New-York tribune. [volume], October 20, 1920, Page 8, Image 8

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2&iti S ?Jrf? ?r lb tm*
First to Last?the Truth: News?Edi?
torials?Advf rtisi'inenta
Member or the Au.itt Hureaii of ClrculaUofta
?? ?_?_____?^?-?*?_?_____
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 20, 1920.
Owne.1 and published dally by New York Tribun*
Ine., a New York Corporation, triden Held. 1'rpoA
denl: (J. Vemor Roger?, Viro rreaident ; Helen
Roten? Ketd. Secretary; R. B. Matfleld, Treasurer.
Address, Tribune Uulldlng. 154 Nassau Street, Xcir
York. Telephone, Deck-nan 3000
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In Two Weeks
The quick march of the calendar
through the days of the fast-flying
October gives notice that Election
Day is less than two weeks distant.
Final appeals are being made. The
campaign is practically over. The
great body of the electorate, having
made up it? mind, is not likely to
chango its opinion.
A few words in retrospect. The
canvass has been remarkable for its
auietness. The lack of a clearly
recognizable paramount issue and
of candidates of commanding per?
sonality sufficiently explain this ab?
sence of excitement.
Mr. Wilson, as the dictator of his
party, said that he wanted a ref?
erendum on the league issue. But,
having sounded the trumpet, he led
no charge. Neither from him nor
from his understudy has come any
definite word as tu what is his pro?
gram.
The controversy as to the league
obviously concerna Article X. At
times the President's position has
been that the article should be ac?
cepted as written. But, apparently
afraid of going to the people on this
issue, he has played cuttlefish--has
said that, of course, there is no ob?
jection to "proper" reservations,
thus dodging the crucial question.
So the pendulum has swung back?
ward and forward, and there is and
can be no referendum. Whoever is
chosen President, there will be no
clear mandate.
T?e course of Mr. Cox has, been
remarkable for its wabbliness. He
was nominated as a wet and as un?
connected with Wilsonism. Then
he journeyed to Washington and
switched to Wilson. Not finding the
results good, the next shift was to
bring forward the campaign fund
issue as dominant. When this fell
f!t>t Mr. Cox went hack to the
league, and since has oscillated be?
tween being a reservationist and an
anti-reservationist. Where he now
stands no one can confidently say.
It seems a case of anything to get
elected.
On the other hand, Mr. Harding,
who has been a league reservation?
ist, has stuck to the course he
marked out in his acceptance speech.
He voted twice for ratification with
reservations, but as to the future
he would make no precise promises.
He was still in favor of an associa?
tion of the nations for peace, but
what could or should be done de?
pended on our allies,, on the Senate,
on events yet to happen. He did noi
proposo to repeat the President's
blunder and appear with an un?
changeable sc,heme. To his mind
this would be certain not only to
beat the present league, but any
other. Great effort has been made
to misrepresent Senator Harding,
but he has refused to budge.
On the other issues the President's
party has made a pitiable exhibit.
It practically admits all the grave
charges brought against it. Its ex?
travagance, its inefficiency, its sur?
render to the will of one man who
so distrusts his fellow creatures and
the public as to be unwilling to ad
vi e with anybody?these things are
undenied. It is with reference to
them rather than the league issue
that the electorate has made up its
mind? has the fixed belief that eight
years of Wilson is enough for one
generation.
Upholding the Rent Laws
Justice Finch deals concisely with
the fundamental issue raised by the
rent laws. Are they constitutional?
The laws were passed as an exercise
of the state's police power. An
emergency was declared to exist
serious enough to justify temporary
interference with some of the land?
lord's former privileges.
The justjee holds that the Legis?
lature was comp itenf to decide that
such an emergency existed. Courts
do not feel called upon to intrude
into the domain of political action.
Thf? only question remaining is
whether thv means employed are
reasonably adapted to secure the end
sought. Justice Finch says that
they are. The present housing
shortage grows out of war condi?
tions. The laws are supplementary
war measures. They must be con?
sidered from th; I point of view.
