New-York tribune. [volume], September 12, 1921, Page 8, Image 8

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 1921
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Geneva and Washington
Mr. Balfour, speaking at Geneva
for Great Britain, has answered the
mandate and disarmament argu?
ments of Lord Robert Cecil, speak?
ing for the Union of South Africa.
The latter, impatient that the League
of Nations Council has accomplished
so little toward initiating the man?
date system and securing disarma?
ment, exclaimed uncompromisingly:
"Let it [the Council] proceed fear?
lessly with its work!"
Mr. Balfour has'a clearer view of
the realities of the situation. He ex?
plains benignly why the Council can?
not "proceed fearlessly," and shov/s
that no blame attaches to it for not
surmounting the obstacles put in its
way. The blame, in fact, lies with
the Allied Council, which tried to
ignore the United States in the dis?
position of mandates, and, further
back, with the "Big Three" at Paris,
who drafted a treaty which America
couldn't accept.
The blunders made in designating
mandataries and framing mandates
without this country's concurrence
must be repaired before the League
- of Nations can safely assume respon
, sibility for the smooth working of
the mandate system. Similarly, as
ii Mr. Balfour points out, limitation of
armaments cannot come until the
powers inside the league reach ??n
agreement with the powers outside.
The Washington conference offers
the real hope of an international
concert for world peace and the re?
duction of armament. It has been
summoned to do work which the
peace commissioners at Paris left
? undone. It will not seek to bring
about a limitation of armament by a
?? mere fiat. It will first try to re?
move the causes which make the
. leading naval and military powers
reluctant to disarm. The Near Elst?
ern situation, aggravated by \he
' Versailles settlement, is the chief ob
. stacle to general relief from the bur?
dens of military expenditure. The
League of Nations cannot deal w.th
this situation. The Washington con?
ference can.
Mr. Balfour is right. It is idle to
criticize the league for not achieving
the impossible. It has done what it
could do within its limited field. The
eyes of Europe are'now turned west?
ward. What was aimed at in the
creation of the league may be re?
alized in another way through the
more practical statesmanship of
President Harding and \ Secretary
Hughes.
Germany's First Billion
The Inter-Allied Financial Con?
ference approved last August a
. . schedule dividing the first billion
marks of reparations to be paid by
Germany. This schedule was a dis?
appointment to the French public,
since Fiance was to receive no part
of the billion. Evidently anticipating
unfriendly home criticism, the
French representatives in the con?
ference signed with the reserva?
tion that the arrangement, in order
to be valid, would have to be ap?
proved by the French government.
M. Doumer, Briand's Minister of
Finance, is now in London negotiat?
ing for a modification of the
protocol.
The conference agreed to allow
,. Belgiunr 550,000,000 marks; in ac?
cordance with her treaty priority
rights, and to give the balance
?450,000,000 marks?to Great
'? Britain, to defray the cost of the
British military occupation of the
Rhine province up to May 1, 1921.
The French public complains bitter?
ly that no part of the German first
instalment will be used to reimburse
France for her military occupation
expenditure.
France received the Saar coal
basin as part payment on the Ger?
man reparation account. The con?
ference held that the value of the
Saar mines ought to be charged
against France, and it found that
their value, added to payments in
kind she had already received from
~ Germany, exceeded the entire costs
*" of the French occupation. But it
< was agreed not to deduct anything
'? further on this excess account until
- after November 15, 1927, so that
France will have her proper share
la the German money payments
next year, and for four years
thereafter.
The treaty provided that the costs
of the Rhir?c occupation should be
a first charge on the German in?
demnity. France?* it may be argued,
can pay her costs out of the opera?
tion pf the Saar mines. But the
French feel vaguely that tho first
German billion has escaped them al?
together. They want to see and
touch German gold, and this post?
ponement of their desire has added
to popular discontent over the non
realization of French hopes through
the treaty or through many Allied
conferences which have interpreted
and revised it.
The United States, too, has a
claim for reimbursement of its
military expenditure in the Rhine
land. But we are willing to wait
and let Germany's fir3t billion go
to the needier Allies.
Poor John's Jewelry
Ever so many years ago in the
California Legislature a certain
measure was pending which, like a
back fence cat, had throughout an
entire session defied every effort of
bossism to sack and sink it. So, as a
last resort, it was decided to try to
laugh it to death. To that end the
bosses selected a misrepresentative
of one of the San Francisco districts,
who had been consistently voting
against the bill, to come out and
speak in its behalf. He was just
such another character as tho pres?
ent Mayor of New York?good na
tured withal, but inept, inapt, igno?
rant of the fundamental principles
of government, a citizen of a weird
world of his own?a weird world
without a political history or a con?
ception of economics.
