New-York tribune. [volume], February 05, 1920, Page 12, Image 12

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3Xcto Dork ?ribtnu
First to Last??he Truth: News?Edi?
torials?Advertisements ,
Member of Ui? Audit Bureau of eirculattona
THl'KSDAV. FEBRUARY 5, 1920.
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At Last Direct Evidence
At last, in the testimony of Miss
Ellen (hivers, is offered evidence
which, if true, justifies the ex
pulsion of at least one of the five
suspended Assemblymen.
Miss Chivers swears that in April,
1917, while listening to a speech
by Assemblyman Solomon at Ninth ?
?Street and Sixth Avenue, Brooklyn,
bhc saw him publicly insult the flam?
and heard him tell a group of sol?
diers, who proposed to hold a re?
cruiting meeting, that the gutter was
the place for them and that if "we
had our way there would not be
any one who would ask a Socialist
if he might borrow his platform to
call for volunteers."
The young lady was positive in
her statements. The incident she
described occurred, she said, oppo?
site to her home. She had often
seen the Assemblyman and was em?
phatic in her identification. She
was a member of an anti-Socialist
organization and earnestly-patriotic, i
She declared that she and others
spoke to policemen who were in the
hall <and that they declined to do
anything. It further appeared that
knowledge of her story was not
known to Speaker Sweet in advance
of the suspension. # She wrote to
the Speaker after she had read
in the newspapers of the trial of
the Socialist Assemblymen.
This evidence is of such a char?
acter, so bears on the vital question
of personal guilt, that the only ques?
tion to be considered is the one of
credibility. The witness is now
nearly eighteen years of age. and
hence was about fifteen in April,
1917. She could not remember hav?
ing mentioned the incident to any- i
one since its alleged occurrence, nor '
does it appear that the soldiers, any |
more than the policemen, took
?lotice of Solomon's behavior. The
accused Assemblyman, although he
ays lie remembers a meeting which
vas continued when a recruiting
party arrived, flatly denies the re- ;
mainder of the story. Finally, so ?
far no corroboration of any of its'
essential details has been furnished.
The committee heard the witness,
and thus is best able to judge
whether she was truthful or was led
to exaggerate through excessive
patriotic zeal. The committeemen
in arriving at their conclusion are. <
to be guided by the time-honored
rule that the accused is to be en
titled to the benefit of reasonable
doubt. If they conclude in good
faith and in honor that the story '
is true, then there can be no differ
ence of opinion as to the sort of
report to be made concerning As?
semblyman Solomon.
A "Trapp" for England?
A booklet has just been published
by Captain Robert Trapp, formerly
of Germany's naval general staff, a
body which was the chief instigator .
of the strategy to concentrate the
entire hating capacity of Germany
on England. Captain Trapp be- ;
lie ves that strategy was wrong. He
not only absolves England from all
responsibility for the war, but ad?
vocates a policy which he sums up
in the slogan: "Over every hurdle,
over every ditch, over stock and
block, through thick and thin, with
England." The captain says at the
bottom of Germany's troubles was
Kaiser Wilhelm's naval policy. The
remedy, logically, would be an "anti
naval law." This, he proposes, should
take the form of a resolution of the
National Assembly denouncing the
naval policy of the old r?gime as
"one of the most essential causes of
the war" and pledging the nation to
the principle that Germany and Brit?
ain must never cross swords again.
Moreover, Captain Trapp urges that
Germany shall undertake no impor?
tant step of foreign policy without
consultation and agreement with
England.
Now, the question is not whether
such policy would be good or bad.
Its results would be probably good.
What, however, strikes anybody not
a German is the utter unreality of
the thing. Captain Trapp talks, not
politics, but the philosophy of eithcr
or. There is no reason to impugn
his good faith, hi* ominous name
notwithstanding; but his pamphlet is
typical of that lack of a sense for re?
ality that characterizes the nation of
Realpolitik. The true German does
not know or care as to what really
is; he is coerced by the force of his
: assumed major premise, and such is
the force of his logic that he fre?
quently confounds "ought" with "is."