The landlord who atks for a free
hand to raise renta and evict ten- '
ants fails to recognS? that the state '
has the right and power to restrain
hi n in the public interest. It really
restrains him also in his own inter?
est. The prime need to-day is a
stabilization of occupancy. And oc?
cupancy can be stabilized without
material hardship to the landlord. ?
He can go into court in any case in
dispute and have a judge determine
what is a fair and reasonable rental.
The Story of the Mules
Senator Lodge, drawing his facts
from officials records, tells the story
of tho war mules.
Counting their half-brothers, the
horses, as members of the mule
family, the War Department fur?
nished 391,000 to the military serv?
ice. To saddle them it bought 015,000
saddles, to harness them more than
1,000,000 sets of double harness, to!
brush them 1,637,000 brushes, to
?halter them 2,158,000 halters, to j
blanket them 1,148,000 blankets, and
? to nose-bag them, so that they could
I cat their oats comfortably, 2,029,000
\ nose bags.
The mules, according to all ac?
counts, served gloriously. But it
was no more than gratitude re?
quired. Never were transport ani?
mals so looked after. As a crown?
ing compliment, to brand them no
less than 195,000 branding imple?
ment ; wei'e bought?not made out
! of ?vulgar iron, but of expensive cop?
per, which a friend of the Adminis?
tration liad the honor of supplying.
Being impudent enough to tell the
story (a story which suggests what
became of the billions furnished by
taxpayers and bond buyers), there
is but one way to characterize Sen?
ator Lodge. He is a malignant and
narrow-minded little creature whose
heart is full of malice. It is con?
temptible in him to bring dishonor
on the country by complaining of
the way the public treasury was
emptied. Can he not see that the
War Department chief was so busy
thinking high thoughts that he had
i no time to bother about what be?
came of other people's sordid money?
Offended Majesty
President Wilson's letter to Sen?
ator Harding carried at least the im?
plication that the so-called Logan
law might be invoked against Ameri?
can citizens presumptuous enough to
discuss foreign relations even in?
formally with the officers or agents
of another government. The Logan
law prohibits such intercourse, writ
? ten or verbal, "with an intent to in
; fluence the measures or conduct of
any foreign government, or any offi?
cer or agent thereof, in relation to
any disputes or controversies with
the United States, or to defeat the
measures of the government of the
United States."
So far as discussion of the League
of Nations covenant is concerned,
there; is evidently no dispute or con?
troversy between our government
and any foreign government. The
only semblance of a dispute arises
from the fact that the Administra?
tion has pictured the major Euro?
pean power, as hostile to the Senate
n ervations, whereas many Euro?
pean stat< men have disclosed quite
the contrary opinion. The offense
hint td at, therefore, probably con?
sists in having attempted "to defeat
measures of the government of the
United States"?the President's ef
, fort to coerce the Senate into accept?
ing his draf of the treaty being in?
terpreted as such a measure.
Is the President, singly and solely,
"the government"? Mr. Wilson,
more than any of his predecessors,
has sought to inculcate and enforce
that doctrine. The Senate is a co?
ord natc branch of the treaty-mak?
ing power. Its members would seem
1 to have the right to gather informa
I at K-a. t informally?as to the
attitude of another government
toward a pending treaty. But Mr.
Wilson denies tins. He perempto
ri y c?a: ?fies Si nator Harding as "a
private citizen" intruding into a
; sacred domain into which it is crim
j ?nal for such an outsider to enter.
Snator Harding can take care of
'himself. The White House threat
of prosecution for Une majest? need
not trouble him. The President
knew about Viscount Grey's con
? versations with Senators while the
? >\ : as under discussion. But
irder any arrests. There
is little prospect of Harding's incar
' cerat?on.
I There are others, however, against
whom wat rants may be written out
' and served. The Ri -ht Rev. Will?
iam Anderson, Methodist Episcopal
p of Ohio and Kentucky, told in
n la: : Sunday night how he
: talked in England with Lord Hal
Ai r. Balfour about Ameri?
can re ser v? ns, and found that
they were i I opposed to them. This
is a clear case of infraction of the
n law, if the President's con
? E ?1 is correct, and the
; Bishop's conversation, developing
skepticism as to utter sufficiency of
the cavenant as it stands, tended to
"a measure of the govern
m ,"
rh( re are also the ingenuous of- I
ficials of the League to Enforce
Peace, who, according to the coun- |
sel of tho Kenyon committee, held '
communication with Lloyd George, I
Lord Robert Cecil, the German ?
