New-York tribune. [volume], October 13, 1920, Page 12, Image 12

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13. 1920.
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A Promise of Insincerity
The mental perturbation into
which The World and The Times have
been thrown, by the partisan need
of fixing* up some sort of alibi for
the President in the Spencer contro?
versy must be .extreme. For in their
attempts to establish a difference
between the two versions of the
'resident's speech they don't seem
to realize the charge they lodge
against the President,
version of the speech declares
at if the Balkan States would
agree to treaty guaranties for
?acial minorities, then the United
would send its arn-ies across
e sea to protect them whenever
attacked. The President's version
mits he spoke of the expectation
of the Rumanians and Serbs that
they would be so protected, and then
. f. . this being the case, it
;.- reasonable for us to insist on a
ment such as we would be will
o send our armies to defend.
According to both versions the
President, as widely said at the !
e, pu; the screws on the Balkan!
There was a threat, politely ?
phrased, but nevertheless a threat.]
If the Rumanians and Serbs refused
to agree to his demands, then they
iicetl not look to us for aid. But if
, agreed, then, it was plainly ini
; '. d, they could count on us. The
all rnatives were clearly marked.
Would the Balkan States give racial
guaranties to get general protec
Or did they prefer liberty of
:, ion concerning their racial mi
rities and no protection? Being
prudent, they chose the first, and the
?a! was closed.
Now, to say that the President
when so speaking did not intend to
riake good, and that he held out
he had no thought of redeem?
ing, is to accuse him of the grossest
incerity. This charge The World
am! The Times support, when they |
contend thei*e is a substantial differ
? nee b( twi i n the two versions. They
are in effect saying that the Presi?
dent tricked his hearers.-that he
encouraged them to believe they
could count on protection, provided
they yielded on the point under dis?
cussion, whereas, in fact, they were
being sold a gold brick.
We fly to the President's de?
fense. He was scarcely on May 31,
191?), thus engaged in marketing a
tram!. The covenant, including
Article X, had then been written.
!le was interpreting it in a natural
way?as guaranteeing to Rumania
und Serbia the frontiers fixed in
'. he treaty. It is merely to meet
the exigencies of politics that he
now tries to crawl out of what he
said. The campaign has led him to
develop the remarkable doctrine
that the guaranty of Article X is,
after all, not a guaranty at all.
But this is no reason, we submit,
for the President's newspaper sup?
porters presenting him as one who
successfully pulled the wool over the
eyes of the Rumanians and the Serbs
and induced their innocent*agents to
accept a mere sheaf of words as con?
sideration for a concession that
maimed to some extent the sover
eignty of their nations.
The Coal Scandal
investigation by a Brooklyn grand
iry shows that a single group of
peculators has been holding 11,000
carloads of soft coal on railway sid
? t Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Roads and this in spite
f unprecedented efforts by con?
sumers to get hold of enough fuel to
keep their industries going. How
many more such instances are tak?
ing place in various parts of the
country remains to be seen.
Government officials are said to
have information that while only
? ??t one-fifth of the big coal opera
tors have been acting dishonestly,
yet the influence of that fifth has
been so powerful as to cause finan?
cial loss ft) operators who try to run
tr?eir business decently. One opera?
tor, for example, is alleged to have
lost $30,000 in a single month rather
than connive at graft. Another,
"who had no objection to paying for
'privileges,' made a clear 'profit' of
?2,000,O00 in three months." It ap?
pears that where crooked dealing ex?
ists it commences with operators at
the mouth of the mines, in conjunc
; ?ion with car distributors who fur
; rush cars to the mines, and that it
| "runs through every later transac?
tion until the cual is actually in the
j hands of the consumers."
Apparently an excellent beginning
has been made to unearth conditions
generally suspected but hitherto not
proved in court. Production of coal
in one field or another has been i*e
duced by strikes and by bad trans
| portation conditions. This everyone
j understands, and the fair-minded
i recognize that honest men in the in?
dustry must not be classed with the
j dishonest. So greater is the need of
; discrimination. But, alas! the Ad
J ministration apparently knows but
two methods?either does nothing or
! enters on a course of amuck-running
| and suspicion-manufacture which
: breaks down through its unfairness.
