Evening Star Newspaper, April 9, 1921, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, ; With Sunday Morning Bdition. ' WASHINGTON,D. C. SATURDAYoewe—April 9, 1621 —_— THEODORE W. NOYES.e..Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Bustness Ofice, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 150 Nassau St. : First National Bank Ruilding. P bfhee: '3 Regent St London, England. The Brening Star. with the Sunday morning edition, is delivered by carriers within the city at 60 cents per month: daily only, 45 cents per month; Sunday only, 20 cents pet month. OF- ders may be sent by mall, or telephone Main 5000. Collection is made Dy carriers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..13r., $8.40 Taily only..... 1 3 Sunday only....e..13T. All Other States. Daily and Sunday.1yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 85¢ Daily only...ceee.1¥T, $7.00; 1 me Sunday only.......1yT., $3.00;1m The British Crisis. Although the British government is preparing for a military administra- tion of the transportation and indus- trial activities in case of a general strike there is still hope of a settle- ment before Tuesday night, the time sot for a sympathetic suspension of work. As the time approaches the gravity of the move appears to be im- pressed more strongly upon the labor leaders, who realize that what they propose is not merely a labor strike, ‘but an actual test of strength with the government. Further conferences, therefore, are contemplated and from them may come helpful action. The issue primarily is that of the abandonment of control of the mining and other industries by the govern- ment, and the accompanying move- ment by the owners to effect a reduc- tion of wages. The miners demand re- sumption of government control or a pledge against wage reduction. The government refuses to go on with con- trol, feeling that the time has come to readjust through private conduct of the industries. If the transport and railroad men Join it is estimated that 2,500,000 work- ers will be directly thrown into idle- ness in England, Scotland and Wales. Probably the number will be much in- creased, because, in addition to the actual strikers, an immense number of industrial operatives will be de- prived of employment through the shutdown of mills and shops incident to the lack of coal and transportation facilities. With this gréat aggregate of people thrown out of their wage- earning tasks a very grave crisis will present itself. If bolshevism is at work in England it will undoubtedly seize this opportunity to manifest itself. The present measures of the govern- ment indicate that the situation is rated as dangerous. If this is a revo- lution it will be met stoutly. All pos- sible provision has been made to sup- plant the ordinary transportation facflities in case of a general shut- down of the rail lines. Military motors and even airplanes are to be used for the carriage of necessary goods. Eng- 1and is applying in its anti-strike prep- arations the war-time organization. It is making ready for a contest, the out- come of which cannot be questioned, ‘unless, indeed, there are forces at work making for the destruction of organ- ized government in that country. —_——eea— Congress and Patronage. Pressure for patronage will prob- ably increase with the assembling of Congress. Senators and representa- tives will all be getatable. A mile measures the distance between Capi- tol Hill and the White House. It is easily covered, by cab, or street car, or even by Shank’s mare. Men seek- ing office will know where to find their “pull,” and how to ster it up against the office-controling power. ‘This is very natural, and well justi- fled. It is the American way. It was thus in the beginning, and will con- tinue to the end. A new administra- tion always means a change of many public servants from the losing to the winning party for the conduct of the public business. The leaders want, and have a right, to be served by lieu- tenants of their own persuasion and selection. Patronage-seekers think well of themselves, or they would not be seek- ing patronage. They want when pos- sible to meet the giver of gifts; and they know how advantageous it is to be presented to him by a man of con- sequence in politics. Hence their ap- peals to men of so much consequence as the national legislators, at whose approach doors are accustomed to fly open. It is the spring of the year—the early bud-andleaf season—when ‘Washington is as pretty as a picture, and every man who can should see it. ‘The town is roomy and hospitable, and visitors soon find themselves at ease, except as the mission which has drought them may keep them anxious until it is decided. —_————— A settlement of the miners® strike by Lloyd George should create a new distinction to be awarded by a society of grateful fuel consumers to be known as the order of the coal scuttle. —_———— Hungary has some difficulty in get- ting its throne harmlessly located in a museurs or a junk shop. A technical state of war is at least preferable to a state of actual fighting. Bolshevism and Repatriates. On the 9th of March, seventy-five Russians whom the United States did not want arrived in their former coun- try as deportees, following the foot- steps of Alexander Berkman and Em- ma Goldman. They had been loud in their praise of bolshevism in this country. They had urged the adoption of soviet principles by the United States. They had been sent away from here because they were preach- ing that particularly obnoxious and dangerous form of communism that has prevalled in Russia for several years. Within a month twenty of these seventy-five, having manifested their disapproval of the bolshevist re- gime in practice, have been imprisoned or executed. The soviet authorities ‘have no patience with criticism. Trot- auwi bad imbibed some Americanism in the course of his stay in this coun- try and he felt that all Russians who returned eastward ought to be as rad- ical as he