Chanee?er and others regarding the
initiation of both the United States
and Germany into the League of
Nations. They violated the Logan j
act, says the committee's counsel,
because they ignored the monopoly
claimed by tho President over rela?
tions between the United States with
other nations. Will Mr. Wilson ar?
raign them in a Federal court? Or
will ho shrink from an experiment
which might explode his congenial
assumption that he and the United
State, government aro ono and in?
divisible, as inseparable and inex?
tricable as he had onco hoped to
make the covenant and the treaty?
Mr. Wclls's Condescension To?
ward the Past
Wo wish that Max Becrbohm or
our own Clarence Day would draw a
cartoon of Mr. Wells in his recently
struck attitude of snubbing the past.
That universal history into which
Mr. Wells has thrown his usual
energy and wisdom and imagination
is a fine thing, but we own to a real
i irritation at those passages wherein
the heroes of history aro put in their
places for not doing or inventing
things which any schoolboy of to?
day, with a smattering of the scien?
tific method could turn off with his
left. hand.
We did not suppose that any one
could make the scientific attitude
hateful, but Mr. Wells comes peril?
ously close to doing it. The ten?
dency to make myths out of history,
with the consequent expansion of
conspicuous individuals into world-]
bestriding heroes, needs counter ac?
tion, it can gladly be conceded. Also
the Alexandrian Greeks were, doubt?
less, terrible dubs for not inventing
printing or at any rate a device for
rolling their scrolls back and forth,
as Mr. Wells suggests. But zeal for
the truth has led to an underesti-j
mate of heroes and an exaggeration
1 of our present-day wisdom. Are not
ail ages dubs in most respects?
Wisdom after the event is a sadly
cheap commodity, is the broad an?
swer to such writing. The career
of Napoleon may have been acci?
dental and meaningless, as Mr. Wells
implies; so are most adventures, |
most achievements, of the human j
race. The point is that through his!
scientific prepossession Mr. Wells j
overestimates enormously the pos- '
I sible influence of conscious design,
| foresight, in the destiny of peoples.
He underestimates grievously the
importance of subconscious achieve?
ments by individuals and races. And
judging his heroes and races by this
false standard he is inevitably con?
descending.
As a matter of fact, no eras have
ever achieved a rounded success.
The excellencies of Greece were
counterbalanced by obvious failings.
Rome contributed much and sub?
tracted much. Are we of the twen?
tieth century in any position to snub
these partial successes merely be?
cause we have put through an amaz?
ingly swift achievement in the nar
! row fields of science and material
progress? Most folk are feeling a
shade modest these days, we think,
and only a colossal and immortal
cockney, bestriding the Thames,
could look back to the Parthenon and
Stonehenge and Ghizeh in any other
| spirit.
The Facts About Coal
The full truth of the present coal \
situation is difficult to arrive at be- j
cause conditions of the trade are so j
complex and far reaching. Yet, as
far as they can be gathered, salient
facts appear to be as follows:
Old-line or regular companies were,
as usual, shipping anthracite here in
considerable quantities when toward ;
the close of the summer mine work- j
eis went on a strike which they1
euphemistically called a "vacation." |
The strike stopped coal from coming |
to market. By the time the nun
went back to work the government1
ordered the old-line companies to
rush all the anthracite they could to
the Northwest and to Canada, be?
cause ice would stop navigation in
the Great Lakes about the middle of
November, after which the North- j
west would get no more.
Then, it is alleged, some of the so
called "independent" operators and
sales agents not under obligation to
supply the Northwest seized the op
|portunity to jack up prices for coal
which they were sending to New
York, New England and other East?
ern states. Retail merchants ap?
pealed in vain to old-line concerns. \
11 s< regulars continued to quote
; prices of from $8 to $9 a ton at the
mines, but were unable to semi coal
here, for the Northw item and
Canadian needs had not bei n mi c.
