Newspaper Page Text
Even Mechanical Figures May
Be Made to Speak Untruthfully
HERE is much complaint in Atlanta just
T at the present moment over gas bills
that seem to he abnormally high.
In some quarters the raise in the cost of
cooking breakfast and heating the bath is
charged off to poor gas.
It has been said—and admitted, in part at
least by officials responsible—that the gas
supplied to Atlanta users is deficient in heat
units. In this regard the Georgia Railroad
Commission has taken a hand and there
Has been an improvement; not a large one,
it is true, but an improvement.
Recently the local gas concern was granted
an inecrease in the rate. This increase
amounted to about 33 1.3 per cent. Logically,
gas bills should have advanced just one
third, no more. Such has not been the case
and the reason is not hard to find.
Gas troubles of a similar kind have in
flicted other cities of this country in times
past. In fact a very similar situation to that
in Atlanta is being complained of in Chicago
this winter. Gas bills there, as here, are ab
normally high, running from two to three
times higher than formerly for approximate
ly the same service.
Inquiry into the cause of these erratic bills
in other cities has developed the fact that
the pressure maintained on supply lines has
a great deal to do with the performance of
the meters.
For instance, the meters are designed to
register gas consumption when the pressure
on the mains is*p¥out four pounds to the
square inch. If ‘more pressure is put on the
line, the rate of registration on the part of
the meter will be more rapid; if less pres
sure, not so much consumption of gas will
be shown.
Herein, without change of adjustment of
any kind, the meters may be made to tell un
truthfunl tales.
Herein, without almost hourly inspeetion
at widely separated and seeret points on the
system, is the producer enabled to make the
consumer pay almost any return he wishes
—and that for an inferior quality of fuel.
It is hardly probable that gas officials are
not aware of the effect of line pressure on
Revival of Automobile Business
Has Come With a Wholesome Rush
During the war the Government demanded
of the automobile manufacturers that they
curtail their output of pleasure cars and in
crease the production of trucks, and tanks
d motors for airplanes.
?.Qflle order was promulgated upon appre
hension that the war would last a year or
more, that the number of motor transports
would have te be greatly increased to keep
up with the millions of men and tons of sup
plies being shipped overseas, and that every
thing would have to be sacrificed which did
not contribute to winning the war,
~ Soon after that the Government requested
that owners of pleasure cars refrain from
using them except in cases of necessity on
Sundays. This was a precaution born of es
timates that the gasoline consumption was
p;!rilondy near exceeding the possible sup
piy.
* Both the manufacturers and the ownera
loyally obeyved the Government, though it
had a somewhat demoralizing effect on, auto
sales.
Now all of the conditions which warranted
these precautions are changed as in the
twinkling of an eye. The war orders are can
celled or minimized. Steel and other metal
lic materials will he available for industrial
work. The superhuman efforts to produce
Liberyy motors to propel tens of thousands
of airplanes cease, as do the incredible de
mands for gas and oil.
Readjustment of machinery, labor and ma
terials 1s in. progress. It will take some
little time, Here was an industry which did
a business of a billion and a quarter in an
tomobiles and trucks in 1917, which took on
a billion dollars’ worth of war contracts in
1918, and which is now in process of recon
version to the old lines of business for 1919,
The demands for new cars are likely for a
time to surpass the capacity for proluction.
The factories will be working to fill sales
smen's orders for some months instead of ac
eumulating stock which sales agencies must
be driven to unload.
Consequently the outlook throughout the
whole-industry is very auspicious for next
year,
Prices are not expeeted to take a shirp
tumble, but already several manufacturers
have announced a return to price lists which
prevailed last year,
The motyr cars of today are better made,
~embody more conveniences and are more
nearly standardized than ever. . It is easier
to own and operate and maintain a car now
‘ than ever before,
~ They are not so much a luxury today as a
necessity. They pay for their cost either in
pleuura or service derived.
