Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel], December 13, 1910, Image 4

About Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
TUESDAY MORNING.
Los Angeles Herald,
. '■;■ ■ THOMAS' 15. OIBBON, rresldeat and Editor
1 Entered M eecond rlin matter at the postofflce In Loa Angelee.
OLIIKST MORNING PAM?It IS I>OS ANUBI.B9.
Fooaded October *. 1878. Thirty-ela;ntb Tear.
■ Chamber of Commerce Building. __________
"~" Phone*— Main 8000; Home 10311.
Tile only Democratic paper In Southern California recelTlng foil
Associated Pre»» re>oJ^"__^ ___
BATES OF SUBSCRIPTION WITH BUNDAT MAGAZINE
Dally, by mull or carrier, a month • •••
Dally, by mall or carrier, three monthe >•••
Dally, by mall or carrier, alx months •■'•»
; Dally, by mall or carrier, one year ••*•
Sunday Herald, one year •_••••• »••»
Postage free United Siatm and faexico: fltewhfra 'Mag:* added.
A file of The Los Ancelea Herald oaa be seen at the office 01
our English representatives. Messrs. E. and J. Hardy A Co.. ID.
II and S3 Fleet street, London. England, free of charge, and tnat
firm will be (lad to receive news, subscriptions and ad»ert!sement»
on our behalf. ________————_-
Population of Los Angeles .319,198
HUMANS LIVING LIKE SWINE
SOME time ago The Herald printed an editor
ial review of a scathing report on the condi
tion of the foreign labor in the Pennsylvania
mines and steel works by The Survey. Some 300,
--000 of these arc Hungarians, and an emissary of
the Hungarian government has been making an
investigation which, he says, confirms all The Sur
vey said.
Complaints had been made by Hungarian so
cieties in this country. As a result of this inquiry
it is believed that the Austro-Hungarian govern
ment will take steps to restrict emigration to
America.
The investigator found thousands of his coun
trymen working long hours seven days in the
week for 80 or 90 cents a day. lie found some
working for 60 cents a day and trying to support
families. lie reported that the living conditions of
these people were inhuman. The report of the
work of children in mines and shafts and in glass
works is really terrible.
Pennsylvania is the citadel of protection, the
doctrine of high tariff "for the benefit of the Amer
ican workingmen." We feel like pausing at this
point and awaiting some explanation of the condi
tions in Penrose's state from anyone who believes
the present protective tariff makes living condi
tions any better for anybody in America except the
owners of the means of production in industry.
GIVE THE CHILDREN A CHANCE
THE case of this Cornell university prodigy of
16 who astonishes the faculty with his pre
cocity and mathematicians with his fourth di
mension problems seems to be causing a good deal
of unnecessary uneasiness to many paragraphers.
A boy of 16, they declare, should be out on the
athletic field a good part of the time; he shouldn't
be allowed to exercise his mentality to such an
extent; he should be made to play more. etc. All
of which advice is entirely gratuitious and worse.
It is based on the terrible proclivity that most
moralizers have of trying to pull every boy and
girl through the same knothole. There is too lit
tle elasticity in modern school methods. While
the world's worth-while prizes are still awarded
to individuality, school boards still cling to the
old idea that boys and girls must all act, talk, dress
and think alike. They must all study the same
tilings and in the same hours and the same way.
Individuality is thus discouraged and a mean level
of mediocrity is the product of human education.
Doubtless this Cornell prodigy is following his
natural bent, just as the football hero is following
his. Give them both scope to develop the best
there is in them. Conformity never won a prize,
and every boy and girl should be a prize winner.
Every boy and girl would be a prize winner if the
curriculum were broad enough. Some boys like
mathematics; sqme do not; but every unhamp
ered boy likes something that is wholesome. Chil
dren have more to teach grownups than grownups
have to teach them. Every human being is nor
mally unique until society has crushed the unique
ness out of him.
"PROTECTED" WORKERS
IF a high tariff makes a country prosperous, and
especially if it protects workingrnen, will its
champions kindly tell us why it is that at
present in free trade England industries of all
kinds are in a highly prosperous condition, while
in protected Germany more than a hundred thou
sand workingmen are seeking jobs? The German
labor registers for the quarter ending June 10.
