New-York tribune. [volume], February 09, 1920, Page 8, Image 8

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Meto Din? Sribime
First to Last?the Troth: News?Edi?
torials?Advertisements
Kontor of she Audit Bureau of Circulation?
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1920.
Owned and published daitf by N?w Tork Tribun?
Bw.. a New York Corporation. Oaden Koid. Presi?
dent; Q. Vemor Rotcra, Vice-President; H&len
Kofftr? Reld. secretary: F. A. Sutear, Treasurer.
Address. Tribuno lSulldtn? 154 Nassau Street Now
Tart. Telephon?. Beekman 8000.
SUBSCRIPTION RATKS?Hy MAtU Including
Feetafe. IN THE UNITE? STATES AND
CANADA!
Otws. Six One
Tear. ManfH?. Month.
?Mir and Bandar.$11.00 SR00 $100
Duly ?nly . 8.00 44W .75
Hunday only ,.. 4.00 ?WO .4*
Sunday only. Canada. 6 00 8.?5 .85
FORK ION RATES
Dally and Sunday.$26.00 $13.so $2 40
Dally only . 17.40 8.70 1.45
Sunday only . 9.15 6.12 .86
Entered at the Ponofnc* at New Tort as Recond
Clisi Mat! Matter
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te> say >?ur money back upon roquest. No red tape.
No quibbling. We mnk? good promptly if the i
advertiser dos* not.
MBMBEB OF TUB ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Preaa 1? excluslyeVy entitled to the
um for ?publication of all newa dispatches credited
t? It or not otherwise oredltod In title p.trwr. and
also th? levai uns of spontaneous Origin published
heraln.
All rluhts of republleatlon of all other matter
Itereln also aro reserved.
What Does He Mean?
When Senator Hitchcock read
President Wilson's letter to the Dem?
ocratic caucus nobody present was
sure he understood it. It had to be
read over again. And the caucus
dispersed with no clear idea of what
it meant.
The Democratic Senators are not
to blame for feeling mystified. The
letter is cryptic. It seems to have
been written not for the purpose of
clarifying the situation in the Sen?
ate, but of holding a settlement in
suspense.
Even those who have hei'etofore
been active in interpreting the Presi?
dent's thought fail to agree on what
he means. The World's Washington
correspondent says bluntly: "In a
letter to Senator Hitchcock he [the
President] confirms the opinions ex?
pressed in the Jackson Day com?
munication." The Jackson Day com?
munication advocated a "great and
solemn" referendum on unconditional
ratification in the coming national
election.
The Timcs's correspondent says:
"Mr. Wilson's views were stated with
exactitude and clarity." Then the
correspondent goes on for half a
column to argue that perhaps the
President intended to suggest that
the gulf between his own view and
that of the Senate majority "was not
too wide to be bridged."
The letter is, in fact, a puzzle. The
main difficulty is, as always, over Ar?
ticle X. The President said in Salt
Lake City that the reservation
adopted by the Senate would "cutout
the heart of the covenant." Now he
abates somewhat the extravagance of
that statement. He contents himself
with this remonstrance: "Any res?
ervation or resolution stating that
'the United States assumes no obliga?
tion under such and such an article
unless or except' would, I am sure,
chill our relationship with the na?
tions with which we expect to be as?
sociated in the great enterprise of
maintaining the world's peace."
Is such a chilling of relations
equivalent to "nullifying" the. treaty?
Is it an offense as grave as "cutting
out the heart of the covenant"?
These questions remain unanswered.
Yet at the same time the President
assures Mr. Hitchcock that he "ad?
heres to the substance" of the sub?
stitute reservation discussed in the
recent bipartisan conference of Sen?
ators. That substitute employs the
phrase: "The United States as?
sumes no obligations . . . un?
less." Furthermore, the President
says that he can see ^o objection to
a reservation to the effect that the
United States can accept an obliga?
tion under Article XIII?to enforce
an arbitration award involving a dis?
pute over territory?"only by the
direct authority and action of the
Congress of the United States."