~ Thousands of people who mnever before
TRUTEH, JUSTICIS
A violent man enticeth his neighbor, and leadeth him into the way that is not good.—PROVERBS, XVL., 29.
meters. However, it is not charged here
that deliberate dishonesty has been practiced.
It is a fact that during the colder months
much more gas is required for cooking and
heating. It is a faet, also, that in order to
supply the inereased quantity of gas through
mains that have been overloaded by reason
of growth of any section gs the city and by
greater requirements per individual, greater
pressure must be maintained.
It likewise is a fact that if more pressure
is maintained a complete readjustment of me
ters must be made or the tallying dial will
render a wrong report—wrong always in fa
vor of the company and against the con
sumer,
In localities where it is necessary to main
tain a high mainline pressure local governors
are installed alongside the consumer’s me
ter. The function of this governor is to hold
the gas pressure to four pounds notwith
standing the pressure on the main line may
be eight or ten or twelve pounds to the
square inch. In this manner gas meters are
made to tell the truth. In this way com
plaint is avoided, gas bills average up even
ly and the stoves and other utensils may be
adjusted to burn very poor gas with reason
able satisfaction.
Lios Angeles, Cal., is one of the ecities where
trouble similar to that now provoking At
lanta, was recurrent for a number of years.
The adoption of an ordinance regulating the
maximum pressure on mains and the instal
lation of registering devices to keep hourly
tab on tig risc and fall of that pressure rem
edied the gas bill complaints. Incidentally
a minimum seale of thermal (heat) units was
established.
With the enforecement of these regulations,
the gas companies found a way to install
larger mains where those in existence were,
found inadequate and the yearly winter gas
complaint ceased.
Atlanta might profit by a study of the
problem and its solution in Los Angeles.
Certain it is that the people of Atlanta are
being made to pay now for something they
do not get, and that some sort of solution is
necessary.
thought they could afford an auto are now,
by virtue of their good wages and their
habits of saving, able to make payments.
Thousands of others who have bought cheap
cars are going to turn them in for new ones
and better ones.
The revival of the automobile business is
here with a rush. Motor cars will be a most
popular Christmas gift. The first to get their
orders down will be first to have deliveries
made,
For weeks to come the whole literature of
automobile agvertising will be eagerly read.
s .
TAXES, THE BIG WORLD
WAR DEBT
Mr. McAdoo’s report shows that 31.6 per
cent of the Government’s expenses for the
fiseal year came from taxation. But it is a
mistake to think of the other 68.4 per cent
as anything but deferred taxes. Sooner or
later every dollar spent in the war will have
to be taken back in taxation, together with
every dollar spent in interest payments on
the borrowed money. The policy of borrow
ing during the war did not save an ounce of
material or the day's work of any man.
What it did do was to induce the public to
make the necessary sacrifices of comforts and
lnxuries in a more cheerful spirit. The chief
effeet of the loans is psychological rather
than economie. We do not actually pull our
selves over the fence by our bootstraps, but
we feel that we are doing so, and it is this
attitude of mind that counts. As we were
able to buy, so we will be able to be taxed and
in effect we, the people of the United States
will tax ourselves to pay back to ourselves
the interest and prineipal of what we bor
rowed from ourselves. We can escape this
only by getting too poor to pay taxes (and
no one rich enough to buy a loaf of bread is
too poor to pay a tax) or by dying.
Taxation after the war may or may not
prove more just than the raising of the com
plete suni by taxation during the war might
have been, If the taxes are mostly indirect,
as in the case of tariffs, the poor and mod
erately well off will pay more in proportion
to their ability to pay than will the rich. If
the taxes are direet and baposed on the prin
ciple of the income surtax, a just balanece be
tween the tax and ability to pay may be
reached. In either event the government
must take from the nation in one way or an
other an amount of purchasing power equal
to that represented by the prineipal and in
terest of the bonds, and turn that purchas
ing power over to the holders of the bonds,
and not until that process has been com
pleted will it be apparent whether or not the
financial burdens of the war were fairly dis
tributed.