1910, show that for 175,000 positions open there
were 287,000 applicants. In other words there were
three men for every two jobs. ! taring tli< L quarter
German workingmen paid $380,000 in benefits for
the unemployed, covering a total of 1,131.000 days
of idleness. In addition there were 682,000 days
for which no benefit was paid.
But this is only one side of the picture. The
imperial statistical office at Berlin has recently
given out a set of figures containing a suggestive
clue as to the amount of help to the wage-earner
a protective tariff is. The average income of 852
families in the German capital, containing 3952
persons—who had agreed to keep an account of
their expenditures for a year —was $521.72, while
the average annual expenditure was $531.70. Of
the average income $42('.67, or <SJ.4 per cent, was
from the principal earnings of the husband, while
2.7 per cent came from the earnings of the wife,
and (let anti-child labor reformers note) 1.7 per
cent was earned by the children.
An average of about $10 a week for the labor
of man, wife and children is certainly not an argu
ment for any system of taxation under whicH the
conditions exist. And note in connection with this
that the average expenditures were SlO in excess
of the income Tor the year. This does not mean
improvidence- a family cannot be very improvi
dent when it figi res its small income and outgo so
closely—for the Germans are proverbially a thrifty
people. It means that the German wage is not suf
ficient for xhe needs of the workers. Such a con
dition is not prosperity; it is the reverse.
But it is not much different from American
conditions. The Herald has recently shown from
official census statistics that the majority of our
wage-earn era receive approximately $10.26 a week,
and thai an inv< i ation among the steel workers
of Pittsburg (highly protected) showed that the
wage was under $12 a week, and the living
problem so acme thai some families could spend
only an average of 3 cents a week for recreation.
In the face of these figures what arc statistics
of exports, import overnment revenue worth
i" ilie wage-earner?
Editorial Page gf Tshe Her*ald
WORKERS PAY DOUBLE TRIBUTE
1 a LTHOUGH their fallacious claim has been
I\ many times exposed, the protectiomst nevvs
■* *■ papers continue to assert that the high
tariff benefits the workingman. The truth Ls that
under protefction, as it has conic to be understood
under the Dingley and Aldrich laws, labor is re
ceiving year by year a constant I v diminishing pro
portion of the value of its product.
Jn his speech in the senate in 1000 Senator
Owen showed from calculations based upon the
special census report, part 1. V>os, and the figures
Of the twelfth census, 1900, thai labor got a larger
share of what it produced in 1890 than it did in
1905.
Thus in the textile industries labor received
only 19.5 per cent of the product in 1905. as com
pared with 20.8 per cent in 1(«X> and 22 per cent in
1890. In the iron and steel industries it received
24 per cent in 1890, 21.2 per cent in 1900 and 22.10
per cent in 1(K)5. In the leather industry labor re
ceived 21 per cent of the total product iti 1890, 16.9
per cent in 1900 and 16.5 per cent in 1905. In
! paper and printing labor received _'<>.5 per cent in
j 1890, 23.1 per cent in 1900 and 21.6 per cent in 1905.
In chemical and allied products labor received 8.9
per cent in 1890. 7.9 per c«nt in 1900 and 8 per cent
in 1905. In clay, glass and stone products labor
got 39.3 per cent in 1890 and 37.1 per cent in l'X)5.
In metal and metal products oilier than iron and
steel labor received 20.4 per cent in 1890 and 12.7
per cent in 1905. In ship building labor received
M\7 per cent in 1890 ami 35.2 per cent in 1905.
These figures contain the proof that under the
guise of protection the manufacturer (which in
most cases lias come to mean the trust) is filching
both from the workingman and the consumer, and
as they are for the most part one and the same they
arc taxed out of both pockets to provide exorbitant
profits for the real and only benericiaries'of the
high tariff.
The trust buys its labor in the cheapest market
and fixes its own price on its commodities. A fis
cal system that permits this double tax is infamous
and is doomed.
