New-York tribune. [volume], August 15, 1918, Page 6, Image 6

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First to Last?the Truth: News?Editorials
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 1918
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The New Czecho-Slovak State
A new European state has emerged.
It is the state of the Czecho-Slovaks, rec?
ognized on Tuesday by the British gov?
ernment?and recognized previously by
by France and Italy. It has no capital
as yet, and not even a name. But it has
an army and a citizenship imbued with
fiery patriotism. It is a racial entity,
and, so far as Bohemia and Moravia are
concerned, it is an easily distinguishable
geographical entity.
Never have a people struggling for
liberty done more to deserve, it than have
these Czecho-Slovaks. They have t'ought
for it on their own soil, as generations
of agitation and martyrdom bear wit?
ness. Shut in between Germany and
Austria, they have not born able to
shake off the yoke of dependency to
Teuton overlords. But they have bided
their time. By a freak of destiny the
opportunity came to them to win their
freedom by fighting for it in distant
lands. They have escaped by tens of
thousands from the Austro-Hungarian
armies in which they were impressed and
have organized under their own flag in
countries at war with Austria-Hungary.
They are fighting in Italy and in France,
and in Siberia and Russia proper they
have been able to carry through the
great romantic adventure of this war,
rendering the Allies a service of incal?
culable benefit.
It is due to them that the Germaniza
tion of Russia was halted and that a new
Eastern front is soon to be established.
Isolated and thrown entirely on their
own resources, they have accomplished a
task which most of the Allied war staffs
thought it a practical impossibility to ac?
complish. They have earned indepen?
dence by showing themselves superbly
qualified for it.
It is regrettable that the United States
did not earlier extend official recognition
to the new Czecho-Slovak nation. In
this, as in so many other matters, the
lack of a coordinating inter-Allied polit?
ical council and of a joint Allied policy
is unfortunately conspicuous. We should
not have been behind France, Italy and
Great Britain in greeting the new state.
Seventy years ago the United States
was in a furor of enthusiasm over
Kossuth's effort to free Hungary from
the rule of the Hapsburgs. Tongress
passed resolutions extolling the Hungari?
an patriots, and even after Kossuth was
defeated and exiled he was received here
as one of the greatest figures of his time.
Hungary, fighting for liberty in 1848,
re?ntered into partnership with Austria
and became an even harsher oppressor
of her subject peoples than Austria had
been. The Czecho-Slovaks have done
more for us than Hungary ever did. Our
gratitude as well as our sympathy should
go out to them. We should lose no time
in recognizing their independence and
saluting their flag.
The Roaming U-Boat
Germany's U-boat campaign on our
Atlantic Coast began in May and has
been so far a highly futile, not to say a
ludicrous, performance. Nothing of mil?
itary value has been achieved. The toll
is made up of fishing smacks, coal scows,
a few coastwise vessels and one obsolete
warship. After the first shudder and
thrill of interest people began to treat
it rather as a nuisance than a menace.
The spectacle of a frightful submarine
in combat with a tug and barges off Cape
Cod threw the whole affair into comic re?
lief. And as the U-boat continued to
bag non-ess#r?tials in its heroic German
way the Navy Department was increas?
ingly admired for the success with which
it baffled the real purpose of this abom?
inable visitation. Nearly three months
have passed, and it is ?till to be appreci?
ated that the great military ?ano through
which one and a quarter million of troops
and immeasurable quantities of ammu?
nition and sustenance have passed re?
mains untouched. This is a fact of the
highest importari'-c. Military vnlues
come first.
Nevertheless, the linking of an oil
! anker at the very gates of New York
Harbor is a disagreeable reminder that
the German U-boats art roaming up and
down the Atlantic Coast with much im
punity. Dispatches from Washington j
say the Navy Department people would
not be surprised to hear of the bombard- j
ment of unfortified coast resorts. Nor,
in fact, would anybody else, for if a i
U-boat can sink a tanker just outside
New York Harbor, it can shoot up Atlan?
tic City or drop shells on Coney Island.
Probably the Navy Department's re?
sources are so fully employed in protect?
ing essential military shipping that the
means of defending our vast stretch of
coastline are inadequate. That, in fa/rt,
is to be assumed. We were unprepared
to meet the U-boat on these shores. But
if that is the situation it would seem that
the government might issue warnings ac?
cordingly, so that people should know
where danger is.
