The Washington times. [volume], December 31, 1923, Image 16

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

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EDITORIAL PAGE
OF THE
Here Is the Last Dayof the Year
It Ought To Be a Solemn Day for Many of Us.
At 12 o'clock tonight dies the year 1923.
It is the ending of A VERY BIG PART OP OUR LIVES.
JrAt its longest, life is very short. Three score and ten is
i ter above the average. Millions of us die in infancy—wasted
effort, wasted suffering, mental and physical, for millions of
Mothers.
The rest of us drag along, dropping off-—sinking into the
grave too soon—on all sorts of pretexts.
If we live the full seventy years, or even the extra ten or
twenty that land us among “the very old people,’’ still a year
—now ending—is a very big thing to us. Infancy takes up
Many years. And old age at the other end takes up many
Others. It takes us twenty years to learn what life is—and
ten or twenty more, as a rule, to use our knowledge and stop
being foolish.
Os our short lives we LOSE HALF in dressing, sleeping
and making up our minds to get out of bed.
Our life is a very short string of beads—each bead a year.
And at 12 o’clock tonight every person living will have one
bead less on his string.
Three hundred and sixty-five days have slipped by. Our
earth haa traveled its little annual journey of 184 millions of
Miles sround the sun—besides many other miles in its flight
wit\ the sun through space.
The hours have crawled along—slowly it seems—but 8,760
Os them have passed since we last thought of a new year.
How LONG the hours are. How LITTLE we put into them.
Take out your watch now, or look at the clock if you live
without a watch. Sit still as a minute passes. Can you imagine
what you have done with those eight thousand seven hundred
and sixty hours—each of SIXTY MINUTES?
There is no use in crying over spilt milk—no use weeping
over wasted time. Let us be as wise as the dairymaid that
•pilled the milk. She at least tried not to keep on spilling it.
Another year begins—and it is NOT too late to make up
for the past.
The only thing we own is TIME, and nearly all of us have
wasted TIME as though it were the least valuable of our pos
sessions.
We let it slip by like water in a stream. Yet the clock, as
tt ticks, ticks off our chances. Fights interest us—ambition
May sleep, but brutality only dozes. We read as a nation of
the defeated fighter lying on his back—while the referee
counts the seconds that mean defeat—when the count reaches
ten. .
• Old Time is a referee “holding the watch’’ on every one of
us.
At midnight tonight he adds ONE to his fatal count.
How many more shall we let him count before we. get up
•nd to work?
He is determined, and never beaten, is Time. He counts us
•11 out at last.
But he gives us plenty of time, plenty of chances. WE are
the spendthrifts. WE are the foolish wasters of our only pos
session.
One year more has gone. That can’t be helped. All our
regrets cannot bring it back, and all our remorse cannot undo
•ny of its foolishness.
But, as this year dies, a new one begins. More lucky than
the flies and the flowers that buzz and bloom one short season,
we have another and another and still another opportunity.
Let us begin this year like MEN and WOMEN.
Let us make it a better year than the last anyhow, even if
we cannot make it perfect.
Out of endless billions of efforts, of TRYING, of WANT
ING to improve, has come the human race—improved as it is
today.
Out of endless other billions of efforts, resolves, earnest
struggles, bitter failures, will come finally the REAL and
dignified human race.
-Each of us in his little struggle does for real humanity
what the little coral insect does for the big reef. Not one
really matters. Yet that coral reef has in it nothing
GREATER than the effort of a tiny insect.
Not one of US is of any importance. Yet in the future
this earth will know a magnificent humanity—and in it there
will be nothing greater than the feeble effort of a feeble
MAN. The greatest thing, perhaps, will be the effort of the
man that failed—no man can weigh motives or deserts.
Let the next year begin on your part an honest effort TO
DO BETTER. Do your tiny share of the big work ahead of
the race—and in doing so you may do wonders for your own
little existence.
How to begin?
THINK more, TALK less.
Use energy in doing, instead of planning.
Make up your mind TO HELP OTHERS—if only with
politeness and patience. Be a decent little bullet in that great
ball-bearing appapratus we call “civilization.*’
Give the others a chance to roll.
Save money ABOVE ALL. That means opportunity.
Control yourself—appetite, vanity, thirst, egotism, SELF
INDULGENCE in all its FOOLISH forms. Your first business
is to rule yourself. Do that as a preliminary to any other
success.