Misrepresenting Harding
To end the controversy concerning
the Des Moines speech of Senator
Harding The Weekly Review sent
to him this telegram :
"Your Des Moines speech is being
generally interpreted as an abandon?
ment of the position defined in vonr
speech of August 28. It in regarded
as especially repudiating that part of
. the August 28 speech in which you
said that if it shall be found that the
existing league 'has been so entwined
and interwoven into the peace of Eu?
rope that its good must be preserved
in order to stabilise the peace of that
continent, then it can be amended
or revised' into a form that would be
acceptable to America. We consider '
it of the utmost importance that the
! question thus raised be promptly
and authoritatively cleared up."
!
The following answer from Sen- j
; ator Harding promptly came :
"Senator Harding has directed me
to say in reply to your telegram of
October 9 that his Des Moines speech
if read in full is in complete har?
mony with his speech of August 28.
There has been and will be no change
from position of August 28."
| The newspapers which steadily I
' labor to muddle the league discussion i
; played up the Des Moines speech j
| as repudiating the league prin
I ciple. Messrs. Borah antl Johnson |
were depicted as in a state of ecstatic j
delight.
The misrepresentation was gross. j
The Review carefully and intelli- j
gently framed its question, and the |
reply leaves no doubt. Senator '?
Harding has not changed his posi- j
tion. He does not know at this j
time, nor does any one else, what;
exact form of league can secure rati- j
fication from the Senate and the ap- i
proval of our war associates. So j
ho will not make specific promises j
? that he may not be able to fulfill. !
i But he is for a league or associa- !
! tion of nations in the interest of j
peace and will loyally consult to ?
this end. '
Poland'? Victory
The terms of the Polish-Russian ,
armistice, which amounts to a pre?
liminary peace treaty, are gradually
coming through from Riga.
Russia is to abate large terri?
torial claims. Poland's eastern ;
boundary is to run north and south
from Latvia to Rumania, with the1
line passing well east of Minsk, ;
Pinsk and Rovno. Thus Poland has
confirmed to her most of the area !
which her armies held last March,
before the beginning of the Soviet
offensive. In the north Lithuania is j
separated entirely from Russia and
her eastern boundary is to be fixed !
1 by further negotiations. East of i
j Brest-Litovsk a large part of Po- !
i dolia is taken over and in the south .
a considerable segment of Volhynia, j
including the three fortresses of !
Lutsk, Dubno and Rovno.
Poland thus attains a size larger
than allowed to her by the peace
| conference mapmakers. That she has
? been disillusionized as to the abil- j
' ity of the Allied Council or the :
, League of Nations either to protect, :
i her or to restrain her is evidenced?
i by a section in the armistice which |
j binds each of the signers "not to !
' extend support to foreign military !
; action against the other." Under
?the rules of the league such an
agreement must be submitted to the |
council for approval. It is doubt- <
| ful whether Poland will submit, it, !
and Russia, of course, will not.
At Vilna another Fiume situa
. tion has arisen. General Zellgouski, \
following d'Annunzio's example,!
occupied the city with Polish and j
White Russian forces and then for- j
warded his resignation to Warsaw.
Lithuania claims Vilna, and agents
| of the League of Nations are in :
| Suwalki endeavoring to straighten '
: out the dispute. Poland's settle- i
- ment with Russia leaves Warsaw a '
free hand, however, to determine]
the width of the proposed Polish
corridor east of Lithuania. And it!
: will be hard for either the league :
or the Allied Council, both of which
turned a cold shoulder on Poland
when the Reds were threatening to
sweep across the Vistula, to dispute'
the logic of the situation now!
brought about by Poland's complete [
and single-handed victory.
Poland, in fact, has worked out j
her own salvation. She is there-:
fore fairly entitled to shape her own '?
policy. Her armies have done what
the Allied chiefs were unable to do. j
They have broken the military
power of the L?nine regime and its
prestige inside Russia. Unconfirmed!
dispatches say that Budenny, the!
most successful of the Soviet gen- {
erais, has mutinied and taken Kiev
and th:* t L?nine is now making'
peace proposals to Wrangel. L?nine
is obviously hard pressed and prob?
ably shrinks from the dangerous ex?
periment of carrying on war
through another winter with a beat?
en and disaffected army. At no
time since 1?) 18 has the collapse of
the Soviet despotism seemed near?
er. And for this cheerful prospect
the world owes far more to Polish
steadfastness and valor than to any
exertions on the part of the Paris
league or to the Allied concert or
to the policy of America.