A horrible German atrocity upon some
unfortified seaside place is evidently
possible, and if it should occur the Navy
Department would be blamed for having
merely scoffed at the military value of
the U-boat's exploits.
The ?ngelus
A good idea is the suggestion of the
Rotary Club for a daily minute of
prayer, meditation or whatever other
emotion the war happens that day to
place in our hearts. '?ngelus" may not
be the ideal name for the thing. The
hour of 11 o'clock in the morning may
not be the best hour. Why not the noon
hour, for instance? But the proposal
appeals strongly; it looks in the right
direction. May something come of it!
The truth is that this is an emotional
time, the most emotional years any of
us are ever likely to know. And our
national customs and habits give little
opportunity to the expression of these
new-found, deep and strange feelings.
Probably a minute of daily silent thought
by all of us, as individuals, is as good a
way as can be devised for focussing these
emotions and giving them silent voice.
Let the bells sound. Hearts were long
ago ready to answer.
The Changing War Machine
Few more interesting details have
come from the recent fighting in Picardy
than the Associated Press account yes?
terday of the work of the big bombing
'planes, taking the place of the heavy
guns. The Allies were not able to bring
up their heavy artillery fast enough to ?
keep pace with their impetuous ad- :
vanee, and the guns were virtually re- \
placed by the bombing squadrons. These
are kept ready for instant service at the
airdromes, so that they may take the
air immediately that a call is received
from the signal or scout 'planes or from
troops or convoys on the ground.
There was a thrilling example at \
Lassigny the other day, when an observ?
ing 'plane reported the town encumbered
with troops and supply trains. In?
stantly the whole squadron was off in
hot attack, and a total of 121 'planes
flew to the spot and dropped some
twenty-one tons of bombs. They caused
a large fire, destroyed motor lorries and
blocked the enemy movement for hours.
All the crossroads as well as railway I
junctions are under continual attack
from these bombing 'planes.
This is the clearest evidence that the
Allies have recently had what they never
possessed before, namely, a high advan- ?
tage in the air. This is demonstrated by
the fact that the bombing 'planes cannot
operate effectively, except at night, un- !
less they can be protected from the swift
darting scout 'planes, which move at a
much higher rate of speed, are rapid
climbers and can, of course, utterly out?
manoeuvre the slower moving bombers
(although it is worthy of note that these
"slow" moving 'planes make from 75 to
90 miles an hour).
Slowly, very slowly, the war is rising
into the air. But far more swiftly it is
becoming a war of machines. The great
new thing in the present struggle, be?
sides the aeroplane, is the wonderful
achievements of the armored tank. As
we have recorded, all the dispatches have
been filled with vivid accounts of their
amazing exploits. Their great availabil?
ity has now been demonstrated beyond
peradventure, and from this time on a
great part of the struggle will be as to
which side can build the more tanks.
Just as the machine gun multiplies the
effectiveness of single man-power by
dozens or scores of times, so the tank
magnifies enormously the effectiveness
of the machine gun.
There were few to question the effec?
tiveness of the great bombing 'planes,
if they could be built in sufficient num?
bers, but the clumsy, lumbering tank is
a newcomer. It does not dazzle the
eye like the man-directed birds of the
sky, but as a war machine it may, when
produced in great numbers, far outstrip
the aeroplane in tactical and offensive
value.
All of which clinches hard the fact
that America's entry into the war was
the great decisive fact, for not only can
we and will we build more ships and more
aeroplanes than all the rest of the fight?
ing powers have been able to build thus
far, but we can now, if the need is clear,
build more tanks than all the rest of the
nations put together. A country that
could produce in a single year 1,(100,000
automobiles would not shrink long from
the task of producing 100,000 or 'JOO.OOO
tanks in an equal period. And, whereas
the conversion of our motor car factories
to the making of aeroplanes is a long,
difficult and singularly trying task, equip?
ping them to produce tanks would be
little more than the equivalent of speed?
ing up for huge production of trucks.
The general'characteristics of the two
latter are the same.
Does the World Move?