It is evident, therefore, that only
Article X is sacrosanct. It is the one
concrete contribution which Mr. Wil?
son made to. the covenant. He seems
to feel toward it an exaggerated
pride of authorship. And he has
committed himself to a metaphysi
< al interpretation of it which would
be wrecked by a plain, matter-of
fact statement that no obligation
under it?legal, moral or sentimen?
tal?can be imposed on the United
States until and unless Congress, in
any particular case, brings that
obligation into being by its own
action.
Describing Mr. Wilson's attitude
in the Council of Four, Mr. John M.
Keyn.es says in "The Economic Con?
sequences of the Peace": "The
President was like a Nonconformist
minister, perhaps a Presbyterian.
His thought and his temperament
were essentially theological, not in?
tellectual." The theological cast of
mind is very obstinate and is much
given to subtleties. It lays unusual
stress on niceties of definition and
language.
The President ha? exhibited this
tendency in his many attempts to
draw an illusory distinction between
the moral and the legal obligations
established by Article X. The first
he hold? m Immanent, and inde
pendent of any action taken by Con?
gress. The second, he admits, can?
not exist until Congress recognizes
them.
He has depended on this meta?
physical abstraction to combat the
Senate's reasonable demand for full
recognition of the dual character of
our government. He seems to be still
depending on it to vindicate the
original soundness and merit of
Article X.
To any practical mind Mr. Wil?
son's course is confusing and virtu?
ally unintelligible. It is impossible
to dissociate the moral and the legal ;
obligations created by Article X.
We must accept both if we enter the j
league, and must accept them to the ?
same extent and in the same man-1
ner. Mr. Wilson's letter to Senator
Hitchcock is unconvincing and ob- !
ecure, because it deals with meta?
physics and not with political reali?
ties. His followers in the Senate do
not understand him. The country
has only a vague sense of what he is ?
driving at.
If he continues his present tactics
much longer the public will be forced
; to conclude that he is fighting for
his own prestige and glorification,
and with a view to leading his party j
again next fall in a "great and sol?
emn referendum," which is to be co?
incidental with our Presidential
election.
The Hoover Telegram
Our neighbor The World has
contracted to support Mr. Hoover
for the Presidency on any ticket
and on any platform. It therefore
owes it to the public to secure the
publication of the text of the tele?
gram which Mr. Hoover sent to
President Wilson last fall urging
him to come to an agreement with
the Senate on reservations to the
peace treaty. Secretary Tumulty
told The World's Washington corre?
spondent that Mr. Hoover had per?
mission to give out the telegram, "if
he thought the publicity would do
him any good."
Mr. Hoover, like most Americans,
is anxious to see the treaty ratified
on a basis acceptable to the United j
States and to our allies. The allied
governments have expressed their ?
willingness to accept the Senate
reservations. We don't recall that :
The World welcomed that news j
with any enthusiasm. But if Mr.
Hoover welcomes it and if ho
favors acceptance of the Senate's !
modifications, The World's views
will necessarily undergo a certain ;
change. The country ought to know j
how Mr. Hoover and The World
stand to-day on the question of
"cutting the heart out of the league
covenant."
-??'
German Ability to Pay
John M. Keynes's book, "The Eco?
nomic Consequences of the Peace,"
has revived discussion of the
methods taken at Paris to saddle on ?
Germany some part of the cost of |
the war. Mr. Keynes holds that the J
financial reparation program adopt- j
; ed by the peacemakers is impracti- j
; cable. He says that it loads on Ger- ;
; many a debt which she cannot dis- [
: charge and that her economic ruin, !
i if she should attempt to pay in full, :
! or even in large part, would entai i !
? the economic ruin of the Continent
1 of Europe. *
Germany started the war delib?
erately. Having lost it, it is right
| that she should settle to the best of [
; her ability. She has no moral claim
: to be let off with a nominal punish
; ment. The council decided that she
should pay chiefly in money, securi- ?
ties, commodities and notes repre
: senting future earnings and labor.
| This decision involved a large re- !
| nunciation on the part of the Allies. ;
j For Germany's ability to pay in this
j manner was limited by her economic
j condition, which is now desperate,
! and probably will remain so for
, years to come.