KEEPING THE PARK SACRED
THE park commission's attempt to keep un
married or unrelated people apart in Central
park is a highly meritorious venture in re
moralizing the universe, no doubt, and one can
scarcely deny that the universe needs some such
regulation. It is very annoying to some people to
catch fleeting glimpses of young persons engaged
in following the bent of their natures. Flirtations
are very reprehensible and the park commission is
quite wise in trying to stop them. But sometimes
the best intentions don't seem to work out very
well. It occurs to one, for instance, that a good
way to keep the park entirely sacred and respect
able would be to enclose it with a fifty-foot spiked
iron fence and put a time lock on its only gate,
said gate to admit no one but the janitor and his
moral character should be vouched for by—by—
well, say by the park commission.
The objection to that, of course, is that the
park really ought to have some people in it once
in a while just to add to its scenic value. How
would it be, then, for the park commission to issue
cards of admission to only eminently respectable
persons, of course? A board of police officials and
detectives might be invoked to canvass the homes
of the city and inquire into the moral status of the
families, examine the marriage certificates arid the
birth records —really something like that is need
ed in every large city where you are apt to meet
all kinds of people if you are not very careful.
Upon the report of this board cards of admission to
enter the park could be issued.
Or a corps of octogenarians might be employed
to maintain constant espionage upon all who enter
the park. Under this plan the iron fence could be
dispensed with. Persons who enter the park could
be required to fix their thoughts on mathematical
or commercial problems, or the president's mes
sage, say. And an ordinance should be passed at
once prohibiting the birds from mating in the park.
Their cooing love songs are very distasteful to
some ears, and no one can defend them on moral
grounds. And the carrying of pollen from one
flower to another should be prohibited by law. It
is a highly indelicate performance, to say the least.
And on moonlight nights the park should be cov
ered with canvas to shut out those seductive sil
very rays of the wanton moon.
All this mating is highly wrong, you know.
This pairing of opposites, this seeking of the nega
tive for the positive and the centrifugal for the
centrifetal—it's all wrong—and not one of them
with a marriage certificate to show. It's all wrong.
and it's been wrong for some time—ever since the
lirst life cell split itself in two, which science calls
fissure. It's high time that something was done
to stop it. The park commission is on the right
tack.
Jersey City has adopted an ordinance calling
the saloons "cafes." A good old English term
would be better —say "joy emporium."'
If Crippen had done it in America, they would
about this time be just preparing to begin to get
ready to start to think about his trial.
A New York girl complains that she cannot go
on the stage because she has no clothes. Oh, we
don't know about that.
The largest real estate owner in the country is
believed to be Governor Charles Haskell. He owns
the state of Oklahoma.
Senator Bailey of Texas has bought $11,000
worth of horses. Intends, perhaps, to nag the new
insurgent senators.
Wish it would hurry up and rain hard. Our
umbrella is in poor condition and we'd like to "bor
row" some friend's.
Last summer the slogan was ".swat the fly."
Now the thrifty fly-men have adapted it to "swat
the treasuries."
A butclicr in St. Louis was robbed by a burglar
but he was fair enough to admit that lie had no
kick coming.
When the Los Angeles aviation meet is held il
will L>c sure to be a tip-top one.
THE OTHER WOMAN' FAR FETCHED
BUT DIVERTING; ACTING GOOD
BLANCHE WALSH SAVES
IMPOSSIBLE SITUATION
Poor Wife Must Do Poorly So
Star May Shine All
the Brighter
SIDLE LAWRENCE
Having employed the greater part of
three acts in an effort to prove that
a man and his wife can no longer live
together, Frederic Arnold Kumraer, in
his play, "The Other Woman," deftly
executes an about-face and with mili
tary precision expends two or three
minutes in tumbling his own argu
ments about our ears, which may be
good playwrightlng, though It is
i scarcely good logic. Taking a leaf
from the horr.eopathlsts Mr. Kummer
has adapted to stage use the theory
of "simllis similibus curantur." The
death of. a little child having led to
family estrangement he relies upon a
second child, as yet unborn, to make
effective a reconciliation. In this de
vice there is not lacking that element
of surprise so dear to the playwright's
heart, but at 'the same time Its use
destroys In a few seconds the verity
of a character, "sufficiently real up to
that time to demand serious attention.