The Sport Climax
An extraordinary year of?sport
came to its extraordinary climax in
yesterday's three events en the race?
track and the diamond and in the
prizering.
The victory of Tris Speaker and
his Indians held the widest popular
interest, for baseball is the great
American game beyond possibility of
rivalry, crooks or no crooks. It was
a discounted victory that only con?
firms the long-standing superiority
of the American League. Our
Robins put up a manful fight, and
superb management did all that it
could for a team of little distinction
in ? individual ability. The success
of the Indians was ali the more
noteworthy for the fact that they
entered the world's series minus
their star shortstop, Chapman,
killed by a pitched ball. The trag?
edy did not stop the championship
stride of the team in its own league,
and the weak spot which it made in
the Cleveland infield was more than
offset by the brilliancy of the attack
which Speaker led.
The old dope prevailed at Wind?
sor, too, where one of the greatest
horses of all time breezed home an
easy winner. Here unquestionably
is the hi$h mark of the sporting sea?
son. Man o' War is a champion of
champions, and deserves all the ad?
miration and praise lie has received.
Humans are crooked oftener than
we like to think?in racing and, as
the fans recently discovered to their
sorrow, in baseball. The true run?
ning of a great-hearted hor^e like
Man o' War ought to make the
crooks of sport end their careers for
all time. The contrast certainly
makes the average human being
blush for his breed and rene'tv his
affection for this superb, fleet friend
of man who may be pulled, but can
never be bought.
The crowning contribution to the
sporting events of a crowded day
was the easy victory of Georges Car
pentier, the distinguished pugilistic
savant of P'rance. In him our peo?
ple take a lively interest, not only
for his professional achievements,
but. because of his record as a gal?
lant soldier. We salute in him a
representative of the France which
Germany found virile.
Children and Crime
Extension of the provisions of the
widows' pension statute to include
families where the father may be in?
capacitated or imprisoned was
urged at the Conference of New '
York State Boards of Child Welfare
last week. It has been pointed out '
that the marked prevention of
youthful crime already noted under .
the administration of the law justi- ;
lies such an amendment.
The conference has unanimously |
agreed that the maintenance of chil?
dren in their homes, made possible |
under the pension granted to the
widowed mothers, has proved far !
more effective than the old system of
allowing the home to be broken up
and the children placed in institu- ?
tions. And, further, that the system
of allowing the mother to handle j
actual funds in the management of
her home made for a condition of
self-respect that never could be
reached under the old poor laws,
whose operations were patent to
every merchant in the neighborhood. ;
WThen it is realized, as one speaker
stated, that approximately To per
cent of the crimes in the state are
committed by children, and that of
those youthful criminals 75 per cent
become so because they lack the
comforts and pleasures of home, not
to mention the necessaries of life,
the value of home influence cannot
be too much stressed.
The individual attention and af?
fection required by children from the
moment of their birth cannot be sup?
plied in any institution. The tie of
blood is strong and the mutual self
respect developed in family life is
the beginning of loyalty. And if
the state preserves the family unit
intact in cases where illness or '
misdemeanor of the father is likely !
to disrupt it, loyalty and respect for ?
the state follow. There can bo no
more dangerous citizen than one
whose childhood has been neglected.
In the end the state must pay.
Youngsters of Seventy
Not content with supplying the
military genius for winning the war
and the political skill for making
peace, the seventy-year-old young- .
sters of France are showing their '
zest for life and adventure by
marrying. Marshal Petain was the
first to go. Anatole France followed :
?in his seventy-sixth year?and \
Camille Flammarion, his 6enior by
two years, joins the group. There
were rumors that Clemenceau was
matrimonially minded, but he dis?
missed the report by going off to
India to shoot tigers instead.
There was much complaint among
radicals everywhere, during and af?
ter the war. against "these tire.. oH
! men" that they were running things.
! The assumption was that old age
! was necessarily conservative and set
t and lacking in "pep." As a matter of
j fact, the criticism was comical as ap
; plied to Lloyd George, for example
j who on his critics' own showing was
not sufficiently "set," and if Clemen?
ceau was set it was backed by a
! vigor and an attack much more sug
; gesting ? husky young boxer than
' an elderly has-been. Perhaps some
! youngster might have shown more
' daring imagination and swift deci
' sion than Foch or Retain, but it is
hard to conceive how.
