The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], December 21, 1914, Page 4, Image 4

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

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THEAGEHERALE
10. W. BARRETT.Ed I to I
Entered at the Birmingham. Ala.
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act of Congress March 3, lain.
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THE AGE-HERALD,
Birmingham, Ala.
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ing.
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TELEPHONE
Bell (private exchange connecting all
departments) Main 41KW,
.^11 place* that the eye of heaven
vlaita are to a wine mnn porta and
happy haven*. —Richard II.
BEGINNING THE DAY—O God, I
awoke to thin new ilay and look
Into Thy face. I am reminded of
other day a, which have come frenli
from Thy hand, and which I have
marred. But I am warm with grati
tude and gladnenn that Thou hunt
awaked me with another golden gift.
Help ine to uae thin one well, and
hind It about my forehead and keep
It forever. In Chrlat’a name. Amen.—
H. M. E.
The Railroads and the Public
No matter how much regulating the
railroads may have needed in the
years past, some of the legislation in
different parts of the country was too
drastic. There was much railroad
baiting on the part of politicians, and
certain business organizatons were
unfair in their attitude to the trans
portation companies.
One of the best things that could
be said of the interstate commerce
commission’s decision authorizing the
eastern carriers to advance their
freight rates was that it showed a
marked change in governmental policy
at Washington. Only a few months
ago the interstate commerce commis
sion decided adversely on the petition
of the carriers operating east of the
Pittsburg-Buffalo line—the carriers of
the largest volume of traffic in this
country.
But President Wilson has been
speaking out plainly in favor of
friendly relations w'ith “big business.”
He has received by appointment prom
inent financiers and manufacturers.
And while not yielding any of his
party principles for which he had been
contending, he wished the business
world to feel that he was in no wise
antagonistic, but that on the other
hand he wanted to see business helped.
What the President said and what he
did made an impression on the inter
state commerce commission, and it did
not hesitate to reopen the rate case
and the result has spread optimism
far and wide.
When the railroads fail to prosper
the sections through which they pass
cannot prosper. As John Howe Pey
ton, president of the Nashville, Chat
tanooga and St. Louis railway, truly
said, in a recent signed article in the
Southern Lumberman, entitled “Rela
tion of Railroads to Southern Prog
ress:”
“The growth and development of
any .section depends more largely upon
Its transportation facilities than upon
any other factor. It matters not how
fertile the soil or how rich in min
eral or timbered wealth, the absence
of adequate means for marketing the
products of the labor of the inhab
itants of such a section will retard
its development. Throughout the
known history of the human race the
wealth and material prosperity of
man has ever been advanced or re
tarded In proportion to his facilities
for marketing the products of his la*
bor and exchanging them for the
products of the labor of other men.
• * • It is gratifying to note that
there is a growing public sentiment,
throughout the country, for fair play
and just dealing with railroads. Very
many people, who have hitherto been
led by ax-grinding politicians to be
lieve that railroads are monsters of
extortion having no regard for pri
vate or public rights, giie realizing
the gross injustice of such a prejudi
cial view. They are seeing the ab
surdity of charging the transportation
lines with the purpose and policy of
robbing the people and the sections
upon whose patronage and prosperity
these railroads are dependent for their
own success and prosperity.”
The recent decision of the interstate
eommerce commission has already had
> telling effect on business circles. All
the railroad officials that commented
on the freight rate advance express
gratification of course, but some were
more enthusiastic than others. Presi
dent L. F. Loree of the Delaware and
Hudson said that while the rate in
crease would relieve the distress of
the railroads by making up a deficit
in their earnings he did not believe it
would give the railroads any additional
purchasing power. But Mr. Loree is
mistaken. Railroad credit has been
strengthened already and within the
next few weeks companies that were
not able to negotiate the sale of se
curities for expansion and betterment
will be able to do so.
Railroad managers and railroad
| financiers have not been as hopeful
in many a day as they are now, and
iron and steel makers will in a short
while be materially benefited by the
buying movements that the railroads
will set a-going.
A Day for Oratory
1 Tomorrow the House of Representa
tives will consider the measure for
submitting the constitutional amend
ment proposition to the state legis
latures providing for nation-wide pro
hibition.