He is a sentimentalist parading as a
logician.
The Deadline of Free Speech
Attorney General Palmer, in his
? statement to the House Judiciary
: Committee, correctly traced the
i deadline of free speech.
The constitutional guarantee does
not protect one who, by word or im?
plication, urges or incites resort to
physical force or violence to over?
throw our democratic institutions.
Freo speech is a flower of demo?
cratic freedom. It blooms from no
other soil. Destroy democracy and
there is and can be no free speech. !
A rule of force means the applica-1
tion of a gag.
So, to defend free speech it is nee
essary to deny to any one the privi- I
lege of attacking its roots. Any one ,
who upholds the doctrine that it is j
permissible in a free country to ad
vocate the establishment of a r?gime
of force is an enemy to, not a friend
of, free speech.
This country, as the Attorney
General says, has had its revolution. :
Those who come to our shores accept
the results of this revolution. Some
truths concerning government are i
immutable?self-evident, as Thomas
Jefferson wrote?and one is that
government must rest on consent,
and not fear. ?
Held Back Knowledge
Our neighbor The World, in this ?
case adopting the leadership of
Hearst, joins the attempt to foment
anti-British prejudice, to delay fur?
ther the ratification of the treaty
and to weaken the league of peace
by sowing distrust among its mem?
bers. It twits the Republican rati
iicationists for following- the leader?
ship of Ambassador Grey while re-1
jetting that of President Wilson.
Here is material for vociferous
demagogy, and the partisan plan is '
to make the most of it.
It is assumed that Senator Lodge
reversed himself when he read the
Grey letter?that his darkened mind ;
was suddenly illumined when he :
learned Great Britain would accept
his reservations. Before that, it is
charged, he was scheming to prevent
ratification and to throw the treaty
into the approaching political cam?
paign.
The trouble witli this argument, l
interrupting the smooth flow of its:
plausibility, is the fact that knowl?
edge of the British attitude, how- j
ever new to the general public, was
not new to the Senator. For a long
time he had been aware, as is now
revealed, that our principal allies
did not object to reservations. This
knowledge antedated November 19,1
when ratification failed. Moreover,
there is evidence that the White
House also had full information.
So one can imagine what were the
Senator's thoughts, honor compelling
him to keep silence, as he beheld the
White House demand the rejection
of the reservations on the ground
that they w,ere fatally obnoxious to :
our allies, and writing letters to the
effect that the reservations would
be held to "nullify" the treaty. If
Senator Lodge was converted to
ratification by the knowledge he
possessed, the event long preceded
last Sunday.
The British Cabinet refrained
from public expression of its views
because it wished, it is plain, to
avoid anything savoring of discour?
tesy to the President. The White
House was the place from which the
get-together announcement should
have come. It is a mystery why
nothing . came?why there was a
neglect to make a statement which
would have tended to straighten
things out, a silence that necessarily
created a false belief.
The public is averse to learning
facts that intimately concern public
affairs via London or Paris. It
longs for a time when Congress and
the country will be treated frankly
and openly.
The inner history of the pro?
tracted struggle over the treaty has
not been written. Some day it
doubtless will be, and then there will
be a better informed judgment as'
to where has been the chief obstacle
to ratification.
Who Is the Public?
A writer in The Naturn has some
amiable and pointed fun in an effort
i to discover that "public" which is so
much drawn by cartoonists, written
: of in editorials and usually repre?
sented on boards by distinguished ;
' citizens not generally regarded as
\ primarily concerned in anything ex?
cept their own fortunes. When capi- '
tal confers with labor, for example, ;
; who is the public, anyway? Profes- i
i sors are admitted after some debate j
i by The Nation, followed closely by '
| the seven editors of The New Re pub-1
lie, all ministers of the Gospel, physi- !
\ eians, dentists, veterinary surgeons,
I authors, fortune tellers and poli?
ticians. This gives a total of 447,
j 622 souls, or 1.7 per cent of the adult
! male population of 1910. Not ex
I actly an impressive body to be
spelled with a capital P and gen?
erally respected?in theory at any
rate.
