New-York tribune., April 04, 1921, Page 8, Image 8

About New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

V\tH to Last?th* Troth: Nws?Edl
toriala?AflrortisomentR
Ifeatbcr of tho Audlt llurrau oi CirOttlfttioiM.
MONHAY, APRIL 4, i!V2l
*>wt>?tf ny N?n Tora Tribune Int.. * Now Ti**
C<XTOr?Moo. PiiMUhrt dally. Orlrn R?ld rii?t
<}?it; O. V?n?.-T Rocen Vkwlhr?stdent; Heloti
Kocoro ReM, ft.-orrtirr ; B T. Majltold. Treejurer,
i4dr*tv Trtbnne 8ulld(nt. 154 Ntutu street. Nen
Tefa. Telefhon*. ll??m?r> S>>04.
OliARANTY
VtO ea* portnan m^r-hsni'lM sdrarttttd ln TH?
?RiEUNE with sbaetste ?af?ty?for if tfttsstiafso. i
tion rvaulto lo any .??? THE TRIBUNE suarao- |
??f? t? P?., votir moaav back upon rcaueat. K'o rtd !
Upe. N? siulbbling. We mskc oood prvmptry II !
?? advirtlMf doee not.
iaVBT.1 OF THB A8SOClATrr> FRKM
Tbe Aaeoctatofl PTtn 1s ox.-lualTo'ij erlltlert to
H)0 ttse for Mpublleatton of all now* dlspatche* ;
arotflted to (I or not etnenrlae credlted lo this I
paper, and ?lao Ihe looal Lfwj ?: ?pontaneoua
? .!.:. ?ubli?hed h?r*H.
All rtclita oi remh'.'.catlesi .t ?:". eUler tteUot
taialn ai<? are i??r-ieu.
The Best From Anywhere
The net loss In operating the Ship- i
ping Board is more than $1,000,000 j
a day. Some estimates put 1 he fig
ures as high as $500,000,000 a year. j
The sum is large, yet The Tribune bo- ;
Heves that tho establishment of an
American merchant marine on a
sound basis is worth a very large !
Initial expenditure?perhaps even as '
iarge as that indicated. If there is to .
be a permanent American merchant
marine it is surely vital for govern- !
ment aid to be extended during the j
present period of world-wido stress.
But in view of the country-wide de
mand for governmental economy and
a resulting reduction in taxes The-j
Tribune also believes that the man- j
agement of the Shipping Board
siiould be by a man wdio knows the \
shipping business, a man of demon- \
strated ability in that business, a -
man, in short, who will get as many I
cents of value for every dollar the '
government spends in establishing -
an American merchant marine as is
possible.
If, as reported, President Harding j
is considering the appointment of R. '
'A. C. Smith, of New York, the Presi?
dent is to be commended. Mr. Smith
knows shipping. He is a good ad
administratos, as he. has demon
strated, not only as Dock Commis
sioner of America's greatest port,
but as vice-president of a corpora?
tion which perhap3 is the?most
spectacular success of all American
steamship companies, the United
? Fruit Company.
There will be those, of course, who
?will object to his selection because
of his connection with that vague
monster, "the interests." These are
the same persons who would cry out
'against the selection of any man
whose training had fitted him for the
job. It is impossible to please them
and at the same time get a man who
has already demonstrated that he is
qualified for the big task.
But when the taxpayers are losing
$1,000,000 a day in the hope of estab?
lishing an American jnerchant ma?
rine it is far more essential that the
enterprise be made a success than
that any political group, even a
group which fears and distrusts cor
porations. shall be gratified by cater
ing to its prejudices.
Fortunately, President Harding
has shown he is not frightened by
childish anti-corporation clamor. He
has already offered the place to a1
least two men capable of handling it,
despite the fact that they were tarred
with the same large corporation stick
as R. A. C. Smith. This reference,
of course, is to James A. Farrell,
president of the United States Steel
Corporation, and to *Walter C.
Teagle, president of the Standard
Oil Company of New Jersey.
The Photo-En|*ravirig Monopoly
The Meyer-Martin bill, now be?
fore the Legisrature, patches over
a loophole in the Donnelly anti-trust
' act. It extends the anti-monopoly
provisions of the latter measure so
a3 to cover "any article or product
used in the conduct of trade, com
meree or manufacture." The court?
have held that the existing anti
trust law applies only to articles and
commodities of common use.