Chairman Henry of the rules com
mittee, while opposed to national pro
hibition, was right in agreeing to al
low the matter to be debated and
voted upon. Oscar W. Underwood was
in favor of allowing the House to vote
on prohibition, although he himself
would vote “no;” “but there are,” he
said, “a large number of persons in the
United States who demand a vote on
this question of national prohibition,
and it is expressly the policy of the
democratic party never to withhold a
vote on any great question when there
is a considerable demand for it.”
Richmond Pearson Hobson of Ala
bama offered the nation-wyle resolu
tion, and of course he will lead the
fight for the cause he espouses ardent
ly if not always wisely. Eight hours
will be allowed for discussion on the
floor of the House and no matter who
else may speak Congressman Hobson
will doubtless surpass the others in
declamatory eloquence. He is an
impassioned orator and is espe
cially at home when warning this
country against the so-called yellow
peril or against the “rum demon."
Hobson’s prohibition speeches have
been so numerous during the last six
or seven years that he often repeats
himself. No orator, not even a Henry
Ward Beecher or a William Jennings
Bryan, can speak frequently and be
always fresh. And the more voluble
the orator the greater his limitations.
But Congressman Hobson will be on
his mettle Tuesday and will probably
prepare a new oration on the beauties
of prohibition.
It will be a red letter day for Hob
son. But the nation-wide measure will
be defeated by a very decisive vote.
Even if such a measure could get the
necessary two-thirds vote in the House
it would never get through the Senate.
There are several prohibition states in
the union and vast areas of “drv” ter
ritory, but the country is not ready,
and probably never will be, for putting
prohibition in the constitution of the
United States. The best American
statesmanship is emphatically against
it.
Another Great Wheat Crop
One wheat crop is hardly harvested
before the government begins report
ing on the next. This year’s winter
wheat crop was the largest ever pro
duced and, weather conditions permit
ting, the crop now in the ground will
be even larger. There is a consider
ably increased acreage and some of
this increase is due to the fact that
the south has sown more winter wheat
than usual.
Here in Alabama there has been so
little wheat raised in recent years
that the crop was almost negligible
in official estimates, but it will be
different from now on. Many a cot
ton farmer sowed wheat last month
for next year’s harvest who had never
before attempted to raise this grain
as a money crop. In long years gone
back Alabama produced large wheat
crops, but cotton was allowed to push
grain aside and almost supplant it
entirely.
Less cotton and more grain and
more live stock is now the slogan
throughout the south and the south
will be all the better for it.
A Pretty Howdy-Do
At a time when there is a dearth of
hazing stories in the newspapers de
scribing the more or less brutal esca
pades of college boys, girl hazers at
Perdue university are reported to have
treated a Perdue co-ed with such sever
ity that she has brought suit against
seven of the mischievous misses. The
victim declares that she is now a
nervous wreck and a physical weak
ling. Even at this distance we seem
to hear the buzz of gossip regarding
this affair at the celebrated alma
mater of George Ade.
According to the statement of the
girl who was hazed she couldn’t have
been treated worse if she had been
the most bumptious of freshmen be
ing “toned down” by a party of upper
classmen. She says the seven defend
ants entered her room, stuck pins into
her, painted her face with ink, dis
robed her and threw her into a bath
tub filled with cold water. All this
took place in the girls’ dormitory at
Perdue.
Evidently the impression that haz
ing as done by girl students is as
“mild as milk” is erroneous, if the
Perdue episode is a fair sample.
Every now and then hazing seems to
break out afresh at Annapolis and
West Point, despite the efforts of au
thorities to keep it down, but even in
these institutions, while there is
doubtless still a great deal of petty
tyranny among upper classmen who
like to lord it over the freshmen, it is
not often as severe as the hazing said
to have been done by these Perdue
coeds.
Mother may well hesitate before
sending her daughter away to col
lege, if she is to be given no more
consideration than a boy. Many a col
lege graduate who looks back on the
days when he was a “rat” or a
“greenie” thinks the old fashioned
paddling he received much more pref
erable to being punctured by pins and
thrown into a tub full of cold water at
a time of the year when the mere
thought of cold water makes a per
son shiver.
The female college rowdy is a new
type. Is she another product of wom
an’s efforts to “enlarge her sphere?”
Although St. Johns, N. F., has a popu
lation of only 30,000, about 1250 men have
enlisted for service in the British army
and navy. One thousand of these men
will become soldiers and 250 sailors, al
though one would naturally suppose that
more of them would prefer the sea. This
is an average of one enlistment in every
25 of the population, and has been ex
ceeded, It is believed, only at Liverpool,
where one person in every 15 has enlisted.