Mr. Keynes says that if the coun?
cil was not self-deceived in thinking
that Germany could pay in the man?
ner provided, it at least sought to
deceive the people of France and
Great Britain into hoping that a
large measure of financial repara?
tion would be obtained. This charge
is admitted even by some of Mr.
Keynes's most ardent critics. David
Hunter Miller, the ?legal adviser of
the American Peace Commission,
contends that Mr. Keynes has
greatly exaggerated the German in?
demnity. He says that Germany is
! committed to pay only about $14,
1000,000,000, instead of $40,000,000,
I 000, as Mr. Keynes estimates. But
\ Mr. Miller admits that the framers
jof the peace treaty took into account
a "delusion" that Germany ought to
pay more and was going to be made
to pay more. This "delusion" was
recognized in the form given to the
reparations section, Mr. Miller says.
But he argues that the consequences
of this "delusion" may be escaped
later in the process of collecting the
indemnity.
Both Mr. Keynes and Mr. Miller
overlook, however, an alternative
method of reparation if Germany's
financial obligations are not dis?
charged. Marshal Foch distrusted
the reparation venture which the
council adopted. He realized that,
so far as France was concerned, Ger?
many's real indemnity asset was the
left bank of the Rhine. And that
J asset has been put in pawn to
France and Belgium.
Great Britain has collected a con
siderable indemnity already by as?
suming control of the great bulk of
the German colonies. France has re?
ceived Alsace-Lorraine, and her
claims would be fully met by the ac?
quisition of the German Rhineland.
The Rhineland will go to her, at all
events, should Germany be unable to
pay the indemnity in full.
Settling a war on the basis of eco?
nomic penalties is extremely diffi?
cult and complicated. The council,
shrinking from applying Foch's
method directly, really applied it in?
directly- in the provision for an In?
definite French occupation of the
left bank of the Rhine. It will be a
curious outcome of the peace if its
"no annexation" professions, al?
ready violated in part, will eventu?
ally be violated on a grand scale by
the extension of the French eastern
border to the bank of the Rhine, not
alone at Strasburg, but at Mainz,
Coblenz and Cologne.
Imperial Air Routes
The development of six "im?
perial air routes" to connect Eng?
land with tho British possessions
overseas is suggested by Lord
Montagu de Beaulieu. With Sir
Ross Smith's sensational flight to
Australia, with the less spectacular
but equally significant opening of
the Cape-Cairo air route, and with
a weekly mail service between
Karachi, in the northwest corner of
the Indian coast, and Bombay
already running, the foundations of
this colosBal network of aerial lines
are already laid. The six imperial
routes contemplated by Lord Mon?
tagu are as follows:
1. England to Canada and the
United States, via Newfoundland.
2. England, via France and Spain,
to West Africa.
3. England, via France and Italy,
to Egypt, India and the Cape.
4. India to Burma, Federated
Malay States, Australia and New
Zealand.
5. India and Burma to Hong
Kong.
6. Australia to British Polynesia
?and South Sea Islands.
This is certainly a vast scheme,
and Lord Montagu realizes its exe?
cution cannot be expected over?
night. It postulates, however, for
the most part no new lines of aerial
conquest, but merely the develop?
ing and systematizing of facilities
already at hand. Lord Montagu
urges that the splendid organization
that has secured to Britain aerial
leadership in the late war should
be maintained intact, and also that
the government should take a hand
in stimulating private enterprise in
the field of air service. The im?
portance of this imperial network
of air communications in case of
another war is, of course, one of
the most telling arguments in its
favor.
Is the United States willing to
lag behind in the fight for the
mastery of the air?
The Senate as Hero
The Senate is not fitted by nature
to be a popular hero?no large body
of men is. The President, by his
position and by tradition, is a natu?
ral hero. He is master of his own
house, he can act and speak dra?
matically, while the Senate must
compromise and dilly-dally.
Yet it is the most striking fact of
the long duel between the President
and the Senate over the peace treaty
that the President's sway upon the
national mind has waned and the
Senate's position grown stronger and
stronger. The strongest and most
eager advocates of the league have
observed this phenomenon and been
nonplussed by it. They have de?
plored the change as a return of
American provincialism; and in a
measure they may be right.