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By Winifred Black.
AR is the father, mother,
F brother and sister of all the
mean, worthless things of
life,
Fear has made
something less
than man or
woman of many
a human being.
Once 1 locked
upon a great
andience In a
stheater when
there has been a
cry of fire, And
I saw men leave
their wlves,
mothers flee
from their chil
dren, rushing
heedlessly over
the forms--the
N - S
very heads—of those near the outer
doors. Panic had seized the crowd,
and it lost all the look of an as
sembly of reasonable beings,
There were a few men and wom
en who remained calm-—-these tried
to help those near them. These few
saneé people finally succeeded in
quelling the fright and fury around
them, so that within fifteen min
utes from the first alarm the scare
was over, while from the entrance
of the theater the ambulances car
ried away almost a dozen ecrushed,
broken forms, every one of them
the result of mad fear on the part
of people who were, in reality, per
teetly safe.
We are, every one of us, subject
to fear as we are to all the ills that
flesh is heip to—but we ought to
overcome fear, as we try to overs
come the worst faults that exist in
poor human nature,
MOST ABJECT OF VICES,
A coward is one who yields to
fear, the most abject of vices,
Yet some women will say, “1 am
a perfect coward,” and then simper
and siile, as If for a word or ges.
ture of admiration,
I forget who it was who rejoined
~hearing this declaration from an
affected belle--*And pray, madam,
are you a thief and a falsifier as
well as a coward?
The question recurs to my mind,
when 1 hear girls and women tell
what cowards they are. It may be
that women, and men, too, are often
the vietims of fear, hut the men
usually hide it, when they can, and
Monday, December 23, 1918
THE MOTH AND THE FLAME.
The Vice of Fear
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) :
I believe it will become quite fash
ionable for women to do so, too.
In the great moments of life—and
death—women, often and often,
show no fear, no matter what may
be grappling at their hearts. The
women on the torpedoed ships at
sea are reported to have been, al
most universally, calm and helpful.
And who is it, after all, who
stands first and last at the bedside
of suffering, s_xlckneus and death?
Who but woman—forgetting all the
petty fears of artificial upbringing,
and doing with noble simplicity the
duty before her not as a task, but a
privilege. »
“Afraid of a mouse,” “scared at a
little garter snake,” “crying out
when the alley cat mews'—ves, but
these are not the outcome of fear.
The jump and sickening shiver
over the harmless mouse or snake
are only from sensitive nerves, The
woman who screams at some sud
den incursion of the unexpected
eatie” has often the courage of a
heroine when it comes to a serious
calamity.
COURAGE A MAGNIFICENT VIR
TUE.
The jangling nerves should not
be confounded with anything like
the mortal fear which quells every
fine instinct and makes, out of a
decent assembly of men, women
and children, a howling mob of self
{sh maniacs,
Courage is a great, magnificent
virtue. It can be cuftivated and
has been cultivated, in most unlike
ly places and among rather hope
less people. »
One of the first things to do, if
one wants courage, is to cease cry
ing out that one is “a perfect cow
ard.”
1 hope 1 shall never hear the con
fession again, from man, woman or
child, “I'm afraid.”
Sh! Sh! Don't admit it even to
yvourself,
ettt —— :fl
l .
- Stars and Stripes |
-st S fl‘.'::.':",.'..'.'.":“:“‘_._f'?."_:‘::"' e ————— ‘..‘_:'J
~ Love In unconditional surrender;
marriage is the debacle of love,
. . . -
A man that stands still in the
stream of life will be bumped by
every craft that passes,
e e
No woman of good sense will pick
a guarrel with her dressmaker.
50 9
Herr Hohenzollern seems at pres
ent to be the victim of the fish
story correspondent,
G ST GBS et W NSRS BAR ———
L@& AT L W N R
PR} "/ - 2T% 2 % BperFom
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DEAR K. . B.—What about the second annual K. C. B, Claridge party
for the American Christmas Fuund? lLet's fix the date for Thursday,
December 12, and go. to it. Miss Grace Field has offered to aid in the
arrangements for the party and wants to see you about it right away.
