable Strictly in Advance) 1 Wk.l Mo. 3 Mos. 6 Mos. 1 Yr. I Daily and Sunday 20c 90c $2.50 $5.00 $9.50 Daily 16c 70c 2.00 4.00 7.50 Sunday 7c 30c .90 1.75 8.25 The Tri-Weekly Journal is published on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and ip mailed by the shortest routes for early l delivery. * It contains news from all over the world, I brought by special leased wires into our office. It has a staff of distinguished con- • (■‘-butors, with strong departments of spe- ■ c:6.i value to the home and the farm. Agents wanted at every postoffice. Lib eral commission allowed. Outfit free. Write R. R. BRADLEY, Circulation Man ager. The only traveling representatives we have are B. F. Bolton, C. C. Coyle, Charles H. Woodliff, J. M. Patten, Dan Hall. Jr., W. L. Walton, M. H. Bevil and John Mac- Jennings. We will be responsible for money paid to the above named traveling representatives. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS The label used for addressing your paper shows the time your subscription expires. By renewing at least two weeks before the date on this label, you insure regular service. In ordering paper changed, be sure to mention your old as well as your new address. If on a route, please give the route number. We cannot enter subscriptions to begin with back num bers. Remittances should be sent by postal order or registered mail. Address all orders and notices for this Department to THE TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL, Atlanta, Ga. A Plain, Unvarnished Record Versus Ridiculous Abuse Georgian to the manner born will be deceived by partisan efforts to divert attention from the vital issues in the N” Presidential primary through ranting abuse of Senator Hoke Smith. That robustious school of politics has torn passion to tatters all too often to draw more than a fatigued smile from the informed and native public. Late comers to the Commonwealth, however, may be puzzled to account for the melodra matic stride, the air-sawing gesture, the pea nut gallery gaze, the hoarsely bellowed “Curses on ye” that instantly became the role in certain quarters when Senator Smith en tered the primary. If such bewildered on lookers there are, we beg of them not to judge all Georgia, nor even the little company of players now stamping the stage, by this mo ment’s outburst. The State ib in no wise hys terical; and after a while our vituperative friends themselves will lay aside the tragic mask and admit that, although there was method in their madness, they decidedly over played the part. What the foes of the senior Senator may say against him or what his friends may say for him is not so important as what the record itself declares —that indisputable record of Georgia and American history whose aim it is "nothing to extenuate, nor set down aught in malice.” Whoever cares to consult this im partial witness will find that Hoke Smith has done many a serviceable deed for his Com monwealth and his country. They will find him as a youth of twenty-one defending the\ integrity of the ballot against carpet bag in vasion, defying the bayonet rule under which the South then labored. They will find him as chairman of the Fulton Democratic Execu tive Committee, a leader in the hard, grim battles of Reconstruction, and later a pioneer in the larger fields of Soutneru education. They will see him in 1893 called to the fore front of President Cleveland’s administration, the youngest Cabinet member ever known, save Alexander Hamilton, and tnen the first Georgian to be honored in that capacity since the breach between the States. They will see him as Secretary of the Interior putting an end to Federal pension nauds that were costing the people millions, and at the same time fully protecting the interests of every rightful beneficiary. Looking further, they wiii recognize him as an outstanding exponent of lioeral as op posed to reactionary thought in Georgia pol itics, and will judge of his appeal io the pub lic mind by the fact that in the memorable Governor’s race of 1906 he carnea one hun dred and twenty-two of the one hundred and forty-eight counties, carried tnem over whelmingly against four of the most distin guished and personally popular opponents that ever a candidate faced. Two years later they eee him defeated for re-election; but with the cooling lapse of still another two years, they see him returned to the Gov ernor’s chair, his constructive policies vindi cated. Next they will note his selection by a decsive majority to fill the unexpired term of the lamented Senator Clay, 'and will ob serve that in his subsequent race before the people he was elected, receiving one hundred and thirty thousand votes—one of the most emphatic tributes in the State’s annals. This is the man and this the record that insensate partisanship now attacks as though he were guilty of high crimes and misde meanors. To what specific acts do the wagers of this wild war against character and achieve ment refer? Is it the Smith-Lever law, that monumental measure which has done more for the agricultural interests of the South and of the common country than any other one piece of legislation—is it this that they so bitterly resent in Senator Smith’s record? Or is it the Smith-Hughes Vocational Educa tion law, or the Smith-Feares act