According to the bosses' plan the
aforesaid misrepresentative of the
people was to rise in his seat at a
given moment and read the speech
which they had written for him. It
was a serious speech. The reader
was to provide the humor. In the
peroration stress was laid on the
quoted line, "Consistency, thou art
a jewel." Missing the point of it all,
the egotism of the unfortunate man
led him, unknown to his political
pree?ptors and manipulators, to
memorize "his" speech.
The resulting public performance
was pitiable, quite as pitiable as
Poor John Hylan's recent appear?
ance on the witness stand of the.
joint legislative investigating com?
mittee. Suddenly missing the ap?
plause which had been promised him,
sensing that something was wrong,
the elocutionist decided to rush the
peroration and have done.
"Consistency, oh, "consistency," he
cried, "where, where is your jew?
elry?" '
? All of which is evoked by the dis?
missal, without a hearing, of Charles
A. Winter, general inspector of the
Hylan Markets Department. When
the counsel in chief of tiie joint leg?
islative committee, in the light of
the charges of graft and corruption
and oppression in that department,
requested the Mayor to dismiss Mar
? kets Commissioner Edwin J. O'Mal
j ley, Poor John declined with a great
| public show of an offended sense of
? justice. Would the investigators
hang O'Maliey first and try him
afterward? Was that their pur?
pose? If it was, let it be known
that so long as the flag waved and
John Faithful Hylan was chief mag?
istrate of the City of New York
no man would be dismissed without
a full hearing and opportunity of
defense.
The charges against Winter, along
with those against O'Malley, have
been forwarded to the District At?
torney. If the prosecutor should
move upon them would not Winter's
removal under %ac circumstances
tend to prejudice his interests? But
for some reason Poor John evi?
dently does not seem to think so.
That being the case, and the Hylan
reasoning sound, why does he not
remove O'Malley?
Truly may it be said, "Consist?
ency, thou art a jewel." But also
may it not be suggested that in this
instance Poor John's consistency ?as
been mislaid or lost or been robbed
of its jewelry?
No Rest for Charlie
Charlie Chaplin's hope that he
might find rest and quiet in England
was doubtless based on the old belief
that only in his own country is a
prophet without honor. In America,
he explained, it was impossible for
him to escape from himself. From
Southampton to London, however, a
joyous, boisterous crowd of fellow
citizens made it plain that England
has its movie fans no less than the
United States and that they are just
as enthusiastic as Americans for the
merry cut-up of the screen.
With Southampton's Lord Mayor
i and. his wife and the Aiembers of the
City Council at the dock to greet
him, huge crowds at Waterloo Sta?
tion in London to escort him to his
hotel and th'i newsboys crying ex
| tras on his arrival, no wonder he
was overwhelmed. Wireless mes
j sages of welcome received on board
??as he neared his native shores pre?
pared him somewhat for the vocif?
erous reception in store for him, but
at that he must have been surprised
at the honors heaped upon him.
America could do no more.
AU of which goes to show that the
person who can make us laugh is the
person we lovo. From the smallest
child to the gravest person of affairs
the antics of Charlie Chaplin bring
chuckles and peals of laughter. He
will have to go^to some clime where
the movies are not yet known to get
that rest he plaintively asks for.
Mr. Root and the Far East
In 1908, while Mr. Root was Sec
rotary of State, an accord was
reached with Japan known as the
Root-Takahira agreement. This not
only cleared up various misunder?
standings between the two coun?
tries, but also laid the foundation
of a sound policy for the future.
Its effectiveness was unfortunately
marred by the Lansing-Ishii agree?
ment of 1917. But in view of the
recent tendency to lay aside that,
Agreement, it is to be presumed that
there will be a return to the policy
enunciated by Mr. Root. This is
all the more to be expected because
of the latter's selection as a dele?
gate to the Washington conference.
Tho Root-Takahira agreement
reads as follows:
"1. It is the wish of the two
governments to encourage the free
and peaceful development of their
commerce on the Pacific Ocean.