The need of amendment was dem?
onstrated by an inside regulation of
prices in the photo-engraving in
. dustry. In this industry it is
fharged there is a combination be
tween the engraving companies and
the engravers' unions by which the
latter establish a minimurn selling
price.
The Lockwood committee recent!y
\ uncovered many similar bi-lateral
agreements in restraint of com
petition in the building trades,
,' where "codes of practices/' manipu
lated by a central go-between, had
produced a frozen market. This
" "union of insiders against tb.s out
?ider is vicious in principlo and
harmful in operation. it haa sad
construction with a.rbitrarily in
ftated costs and aggravated the I
.iiousing thortage. The building
, groups have confessed their sins in
court and promised repentance. In
the photo-engraving business simi
Iar collusive toll is taken from the
publishers of newspapers, books and
periodicals. But the photo-engravers
claim immunity because their prod
uct/*nnot be classecl^as a/ necessity.
!9m ?t*t* in committcd to the
theory of free competition, so far
a* individual citizens or corporations
are concerned. Monopoly is n right
i i rved to the sovereign?that is,
the comniunity. Persons or groups
who prnctice it usurp a govcrn
mental privilego. lf the engraving
c mpani >s and their employees co
operate to flx prices they also trench
on tho natural ri;rl ts of those who
purchase their product. Monopoly
I price mahipulntion are obnox
ious '?. under any circumstances if
they are practiced by one group to
the injury of another. The state
cannot he expected to tolerato 0
closed, non-competitivo market, ex
cept in fields in which it has itself
assumed monopolistic powers for the
common benefit.
A Tragc?dy of Inexpertness
In his artiele- in The Saturday
Evening Post on Premier Orlando
Mr. Lansing puts in a few words
his rea! objections to tho Versailles
Treaty and hia oxplanation of its
failure to flnd acceptance here. He
says that Orlando was the only
member of the council who iiad the
legal or diplomatic experience nec?
essary for his task. The others
were political leaders solely and
out of place at the table at which
a world settlement waa to be made.
From Mr. Lanaing's point of
view, which is that of a trained in?
ternational lawyer, Lloyd George
lacked historical background and
1; nowled.ee and was a political
opportunist. President. WTilson
'"thought like a professor advocating
a pet theory and expanded his
philosophic ideas in a series of epi
jrrams which wounded well, but
which were diflicult of practical ap?
plication, if not of definition."
Clemenceau knew what he wanted,
but depended too much on others to
reduce his principles to eoncrcto
phraseology. Tho most competent
of the "Big Four," Orlando, had the
least influence on tho council's
decision s.
Mr. Lansing accepts the gen?
eral notion that the Paris ne
gotiations represented a conflict
between altruism and selfishness,
between the theoretical and the
practical, in which Mr. Wilson.
fighting for the higher standards,
"was outmaneuvered by the forces
of self-interest and opportunism."
This description may appeal to
many minds, chiefly liberals and
radicais, whose extravagant faith in
the Pre?ident was. so completely
snuffed out by the peace settlement.
Yet lt wasn't the outcftme of this
conflict which influenced the United
States to reject t'ne treaty. There
was little opposition here to any of
its sections but that which contained
I the League of Nations Covenant.
The Senate didn't balk at the set
j tlement with Germany, but at
| Article X and the world superstate.
; For these ihe "selfish" statesmen of
! Europe were not responsible. They
, emanated from the President him
i self. The real indictment which Mr.
i Lansing has drawn in his book
; against Mr. Wilson is that the latter
| was unable to distinguish between
l what was essentiai and what was
; unessential in the constitution of
1 the league and that he sacrificed
' American ratification by obstinately
clinging to excrescences and super
< fluities. A more competent nego
j tiator could easily have drawn a
j covenant acceptable to the United
? States. The failure of the treaty is
i therefore chanteable in the main not
, to the President's surrenders to ex
; pediency, but to his disqualifieations
: aa a draftsman and diplomat.
Sea Storie*
A fanciful writer in a recent num
: her of a British business publication
, accounts in a novel way for the rise
| of the British mercintile marine.
'? The far-flung empire had little to do
with it, he says, or the will to build
ships. The important factor was
i the will of the youth of the nation to
; man the ships.
