The Washington times. [volume], August 27, 1918, FINAL EDITION, EDITORIAL PAGE, Image 18

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

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T'TmjS
EDITORIAL PAGE
OF THE
WASHINGTON TIMES
WASHINGTON
AOGUST 27, 1918
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THE NATIONAL DAILY
RS. U. 8. Patent Offie.
ARTHUR BRISBANE. Editor and Owner
Entered aa second class muter at the Postofflce at Washington. P. C.
Published Every Evening (Including Sundaya) by
The Washington Times Company, Munsey BIdg., Pennsylvania Ave.
Mall Sobscrtptlons: I year (Inc. Sundaya). 7.M: 3 Month. S1.8S; 1 Month. 65c
TUESDAT. AUGUST JT. 111.
There Is No Need For Social
Unrest
If the Dissatisfied Would TRY, and Especially If the
Powerful Would SEE, This Country Could Keep
Free of Trouble.
Eyes have they, bat they see not;
v They have ears, bat they hear not.
Psalms cxv-S.
Men hate and mistrust each other because they do not
know each other, understand each other's problems, sympa
thize with each other's troubles.
The picture on this page, drawn by a sincere young
artist, represents the two extremes of national trouble.
At the bottom are human beings that may or may not
deserve sympathy, and that always blame their troubles
mxm those at the top.
There is at the top one who
but whose eyes are blinded
problems and ambitions.
This wax which has started trouble new to the world
will make many changes.
And those that are intelligent know it.
Lord Northcliffe, the severest critic, and therefore the
most useful patriot m England, is quoted to the effect that
Lord Lansdowne demands peace prematurely because he
fears that longer war will wipe out the aristocracy and its
privileges.
Whoever has read the "After the War" program of
the British Labor Party, written by intelligent, highly edu
cated men, knows that the war has lasted long enough al
ready to make aristocracy by inheritance a doubtful pos
session anywhere after this war ends.
The most conservative newspapers, reporting the riot3
in Japan, describe those riots, not merely as an effort by
the people to obtain food, but as a social rebellion against
wealth, against the prosperous class.
There are serious troubles ahead for many nations.
jFot their war debts will cripple them and they will face
repudiation or centuries of grinding taxation.
This country is fortunate among nations. The war will
end finding us in Teality infinitely richer than when it
started.
We tftmH have spent some billions but they can be re
placed out of part of one year
We shall have educated millions of young men, sending
them abroad, letting them see
We shall have a nation
new ideals.
We shall have, among other material things, a railroad
system rebuilt and efficient, controlled by the people; a
great fleet owned by the people, making the nation inde
pendent of all other nations' shipping.
We shall raise the rate of pay for every kind of good
work in this country and from history we know that
wages once raised never go back to the former level.
We shall have established a fair rate of compensation
to the farmer for the food he produces. Hitherto neglected
by government, exploited by the cunning, a victim of wea
ther, speculators, and doubtful crops, the farmer's lot has
been least to be envied.
This war will make of the farmer a man able to work,
knowing that his reward is definite and worth while.
It is not possible to exaggerate the blessings that will
come out of the war for this country.
One should and could be added, namely, A PERMA
NENT END OP THE CONDITION SHOWN IN THIS
PICTURE, THE SOCIAL UNREST, THE BITTER DIS
SATISFACTION AT THE BOTTOM AND THE BLIND
NESS, SELFISH OR UNCONSCIOUS, AT THE TOP.
There is in the United States ten times as much as
would be enough for all the hundred million people in the
United States.
Every man willing to work could make enough to live,
to take care of his children, keep them at school, and still
leave plenty for the man whose ambition demands ten or
a thousand times his share.
The prosperous do not realize it, but Woodrow Wilson
has rendered them the greatest possible service in compell
ing them, through Congress, to bear their share of the
cost of war. It is impossible to estimate the value of the
President's action, using his great Influence and the people's
support to tax wealth in the war that will protect wealth
and its possession.
This nation is able to feed every child, keep the child
at school and out of the factory and mine.
It is rich enough to pay well every man willing to
do a fair day's work, and free kirn from anxiety in his
old age.
And there will be plenty left over to give the millions
to those that cannot be nappy without millions, whose game
is the game of money, because they have no higher intel
lectual interest.
The African savage who kills the lion, keeps and eats
the lion's heart, thinking that it will make him courageous
like the lion. But he lets the other savages have tha rest
of thff body at least.