Although there is no militia in Newfound
land, for the past 20 years denominational
schools and colleges have maintained
boys' brigades, numbering ordinarily
about 1000. When the call for recruits was
Issued four-fifths of those who offered
their services were either members of the
boys brigades or had been members in
the past. Every officer appointed for the
regiment had received his military train
ing at one of the denominational schools.
The first contingent sent to England by
Newfoundland numbered 640 men. The
second will leave early in the coming
year.
While Theodore Roosevelt thinks that
Germany will win the war, It must be
remembered that Mr, Roosevelt has here
of late associated with the minority.
It Is reported that New York may
have a Mormon temple, which of course
can never be a serious rival to any of
Gotham’s tango temples.
Can it be possible that Villa never tast
ed Intoxicating liquor until a few days
ago? The common belief in this country
is quite the contrary.
A former vaudeville actor is now "bell
bop" In an eastern hotel. That isn't
siurh a had Job when one knows how to
corner the tips.
The governor of Mississippi pardoned a
negro who had been dead 18 years and
established a record for posthumous clem
ency.
The honorable French, Belgian and Eng
lish allies are anxiously waiting for the
Russians to show that promised punch.
A tinker is said to have inspired Wag
ner. but some "low brows" think he got
his inspiration from a boiler factory.
A diagram of the interior of a subma
rine, recently published, shows that as
a pleasure craft it is a dismal failure.
All a stranger in London has to do to
be arrested for a German spy is to go
about the streets leading a dachund
Seeing things in the dark is not half so
terrifying to Englishmen now us seeing
things off shore in a fog.
Its a dull week in Congress when Rep
resentative Heflin is not dared to en
gage in persona] combat.
People in some parts of the south
don’t seem able to enjoy Christmas with
out a lynching bee.
A life on the ocean wave has serious
drawbacks when the wave is sown with
mines,
France will take cotton, hut where are
the ships to send it over In?
LIKE M'LIIKE SAJS
From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The fellow' who has time to brag that
this is a billion dollar county is the
same lad who touches you for' a quar
ter.
The happy marriages are those in
which each of the contracting partie.s
realizes that the other is merely a hu
man being and then settles down and
tries to make the best of things.
You can always make an enemy out
of a man by calling his bluff.
■Judging from t,he way the divorces
are poring through the hoppers, some
men and some women would like to
get partners as they buy their socks
and hosiery—guaranteed to wear for
three months or you get new ones.
We have self-rocking cradles, sclf
suffioient children and self-amusing
husbands. But there are no self-sup
porting wives.
A girl spends 10 years learning music
so she can forget it when she gets mar
ried.
A man who lias no salaries to pay 1b
always in favor of raising them.
Ttie way things are running now, it
won’t be long until parents will be sent
to bed without their suppers because
they talked back to their children.
Most of us are willing to say noth
ing if the other fellows will saw the
wood.
When a bride has been married for
10 days she begins figuring on how she
will celebrate her silver wedding and
Just who she will Invite.
A dollar is a dollar. But, somehow or
other, the dollar that you earn by hard
work does you more good than the dol
lar you regard as easy money.
He may wea; a greasy hat. and the
seat of his pants may be shiny, but If
a man’s children have their noses flat
tened against the window pane a half
hour before he is due home to supper,
you can trust him with anything you
have. He is all right.
A woman believes that there Is some
thing crooked about a woman who can
keep a secret.
Mother always wants to go along
w'ith father when father is going to
have tils picture taken because mother
knows that if father went alone he
would have the picture taken in a pose
that would make him look like he was
drunk and dressed up.
You can’t make an old fashioned man
understand why you should not use the
same knife and fork all through a
three-course dinner when there Is plen
ty of bread to wipe the knife on be
tween courses.
A man can figure where he might have
improved himself by marrying some
other woman. But lie is certain that his
wife couldn't have done any better, and
was lucky to land him.
A grocery man’s children can get tdi
' fresh. But it Is different with hlB eggs.
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Steady Improvement
"There has been steady improvement in
business conditions since November 1,
find while it has not been as general as
so mo of us hoped it would l>e, nor as
marked, it has been substantial,’ said
K. <J. Hindeman of St. Louis, who has in
vestments in several states.
"I have no doubt but that the decision
of the interstate commerce commission
authorizing the eastern railroads to ad
vance their freight rates, will be felt for
good in a far-reaching way. It should
certainly put the railroads in a better
position for improving their properties.