The genesis of this will is ascribed
to the latter part of the eighteenth
century, when a circular lagoon was
o.r.g in London, the famous Rouad
Pond of Queen Caroline in Kensing
j tcn Gardens. This became the ren
1 dezvous of thousands of boys with
| toy yachts. Its popularity was
! so remarkable that other "sailing
! pools" were soon gencrally provided.
; rtgattas were arranged and grown
I ups joined the children in the sport.
The British imagination turned to
! the sea,
This explanation, it would seem,
leaves unduly out of view Probisher
: and Drake, and Nelson and Benbow,
: and Spanish galleons, and the. great
pirates and pieces of eight, and Rob
1 inson Crusoe and his island, and
i other stimulants of romantic youth
; ful imagination. But doubtless the
round ponds help keep the sea tradi
' tion ulive.
1
Before long. business conditions
' having righted, we will hear the
' calls of shipping lines for native
i crews. There will be work for our
short story and scenario writers,
novelistSj dramatists, even the song
writers. Let them celebrate the de
lights of the bounding blue. A cycle
of sea stories is due, anyway, partly
as a reaction from the present pre
occupation with dull realism. From
cencentration on minutiae imagina
tions are going to fly off tangen
tially. Not. necessarlly to Treasure
Islands, but wherevcr is hope of ad
venture and escape from the com?
mon place.
To many the yo-ho language of sea
stories has been an impediment to
their best enjoymont. Prank Stock
ton's Christmas VVreck and Joseph
Conrad'a Youth?among other im
inortal yarna?are told in tho first
person by sailora. Perhaps sea nar
ratives told tn the third person, and
of Americans on American ships to
day, \vo\xh\ be widely popular nnd
useful. Anyway, however they write,
here's for sea writers! More. power
to them, and more power to the ad~
venturous young fellows they will at
tract to our ships!
The Color Line Five Stories Up
. That unidentifled hero who ap
poared on a fifth floor coping at 1646
Broadway and pullcd a man to
safety along a nnrrow ledgo while
fire raged below happened to have
a black skin. The man he saved
happened to have a whlto skin. But.
no color line was drawn?either by
Jim, tho negro porter (last nnmo not
known), or the rescued man, or the
crowd that packed Fiftieth Street
and cheered.
The color line is elaborately drawn
in any number of details of our
highly civilized society. It is forgot
ten by all hands when big things
turn up and lifo and death and other
essential maWers rule. Let us not
get too excited about the details to
forget these essentials.
Just how nearly related the black
races and the white racos are, the
scientists have not decided. Pend
ing their expert conclusions, what
better test is there than to try them
out on a window ledgo in a blazing
building, five stories above the
street?
The Railroad Users* Grievance
President Willard of the Balti
more & Ohio Railroad said at tho
dinner of the Railway Business As
sociation last week that it would bo
just as foolish for the railroads to
expect to keep rates up as for any
other industry to expect the price of
its, products to stay up. The buyers'
strike of last year forced many
wholesale price reductions. The in
dustries affected adjusted themselves
as best they could. They were nble
to do this because they were free. If
the railroads were free economic
agents they, too, would have
I gone through the general post-war
i process of liquidation and deflation.
..But they aren't free and they
i haven't been run?before tho war,
during the war or since the war?on
a true economic basis.
The ordinary war inflation pro
I cedure was reverscd and distorted in
i the casa of the carriers. The gov
! crnment allowed industries in gen
I eral to e'xpand their profit and wage
j funds, taking toll for itself by excess
and "war profits taxes. Profits and
j wages went up together, and have
latterly been coming down together.
But to the railroads, although it
was itself operating them, the gov?
ernment allowed no excess profits.
It made big wage increases, but at
the same time created operating
I deficits and met them out of the Fed
J eral Treasury.
This mistaken policy left the
j roads in a crippled condition when
they were returned to private opera
j tion. Their ineome had been mort
j gaged far ahead to meet excess costs
i?of labor and matcrial. The rate in
! creases tardily granted them failed
j to put them on their feet. They are
j tottering along under an arbitrary
! operating cost, running up to 91.8
per cent of their revenue. Nearly
all the rest of the revenue goes to
taxes.
Under these circumstances there
? can be no legitimate users' strike
; against the roads. The carriers
I would like to see rates reduced and
; traffic stimulated. A users' strike
: would be, and ought to be, against
tho policy which divorced the eco
, nomic interest of the employees and
; the employers. The government
! fixed wages and working conditions
| without proper regard to the earn
\ ing power of the railroad systems.