Whereupon, recording to retail mer?
chants, "independents" had the
hardihood to demand almost 100 per
cent more at the mines than was
being quoted by regulars, who, how?
ever, had no coal to spare. After
this came the orgy of mounting
prices to retailers, which is said to
be still in progress. A very limited
amount of anthracite can be ob?
tained, retailers say, but at prices
almost prohibitive.
The Attorney General is under
stood to be "investigating the mat?
ter." It is said that he has "experts" \
going over accounts of old-line com?
panies to see whether they are prof- \
iteering. Possibly some of them are.
But if Mr. Palmer really means busi?
ness he will broaden his investigation
to include the "independents" and
the chains of speculators who are
selling over and over again from
on? to another trains an ! cargoes of
anthrac te which the public needs.
Months ago the Administration
was warned that the present situa
tion would develop unless steps were
taken to prevent it. The Adminis?
tration failed to take those steps. If
the Attorney General has difficulty j
now at the eleventh hour in obtain?
ing proof of coal profiteering, let
him subpoena a hundred or five hun?
dred retail merchants from various
pai-ts of the country to produce bills
showing just what they are com?
pelled to pay for the little anthracite
they can get from "independents" in
order to tide customers over the
pinch. Unless these retail merchants
themselves are guilty of falsehood in
private conversation, flic Attorney
General can obtain from them evi?
dence to warrant drastic action.
Experienced men in the trade
point out that when navigation closes
about the middle of November the
old-lino companies should at once
commence to ship large quantities of
coal to this and other markets, and
that the present acute shortage
ought not to last beyond the first of
?December?this happy outlook, of
course, only in case the mine workers
| do not decide on another "vacation."
Meanwhile, the public may be ex?
cused for wondering how it; is going
to get along during the six weeks
remaining between now and Decem?
ber 1. Added to this is the proba?
bility that the strike of British
miners, unless quickly checked, will
bring about a fuel situation of un?
precedented seriousness throughout
the world. Unless measures prompt?
ly are taken to conserve sufficient
coal for the American people it is
difficult to see what the outcome will
be even in this country.
Though not solicited by the Re?
publican party, tho correspondence
between the "United States" and
Senator Harding is greatly appreci?
ated. Another letter to a public
character from one about to become
a private citizen would be welcome.
__________?.
Every time Cox manages to get !
a one-man top up over his cam- j
paign Wilson comes along and sits !
under it.
Calvin Coolidge Says
(From his address before tlic Re
publican Commercial Travelers'
Club, Boston, April 10, 1920)
It will do no good for the nation to
ask for an increased compensation in
money with the expectation that it may
find itself thereby able to purchase the
same amount of food, clothing and
shelter and the other necessaries of
life that, it had before the war. These!
materials are not in existence. They
were used up in the great contest.
Thev cannot be recreated by having
money. They can only be brought into
existence by the effort of production.
The great thing to-day is for each indi?
vidual to think of himself in terms of
the nation, for if each of us attempts
to escape, his part of the burilen of the
work that elTort will result in nothing
but gen'ral disaster.
The value of money lies in the rise
to which if can be put. It is of little;
use in itself, as was told us by the |
Greek fable of the man who found ev?
erything he touched turned to gold.
We can go on increasing all kinds of
compensation, but we shall find in the
end that the gradually increased com?
pensation will be worthless because it !
will not Duy anything.
Time Servers in the Navy
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The Tribune is doing an excel-!
lent and patriotic service in exposing
the demagogue who has so long dis?
graced the office of Secretary of the
Navy. Unfortunately, your analyses of
his buffoon-like acts and partisan ac?
tivities, of his assaults on the morale of
the navy, inevitably bring up the ques?
tion, "Why was he allowed to follow hi >
chosen and vicious path without pro?
test ?"
The answer is that h* surrounded him?
self with time se: vers who either lacked
t'nc courage to speak up in defense of
the service and its glorious traditions or .
v. ho preferred the material benefits of
subserviency to the respects of their1
colleagues. In so doing they have
harmed the navy almost bey rid re .
edy and earned its lasting cont< mpt.