But we think there is a larger fjac
I tor at work and that it is not a dis
' heartening sign. To the contrary,
we rate it as the soundest evidence
| that the. American people have not
| forgotten how to govern themselves,
| and, faced with New World prob
! lems, cling as tightly as ever to their
i ancient American wisdom.
That factor is, we submit, an in
! stinctive realization that President
; Wilson, by his conduct of the peace
1 negotiations and by the form in
j which he cast our obligations under
; the league of nations, was swinging
; our American system of government
i far from its old center of gravity
I and toward a new, strange centrali
! zation of personal power for which it
I was never intended and for which it
; was totally unfitted.
The two systems are clear-cut and
! familiar. There is much to be said
| for the responsible Cabinet system
| of England, wherein the executive
| is. chosen by the national legislature
i and endures only so long as he com
? mands a majority of that body.
: There is much to be said for our
historic American system of divided
I powers, lodged in an independent
j executive and an independent legis
J lature, cooperating, correcting one
j another in many matters?the adop
j tion of treaties, for the great ex
, ample?but always independent in
origin and in term of office.
What Mr.. Wilson attempted was
to graft the English system of
absolute executive authority upon
our own system of an independent
executive. The result is to give the
defects of both and the virtues of
neither. We ?hould have "had?if
the Senate had yielded?an auto?
cratie dictatorship responsible to no
one?so long as the President's
term of office lasted. We should
have lost the limitations and safe?
guards of our American system and
gained no whit of the English re?
sponse to the popular will. Under
the English system, for example,
Mr. Wilson would have gone out of
office with the election of 1918 and
would have had nothing to do with
the writing of the peace. Our
American system looks to a slower
expression of the popular will and
expands the independence of the
President by giving him a fixed
term of office; put it qualifies
i gravely his authority by giving the
Senate a joint power over the mak?
ing of treaties. Such, at least, was
its letter and spirit until Mr. Wil?
son, in his overweening desire to
dictate peace to the world, sought to
tie the Senate's hands in advance
and prevent it from exercising any
of its constitutional power.
The same vice lurks in Article X
of the league covenant; and it is be?
cause the Lodge reservation makes
our constitutional position clear for
ourselves and for the whole world
that it has gained so much popular
support.
We need to recover our constitu- I
Itional balance; and the Senate,
| slowly, often blunderingly and amid
much partisanship, is leading in this |
vital and necessary labor. That is |
why, we conceive, the popular sup
port of the Senate majority has
grown steadily and surely. No pro?
vincialism is necessarily involved in
this tendency. It is only old-fash?
ioned Americanism and common
sense resisting a subtle but vastly
dangerous and vicious distortion of
our governmental system.
In his letter to Senator Hitchcock !
President Wilson says: "I am sol- j
emnly sworn to obey and maintain !
the Constitution of the. United
States. But I think the foi'm of it
very unfortunate." Perhaps this ex?
plains the many lapses from tradi
| tional procedure which have proved [
I so puzzling to us.
The Department of Justice has ar?
rested up to date 805 food profiteers
and hoarders. How about sending
them to Paris to join the 89(5 Ger?
mans arraigned by the Supreme
Council for war atrocities?
We are glad to know that Mayor
Hylan is helping in the effort to re?
move the city's surplus snow. Ha
was very efficient at the job of
shoveling off his own sidewalk.
The President's Courage
May 11 Enable Him to Accept the
Peace Treat};
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: When President Wilson went
j abroad to represent this country at
? the peace conference he publicly
j stated to the world that he had the
j American people behind him, but he
I made no reference to the fact that no
j action or agreement on h is part could
?bind this government unless ratifica?
tion by the Senate followed. He, of
: course, knew this; whether the Allies
; knew it or not is a question. They
i know it now.
While representing this country
I abroad, whenever the slightest oppo
j sition to his views became manifest he
I went over the heads of the Allied gov
! crnments and appealed directly to tho
people. Ho did this in England, France
< and Italy, and now when Lord Grey, in
! his letter, endeavors to help us out of
the muddle we are in, he finds fault
with him, criticizes him, etc.
Lord Grey is one of the ablest dip?
lomats in tho world and is so regarded.