"2. The policy of both governments,
uninfluenced by any aggressive ten?
dencies, is directed to tho mainte?
nance of the existing status quo in
the region above mentioned and to
the defense of the principio of equal
opportunity for commerco and in?
dustry in China.
"3. They are accordingly firmly
resolved reciprocally to respect the
territorial possessions belonging to
each other in said regions.
"4. They are also determined to pre?
serve the common interest of all powers
in China by supporting by all pacific
means at their disposal the indepen?
dence and integrity of China and the
principle of equal opportunity for
commerce and industry of all na?
tions in that empire.
"5. Should any event occur
threatening the status quo as above
described or the principle of equal
opportunity as above defined, it re?
mains for the two governments to
communicate with each other in or?
der to arrive at an understanding
as to what measures they may con
cider it useful to take."
These declarations are funda?
mentally fair to all. They uphold
China's territorial integrity and in?
dependence. They keep open the
"Open Door." They decline to ac?
knowledge any exclusive rights in
China. They put a ban on aggres?
sion of any power.
Here, broadly sketched, is Amer?
ica's policy in the Far East. What
Mr. Root so wisely outlined in 1908
is sound to-day. It is to be hoped
that with his able counsel these
principles will be reaffirmed at
Washington next winter.
William Stewart Lahey
They have brought William
Stewart Lahey, New York Tribune
reporter, back from his last assign?
ment. It was an assignment of his
own choosing, one which he fol?
lowed through clear-eyed and
courageous at the call of the Great
Editor. Lieutenant William Stewart
Lahey, of the 311th Infantry, was
killed at the head of his platoon in
the Argonne on October 28, 1918,
the first Tribune man to make the
supreme sacrifice.
Lieutenant Lahey was one of the
keenest and most competent younger
men on the Tribune staff, a man
who loved his profession and who
realized its responsibilities. When
the United States entered the World
War and the men of the Tribune
staff began to leave for the train?
ing camp, Lahey was among the
first to go. He was just that type.
He came back from Madison Bar?
racks in the uniform of a second
lieutenant, a graver person than the
laughing-eyed young man we used
to know, but with the sweetness of
his disposition still as impelling as
ever. How can one describe the
look that was in the face of Lieu?
tenant William Stewart Lahey? It
was the exalted expression that
shone in the faces of those young
crusaders the 'nited States sent
out in 1917 and 1918.
Then we saw him no more. We
read that he had been struck as he
was leading his platoon forward,
? That was just how we knew that
| William Stewart Lahey would have
died. Before that day in October
he had proved himself, for he had
been recommissioned a first lieu?
tenant because of his courage anc
his capacity for leadership.
Sometimes when the last editior
has gone in and the big cditoria
room is deserted one can almost fee
the presence of the men who hav<
done their part to make the Tribuni
and then passed beyond, gentlemei
unafraid. With thym, clear-eyed an<
smiling, is Lieutenant Willian
Stewart Lahey, for whom we placei
the first gold star on the Tribun
service flay.
The Widow's Return
Franz Lehar once said that his
most cherished possession was * a
copy of the cartoon that appeared
years ago entitled "I'd Like to Kill
the Man Who Wrote the 'Merry
Widow' Waltz." It pictured the fate
? of a man who was awakened by the
sound of the familiar strain whis?
tled by the milkman and was har?
ried throughout the day by the same
tune cranked out by every organ
grinder.
But if this was a genuine tribute
to the composer it is almost equaled
by the persistent popularity of "The
Merry Widow" in nearly everj
I country in the world. That the op?
eretta has been revived again ic
Now York with a special cast and
one of Urban'? beat etage settings
shows that its charm still lives.
"The Merry Widow" bears the
same relation to the musical come?
dies of the last decade that Steven?
son's "Prince Otto" and Hope's
"Prisoner of Zenda" do to tho recent
novels of international intrigue and
romance. Others have tried to imi?
tate it?Lehar himself has never
produced its equal?but the imi?
tations have died after a brief fit of
popularity.
A Lawyer's Education
It Must Be Broad and Thorough and
Cover Many Fields
To the Editor of Tho Tribune.
Sir: It is a source of great grati?
fication to those whose first care is for
spiritual things, even, or perhaps es?
pecially, in practical affairs, to note the
general agreement among capable and
progressive lawyers that tha lawyer
does not live by law alont.