New equipment is badly needed, and as
soon as the railroads come into the
maYket for rails and rolling stotck the
i»tn and steel industry will he benefited
on a large scale.
“All the business men with whom I
have talked express the opinion that pros
perity will be very much in evidence by
February 1.
Faith In Fatherland
"Next to picking a redbug with a box
ing glove, about the hardest thing to do
that T ever ran across, is to find a Ger
iYia.ii who does not firmly believe that Ger
many and her allies will finally overpower,
; her foes and emerge from the present con-!
fliet practically the ruler of Europe," Js
an observation made by Angus A. Acree
of the Elmwood nurseries and green
houses.
“Of course it is perfectly natural for
Germans to talk that way in the pres
ence of others, and especially Americans,
but their belief is real and is almost a re
ligion. No amount of argument will cause
them to change their minds even in tne
slightest degree or even to make the
slightest concession to the contrary.
"Af our nurseries, nearly all the nur
serymen and florists are Germans, and the
war is always the vital topic of the day.
Every man of them is thoroughly informed
on the occurrences of the war. They do
not depend entirely on the daily press for
their information, for they are constant
ly receiving German papers both from
American cities and abroad, as well as
occasional letters from the fatherland.
"It is a peculiar thing, though, that
those at the nursery rarely ever have
anything detrimental to say of the enemy.
In fact, they hardly ever refer to them
in any way, except, of course, incident
ally. They are too engrossed in extolling
the merits and the prowess of Germany
and the German war forces."
Heart* Nothing of Hnr*l Timet*
“As I frequently hear people talking
about hard times, a conversation I had
with a married lady whose husband is
employed by the Woodward Iron company
v as most cheering.” said a well-known
professional man. “Are ‘you all’ still mak
ing your home in Ensley? I asked. ‘Yes,’
was tne reply. 'And do you hear much
about depression in that community?’
‘*'No answered the lady. ‘You see my
l usband is employed at Woodward and
all three of tlie furnaces there are not only
running now, but they nave been in oper
ation throughout the year. There is no
hard times talk at Woodward, and that is
all 1 know about it.’ ”
Am To Political Straw*
“In reading the Age-Herald I was sur
prised to find that the lawyers of the
country who answered the questions pro
posed by a New Orleans journal as their
choice for President in lt)lt£-sevoral thou
sand responded.—Mr. l4ine Of California.
Sfcretary of the Interior.' in the demo
cratic column, got a larger vote than
President Wilson, and that in the re
publican column Associate Justice Hughes
van far ahead of Myron Herrick,” said
Samuel J. Enright of Milwaukee. “J voted
for Mr. Wilson in 1912 and expect to
vote lor him again in 1918. I think he has
made a great President. Still I realize the
uncertainty of politics, and it may be
that some good democrat other than Wil
son may head the ticket next time.
“Were I to make a guess at the re
publican ticket I would say Herrick would
be the standard-bearer. Pie would be
rny first choige. and Justice Hughes my
second.”
New Pont office Ilulldiug
‘'Birmingham is to have a very large
and a very handsome new postoffice, and
1 believe that ground will be broken for
it earlier than had been thought some
months ago,” said a member of the Cham
ber of Commerce.
“Senator White seems confident that
the treasury department would expedite
plans if a great deal of pressure were
brought to hear. A committee has been
appointed by the Chamber of Commerce
to go to Washington for the purpose of
urging early action. But Mr. Underwood
told me when he was here that the archi
tects would begin work upon the plans in
1915, that it would take many months
to develop these plans, for the building is
to be an imposing architectural work, and
that construction W'ould begin in 19i6. Jt
will be a $900,000 or a $1,000,000 building a :d
$1,000,000 buildings of the high class that
the government provides cannot be un
duly hurried. Mr. Underwood said that
from the time ground was broken until
the new postoffice was ready for occu
pancy would be about three years. Post
office buildings in small cities cost usually
only from $50,00 to $75,000, and it does not
lake long to build them, but my observa
tion is that In the large cities it takes
from three to four years before the finish
ing touches can be put on. Senator White
may deem it advisable to invite the com
mittee on to Washington, but it looks to
me as though nothing would be gained
by it. For as I have just shown, quoting
Mr. Underwood, ‘the government archi
tects will start to work in the coming
year.’ ”
In the BumIiicmh World
Henry Clews, in his Saturday review,
says in part:
“One effect of the interstate commerce
commission’s decision will be to create a
mire hopeful feeling in the steel indus
try, of which the railroads are the best
customers; and It may be hoped that their
action will avert the proposed reduc
tion of wrages in that industry. The effect
upon the stock market was naturally en
couraging, although some caution was ob
served until the results could be more
definitely measured. The decision will
also have a stimulating effect upon busi
ness in general, and will aid to counter
act the depressing influences of the war.