Years of good administration will be
required to restore it to its former con?
dition, physical and mora', so di adly
are the blows they have encouraged its
worst enemy to indict. NAVY.
New York, Oct. 15, L920.
Cheap Leather and Dear Shoes
To tho Editor of The Ti ibui i.
Sir: While we have paid $15 for a
pair of s.'i shoes we have been told by
the retailers that this puce was the
result of the wicked pn fiteering of
the leather companies. Now that
Katie"- has taken a great dren i .e
president of the retailers ad\ ses that
tven at the present low price of
leather it will only make a differ? ncc
of about .".,"i cents in the price oi a
pair of shoes. Even poor old neglected
Truth can be dragged in once in a
to sirve a purpose, but do you
think the bruised and battered public
have such short m morie; as he naive?
ly assumi s? MARY HUNTER.
Mount Vernon, N. Y., Oct. 14, 1920,
Sailor Boys in the Empty Scats
To the Editor of TI e Tribune.
Sir: The fleet is back again and the
sailor boys are glad of a chance to till ?
up your automobile. These young fel?
lows are gentlemen from all parts of the
United States. Show them our parks,
monuments and public buildings, and let
them feel the hospitality of New York.
J. HOWARD COWPERTHWAIT.
New York, Oct. IS, 1920.
His Only Hope
i From The Wa ' n rton Po ?
If worst comes to worst, Harding can
remain a Senator and Cox cm k{ p on
governing, but Gene Debs simply has to I
ein in order to pardon himself out.
The Conning Tower
A Riverside Drive Chantey
(iivo to mc the opon Hoa, sailing
under Peary,
Farrngut or Fehiger or Francis
Drake 1
Troll a lay of Baffin's Bay, Michi?
gan or Erie,
Hiiron or Superior or Bosne such
! lake.
Put mo under Captain Dunn or
even General HarbordI
Let mc hear the chanteys that
the seamen* sing!
Oh to slack a leeward tack and jibe
lier hard-a-starboard!
And, oh, the lass ia lovely when
the fog bells ring!
How I crave the cruel wave and the
billow bounding!
How I love the capstan and the
marlinspike!
But the jargon of the tar, the nau
tic note resounding,
Best of all about the sea are what
I like.
Mine a homo upon the foam, on
pinnaces or cattleshipsl
This, my hearty lubbers, is the
sort of thing
I can write when all the night the
River's full of battleships
Keeping me from slumber when
the fog bells ring.
Nobody exhumed the perfect n*me
for that League of Nations edifice in ;
Geneva, but if. I), has a notion that
the White House, from 1012 to 1920,
will bo known as Ch?teau Theory.
"'Whom Are Yon 7' Said Cyril"
[From Francis Wlerman's "The Women of I
Our Block," in The Hmart Sel]
. . . a dreadful old witch, whom we
suspected had delivered her daughter Into
the Chinese laundryman's power.**
,_._
"His friends could give no reason,"
says The Stamford Advocate's cynical
reporter, "why be should have com?
mit ted suicide. He is single."
The Purr of the Pekingese
Sir: As George W. Monroe used to cry,
"I hate to have a preacher holler at me,"
so 1 hate to have a poet .shoot rhymes at me.
Still, Carroll Leja's "Purrblind" was so
well worth reading that I urn filad to have
inspired it. The dos: I described was a
Pekingese, and was? portrayed from life.
Any one who own.?, or Is owned by, a
Pekingese knows that this remarkable ani?
mal actually purrs, making a sound unlike
any other dog. In fact, the Pekingese has
so many of a cat's best qualities that one
might almost believe that the Chinese had
managed to cross the cat and the dog.
"Purr" is the only word to describe the??
the?well, the purr of a I'eke in moods of
contentment or rapture. HOMCRT HncHBS.
In New Rochelle The Standard's !
proofreader decided, too, to let it.
stand. "WANTED- Portable chicken
cook in pood condition."
RECESSIONAL
Habits of fathers, plied of old,
Changed by n law to courthouse stuff,
Find us in one short year grown cold, '
Cider and pop are quite enough;
It seems we have, without regret,
Learned to forget, learned to forget, i
G. N. C.
All the hunger strikers were dc- :
clared to have been reduced to a
severe degree of emancipation.? The !