Tho writer knows from experience
that the best teacher is conversant
not only with psychology and pedagogy,
both in general and as applied to his
own subject, but with other subjects
as well. Similarly, it would appear
that the lawyer should posse?s: (1)
a thorough knowledge of tho law; (2)
familiarity with other studies inti?
mately connected with the law, as his?
tory, economics, politics, perhaps for
specialized branches some particular
subjects, as chemistry or engineering;
(31 sx general background of cultural
and disciplinary value. And in both
cases the last-named item should be
the first in order of acquisition.
In this connection it may be not inap?
posite- to quoto a statement made some
years ago by Roscoe Pound, dean of
the law school, Harvard University
(in "Value of the Classics," 1917, p.
226): "I have taught law in four dif?
ferent law schools and, with some care
and much interest, have looked into
the pre-legal education of students in
each of the schools wherein I have
taught. What I have learned in this
way has produced a strong impression
that students who come to the law
school with a good linguistic train?
ing, especially those who have had
good training in the classics, other
things being equal, have an advantage
and do better work from the beginning.
The law demands a clearness and ac?
curacy in thinking which is only to
be attained in connection with accu?
racy in the use and in the interpreta?
tion of language. While courses in
economics, sociology, politics and re?
lated subjects undoubtedly have great
value for the student, of law, those who
come solely or chiefly with this prep?
aration do not show to advantage as a
rule in comparison with those who
have been trained to examine a writ?
ten text critically and to express them?
selves clearly and accurately in a
stiange tongue. Consequently, when a
committee of the Association of Ameri?
can Law Schools was called upon some
years ago to recommend a standard
course for those preparing for law,
while the desirability of courses in
history, economics and social and po?
litical science was recognized, there
was a general agreement on the part of
the members of the committee in the
wish that law students might all be
trained first in languages, especislly
the classical languages, and mathe?
matics, with as much of the subjects
more directly related to law as could
be filled in." E. ADELAIDE HAHN.
New York, Sept. 9, 1921.
Crusoe's Island
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: It would not seem that Criticus,
who writes concerning "Mistaken Pop?
ular Notions" in to-day's Tribune
knows whereof he writes in regard to
Robinson Crusoe's islund. The island
described by De Foe in his immortal
book is not Trinidad, but Tobago.
Tobago is a ward of the united
colony of Trinidad and Tobago, and is
located about twenty miles northeast
of Trinidad. The natives will show
any visitor to the island Robinson
Crusoe's cave, which is located about
. ten miles west of the little town of
Scarborough, the principal town. The
Trinidadians always bring tb the at?
tention of the person visiting that part
of the West Indies for the first time
this claim to renown of their ward.
A visit to Tobago is certainly worth
while, although I have never yet had
time while in Trinidad to make it.
The location of Robinson Crusoe'3 isl?
and is well known to those who have
traveled in the West Tndies. However,
I have never heard it suggested before
that Trinidad was described by De
j Foe. The description simply would
not fit that island.
? THOMAS I. S. BOAK.
Hillside, N. J., Sept. 7, 1921.
In Praise of General Pershing
To the Editor of The Tribune.
.Sir: The remarks of General ,Pcrsh-I
ing were to the point and perfectly !
right. It is time that the American
people took notice. The claims of the
Gomperses and the Sinn F?iners would
lead one to think that they were
the only ones who mado the country
what it .is, while the fact is that
the American people m*de the United
States and made it the greatest nation |
in the world long before the unions or
Sinn F?iners were thought of.
Real Americans are getting very tired
of reading so much ?bout them and
what they have clone. All honor to The
Tribune for its editorial on the Gen?
eral's remarks. Would that more of
the influential papers would take no?
tice. C. F. WRIGHT.
New Haven, Sept. 7, 1921.
A Good Sign
tFrom The Portland Oregonian)
Inquiry is made whether b wave of
something cannot be discovered that
would add to the sum of happiness, as
a relief from the crime waves asd sui?
cide waves with which we are constant?
ly regaled. It is nevertheless a good
j sign that a wave; of happiness is still
not news. Happiness is a good deal
commoner, and hence more common?
place, than the pessimists are willing
to admit.
IN THE WOOD
"Fairies are having fireworks in the
wood!
Those columbines seem just about
to blaze
And fall in sparks before our very
gaze!"
I laughed, and there entranced a
while wo stood.
Then?"Look," as silently, a gen
tian-hued
Bluebird flashed, lightning-swift,
among the pines
That towered, sky-tall, above the
columbines,
"The God who dreamed this all
He must be good!"