! The roads cannot of themselves re
, store the economic balance, Rates
: cannot go down until the govern
: ment makes it possible for them to
! go down by revising working rules.
: The railroad users' strike can have a
! real significance, therefore, only in
so far as it is a protest against the
; follies of the late Federal railroad
1 administration.
Conceit and Cabbages
One reason why the average man
hates to make a speech, after dinner
or any other time, is that it sets him
I apart from and above his compan
ions. He feols hoisted up to a plat
jform, from which he cannot talk
' naturally. He can try to, he can pre
i tend to, but there they sit, and they
'are a group, and he is a suddenly
lonely person making a speech. He
has to raise his voice and become a
larger being than his everyday self
jand utter more important or funnier
i thoughts than in mere conversation.
! The f rog who set himself the task of
swelling up as large as an ox had a
straining hard time of it, but at
least he had ambition to help him.
The average man, against all his in
stincts, must try to swell up to speak.
Many a dying, seriously wounded
or missing speaker who has collapsed
in this ordeal has observed that other
men not only speak with ease, but en
joy it. He naturally supposes they
must have some gift which he lacks.
The truth is they haven't. They don't
need a gift. They have conceit.
They habitually go about feeling
larger than the people around them,
and hence they are really more at
enso on a platform than in a group
by tho fire.
The remedy for a man who cannot
learn tn feel so important i; this:
Learn to think of other men as much
less important than usual. II* you
cannot fiwell up to a larger si/.e, or
if it mak.es you uneasy to do it, then
rcduce all your hearera to a smaller
size, just for the monicnt. The best
recipe is tho old ono of imagiuing
you are talking (o cabbages. You
wouldn't suppose that talking to cab
bages would bring out your elo
Jquence, much less your wit. But try
it. It is an exhllnrating experienee.
lt will make you feel line*
Roger BacorTs Telescope
His Microscope Also Shown in Dr.
Voynich's Cipher !Y1S.
To tho Kditor of Tho Tribune.
Sir: Tho very intorostlng letter
from Frank II. Vizetelly nhout my
Roger Bacon MS. in cipher, in your
Issue oC March 31, contnina soine inac
curacies nnd Inferencei which T shouh!
liko to corroct.
In giving Bomo information to the
press about the. leeturos on my MS., t?
bo given in Philadelphia by Professor
W. Romaino Newbold, Dr. Clarence E.
McClung nnd myself, I did>not make
the statemont that Roger Bacon in
vented or constructed a telescope, but,
1 did renent in part a pnragraph in the
announcement of theso Jccturea, which
rtat.es that the drawinj's in my MS.
provo that Bacon possessed a micro
scope of high power and a telescope
nnd that with their nid ho mr.v and
drew celestial nnd anntomical objects
which, so far as is at present known,
had never before been seen by tho
human eyo nnd wero net again to be
seen for centuries.
This is important, because many
modern histori.ins of Boieneo. differ as
to whether Bacon had constructed a
tfilo.ae.ope or only bad written on the
theory of optlcs. Mr. Vizetelly men
tions that. Dr. Smith ln his A Completo
System of Opties deducea that Bacon
never actually looked through a tele?
scope.
As to Mr. Vizetelly';', rrfci'or.co to
Alkendi and Alhazen, Bacon's predece -
sora in tha study of opties, Roger
Bacon naturally was well acquainted
with the works of thewe nnd other
Arabian mathema.ticians and constantly
quotes them in his own writings.
Mr. Vizetelly obviously is wrong in
making tha miggcstion ti'-nt the MS. in
my pos.session rnay have bcon looted by
the Germans when they oecupied Douai.
The Douai Bncon MS. (Dobai No. 691 i,
: which cont.iins five of Bacon's works,
?! is written in Latin nnd is of tho scven
teenth century. It has been describe,d
' by Professor E. A. Charles and by
rvictor Cousin in a series of five arti
! cles which appeared in the .lournal des
: Savants in 1848 and it is onumeratcd
j by Prcfessor A. G. Little, who, in 1911,
1 catalogued all the Bacon MSS. known.
My MS. was written in the thirteenth
crntury in cipher, not in Latin, and
bears no external evidence as to its
authorship. Ifc was my supposition
that Roger Bacon wroto it, but only
Professor Newbold's remarkable dis
i covery of tho key to the MS. haa proved
! that it really wns written by Roger
Bacon. WILFRID M. VOYNICH.