for the re habilitation of disabled soldiers, or the pend ing Smitb-Towner bill, providing for a Secre tary of Education in the President’s cabinet and for a fund of $100,000,000 to promote public educational interests? Do they de nounce the senior Senator for his persistent and fruitful labors in behalf of Georgia schools, Georgia farms and Georgia ports? Or are they bursting with indignation because as one of the leading framers of the Federal Reserve law he stood out for amendments which made it possible for three regional banks to be established in the Cotton States, whereas none might have been here as the measure was originally proposed? Or are they incensed because, largely through his endeavors, the Reserve Bank for the Sixth district was allotted to Georgia instead of to Alabama or Louisiana? Do they consider it traitorous in Senator Smith to have saved Camp Gordon and Camp Benning from being blotted from the map as Republican partisans of the House and Senate had designed and well-nigh accomplished? Can they deny for a moment that in all which pertains to the business, the agricultural and the educational interests of Georgia, and of the common coun try, he has been unfailingly vigilant and con structive? Or can they pretend that work like this deserves no better appreciation than headlong abuse? As to the senior Senator’s war-time serv ices, the record again is the one fair court of appeal. Not even his intenscst political en emy can gainsay that in the winter of 1915- 16 he urged immediate and full-sinewed prep aration for the emergency which broke upon us the following spring, and that long ere this he pleaded for army and navy expansion in spite of pronounced opposition to that policy on the part of a number of other Democratic leaders. It cannot be gainsaid that he spok,e and voted for the arming of our merchant ships, his warmth of argument in that con- THE ATLANTA TRI-WEEKLY JOURNAL. nection leading him almost into a personal difficulty with Senator La Follette, who op posed the measure. Following the declara tion of war, which he earnestly supported, he exerted himself, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, in behalf of unstinted appropriations and the speediest possible pro gram for mobilizing the country’s every fight ing resource. He voted for the Selective Service bill and aggressively advocated it, at the very time when Democrats like Speaker Clark and Floor Leader Kitchin were opposing it, and when it seemed that sup porters of the measure were hazarding their political all. Is it for his record on these vital war matters that Senator Smith is being denounced? The Food Control bill, the Fuel Control bill, the Railroad Federalization bill and the Overman bill, all received his vote, and, in so far as their basic principles were con cerned, his earnest advocacy. He stood for certain amendments to them on the ground that in their original form they were either defective or were needlessly inimical to common interests and common rights; and those amendments were adopted. Likewise he supported the Merchants Marine bill, not only when it was introduced as a war emergency measure but also when it was first proposed, during the earlier stages of the European conflict. How his colleagues regarded Senator Smith’s work and counsel in the critical tasks of winning the war is seen in the fact that they created an addi tional place on the Military Affairs Com mittee for the express purpose of assigning him to it; and any informed Senator will testify that after Mr. Smith took that post, friction between the Committee and the War Department ceased and the situation in every respect grew more satisfactory. These are not matters of heresay; they are matters of undebatable record. How unjust, then, and how ridiculous that political feudists should seek to class a Senator who earnestly and ably supported the war program with those who opposed it! As for his course in the matter o| the Peace Treaty, Senator Smith’s severest critics cannot refute the fact that at the moment of crucial test, when it was a question of saving the great covenant with reservations, or losing it by insistence upon its remaining unmodified in word or letter, he voted with the twenty three Democrats who stool for the only form of ratification obtainable and who repre sented the best balanced thought of Amer ica and of the -world. This being the record, is it not unsportsmanlike, is it not unjust, is it not ridiculous for political termagants to contnue their abuse of Georgia’s senior Sen ator? During his more than eight years in the Senate The Journal has differed with Mr. Smith on certain questions, both before and after the war, and may differ with him again. But justice is justice, service is service, and truth is truth to the end of the reckoning. The Lesson of Georgia's Growth In the Cause of Good Roads ’HE growth of the good roads idea in Georgia is hearteningly examp!ed in the fact that there is available for T highway construction and improvement in the State this year the sum of twelve million six hundred thousand dollars. The time is not far gone when this would have been consid ered rather a large expenditure for the entire Southeast; but at no very distant day, we imagine, it will appear too small for even half the