The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat., July 19, 1918, Image 4

About The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Iowa

                
PAGPE FOUB
I A I 2 A I
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crrr—TB*t»biuh«d isu.
oowflrmmow
nnMnllilattil March M. lW.
Bmnr
nwMiiimi ta
Bimttar.
im
OonsoUdaUd September
C. BL Warwick
•AMP COT —4 OOKB11TUTIOW«PPM'» MI*T—
AmU l*l4
F. SWi-rla
Sntarod at the postoSo*
Thou, if stormy Boreas throws
Down the whole forests when he blows,
With a pregnant, flowery birth.
Canst refresh the teeming earth,
IX he nip the early bad.
If he blast what's fair and good.
If he scatter our choice flowers.
If he shake our halls or bowers.
If his rude breath threatens us,
Thou can stroke great Aeolus,
•And from htm the grace obtain,
To bihd frfrm in an iron chain.
—Thomas Carew.
To be caught in one's prevarication is but
a minor catastrophe compared to the shock
sometimes of being caught in one's truth.—
Eleanor Hallowell Abbott.
THE ITCH FOR BIGNESS.
Publishers have to contend not only against
governmental restrictions and inordinately
high prices for materials, but with bull-headed
foolishness and disregard of conditions on the
part of many in their own line of business. The
newspapers of the country are now complying
with economies suggested by the government to
save paper. There is need of this saving and
the measures put into practice will help. But
the real saving would be made if the trend to
ward megalomania in the use of print paper
one reads matter printed that is greatly ver
bose. The metropolitan newspapers sin in ex
travagant use of print paper in many, paged
editions, particularly in their Sunday issues.
They do this under the impression that the
publio demands a conglomerate for a Sunday
edition. There is reason to believe that this is
a mistake that the large Sunday edition has
defeated the motive which brought it to be.
In the Sunday edition there is supposedly giv
en a large number of specially prepared articles,
informative and in comment, designed to add to
the knowledge and stimulate interest of read
ers. The mass has become so large that much I
travagaut if measured by the same standard.
!News is valuable in proportion to its genuine
7?
prtntKgl un BI ___
a*™ GATE CTTY OOMPANT -?4
It
North Stxdfc Stra*.
......Butiuu Mao****
at Keokuk a»
SUBSCRIPTION BATBS.
Difly. by mall, outside city, year
EhUr, Ib
r*^1*
par «wk
Daily, axoapt Banday.
Keokuk, Iowa July 19. 1918
The most interesting feature of worry, as well as the
^nost astonishing, when we examine carefully into it, is
the fact that through it nothing is ever to be gained but,
«n the other hand, everything is to be lost.—Ralph Waldo
.Trine.
TODAY'S BIT OF VERSE
SWEETLY BREATHtfOG, VERNAL AIR.
Sweetly breathing, vernal aid.
That with kind warmth doth repair
Winter's rains from whose breast
All the gums and spice of the east
Borrow their perfumes whose eye
Gilds the morn, and clears the sky
Whose disheveled tresses shed
Pearls upon the violet bed
On whose brow, with calm smiles drest
The halcyon sits and builds her nest
Beauty, youth and endless spring
Dwell upon thy rosy wing!
were ended if in print as well as in speech we war has bro^^ht home to us with tremendous
became chary of waste that does no one any force that we have souls as well as bodies.
good. The government sins itself there is Material power and material comfort had
duplication in prints matter printed that no'weighed with us too heavily. But the great
war
of this matter is never read. The magazine is her own souL
kept for future reading and examination the
daily paper is not. The life of the daily paper
is news. It follows that nothing is deader than
yesterday's paper. Commensurate with the
actual value to readers, the Sunday paper sent !°'c^oc^ whistles blow.
out from our large cities is grossly extravagant.1 1
»f material.
Tlle
•editions of these same newspapers are not ex-' ^em decorated with the
ir°n cross"
importance. Its presentation has much to do 1 candidates for the Nobel peace prize.