New York, April 2, 1921.
Mr. Lansing Appreciatetl
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: I have read in several reviews
of Mr. Lansing's book, The Peace Ne
gotiationa, that he is criticized for not
rosigning from the peace commission.
After reading this book I can fully
apprecinte his attitude, and I believe a
lnrge majority of red-blooded Ameri
cans, if piaced'in his position, would
have acted as he did.
Mr. Lansing Is not aggresslve, hut he
is persistent. llo tried his best to
heln his chief, whom he believed to be
groping in tho dark, to see the light.
He ia not a welcher and his Ioyalty
to the cause cannot be questionCd.
Day after day he nersisted, being
snubbed at every attempt; but not
taking into account hia personal feel
inga he stuck to his post and did his
duty as he believed it should be done.
It takes a man to stand the gaff.
Tho value of hia adv;co can now be
appreciated. "May I not" pay, it has
been? JOHN M. BIDDLE.
Washington, D. C, April 2, 1921.
Battlefield of the Futvire
i To tho Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Quarterdeck deprecates a
: nnited air service, and from a strictly
' naval point of view he is right.
But would the air field and its pos
sibilitieB be as apt .to reach tho fullest
, dcvelopment as a aubordinate branch?
Would it not grow and function more
effoctively as a coordinate ono?
The land requires an army, the sea
j a navy. Does not the air need a force
'devoted solely to its problems?
Iu ancient times wais wcro waged
almpst wholly on land. Mahan showed
that sea power was later the dominnnt
1 factor among the larger nattons. May
i it not be that power in the air will
1in turn supersode that?
H. G. Wells in this! week's Saturday
i Evening Post saya that hia experienee
in a department of tte British Air
| Service convinced him that tho field of
j the air would in future wars be the
I one on which the decisive bnttles would
' be fought. Are we forgetting Wash
ington's advice: "In time of peace pre
pare for war"? JOB.
Englewood, N. J., April 2, 1921.
A True Optimist
(From Tha Kanaaa' City Time*)
Baron Wrangel is feported to have
hopes that the United States govern?
ment will finance him in artother at?
tempt to overthrow tho Russian Soviet
government. Baron Wrangel is hope
ful enough to make it worth while for
tho Democrats to look him over as n
possible candidate for President.
A Hopeful View
(From Tho Clcveland Plain Dealcr)
Sir Philip Gibbs says it is only a
question of time until there is an?
other great European war. Well, geol
ogista think it is only a question. of
time until thero i? another glacial
epoch.
The Connmg Tower
Few are the misdonieanors against
Poesy not of our commlssion, but up to
tho momnnt of Bnlffling to press wo
never, never have writton Spring*
verBes ?n cold-ln-tho-head dlalect.
Our provinclal notion of a railroad
crisia in having to watch crowds as
crnding two wldely separated stairways
for a person arriving at the Pennsyl?
vania Station.
gwiBEirMjaiBrajfflaraiis^^
B ? ii
oP Gotham Glcanings Ia
12) fa
?Frank Case says the hotrl busi?
ness is getting bettcr.
?Miss Edna Fcrber was to ecc
"Mary Stuart" Wcdncsday cvc.
j ?Mrs. Herbert .Swope eelebrated
her birthday yesterday as quietly as
could be expected. j
?Jimmy Angell Yale's new prexy
is looking for a place to' livc next
I summcr, rumor hath it.
?Miss Marion Strobel Cook
I Counry Ill'a famous poetess arrived
here Saturday for a brief' sojourn.
??Yesterday was the birthday of
Miss Ethcl Frank, she receiving the
congratulations oi her many friends.
?Ncxt Sunday The Tribune will
be 80 years old and we hope to be
around to writc a piece about its
160th birthtfay.
?Herb Gorman the notcd bard
and critic was married Friday to
1 Miss Norma Wright. Much happi
. ness to both is our wish.
I --Miss Elsic Parsons, whose father
: Herb Parsons, was Gotham Glcan
j ing's first candidatc for president is
betrothed to be married to More
j head Patterson.
It 13 tho New York Central Lines
Magazine?eatholicity in reading is our
motto?discussing the engineer. "In
short," it capsules, "he miiot keep one
i ye in the cab, ono on tho rail, and
one on tho lookout for signals." Iloy,
page old n:iin Argus!
Or perhaps the N. Y. C exports ::
engineera to carry spafes.