“Beyond question the war is still the
dominating influence in this market. An
early end of the colossal struggle would
cause a sharp rise in security values;
and conversely prolongation of the war
beyond what is anticipated will be de
pressing. But, since the worst has been
largely discounted, the effect of disaster
upon values would not be so pronounced
as the approach of peace, which some
think is nearer than generally supposed.
“From Washington, which for the past
two years has been such a depressing fac
tor in the stock market, the advices are
more encouraging. A very decided change
has ta|cen place in the attitude toward big
business, and there Is no longer any de
sire to unduly harass legitimate enter
prises, but rather to aid the restoration
of business to normal activity. This was
evidenced in the favorable decision of the
interstate commerce commission.
"The market is one that will require
close watching and much discretion in the
selection of investments. As already
stated, money promises to be cheap for
sometime to come, but capital will com
mand higii rates because of the war. De
cisive engagements on land or at sea will
cause decided fluctuations in this marke.t.
•
Many of our own industries will profit
by the war. and such securities are like
ly to reflect this advantage. All pur
chases should be made with close dis
crimination, the 'market still being ex
posed to the vicissitudes of war, than
which nothing is more uncertain. Se
curities with a large international mar
ket tjhould be handled with strict con
servatism; since too rapid advances will
surely encourage liquidation. Home indus
try seems on the verge of improvement.
The winter wheat acreage is reported 11
per cent larger than last year, while the
cctton acreage will undoubtedly be much
curtailed."
POSTHUMOUS C AUTION
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Robert R. Keen, late of Montclair, N.
J., was a thoughtful bachelor. He is
dead now. In Ills will he stipulated that
any woman who could prove herself to
have been his wife should receive a sum
of $50 and no more.
Inasmuch as Mr. Keen was a well
known bachelor the bequest seems, at
first consideration, to hint at a romance
or something of that kind. But not so.
Mr. Keen was very strictly unmarried.
The bequest is only a case of post
humous caution.
Mr. Keen had observed, with some
perturbation, that, when rich men die.
indigent women are likely to appear
from nowhere in particular to advance
matrimonial claims to large estates.
Such cases get Into the courts, and are
irritating and expensive matters for the
heirs to attend to. The widow business
lias become so common that even so
distinctly single a n*ale as Mr. Keen
believed that he might stand in some
post-mortem peril.
The specific bequest, he believed,
would make his estate an unprofitable
field of operation. With $50 legally and
definitely stipulated as the reward,
there will, probably, be no claimants.
Attorneys' fees would more than ac
count for $50.
One must estimate the late Mr. Keen
as a shrewd and far-seeing person—one
might even say a very keen person.
MOTH BALLS IX THE SKY
From the Youngstown Telegram
A new engine fuel of supposed mar
velous combusion, cheapness and pun
gency has been tried out in Indian
apolis. It has been pronounced a fail
ure, according to an automobile trade
journal, one of the chief reasons be
ing because of a way it had of crys
tallizing In the feed pipes, thus chok
!ng off the flow. A local skeptic says
this may or may not be true, pointing
to the fact that some remarkable im
provements are bought up merely to
keep them off the market and obviate
the necessity of installing expensive
machinery. Just who might have se
cured control of the new fuel he does
not say. Under the circumstances there
should have been some spirited bid
ding between the automobile manufac
turers and a gentleman residing at
Pocantico.
The new mixture smelled like moth
balls. While this would have worked
to disadvantage to a peaceful com
munity sitting on the front porches
in summer it might have done some
thing toward ending the wars; for an
aviator with the aroma of a man shak
ing out an overcoat would be apsly de
tected, even at night, if the wind were
right. Maybe it was some of the war
lords who bought the compound up to
present it to the enemy. One could
believe one theory as readily as the
other.