Throughout the play Mrs. James
Harrington is shown as i somewhat
shallow woman but still a woman
capable of two lovel lon for children
and lovo for her husband. She seizes
upon every little thing which she thinks
may bo of advantage to her in her ef
forts to retain her husband's affec
tion, even resorting to the trick of ex
' hfbiting before him the baby clothes
and the baby rattle which had be
longed to the dead little one.
HITCH IN LOGIC HERE
All this is understandable and be
lievable; but it Is demanding too much
of credulity to ask us to believe that
such a woman would have concealed
until the very last her most sffective
weapon. Rather would she have cried
it from tho housetops.
The play was presented for the first
time in Los Angeles at the Mason
opera house last night by Blanche
Walsh and her company, Miss Walsh
assuming the identity of "the other
woman," the woman whom James Har
rington loves and who loves him with
so great a love that when she comes
to believe his duty demands a return
to his husbandry she sends him back
to his wife —and unborn child.
There is much brilliant sophistry In
the drama, intermixed with truths
epigramatlcally expressed; and there
Is much curious psychology. Mr. Kum
mer at least ha^ the merit of knowing
when he comes to an impasse. When
his dialogue brings him into an argu
mentative morass from which there Is '
no escape some one of his characters
remarks candidly: "I don't know; I
don't know." The wife says it. Her
husband says it, and so does "the other
woman." What is more it is quite the
truest thing any one of them says
anywhere in the play, and the audience
agrees with its every utterance.
PLAY rKOVES INTERESTING
However, all of this does not prevent
"The Other Woman" from being an
interesting play, regarded merely as a
play and not with too close an exam
ination into its life verity. Miss
Walsh does a truly admirable piece of
acting as Eleanor Gates, quiet and
repressed until her final speech deliv
ered to the husband at the curtain's
fall and which comes with tremendous
force in consequence. It is a simple
speech. "Go," she says^ "for God's
sake, go," but there is in it a poignant
anguish of renunciation.
The role of the wife is necessarily
.subordinated to that of "the other
woman," and doubtless Anne Cleve
land plays it as It was intended to be
played, but her very acting in the part
discloses the (Jrama's greatest weak
ness. Handle* humanly this would be
the big part of the play. Consequently
it must not be so handled. Our sym
pathies are required, if you please, for
"the other woman."
i teorge W. Howard, east as the hus
band, is excellent; and we have to
thank Nellie Butler for several wel
come bits of t'omedy. Her observa
tions anent matrimony, coming from
a woman to whom divorce has become
a pastime if not a habit, prove divert
ing if not profound.
"The Other Woman" remains at tho
Mason through the week with matinees
tomorrow and Saturday.
What They Say
RULE MUST BE GENERAL
Secretary Newton of the St. Louts
Municipal conimision advises wives; to
insist on a daily fumigation of their
husband's whiskers ;ind mustaches be
fore indulging in osculation. We pre
sume that the same precautions should
be observed with regard to other
women's husbands. — Toledo Daily
Blade.
BY FIRST INTENTION
Out in St. Louis, where they have been
hotly discussing thn question of com
pulsory vucrlnation, the Star is bold
enough to bope that the wounds of the
dUcuMlon will heal nicely.—C'olumbu»
(Ohio) Dispatch.
LETTER FOR JOHN FOSTER
The editor of The ll' aid letter Box
lias received a letter addressed to
John Foster. if Mr. Foster will call
or Kend his address the letter will be
delivered to him.
t ....... .. , .. , ■... . ■
Editorials by the People
THE CASE OF FRED D. WARREN
Fditor Herald: The lovers of justice
and fair play everyhere will be pleased
and encouraged by your splendid edi
torial in Sunday's Herald in which you
i clearly and fairly set forth the facts
! of the moat brutal violation of the con-
I stitutional guarantee of free speech by
i a federal judge that has yet been com
mitted by the United States courts.