Perhaps this notion of a mysteri?
ous "public" serves some good use.
But we are inclined to think that the
good, old-fashioned conception of tho j
nation, the state, is far more logical
and appealing and clear-cut. Tho
"public" is necessarily shifting and
nebulous. The bricklayers belong to
it?most decidedly?when the coal
miners strike and a bricklayer's coal
bin is as bare of coal as a banker's. !
But the bricklayer docs not belong
when he goes out on strike, thereby
boosting rents another notch. ;
Simpler and truer is it to say briefly
that all citizens are members of the
state, and that in any civilized nation
worth its suit the state, which is to
say all of us, is supreme.
This is not fashionable terminol?
ogy, we aro aware, among the guild ?
or soviet philosophers of the hour.
Those gentlemen loathe with a
deadly loathing the thought of a
supreme authority, a sovereignty
that is the voice of the common will.
They picture charming scenes of
f?d?ralisation wherein bricklayers
carry a portion of the national sov?
ereignty in their trowels; and brake
men receive yet another; and so on
throughout a delightful slicing of |
the cake among all properly soviet
ized children. How will justice be ;
done and disputes settled as between '
tho sundry assignees of sovereignty?
Ah, that is the problem, concede
these philosophers. We gather that
a half-hearted remnant of the old na?
tional government would try as best
it could to adjudicate or recommend ;
or plead for the right. The net re- ;
suit would be something not so dif?
ferent from the blessed old feudal :
days, when folks bought protection
where they could and were mighty
glad to be mulcted only of their gold
and grain and cattle.
After such an experiment the old
fashioned nation of us all jnight not
seem so bad. We suggest it as a
present antidote against future non?
sense. It is the nation that should'
be supreme, against greedy labor as
against greedy capital; and we are
all members of it, bound by its laws
and dedicated to its welfare, most of
all those who happen to be evil mem?
bers of it, seeking gain for them?
selves at the risk of injury to their
fellows.
The Wrongness of Samuel Butler
There is no doubt considerable
silliness on the part of worshipers
of Samuel Butler, but we have seen
nothing to equal the silliness of a
recent criticism attacking the fame,
person and labor of the author of
"The Way of All Flesh" in The
Evening Posi. Several thousand
words are devoted to the task of
proving what has never been con?
tradicted that we are aware of?the
general perversity and sardonic bit?
terness of this grim old idol
smasher. Of discussion of the
intellectual labor in issue there are
only occasional traces. The con?
clusion is naturally presented that
Butler was an immensely overrated
and thoroughly wrong and bad old
man.
We suppose Samuel Butler was
wrong upon more things than any
other man of equal intellectual
ability that we can recall. He could
not well be otherwise," for his favor?
ite occupation was, to stride into
some utterly novel field of laborious
intellectual endeavor and seek to
prove that everybody was wrong.
He hail a perfectly clear conception
of what he was doing. As he says
in his "Note Book" :
"1 am the enfant terrible of litera?
ture and science. If I can not, and I
know I cannot, get the literary and
scientific bigwigs to give me a shil?
ling, I can, and 1 know I can, heave
bricks into the middle of them."
Not a wholly admirable spirit in
which to live one's intellectual life?
Decidedly not; and if this wore all
that was insisted upon we could
accept the criticism with applause
and agreement. Butler had much
of the aggrieved and disgruntled
failure about him. He was a sorry
lover, a hating son and a vitriolic
enemy. His thinking showed at
times what Mr. Francis Hackett has
called a "diseased contrariness." No
wonder Mr. Bernard Shaw clasped
his posthumous being to his bosom
as a long-lost brother!
But with all his wrongness of
thought and life, it was Samuel
Butler's achievement to plow a first
furrow in an unfilled field, and
that is an achievement which no
cohort of dyspeptic critics can
erase. His thought was the legiti?
mate ancestor of the philosophy of
his grandchildren?though proof
of its status turned up only after
his death, very much like the lost
will in the last act of a melodrama.