Let me know if the date is satisfactory. Yours sincerely,
HAMILTON P. BURNEY, Manager Hotel Claridge.
MY, DEAR Ham.
. - .
IT'S A perfectly good date,
- - -
AND IT’'S all right.
- . v
AND WE'LL have the party,
- - -
AND I'M much obliged,
- * -
AND ALREADY.
- * .
I HAVE several names.
- . -
OF FRIENDS of mine,
- . -
WHO WOULD like tables,
. * -
AND ONLY vosterd\,y.
. . -
I MET Louie Mann.
- . .
AND HE wanted to know.
. . -
ABOUT THIS year's party,
- - .
AND YOU remember,
- 9.9
THAT A.T 1.-. wt year's party,
-
HE SPENT $:00,
- . -
FOR THE coffee set.
- - .
THAT THE Hippodrome sent.
- . .
AND SO far as 1 know.
- . .
HE'D ONLY been working,
- . .
A LITTLE while,
. . -
DURING 1917,
- . .
AND THIS year.
. . .
HE'S BEEN working for months,
- . .
JUST BEING friends,
¥
WITH SAM l.!c\rmlrd
. .
AND HE ought to he fat
. - .
AND, ANYWAY,
- - -
YOou CA.N .km;n a table for him.
AND T';‘EEE"S Henry L. Doherty
HE'S A friend of mine.
. - .
AND HE'D like a table’
- - .
AND | have a rain check
> 5 b
ON AN old luncheon table,
5 ¢ ¢
WITH OTTO H. Kahn
. - .
AND I'LL let him off
PUBLIC SERVICE
IF HE'LL take a table,
- - *
AND MY personal manager.
. - -
MR. R. H. Burnside,
. - .
WITH MARK Luescher helping.
- - .
WILL BE stage manager.
> o @
AND LOOK after the show,
. . -
AND LISTEN, Ham,
. - -
THE WAY it looks now.
- - -
IT WILL be some show.
- - d
AND | wish you'd tell*Grace,
- - »
I'LL BE up to see her,
. - .
SOME TIME todav.
. - .
AND SHE’'S a grand littie girl,
. - -
TO OFFER to help.
. - -
AND | want to tell her,
. » .
THAT JU?T‘lawt spring, |
*
I WAS out in San Francisco,
. - -
GOING UP the hill,
. .- .
ON A cable car,
. . .
T 0 THE Fairmont Hotel,
. .
AND THE car stopped,
. . i
AND STARTED again,
. . .
AND A real nice lady,
. . -
SAT ON my lap.
. 9 -
AND | turned her around,
. . -
SO | could see her face.
> 9 -
AND IT was Grace's mother.
- . .
AND, ANYWAY.
. . .
WE'LL .HA.VE. the party.
ON THl:lß.lbfxv. the 12th.
AND I'L'L :nuke you a wager,
-
WE'LL .BEAT. last year's party,
.
AND | want a table,
. . .
FOR WILLIAM Rardolph Hearst.
. . -
BECAUSE HE'S going to be there
. . .
HE'S A friend of mine,
-l THANK you.
. .
' Timely Topics l
| of Today
N N
By Arthur Brisbane,
HE OBSERVATORE RO-
T MANO, official organ of the
Vatican, denies that the Pope
announced to President Wilson his
renunciation of temporal power,
That statement Interests tens of
millions in this country. Since
1871, when Victor Emmanuel took
possession of Rome, and Piux IX
refused to recognize the seizure,
the Popé has kept within the pal
ace and the gardens of the Vatican
as a protest against what the
church considered an illegal act.
* * *
Mr. Deegan, secretary of the
Mackay companies, which are fight
ing the right of Government to con
tro! the wire systems, says that
Mr. Burleson's statement concern
ing Government ownership is
“twaddle.”