*'i v«
with its readability but the actual news vulue
is by the events chronicled.. A small
pape^ Kh» The Gate CSty, read with interest
ootafidenoe in its fidelity to fact and intel
ligence of comment, is, or should be, more sat
isfying to the reading public. The big city
newspapers have educated the publio to look
for mwgalftTintniit but the public quite possibly
is not grateful for the education or for its
present results.
HOPE FOR SERBIA.
It begins to look as if Serbia was at last to
have a turn toward the better in her fortunes.
The allied advance in Albania, the Italian
progress against Austria, the renewed activity
of the Macedonian forces of the* allies, all make
for a weakening of the grip of the central
powers on Serbia. And Serbia richly .deserves
a turn to the right in her fortunes. She has
suffered a more bitter fate than has even Bel
gium, because she has been far more isolated
from the help and sympathy of the allied na
tions. What we know of Serbia's condition is
bad enough but there is every reason to believe
that the half has not bean told yet. But if
the allies are now taking measures to build up
the striking power of the armies pushing up
from, the south into Serbia, this will be one
thing needed to centralize the hope and aspira
tion of Serbia. The domination of the Aus
trians over the Serbian people needs but a se
vere military reverse to bring it to an end. And
once Austria is beaten, the day of Serbia is-at
hand.
HATEFUL PROFITEERING.
Extra profits out of the war, says
Hoover, are hateful and abhorrent to all decent
people. Yet there are indecent people in the
country whose one idea is to squeeze the last
cent out of anybody—the government, our allies
and the people—and he can see no way of
reaching them except by a graduated excesa
'profits tax.
There is, of course, this difficulty: that ex
tortioners eager to enrich themselves at the ex
pense of any and everybody and to coin the
necessities of the nation and their fellow men
into ill-gotten gold, are, generally speaking, so
devoid of honor and sense of right as to hide
their excessive profits by fraud and perjury if
they can. Public opinion is powerless to re-
strain the greed of these porcine creatures.
Like their quadruped kinsmen at the trough
they will gorge themselves without the least re
gard for the aversion and contempt of high
minded men. On such exploiters of the people
the government must lay a heavy hand and a
few examples of profiteers in prison would do
more to deter the rest than all the diatribes of
Mr. Hoover and all the homilies on patriotism
preached to them in the press.
There axe credible reports from Germany
that the Krupps and other manufacturers are
amassing enormous fortunes out of the war.
Their government is powerless to restrain
them, or dares not attempt it, for their rela
tions are very close with the junker land own
ers who are the agrarian profiteers. But the
people will deal effectively with them when the
time comes and it is supremely important
that the people of our own and allied lands
should have no right to feel and no evidence
on which to assert that the war enabled any
class of citizens to prey upon the necessities of
the rest. I/ands where this has been allowed
will not escape unrest and turbulence in the
years to follow the war when the bolsheiki and
the impoverished proletariats of the central
empires may be tearing down everything on
which they can lay their hands.
NEW SCALE OF VALUES.
The world needs a new scale of values. The
the glory of the American people in the days to'
,, ,,
come that they fought against brutal might and
sacrificed both blood and money to maintain
the moral order of the world.
Neither nations nor men live for themselves
alone.
that strong nations
ef
against a cruel and tyrannical power. It was
not merely our own safety that
Mr.
cause to which America stands committed ap- They are doing in the aggregate
peals to things that are unseen. It will be tojaD
was
for no selfish end, but for that eternal
right which no nation can oppose without losing
With all the various occupations and jobs
that he has on* his hands, it must be a great re
lief to Mr. McAdoo when the six and twelve
raiser says he has more men the field
luawjimi. Uv,0„ 4.1. ji This Is an intimation or waai wui
And it is a question whether the week-davl beginning of the war. And more]happen
Soldiers fiffhtinir asrainst the
menaced
wnnrJ^n rton
them decorated with the wooden than the
S
Huns trn
against uie nuns are alll£
ik-ilSa
THE DAILY GATE CNN
basin ess.
The
OFFICIAL INSOLENCE AND
GOVERNMENT CONTROL
The following from the Congres
sional Record is part of a speech
made in the Unitd States senate on
July 12, by Mr. Sherman, of Illinois,
in opposition to the joint resolution
to authorize the president, in time of
war, to take possession and assume
control of any telegraph, telephone,
marine cable or radio system or sys
tems and to operate them for the
duration of the war. The resolution
finally passed both hous-M and re
ceived the approval of the president
I have—and I shall not refer to
them more than by thia brief com
ment—the reports of the postmaster
general from 1913 to 1917, iaclu-sivfe.