As for the inimitable Anatole
! France, he has turned distinctly
radical in his late seventies, antl to
' day stands shoulder to shoulder with
j that youthful r?former, Romain
' Rolland, who was born on January
' 20, I860, and is, therefore, a strip
; ling of barely fifty-four. Evidently
I there is something wrong with the
I dope which rates all young men as
hopeful radicals and all old men as
pessimistic mossbacks. There are
enough exceptions in both classes to
make one wonder whether years
! have anything at all to do with de?
veloping conservatism. A family un
1 doubtedly has?children especially?
! and property almost always. But
? true radicals and conservatives are
? born, not made, it can be maintained,
; and the years only develop their
! tendencies.
Calvin Coolidge Says
l (From his add re s it before the Na?
tional Association of Wool Manu?
facturers, Boston, February 11,
1920)
We saw daring the wnr that our
country could not live unto itself
: alone. We are in a league of Nations
, by fact, whether such a League of
N'ations be written upon parchment or
not, and it is not possible for us to
escape the obligations that arise from
our condition. We did not escape
them during the war; we do not pro?
pose to escape them now. ft is the
! part, o? America to cooperate not
merely for the purpose of saving Eu?
rope, but for the purpose of protecting
America itself.
Cox's Newspaper Says
; (From, an editorial entitled "Our
German Friends," in The Dayton
Daily SeiV8, October 5, 1916)
It is reported that many of otrr
x German friends are going to voto for ?
[ Justice Hughes for President and
against President Wilson. They are
said to be unfriendly toward the Presi
I dent because of his attitude- upon for?
eign questions. Indeed, some of them
; accuse the President of being unneu
tra! toward Germany.
? ? ? ? *
We do not believe that ?11 of our
German friends, or anything like a ma- j
jority of them, have so lost their love
for the fatherland as to line up on the
side of those who find fault because '
this government did nut go to war with
Germany over the invasion of Belgium, i
We do not believe that they are so dis- j
loyal to'their friends and j-elatives who ;
are fighting for what they believe to bo j
right, as to give aid and comfort to j
the worst enemies of Germany in this j
country -namely, the rabid Roosevelt !
and his personal choice for President.
We do not believe that these sober, staid '
citizens, Americans as they are, but !
sympathizing with their loved ones j
across the water, will vote for the can- |
didatw of the man who says those same ;
loved ones murdered men, women and
children and ought to have been at- ]
tucked by the United States. We do not ?
believe that these German friends of !
ours will vote against President Wil- j
?on for having written notes to Ger
many instead of having declared war i
upon the Emperor. But that is exactly
what will happen if a German sympa- '
thizer votes for Justice Hughes. He ?
will be aligning himself upon the side
oV the most rabid anti-German bunch :
in this country.
Administration Waste
To the Editor of The Tribune.
"?Mr: Apropos your latest special
article entitled "United States Wasted |
Millioni by War Policy," I thought it
would not be amiss to point out a
concrete example of how ' millions are
wasted right now.
On October 7 the writer found in his j
mail five letters from the TVeasury |
Department, Bureau of Printing and
Engraving (franked, of course,)' and !
all postmarked October r!. I was some- .
what surprised (although many of your
readers probably would not have been)
to find that tho content of each en- j
velope was identical?namely, a multi
graphed form letter. It is no wonder
(hut paper is so scarce and expensive
and that taxes are so high.
You are certainly to be commended
on showing again so clearly the j
scandalous extravagance and wasteful- ?
ness of the Administration during: the
war. Most certainly any one at all ac- !
quHinted with the operation of the j
army or navy or any of the war ;
agencies will know these facts to be .
true and without exaggeration.
THREE GOLD STRIPES.
New York, Oct. 11, 1920.
5 Cent Postage to South America
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: I take the liberty of asking
you to kindly publish the fact that ,
foreign postage on letters to South '
America is five cents, not two cents, as
so many people appear to believe. ?