If the profound and ecourteous
Mr. Deegan had been alive when
private individuals carried the
mails, and charged from 25 cents to
$1 for delivering a letter, he would
probably have described as “twad
dle” the suggestion that Govern
ment ownership could carry a let
ter for 2 cents from Alaska to Lon
don,
But th¢ Government postoffice
has done that, and the Government
posteffice pays a profit. And what
Government ownership does for
letters it will do for telegrams and
telephones-—cut charges in half, and
then again in half.
One%railroad man—his name I 8
Amster, chairman .of the Chicago,
Rock Island and Pacific Railroad—
wants the railroads to stay in the
hands of Government. He says:
“The money situation makes it ime
possible for even roads of first
rank to finance themselves at any
reasonable rate of interest. Second
grade roads would be unable to
finance themselves at all.” i
Wise Mr. Amster, and many other
railroad men who have seen the
people’s money used to rebuild their
railroads and put them on a run=-
ning basis, conclude that it would
Ye well FOR THE PRESENT to let
the people continue paying the bills.
The idea is to let the people go
on paving, until money gets a little
easier—then take back the rail
roads, nicely re-equipped.
If the people are foolish enough to
permit that, they will deserve just
exactly what they get.
. * -
One large blue-bottle fly in the
peace ointment is the Irish ques
tion.
The Irish say to the friends of
“self-determination” and the pro
tectors of “little people:”
“We, the Irish, have been fight
ing 700 years for freedom. We
have shown ‘self-determination’ in
many a bloody struggle. How can !
you prate about human liberty and
ignore our claim?
The situation would be embar
rassing for the United States if the
Wnited States should offer any
“freedom for Ireland” suggestiong.
For the English would reply:
“Ireland is part of, Great Britain,
South Ireland, it is true, would like
to secede. We don't intend that
she shall. ‘
“The Southern States were part |
of the United States. They wanted
to secede, but you wouldn't let
them, and spent many millions and
many men settling that question.
When vou talk to us about Ireland,
we usk vou to read your own recent
history.” !
.5 9 !
The President is reported to have |
assured Italy of his high regard |
and his intentions to support Italy's |
just war claims. !
Italy should, and of course will, |
have the territory that she claims, |
in addition, regardless of Jugo- |
Slav protest, Italy should control |
the east shore of the Adriatic, the |
innumerable convenient harbors |
that could be made bases of attack |
upon Italy’s open and defenseless
cast coast.
The things that count in this
world are the established CIVILI
ZATIONS of the world, not the sen- |
‘imental elaims of little groups that |
have never known how to rule .
lhomselve&—‘muot: h\::s others. [
. !
There are many strange sides to i
everything that concerns human be
ings. Protestants, Catholies and
Jews celebrated the driving out of
the “Turks from Jernsalem. I
And the Turkish soldiers, no :
longer responsjble for guarding the
sacred places In Jerusalem, are
greatly relieved just now. For
about Christmas time they always |
had their hardest work separating |
the different groups of Christians |
that fought each other in the holiest |
places, each claiming that they ex- |
clusively represented correct doe- |
trine. The sight of fighting Chris
tiang every Christmas is supposed
to have caused the Turk to sink
deeper into hm:lh:n l‘mbehef.
C‘olone! Roosevelt, deciding how
the war was won, puts France first,
which is correct; Ergland, second;
America, third; Italy, fourth,
llf Italy had not entered the war
when she did, and if she had not
from the first protected the south
eastern frontler of France, keeping
olosed the wide ronds that Napoleon
built for his troops, Mr, Roosevelt
might not nu& he telling just how
the war was WON,
When It comes to indemnity, es
pecially to gharantees for the fu
ture, as agnlhst Germany or Aus
trin, or any) “manufactured while |
you walit” rfl’puh!h'. Italy's elaim to |
consideration 18 second to none. i