Remember that all you get comes from the efforts of those
that lived before you and of those that live around you.
You live in a co-operative body, a gigantic co-partnership.
Be an honest partner.
Give others a chance.
YOU KNOW what you ought to do. -
•‘The heart knoweth his own bitterness.’’
The failure knows his own weakness.
Stop LYING to yourself, from now on.
You KNOW YOUR WEAKNESSES. Correct them.
Ask that conscience tucked away in your strange brain
WHAT YOU OUGHT TO DO. It may be half asleep But it
will tell you, if you ask persistently and REALLY WANT TO
KNOW.
Say to the Old Year: “Good-by, I have no time to waste
grieving over YOU. You have seen me play the fool, waste
my time, deceive myself.
“You’ll be the last year to see THAT sight.’’
Stick to XHAT, be a better man, or woman, or boy, or girl,
beginning with tomorrow—and good luck and success to you
in the effort. *
WASHINGTON TIMES
a Gift By T - E - Powers
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LISTEN, WORLD! By ELSIE ROBINSON
MR. HERBERT HODGES, aged fifty
three, has been giving me his
opinion on the Modern Girl. It’s
some opinion. When Mr. Hodges lets
his oratory loose on the Modem Girl he
makes the most peevish plaints of old
time reformers sound like Christmas
carols. According to Herbert, the
Modem Girl is history’s blackest blot on
civilization.
“Not an ounce of decency!” snorts the
outraged gentleman. “All she thinks of
is attracting men. Positively shameless
in the way she flaunts herself! Show me
one girl, just one girl, who has the mod
esty of our mothers and grandmothers.
They didn’t run around looking for a
husband. They stayed happily with their
parents until their lovers came courting, and even then ?
they dreaded to leave the shelter of the home.”
Oh, did they! Well, you may be fifty-three years
old in body, Herbert, but you’re a babbling babe when
it comes to a knowledge of the history of the lady
sex. “They didn’t run around looking for hus
bands ” Man, there never was a period when the
girls didn’t run around looking for husbands. Often
their “running” was restricted by custom or circum
stance, but their intentions weren't. They did their
darnedest, son, according to their ability. The female
of the species has always scouted for the male also,
she always got what she went after. Why not? You
don’t blame a boy for looking around for a job at the
comer grocery or down at the bank or along the
wharf, do you? In fact, you’d think little of him if
he didn’t hustle for a job when he came of age. Then
why shouldn’t the girl keep a lively eye out for HER
JOB ?
Marriage is a very beautiful and romantic partner-
WORDS FROM WISE MEN
RASHNESS is characteristic of «
youth, prudence of maturity.
Fasten your soul so high that
constantly
The smile of your heroic cheer
may float
Above all floods of earthly agon
ies,
Purification l>eing the joy of pain
—Elizabeth Browning
Thinking is the talking of the
soul itself.
No conflict is so severe as his
who labors to subdue himself.
Be assured those will be thy i
worst enemies, not to whom thou
has done evil, but who have done
evil to thee. And those will be
thy best friends not to whom
thou hast done good, but who <
have done good to the*. 1
■ ~ I
jw
TH€V HAW6NT CHANGED-
♦ Old age in a person graced with
honors is attended with such re
spect and authority that the sense
of this alone is preferable to all
the pleasures youth can enjoy.
There are three difficulties in
authorship; to write anything
worth the publishing, to find
honest man to publish It, and to
get sensible men to read it.
If you want to be miserable,
think about yourself, about what
you want, what you like, what
respect people ought to pay you,
and what people think of you. ,
It Is owned that the most noble
and excellent gift of heaven to
man is reason; and it is as sure :
j that of all the enemies reason
Ihas to engage with pleasure is
the most capital.
(Copyright, 1923, by Newspaper
Feature Service, Jnc.i
ship. But it is also a very necessary and
practical profession for nine-tenths of
the women. And it was even more neces
sary in the days of Mother and Grandma
than it is now. Claribelle can take a
business course and land a position as a
stenographer in six months now. But
the ladies who preceded her in human
history had to marry or linger on as
poor relations, under the happy brand
of “old maids.”