As if in answer, piteous bird cries
Filled all the air with an accusing
din.
An owl, perched in tho branched
gloom overhead
Stone-rigid, ashen, save for onyx
eyes,
Moon-color-rimmed, an oriole
fledgeling in
Its beak, with breast deep pierced
and dabbled red !
ISABEL VALLE.
There's one thing in favor of the
present city administration; it will
feel so good when it stops hurting.
TO THE 90,000
A diller, a dollar,
A public school scholar.
You've got an awful cheek
To ask for more instruction than
One Tuesday every weeht
And Br'er Hylan ain't say nothin'!
THEM WAS THE DAYS
Poetry
Poetry? What do they know about
poetry these days? These new-fangled
verse mechanics don't know their jobs
any better than garage helpers, and
that's the truth. Most of their stufT
is written so that if it were printed
like Walt Mason'3 its own mother
wouldn't know It from prose, and crazy
prose at that. What do they write
these days that can be recited with any
effect on great occasions, Commence?
ment Day, for instance?
They had grand poetry when you
were a boy?poetry that had a story in
it, mostly about things that happened
in the Civil War. And there were lots
of lines you could holler out with a
whole long breath while thrills chased
each other up and down your back.
There was "The Blue and the Gray."
That was a line speaking piece, only
the gestures you had to use every so
often made you feel a little like a
trained seal.
Under the one, the blue (flip with the
right hand)
Under the other, the gray (flip with tho
left hand)
There were others pretty near as
fine that have been buried long since
by the- windstorms of modern verse.
There was one about "Bay Billy." Re?
member?
For ere an order could bo cried, or the
bugle's swift alarms,
All down the line, from end to end, the
troops presented arms.
And there was another aboot the
little girl who came over ta the Yankee
lines to borrow tobacco for the rebels.
Why they didn't use their own nobody
ever found out.
And yesterday our Colonel said?I hate
to hear him swear??
"I'd give a leg to have a pipe, like the
Yanks have over therel"
"All Quiet Along tho Potomac"?
when a good speaker spoke that piece
there wouldn't be a dry eye in. the
house. And there was another about:
"Morgan, Morgan the raider, and Mor?
gan's terrible men."
The great war never inspired any?
thing like them. There were others
that were fine, too, even if they weren't
about fighting:
"Word was brought to the Danish King:
Hurry I"
His wife was sick 01 something.
That was grand. And there was an?
other about a fellow who was found
petrified -really petrified?in the bot?
tom of a coal mine, as natural as life.
Modern poetry!
Huh!
Let, the eddicated holler
Of new pomes and those that write'em?,
But I'll bet a half a dollar
There ain't no one can recite 'em.
There ain't no meeter in one
And the rhymes is strange and few;
By the time that you begin one
Why, by gosh, the darn thing's through!
They can praise 'em all they care to,
But the thing they call a pome
No one wouldn't ever dare, to
Try to feed the folks back home
Commencement time, when Durling's
Hall was lit up fine and bright,
And Willie Clouijh recited: "Curf,
you shall not ring to-night.
"Far she flung, far out. The city
Seemed a speck of light below"
And the folks wept tears of pity
Though they didn't really know
Who was this here Curf feller
That the speaker talked about.
But they thrilled to Willie's beller
And they trembled at his shout.
Let these modern phoney rhymers?
Mrs. Lowell and her lot?
Write their arms off. Us oldtimcrs
Like our po'try with a plot.
And I wisht that I could backward turn
the seasons in their night
To Willie Clough recitin': "Curf, you
shall not ring to-night!"
If you've got your still workin prop?
erly you might as well be prepared for
the worst and begin to plan a private
tobacco patch for next year.
If "Why these tears?" should be your
{ query,
l We're gonna travel on tho Erie.
P. F. T.
SEEMS AS THOUGH THEY MIGHT COME DOWN AT LEAST
AS FAR AS THE DOG ^
Copyright. 1921. New York Tribune Inc.
( \ Win lOM ACCOUNT/
Booi\?
B?
Percy Hammond
The Messrs. Putnam introduce this
week a new novelist, Mr. Ben Hecht, in
"Erik Dorn," which is the s?ory of a
clever newspaper man and his wordy!
engagements with himself, with women, i
with the war and with such other
things as go to make up the life of aj
journalist when he is bright and pe?
culiar.