Wherein Max Endorscs Our Theory
I t'rotn And Even Now]
K is a fact that not once in all my
] life have 1 gone out for a walk. I
: have been tak?_? 11 out for walks; bnt
that is another matter. . . . Walk
j ing for walking's s:ike may be as highly
laudable and*exemplai*y a thing as it
i.i held to be by those who practice ;'.
My objection to it is that it sti p I
? brain. Many a man has professed to
I me that. his brain never works so well
as when he i.s swinging along the
high road or over hill and dale.
This boast is not, confirmed by my
hmemory of anybody who on a Sunday
| morning has forced mo to purtake of
I his adventuro. Experience teachea me
that whatever a fellow gues; may have
i of. power to instruct or to amuse when
he is sitting on a chair, or standing
! on a hearth rug, (juickly leaves him
| when he takes ono out for n walk. '( he
, ideas that came so thick and fast to
i him in any room, where aro they now?
I where that encyclopaedic knowledge
| wliich he boro so lightly? wherc the
i kindly fancy that played like summer
: lightning over any topic that waa
! started? Tho min's face that was so
i mobile is set now; gone is the light
! from his line eyes.
A Philadelphian is making wine out
; of parsnips. Thank the stars, we
! have lived to see that the parsnip is
j good for something.? Columbia State.
I Nonsensel good wine butters no
i parsnips.
"Party who buys either of these
j cars," advertises candid Joe McNally,
I in The Jersey Journal, "I can guaran
l tee plenty of work for them."
THE SOCIAL CONSCIENCE
(Eavesdropped, by B. C, on a bus !
nearing Forty-second Street.)
"iie was a tiresomo old fool?but
Mama kep on boarding him because he
had a whole lot o' moriey?and was
sick?and had no one to leave it to.
You see he was kind o' stuck on me? j
so wlien he took an apartment for him- j
self"
"Down 'n Third Avehyah, wasn't
it"
"Yeah, I often used to go down 'n see
him?an' kind o' kid 'im along?you
know"
"Sure"
-"Oh, looka, the Public Liberry? j
open on a Sunday"?t?
"W'y not?"
"Oh, I don't know?but it don't'seem i
right"
Warning to April: Until you laugh
three continuous days of your golden
laughter, we shall not reprint William
Wataon'3 tribute.
Here is a Dulcinlus, whose matins,
confidcs Jo, run as followa: "Good
morning! What a nice morning, ex
cept for the rain! Why tho glooin ?
Don't you know that behind the clouds
the sun is .still shining? Wilt give
me another lump of sugar in my coffee
?not that I need it, you know. Well,
'au reservolr.' Your worser half ia
off to eorn your bread and jam by the
sweat ot* his brow. Expect me home
when you see me. 1*11 brinp; the cart out
some timo during tho day, if I have
a chance, so that you can have a little
airing. I wonder if all husbands are
as thoughtful of their wives. You
certainly got a prize packago when
you'' purchased me! Good-bicycle!"
He told them that a well housed, con
tented workman was a corporation's
greatest asset, and pleasant sousing
conditions would go far toward solv
ing or preventtng labor troubles.?The
Tribune.
Stet! Stet! Stct!
Commenting on Main Street, Mr. Jay
E House in the Philadelphia Pnbhc
Lcdger suspects, he writes, that the
troublc with Mr. Lewis is" his youth.
"In ten or tifteen years," he says, "he
will be able to see both sidea of th*
thoroughfare." Ah, Jay, but the trou
, ble with both of us is that we are old
that we see both sides, and that it
. givea us too much fairness and seren
! ity. Prejudice oozes with youth; and
! ar. unprejudiced writing man is tho
parsnip of scribes.
Well, we. have one quenehless prej
I udice left: We hate a Fair Mjnded Man.
F. P. A,
ALL YOU NEIGHBORS THAT HAVE BEEN WAITING FORTRr
FROST TO GET OUT OF THE GROUND BETTER
BE GETTING YOUR SEED IN!
Cupyrljtht, 1921. New York Tribune Inc,
Boofy
Heywood Broun
Cheer Up !
Present Rate of Business Failutej
The abillty to take a hint is one of
tho most endearing of qualities, which
may explain the persunsive powers of
a man mentioncd in Tho Ways of the
Circus (Ifarpors), by George Conklin.