counties of this Commonwealth. For it is the unvarying history of the good roads movement that the further it goes, the greater is its momentum and the more abundant its resources of sustainment. In the old years—a well-nigh antedeluvian past, it now seems—before this- movement was definitely under way or was more than a dream in the hearts of the forward-lookers, highways which today would be called in sufferable were accepted as fair enough. Farmers were losing heavily and continually because of difficult or broken communica tion with markets; and on the same account city consumers were under-supplied and ex cessively charged while large quantities of foodstuffs spoiled or went to waste at the source of production, not many miles away. Curiously enough, however, when roads were at their worst, sentiment for their improve ment was at its feeblest. And of all stages of the awakening and advance which finally came, the most difficult was the beginning. But once fairly begun, how swiftly and vigorously the reform went forward! It is doubtful that any other line of American progress during the last decade or sq has been so marked in its widening appeal to business sagacity and civic pride. Counties where aforetime it was next to impossible to pass a bond issue or by any other means raise a special fund for public improvements have come to be liberal supporters of the good roads cause, and of kindred enterprises as well, such as schools, sanitation and divers forms of social co-working. The fruits of ‘every dollar efficiently spent for highway betterment and extension were so manifest and so beneficial to the interests of each and all, that people grew to regard outlays for this purpose as investments which it would be folly nor to make. The more efficient the methods of expenditure and of construction became, the readier were taxpayers to vote bonds, and the readier were legislators, state and federal, to make appropriations for this cause. Thus do we see, in recent seasons, forty six Georgia counties voting an aggregate six teen million, seven hundred and thirty thou sand dollars of highway bonds. It is worthy of note that in nearly every instance these were already good-roads counties; for the very reason that they had good roads, they saw the need and felt the inducement for bet ter ones. It is equally noteworthy that since these counties have taken forward strides, their less advanced neighbors have begun to bestir themselves, aroused and spurred on by the examples about them. So the Caven spreads, and so the indication grows that the almost twelve million dollars which is avail able for highway work in Georgia this year will appear in times not very far ahead a minor rather than a liberal sum for such a purpose. This, amount ,it should be observed, repre sents the maximum construction program possible for 1920. The March number cf Southern Good Roads, calculating upon a bas is of figures from the State Highway board, sets forth the following “possible expendi tures:” Federal-aid projects from funds aris ing prior to the current fiscal year, al ready matched by county funds, $5,- 200,000.00. Federal-aid projects from 1920-21, allotment to Georgia when matched by county funds in equal amounts, $5,400,- 000.00. State-aid projects from 1920—income when voluntarily met by county funds, $2,000,000.00. This total of twelve million, six hundred thousand dollars, it will be seen, includes only a part of the county bond issues of near ly seventeen million to w'hich we referred. In deed, it was largely upon an understanding that the county funds should be supplement ed, on a “fifty-fifty” basis, by Federal or State apportionments, that the bonds were issued. Thus we may count upon a large res idue of the county bond funds for next year’s undertakings, and be encouraged by the pros pect of every dollar’s being doubled which state and county provide. Most heartening of all. however, is the as surance that the more we spend for good roads, the more we shall have to spend for them, and that the speedier will be the up building of those great economic and human interests whioji they serve. CURRENT EVENTS OF INTEREST An attempt to transfer the atmosphere of New York’s Greenwich Village to Boston for one night ended in disappointment for pro moters and merrymakers. Police blotters and court records told some of the story, in cluding the mention of five arrests of Har vard undergraduates, a call for police re serves to quell a disturbance, and complaint from “Madame Sonia,” promoter of the event, that her room had been robbed of $l,lOO, the proceeds of the sale of tickets and collections. The occasion was a ball held in a fashion able hotel attended by theatrical folk, col lege undergraduates, members of the art col ony and others who wished to have their fling after the reputed Bohemian fashion of Greenwich Villagers. The dancers whirled until after midnight, when the orchestra quit. Some one took up the work of turning out jazz tunes at the piano and the dance was on again, only to be stopped at 2 a. m., when the police intervened. The first outbreak of the night rider trou bles in western Kentucky, in thirteen years, occurred recently, when between 200 and 300 tobacco growers from the northern section of Graves county visited the Mayfield