Not if you read only the editorial page j
of "The New York Times" and watch its i
?till stalwart broom sweeping back wom?
an's suffrage.
But if you read the life of Lucy Stone,
decidedly, yes. She was born on August
13, 1818. So her centenary has just j
passed. What is a hundred years in the ]
life of the world? Surely, not much. We
ought not to expect great changes in so
short a span.
Touching women, however, there has
been motion and plenty of it. Enough to
make an anti-suffragist dizzy, if he or
she would take his or her eyes away from
the particular change now under discus?
sion and glance back to gain some per?
spective toward what was long since dis?
cussed and adopted and forgotten. Run
over Lucy Stone's life, for instance, as a
reminder.
She was the daughter of a Massachu?
setts farmer. There were no high schools
for girls in 1818 and, of course, no col?
leges or professional school?. It was
thought unwomanly even to join a tem?
perance society?or an anti-slavery asso?
ciation. Legally, all the old common law
disabilities of a woman still persisted. A
wife's entire property and earnings be?
longed to her husband. And so on.
Woman's place was literally in the home.
Well, Lucy Stone did go to school. She
did go to college. (She was graduated from
Oberlin in 1847.) Her husband's sister,
Elizabeth Blackwell, was the first woman
in America to take a medical degree (in
1849). Another sister-in-law was the
first woman to be ordained a minister.
A pioneer group, it will be seen. Lucy
Stone?she was the wife of Henry B.
Blackwell, but retained her own name by
agreement?studied Greek and Latin and
higher mathematics and all the other hor?
rible high secrets that had always keen
the sacred property of males. And the
heavens did not fall. Instead, other
women followed in her footsteps, the foot?
steps became a path, and to-day not even
the most hot-headed anti-suffragist would
dream of turning women back to their
lot of 1818.
A rather pathetic figure was Lucy
Stone in many ways. What pioneer is
not? Yet, if the universe is so ordained
that she can on the centenary of her
birth look down and read a "Times" edi?
torial page of 1918, with its 1818 argu?
mento against letting women have wdiat
they earnestly desire, we think the hu?
mor of the situation will be compensation
for much. "The world does move." she
might comment, "but some people never
know it."
Impudent Sedition
Eugene V. Debs, Victor Berger and
Adolph Germer, all three of them under
indictment for seditious activities, are
suffered to go up and down the country
flaunting not alone their own disloyalty,
but that also of the Socialist Party of
America, which they dominate, with the
prudent and sinister assistance of its
great unindicted prophet, Morris Hill
quit.
After a four-day conference of the
leaders and state chairmen at Chica^.
Debs, Berger and Germer collectiveljp*nnd
severally announce that the doctrine of
disaffection set forth in the notorious St.
Louis platform last year shall stand.
This platform commits the Socialist
party to the propositions, viz. :
(1) That the declaration of war
against Germany was a crime.
(2) That it is a capitalistic war, dis?
honorably forced upon the people.
(S) That the party's attitude shall
be one of "continuous, active and pub?
lic opposition to the war through
demonstrations, mass petitions and all
other means within our power."
(4) That sabotage shall not be for?
bidden.
(5) That workers in all countries
shall be called upon to refuse to sup?
port their governments in war.
That is the doctrine to which the in?
dicted leaders of the party implicitly re?
affirm their adherence. Explicitly to re?
state it in public .would be unlawful.
That is to say, one who should get up in
a public place and read the St. Louis
platform as his own views would be sub?
ject to arrest under the sedition act.
Rose Pastor Stokes was convicted for
less. But Debs and Berger and Germer
may with impunity reaffirm it as party
orthodoxy.
Upon the St. Louis platform the So?
cialist Party of America is an enemy or?
ganization. Because of that platform all
the true Americanism, led by men like
Spargo and Russell, has gone out of it.
The residue is our 80,000 Bolsheviki. We
wonder that L?nine and Trotzky have
not been instigated by the Germans to
recognize them as constituting a sepa?
rate and friendly state.
In last Sunday's Tribune Graphic by
an error in captions we ascribed the
beauty of "an enchanting promenade"
and "a colonnade, fa?ade and distant
hills" to the College of the City of New
York, whereas they are the cherished
possessions of New York University.