World.
"Stet!" cried the Sinn F?iners.
The Diary of Our Own Samuel Pepys
October 17?Lay late, going last
night to Englewood, and played cro?
quet all the morning, and in the after?
noon beat E. Davis five setts with great
ease, and then played upon my con- !
cortina, the harmonics of which still '
elude me. Mispress Keysa having on i
i. beautiful green tye, 1 did admire it, !
and she gave it me, and so, with A. ]
Woollcott and my wife, home in my
petrol-waggon, and read a few pages
in S. Lewis's ".Main Street," which I '
enjoyed more than all else I have read ,
in a long time.
18 Early up, and had a good break?
fast, which our new handmaid Ellen
cooked, of some grapefruit, and eggs
and bacon, not crisp enough, and
coffee, very fine. So to my office,
where till late, and so to Sally Farn
ham's for a minuto, and found .Mistress
Ethel Cirant there, and had some J
merry talk. Home, where M. Glass j
md Mary Caroline come for dinner,
our Ellen doing well enough with the |
chickens find a peach pie. To J. :
Wi ' . and won $70 at cards, and had
??? dozen ai.,|\ iches, very fine, but M.
Glass and I lid find his cigarres a
litle drier than we liked. Home, and i
found my wife asleep, but waked her I
to ask how she liked the play "Rah," \
and she said, Eine, but don't wake me
up, so I did not, but could not sleep
till near -1.
19 Late to the office, and worked
all day at my stint, and in the eve?
ning to ?? "Hitchy Koo," with great
ntici] ns for a ; ?erry night. My
Lord Woodrow very angry at Mr.
Hani-: g
Art. X Leaves War to Proxy, Says !
Lodge. Trib headline,
?ad of to Prexy.
Said I to a Stenographer:
"The lyric loveliness of you
Brings hack an olden dream to me
Of far ?Egean :- k i o s of blue,
And gardens by a perfumed sea."
And then Bhe :;;"'^'-; my dreaming
fled?
''Ho1'/ d'y'getthatway?" she said.
C. W. W.
If Mr. H. Bell Brown can spare us
a moment, we should like him to write
a review of Mr. d orge Mrfthew
Adams's "Up," "A Little Book of Talks ,
in How to Wake Up, Get Up, Think"
Up, Climb Up, Smile l'p, Cheer Up,
V, ork l'p, Look Up, Help Up, Grow
Up." It shows, Mr. Brown might tell
us, the silver lining, and it shows !
that this "old" world, he might add, is
a pretty good place after all.
Perhaps the pub'.:, hers, though, in
a burst of candor, .-urn i: up more ac- :
cording to our own estimate.
-
" 'Up,' " says the jacket, "is a book
to give away." F. P. A,
SOMEBODY'S GOT TO STAY AND SEE THAT THE FOX
DOESN'T SWALLOW THE GOOSE
Copyright, H29, N?w fork Tribuno Inn.
?00/P5
k
By
Heywood Broun
Main Street, by Sinclair Lewis, which j
is published by Ilarcourt, Brace & Howe,
is a novel about American life which
is good enough to stand beside Zona
Gale's Miss Lulu Bett and Willa Sibert
Cather's My Antonia. In some re?
spects it is a better book. Lewis never
makes me sec great stretches of coun?
try as vividly as does Miss Gather, and
tie has not quite Miss Gale's gift for
characterization, or at any rate not her
surprising ability to turn out a com?
plete person with a few strokes, but as
a picture of the life of an entire com?
munity Lewis has done an amazingly
fine job.