When an appeal was taken in the
Moyer and Haywood case to the su
preme court that honorable body of
| corporation attorneys decided that kid
naping was legal. Moyer and Hay
wood were kidnaped by Republicans.
But when Fred Warren, a Socialist,
offered a roward for the kidnaping of
a Republican, under indictment for
murder, a federal judge fines him $1500
and sends him to jail for six months.
Yes, you are right. Such shameless
violation of law, such brazen anarchy
as manlfe3ted in the decision of the
court in the Warren case, will cause a
multitude of men to turn to Socialism
as the only relief from political graft
and the only refuge from the storm
' that threatens to founder the ship of
state. DR. GEORGE W. CARE if.
Pasadena, Cal.
MARRIAGE AND THE MALE
Editor Herald: I wonder how many
women know that the word "marriage"
is a masculine one and means "joined
to a male," and in the good old days
of our fathers those women who were
so independent that they did not care
to become "Joined to a male" or were
too homely to merit the male's atten
tions were despised by their more for
i tunate sisters and dubbed by that tear
inspiring title "old maid." But evolu
tion has brought out the poor "old
, maid" into an independent, go-as-you
please, bright-eyed "new woman,
which suits the mold of the modern
day much better.-
The term marriage comes from the
' Latin "marltus," a husband; the femi
nine "marita," literally provided with
a husband or joined to a male, the
, Latin "marl" being a crude form of
"mas," a male.
The word "husband" is a corruption
of the term "houseband," denoting the
protection a man should be to a
woman and comes from Scandinavian
sources, "husobonde, husbonde. • and
signifies "master of the house.•
The meaning of the word "wife is
obscure, but it is noticed that the
term "woman" in its original spelling
was "w-i-f-m-a-n, wifman;" and
"woman" is the corruption of tins
word, which in its literal significance
i* "wife-man." So, according to this,
the word "woman" simply character
■"■ her as the wife of ™ T^RARy
Los Angeles, Cal.
PEOPLE BLAMED FOR EVIL
Editor 1. raid: Where should the
blame rest for existing evils in -gov
ernment? Arc not the people who
wear the party collar responsible? Does
a business man who owns a largo de
partment store or manufactory hire a
clerk and turn him loose in his es
tablishment to do Just as he peases.
No- he engages him for certain im
portant work and tells him what is ex
pected at his hands. If ho does not
follow ! instructions he wll be dis
charged Now a man selects himself
for the legislature and the people elect
him Of course he is a lawyer. It
does not necessarily follow that he is
required to know much about law. He
may not be able to tell the difference
between a writ of certlorar and a
casus belli. The courts, will decide
whether or not the acts of the legis
lature are constitutional and this gives
employment to the legal fraternity.
Take it right here in California.
What 1 have the people ■ demanded at
the hands of the next legislature in
the way of needed laws and reforms.'
Not a reader of these lines but can
think of some need. Let me suggest
Just one and then see if a newspaper
or individual will take up the ques
tion and begin an agitation. By way
of -preface, I will ask If It Is not a
fact that the farmer Wants good seed
for his field and garden? Upon the
quality depends his success In raising
a crop. Likewise does the fruit grower
■elect with care the nursery stock to
plant. He wants well formed, thrifty
trees The cattleman and the horse
man exercise great care in the breed-
Ing of live stock. We take great pride
In our grain, fruit, flowers'and blood
ed stock. Now what about the hu
man family? What kind of a man is
he who will look-iv the pedigree of
a stallion, bull, or even that or a
BLANCHE WALSH
dog, and let his own daughter marry
some diseased man? Our daughters who
are destined to be the mothers of tha
next generation, they must take their
chances. Who has not seen puny,
sickly babie- often blind, innocent
victims suffering for the sins of their
parents?
Now then, we want a law requiring
all persons when making application for
a marriage licenje, to present a clean
bill of health, signed by a reputable
physician, said document to be duly
recorded. Anything wrong about
that? Who will frame and introduce
such,a bill? Next.. M.
Duarte, Cal.
DEFENSE FOR VACCINATION
Editor Herald: A single statement
is sufficient to prove to the unpreju
diced mind the vahie of vaccination
aa a preventive for smallpox.