We regret to have to withdraw them
from the College of the City of New
York, but we compliment the New York
University on being the rightful owner.
A sensible amendment incorporated in
the new draft act is that abolishing the
age limitation on nominating for com?
missioned officers. At present a man
must be twenty-one years old to become
an officer. Since the draft age is to be
lowered to eighteen, the age qualification
for recognition of merit should he corre?
spondingly lowered. There are many
men under twenty-one now in the army
who would make competent junior offi?
cers.
Goldsmith's Military Comment
(l-'rom This Springfield Republican)
?enoral Otto von Below is assigned to
look after the Austrian generals, who can
unite cordially ?n singing "Man wants
but little Herri/Below, nor wants that little
long."
Laws About Legs
By Sarah Addington
EVERYBODY has his pet propriety, and
so has every town. Some/of them
stick it out for curfews and hang
the whole town's morals on the bell rope.
If the curfew rings the town council can
sleep with peace o' mind for a pillow.
Others close their restaurants at mid?
night and rest on the assumption that when
the restaurant doors are closed all the de?
cencies have been attended to. Some pro?
hibit 10 o'clock walks through the public
parks, if the walkers happen to he soldiers
and girls, en the ground that civilians and
gfrls together at such an hour would be
strictly within th<* scope of the moral law,
though Foldiers and girl3 wouldn't.
And New York, the wicked, the daring,
the unconventional, New York says that la?
dies may not go bathing unless they wear
stockings on their legs. It's all right for
women to vote, it's proper for them to go
into munition factories, but, by Jove, there's
a limit somewhere, so we stop just short of
bare lc^s for swimming.
Now, any man knows that if he tied up
his feet in bundles he couldn't enjoy his
legs in the water. Women know it, too, and
they've sneaked off to secret pools just
enough to know also that nothing in the
world comes as close to heaven as a moon?
light swim with no suit at all. Still, with
all this wisdom the women go patiently on
wrapping up their legs in stockings, strap?
ping up their feet in shoes, and only com?
plaining to each other at the silly prudish
ness of it all. They giggle, too, when they
see the monstrosities of male build that are
allowed 'o go unveiled and uncovered on
public beaches; they giggle because they
know in their women's hearts that if art,
instead of morals, had anything to do with
it the men would be the ones who would be
booted and legginged.
But it isn't really morals, after all. For
there is Boston. The town of the bean and
the cod could never be charged with being
scandalous in public, yet on Revere Beach,
which is Boston's Coney Island, every other
pair of bare legs is a woman's, and there
isn't a stocking on the beach.
Or is it morals? Can Boston be said to
nave a higher sense of the good, the true
and the beautiful than New York.too
proud to stoop to make laws about leg3?
Distances
By Captain ?1. B. C. Pollard, of the
British Army
EVERY British soldier is expected to
be able to judge distance approxi?
mately, and every non-commissioned
officer and officer is expected to do it with
fair accuracy. It is an essential part of
his training. Without it, he cannot give
his orders correctly.
One of (he best ways of teaching men
distance judging is on route marches. At
a halt the men estimate the distance of ob?
jects visible ahead of them along the road.
When the march is resumed these estimates
are checked by pacing the distances. In
this way the men are taught to take an in?
terest in distance judging, and a competi?
tive spirit is encouraged among them.
In the same way the ranges of all promi?
nent, objects near camp should be carefully
taken with a range tinder, and the men
should be taught by heart the various dis?
tances. Natural objects such as houses,
average sized trees or roads where men or
traffic move should be preferred to merely
landscape features, for experience goes to
show that men retain a mental picture of
such objects best.
In addition to the "mental picture"
method of estimating ranges there are cer?
tain rule-of-thumb methods which are use?
ful. One of these is the observation of
objects through a service rifle barrel with
the bolt removed and the eye placed imme?
diately above the butt plate. Thus a stand?
ing man completely fills the diameter of
the barrel at 300 yards distance. If he
occupies one-half he is some five hundred
and fifty yards away, and at eight hundred
yards lie occupies a third. This system is
good for ranges up to 800 yards, but it re?
quires a good light to see a dismounted
man through the barrel at this range.