Is it not fair to assume the following:
Having been sent to this country on a
special mission (which was disclosed
'in his letter), Is it not more than
probable that his own government, as
well as France and Italy, were in ac
j cord (otherwise dissension would have
arisen among them)? Proof of their
accord we now have in the indorse
i ment of Lord Grey's letter by the Eng
; lish, French and Italian governments.
Reaching Washington, obviously Lord
i Grey's first move must have been an
effort to consult President Wilson;
there is no statement affirming or deny?
ing this from Washington. After sev
i eral months' stay in this country, feel?
ing the public pulse, interviewing Re
! publican as well as Democratic Sena
: toro, realizing that the sooner the
' treaty was signed by our government
? the sooner would peace and prosperity
\ come into the world, and failing to
i reach the President, he did the proper
j thing in letting tho peoples of the
I world and this country know that
j England, France and Italy were not
unwilling to accept the amendments
proposed by the Senate; even Senator
Hitchcock, President Wilson's mouth?
piece, frankly admits that ho does not
see any discourtesy in Lord Grey's
action. Lord Grey interviewed numer?
ous Democratic and Republican Sena
i tors, who undoubtedly indorsed his
I views, as no disclaimer has yet ap
j peared. Lord Grey is too much of a
| diplomat?and too much of a gentle?
man?to Intimate anything of the kind,
but he may be- forced by unjust criti?
cism to make a clean breast of his
experiences in this country. This
might not be pleasant reading for
President Wilson.
It is sincerely to be hoped that the
treaty will pass next week and that the
President may have the moral courage
to sign the document which the world
demands, and a new era will begin for
the nations of the world. If this is
not done God only knows what will
happen, for as matters stand to-day
we are rapidly approaching chaos.
L. C. T.
New YorluLFtb, 6, 1920.
The Conning Tower,
To Posterity
(Also to Sir Oliver Lodge)
"In after days when grasses high
O'ertop the mound where I shall lie,'
(Those lines [which I have not the time
To verify] are Dobson's rhyme),
In brief, when I am wholly dead,
Please leave me in ray little bed;
Nor call me up some evening late
To ask me to communicate.
Unless my spiritistic word
Shall have more stuff than what I've
heard,
And from my subterranean bunk
Shall issue not the sort of junk
That "spirits," good guys when alive,
Invariably now contrive,?
When finally you do install me,
Please never, never try to call me.
The Nashville Tennessean publishes
a list of books?thirty-flve of them?
that would "explain" us to those who
know our language, but not our coun?
try or its institutions. The list ex?
cludes poetry and history and contains
mostly biography and fiction. Our list
would be "Fables in Slang," "More
Fables," "People You Know," and
"Knocking the Noighbors," by George
Ado; Kin Ilubbard's Almanacs; and the
drawings of W. E. Hill.
G rent Argument About It and About
Sir: The Evening Post, commenting
on Keynes' new book, "The Economic
Consequences of the Peace," says: "It
you read what Keynes has said . . .
you must inevitably realize that nine
tenths of the publio discussion as to
the treaty and the league of nations
. . . is arrant nonsense."
But that Is true of nine-tenths of
the discussion?both pnblic and pri?
vate?on practically every important
topic. Consider Prohibition, Suffrage,
the Railroad Question, the Tariff, For?
eign Policy or anything else that
people talk about. Nine-tenths non?
sense is a conservative estimate.
Therein, according to my arrantly
nonsensical theory, is the greatness of
democracy. From a welter of non?
sense and ignorance arises Truth?al?
ways to triumph in the long run. No?
body can explain it, except to say that
the hand of Providence is at work.
Perhaps that is the only non-nonsensi?
cal explanation of any question.
G. O. A.
m^wwmimiWwmw,wwMiM?9.
Gotham Gleanings
^?^/'4\?''?vitr?\i^ir/fc)wrtt?flr/?it/?\>i'-?,i,v?viir?(:i
? Look out for a thaw.
? Many are on the ailing list.
?News arc a paucity this wk.
?-Well, 5tli Av. is to be a 1-way St.
?No more snow is the hope of
this dep't.
?Sig Sassoon the English poet is
seeing the sights here.