tobacco chute and applied the torch. The renewal of night riding is said to be the result of the fight of tobacco growers of this section of the state against the dropping prices of tobacco. Growers recently organized and hundreds agreed not to sell their crops on any warehouse floor. Recently, it is said, twenty McCracken county growers, at the point of shotguns, forced several growers, coming to Paducah with their tobacco, to turn back. A girl in her early twenties, Dr. J. L. Cross ley, battalion officer of the Order of the Brit ish Empire, bachelor of arts and doctor of science, is investigating Canadian trade possi bilities on a special mission for the British government, it was announced in Calgary, Alberta, recently. She spent six months in Australia recent ly, traveling alone, inspecting manufacturing plants and consulting with managers, to whom she gave information obtained during her in vestigations. After reporting to the British government the trade requirements of Can ada and Australia, she will go to China to study trade conditions there. A recommendation has been sent to the secretary of agriculture by the American As sociation of State Highway Officials that the United States should accept the invitation of foreign countries to join the Permanent In ternational Association of Road Congresses. The invitation was received through the State Department from the American Consul General at Paris. Thomas H. MacDonald, chief of the bu reau of public roads, said that the United States is the only civilized nation not • a member of the International association. The roads congress, he added, constituted an in ternational tribunal for bringing together the best experience and results in highway con struction and administration. Although meetings havb been held each year, nono has been called since the European war be gan. It was also recommended that the Inter national association be invited to the United States for its next meeting. According to a dispatch from Geneva, Ad miral Horthy, the regent of Hungary, has secretly but officially offered the Hungarian throne to former Emperor Charles, with the assurance that everything has been arranged for the return of the Hapsburg monarchy, with the consent of the majority of the pop ulation, according to information from Pran gins, where the ex-emperor lives. Admiral Horthy, it is declared, has in vited the former ruler to come to Budapest as soon as possible, adding that the question with the Allies in connection with the move could be best arranged from the Hungarian capital. The ex-emperor, however, is said to be ap parently hesitating as to his course, and has not left Prangins. News from London states the Dutch pre mier has informed the presidents of the upper and lower houses of parliament by letter that former Emperor William has as sured the Dutch government that he will re frain from all poitical activity and do noth ing which would involve Holland in any in ternational difficulty. INDECENCY By Dr. Frank Crane No amount of wit, skill, or cleverness, or philosophy can redeem indecency. There are certain parts of the human body which man kind agrees to conceal. It is not puritanism nor prudery. It is not a law and unintelli gent trait which we will outgrow. Quite the contrary, it is a late, mature and permanent trait of development. It is a recognition of the essential divinity, mystery and modesty of the human being. It is the symbol of our progress away from the animal and to ward the dominance of mind and spirit. So also there are certain subjects that can never have any right to a place in belles lettres or any other form of art. Psycho logical analyses of the pervert belong to the field of criminal science and are only to be tolerated in the old and steely analysis of a Lombroso. When they are taken up by a D’Annunzio, broidered with flowers and perfumed with rhetoric, they are no more nor less than filth, which the healthy nos trils of normal folk will willingly pass by, or, having examined once, forget. It is refreshing to see how the people are purifying the artists. I can remember when the variety theater was a low and coarse per formance, patronized by the scum. Today the vaudeville has taken its place and is patronized by everybody, and the result has been that the level of decency has risen and the average decent woman can attend the average show of this kind without fear of being offended or disgusted. In fact, the vaudeville manager has become timid. His rules of propriety are stricter than those of the legitimate.” I know a reciter who was compelled by the vaudeville manager to ex purgate Kipling before he was allowed to give some of his poems. Profanity, coarseness, lewdness of any kind are fatal. They are quick ways of at tracting attention, but are sure signs of a poverty of resources. No one can afford to indulge in them. And.the reason is a sound one. There is plenty of material in healthy human nature for the use of any artist. The heart of man is inexhaustible. The higher relations of the masculine and feminine soul present bound less fields for artistic interpretation. Only it takes sympathy and genius and insight and infinite patience and technique to compre hend and portray the motions of the spirit There is no place in art of the better type for the mountebank. Anglo-Saxondon is peculiarly fortunate In its great master mind who laid the foundation and set the pace for our letters for all time - Shakespeare. There is a breezy healthiness, an out-of-doors purity, an innate decency and self-respect in Shakespeare that is not found always in Goethe nor Moliere. 