For close ranges the following table
should be committed to memory, but men
with vision below the normal should make
out a table to suit their own particular
eyesight:
Mouth and eyes of a man can be seen at
50 yards.
Eyes appear as points at 100 yards.
Buttons and details of uniform can be
seen at 200 yards.
Face can bo seen at 300 yards.
Shoulders are square at 400 yards.
Shoulders go bottle-shaped at 500 yards.
Head is visible as a dot at 600 yards.
Head is invisible at 700 yards.
Man looks like a post at 800 yards.
In long distance the best way is to select
an object which appears to be half way, to
estimate the distance to it by one or other
oS tht? methods and then to double the. esti?
mate.
Flashes of guns at. night are useful for
range finding. Sound travels about three
hundred and sixty yards a second. A more
accurate computation can be made by count?
ing eleven beats to three seconds, each beat
between the sight of the flash and the noise
of the sound equalling one hundred yards.
Hut here again practice is required to esti?
mate the beats correctly.
Lateral distances are usually estimated
by the number of lingers required to cover
'he object, but this, of course, can be done
only when the direct distance is known.
The finders are held at arm's length and not
close up to the eye.
One hundred yards is covered at 500
yards by six to reven fingers.
One hundred yards is covered at 1,000
yards by three to three and a half fingers.
One hundred yards is covered at 1,500
yards by two finders.
One hundred yards is covered at 2,000 i
yards by one thumb.
All the foregoing- rules are for good light
and level ground. In bad light, In mist, j
when looking across a valley or when cuti- !
mating distance lying down the tendency is
to overestimate distance.
The general rule to remember is that a
distinct object will lead to underestimation
and an indistinct one to ovcrcstimation.
ACROSS THE LITTLE BRIDGE AT MIDNIGHT TO TALK ABOUT^
PRINT PAPER
LudendorfFs Problem
By Frank H. Simonds
(CajiTrlfrlit, 1918. hv 'Hip Tribune AiSdcrHUorL)
THE slowing down of the fighting be?
tween the Oise and the Somme
gives an opportunity for a little
more leisurely survey of what has actual?
ly happened since last Thursday, when
Foch launched his great thrust. In such
a survey, the analogy between the Somme
and the Marne lighting is very illumi?
nating.
The immediate effect of the attack of
General Rawlinson's Fourth British Army
on August 8 was to break the German
line on a front of a dozen miles from the
Somme to the Luce Brook on either side
of the Roman road', which runs from
Amiens to St. Quentin. Further to the
south General Debeny's First French
Army crossed the Avre and made mate?
rial but less considerable gains. For a
period of at least forty-eight hours there
was a wide gap in the German lines, into
which the victorious Canadians and Aus?
tralians poured.
Exactly the same thing had happened
southwest of Soissons on the 18th of
July, when General Mangin suddenly
broke the German line and advanced to
the hills above the city. But there was
this difference: Ludendorff was able
within twenty-four hours to check the
Mangin blow. It was not until forty
eight hours had passed that Rawlinson's
attack came to a pause.
The situation of Ludendorff on the
morning of Saturday last was the same
which he had faced on the morning of
July 19 in the Marne battle. He had,
first, and immediately, to reconstitute a
broken line by filling a gap. He had,
secondly, to draw back all his troops on
the imperilled front until they presented
a united front to the enemy. This in?
volved the immediate evacuation of Mont
didier. as three weeks before a prompt
withdrawal from Ch?teau Thierry had
been required.
By Sunday the first duty had been
met. There was no longer a gap in the
German lines, and reserves and fresh ar?
tillery had taken root along the old
Somme line all the. way from the Somme
to the Oise. The first rush of the Alli?e
offensive was over. The situation was ir
hand exactly as it had been in hand or
the 19th of July, when Mangin had beer
stopped before Soissons, and on the 20th
when after the evacuation of Ch?teav
Thierry all danger of a flank envelop
ment and a resulting Sedan was at at
end.
We have the testimony of the officia
German reports to prove that on the 19tl
of July Ludendorff reached his decisior
to evacuate (he whole of the Marne sa
lient as far as the Yosle, and tha
thenceforth the movement within the sa
lient conformed in speed to Ludendorff'
arrangements for a deliberate with
drawal. We saw then an orderly re
treat covered by the usual rearguan
action.