The present occupant of that office,
Mr. Burleson, in each one of those
reports has recommended that 'he
government take over the telegraph
and telephone lines. Tn the report
oef June 30, 1917, or of the period
ending on that day, on page 79. is his
recommendation, which is similar in
sentiment and in verbilge to all of
the others made by the saaiee official
and by the same person. I quote
now:
Telegraphs and Telephones.:
The postmaster general has
recommended in previous reports
that congress seriously consider
the Question of declsring a gov
ernment monopoly over all util
ities for the transmission of in
telligence, and that steps be tak
en as soon as possible to make
these utilities a part of the pos
tal establishment. The principle
of government ownership and
control of the telegraphs and
telephones is not only sound but
practical, and finds its greatest
strength in the constitution. That
these utilities should be made a
part of the postal establishment
has been the opinion of practic
ally all postmasters general of
the United States, who have held
that the welfare of the nation
will be largely contributed to by
the fullest utilization of these
services by the people. This re
sult can be accomplished only
when they are made a part of
the postal service and operated
solely with a view to serving the
public and not of making a profit.
In Alaska the telegraph and
cable service is under the control
of the war department. As the
reasons why it should be under
the control of that department
no longer exist, the secretary of
war has recommended its trans
fer to this department
Recent developments have
made it all the more imperative
that government ownership of
the telegraphs and telephones
should no longer be delayed, and
action by congress in this mat
ter is again urgently recom
mended.
Mr. Burleson comes before the
committee not with an open mind but
with an" already preconceived judg
ment that forecloses any investiga
tion. He says that he does not know
of any immediate emergency requir
ing the government to take these
lines, but that we do not know what
the future contains. There will be
future sessions of congress here. Con
gress will not end its labors when
it recesses or adjourns. If is a body
whose activities and power are
coeval with the republic. It can be
convened in twenty-four hours, even
it were a final adjournment. It is
always open to the executive to as
semble it in special session. We
have had extra sessions called here
several times. The mere fact that
congress might not be able to fore
see the future and provide for all
emergencies is no reason for lodging
vast, undefined powers in the hands
of the executive.
If we leave the telegraph lines for
a moment to consider the telephone
investments and enterprises in this
country, there are stronger reasons
nnn ftrtn AAn i.
property valuation of the telephone,
of this
individual
country. More
companies
than 8,000 individual companies are.
found. The American Telephone and
Telegraph company, which is
I count
tte
holding company of the Bell tele-1
phone, contrary to what the public
generally thinks, totals in valuation
teIeThere
Mississippi valley Telephone
company is a comparatively small
company, And yet
it
iern
411(1
serves in north-
northwestern Illinois and in
1 A a il
rm, 1 to other states are carried across the went back. I said, "I thank you for
rhe great principle Of sacntice demands
di3trict
but that of the whole world. We are in this Z'££% "w-'.address,
eastern Iowa & great number of sub-1 dne search, a train sheet in a small
scribers at a reasonable price. Its oak-board frame, and 1 read it there.
Hnesor its intei changeable service iandfound the time of my train. 1
within the limitations and! your courtesy." said. "I wish you
regulations of interstate commence, to understand, though, that I think
T+- Why should thi3 company or #hy I you are a—" blankety-blank. Here
should any other company of that! the quotation will cease. He said,
kind be taken over and be put Into j"I am a government officer, and such
private enterprise. I read an article
from Frank Crane, who formerly was
my pastor in the Methodist chuch:
In a very line and loyal spirit
the pubUc and the railway of
ficials have tried to adjust them
selves to the action of the gov
ernment In taking over the rail
roads.
i0f tie
an intimation of what will
if the raat telephone system
eoontrr i» take® over. orty
of the
atmT^rr.
Qn
Ithing
,JLJ1JL..J.
million daily messqse* to tlw record
of the telephone Merrlee
United State*, and tt mman»
It's anything to win the war.
