The Washington times. [volume], August 26, 1918, FINAL EDITION, EDITORIAL PAGE, Image 16

About The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939

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etdftorial: page
OF THE
WASH I NGTON1TIMES
WASHINGTON
AUGUST 26, 1918
Iteftft
THE NATIONAL DAILY e&fr
ARTHUR BRISBANE, Editor and Owner
EDO Alt D. SHAW, FUDiisner
Enter! u second class matter at the Poatofttce at Washlnrtw. P. a
Published Every Evening (Including Sundays) by
The Washington Times Company, Munsey Bid-., Pennsylvania Are.
Mall Subscriptions; 1 year Inc Sundays). 7.g0: 3 Montha. 11.85: 1 Month. C5c
MONDAT. AUGUST IS, Hit.
Hair Cuts and Shaves
By T. R Powers
Why Has Mr. Burleson So Few
Friends?
Answer, Because He Has So MANY.
If you want to hear criticism of Mr. Burleson, the Post
master of the United States, you need not go far.
Agfr any official of the private telephone monopoly, and
ho will tell you if he is quite sure you are not a postofflce
attache that Mr. Burleson ought to be interned as a dan
gerous agitator.
For Mr. Burleson believes, incredible as it may seem,
that the telephone and the telegraph, which are part of the
machinery of communication, should belong to the people's
postofflce.
He also believes that a perfect system of communica
tion, enabling all of the people to reach each other, with the
utmost dispatch and economy, is more important than the
development of big dividends based on private monopoly of
public property.
If you happen to encounter any one of the patriots that
were using the Congress of the United States to compel the
Government to buy an assortment of junk known as the
pneumatic tube system, and if you listen for a few minutes
you will say, "Surely this Burleson person is more earnestly
hated than anybody else."
The Postmaster talked so plainly, so convincingly, and
so truthfully about the effort to sell pneumatic tube junk to
the Government, that when the time came the President
vetoed it as a mere matter of course.
These gentlemen hate Burleson because they couldn't
find an answer to his question:
"How is it that you are always willing to sell to the
Government something worthless and always unwilling to
sell anything worth having, like the telephone?"
Ask any individual who believes that all natural public
monopolies should be exploited by private schemers, and he
will tell you that Mr. Burleson is the worst, most dangerous
of all creatures, for he is the "Government ownership enter
ing wedge."
At this particular moment, Mr. Burleson is in charge of
the telephone and telegraph system, appointed by the Presi
dent, most wisely, to co-ordinate the postofflce with all other
means of communication.
He will do away with useless telephone and telegraph
offices, concentrating: them nupostomce buildings.
At the same time he will greatly increase the number
of telephone and telegraph omces, and add to the public
convenience.
If it turns out that the people have brains enough to
retain in tneir Hands, as part of the postofflce service, the
telegraph and telephone systems, every postofflce in the
country will be the telegraph office.
Every house, however humble, will have a telephone,
and the idea will be, not "How much can we get out of it?"
but, "How much can the people get out of it?"
Then there are the editors, learned and wise. Ask them
what they think of Mr. Burleson, and almost every one of
them will say, "Sit down for an hour, it's too long to tell
you in a few minutes while you are standing."
Then you will hear a tale of woe, almbst grievous, about
the added load that Burleson has put on publishers.
It is the opinion of this newspaper, which happens to
have no selfish interest since it circulates here, without post
office aid, that a serious mistake is made in the discourage
ment of publicity, if only because it will put down instead
of increasing the postofflce revenues, and diminish publicity
so important to Government now.
But, observe Mr. Burleson, regardless of what editors
may say, indifferent to their praise or blame, proceeds to
place a financial load on their backs, because, right or wrong,
he believes that the publisher should pay more money 'for
the use of the people's postofflce.
When you find a man in public life who really asks
himself, not "What will big men say, or what will news
papers say of me?" but "WHAT WILL THE PEOPLE
SAY?" you will find usually a man with few friends.
Such a man, however, has few friends visible, because
he has so many friends that you do not see.
He has for his supporters in the long run the masses of
people who know when a public man is working for those
he never sees the little business men far away, workers on
distant farms, the crowds in the cities.
The wisdom, courage, and discrimination of President
Wilson are shown especially in his ability to identify and
select, his unflinching will in upholding such men as Mr.
Burleson, Mr. Daniels, and his other helpers that have chosen
for their friends the American crowd, and not the American
corporation.
From The Public To The Editor
Ha to Have The Time.
Portland, Ind-
June 19. 1318.
Publisher The Washington Times.