Now. in the Somme operation, we hav
reached (hat. second phase, in which, i
Ludendorff has resolved to retire to th
line of (he upper Somme from Perenne t
Noyon, we may look for a gradual or
derly and systematic retirement undo
cover of strong rearguard operations.
What we do not yet know is whethe
Ludendorff decided last Sunday to retir
or to stand. The problem is one whic
cannot be answered at a distance, be
cause wo do not know the condition o
the lines on which he is at present sta?e
ing, nor the degree of exhaustion of hi
reserves. Me. is not immediately threat
ened, as he was at the Marne, by pr?s?
uro on both flanks. I?e ja not 3tni ?n '
salient, as he was for many days afte
July 18 at the Mame. His line run
fairly straight now and rests solid!
upon high ground above the Oise and be
tween the Somme and the Avre. Hi
difficulties- lie in the nature of the cour
try behind him. But. these difficult^
are even more serious than those whic
threatened him from (ho flanks at th
Marne.
Where Ludendorff now stands he ha
behind him, at a distance of six or eigh
miles, the deep and difficult vallejr of th
upper Somme, through which the ?lye
flows in a series of almost impassable
marshes. The few causeways and
bridges between P?ronne and Ham are
under the indirect fire of Allied artillery
and have been greatly damaged by Allied
aviators. To stand on such a front and
risk a later attack would seem to be to ;
invite disaster and to invite it without
any adequate justification, for the old
Somme line offers no particular advan?
tage as a defensive position. Only a
question of military prestige can weigh
with Ludendorff now as against the solid
reasons of military expediency, which
demand further retirement.
Again, Hindenburg, in his great re?
treat in the spring of 1917, transformed
all the country for twenty miles in the
rear of Ludendorff's present position into
an absolute desert. Villages were razed,
every tree was cut, there is absolutely no
cover of any kind, and an army sudden?
ly thrown into this area would find no
position on which to rally and maintain
itself until it reached the Hindenburg
line. It was for this purpose that Hin?
denburg devastated Picardy, and he
subsequently profited wdien Hutier at?
tacked Gough last spring and threw his
army back from the Scheldt to the Avre
and the Ancre.
Every consideration, then, that one
can now perceive would seem to point ,
toward a withdrawal of Ludendorff to
the P?ronne-Noyon line within a brief
period of time, exactly as he withdrew
from the Ourcq to the Vesle in the later
phase of the Marne fighting. But such
a retreat would'be a gradual and orderly
withdrawal, having a fixed limit and
postponed long enough to enable the Ger?
mans to prepare a thoroughly adequate
defensive position behind the Somme,
which is itself a considerable military
obstacle. The flanks would rest upon
the high ground east of Albert, the scene
of the great Somme battle of the British,
and upon the even more considerable
elevation above the Oise between Chauny
and Noyon.
In a word, such war of movement as
was possible has come to an end. A
rupture of the German lines, followed by
a pursuit of a dozen miles, has brought
the British to a new German position,
before which both British and French
forces have been temporarily checked
' and must hereafter fight, if at all, in the
old way. What remains to be determined
is whether Ludendorff has decided to
stand on the old Somme line or to go back
to the new position already indicated.
Meantime, there is a mournful famil?
iarity about the present line from Arras to
Rib?court. Anglo-French armies are fac?
ing German armies on the lines on which
both stood from October, 1914, to July.
1916. Between July 1. 1916, and the
present date nearly two millions of
casualties have been the price of Allied
advance and German recoil, of German
advance and Allied recoil, and finally of
this new turn, which has brought a sec?
ond German retirement. After nearly
four years there is not, between the
Scarpe and the Oise, a change of three
miles anywhere in the opposing posi?
tion?.
But it is a source of enduring optimism
to realize that within the distance of the
twenty miles which separate the Hin?
denburg line from the present front all
the consequences of the Russian collaps?
have been liquidated. And as a result
of a gigantic effort to win the war by
one campaign Ludendorff has conquered
only the Picardy desert which Hinden?
burg created, and is now facing the prob?
lem of whether he can maintain himself
on lines that will leave him in possession
of the desert, "Vithout military value, but
useful to bolster up a weakening morale
of the Germai", people.