There are too many savage chiefs In this country that
.keep the whole lion for themselves. This Is unjust to the
others, and unsafe for the chief,
If they were well advised, they would not look con
stantly outward for more, but look downward and see what
is going on at their feet,
It rests with them whether or not this country shall be
(Continued In Last Column.)
may or may not mean well,!
and ears deafened, by his own
s national income.
the world and know it.
inspired by unselfish effort,
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Dissatisfied poverty at the bottom, and blind power
at the top, have always made a bad combination in the
world. Fortunately this country needs less than any
other to fear the vague words "social unrest."
Intelligence in Government is urging, and in many
cases compelling, the payment of good wages and pun
ishing extortion.
Beatrice Fairfax Writes of the Problems and Pitfalls of
Especially for Washington
SOMETIMES, -when I ride In an
elevator In a Government or
business building in Wash
ington and sea a girl dressed in a
transparent shirt waist, and be
neath it a camisole made of a cou
ple of strips of ribbon and a shred
of gauze, I wonder how much fur
ther these revealing styles can bo
pushed.
The designer must be in despair,
between daring on the one hand
and the law on the other, because
there is a point beyond which the
designer cannot go without hav
ing the law step in.
The choice of such styles must
be left to every girl's individual
good taste, and this is not a plea
for or against what I am going to
call the super-peek-a-boo shirt
waist. It seems to me that girls
who wear these things ought to
have the courage to taka "what
goes with them," as a correspond
ent of mine puts It, "without hav
Ing recourse to the ory-baby act"
This Young Km Objects.
Sfy correspondent does not wear
a ''transparency with neit to noth
ing nnder it" because he is a young
man who efgns himself "A vlotlra
of these styles," And here is the
sad story of his experiences)
It seems ha was employed in a
business concern hers in town with
a young lady who pushed her taste
for subtraction as far as clothes
were concerned to the utmost
limits, Colored ribbons illuminat
ed her transparencies, and every
thing seemed to have been con
structed from the scantiest of rem
nants, And (he young lady always
seemed quite 'pleasantly conscious
of what my correspondent calls
"her business dishabille" and to
expect compliments on her attire.
One morning the young man paid
her his dally compliment, and the
girl replied saucily.
He said something else and she
"EYES THAT SEE NOT"
TODAY'S TOPIC
, PLAYING THE GAME FAIRLY
replied. Then he threatened to
pinch her, and she dared him to
do it. lie pinched her on the arm
and she dissolved into tear, fol
lowed by hysterics. And when
these had subsided, sho reported
him to tho head of the concern,
and the young man was trans,
ferred to another city end had his
pay reduced (300 a year.
She Sar7 Herself a Ilcrolne,
Then the young lady swished
her short skirts about tha offlco
more conspicuously than ever,
feeling that sho had been a mag
nificent champion of her sex, She
saw herself as a heroins, end her
attituda was that n testimonial of
virtue ought to bo given to her,
Dut the ether young men in tha
offlco grinned when her back was
turned, and saidj
'She
Isn't
playing fair." And tho women
said nothing at allj they only
glanced at her with that swift,
terriblo look of appraisal that ono
woman gives to another when sho
sees straight through her game.
And tha saintly Jittlo thing foit
that sho wasn't appreciated, and
now sho is considering going to
Franco to help win the war. And
everyone hopes that sho will go,
as there are no peck-a-boo uni
forms. That's all to that story; tho girl
felt sho was making a tremendous
hit. but she only succeeded in
making herself ridiculous. Be
cause if she had not wanted the
young man to do what he did, why
did she tempt him with that sort
ef regalia? And, as the other men
said, she wasn't playing fair.
Now for the reverse of the
medal, as our friends and allies,
the French, say. In another busi
ness concern in New York a huge
But for the powerful, that refuse to see, this coun
try might look ahead indefinitely to peace, prosperity,
and contentment, with other countries anxious.
This country could easily supply enough for every
body, as much as every man needs, and at the same time
continue supplying tho "too much" that so many demand.
typewriting place, where, machines
are sold by tha thousands, almost
precisely iho same scene was en
acted. The girl was Insufficiently dress
ed, she waa flirtatious, and a young
man did exactly what he might
have been expected to do, and tha
young lady, in a spasm of virtuous
indignation, went and told on him.
The president of the concern,
who received the complaint, looked
at her coldly and said: "Mrs.
Smith is the proper person to re
port that sort of thing to." And
he whirled sway and resumed his
work. And the modest young lady
then went to Mrs, Bmith, who waa
n sort of leading lady that had aU
the girl operatives In charge.
Now, Mrs. Bmith was fifty and a
cool-headed business woman who
saw right through people when she
looked at them over the rims of
her tortoise shell spectaelea.