1 ludishness and Miss Nancyism are intol erable. No finicky soul can be great. And the opposite is just as true: no mind that touches Nastiness lovingly can be great. (>ive us the universal experience; -reat of God and of mud; go through every room and Five million dollars in bills found in a sack in the corridor of the Simplon express have been seized and confiscated at the Temesvar station on the Rumanian-Hunga rian frontier. The ownership of the money at present is not known, but officials say it is believed it will be revealed in a few days. The owner, it is asserted, was expecting to make a trip to England and the United States. As a result of the measures recently adopted by the Rumanian government to pre vent any kind of money leaving the country searches of the international trains are be ing made daily. Lieutenant Commander James R. Webb and three members of Lis crew were lost when the United States submarine H-l went aground at the entrance to Magdalena bay, Lower California, according to a radio dis patch received here. The submarine was driven on the rocks during a storm, but could not be refloated. Surviving members of the crew were rescued by a destroyer and an Eagle boat. The collier Neptune and an other destroyer are en route to aid in re floating the vessel. A dispatch from London states more than 16,000 anti-Bolshevist soldiers have been found frozen to death on the Steppes, it is announced in a soviet military communique received from Moscow by wireless. (The Steppes comprise the plains in southeastern Russia and the western Asiatic provinces.) The statement reports progress by the red troops against General Denikin’s forces along the railway in the Ekaternodar region, on the Caucasus front. Enormous thefts of platinum, accounted by the present standards of value as more precious than gold, are being reported from the chemical laboratories and manufactories of the United States. The stealing of $50,000 worth of the val uable metal from the plant of a large New Jersey chemical firm a few days ago has been followed by many other losses. The situa tion is so serious as to cause warnings and notices to be distributed throughout the coun try. Members of the American Chemical So ciety, through the various sections, have been informed of the wholesale thefts, and descrip tions of the stolen articles made of platinum are being forwarded to the secretaries of the sections of the organization with requests to keep a sharp lookout for all platinum ped dlers. It is announced in the current number of the Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry that the vault of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Missouri was entered and the entire stock of platinum crucibles* amounting to 2,5Q0 grams in weight had been stolen. Other uni versity laboratories have had the same bitter experience. Aside from its growing use by jewelers for rings and settings for diamonds and other precious stones, platinum is essential to many chemical tests and processes and is therefore high in price. According to a dispatch from Berlin, news received from Upper Silesia, the semi-official Wolff Bureau says, reports a rising of a Bol shevist character at Warsaw and other parts of Poland. A strike of 15,000 engineers employed by the British government department known as the office of works, in London, broke out recently and was settled by the department concerned agreeing to the men’s demand. The trouble arose over the dismissal of a workman by a foreman. Engineers main tained that not only should the workman be reinstated, but that the foreman should be dismissed. The speedy settlement of the strike is as sumed to be due to the fact that Buckingham palace, the houses of parliament and nu merous public buildings would otherwise have been left without eletric light or central heating. According to a dispatch from Christiania, Norway, it is understood that American rep resentatives are trying to repurchase dry goods and wearing apparel bought from the United States from 1918 to 1920 for re export to the United States, as the prices of these commodities is 50 per cent lower than those now prevailinig in the American markets. FOOD CAUTIONS By H. Addington Bruce (Copyright, 1920, by The Associated Newspa / pers.) HE recent occurrence of many deaths from botulinus poisoning, due to the eating of infected olives, should not create a T prejudice against canned foods in general. But it should create a prejudice against canned foods that give the slightest evidence of being spoiled. From Detroit, Memphis, and other places where death followed the eating of olives, it is reported that the olives eaten were manifestly in some stage of decay. They are described as “soft,” “tasting queerly,” etc. And likewise in cases of botulinus poisoning from canned beans, asparagus tips, and other vegetables, signs of decomposition were present in the odor, color, or taste of the death-deal ing foods. It is said by good authorities, to be