Any one wishing to know the exact
ratea to different countries can obtain
such information from the local post- j
office. In the event of a letter not car?
rying sufficient postage a fine, equiva
lent to double the missing postage, is >
imposed upon the receiver of the let- '
ter. It is very annoying to corre?
spondents to have to make good this '
deficiency and shows a gross ignorance j
on the pan of the sender. A. E. U.
Santiago, Chile, Aug. 28, 1?:'0. '
Il.""".~ /"~." ~~~::'
I ThcConning Tower
! _______ ft .._:?
A Ballad of the ??reat War
Ofi, 'twas back in the f_.ll of '17 thai 1
went ft? a volunteer.
For the war was raging across the ?fa
and ?lie war w? raging here,
! And every lad liad a khaki ?nit and "
sweater and l.elmcl knit,
And a shiny mirror made of tin and n
kkaki comfort kit.
, And every lad had a luminous watch an!
a pair of Munson ?hoes.
'< And the Poems of Robert Service bound
, in the leather that's known as oo/e.
Oh, some may call it a glorious war, bill
we soldiers knew 'twas hell,
I We were stationed up at Ithaca at a place
that they call Cornell;
And they ?rammed us full of all sorts of
things, and they drilled us from mom
till night.
And we learneci to master the Lewis Gun
and 1 he 1 lieory of Might.
And as we lay at the close of ?Jay on oui
cols when our work was through,
[ Some guy from a bunk near mine would
spoul " Ihr- Shooting ol Dan Megrew,"
*? es, ihey drilled us hard and they crammed
us Worse 111 I our heads they were
busting full,
i And they rode us, too, and the worst of
? the crew was a Lieut, known as h rank -
lin Bull.
No, 1 never harked to the cannon's roar
nor the shriek of a shrapnel shell.
And my only Huns were the waiter men
at the I iliaca Hotel.
Yet I shudder to think of the horrors ol
war that I suffered at Cornell U?
A? I listened in bed through the silent nigh
to "fhe Shooting of Dan Megrew."
A fellow named Charlie Hoffman used t<
recite it each night at mess,
I remember I hanksgiving dinner, when hi
performed it with gr*at success.
Dick Eustis and young John Meany, and
need I name any more?
I \vhy, Henry Churchill did it, and tha
warrior. Jack Hoare.
?
; Now' this cruel war is ended, just a? Miln?
once said it would,
! And I'm through with the horror; of war
fare; I'm a veteran now for good.
And I'm done with the wel! known army
henceforth and forevermore,
And they'll have to catch me first befor
1 11 sign for another war.
; For my soul is wearing a Service strip
for the suffering I've been through,
From the Poems of Robert Service an'
"The Shooting of Dan Megrew."
Flaccus.
Dear, dear! Just ns we were certain
of awarding the 1920 watch to G. S. R?
along cornea this jpyous piece of criti?
cism by Flaccus. Wo are torn with
doubt.
When Julian ?Street's Mr. H. Bell
Brown has visitors in New York he
doubtless directs them to the Hotel
Wolcott, which is locntcd, take it from
the stationery, at "Thirty-first Street
by Fifth Avenue."
If you want to write Mr. Brown a
letter full of synthetic warmth, ad
dross him "Dear H. Bell Brown."
Listening to Mr. Leopold Godowsky
play convinces us that he is the Wat?
son M. Wnshburn of tho piano.
BALLADE. OF REFLECTION
The Eagle ccream.<i as it shook its wing?
And showed the wiiy to ill? far-off shore;
The heart of me leapt, with the thought of
thins?
For a man to ?Jo in a righteous war.
I heard no sound but the one word, "Kore !"
To the old routine I said "Amen."
I dreamt o? action forevermore
And here I am pushing a pen again,
To lands pasried down from fearless kings.
To the world that was richest, in martial
lure.
Where Romance was waiting with a.11 it I
brings,
With faith and a. trembling hope, t tore
Over the seas to make a noore !
To throttle a dragon within its den !
To treat my ears to the battle's roar !
And here I am pushing a pen again.
I heard the Bong that the bullet sings.
In Flanders I heard the oaths they swore :
I felt the courage that blindly springs
To the will, and carries you on and o'er,
I know the love that is each man's .tore.
The horrible hate of each I ken,
I learnt It all on war's grim floor
And here I am pushing a.pen again
! 'ENVOI-,
Romance, you are tickle, the _ame as yore;
You gave me u draught from your cup ami
then
You left me thirsty and parched ?ml tor?.