Germany, which since 1874 has had
not only compulsory vaccination at
the end of the first year of life, but
also compulsory vaccination at the age
of 12, since .that year has suffered not
a single epidemic of smallpox. Prom
1893 to 1897 there were in the whole
German empire only 287 deaths from
smallpox. During the same period
there died from this disease In the
Russian empire 275,502 persons; in
Spain, 23,000; in Hungary, 12,000; in
Austria and Italy, 11,000. In Philadel
phia alone, from 1901 to 1905, 5000 per
sons had the disease and 500 died.
There was no death of persons who
had been successfully vaccinated with
in ten years.
In view of these statistical facts it
does not become any man to term vac
cination "the great delusion," as did
a correspondent recently; and after
the medical profession has well nigh
vaccinated one of the greatest scourges
of the human race out of existence,
criticism, prompted by prejudice and
ignorance, cannot do it much harm.
Q. G. BROCK.
Redlands, Cal.
DISCUSSES VAGRANT LAW
Ktlitor Herald: The refusal of the
council to change the ordinance relat
ing to jail sentence for speeding along
the streets more than 30 milea an hour
was certainly a good move in the right
direction, or rather a good refusal to
move in the wrong direction.
The mayor, as quoted in your paper
a few mornings since, said, in regard
to the abolishing of the jail sentence
for more than 30 mile speeders, "As
far as [ know there have been but
t\\"U jail sentences since the ordinance
lias been In effect. Tho judges don't
like to improse jail sentences and
when such a Sentence is involved it i.s
difficult to convict an offender."
The mayor certainly spoke the truth
as far as ho went, only he seemed to
tail to properly finish his statement,
for he i-hould have added, when It In-
VOlvei the rich or near-rich, the prin
cipal classes who would be affected by
:-iu han ordinance. The Judges cer
tainly would dislike to send to jail
their fellow clubmen and other »icli
and honorable members of society with
whom they hobnob. But show me
(I'm not from Missouri but I came
through) where i.s the judge In this
county who dislikes to send a poor
man to jail, a man existing beneath
the stratum where fear and favor
dominate.
The records do not bear out the fact
that a judge here so dislikes to send
to jail when the victim belongs, or
at least exists, in the lower stratum
of society.
Two convictions these several
months, under this 30-mlle speed or
dinance, according to the mayor's
statement, while most any day's court
record as published in the papers tell
of vagrants tent up. Who are these
vagrants? Many, no doubt, are men
who came hero with little money. Their
money melted away and they became
"broke," and this made them vagrants,
then the police, the Judge, the jail and
then bitterness. Probably most of
them are honest men, as heneflt or
more so than the Judge they face. If
th<»y were not honest men they prob
ably would not be down, as rascals
will appropriate other people's goods
rather than be minus of any. Is not
this custom of thus Jailing vagrants
(so-called) putting a premium on ras
cality? I would like to asR, who Is
responsible for this custom under the
American constitution? Can a man bo
jailed without committing an overt act
or as accessory to the committing of
one, under the constitution?
It la certainly a bad system of slav
ery to destroy the chances of men
earning a living and then jailing them
1 ause they don't. E. L. B.
uob Angeles, Cal.
DECEMBER 13, 1910.
SHOP EARLY? THIS
WOMAN SAYS NO
9 liter Herald: I have three views
i wish to express, and shall take "<'■
vantage of your columns to do bo. I
am a law-abiding citizen and taxpayer
of the female persuasion, and dutifully
do ns I am bid. I pay my taxes early
to help the clerks In the tax office!.
ana by the same token I shopped early
last year, because all the papers told
us to do so and save the clerks in the
stores. Do I get repaid? Ido not. in
the first pluce, by going early in the
morning I am treated with a morning
lassitude peculiar to nil Indoor people.
The girl clerks want to talk over last
night's fun. and the man clerks want
to talk over kicks and chances of ad
vance in salary with the other clerks
near at hand. I have patiently spent
the whole early morning hours getting
waited upon, while the same amount
of goods purchased would take less
than an hour to transact after noon.