Pragmatic is the convenient tag
that has since come and gone?
lapsed into something almost un?
fashionable. The way of thinking
is with us yet, will be with us for
years to come. It is in spirit noth?
ing more or lass than that open
minded, questioning freedom from
cant and conventional beliefs that
Samuel Butler lived and practised
and was. The method, not the re?
sult, is his monument.
To be wrong through one's own
thinking is better than to mumble
the truth learned by rote. Not
exactly a safe or a comfortable
world, if all were Samuel Butlers.
But the utmost of such intellectual
freedom that the general run of us
can achieve is a small item. It can
at most, and in the mass, stir slug?
gish waters and help slowly, very
slowly, to move mountains. The
family, for example, will survive
Samuel Butler's diatribes against
it. But it may well be made a bet?
ter institution through his frank
discussion of its succpsses and its
failures.
We do not recall that Secretary
Daniels ever had any sea service
A Life for a Life
A Defense of Capital Punishment
ou a Dank Clerk
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: A few days ago tin- evening
edition of one of your lending- (after
a fashion) contemporaries featured on
its front pago un article about the
execution of olio of the most notorious
"killers" that this part of the country
has ever had the misfortune to como in
contact, with. It really decried tiie fael
that this poor innocent man, who was
shielding the real criminal etc., should he
put to death in so heartless a manner.
If you will pardon the personal refer?
ence, I would like to have some of your
readers who may have become influ?
enced by the wording of this article
to see this matter from a more or less
selfish viewpoint.
I am a young man of thirty, the sole
support of a mother. For over ten
years I have followed tho banking pro?
fession. I quote my own case because
1 know there are thousands of cases
just like it. I leave my home in the
morning bidding my mother a fond
goodby. The next big thing in lier
life of that day is my return home in
the evening \vhen she can serve me my
next meal and hear me tell about the
work of the day. I arrive at the bank,
at peace with the world, trained by
time to be courteous to all comers at
the bank window, always believing that
"the customer is right." Suddenly a
cold blooded animal tilled with the lust
lor money, a man whom I had never
seen, who never saw me, knew nothing
about my family life, conies to my win?
dow, and, ns this late criminal claimed,
"in all fairness," levels a trun at my
face, and because I am not quick enough
to comply with ?im request, he pulls a
trigger sending me into eternity anil my
old mother to probable starvation.
Of course a few weeks later he make;
a spectacular witness at his trial, is
perfectly composed, refuses even the
benefit of clergy at the moment of
death, a thing that he denied the one on
whom he pulled the trigger, and because
of all this, some meddlesome reformer,
immediately raises a hue and cry and
appeals to the .sympathetic side of the
paper's circulation.
I believe that the mere fear of capital
punishment has been the deterring fac?
tor among many so-called pun lighters.
They are at best cowards and wouldn't
come out and fight clean. They must
either have fire arms or a crowd to
work with them. But no, the law is all
wrong! ALVIN E. H?USER.
NTew Vork. -Ian. 31, 1920,
Cold Weather Rules
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The press reports of the recur?
ring /ero weather tires emphasize again
the deplorable and unnecessary loss of
life and property, due to lack of ordi?
nary can* and the exercise of ordinary
intelligence.
In cold snaps hot air furnaces and
stoves fired up to the red-hot point are
the chief offenders, and the pointing
out of a few elementary precautions in
connection with maintenance of these
we believe to be timely.
First Never let a heater get red hot;
suffering from cold is safer.
Second When the heater is being run
hard, a few hours neglect of the drafts
may have fatal consequences.
Third- See that all woodwork or par?
titions within two feet of the heater
are protected by sheet metal.
Fourth- Where the smoke flue passes
through a partition, make sure that it
is protected by a double metal collar,
with on air space.
These are the A 1? C's oi lire pre?
vention that some have never- learned
and many have forgotten.
WILLIAM O. LUDLOW,
Chairman Committee on Fire Pre?
vention, New York Chapter of
the American Institute of Archi?
tects.
New Vork, Feb. 3, 1920 .