And here I am pushing a pen again
Elmo P. Abbiati.
If the heart of tho world should
break while either Governor Cox or
Senator Harding is President, there
are enough medicino? advertised in
The Dnyton News or The Marion Star
that would, it seems to ?is mend it
over night.
Senator Harding', according to his
statement, is for a league, not for Th?
League. It is a question of articles,
and he is in favor of the indefinite
article, except, always. Article X.
When Mr. Herbert Parsons says that
all Senator Harding's talk is mush, he
may be right. But 99 por cent of all
talk is mush; an?! about 07 per- cent'
of all writing.
"Passion" is advertised, in Photoplay ?
Magazine, as "A Mighty Epoch of the
Screen." Written, perhaps, as H. S. L,
suggests, by that great epoch poet.
Epoch tetus.
"Window Dressing Now a Fine Art,"
headlines The Times. "We have some
fine artists across tho way," writes H.
S. A., "who reverse the process."
Even so careful a historian as The
Globe's Mr. Alfred W. McCann refers,
to Chester A. Garfield.
Robins Appear Far From Unbeaten.
- Evening Post headline.
They do seem a long way from un
daunted.
"Just let me pitch to that fellow
again," sai?! Pitcher Smith, referring
to Burns. But suppose f'levcland |
doesn't win the 1221 pennant?
F. P. A. !
HOOCH, MON!
Copyright, " 920 N>w Tribune M
The High Cost of Strikes
Chapter XII
StHr\ing at the Roots of Americanism
B\) Marshall Olds
<"rhi-i is one of a trrics of thirteen
articles appearing upon this page daily.)
! Copyright. 1920, New York Tribune Inc.
In 1220- in what is known as the
Dark Ages ? when Clan Alpine and
^ Clan Donald got into a dispute
! over the fishing rights on Loch Lomond,
j they, as n matter of course, immedi
? ately gathered their warriors and
! marched against each other. Cattle
belonging to the innocent, neutral farm?
ers along each lino of march were
slaughtered. Harvests were trampled
or burned. Neutral villages through
! which they passed or fought were pil
. Inged and many innocent villagers
? killed. Such things were merely the
' natural and unavoidable incidents of a
1 system of unrestrained private wars.
Every One Suffers
In 1920, when the carpenters and
metal workers get into a dispute as to
| which is to have tho prerogative of
hanging metal doors with wooden
cores, they too, as a matter of course,
immediately strike against each other.
The painters, finishers and many other
workers have to stop work and go
without their wages until the doors
are hung. Tenants cannot move in.
Costs and losses pile up and rents must
later follow. Such things are merely
the natural and unavoidable incidents
of unrestrained private strikes.
In the early years of the fifteenth
century the powerful Dukes of War?
wick maneuvered the royal houses ol
York and Lancaster into the blood>
Wars of the Roses, which brought
slaughter or death by starvation oi
plague to over a quarter of all the com
mon people of England, in the hope that
one of the Warwicks might b??come king
Within the last two years of th<
twentieth century certain state leaden
of the powerful coal miners' unior
maneuvered the national leaders int?
the great coal strike, which meant i
light with the national government an?
billions of dollars' loss to the whol
American people, in the hope tha"
they might themselves become the na
tional leaders of the coa-1 union.
When Charlemagne died in 834 an
the las*, great Roman Empire broke ui
our ancestors faced the problem of de
veloping an entirely new political or
ganization with only human nature a
a guide and motive force.
Great robber barons held the Ian
and warred with one amener over ever
petty ambition or jealousy without re
straint or scruple till no peasant in a
Kurope could plan? a crop without a
even chance that it would be fougti
over and destroyed before h? coul
harvest it.
When Classe* Ruled
To defend themselves from the ua
or.s the merchants and workers of th
cities built strong walls and traine
or hired armies. But, once safe an
strong themselves, they began to ui
these armies to settle their tradir
jealousies and extend their power.
Even the peasants in desperatio
built for themselves safe retreats i
the deep woods or mountain caves an
banded together in camorras or oth?
organisations for their own prptd
tion. But they, too, once safe then
selves, fell into the spirit of the a*.
and soon were fighting with baroi
and burghers and oppressing othi
peasants as unscrupulously as any ro'
ber baron had ever oppressed them.