"The government," said Ogden
Armour when war was declared,
"can have Armour & Co. The
government can have J. Ogden
Armour. The government can
have any man or group of men in
our organization. No exemption
will be claimed."
And that has been the com
mendable attitude of big busi
ness throughout the country, and
of the people generally.
We •are willing tb do without
sleeping cars, dining cars, and
chair cars if it means licking the
Germans, just as we gladly dis
pense with wheat, meat, and dia
mond necklaces. But—
I had to travel the other day
on the crack railway of. the Unit
ed States. I went to the ticket
office and had to stand in line for
half an hour before I could get
a clerk to ask a question. The
clerical force was entirely inade
quate.
When I reached the clerk I
found I was at the wrong place.
He snapped at me, too. Although
my only offense was a desire to
I felt as if I were up before a
spend some money for a ticket,
police magistrate for steaUng
chickens.
I went to another waiting line
and stood thirty minutes more. I
bought a ticket Then I paid a
tax on it Then another tax for
riding in a Pullman. Then a
tax on that Five wallops they
gave me.
They had refused- to reserve a
berth for me by telephone. They
refused to reserve a berth from a
distant city to another point by
telegraph.
I don't object They didn't take
all my money. I had enough left
to buy a 30-cent meal in the diner
for $1.80 and a quarter to help
pay the porter's wages.
But if Czar McAdoo would
kindly issue a ukase to all rail
road clerks and herders of the
public asking them to deal gent
ly with the common people, who
are imbued with the desire to
contribute money to the roads,
and remind them that dead hens
lay no eggs and instruct them
to administer a little laughing
gas of courtesy when they ex
tract our dollars it would help
some.
Honest, I'm no pro-German. I
am not a bolshevik. I'm just
bruised. Ill take my punish
ment if it's necessary. But why
keep on pounding a man when
he's down?
Says B. C. Forbes in his maga
«ine:
"The abolition of ticket offices
at convenient points, the cancel
lation of old-time privileges such
as the return and refund of un
used Pullman tickets, the lopping
off of passenger trains, the cur-"
tailmeht of sleeping accommoda
tions, the overcrowding of
trains—all this will save money
for the new railroad overlords, but
the public will have to foot tho
bill, not only financially, but at
the cost of time, temper, con
venience, and efficiency. So far
the government-controlled rail
roading has not tended "to whet
the public's attitude for the gov
ernment ownership of ratlroads.
The attitude of many railway
employes toward the traveling
public has undergone a distinct
and regrettable, but perhaps not
unnatural, change. Already there
is noticeable the proverbial
Haughtiness of government offi
cials. The men now feel that
their former bosses are no longer
bosses and that they need not
be overcareful how they act
I had occasion a month or so ago
in a union station to inquire at the
information bureau for some needed
.'knowledge of train service. I made
inquiry from a gentleman who
1
In round figures $2,000,000,000 is the,
did not appear to be overworked. He!
healthy
look upon his face, the
prQper relat£n of avoirdupois
in _i„„ v1
1 Baia
I will give you some more, because
the government can do everything FO!I am a government officer' myself," hotel°or'lh/nnm^n-^ofname
Tiofinn :much better than anybody else, than iand it is the first time I ever referred wbere you maTbe fS!
to myself as such. I said, "I am a
government officer myself, and
ontrank you,
I say," and
I do not want to repeat that experi
ence If I can help it, but the fact is
officer myself, and I will 1 ..
^l^ed'tH
what
t0
the insolence of some of these small !ttilnwl«materia-1
fa the the service. But the idea seems to
every- be now that people exist for the bene-.
to every nwurtor, to his family, fit of the railways, to be herded
hfa ael&w. cocntHPTOU, and about, to be insulted by some insolent
[everybody eiM. To eoBtlttaa/^ jetty official, to have an inferior serv-
kx^6u,k£h
SSi
to his I
height, and I saw no evidences of
I asked him if
train No. so
and-so, named on my Pullman ticket,
left He said, "The same time, sir.
jR always does." I was a stranger
be could tell me when
but a little more than one-third or regular habitue^of the depot
are°numerons
and was
a a 5 0 0 0 0 0
LmmenBe
Mklns
smaner^mpanies?rsmaii compared ^'^i^possiwrTo'have lim^fo^a
for
information to
a
meal. He said, "you ought_to know
when the train leaves. That is post
ed up." 1 said it might have changed.