Dear Sir: I sent you sufficient
money last week to extend my time
two months. I DO NOT WANT TO
DO WITHOUT THIS PAPER. IT IS
A LIVE ONE. I do not want to miss
Mr. Brisbane's column, "TODAY,"
which I could set In the Chicago Her
ald, but I like the other special fea
tures of your paper
Please see that Mr nnsbano eet
loclofccd letter and oblige,
JAMES A. UM-LE.
Portland, Ind.
What Do You Think?
Editor, Washington Times:
I am a young girl thirteen years
of age who Is anxious to see all our
soldier boys treated correctly. Can
you explain to me why soldiers must
wear their coats In this hot weatberT
My soldier cousin says that be must
wear bla coat ao that he will look
neater. But I think he looks much
neater when he Is not all soaked
through with perspiration. What do
you think. Mr Editor, am I right?
Please help the boys.
Very respectfully,
SOPHIE V. BERMAN,
603 Twelfth itrest northwest
Beatrice Fairfax Writes of the Problems and Pitfalls of
Especially foi Washington
the War Workers
Women
( THAVE three chiffon dresses,
I hanging tip in my ward
robe, and nothing else to
show for a year's toil, as a War
worker for my Uncle Sam in
Washington, or at least nothing
else in the clothes line."
When I got this far in the letter
which was postmarked Washing
ton, I knew my correspondent
would reserve for the postscript
the problem that was actually
troubling her. And sure enough,
there it was: "I am to be mar
ried in September and my fiance's
family -want me to Visit them, but
I have nothing to wear. And have
nothing saved for a trousseau,
either."
And the fair young butterfly in
quired as to the best way to bor
row money, for which she is per
fectly willing to pay a high rate
of interest.
Now this young lady belongs to
the charmed life brigade. You read
about them occasionally, in the
papers, when one of their number
falls out of a fourth-story window
and a chance clothes line in the
back yard saves them from de
struction. Or some one rescues a couple of
them, at the seashore, after they
had gone down a third time. Or
some old cousin, they never heard
of, dies and leaves them a fortune.
You can't argue about such peo
ple, they have some mysterious
quality that puts them beyond the
laws that govern ordinary mortals.
They are beyond the realm of
proverbs or platitudes, they arc a
law unto themselves. They have
that strange, mysterious thing call
ed luck.
The reversal of the old fable of
the ant and the grasshopper is
forcibly recalled by this girl's let
ter. But instead of sharing the
ill fortune of her counterpart, the
grasshopper, who spent the sum
mer enjoying himself, she ia now
going to marry a captain in the
United States army, and like the
princess in the fairy tale, will pre
sumably, "live happily forever
after."
No "Horrible Example" This.
So she won't do as a horrible
example of spending money on
chiffons. Doubtless she will have
some uncomfortable moments when
she presents herself to her future
"in-laws" in snagged finery, is she
describes it. But there is no
question that she will be able to
put it over, as she "put one over"
on all the copybook maxims re
garding the wisdom of money sav
ing, prudence, and economy, .
TODAY'S TOPIC
CLOTHES AND THE WAR
It seemed that she came from
a thrifty and hard working com
munity in the Middle West, and
the hundred dollars a month she
had been assured of as a war
worker seemed "wealth beyond
the dreams of avarice." In Wash
ington, at prevailing war prices, it
proved to be next to nothing.
And the first of that chiffon
series represented the most riot
ous extravagance on her part. It
seemed that "back home" people
didn't wear chiffons, at least they
didn't unless they were going to
be married or had discovered a
gold mine. And suddenly finding
that she had the wherewithal for
this luxury, it went to her head,
and she bought a dove gray em
broidered in coral colored beads.
This was a magnificent success
for special occasions, but it was
too perishable for anything else,
and having acquired the chiffon
habit, a navy blue creation of the
same material appealed strongly
to her, for office.
"The navy blue was quite per
fect for business," but it proved
to be likewise perishable, and whit
was' left for the poor thing but to
invest in one of taupe to save the
navy blue. Now to ring true to
the proverbs, this was where the
cold winter ought to have set in,
and the fair girl "grasshopper"
to borrow from the fable should
have lost her job and gone back
home with the three tattered chif
fons. And given everyone a chance
to say: "What a foolish girl
Mary Smith hhs been, wasting her
money, etc."
The Captain to the Rescue.
However, what really happened.
Every Woman Worker in
Washington
Should Read the Articles Written Es
pecially for Her
By BEATRICE FAIRFAX.