"Life in the sister's home was far from
pleasant," says the author, "for he
waa not welcome, but he endured it
until one night, as he lay in bed, he
heard tho brother-in-law advise his
sister to put him out of tho way so
they could havo all the property. This
convinced him that it was time for him
to be getting out."
Tho Ways of tho Circus is a de?
cidedly readable book, rich in anec
dotes of the l!fe of circus folk and
circus animals. The narrator is an
old lion tamer and Harvey W. Root,
who has dono the actual writing. has
managed to keep a decidedly na'ive
quality in the talk as he sets it down.
Thcro is a delightful chapter, for in
stance, in which Conklin tells how he
first became a lion tamer. By gradual
process of promotion he had, gone aa
i'ar as nn elephant, but his salary was
still much loiler than tlrat of Charlie |
Forepaugh, the lion man. There were,
three lions with the circus, but Charlie
never worked with more than one in |
the cage nt the tfme. Conklin got the
notion that an act with all tho lions |
in action at once would be a sonsational
succcss. He was not sure that it could
be done, 83 he had had r.o experienee j
with ons. The only way to lind outj
was to try. Accordingly Conklin j
sneaked into tho menagerio alone, late j
at night, to ascertain whether or not'
lions lay along his natural bent.
"The animals seemed somewhat sur
prised at being disturbed ln?the mld
dle of the night," he says, "and began
to pace rapidly up and down their
cages. I paid no attention to this, but
opened the door of each cage in succes- i
sion and drove them out Then I began \
as sternly aa I could to order them
round and give them their cues.
"Except, perhaps, for an unusual
amount of snarling, they did as well
for me aa for Charlie. I put them I
through their regular work, which I
took fifteen or twento minutes, drove
them back, and fastened them into j
their ov/n cages and climbod down on
to the floor from the pefforming cage,
much elated with my success. I had'
proved to myself that I could bandle ;
lions."
Conklin then goes on to tell how he
gave a secret exhibition for the pro
prietor of the circus and convinced him
of his skill. In fact, the proprietor
promised that ho shouid become the
lion tamer of the show as soon as
Charlie Forepaugh's contract ran out.
Conklin goes on to sav that he him?
self was very particular for the sake
of safety not to let Charlie know of !
this arrangement. And in-^explaining
his timidity, he writes, "He was a big'
fellow with a quick temaer."
This almost embolde.is us to believe
the old story of the lion tamer and his
ehrewish wife. Coming home late from
a party, he feared to enter the house
and so he went to the backyard am!
erept into the cage with the lions.
There it was that his wife discovere^l
him the next morning, sleeplng with
the lions, and sho shook her fist an<.
shouted through the bars, "You cow
ard!"
We have received several letters
from readers who point out that Rosa
lind is not in "Twelfth Night" and fo.
a time we thought of putting in a para
: graph of frank confession of error and
! of going on to say that at last we had
looked the matter up and run her down
in "Titus Andronlcus." However, wi
j haven't the nerve to go through with it
! after reading the most indignant of
; the day's protents, whi-h runa as fol
I lows:
"So you know your Twelfth Night as
! well as tho next one! May I suggest
that you read 'As You Like It?' Of
j course I assume that you know how to
j read, but I'll admit that I'm assuming
j a lot, for if your ability to read is at all
i commensurote with your judgement of
| p'.ays and books and your general intel
1 iigence, then you don't even know the
! letter3 of the alfabet. But anyway, get
? somebody to read the aforc-mentioned
! play to you aloud and you will find to
! your great surprise in what play Kosa
; lind really occurs. I don't expect you
j to be infalliable always, but its only
j reasonable and fair to hope that a
I critic will guesa right once and a
j while. The stuff you write, for in
! stance the way you pick on Montague
Love, one of the best sereen artists in
the game, is the heighth of ignorance.
I'd recommepd you to, if possible, go
back to Harvard^for eight or ten years
more and try to get the rudiments of
an education, but I don't think they
could do it, so let me suggest that you
spend about a couple of years in the
Hopkins Grammar School of New Haven
where at least they teach you not to
mako a spectacle of yourself in the
public prints. Without fear of suc
cessful contradiction, you may be said
to be the worst critic in the business.
The only reason I read your writings
every day is to get laughs at the funny
bones that you pull. Thank God some
of ua have got a sense of humor?Yale,
1907? Scientiftc."