Offers Her a Jacket,
Sho had the girl repeat tho com
plaint, which, curiously enough,
was not nearly so dramatic, now
that she was telling It to a fellow
woman. Mrs. Smith heard her to
tho end, regarded her transparent
chiffon waist attentively, glanced
at tlio colored ribbons beneath, and
said: "As a remedy for such an
noyances, has it ever occurred to
yon to put an more clothes? Near
nakedness is not conducive to re
spect. Suppose you put on this
Jacket of mine till you go home to
night, and tomorrow you might
come fully dressed."
So the little champion of virtne
had to go round the rest of the aft
ernoon with Mrs. Smith's frump
ish old Jacket on, and the other
girls had to pull tho grins off their
faces every timo they looked at
the War Workers
Women
her, and the next day she came
clothed and in her right mind.
Now, as I said at the beginning of
this talk, I am not making a plea
either for or against that Btyle of
clothing. Such things must be left
to each girl's Individual sense of
decorum and taste. Only, if you
must go in for "business disha
bille," as the young man called It,
don't assume tho same air of in
jured innocence you would be en
titled to if you wero dressed as
modestly as n trained nurse, for
Instance.
Are TTe Dlspoied to Evade Con
sequences! As a sex, wo seem disposed to
evade the consequences of our no
tions, end this is due, no doubt, to
accepting for so many years some
thing they used to call chivalry,
rather than tho Justice to which
wo wero entitled.
Wo declined to take our medl.
cine "because we were ladies" and
ought to have everything mado
comfortable for us. Men are In.
dined to be mere honest, because
they had more Justice and less of
the pernicious chivalry. If s man
wero to walk downtown with a
rose in his hair and a chiffon shirt
with ribbons attached to his gauzo
vest, he'd know in advaneo that ho
was going" to provoke laughter,
and he'd be prepared to accept tho
hilarity that was his due,
Dut if a woman garbs herself
in this manner and goes to a busi
ness office, sho is unwilling to ac
cept tho consequences of such a
costume, i. 0-, an oblique admira
tion lacking in respect. And, as
in tho two instances recorded, she
may even complain,
How much moro simple every
thing would be if we could only
learn to face facts, and ladies who
desire profound respect during
business hours could anticipate
this by investing in sensible mus
lin shirt waists of not too thin a
quality.
The New Bathing Beach
Not Open More Because of a Lack of Cash. Tha Beach Is bat a Detail
in the Ultimate Development of the Park,
By EAEL
A letter from a valued ntsmber of The Times' family
of readers asks a question winch undoubtedly is in the
minds of thousands of others:
' 'They've established a fine bathing beach, almost ideal
I should say, down at the Tidal Basin, but who in th
world ever heard of such hours they keep? Every day
right in tho middle of the day, they close up for two hour!
Yesterday, Sunday, everybody in bathing was chased out
promptly at 12 o'clock, and no one was permitted to go
back in again until 2. Did you ever hear of another bati
mg beach in the world that closed up for two hours in the
middle of the day on Sunday?
"Aug. 22. BOBEBT B. SMTH."
No wonder Mr. Smith protests, but as long as Wash
ington activities depend upon Congressional appropriations
and as long as these appropriations are made up on the
jjrcaenfc lines we win continue to una a misfit here and there.
The fine bathing beach in the tidal basin is a detail in
a fine program for the development of Potomac Park for
tho USE of the entire public Appropriations for the beach
eiu name borne me ago, ana now mat tne money is avail
able the costshave gone away out of sight Just what
hours the public may enjoy the swimming there is a matter
of judgment, no doubt; and the officers in charge would
much rather have the beach open AT.T. day h?m all day
minus two hours. But the money is lacking.
Congress tries diligently to make Potomac Park a peo
ple 's institution, but luck seems to be against us. It took
years to get an appropriation for a ferry to run from lower
Seventh street to East Potomac Park, and even then it was
only after this column began to make a noise. Public offi
cials have plans for complete athletic layouts for the park
boat hopses, bath houses, courts, playing fields, and every
thing the outdoor man and woman love, but generally some
kicker manages to stave off the speedy development of
these fine ideals.
One good thing the Government CAN do is to favor the
scheme for more car lines to run nearer to" the park. That B
fine expanse of public land is still a far country to those
who have no automobiles.
HEARD AND SEEN
vm iiwun iicji
A gentleman at Bath, Me has
been served with a notice that his
rent will be eighty dollars a month.
Previous to this month he has paid
seven dollars a month. For good
ness' sake don't kick; about Wash
ington, D. C, with that distinguish
ed example of profiteering in mind.