Main Street is almost disconcertingly
good. It will be a good many weeks,
and perhaps months, before I can sit
down again to the easy task of turning
out copy around the familiar formula
of wailing about the failure of American
novelists to open their eyes and tell
some of the things round about which
they see. Sinclair Lewis has fairly
camped on the trail of Gopher Prairie,
his little Minnesota town of 3,000 in?
habitants, and watched it w<iking and
sleeping and at the movie shows and
in tl?- parlor, and set everything down
in his book. ' He hears ev?n better than
he sees. I can't think of anybody who
has been so unerringly right in repro
ducing talk. He is right to a degree
which is much deeper than photographic
exactness. He is able to bring in a
sharp edge of satirical observation with?
out ever letting it become blunt bur?
lesque. As a matter of fact, he is
shrewd enough not to do his satirizing
from the outside, but to catch h's char?
acters in those happy moments when
they satirize themselves. Mrs. Leonard
Warren, president of the Thanatopsis,
i; rounding out her paper on Robert
F>uriis in the afternoon which the club
has set aside for a discussion of "Eng?
lish Poetry":
"Burns was quite a poor boy and he
del not enjoy the advantages which we
enjoy to-day, except for tiie advantage.:
of the tine old Scotch kirk, where he
heard the word of God preached more
fearlessly than even in the finest big
brick church.es in the big and so-called
advanced cities of to-day, but he dit
not have our educational advantages
and Latin, and ihe other treasures oi
tl." mind so richly strewn before the
alas, tee ofttimes inattent ve feet of oui
youth, who do not always sufficient^
appreciate tiie privileges fn ly grantei
to every American lue,-, rich and p..or
Burns had to work hard and was s;orr."
times led by evil companionship inti
low habits. But it is morally in true
tive to know that he was a good stu
dent and educated himself, in strikinj
contrast to the loose way3 of so-callet
aristocratic society life of Lord Byron
cei which 1 have just spoken. And cer
e inly, although the <ords and ear's o
his day may have looked duvn upoi
Burns as a humble person, many of u
have greatly enjoyed his piee**i abou
I he mouse and other rustic subject!
with their message of hu able beauty?
am so sorry I have not got the time t
quote some of them."
Jack Elder, who owns the planin
mil!, i< replying to the question., ask?
at at. informal gathering, "Do you ar,
prove of union labor?"
"Me? I should say not! It's like this
I don't mind dealing with my men i
they think they've got any grievance
?though Lord knows what's come ove
workmen, nowadays?don't appr?ci?t
' i job. But still, if they come t
me honestly, as man to man, I'll tal
things over with them. But I'm r.c
going to have any outsider, any c
these walking delegates, or whatevi
fancy names they call themselves row
?bunch of rich grafters, living on the
ignorant workmen! Not going to
have any of those fellows butting in
and telling me how to run my busi?
ness! I stand for freedom and consti?
tutional rights. If any man don't like
my shop, he can get up and git. Same
way, if I don't like him, ho gits. And
that's all there is to it. 1 simply
can't understand all these complica?
tions and hoop-te-doodles and govern?
ment reports and wage scales and God
knows what all that these fellows are
balling up the labor situation with,
when it's all perfectly simple. They
like what I pay 'em or they get out.
That's all there is to it!"
Perhaps the gospel of Gopher Prairie
can best be summed up in the philoso?
phy which is assigned to Champ Perry
and Mrs. Champ, the oldest inhabi?
tants:
"The Baptist Church ('and, somewhat
less, the Methodist, Congregational and
Presbyterian churches) is the perfect,
the divinely ordained standard in
music, oratory, philanthropy and eth?
ics. 'We don't need all this new-fan?
gled science, or this terrible higher
criticism that's ruining our young men
in colleges. What we need is to get
back to the true word of God and a
good sound belief in hell, like we used
to have it preached to us.'
"The Republican party, the Grand
Old Party of Blaine and McKinley, is
the agent of the Lord and of the Bap?
tist Church in temporal affairs.
"All Socialists ought to be hanged.
"'Harold Bell Wright is a lovely
writer, and he teaches such good
morals in his novels, and folks say he's
made prett' near a million dollars out
of 'em.'
"People who make more than ten
thousand dollars a year or less than
eight hundred are wicked.
"Europeans are still wickeder.
"It doesn't hurt any to drink a glass
of beer on a warm day, but anybody
v. ho touches wine is headed straight
for hell.
"Virgins are not so virginal as they
used to be.
"Nobody needs drugstore ice cream;
pie is good enough for anybody.
"The farmers want too much for
their wheat.