?Ye cd. was a transpontine goer
! and vice versa one day last week.
?Tiic subway service was pretty
I good Thurs. and Fri., considering.
?-Old Jay Darling of Des Moines
i is sojourning in our niveous midst.
?The Billingses of Ft. Washing?
ton Av. are in Pasadena at this
I writing.
?Mrs. Alice D. Miller is back from
Atlantic City, where she went for a
few days.
?Rj E. Enright, our enterprising
pol. com'r, has sent us a handsome
police card for 1920. Thanks, Dick.
? Vesterday was Geo. Ade's birth
d:iy, Geo. being in Belleair, Fla.
Many happy returns Geo. is our
| opinion.
; ?Mrs. Dot Waring did grandly in
the indoor tennis tournament last
! wk., but was beaten by Mrs. Mallory,
| n?e Bjurstedt.
"On Tuesday," says Robin, in "Rud
digore," "I made a false income re?
turn." Yesterday Mr. Frank Moulan,
j who has the part of Robin, received
j the subjoined letter:
I "Dear Sir:
"1 recently attended a performance
of 'Ruddigore,' where?n you men
; tioned, as one of the crimes that you
had committed, 'that you made a false
j statement in your income tax return.'
"Income tax is a very appropriate
| subject at this time, so I want to
offer you my services in the prepara
? tion of your Federal and State Income
Tax returns, which are due on or be
| fore March 15, 1920.
"I was a Deputy Collector of In
? ternal Revenue for a number of years
and in that capacity assisted taxpayers
| in making out their returns. There is
nothing like obtaining the services of
i one who knows the income tax law
thoroly and can help in your troubles.
"Mail the enclosed card If you care
to have me call on yon.
"Very truly your?,
Hotels and restaurants ars to be per?
mitted to serve kickful mince pies and
sauces, the story goes! Enter the soup
with sherry flavoring, the poisson au
vin blanc, the terrapin immersed in
sherry, the plum pudding's hard sauce,
and the highly Inflammable baba au
rhum.
The revered Boston Herald observes,
citing instances to prove it, that 1820
was replete with grave problems, also.
And that is depressing, of course. But
it is cheering to think that 2020 may
not be a problemless year, either.
Our ambition is to own all the food
in 'the world and to sell a sandwich
to the dealer who charges $1.50 for
a khaki-cloth wrist-watch guard
The esteemed stock market should
equip, itself with chains these days,
als*.
?. F. A.
RETURNING THE BORROWED RAILROADS
(Copyright, 1930, N?w York Tribun? Ina.)
Books
Heyxvood Broun
"If Mr. Everett, of Norwood, Mass.,
i is to become the book committee of
I his .library," writes. Paul M. Paine,
I librarian of the Syracuse Public Li
| brary, "and if the cuesti?n is what
? book he shall buy first, tell him that
I it should be a child's book, for the
I reason that one good book in the
j hands of a child is worth three in the
hands of an adult." ?
That seems sound, but might it not
be possible to lind a book which would
be equally interesting to children and
to grown-ups? Of course, there is
such a book, but we assume that Nor?
wood has already stocked up with
"Huckleberry Finn."
Frequently we are surprised at the
lack of faith which a writer will show
in his readors. Just the other day we
noticed such a case in May Sinclair's
j "Mary Olivier." The early chapters of
i the book give a picture of the world
i as seen through a child's eyes and it is
; a sketch done with amazing skill. But
! here Miss Sinclair makes a picture and
then blots it:
"When you had run a thousand
hundred times round the table you
came to the blue house. It stood be?
hind Jenny's rocking-chair, where
Jenny couldn't see it, in a blue garden.
The walls and ceilings were blue; the
doors and staircases were blue; every?
thing in all the rooms was blue.
"Mary ran round and round. She
loved the padding of her feet on the
floor and the sound of her sing-song:
" 'The pussies are blue, the beds are
blue, the matches are blue and the
mousetraps and all the litty mouses 1'
"Mamma was always there dressed in
a blue gown; and Jenny was there, all
in blue, with a blue cap; and Mark
and Dank and Roddy were there, all in
blue. But papa was not allowed in the
blue house.