CITY DEMOGRAPHERS
Fiom the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
New York is being surveyed. It is a
sociological survey, not a mensuration one.
it is a survey after the fashion of the
one now being undertaken in Cleveland
on a smaller scale, however, and along
more circumscribed lines. The New York
survey’ will show the distribution of pop
ulation and find the city’s social center,
with incidental data of value in political
and benevolent movements.
rJ he social surveyor’s line of work seems
to have been something of a surprise to
these who learned about it for the first
time more particularly the state civil
service commission. When the surveyor
appeared before that body and endeav
ored tc explain his line of work, the chair
man interrupted him.
“You are a demographer,” he said.
The surveyor demurred to the charge. %
“No,” he replied, “I'm at work on vital
statistics.”
Thereupon the universal arbitrator, the
dictionary, was brought out and dusted
off, and presently yielded the. informa
tion that a demographer is an expert in
vital and social statistics in regard to
ethnology and anthropology.
In the course of municipal events ,it is
quite Xowible that every organized com
munity will be equipped with a city demo
grapher and an exact social center. For
the present, however, Cleveland will abate
no interest in the labor of the survey
promoters who are engaged in teaching
Cleveland to know itself.
OUR IXDRILLED MILITIA
Oswald F. Schuette In Leslie's.
One of the basic requirements of the
regulations of the organized militia is
that they shall have at least 24 drills
of one hour each per annum. In most
of the states an effort was made to
nave at least that number of drills. Yet
37,874 men out of U9.087 failed to at
tend 24 drills a year. No record has
been made of the practice marches held
by the organized militia, although these
are looked upon by the war depart
ment as one of the most important fea
tures of military training. General
Wotherspoon declares that he considers
it a safe conclusion “that no single
unit of the organized militia in its
maximum strength marched a distance
of 10 miles fully equipped and armed.”
“The above figures,” adds General
Wotherspoon, “taken in conjunction
with the fact that the number of com
panies, troops, batteries, etc., Is 2000,
and this number 1120 organizations
are below the prescribed minimum
strength, would indicate to a degree
the dependence to be placed upon this
force.”
SUCCEEDING MR. UNDERWOOD
IV BH.L VI* KB
WASHINGTON, December 20.—(Spe
cial.X—It's a long, long way to
the first Monday in December,
191f), at which time the next House of
Representatives will be organized, accept
ing, of course, the theory that there is
to be no extra session, nevertheless am
bitious leaders and would-be leaders in
the democratic party in the House are
mobilizing for the conflict to capture the
coveted honor of stepping into the shoes
of Oscar Underwood as chairman of the
ways and means and House leader.
The Hon. Claud Kitchen of North Caro
lina is the real heir apparent to the man
tle of the present House leader. Mr.
Kitchen is in line through long service
on the ways and means committee to suc
ceed Mr. Underwood, but he is not going
to be permitted to walk off with the bacon
without a contest, or at least a skir
mish. There are others in the House who
f.eely admit that they possess all the
qualifications of real, honest-to-goodness
leadership, and there is not the slightest
disposition just at this time to conceal
their lights under a bushel, though in
seme instances it is hinted that a pint
cup would answer all purposes for the
total eclipse of some of the aforemen
tioned lights. Still such utterances as this
must be discounted. Not a single candi
date for these honors could be entirely
concealed in a pint cup—honest.
Besides Mr. Kitchen there is the Hon.
Swager Shirley of Kentucky and the
Hon. Finis J. Garrett of Tennessee, to
say nothing, if one is permitted to say
nothing, of the Hon. Bob Henry of Texas,
who we might say in passing will say a
plenty himself. Tlieer are “movements’
by the friends of all these well-known
and able, representatives of the “plain
peepul’’ to place to the best advantage
before the membership of the next House
and the country their special fitness for
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the place of the “big noise" of the ma* -
jority.
Fortunately for the next leader, it is
pointed out, most of the democratic legis
lation of great reform has been put upon
the statute books, although there will be
other work of some magnitude to be car
ried out. Also unfortunately for said lead
er, the majority of the party in the next
House will not be as great as in the pres
ent House, and he will not have at his
back the great compact steam roller v/hich
Mr. Underwood so skillfully handled.
Newspaper writers from Washington, an
alyzing the men one of whom must ij.
the nature of things become the lead*?.,
are in many instances gloomy in their
feiecasts, and comparisons between them
and Alabama’s senator-elect, who will va
cate after March 4 next. However, while
Mr. Underwood possesses to a marvelous
degree the qualities of leadership, being
equipped with patience, courage and sound
judgment, and besides a winning personal
ity, still it is unfair to the man who will
succeed him to condemn him in udvance
and to make his burden greater by p -
dieting failure before he has been put to
the test.