The Incomparable Celt
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Mr. Oliver Herford'a amiable1
attempt in his book, "The Giddy (?lobe,"
to make fun of the Irish shows that he,
like all Briton-Roman-Anglo-Saxon
Danish-Norman people, is incapable of
understanding or appreciating the qual?
ities that make the Celts the greatest
race on earth. What that part of the
Celtic races inhabiting Ireland may
have at one time been has no bearing
on this essential fact?that the Celt ia
tho superior to any other race that ex?
ists or that has existed. It is probable
that those Celts who settled in the
Highlands of Scotland are somewhat
superior to those of Ireland, as the lat?
ter have an admixture of Fierbolgs, Mi?
lesians and other races that, to some
extent, detracts from the viitues of
the Gael.
It is not necessary to furnish proof
of these statements. They are admitted
by the Celts themselves, and Mr. ller
ford's envious gibes cannot change es?
tablished truths.
WHIDDEN GRAHAM.
New Vork City, Feb. 3, 1920.
Exchanging Bad for Worse
ib'roiu The Philadelphia Evening Public'
Ledger)
The Bolshevists are making the pop- !
ulation of Russia work twelve hours a
day seven days a week. Had the "down?
trodden proletariat" known what was
going to happen it might have hesitated
before overthrowing the "hated aristo?
crats" and the "despised bourgeoisie." I
But apart from the damnable compul?
sion there seems to be praiseworthy
appreciation of the country's needs by i
the new despots.
The Paramount Issues
< h rom The Paltininrc American J
What is to become of Fiurae? and
What is alcoholic content? bid fair to
be the two prominent puzsles of the
century.
The Conning Tower, I
A Cure for Insomnia
Laura, my love, when you recite
With azure orbs ashine, ablisten.
! The dream you had the other night
I do not listen.
My Postumus, when yon explain
I The virtues of your car; how cheap
' Its upkeep is. I cannot feign.
1 fall asleep.
| And when, Belinda, you essay
! To tell me of the current show.?.
! Weaving the plot of every play.
My dear, I do/c.
j And when, O John, you tell this bard
' Of poker pots you used to take,?
With all details,?well, I can hard
Ly keep awake.
. Trite though these tales, my sweet
Miss Smith,
; Cold are they from a fairy hoard,
To your experiences with
The Otiija board.
Nobody could be so deft, so cutting,
? so reverent a parodist as Sir Arthur
< Quiller-Couch has been without being
1 a deep and observant critic. Sir Ar?
thur ("Studies in Literature") is lec?
turing his class at Cambridge on The
Poetry of George Meredith. "And
alter all," he says, "what does it
matter to this large world in the long
run if a tripos candidate should pro
nounce a mistaken judgment on the
? merits of Lascelles Abercrombie, John
Mascfield, or John Drinkwater?" It
matters not at all- What matters is
the fear in critics of pronouncing
wrong judgments. For even your mis?
taken judgments are not held against
you. Who reviles .Samuel Pepys
because, die characterized many of
Shakespeare's plays as poor stutf, or
praised plays that probably were with?
out, merit?
Sir Arthur wants, he says, his stu?
dents to he sensible that a sloppy sen?
tence is no more nearly "good enough"
than dirty linen is good enough. "1
desire," he says, "that among us we
make it impossible to do again what
our Admiralty did with the battle of
Jutland, to win a victory at. sea and
lr.se it in a dispatch. And I use this
illustration because many who will
hardly be convinced that a thing is
worth doing well for its own sake may
yet listen when you show them that
to do it ill, indifferently, laxly, means
public damage. There used to he a
saying in the Fleet and it should
have reached Hie Admiralty that.
'Nigh-enough is the worst man on the
?hip.' "
It is given to few to be able to make
words mean what you want them to
mean. To do ?t you must, have a great
respect, for words and the language
and you must use them honoring them
and you. When Sir Arthur to take
one instance speaks of a lyric or a
line as "lovely," he means lovely: and
you can feel the cadence or breathe
the fragrance of lilacs.