A few days before the big race of
six or scven years ago the captains of
the eights were introduced. "Morituri
te Balutamus," said the Harvard cap?
tain playfully. The Yale captain blushed
and looked embarrassed. "I took the
scientific course," he said.
The Vroom production of "The Mer
chant of Venice" had certainly no ex?
cess of distinctions, in spite of the fact
that at the Cort Theater on Friday
afternoon it had some expectant distln
guished persons in its audierce. But it
I did have a talking point. Two of its
performances offered two almoat per?
fect examples of the opposing Shake
! speare contentiona that the | lays
: should be read and not acted, and
| should be acted and not read. Mr.
Vroom himself read Shylock so as to
afford the text every opportunity to
shrivel and die, and it didn't. In ma
jestic mutilation it beckoned still to
the reader in a quiet room. Adrienne
Morrison, example number two, added
to the lines of Portia so much fresh
ness of emotion and such startline
beauty that no closeteer could ever
| have done "her for himself. "The qual?
ity of mercy," etc, probably by now
the. most tiresome reading in the Eng
ish language, comes to lifo with tre
mendous effectiveness, when it appears
is the plea of a persuasive giri. Or
-hould we say boy? We remain a little
hakespeare-shy.
A Time-Honored Reason
(From The Kantaa City Time;)
Now we know why last year's fruit
aa so dear in the market -it waa this
year's freeze.
u-vimosi r-xacny .\ormai
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The general assertion is that
about 90 per cent of bu sincss firms fa.!.
That's bunk. and probab'y it had xore
to do with creating failures than any
other single fool saying, not cxcepticg
Ben Franklin's "Take care o: the penee
and the pounds will take care of them
selves." (Of course they won't. If they
are not set to making money they will
make wings and fly away.)
Times are bad now, yet we read h
the Federal Reserve Monthly Eevk-w
that "the present rise in failures in
buainess is slightly more rapid than
the normal seasonal increase. But evon
so, the present rate is almost exactly
the average normal rate for failurcs
shown by record for the past fifty years.
On the average, according to Dtin's re
port from 1891 to 1920, about 1 per eer.:
of tho iirms in business failed tu'a
year." If the naturi I 1 ."?? ? f a firm is
thirty-three years, that would B?k?
cne-third of eventual failurcs.
You see the difference between 1 per
cent each year and a total of 90 per
cent.
In fact, leaving out from the total of
failures the people who fail half I
dozen time.-, or who drink, or gamb'. .
or pursue high life rather than high
thought, 1 per cent a year might ma'^
an average of something kke 9 per cent
of those who go into business tarniog
out failures.
Sc cheer up! You don't have to fs '?
or are not likely to fail unless through
your own deiiberate thought, or, wb?V
is worse, your own si
BOLTON HALL
New York. April 2, 1921.
Bismarck Blazed the Way
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Why all this doubt and itltf
in collecting the small percer.tafee M
the cost of the war from Germany.
Why not adopt the methods emploveti
by Germany? When Bismarck extorted
a thowsand millions from France i
1871, which was just twice the co?J
of the war, and dee!ar?d his purpoM
to "b'eed France white for fifty years.
he did not present any bills or ier.a
any ultimatums for prompt payment.
He aimply established a financia.
suzerainty over French customs, w"*1
German officials in charge. But W
greatly miscalculated the thrift of tt?
French people, for to the astonishnM**
of the whole world they went !??*?
their stocki the huge lE'
demnity in less than three years!
It surpr. i tl ? 4 more than
all. In 1873 a Gei nan told me _'?
Cologne that France had paid the ??
demnity so easily that "the next ti?o?
we will get fiv thousand millions.
Owing to certa-.n obstacles at tM
Mame, Verdun and Chateau Thierrf
the boot seems to be on the other 1?S'
It ia a safe predicticn that Orraanf
will never pay the 10 per cent iudemnrtf
by pussyfoot methods. or ur.t'.l aW"
marck'a aure business policy is adopte*)
with a certain proviso that Germ*".'
shall be compellcd to s-.irrender nf
surplus revenues as closely ** P*5'
sible, without destroying or even h?P'
pering any of her indastries, for th*
deflnite period of fifty years.
J4ARCUS H. KOGERS.
St. Augustine, Fla., March 31,1921.
The Ultirr^te Theory
(From Th? M^uauktc >y,,;ik?> ,
In the course ef thn.8 Germany *?'
get round to *.r<? theory that S ??' '
started the v*jv. J