This space on this page will be de
voted each day to her writings, in which
she will discuss the very many problems
that are daily presenting themselves to you
woman workers in the Government de
partments. There will be no aspect of
your lives which she will not consider and
write about intelligently, and, above all,
with sympathy.
was that the captain proposed and
"he belongs to a very wealthy and
aristocratic family, and I am
afraid, dear Miss Fairfax, that
they will get a wholly wrong im
pression of my character if I go
to see them in that snagged fin
er'." But you are mistaken, my dear
young "grasshopper," they will not
get a wholly wrong impression of
your character, but a very just
and true one. And that is what
you are trying to avoid, and I do
not blame you in the least. Three
shabby chiffons would be an ap
palling introduction to one's fu
ture family, and in trying to con
ceal these flimsy skeletons in your
closet, you are merely following
the law of self-protection.
I can't help you in the least
about borrowing money "at a high
rate of interest," because I don't
know where such business is
transacted. And I shouldn't do
it anyway, if I were you. It is too
much like pouring kerosene on a
house when it is burning, and per
haps. your constitutional luck may
fail you.
I'd save what was coming in the
way of salary between now and
September, and I'd invest in some
thing sensible, like a "tailor
made," and be married without go
ing into debt.
The time3 are with you, the
smartest weddings these war days
are the most starkly plain ones,
and the bride who cuts out the
greatest amount of furbelows, at
present, is likely to be the one who
sets the fashions in times of
peace. This is your chance to
make a hit with "the wealthy and
aristocratic family" that you are
about to annex by marriage. Chif
fons doubtless will not make their
heads reel, and very probably all
the women of yonr fiance's family
are wearing Red Cross uniforms
anyway.
So your proverbial luck remains
with you, in spite of your little
folly. And on the whole, I am in
clined to believe you are quite an
attractive young person, and here's
wishing you all the luck imagin
able. There ought not to be any moral
taken from the overthrowing of
the fable regarding the ant and the
grasshopper. But there seems to
be something in the nature of a
suggestion to the effect of look
your best while you are young.
For I haven't a doubt that while
our young friend was extravagant,
that the three chiffons were highly
becoming and there is the cap
tain to prove their magic and their
power,
SOMCHAIR CUTS ARE WoKTH f S. I r M07HE P I
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HL. rW CLOSE SHAVE figk
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ZOVFoRASMVF -lM r6UMp?WCE Jja -S kJt
The Nation's Capital Should
Vote
This Is a Day Especially Devoted to Local Lawmaldsg ia the Hoasa;
and Also a Good Day to Remember Our un-American Htnatioa.
B7 EAEL GODWIN.
This is "District day" in the House of Bepresenta
tives, a day set apart by the rules of the House for th
special purpose of considering legislation affecting the Dis
trict 01 uoiumoia.
"District day" is a part of that queer system whereby
the same machinery which declared war on Germany must
be set in full and complete motion to pave a street in Wash
ington, to unearth a body from a cemetery, impose local
taxes on VOTELESS residents of the Nation's Capital, and
regulate the manner in which ice and coal shall be sold in
Washington. In other words, the great Congress of the
United States frequently must pause in its wise delibera
tions to act as a town council for the most intelligent gronp
of people in the world.
Being the center of the greatest progressive goveca
ment on earth. WashinErton. D. CL has natnrallv trm rvmfni.
est men in the country as residents.
11 tnese men can run the country, it stands to reason
they could elect a city government of their own.
Concresa TVISRAS kottip vpt-c wis a ln-arn fnr Wo oh in erf nst
but it does not pass enough of them and is not able to meet
TMft fliTrlfiti n Wk 4-V. m nkA mm mw w - - - -T 1 . 1 .. . t
m ouuuuuu uu uiu opuk, iia tuxy uruxmuy luctu government
elected by the governed.
Half the questions of newcomers to Washington art
along the line of "Why dont the authorities do thus and
so!" and the answer to most of these questions is that
Washington cannot VOTE; that it has to eat out of the
hand of Congress, and Congress naturally cannot pause ia
national legislation to frame betterments in a single town.
As a practical matter, too much time of our Commis
sioners, under the present system, must be spent lobbying
for Washington. Our Commissioners,' loaded with the bur
dens of city government and the Public Utilities Commis
sion as well, make their recommendations to Congress for
the improvement of Washington, and in order to get i'hfm,
authorized, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia
have to spjend more time than-anyone realizes in the offices
of Congressmen and Senators.
Nor has the VOTELESS population of Washington
anything to say about those same betterments, no matter
how they turn out. It would be more like an American
community if Washington could VOTE and make its own
local laws and regulations.
HEARD AND SEEN
sssHssss
This is a picture of Dick Waters.