"The owners of the elevator com?
pany expect too much for the salaries
they pay.
"There would be no more troub'e
or discontent in the world if everybody
worked as hard as pa did when he
cleared our first farm."
Naturally, we expect to come back
to Main Street in some detail. Wo may
even have to admit that there are re?
spects in which it might be better, but
it is good enough for us to d r
unqualifiedly tha* Main Street is an
achievement of th? first rank and prob?
ably as important a book as anybody
is likely to pee this season. In fact,
this reviewer is almost ready now to
depart in peace.
A Lifelong Democrat
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Now is the time to strike and
uphold "Americanism against Wilson
i:.m." The first vote I ever cast for a
Presidential andidate was in 1ST2 for
Horace Greeley; and now in 1920, being
a lifelong Democrat (ray grandfather
cast his first rote for the defender of
New Orleans against the English, that
Democratic President, Andrew Jack?
son i, I will wear the button for Har?
ding and Coolidge.
WILLIAM OSBORN.
Steltoa Height*, N. J, Oct. 18, 1920.
j The High Cost of Strikes
High Praise jor Mr. Olds s Pita far
Increased Production
To the Editor of The Tribune.
: Sir: You are to be congratulated
upon the fearless, fair and clear wit
' in which your articles on "The High
?Cost of Strikes" have dealt w;:h each
particular ease, and especially as it
applies to building cost. Your ?tate?
me!,ts are correct and the facti ha?
not been overdrawn.
Having served as an "employai
member" of a national bi . rd I wai
giver, an unusual opportunity, through
the great number if cases wh ch cam?
before the board, to i
ings of organized labor I say "organ?
ized labor" because the rec r:s of the
board will reveal the fact that practi
i cally all of the cases were brought be?
fore the board by representative! of
| labor unions, who frequently were not
employes of the company complained
of. In many instance? only a few era
ployees, sometimea less than 1 percent
of the entire force, were a party to
or seemed to have any knowledge of
the demands.
The records will also ?h?w that to
probably 'J? per cent of the industrial
? cases the wages had already been il
creased more than 100 per cent, and It
[a time when living costs had only in?
creased about 67 per cent. You tre
bringing out the narrow-minded, short?
sighted and selfish policy of the union
leaders in a way which should prote
b?n?ficiai.
Curtailment of production is ere*
more serious, if possible, than the
wage rate. The union policy of limit
ing production might be likened to the
individual living beyond his ;r.<-ome ?ni
going in on his principal. EfficleMj
and greater productive eff rt are. o.
courre, what, is necessary maintain
control of our own markets aid a fa?
portion of the markets of the world.
A high average of fair:. W
of purpose and good Bense is found to
.American workmen w *Te s0
subjected to prejudicial influen?a aae
they can be appeal? ; - : ?-??'?
I think that some manufacturen ?h?
have made announcements of a redut
. of price in ' Is h iv? ma?
an error in stating that lab r will n*{
be reduced. In to bring do?
the prices and place the gooda wit?
reach of the masses and to open r.e?
? : ita of trad' . ' ' ?>'- ?"*
be more efficient, bu1
reduced,
reduced, and I ? ? ' '!'
br'-C"
otherwise. I. oi ? 'nat
will not go back I i the pre-war nw?
In addition to the w i
tion, the manufacturer must accept
modest margin of profit and theme
chant must elim i ite pi fiteering.
This is a good I
story to the pul lie, "f *'or '
ing people, and let them ea ;ze
they must contribute to the red
in cost by being n *'
possibly accepting a gradual reduet
in wages as the living cost ?H rt"'aC .
j They can be made to see the matt'r ?
?the right light, although the *ntt09lJ?
ments to date would tend to ?
| the belief that they should not ?P
a reduction in their rate.
SEtS.
New York, Oct. 14.
"A Statue Spealfk
To tha Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: It was with a great dea!
pleasure and satisfaction that I res a
interesting article, "A Statue Sp<-??>.
in The Tribune of October ?7. 1>\sU*
that it could be published fcr a uci*
more so that "all th-j people" ?'??*
read it. J. J-?V
Yonker?, N. Y, Oct. 17, 1920. ^