The introduction is more complete,
perhaps, than the readers of "Erik j
Dorn" will realize, since, to those ac? |
quainted with the author, the book par- j
takes of the autobiographical. Except,1
of course, where it tells about women.
Mr. Hecht himself is a newspaper man,
though, to be sure, a Chicago one, as
Mr. Broun has said. He conducts a
sprightly column in "The Chicago Daily ;
News" as the successor to Eugene Field :
and George Ade. He is young and he
is handsome, in a jaunty, picturesque j
way; he has the flashing eye and the
agilo physiognomy of the Middle West
press man; and he is full of the smil?
ing insolences, the audacities and the
irresponsibilities that are so ingrati?
ating when met with in column con?
ductors. I go thus deeply into the
young man's character because "Erik
Dorn" suggests that Mr. Hecht's subse?
quent works will cause discussion.
* * *
One of Mr. Hecht's most discompos?
ing impudences, if I may be further
reminiscent, was in a play called
"Dregs," in which he told the gospels
according to Hecht in a way that en?
deared him to no presbyterians. That
drama was produced in the Dillpickle
theater of Chicago, a saucy haven for
the indignant and restless of the com?
munity, a sort of alley-Grand Guignol,
wherein short plays of a bold and dis?
respectful nature were performed with?
out vexing the gendarmerie. "Dregs"
was a sodden little Easter idyll, in
which a cold hobo, standing forlorn
upon a snowy and remote New York
street corner, encountered Christ and
talked to him in the unclean argot of
the tramp. The squalor of his words
was incredible. The first sentence of
the play was so guttery a thing that
persons, refusing* to believe that it
could be uttered in a theater,' came
from afar to listen to it. "Dregs."
therefore, became a prosperous "hit."
To those who knew Mr. Hecht its im?
pieties were not so offensive; for it
represented the believable attitude of
a half-delirious derelict toward Christ.
The humble friendliness of the va?
grant's lowly good-fellowship removed
for many theatergoers the blasphemies
suspected by many others.
Erik Dorn might have written such
a drama, though Erik wes'addicted to
words more elegant of cut and fabric.
"He often contemplated with astonish?
ment his own verbal brilliancies, which
his friends appeared to accept as irre?
futable truths of the moment." He
was proud of his words, though in the
midst of them he would sometimes say
to himself, "What ifi hell ?m I talking
about?" They were his experiences and
sophistications. They were the excuse
for his wearing a hat, embarking daily
for his work and returning daily to his
home. He was preoccupied with form
and his nature was a shallows. H?
loved everything in life and art that
gave him tlve emotion of symmetry. Bu1
emotion in others invariably arousec
in him a sense of the ludicrous
Though ever a good talker, whether ir
tht Chicago ateliers or the back rooir
of a saloon, people derived nothing
from his friendship but a fascinate-.
feeling of loss. His understanding of
things "swayed him between pity and
contempt and left the balance of an
amused smile in his eyes."
? * *
When Erik caught up with Kachel j
Laskin, the painter, on the avenue one
day, she gave him a sense of "dark j
waters hidden from the moon?a tenu?
ous fugitive finger in the pretty clamor
of the bright street." In case you care
to kno*? what clever Chicago newspaper
men say to pretty painters when they |
meet them on the bright street, here
is an example: "You remind me," said
Erik, "of a nymph among dowager?,
and frightened to death. There's really
nothing to be frightened of, unless you
prefer fear to more tangible emotions."
He pointed at the women moving by
them. "Poems in shoe craft," he con?
tinued, "tragedies in ankles and melo?
dramas in legs. Priestly caricatures
of their sex. You are still drawing? I
saw one of your pictures?an abomin?
able thing?in some needle-work maga?
zine. A woman with a spindly nose,
picking flowers."
"You remind me of poetry," she
answered.
? ? ?
Not lon? afterward Erik left his
wife, Anna, to live with Rachel, and
later he left Rachel for other ladies
of radical predilections. He came to
New York to join tlje editors of "The
New Opinion," a journal which from
week to week offered tinaiities to a
growing clientele. It was "a cock-sure
magazine, gently, tolerantly, elbowing
aside the mysteries of existence and
holding up between carefully manicured
thumb and forefinger the Gist of
the Thing." Not caring for the mannerly
admonitions and courteous disapprov?
als, he left it and went to Berlin, reach?
ing there in time for the revolution.