Other authors do this with certain
words, making the words almost their
.<wn. Mr. H. G. Wells does it with
"bright" . . . and Miss .May Sin?
clair with "sullen."
The more we read Sir Arthur Quiller
Couch's lectures, the more we wish
that he were touring this country.
Rather, as far as we are concerned,
one of his lectures than fifty years of
Alfred Noyeses and a cycle of Sir
Oliver Lodges.
"1 Remember, I Remember"
Sir: I well remember my first day at
school, for I wna the laughing stock of the
class within t he first hour. When the
teacher asked if any of us knew her name
I proceeded to answer her question without
observing the etiquette of scholastic society.
AH the other children raised their hands.
but I immediately hollered out, "Clara
Belle Turner," expecting the rest would all
do likewise. A roar of laughter greeted me,
and my impression of the teacher was that
-he looked decidedly pained. . She called on
a little girl v/h?, sat near me, and the latter
announced sweetly and politely: "Miss
Turner."
Before the morning was over the teacher
put about a dozen simple problems in ad?
dition on the board, writing also the an?
swers to the first two. I copied them on
my slate, and as soon as I discovered thut
the answers to the other problems were
lacking ? hollered out (forgetting again to
raise my hand, but not forgetting the
teacher's proper title): "Oh! Miss Turner.
You forgot to put down the answers to the
last ten questions."
Tit.
Sir: My first day at school was a total
failure. My teacher looked a hundred years
old to ma, and all the other girls in the
class seemed to know a great deal about
subjects that did not Interest me in the
least. So at 10:30. when the class was
sent downstairs for recess, I went home and
told my mother I didn't care for school and
didn't think I'd ro back. I went back?
with mother?next morning.
Jeannr.
Sir: Like C. W., my first day at Bchool ?
was purely a matter of raiment. I was !
taken to school by my cousin, Harry (lay,
and I wore my stockings wrong side out!
It was not until 1 reached home that T
learned, to my horror, every child in school
had come to Harry privately and muttered ;
"Say, did you know your little brother's
got his stockings wrong side out?"
W. W. E.
Being advertised are "Bronx garages,"'
and E. J. W. wants to know whether !
this is a new name for the old wine
closet.
In Pargo, N. D., is the Holland Wild
Oats Separator Company, a concern W.
W. E. thinks should command the at?
tention of every college faculty. ?
"O Joy. O Rupture Unforeseen, the Clouded
Sky Is Now Serene"
[From The Elizabeth (N. J.) Journal]
On January 3. :">. ti, 19-0, I gave notice to
:he public, that I, Fred Traut, would not be
responsible for any debts contracted by my
wife, Julia Trairf, which was a mistake, as
I was pushed to doing tame. I am glad to*
say we are together again.
FRED TRAUT,
624 Spring Street, Eliiabeth, N. J.
Owing to the condition of the side?
walks, the enforcement of the foot
fault rule temporarily is suspended.
How about unseating the groundhog?!
F. P. A. !
IT'S GETTING SO'S A FELLOW CAN'T HAVE ANY PRIVACYJ
ANYWHERE ANY MORE
(Copyright. 19?0. New York Tribune Inc.) j
Ethics as a Vice
A 'Wet' Criticizes Prohibition
and Our National Failings
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: I was in Christiania last April
during a meeting of Norway's medical
association. Physicians from Sweden
and Denmark also attended. The in?
fluenza was raging then, and much
time was given to its consideration.
There was no dissent, from the state?
ment, made by many physicians pres?
ent that aquavit a potato or cereal
brandy of about, 90 proof is not only
a valuable remedy against influenza,
but that it is the best remedy.
There are a few European physicians
who oppose the use of alcohol in the
treatment of disease, but there are
mighty few. The overwhelming hulk
of testimony is against the W. C. T. U.
So is the overwhelming bulk of per?
sonal testimony. Neither Mr. Ander?
son nor any physician is so well ac?
quainted with my body, its idiosyn?
crasies and reactions, as I am. After
more than forty years of life, with
average experiences with physicians,
I listen with impatience to doctors
who would tell md that hot rum duvx
not more quickly cure my hard colds
than any of their therapeutic agents,
and I will not listen to teetotalers at
all. They are not competent to speak.