"Mamma came in and looked at her
as she ran. She stood in the doorway
with her finger on her mouth, and she
was smiling. Her brown hair was
parted in two sleek bands, looped and
puffed out softly around her ears, and
plaited in one plait that stood up on
its edge above her forehead. She wore
a wide brown silk gown with falling
sleeves.
"'Pretty mamma,' said Mary. 'In a
blue dress.' "
I
! Now why, we wonder, does Miss Sin
I clair develop these paragraphs of child
|fancy and then suddenly intrude the
reality so clumsily? Is she by any
I chance afraid that the reader haB
missed her whole intent and may go
away from the page with the idea
that there really is an all blue house
in the room? Since the faith of
May Sinclair fans is boundless, she
should reciprocate their confidence
more freely.
Not the least Interesting part of
| William Byron Forbush's seven vol
| umes in "The Literary Digest Parents'
| League Series" (Funk & Wagnalls) is
the section devoted to questions and
answers.
"I have a child," writes Esther P.,
"who already seems to be cut out for a
business man. He refuses to play with
dolls, ' balls, or even soldiers. This
seems to restrict the range of toys for
him. What can I provide?"
And Mr. Forbush answers: "There is
! an inexpensive 'toytown bank.' Also
an outfit of tickets and uniform with
which to play ticket-agent. Encourage
him to print paper money and checks
and buy hira.some toy money . . ,*?
If he is to be a real business man
hell not have anything to do with
ticketg bought directly at the box
afflea. it would be batter w? think to
i get him a bright vest and a derby hat
i and let him pretend to be a sidewalk
! speculator. He might be encouraged
j to demand one pin a day from each of
i his parents for admission to the nur
! sery and two pins, of course, on Sat
i urdays and holidays. Also, arrange?
ments could be made with some reli
I able brokerage house to have him sup
! plied with the ticker tape each day.
? In discussing the vexed question of
! education W. H. P. seems to have
] found much sound comment in Floyd
! Dell's "Were You Ever a Child?"
"She has read to tatters," she writes
i concerning her small daughter, "all of
Howard Pyle's King Arthur series,
and his'Robin Hood,'her 'Jungle Book,'
her 'Treasure Island.' She adores
Gogol ('Taras Bulba') and G. Vf. Bir?
mingham, Andrew Lang and Selma
Lagerlof, Dunsany and W. W. Jacobs!
She has read with delight the divert?
ing experiences of Huckleberry Finn,
of Tom Sawyer and of Anna Howard
Shaw. At my suggestion CI very sel
i dorn suggest) she read (and read with
| appreciation) the chapters 'Th6 Child
j as Artist' and 'The Artist as Child' in
?Floyd Dell's 'Were You Ever a Child?'
| and she may read it all if ever she
! wants to.
i "You see, she is a not unconscious
! victim of our rule-of-thumb educa
| tional system which, as I have remarked
: elsewhere, apparently aims at th?
highest quantitative production witt
, the least possible variation, hoppei
after 'lopper-full of two-legged autom
ata with wooden heads. She attendi
the best private school we could find
but it must, of course, keep in lim
with the public school toward tha
noble goal, the final shaping proc?s
of the neat wooden heads to fit college
entrance requirements, preceding thei
I perfecting through four years more o
! buffing and polishing in college itseli
? Our child suffers, as do we watchin
her. She leads her class, which woul
seem to prove that her head is bein
shaped most excellently according t
pedagogic schedule. Appearances an
however, deceitful and more goes o
within that innocent-appearing stor<
house of facts and fancies than h<
i teachers wot of. In thus far, neve:
! theless, is the system doing its won
j (hence, in topsy-turvy educationdo
j its best and noblest) that she feels ar
I is being made wretched by the shapir
I processes of its clumsy tools. SI
already 'hates Shakespeare,' 'hate
j every lovely English poem chosen f<
classroom vivisection, 'hates' Julii
j Caasar, together with his language ar
I all his works. She has 'finished' geo?
j i*aphy, having hated it thoroughly ai
knowing now nothing whatever about
She is losing her fine native sense
observation in order dutifully to s
only what her teachers consider ii
portant. She writes hours at a til
on her own typewriter stories, poen
plays, but wept yesterday when
came time for her to write her da
short theme, the following attracti
j subjects having been given the ch
dren to choose from: 'My Ideal Rooi
'How I Baked a Cake,' 'A Soldie
Soldier,' 'The Delayed Picnic' and "I
Party Dress I Should Like.'