If Grandma HADN’T looked around
for a husband under those conditions,
Grandma would have been nothing short
of a dumbbell. But she wasn’t. Far from
it. Grandma put a little patch under her
eye, pinched her waist into a No. 18 cor
set, cramped her toes into a No. 1 shoe,
’ tied an alluring pantalette ruffle around her ankle, and
proceeded to throw a faint on the most eligible young
man’s shoulder. Whereupon dear, demure, unsuspecting
little Grandma was “tom from the family shelter” and
married, “most reluctantly,” to Grandpa.
Nowadays Granddaughter, having a job to fall back
on, grins at this pretense of coyness. She is no longer at
man’s mercy, she can pick and choose. So she displays
her motives openly and discusses the deal with utmost
frankness. She makes her own terms and the man can
take or leave them as he chooses. Wouldn’t Grandma
have made her own terms, too, if there had been any
alternative to a domestic career in her life? She cer
tainly would. The new method may seem more crude,
but it is indicative of a healthier social condition. It is
as much better for the children who are to come as the
uncorseted body of the Modem Girl is better than the
pinched body of her grandmother. As the bodies have
been freed from wholesome restriction, so have the
minds. And humanity will profit by the change.
Copyright, 1923. by King Features Syndicate, Inc.
INTELLECTUAL CAVE MAN
DENVER. —The caveman of <
25,000 years ago was equal
in intelligence to the modern
philosopher, and “stood head and
shoulders above his degenerate
I modern descendant,’' according to
Prof. H. C. Rehm, of Colorado
Springs, in an address here on
“Man’s Evolution as Shown in
Human History."
“In brain capacity alone the
caveman had the better of the
modern man by 180 cubic centi
meters," Prof. Rohm declared.
“This man of 25,000 years ago
. followed the receding glaciers into
Europe and lived in a eave, a life
’ which would be impossible to the
: soft species of today.” according
to the Springs professor. “He
was independent of the material
comforts and limitations of today,
such as prepared foods, cloUUAtf
•nd means of locomotion.
f “Tn art the caveman was su
perior to the races that lived in
the centuries succeeding him, for
the paintings and lectures which
have been discovered on cavern
walls are marvelously delicate
and true. His weapons and tools
were carved more artistically
than those of today.
"There are indications also that
he lived more at peace with his
neighbors, for skeletons of the
negroid Gremaldi race have been
found buried with those of the
white race. There is no reason io
think that the caveman was less
intelligent than the modern phi
losopher. Os course, he lacked
the vast social heritage that we
enjoy today, which gives us our
advantage over previous genera
tions. But the biological change
of modification in man during the
past 25,000 years is comparatively
' slight and superficial,**
WASHINGTON, D. C.,
DECEMBER 31, 1923.
DR. FRANK CRANE’S*
DAILY EDITORIAL
Civilization Is Determined by the
Condition of Women
V,
By DR. FRANK CRANE.
THE degree of civilization to which any nation has
attained may be most accurately determined by the
way its women are treated.
Emerging from brutedom human beings at first recog
nize the law of force. Who has superior power rules., ,
And rule is exercised, not to help others, but to make
them minister to you.
The male having more muscle, and estimating spiritual t
forces as forms of weakness, arranged customs and >
established laws to suit himself.
He was IT. The woman was accessory. She was |
necessary, in away, as his dog and horse, possibly more,
for she bore his children, thus perpetuating his name
and feeding his pride.
She also served his pleasure by gratifying his instihcts,
she was usually soft and comely and pleasing to look
upon, and besides, if properly knocked about and kept in"
her place, she was a good cook and farm hand. 1
The major part of the human race still exists more 1
or less under these conditions, that is to say, the larger
part of humanity is still savage or semi-savage.
In the entire continents of Asia and Africa women,
with hardly significant exception, are regarded as in
feriqr to men and existing only for their use and pleas
ure. Europe may be considered as about half way out
of this condition, and the United States of America aa
about two-thirds of the way out.
There is no country in the world where women a*
treated with simple justice, for the plain reason
there is no country in the world as yet wholly
Among so-called enlightened people there are
sands of homes where the man considers the woman M-.i
more or less his property. It is her business to stay M '
home, look after his comfort and take care Gt Ms
children.
In no part of the world is the violation of marriage,
vows by the man considered to be equally serious as as
similar offence by the woman.
As far as that is concerned in no part of the, world dp
the restrictions of law and morality of the state and the
church bear as hard on man as they do on woman.
The Feminist Movement throughout the world is but
one phase of the forward thrust of the human soul to
ward ultimate equity and reason.