.Street cars carry signs warning
ue public on; running boards In the
name of the Public Utilities Commis
sion. Which means that you have
to squeeze in between seats,' in
decently, until there Is no more
space on the car except the running
boards, after which anyone who pays
a fare can stand on the running
board to his heart's content This
kind of thing is a sample of why
people are sore at the street rail
ways In Washington.
Speaking of Vardaman.
R. S. TURK, vice president of the
Franklin National Bank, makes the
very pertinent observation that the
Mississippi Samson has had his
locks shorn.
. Well, anyhow, Washington has the
low record for the price of leg o'
lamb, says the Department of Labor
statistician.
Washington clubs seem to be
threatened by this nonessential elim
ination campaign, and yet every
Washington club is the home of a
large number of Government officials
and war workers. It strikes me that
tho campaign had better proceed
cautiously lest it eliminate some es
sential nonessential.
Nonessentials by the score can be
found at a certain race track not far
from Washington.
E. J. STEELE, who agrees with
me about the Washington, Baltimore
and Annapolis Railroad treatment
From W., B. and
To tha Editor of Tho Tlraea:
I want to eongratnate yon neon
your article on tho Washington. Baltl
nn and Annaoalla Railroad. It waa
my misfortune last winter to have to
depend upon their aboralnanla aarv
ioe far tranaportatlon and I awora
then that It I aver survived it I
would never pet any nearer to It aft
erward than waa neeessary.
WH.tna ,Via ..V.rfllt f)&PtS flf tAB
winter the men going; from Camp
Meado to liaitimoro wero oomou n
eattla In those red ear, without heat
fin ih i.rn weather) and without
any seats, but hard boards. Some
times tna ini wuuu guuuu.. i
hours In thla Interna oold and ona
... i .wAAmA nn In a AfflKfllt
WUUIU Bib imwm. "- -- - "
rnffcrinir mora than If rn tha outer
'? .. . -t .... v
I have neueea ina conaiuoni nun
i. Tii..t.it.iinn T.if wTillnronfrratulaft-
Ins mysolf that I am at last free from
lib iiijnut - ... .
THERE IS NO NEED FOR SOCIAL UNRESlO
(Continued from First Column.) ,'
the country of peace, good feeling, national hapfisMft, and
steady progress. S
The little people ask nothing unreasonall4Jlly enough
a roof that does not leak, sufficient feodtmdom from
worry when they are old, clothing, shMBf eAwation, food,
and freedom from work for their childrm;
The country could give that easily aad still have
plenty left for those that tninK
GODWIN.
of its passengers, also discusses an
other feature of daily street car cus
tom, interesting to all passengers:
There is probably a hundred or
two hundred open cars being used
here in tha city every day, and they
are crowded, packed, and jammed.
Still, the very front row of seats
next to the motorman, which will
hold ten to twelve passengers, we
are forbidden to use and we are com
pelled to stand on the running board
and other places. I don't know the'
reason of tills, for in closed cars we
are allowed to stand out around the
motorman, and I don't see where it
would he any worse on open cars.
"Kindly aid us in getting use of
these front seats. You can figure it
out there are one hundred open cars
a day, and they make five hundred
trips. You can see how many peo
ple can be accommodated by using
these front seats."
JOHN KXRBY savs the bestthinr
about this war is that it affords one
a chance of a fieht which the police
will not stop.
w w
That Old Swiss Laundry.
Old Washington Boy says:
"I see some one wants to know
about the old chimney on the Hooe
Building with a laundry sign. You
can inform that person it was the
Swiss Laundry, the first steam laun
dry in Washington, and was owned
by Mr. Eary Godfrey." .
"Laundry at 1322 F street indi
cates the location of the Swiss Steam
Laundry, Ira Godfrey, proprietor,
one of the first, if not the first, suc
cessful ventures in that line in the
city.
"NORTHERN LIBERTIES."
E. and O. ex.
A. Passenger.
depending- on such service. I did pity
tha poor travelers who do attempt to
set on these cars on New York ave
nue. I went to Annapolis recently.
so I had to travel thla way. and I
had a merry time fighting; to g-et Into
tha ears.
I have seen many systems (If ona
might call thla a system) In various
parta of thla country. East, West.
North and South, but I have never
traveled over one that treats Its pa
rons with aa much discomfort and
discourtesy aa tha W B. and A.
They aeem to typify the spirit of
"The Publla Be Damned" and to do
all In their power to make us reallza
It.
noplng- that your timely article
will do something- to produce a.
change In thla service, or rather thla
lack of service, and this outraxeoua
treatment of passengers, etc
Sincerely yours.
PIUUP PENDLETOJf HCBT.
tney waK stare.
A. B.
"
i
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