Since Mrs. Allen wrote we have read
; the complaint of tho physicians of the
, steamship Kaiserin Auguste Victoria
; ubout the absence of spirits hampering
? their fight against influenza on board
, Are these men, too, the victims of a
i delusion'.'
I would not be understood to inti
! mate that the physicians who oppost
! the use of alcohol are consciously in
! fluenced by the fact that their com
i munities regard any consumption ol
| spirits as sinful per se. They ar?
i merely the unconscious victims of the
| general national inability to considei
I on its merits any matter that has ar
abstract ethical side or into which
? ethical considerations have been im
; ported. This characteristic of oui
! people manifests itself in various ways
! In the single matter ol* sexology, foi
! example, we lag far behind the rest ol
| the world. Sexology is exclusively t
i matter of physiology and psychology
' Sexologists' conclusions are valuelesi
I if influenced by any other considera
j tions, but our Puritan spirit will no
permit them to reach conclusions a
variance with our conceptions of mo
rality and immorality, and if unhap
pily they do reach such conclusions
it will either not permit them to maki
them public or will ostracise them i
thev dure do so.
In my community prohibition has,
in practice, become a part of the re?
ligious creed of the churches. I can?
not enter a church to pay homage to
my ideal of a manly Christ, who
changed water into wine for a wedding
feast, without running the risk of be?
ing held up to scorn from the pulpit
as an infidel and an immoral man
because I make no secret of my op?
position to the infamous and un
American law that would banish wine
and beer from my table and compel
me to alter radically the eating cus?
toms of a quarter century?and this
at the dictation of fanatics, male and
fcMale, who are not intellectually fit
to be my guardians.
Of all peoples on earth we could j
?east afford to banish alcoholic drinks.
The soulless materialism that meas?
ures human progress and happiness
by savings-bank accounts and indus?
trial efficiency needed occasional mo?
ments of exaltation, even though arti
ficial and temporary. The Anderson
ites have robbed us of even these few
moments.
1 believe there are millions of
Americans who resent the Eighteenth
Amendment as bitterly as I do, and I
believe they will yet be heard from.
S. MILES BOUTON.
Jamestown, N. Y.. Jan. 30, 19?0.
Is the Majority Wet?
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Tt has always seemed to me that
The Tribune has striven to give the peo?
ple the truth. Wish you would direct
your attention to the prohibition HUes
: tion in this country, for the situation to?
day is making so many lawbreakers and
causing such disrespect for the law that
we have come to be a family very much
divided among ourselves.
The prohibition question?for it is
still a question - is of more persona! in?
terest to a large percentage, of the popu
. lation than the high cost of living or
j who will be our next President or any
other question. As a rule, they consider
| that the present act of prohibition is a
; "frume-up," and they are "sore" at the
! government and country for bringing it
1 about, because they think that a ma
? jority of the people want the country
"wet."
Personally, 1 want, with all my heart,
to see the country "dry." But I am not
?.absolutely sure myself that the major
I ity want it "dry." And if there is a
I majority wanting it "wet" it must be
; "wet." [ think there is no way to
[ prove this except by a direct vote of
i the people.
The proving of this question is of
vital interest to stop the present growth
of lawlessness, which, unless checked,
might spread to other things. For dis?
content is very deep and general over
several other conditions in this country.
CHARLES E. HEINLINE JR.
Norfolk, Va., Feb. 2, 19^0.
No Alices Left
To tiie Editor of The Tribune,
Sir: Mr. Milton Nobles does not
know the nature of the sweet and love?
ly women of the time "Sweet Alice"
was written. Any woman could blush,
but it takes a line and beautiful one
to love a man so much ?that she
"weeps with delight when he gives her
a smile and trembles with fear at his
frown."
But he need not worry. They are '
all dead in A. D. 1920. Besides, there
are only a few left of the men to make !
a girl feel that way. And they don't |
grow on this soil.