sure, that even when one has reason to suspect that canned foods are not quite sound they may be rendered harmless by cooking. I should not advise taking this chance. Knowing the deadliness of the botulinus germ, the one safe rule is to destroy all canned foodstuffs which have an unnatural color or odor, are “gassy,” are rot so firm as they ought to be, or otherwise seem to be tainted in any degree. Any swelling of their con tainers before they are opened should itself be a warning, “Don’t eat! ” Better far to lose the cost of a few cans of food than to risk the suffering and possi ble fatality of a botulinus seizure. For that matter, moreover, it is no less im portant to refrain from eating spoiled foods of any kind, fresh as well as canned. Which means, of course, that every precaution should be taken, both in stores and in the home, to safeguard food from decay and contamina tion. Sheer carelessness often is responsible for the so-called ptomaine poisonings reported in connection \ ith the eating of meats and fish. Meat is left lying in the kitchen pantry un der conditions that may soon make it unfit to eat. When the housewife finally decides to cook it she perhaps notices that it is not in the best of condition. “1 guess it’s not too far gone, though, to be unsafe,” is her comment. Perhaps it isn’t. But she assuredly is taking, and causing others to take, an unnecessary risk. Then, too, death may follow the widespread neglect to keep foods properly covered while awaiting us, especially milk, butter, meats, and breadstuffs. Left exposed for flies to crawl over, germs innumerable may be deposited to give rise to typhoid or some other dread dis ease. Care, cleanliness, common sense—these should be the watchwords in every kitchen. Food is indispensable to life. Recklessness, thought lessness, may all too easily make it life-de stroying. closet of life, but see that it is done with the antiseptic hand, with a mind that is clean, sound and sane. (Copyright, 1920, by Frank Crane.) TIiUr.. J DAJ, AIG.IL 1, ILL.) THE TRI-WEEKLY EDITORIAL DIGEST i A National and Non-Partisan Summary of Leading Press Opinion on Current Questions and Events How Shall IV e Make Where does failure of the Peace Treaty’s ratification leave us? Still at war with Ger many, although hostilities ceased nearly a year and a half go, and the nations of Europe have made peace. Somehow we must make peace, too, but how? Some deny that the treaty is dead. The CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER (Ind. Dem.) thinks the Senate should call it back and ratify it, which would then “put the issue squarely up to the president to offer peace upon the senate terms or to reject the terms any seek restoration of peace by some other method.” The NEW YORK TIMES (Ind. Dem.) takes a somewhat similar position: “The tim ewill come, and it will not be a distant time,” it predicts, “when the presi dent will be able to resubmit the treaty to a senate that, benefiting by sober second thought, will be far less insistent on reser vations that mutilate and destroy, . . . reservations that will declare our under standing of the treaty, but will leave intact its vital guarantees of justice and peace among nations.” “Let the issue go before the people,” urges the KANSAS CITY JOURNAL (Rep.); “that will be the best thing that could happen.” The TACOMA LEDGER (Ind.) states that the senate’s action “means that the treaty will be made an issue in the campaign,” but thinks it “unfortunate that the treaty is to be a campaign issue at a time when there are so many other vital matters which ought to be settled.” In the view of the LAFAY ETTE JOURNAL-COURIER (Ind. Rep.) the pact can be an issue only “in a secondary sort of way,” for “there is no means by which the people can vote directly on the matter. They must cast their votes for the candidates of the party that most nearly represents their views on this subject, after they have taken into consideration also the other very important issues.” The BUF FALO COURIER (Dem.) agrees with the NEW YORK TRIBUNE (Rep.) that “there can be no clearcut issue, no clear expression of public opinion.” Some difficulties in the way of campaign ing on the treaty issue are set forth by the LOS ANGELES (Ind. Rep.). President Wil son, this authority says, “would like to have a popular vote on the treaty as written; but a majority of the Democratic leaders are not willing to risk a campaign on rati fication without reservation. The San Fran cisco platform will probably call for ratifi cation with mild reservations, and the Chi cago platform for ratification along the lines of the resolution beaten by Democratic votes in the senate.” The SPRINGFIELD UNION (Rep.) ana lyzes the vote of the senate and concludes that “there are no clear-cut lines of party demarcation there, and there is no way of so presenting the issue in a political cam paign as to make any conclusion possible. It is simply a mess, disgusting, humiliating, shameful, and for which there is blame enough to go around.” “Talk of the peace treaty there will be, of course—and much of it,” adds the TOLEDO BLADE (Ind. Rep.), “but the electorate cannot be made to see it as a paramount issue,” and the SIOUX CITY JOURNAL (Rep.) declares that “both parties are split asunder” on the question. Yet the WICHITA EAGLE (Ind.) believes that “the people may be trusted to see through the fog of politics the great importance of settling the treaty question properly. And the people may be trusted to vote for the League of Nations and peace.” But is there another way of getting out of the war? “Surely something must be done,” says the BOSTON POST (Ind. Dem.) “to end the grotesque situation in which we CHANGING NAMES—By Frederic J. Haskin r ASHINGTON, D. C., March 28.