The Dark Age^ were the dark age
and all Europe, instead of producir
and going ahead, bled and starved, w:
t plague ridden and stood still,
?because Europe was organized by
groups and classes, and ail these
groups and classes only schemed and
i thought and fought to advance their
| own interests without a conception of
| any common interests or rights.
A generation ago our forefather*
j were forced to unite to protect the
public, interest against a .special group
of industrial robber barons who had
arisen through our rapid economic de?
velopment and who tried to put their
special group interests above the com?
mon interest through control of oui
economic necessities.
In the tirst year of this century th<
Supreme Court in a number of de
icisions restated as basic American lav
that the rights of all the people wen
superior to the rights of any group o
people in our economic life just a
well as in our political life.
The Supreme Court declared in th
meat trust case (169 U. S., 375 t;..?
"though the several acts charged may b
lawful, the whole plan [to restrai
trade, decrease supply and so rais
prices to the people may make tl
parts unlawful." And again in the t<
bacco case the Supreme Court declar?
"there is no possibility of frustra'.in
public policy again referring to a
tempts to stop free manufacturing ai
trading, decrease supply and rai
prices] by resorting to any disguise i
subterfuge of form."
Yet, within twenty years of our ha
fought and sweeping victory for t
common interests of the whole peor.
against the ?special interests of o
modern robber barons, our ??. di
camorras, organized doubtless for nec<
sary self-protection, p.re to-day maki
a more ruthless, unscrupulous, dang?
ous use of their new power to promt
their own special interests, thus stopp.
our economic production, than any tri
magnate ever dreamed of.
A meriranism Infringed
Every strike, no matter what I
means a direct and total loss of a :
production with which it has to
Every strike whose whole aim is to fo
a cruelly needed readjustment of iva
or working conditions and is theref
totally justified from tho point of v
of the rights and interests of tl
ers, because, from its very nature
necessitates a tota! ami irredeemi
loss of production, pu'* these inter
and rights in direct flt-mpeti1
public rights and interests. 1;' tr
were 100 per cent of this kind and
deserved universal public sympathy. I
would nevertheless be su?-h a direct
fringement of the fundamenta -\ n
can principle that the public
always paramount that for tl
sake as well as for the public's
some other method than a strike o
to be devised to get justice
But when, as at present, the great
jority of strikes are obviously, and ?
blatantly, mere weapons in the han?
powerful, self-seeking organization
of faction.3 in organization.-, that
used not only with a wanton disregai
public interest, b i? often in a calcu
and ruthless attack upon public int
in order to fore?.- public intei
to group chauvinism, the strike U
becomes the most powerful and ail
challenge to Americanism that
American people have ever been ?
to face.
History tells us that the r<
barons "bleated like lambs" abou
fundamental right, of ?elf-prote
when they wre forced to put
private L-il.:.r-r they hl
fought thei r j : ;? - ror.
mand of a centra
gr?e, ?
the people.
We a . of
?
. . ?
selfish groups, our ?? ?- rial rob?
ber barons crie : I
- rar. 1c
!??"> v. '?!.?? ? :<?*? . t ?
Rohher liaron*
The bleating o: the robber barer
about the funda
! rotection to ju " - p%
vate ?
nato abo it th< fui
any n
what was his or r'oak hU
own anipuli
er ?Ms'
the funda t otM
to work (
under
to w o r k o r i
mote his i terestt
al! are in ?? ti gory.
It is o vve?>
nesses ta small "*.
nority, et??c entls ? ofte?
! clere*
procla med ?
reglfd'
I rest of 1 e ;: '?'
o
ft is .also i .? ? ?? ' . unan "?
ture, -.-. h ? * ? for d
icy, that ? ? "
. power
may ha\ e the ?
a rrogant ?"
, ? iup or elatt
achieves eg timate
pow?r
tory sooner or ?' ' v*:
thai ?'?:?* over"
. ?? .. leaden
-fierre'.
"empire ?' ef *?'
aa grea*
now nf
?
?
?
On the Sid* of Lahor
big
?
funda
?
?
, r in ?"
.. da??
? -
| t AI*?
ivAmi
The *' '
will appear to-morroi "Wh ?*'*
tt'aivg "o !> ' '"