The only arguments that exist for keeping women in
subservience and seclusion are the same sort of moth
eaten arguments that are used for reactionism every
where; the same sort of arguments that keep up kings,
armies, navies, bishops, tariffs, silk hats, dress suits
and quill pens.
Little by little the earth is rolling up into the light,
and when the day shall fully dawn the woman shall
stand squarely upon her own feet, mistress of her own
body and soul, finding her happiness not in being a <
shielded slave, but in assuming and discharging ner
proper responsibilities.
Almost all phases of what is called the social evil are >
curiously enough regarded by the twisted minds of men
as being due to a lack of sufficient protection, alias
slavery.
In the Orient you can see the social evil in its most
striking features. Notwithstanding all the ridiculous
apologies that are made for the existence of the Yoshi
wara, or “restricted district” of Tokyo, and all the pretty <
speeches that have been uttered by Lafcadio/Heam and
others about the Geisha, the fact remains that the whole
business reeks of barbarism, is a form of human slavery
more loathsome and less useful than ever negro slavery
was in the west, is the cause of infinite heartbreaks
among decent Japanese women, and does probably more
than anything else toward retarding this fine and capable
people in their struggle upward to take their proper place .
among the nations of the world.
(Copyright, 1923, by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)
LUCY LOWELL WARNS OF I
“PACKING A GRUDGE” j
Persons Who Vow to “Get Even” for an Injury
Commit Selves to an Evil Course.
By Lucy Lowell.
zz A ND if he likes you you -
A can have his last dime,
1A or anything else of his.
He’s the most generous and loyal
person in the world.”
One of a group said it about a
man they all knew —said it defen
sively, despite his sincerity.
The others showed no enthusi
asm, and the speaker’s next re
mark seemed a statement of their
thoughts:
"But, of course, he does pack a
grudge. It’s his only fault.”
They nodded and dismissed the
man, still without enthusiasm.
And I wondered which of them
had felt the burden of the sinis
ter thing the man who is gener
ous and loyal "packed” in his
memory.
I wondered about the man, too.
Perhaps the same quality that
makes his friendship valuable —
loyalty to such fine things as the
consideration and affection and
confidence of others —also com
pels him to hold fast to disagree
able things, slights, Injuries and
so on.
I suppose that, just as some bit
of kindness wins his lifelong
goodwill, a bit of criticism or un
friendliness calls forth just as
long and active enmity.
I fancy that when some one
does him an injustice he says to
himself: "I’l get even if it takes
a hundred years!”
And there’s no doubt at all
that he does "get even” sooner
or later —if an injury actually
"evens up” a first —for one near
ly always finds a chance to do
evil, as well as good, if one looks
long and hard enough.
In other words, this “grudge
packer,” though described as the
“most generous person in the
world,’ is not generous enough
to forgive a hurt—real or fancied.
Instead, he picks it right up
and makes it a part of himself.-
just as any idea or ideal always
becomes, and is quite as loyal
to it as he is to his loves and
aspirations.
And when he has reaped days
or qk years of bitterness
4- from the "grudge,” he pays it off
in kind, so that ’ someone else
may have bitterness and suffer,
ing.
He probably considers the per
son who injures him a despicable
character.
Yet in deliberately Injuring
some one else, he himself be
comes—or should become—a de
spicable character in his own
eyes!
It’s rather a vicious oirola—
this thing of "packing a grudge,*'.-
isn’t it?
(Copyright, 1928, Kin* Psaturss
Syndicate, Inc.)
Seeks Old Shoes
BUCYRUS, Ohio.— Frank Sanao,
former member of the Royal
Italian Band, now a naturalised
American citizen and working
here as a cobbler, is waiting for
the Italian consul general In Mow
York city to inform him whan the
annual shipment of old shoes will
be made to Italy by the New
York consulate.
Every year the consul general '
sends notification to the different i
Italian shoe repairers throughout
the United States, it is said, who
gather in all available old shoes I
„with good tops, re-eole them, ahd I
ship them to the consul general
for reshipment to the poor in
Italy.
Saddlebags Back
BRIDGEPORT. Ohio. Saddle
bags, popular with horse j
men 75 or 100 years ago, are com
ing back Into favor. A motor
cyclist passed through here, en
route to Wheeling, W. V»., with
a pair of saddlebags strapped
across the rear wheel back of tbg
seat, just as horsemen did In th*
old days. *=*S