"And we cannot ? wholly save h<
We are not rich enough to have :
her the sort of tutors we should wi
men and women, for example, of si
types as Huxley, William Morris, El
Key, St. Gaudens and James Whitco
Riley. You see, the prototypes of.
faculty ' are not even living, uni
Ellen Key, and I could do without !
the most easily. .
"No, she must go step by s
through the devitalizing process
which my generation, too, was s
jected. How well I recall my coll
? themes with their ever-recurring mir*
i ginai annotations in red ink, 'vulgar!.'
| 'colloquialisml' 'slang!' 'too exuber
jant!' But at least in so far as con*
cerns outside reading, my daughter'?
! growing mind shall wander where it
i will, joyous and without coercion. Sht
is particularly enamored of the <i>
lightfully multitudinous works of P.' ?
Haggard. When she had read x\ I
could obtain from our local books* ??.-r
the latter ordered more from the |>u>
? lishers, who WTote to him s= folio?!
in regard to the- order:
"'Replying?etc., wo regret that r?
cannot say that any of rfaeg-uVi
novels are exactly suitable fot ?\ ?id.
about fifteen years of ago. They am
all stories of love and adventure, ?pi
pealing rathe* more to the rnatur?
reader. However, we are inclosing ?
I list of his works and if your customer
j insists on giving the young lady stories
by Haggard, we would suggest that h?
pick from the titles marked with an X.'
"Now, by great good fortune, mj
daughter had read only books by Hag?
gard not marked with an X on thi?
list, so I could order the Xed on??,
thus running no risk of shocking our
bookseller.
"All in all, my twelve-year-old 1s
learning a good deal and enjoying it,
too, quite apart from and in s;<ite ?I
Education."
Humbug and Hypocrisy
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The statement in the Pittsburgh
dispatch published in this morninf'i
issue of your paper, that promirent
ministers and leading prohibitionist!?!
that city are on record as purchaser?
of liquor is not surprising to those who
are familiar with the humbug and
hypocrisy that have accompanied the
"dry" propaganda. Coming nearer hwn%
there is the case of one of the molt
prominent advocates of prohibition Ut
this city who purchased and stored 1?
the basement of the apartment houe?
| where he lives $46,000 worth of liquofi.
| Then there is the prominent membef
' of the committee of fifty on war-time
i prohibition who has a seven-story
building filled with "medicines," -con?
taining all the way from 15 to 60 per
cent of alcohol. One of his widely sola
"medicines" is composed of the druf
veronal and 36 per cent of alcohol.
These are the "good people" wha
arrogantly assume the right to dictate
to the wicked sinners as to the kind of
beverages they shall drink. Oh, Hum
i bug, what crimes are committed in thy
?name! WHIDDEN GRAHAM1.
New York, Feb. 6, 1920.
Where Were the Wets)
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Virginia adopted prohibition
by a popular vote on September 22,
; 1914, the majority exceeding 30,000. It
is hard to understand why Charle?'
Heinline jr., of Norfolk, thinks that
the majority wants it "wet." He aaj?
he thinks there is no way to prove H
except by direct vote. Where ha? ha
been all this time? I believe the peo?
ple voted nearly everywhere in the tilf
tion and would have voted in New York
if the present Governor and a few for?
mer members of the Legislature had
not voted to deny the people of t?jl
York the right to vote during all the?
years while the Anti-Saloon League w*J*
trying to get a vote, and it su<*eei*?|
for all the towns and cities of the at*>t?
except New York City.
A. B. WOOD, .
New York, Feb. 5, 1920.
Last in War, Last in Peace ?
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: It appears to me, looking bada,
only five years or so, that ViaeoW*!'
Grey was first in war, and is now nul;
in peace; whereas our faraeeinf "tajf
proud-to-fight" Proaident was fau*J?
war, and is now last in peace. F. U?%
New York? Feb. ?, 192a |