He said, "The change would be not
ed." He said. "Go over there on the
wall and read it," pointing me to the
other side of the depot. In the wait
ing room where I found at last, after
ice, to be charged two prices. The
people do not exist for these institu
tions they were built and are run to
accommodate the general public.
Everybody prior to the war who
came back from England could recite
to you their difficulties with the uae
of a public telegraph and the use of
a public telephone. First, the rates
in this country are lower than they
are in England. I know they referred
to"the
ten wo~rJs in "a meVsageTand
to show that is lower when reduced
to our currency than our 25-cont
charge for 200 miles transmission,
but when you add to it the fact that
they charge you for the blank te'e
gram, that they charge yon for t*ie
and charge you for the siz-
tance than th^
I proceeded to say more. I hor« «n that
ttrhn alt of l»«vPDOuC8
martinets who sit at the head of bi Uf/ °ntler
railway
to o»
WW i. a* of u» «e,tphoM |S£ £1 SSSS
?-,of
mestic affairs of this country are in
volved and the railways? Their ob
ject is to serve the public needing
S
hereafter, it costs more in that coun
the same dis
united States,
where all that service is free.
Therefore, Mr. President, I thtnv
t.
t0 inq9ire ,f thftse
thla
interforelgn service would be
across the border in Mexico or into
the Canadian country. In Canada Ii
apprehend there will be no difference
that would arise. Possibly In Mexico
FRIDAY, JULY 19
Hear Hon. W. J. Bryan]
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 26
AT THE CHAUTAUQUA!
its
IN A WAR ADDRESS
A Great Speech of
Patriotism and Lofty Statesmanship
Admission—Adults 50c, Children 25c
Keokuk Chautauqua
July 22, 23, 24, 25, 56, 27
Buy Your Season Tickets Today
tkno
would clear her skin
She woa'.d be a pretty girl, if it wasn't
for that pimply, blotchy complexion 1"
But the regularv.se of Resinol Soap, aided
at first by a little Resinol Ointment, woold
probably make it clear, fresh and charm
ing. If a poor skin iiyovr handicap, begin
using- the Resinol treatment aid see bow
quickly it improves.
Restnol Soap ul Roinol
Ointment are exeeileat.
for the care of the bafe.
pell ire dandruff keepls*
the hair li*eand lustreo*. AH
dnnbs sell Resinol SeM
and Kesinol Ointment.
Tir Trmtmra cw
imirti naiX t*i£ tkjtf ctntdttt10**
#r irriUU tkt mttt tnuitTf*
t&M.
respective offices where messags
stop and where all the transmissid
can be properly censored.
I have heard in the sum total
adequate reason why telephone!
should be taken over. I anticir1"
Mr. President, it is a part of the
eral drift among a certain school 3
thought. These emergencies
made the excuse for putting into 9
eration and making experiment
tions out of these mighty enterprise
that have been developed by tie i»
dividual initiative of the AmerlcS
people. They are to be taken
the guise of war necessities i®
used thereafter as an argument
the war ends to continue the pl*s
,. Dallas News: If the truth conk*
aS there i8 acme
friendly sentiment existing in that
3
government ownership and oper*«01
When Politics i| Not Adjourned
Aberdeen News: As a recent
vert to woman suffrage, and
"politcs lis adjourned." the preside®
might gracefully and gallantly
fte|
forward and ask Montana republic^
to please nominate Congress*omJ
Jeannette Rankin tor United
senator, with assurance of supr0'
from democrats. Will the presides: a"
it? Nay nay. 51
on tan Is in the ha°.
of electing democrats quite often.
politics la not adjourned in st*
where democrats havtf a chance f»r
flee.
SW Sea Society. „,
'"-covered probably it would oe ft"1®*
t!
country, but that is easily a matt.-r the mermaids aa lieutenants are
to be controlled at the border In the I regular girls.
at swordfish are as popular
I