—A young man dropped into a lawyer’s office here the other day. w “1 want to change nr name,” he said sadly. “I’m a locksmith. I have my name on the door —B. Ware —and customers are always cracking jokes and pretending to be afraid of me. Peo ple even come in just to make silly puns and take up my time.” “Why don’t you write your first name out?” suggested the attorney. “Oh, that would be worse. My name’s Barry Ware—it sounds like bow-wow.” The lawyer drew up a petition so the young man to be called Barry Ward, and in three weeks the change was affected to the client’s joy- \ The lawyer who told us this story says that business in changing names has been humming ever since the war. Families who had been in this country for four generations and who prided themselves on their American qualities woke up in 1916 and 1917 to find that their German-sounding patronymics were regarded with disfavor if not with suspicion. There was just one remedy, and a great many took it. German names were legally turned into English equivalents, or were replaced by piain Amerlcaii Smith, Carter or Johnson. In some cases, owners of German names desired changes as a means of showing that they were not hyphenated Americans. In others, it was a matter of business. Such names as Kaiser and Hindenburg, the owners stated, were injuring their trade, as Americans re garded them as German firms, and were preju diced by the war associations. Names besides those of German sound sometimes have an undesirable effect on busi ness, and such names seem to be discarded by their owners in greater numbers than ever be fore. These are chiefly the masterpiecs of the Russian, Greek, Italian and Slavic languages. Some of these combinations contain the best part of the alphabet, and defy pronounciation, let alone spelling. A name like Zacharula Panagopoulous, for instance, is musical and mouth-filling, and in its own country would place the owner at no dis advantage. But over here, a title of such length is a handicap, and the last name is usually shortened to something like Pagas. Then, there are names of unmistakable Anglo-Sxon origin, which are unfortunately be stowed in individual cases, or are in themselves undesirable. The name Cheatham, an example of the former type, is not unpleasant in sound, and would cause a scientist no annoyance. But a lawyer or merchant with such a name might be an object of endles chaff. Occasionally a clever man makes capital of a peculiar name, as the man named Easum who once advertised “Easum’s pills” all over town. But as a rule, the odd name which suggests amusing comparisons is regarded os something to put up with, like awkward hands or a stiff neck. The majority of names brought to court sot revision are surnames. Now and again, however, a Christian name which has worried the owner like an old man of the sea, is hap pily discarded. It is hard to get the point-of view of parents who give their children ridicu lous names merely to gratify an overdeveloped sense of humor. A governor of a certain state, by name Hogg, will always be remembered for the fact that he named his two daughters Ima and Ura. At least one of these girls, we are told, married early, thereby spoiling the point of father’s little joke. Still more outlandish is the record in British Peace lUith Germany? now are. Whose is the first move?” And the POST continues: “Will the president at once move to ne gotiate a separate peace with Germany? . . . Will congress attempt the hitherto unheard of and probably unconstitutional scheme of making peace by resolution?” The latter plan appeals to many. Senator Knox has introduced a resolution to that ef fect, and the JOHNSTOWN DEMOCRAT (Dem.) believes “the senate should now lose no time in passing the Knox resolution declaring the war with Germany at an end.” The WICHITA BEACON (Ind.) feels the same way: “There is no excuse,” it says, “for keeping up- a technical state of war when no war exists. Congress declared war In the first place. It undoubtedly has the right to declare the war at an end,” and the GRAND RAPIDS PRESS (Ind.) agrees that this is “the least that congress can do after the months of muddling.” So thinks the STEUBENVILLE HERALD-STAR (Rep.), and the CHICAGO TRIBUNE (Ind. Rep.) ad vocates that the Knox resolution be “broad ened so as to provide for a revision of the treaty of Versailles.” “An attempt at revision is essential,” the TRIBUNE believes, “to the salvation of Eu rope, whose civilization is worse threatened at this moment than ever it was by Prussian militarism.” However, the NEW YORK EVENING POST (Ind.) calls the Knox proposal “only a makeshift. There is no certainty,” it says, “that such a resolution could be passed, the president might veto it. Even if he were to accept it, the necessity for making a treaty of peace with Germany would remain. In law