After many adventures, including hom?
icide, he found himself longing again
for Anna, and, returning to her, learned
that she had divorced him to marry Ed?
die Meredith, who was a poor talker but
dependable. Rachel, meantime, had
become involved with the director of
an advanced Little theater in New
York, where they did Chekov's things,
and occasionally something strong by
Elvenah Jack.
* * * *
Mr. Hecht's account of the revolu?
tion in Germany, which he attended as
j a correspondent, is a masterpiece of
! graphic incoherence?sentences of one
I word alternating with sentences of two
i words?unruly, exclamatory, and picto
i rial. But it, like th3 long, long recital
of a casual case of murder in Chicago,
seemed foreign to the story. Mr. Menck?
en says that it has upon him the effect
of a "gaudy and fantastic panorama in
which thw movement is almost acrobatic
and the color that of a kaleidoscope,"
j though it is one of the most stimulat?
ing and original stories Mr. Mencken
has encountered in many days. Burton
Rascoe thinks that it stands out as a
distinct new model in mechanics of
expression. At any rate it is a brilliant
bookful of ideas, phrases, studies and
descriptions, even if its contents are a
bit too copious to conform to its prin
pal character's preference for' sym?
metry, involved but precise.
Need for a Trust
(From The Pitttbur?h Gaeette-Timea)
A bootlegger complains that there
are so many in the business they waste
time in trying to sell to each other.
There's a field for proper organization
and division of territory.
More About Ulster
Its Separation Compared to the &
cession of the Southern Stata
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In your editorial of to-day, a?
titled "Ulster," you overlook, I think,
one or two fundamental facts.
The majority of the people of Ire?
land, as represented by the Daii
Eireann and President de Valen, de
not want to oppress the minority in?
habiting the two northeast counties tf
Antrim and Down, who happ*n, it
those two counties only, of the thin*-?
two counties of Ireland, to hold o
English "Unionist" majority of aboo!
70 per cent. Of course, these two coun?
ties of the nine counties of Ulster de
not rightly comprise Ulster; but the
people there are, nevertheless, entitled
to individual and political rights. Do
1 their political rights go to the extent
i of dividing Ireland?an integral polit!?
I cal unit, even according to Brititli
i constitutional theory and law?intotw
\ parts? Hardly; yet that is the claim?!
the Unionists of these two conntiet
supported by Tory classes and ?*
Coalition government across the Iriri
Channel.
But, you may ask, if that is so, wi?
should Ireland claim the right d
separation from Great Britain? Be?
cause Ireland is a nation and hai al?
ways claimed that her national ?tor*1
eignty warf seized by force and inW
and must be restored before the? eau
be any peace between her and ?'
violator.
But two counties, or nine, hat? W
such right of secession or separation.
We asserted in arms that the entire
Southern states had no such right, ?
I they had entered freely into a non-T*
j vokable contract of union. IrelandneW
! did so. The 'act of union" of 1801?'
put upon her by force and fraud. An?
yet even that act recognizes Ireland
as an indivisible nation. It assumed
to create "the United Kingdom ?
Great ?Britain and Ireland." UW
George even now proposes "a trentj
with Ireland. Would he propos? ?
treaty with any except a nation.
Ulster (the two pro-English coun?
ties) must not divide "the seamle?>
garment" of Ireland, her national
unity; and Great Britain must reeoT
nize Ireland's other essential right ?
"national self-determination," or "P**
ernment by consent." Then there w
be peace?not before.
JOHN JEROME ROONBi
New York, Sept. 8, 19J1.
The Hines Challenge
To the Editor of the Tribune.
Sir: The event of real politics1 it
nificance in this year's campaign >?
candidacy of .Tames J Hines, le*?e^!'
the 11th Assembly District, for ????
dent of the Borough of Manhattan, j
is a challenge to Murphy's P?*?7*|
control, which has not been P?r?1!f^
in the last ten years; * '?*? c*vtAi'Z
the most significant reaction witM
organization since the primary la*
enacted. .
Whether Mr. Hines wins or los?^'
the primaries, he has shorn an
blushing bossism of much of its P* .
and he has gained a vast amonnt^
prestige among those who hitherto
somewhat blindly supported this ?
of oolitical institutionalism.
S. MILLER'*
New York, Sept. 9, 1921?
Let There Be Light
/From The Washington Sve*i*0 ?*#
Enough publicity is desirable ?
nection with official gatherings t?P^
vent unfounded rumors from m
headway under a theory that one
guess as to what happened ii ? f"
as another's.