Men frequently rise to the occasion, and
become equal to any emergency by sim
ply being given the opportunity. On oc
casions free from responsibility they may
flop around like a nightshirt on a clothes
line harrassed by a Kansas cycle, but
with the weight of leadership pressjng
upon them they may be considerably
sobered. We predict that tho House will
put forward a man who will have some
surprises for the critics. He will have to
hustle not to rattle like a buckshot In
a lard can in Mr. Underwood’s seat, and
in this situation he will be unfortunate,
but lie will be impressed with the size of
his job and try to live up to it, and when
a man big enough to have accomplished
what any of these gentlemen have accom
plished tries to fill the bill he’ll give a
pretty fair imitation of doing so.
IN STRICKEN BELGIUM
From the New York Sun.
Theodore waters, secretary of
the Christian Herald, who went to
Belgium to superintend the distri
bution of the cargo of the steamship Jan
Block, returned yesterday by the Tran
sj lvania. At the offices of the commision
for relief in Belgium, 71 Broadway, he
gave out a statement ijo which he said that
Belgium was in reality one long line of
starving men, women and children clam
oring for a daily single ration of soup and
hi ead.
During the time lie was in Belgium Mr.
Waters was unable to find any proof of
German atrocities. On the other hand, he
said, the needs were beyond the power
of man to describe. He painted a con
trast of brilliantly lighted hotels and res
taurants overflowing with gorgeously uni
form German soldier revellers and the
outside of these hotels virtually beleag
u>ed by women who were waiting in. the
cold and snow for the food that would
keep themselves and their children alive
another day.
lie mentioned in particular the Weber
hotel at Brussels, patronized by German
officers, and around the corner a theatre
besieged by starving, freezing women.
He did not tell of Germans taking food
from the Belgians, but he said most em
phatically that the Germans were not
feeding the Belgians.
"It is a tale of human woe, a tragic
misery, the like the world has never
seen," said Mr. Waters. "I cannot say
that the greatest need in all the world is
now in Belgium, but I do say that it can
not be surpassed by any of the horrors
••••••••••••••••••••••■••••••••••••■•••••••••■■••••a
in the swamps of East Prussia and Ga
licia.
“In Antwerp I saw over 1000 poorly clad
women, one in bedroom slippers, standing
shivering in the snow, waiting for food to
be doled out, and this under the shadow
o2 a big hotel where well fed, well clad
soldiers drank and made merry.
“In Malines under the shadow’ of the
cathedral, its walls caved in, its old
stained glass windows now but ragged
remnants of a beauty that can never be
replaced, I saw men, women and children
gazing’ disconsolately at the ruins of the
houses that once were theirs—poor people 1
who begged something to eat of us as we
pubsed.
“In Brussels we saw women holding
babies snuggled to their necks, standing
on the cold street corners begging a cen
time for food. We visited the distributing
stations and saw the food sent over by
kind-hearted Ann Means being handed out
in all too meagre rations. They came in
droves, these people, from all directions,
and the clatter of their sabots on the
pavement was a sad accompaniment to
their sadder thoughts, for none spoke, ex
cept to murmur a thankful 'Merci, Mon-,
sior!’ as each portion was handed out.
“In Holland I found thousands of refu
gees from Belgium huddled in retaining
camps and on barges, some relined, some
coarse and brutalized, all sleeping to
gether without partitions to insure the
least privacy.
“Now it must be understood that there
is no blame coming to Holland for this
state of affairs, for by reason of bad
business conditions she is having trouble
enough looking after her own population,
and in addition she has had nearly a half
million refugees thrust suddenly upon
hei
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“THE DITCH”
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Some of those vivacious French sol
diers are publishing- a magazine in the
trenches. It is called “The Ditch” and
has no fixed day of publication. The
terms are strictly cash in advance,
owing to the uncertainties of maintain
ing a subscription list.
What happens when a bit of shrapnel
pi’s the editorial page isn't explained.
Probably It’s the usual thing with space
limitations.
Here are a Tew characteristic person
alities which might be culled at ran
dom from its pages:
“One of the Shell brothers dropped
into the sanctum yesterday.
“We've had to hire a new foreman.
The old one got rattled and lost hi^
head.
”A gang of angry Bavarians made a
hurry call on us yesterday. They wanted !
to lick the editor and everybody else.