and in fact the initiative in treaty-mak ing cannot be taken from the president.” And even then, notes the NORFOLK VIR GINIAN-PILOT (Ind. Dem.): “The United States would still be an out sider to nations working together under the League of Nations. Such a resolution would bring it a peace which it would not share with others.” Finally, the SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (Ind.) concludes that “it is the prerogative to take the initiative at least in outlining what the country should do next. What does.he propose?” NEW VIEWS OF CRIME Certain new views about crime and punish ment continue to make headway. Dr. Max Schlapp, professor of neuropathy at the New York Postgraduate hospital, declares un equivocally that “an impressive percentage of criminals can be restored to normal and saved to society through treatment of the nerves and emotional impulses.” “In view of what we have learned,” he says, sum ming up the results of the treatment of 14,- 000 cases, “it is as outrageous to lock up victims of mental deficiency or of certain forms of emotional impuse as it would be to penalize a sufferer from measles or typhoid fever. One is no more at fault than the other, and both can be cured. In punishing the former class society is blind to its duty. It is as ridiculous as were our forefathers in their witch-burning and similar practices now recognized as criminally absurd.” t The correctness of this view can be scien tifically proved and there is no doubt that it will eventually lead to the sending of more prisoners to the hospital and fewer patients to prison. It is barely conceivable that the idea of punishment may gradually disappear. The chance seems remote only because the passion for revenge is so firmly planted in human nature; and that there is a change at all is due to the fact that there can be no concentrated public opinion against the rou tine criminal. —SAN FRANCISCO CALL (Ind.) history of a father who desired to name his child Beelzebub. When the boy was brought to church to be christened, the bishop refused to bestow the name upon him, say; ig that it was not a fit name to be sanctioned by the church. These are extraordinary cases, but hundreds of children are chistened every year with weird names handed down as family heirlooms. A boy labeled Adelbert, Aquilphar or Alphonse may remain to in t I.e nursery, but when he gets ou tat school he almost always demands a nickname for himself ana gets it by force or strategy. A large number of petitions for changes in givsn names are based on the plea that the person is not known to his friends by the name he has to use for legal and public purposes. The * process of changing an undesirable name is simple. Here in Washington all you have to do is to file a petition with the su preme court of the District of Columbia, stat ing that it Pastes too much of your friends’ time to call you by your proper name, or whatever reason you may have for the change. You must swear that you are not abandoning your old name to avoid debts or any demands against you. Then you have a notice of the change of name printed in a local newspaper once a week for three weeks. At the end of that time, if nobody comes forward to object —and nobody ever does—the court formally grants your petition, and you go forth with whatever name you have picked out. Consid ering how easy it is, we wonder that there are so many people with names that are unmelo dious, to say the least. The lawyer mentionec earlier in this letter tells as his favorite story the old British anec dote of a couple named Rose, who christened their little girl Wild. “This combination,” he says, “was voted verv pretty by the romantic mid-Victorians. But when Wild Rose grew up, she met and married a man named Bull, and Wild Rose became Wild Bull, to the horror of her aesthetic friends.” “The record does not show whether she changed her name or not,” the lawyer finished. “It was not so easy in Victorian England as now.” “Tejl us another,” we suggested. “I can’t vouch for the truth of this one,” he said reflectively, “but I’ve heard of a girl whose parents were named Bride, and who was christened June. This girl grew up and married a man named Bug—l hardly believe that tale, though. “You know,” he said, “it isn’t necessary even to have the court grant a petition to change a name. Anyone can alter his name at any time, and it is not an offense unless the person has intent to defraud, or is assuming an' alias for purposes of crime.” “That so?” we murmured. “We know a man named Julian who has always wanted, to be named Mike. He’ll be glad to know.” The attorney shook his head. “I wouldn't advise anyone to wake Up in the morning and say, ‘Well, I think I’ll change my name today to something distinguished or sporting.’ A change of name require readjustment of rela tions with friends, acquaintances and business associates. Sometimes it makes trouble. “I know a case where two firms almost came to blows. An oficial in one of the firms changed his name. Soon after, he called at the office of the other firm and sent In his card. The president glanced at it. ‘Never heard of him. Tell him 1 am busy,’ he told the office boy. The visitor regarded the message as an insult to his firm, and it was months before the matter was straightened out.”