Bridgeport's Latest
(from Th* llnrtfard Courant)
Strange things happen in Bridgeport. It
is reported that a ball game was recently
played there between a nine made up of
sailors who came from their sea base in sub?
marines and a nine of soldiers who came
from their camp in aeroplanos. Further de?
tails are lacking, but doubtless the umpire
was taken away in ?m ambulance, as usual.
Sleep, Milk, Flannel
and Air
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: I have read with complete aatiifac
tion in recent issues of The Tribune thi
excellent letters of Mrs. Holt and Fisk re
garding school lunches for all scholar?
There seems to be little doubt that thii
?alutary measure will eventually be adopted
There is another and it would appear i
far more difficult problem to be solved be
fore the city child will enjoy a fair chano
to grow into a normally healthy and vig?
orous adult. I refer to the lack of snffi
cient healthy sleep; and by healthy sleet
for little children I mean sleep in pure
fresh, air, and covering from ten to twelve
hours every night.
I have for some two or three years beet
making a rather intensive Btudy of the in
mates of a small fresh air country home.
The children sent to this institution sre
from six to sixteen years of age and are
in a run-down condition from various
causes. As I have watched them and noted
their improvement, in every rerpect, wheth?
er they received medicine or not, I am
Bitisfied that ton or twelve houra in bed
every night in good, fresh country air ha?
been an important, perhaps the most im?
portant, factor in their improvement.
I understand well enough the difficult:?:
of providing such air for children dwelling
in the tenements, even if there were any
one on hand to "put them to bed" and to
keep them there until morning Our
superintendent complains that while the
little girls that are sent to us are. generally
speaking, well behaved and biddable dur
ing the day, they are prone to "skylark" it
night, and that she has more or less diffi?
culty in keeping them quiet and in their
own beds. This night prowling maybe?
survival of our feral instincts, yet in tene?
ment house chijdren (and even in the chil?
dren of the well to doi it seems to be
largely a matter of habit, indulged in by
reason of improper supervision, and often,
alas! for want of suitable ?deeping accom?
modations.
The three postulate? which John Hunter
laid down for the rearing of healthy chil?
dren were: Plenty of sleep, plenty of milk
and plenty of flannel He seemed to take
the fourth equally important requirement,
namely, plenty of fresh sir. for granted.
RICHARD COLE NEWTON, M. D,
Chief of Staff, M< : tela Fresh Air and
Convalescent Home.
Montclair, N. J., Aug. 7, 1918.
The Congo Cruelties
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In reproducing an article from'To'
St. Louis Post-Dispatch" about "How Ger?
many Treats Negroes'' you indorse a J*r'
allel between the "Belg i I vidual cruel?
ties'' and Germany's "treatment of to? na?
tives" that is neither kii I nor historically
true.
The so-called "cruelties" in the Conp
were never investigated by the Bclj.t'
government, for the very good reason tn?
it had no jurisdiction at thai time in*1*
Congo Free State, which was an indepen?
dent and sovereign nation. These "cw"
ties" were the arts of individuals, and no?
a system of administration, and m the?
cases where they were proved they *""
duly prosecuted by the ordinary judicial
nut h or it ?es.
It is not fair to blame a nation forte?
wrong o? a few and to al ise it to a to9
parison with the unspeakable Hun.
L p de BACKER.
New York, Aug. 0, 1918.
w
Italy Redeemed
THERE, Italy, was that old Rom??
blood ,V(
Which in thy vems runs from ?
Ca?sar: si raight; .,
Where was the onward tread of nu?
tate !j
When the brute Hun marched to r?
fl00cJ? ?? hrooi
Was there an hour when Garibaldi s o ^
Forgot his passion for a freemen's '?*
And let the robber fierce the safI%?.'
To pearly Venice' hallowed neighbor*?"?
Ah. this was an absent-minded god ^
That nods asleep when lightning?W?
"hurled.
nuriea. ,
Alert, ?wakened, up thy legions trod.
With Roman ardor and with fate un.
And struck and conquered and re
thy smi' ?,*k-rT0**d
And stood victorioue.? on a pe??
HARRISON S.M0tf*
Jamestown, R. I? Aug. 6, 191&. . , kV