In regard to shopping early In the sea
son: Last year I went dutifully as
soon as the papers began their annual
howl for us to do so. I had so many
presents to get and so much money to
expend. I got the presents and spent
the money three weeks before Christ
mas, but Just for fun, to see the crowds
and the holiday spirit I went into town
the last few days before the final wind
up. What was my amazement and
chagrin to.see the very articles I had
purchased three weeks before at good
solid prices marked down from one
third to one-half the price I paid for
mine. Now would a man call It good
business policy to follow such a pro
ceeding? I do not call It good busi
ness, and this year I shall wait until
the last few days, and thereby save on
what I get, and have more to spend
for more presents. If one does not
look out for one's own expenses I do
not know who will.
Does it not seem a shame that the
spirit of Santa Claus Is being so com
mercialized that all of the quaint and
delicious fancy of the myth has es
caped? Do you readers know that tho
little tots In school who should yet be
believing in a Santy have figured It
out to themselves that whon they see
a Santa Claus in each and every store
where they are taken that something
is wTong. They have believed in ono
Santa Claus who knows all about the
good little children in all the world,
a wonderful being who by his very
greatness may know about every good
and bad girl or boy without any reason
for its being startling. But when they
see dozens of Santa Claus wandering
about the stores they begin to question
the wonder of It, and very wisely their
little minds come to a logical conclu
sion that Santa Claus Is just a man
dressed U p and make believe, and
therefore there Is no Santa Claus. It
seems too bad, for the baby days of
belief are so short at best that It is a
pity to force the commercial side of
life upon the minds of tots.
The smoke question burned and faded
away in the columns, and I did not
add my mite, although like the old man
in the story I kept up a heap of think
ing. The other day I went early to
the nearest postofflce to send off a
package. I was the only one in line,
but while waiting for the register to
be made out a man came in, strode up
to my shoulder and stood there wait
ing for me to finish, and blew his cigar
smoke in my face. I've stood untold
numbers of insults on the street cars
from the cigar hog, but this was cer
tainly unwarranted. I turned to look
at him. He appeared to be a gentle
man. I was tempted to tell him what
I thought of him, but. did not. Some
times It is very uncomfortable for a
woman to be a lady. But as 1 left the
office I fell to wondering. What would
men think, I wonder. If women, Just to
protect themselves from the filthy
habit of mankind, provided them
selves say with on« of these little
things we used to call klki guns, with
which bicyclists used to squirt am
monia at snapping dogs; load one with
as foul an odor as tobacco smoke is
to every woman and to many men
themselves, and when men unconcern
edly sat down and blew smoko into a
woman's face she drew this forth and
blew it in the face of the offender?
Lawsy! Men would bo legislating
against a woman carrying such an
article within a month's time.
And yet by what right has the man
any more right to blow offensive
odors in a woman's face than a woman
has to blow offensive odors In a man's
face? Why, I have heard men grumble
like anything when a woman with the
poor taste to scent herself up with
cheap cologne or expensive perfumes
came too near them. But wouldn't it
bo fun if we all dared to arm ourselves
with a little kiki gun and nil it with
something horrid and retaliate when
the cigar hog forgot ho ever had any
manners? MRS. S. T.
A HEARTY LAUGH
Bein* th« a»y'» beat jok« from th« n«w§
exchange!.
A St. Louis merchant had made use
of one of his . oung clerks in the stead
of his regular collector, who was 111.
When the young man returned from
his rounds, his employer observed that
he looked rather down In tho mouth.
"Have any luck?" asked the mer
chant.
"So-so," replied the young man list
lessly.
"How about that Jones bill? I sup
pose you collected that. You said that
Mr. Jones was a friend of yours."
"Well, sir," said the clerk, "I don't
know whether to rejoice or not at my
Buccess with Mr. Jones."
"What do you mean?"
"This, sir: When I went In and said,
'Mr. Jones, I called to speak about a
matter ' he Interrupted me before
I could proceed further with, 'That's
all right, my boy; she's yours. Take
her and be httppy.'"—UpplncotU,