It takes Ireland to make such dear
and lovely men that can lift up the
soul, so that one can weep with de- i
light.' Yours for "Sweet Alice."
FLORENCE DREW.
Way Ridge, Feb. 1, 1920.
The Deadly Stein
To th? Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: "I'se very much troubled in
I mind." We have a number of steins
that we have used as ornament? on
j the ' Dutch shelf" in our dining room
?Are we violating the prohibition laws'
I Is it a mitigating circumstance that
( these steins enjoy their virgin purity
?never having been contaminated by
the touch of beer? Please relieve my
anxiety. LAW ABIDER
New York, Feb. 1, 1920.
A True Prophet
I Prom Th* Whet?ina Intelligene0rJ
It was the celebrated Greek mathe?
matician, astronomer and philosopher
Thai?? who said that "all comes from
water and will return to witcr." And
he lived some twenty-fi>e hundred year8
before our times.
1
Signais From Afar
Aurora,Not Mars,Responsible
for Strange Messages
To the Editor of The Tribum
Sir: We have heard of apparent sig?
nals from afar, by wireless, but it il
probable that they arc nothing mot?
than stray currents of electricity, such
as are occasionally manifested on land
lines when the Aurora is at play. I:
is a remarkable fact that wireleis
telegraphy works be-.ter between sti-'
?ions north and south than betweei
installations #east and west, and, whjtl
is more singular, ?11 wireless workij
; better and over greater distances by
night than by day. Long a<ro it ?J
discovered that the earth was a great
magnet, and it is supposed that M
magnetic condition is influenced, if n|t|
controlled, by the sun. 1: is believed!
' that light, heat and electricity arej
variant manifestations of etheric VH
brations.
Readers whose memories go back to j
^ 1865 will remember the attempt to lay
the Atlantic telegraph cable, and how
in mid-ocean the eablu broke. The ship!
returned to England, an,! the next yep!
was successful in establishing teta
graphic communication. All this tint
| the broken cable of 1865 Jay at uV
bottom of the sea, but at what woulc
i be the receiving station in Ireland th?
galvanometer was in continual actior.
the moving spot of light swung to righ1
and left on the scale as if attempting
to deliver a message from the set
depths. Thus, a year passed by am
i the Great Eastern went westward aga?
j to find the broken cable of 1865. Day
! and night watch was kept in the sta
; tion at Valentia Bay, until at last tht
moving spot of light, which had never
been still, began to show signs of in?
telligent control, and the receivinj
operator wrote the words as they came
letter by letter, Canning to Glass, tell
ing how the ship had picked up th
broken cable, had brought the end <k
board, joined it to the cable in tk<
hold and was proceeding westward. I
few days afterward the voyage w
successfully completed tnd the tw<
trans-Atlantic cable were in operation.
It is more than likely that these dit
turbances noticed at the wireless itt
tions are akin to the manifestation!
observed by the cable operators whet
the end of the broken wire lay in tht
ocean depths, two miles below the
surface, waiting to be sought for ?n?<
put to use. JOHNT E. N'ORCROSS. j
Brooklyn, Jan. 31, 1920.
The American Labor Party
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: I do not wish to belittle the ?
portance of a protest vote, when on?
votes the Socialist ticket, but that ?
not constructive, when there is a M
solution to the problem.
For those who, like F. E. Benton.f?
that both old parties have outlive
their usefulness and are too corrupts
function any longer for the benefit o?
the layman, there is the new party, tk?
American Labor party, which com?'
clean from the people to serve them ?
their own interest.
Why'do not all the readers who V*
thinking voters get busy and join ta*
new p?rty? Platforms are easily *
tamed by writing the office, at l?
East Twenty-third Street.
People have just the kind of g??*
ment they want. Those who want tk?
change to good government have tk?
cue now. How many want it enrtfc*
to do their.part? j
B. PHYLLIS FENIGSTON. I
Sparrows Neat, Mount Vera**, *
N- Y., Feb. 2, 1P20