That Is, he used to be called Dick,
but now he Is CAPT. S. DEVER
WATERS, of the Field Artillery, and
in command of headquarters troop of
the Eighty-seventh Division, at Camp
Dix. N. J.
This young soldier Is the son of
Dr. Charles Waters. 1503 Rhode "Is
land avenue. At one time he was a
member of the Riggs Bank staff;
later lie went to Memphis, Tenn. He
attended the Officers' Training Camp
at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.
The Zionist Registration Board,
which will foster the community
spirit in the District of Columbia,
has caused a survey to be made of
all the Jewish organizations which
will be represented at a meeting to
be held tonight at 9 o'clock at the
Y. M. H. A. rooms. Eleventh street
and Pennsylvania avenue. The offi
cers consist of DR. B. L. GROSS
MAN, chairman; A. LUSTIG, treas
urer; MRS. D. ALPHER. secretary:
delegates, JUDGE MILTON STRAS
BDRGER. ROBERT SZOLD. CAP
TAIN' JDL1US I. PEYSER. DR. D.
A. GLUSHAK, E. FRIEDMAN. I. B.
KAGAN. A. HIRSCHESON. MRS.
ADOL.PH KAHN. N. MUSHER, JOHN
WOLF. N. FREILACHOFF, and B.
HOFFENBERG.
FRED STECKMAN was among
those present at the movies lost
night.
So also HENRY KAUFMAN.
GEORGE RICHMOND says:
"Tho employes in the quartermas
ter department are fortunate in that
we have a young man who goes
through our buildings every morning
and supplies us with the most dell
clous sandwiches and pies, and his
prices are low. We pay a dime for
sandwiches that are really worth the
money. They are tasty, clean, and
good. I asked this man recently, and
he said that his name was Haynes."
Another organization of Washing
ton business men who interest them
selves In the comfort of tho wounded
and sick men at Walter Reed Hos
pital is the Washington Film Man
agers' Association. Theso men are
willing to do anything they can for
the soldiers in the hospital, and hart
uone consiaeraoiy already.
Among the members are SIDNEY
B. LUST, president; OSCAR A.
MORGAN, secretary; CLARENCE Jx
LINZ, SIDNEY E. KENT, GEORGE
F. LENEHAN, E. C, WALES. "HER
BERT M. OSBORN, SAMUEL FLAX
C. B. PRICE, R. B. SMELTZER. R.
E. WILSON. VIVIAN P. WHITAKER,
ABE DRESNER.
Tho following correspondence Is
self-explanatory:
"Dear Heard and Seen:
"Some time ago you accepted my
offer to bet J5 for the Red Cross on
the following nroDOsttlnns: fa Thst
not 50 per cent of the auto drivers
In Washington held drivers' cards;
(b) that tnot 50 tier cent of those
holding them should be ALLOWED
to Hold them; (c) that Washington
is we most dangerous city in the
country for auto driving.
"A veteran expert traffic cop tells
me that you win on the first and that
I win on the second. On the third
I know that you agree with me.
Anyhow, you told me you had heard
the S&Tne thfnc from Vl9fiPPatira whn
have driven in New York and other
cities.
"So I am calling it an even break
and inclose to you my check for
$2.50. Your answer that you are add
ing your $2.50 to it will not be neces
saryfor my tranquillity of mind: I
consider yonr riart as etxv ax Annu
ity chapeau ia off to the Red Cross.
-Q. GOKDO.V.
'
H. B. F. Macfarland. Esq.,
Evans Building.
My Dear Mr. Macfarland: Pleaso
accept my check for $5 for the Red
nrnsa an thn ronlf nr a hf Tf (
one of these bets where each bettor
loses and thn RM ro nln If
you can't make this out. read my
coiunin ioaay ana learn tne true in
wardness of this donation.
Yours very truly,
HEARD AND SEEN.
. .
Speaking of jlm swingers, who
remembers that one, with pock
ets in the tall, from which to extract
a or a handkerchief a gentle
man had to execute a very difficult
reverse corkscrew twist with his
arm?
L. a PERKINS.
Speaking of this threatened water
shortage in Washington. I see by tho
papers that Defiance, Ohio, has gone
on a restricted water diet "to help
win the war." Well now! Never
heard much about an excess use of
water In Russia, and look what hap
pened over there.
They could win the war here, by
gum. if they did it with UNUSED
water. As long as I lived on High
land place northwest I never saw a
watering car from one end of the
street to the other.
However. I couldn't stand It, so I
moved down the street a short ways
where I could have a splendid view
of that bump in front of Commla
aioner Gardiner's house. .