It was sometime before we could drive
'em away.
“This is getting to be a rough neigh
borhood. Jean l^a Tour, one of our best
compositors, stepped outside the com
posing room a day or two ago and an
unknown miscreant shot him Through
the Petit Journal which he had care
lessly thust In the breast pocket of his
blouse. It is believed to have been the
work of some foreigners who have been
hiding in a subway across the field.
After this the ‘Ditch’ staff will go
armed.
"Shall foreigners be permitted to in
terfere with our day of publication?
"Nous verrons.”
“TRAINED CITIZENRY”
From Black wood’s Magazine.
The story of the war of secession in the
United States is often quoted as a Justifi
cation of the value of volunteer armies
hastily got together, but It is singularly
ill adapted to prove anything of the kind.
It only proves the value of volunteers
against volunteers, for the regulars en
gaged were a mere handful. Even so, the
north, with Its huge resources and the
ready response to its call for volunteers,
could not win with them; it had to have
recourse to forced service in the end. That
after two or three campaigns volunteers
fought as well as regulars would have
fought does not prove that they were
valuable from the first. „Every general
on both sides was incessantly hampered
by straggling, lack of discipline, and the
fact that in presence of the enemy there
was no fire control possible. And it is
well known that Lord Wolseley, alter a
careful study of the war, gave it as his
deliberate opinion that 30,000 regulars, well
found and ready, would have finish d
the war for either side in the first cam
paign. If this be so—and it has not been
seriously disputed—the "volunteer” army
stands condemned every way. Years of
bloodshed and thousands of lives might
have been saved. Napoleon said: “Quand
1'ignorance fait tuer dlx hommes la ou il
n’er. devrait pas couter deux, n’est elle pas
responsable du sang des hult autres?”
Nations may be ignorant as well as com
manders.
BROUGHT UP WRONG
Fronj the Boston Globe.
Mrs. Barclay Hazard, whose work .n
the Florence Crlttenton league has made
her competent to discuss the subject, holds
the opinion that it is impossible to com
pile figures which will give a specific reas
on why girls slip into paths of error.
The best statistics obtainable do not
seem to show that age. wages or nation
ality can be charged, any one of them,
with being the big general cause of mis
j behavior.
"There are a surprising number of tlie
J women who get into the night court on
Manhattan Island who are well beyond
the age of girlhood," Mrs. Hazard says.
"There are those who have comfortable
homes and who, if they are wage-earners,
j receive good pay. The percentage of
Americans is fairly large."
Parents and guardians are much to
blame, she avers, in their lack of care
of the young persons in their keeping.
The fault does lie in tlie home, no
doubt, to a very considerable exte t. If
all girls were brought up to be obedient,
and to have a sense of responsibility to
tlumselves, their families and the com
munity, no so many of them would go
astray.
FOR DETECTING SUBMARINES
From Popular Mechanics.
No matter how" silently the engines of
a submarine may work, the propeller!
are bound to set up vibrations that are
transmitted through the water, and the
suggestion is made that it may be pos
sible to devise an instrument of such
delicacy that the presence of a subma
rine, even when miles away, may be de
tected with certainty and its direction
and distance determined. Such an instru
ment, like the submarine telephone, would
simply take advantage of the strong *
transmission of sound waves through the
water. It w'ould practically rob naval
warfare of one of its worst terrors.—-*
Seated far below" deck in a battleship,
the watcher with such an instrument
could hear the throb of the propellers
while the submarine was miles away and
long before it would be possible to see
its periscope, and its efficiency would not
be affected by darkness or by muddy
water. The presence of a submarine -g
could doubtless now be detected by the
submarine telephone. The problem for
the Inventor is that of devising a means
of ascertaining the direction of the sub
marine and the distance to it.
THE COMING SINGER
George Sterling, "Beyond the Breakers,
and Other Poems."
The veil before the mystery of things
Shall stir for him with iris and with
light; *
Chaos shall have no terror in his sight
Nor earth a bond to chafe his urgent
wings;
With sandals beaten from the crowns of
kings
Shall he tread down the altars of their
night.
Boston said of modern American letters:
height
To hear what song the star of morning
sings.
With perished beauty in his bands astf
clay,
Shall he restore futurity its dream. V
Behold his feet shall take a heavenly
way
Of chorlc silver and of chanting fire,
Till in his liands unshapen planets gleam,
’Mid murmurs from the Lion and th«
Lyre. *