on their repatriation. On the 5th of the month another batch of deportees reached the Rus- sian frontier and got thelr first taste of sovietism at work. At the boun- dary they were deprived of all their money and in return were given ration cards entitling them to food. This was not their idea of liberty and they protested, but somehow the news of the fate of the twenty of the preceding batch was communicated to them and they subsided. They had to. Practically every report that has come from the repatriated Russians is to the same effect. They want to get back. They went unwillingly. They arc miserable. Bolshevism, look- 0“, ing well in print, is a monster at close range. They would rather be on the East Side in New York with money in their pockets and jobs of their own to work at, and freedom to do prac- tically whatever they please, and op- portunity to improve their condition, than to be units in a tyrannically regulated society without money, with cards giving them places in the bread lines and compelled to work for the hardest taskmaster of all, an unintel- ligent, self-appointed proletariat autoc- racy. A Regrettable Misstep. Sincere friends of organized labor in the United States cannot but regret its identification with the request for a general amnesty of the so-called “political prisoners,” resulting from the audience recently held with Presi- dent Harding at which certain repre- sentatives of labor urged such a policy upon him. The proposal behind which those leaders there took their stand is for a blanket pardon to those dis- loyalists (to use a mild term), who, when the United States faced with the world the most critical hours in his- tory, did their best to betray us to the enemies of civilization. The nation| as a whole today has small inclina- tion toward any such program; its impatience with the proposal is en- hanced by the assurance that most of those concerned exhibit neither re- morse nor regret for the seditious ac- tivities for which they were sentenced. Special cases deserving of leniency may exist, but there can be but one answer to the preposterous demand that all men convicted in war time of an odious offense against their fellows should, when the war is over, be cas- ually reprieved from the too mild sen- tences incurred for their transgres- sions. ‘What could prompt labor to asso- ciate itself with such a demand may never be clearly understood. Every factor upon which a forecast could have been predicated as to the atti- tude of the unions toward such a pro- posal would have presaged an in- dignant antipathy. Many of those upon the delegation to the White House sought during the war with fine patriotism, unflagging energy and large success to insure its triumphant prosecution. The men they now inter- cede for them sought defeat for all for which they sought victory. And today the condition is unchanged. The radical elements opposed to all loyal principles then are the elements today arrayed against the sound, moderate and patriotic principles with which, in the main, the organized labor of the nation has been successfully led. So it is that the country as a whole is be- wildered as to the basis for the posi- tion in which these leaders have placed themselves and their followers. Yet, inclined to seek the friendly interpre- tation, it will choose to regard a step which would seem to ally American labor with disloyal extremists as an unfortunate blunder rather than in a more serious aspect. ! his idea of what should go out. A touch-and-go interview, therefore, has its perils for all but a practical and skillful fencer. As Mr. Mecilon is fresh from his banking house, and in a post of great responsibility, he is probably well ad- vised in taking the course announced. It betokens caution; and caution is an asset of much value these days in both public and private life. Income and Outgo. The government needs a large amount of money. The question of in- come was never more important. Con- gress will soon be wrestling with it. We all want it solved in the best way possible. Where shall the money be found? What may be assessed with the least embarrassment to the people and the least injury to business? ‘The question of outgo is equally im- portant. The republican party is com- mitted to economy, and the people are expecting a redemption of its prom- ises. But where may the pruning- knife be applied with the least injury to public interests? Congress will soon be wregtling also with that prop- osition. Serious as is the situation, seriously committed as is the republican party to economy, and important as it is that the campaign promises be kept, it would be a reckless leadership that did not use the knife with extreme care. Cutting and slashing might work infinite harm. To deny worthy j objects adequate support might be far | more expensive than to overindulge a few unworthy ones, or ones of but small deserts. In other words, a mere reduction in the sum total of allow- ances might in reality be the very opposite of economy. Congress, therefore, is “up against™ an exceedingly knotty problem. And next year comes the appeal to the peo- ple on the record that now begins to take shape. On election day of No- vember of next year the voters will decide as to the complexion of the Congress that will succeed the present one. —————— Even the few people who understand Prof. Einstein's theory of relativity as applied to moving bodies in space do not offer any suggestion as to how it may be applied to solving problems on this particular orb. ——e—e——————— If Germany can perfect a system for suppressing communism, bolshev- ism and a few other “isms” it might be worth while to forget the indemnity temporarily and subsidize her. ————— A glimpse at the fashion pages in- dicates that the constable who once concerned himself with the proprieties of bathing costumes is regarded as having entirely lost his influence. ————————— Lenin is still hoping that some way can be found of persuading trade to {foflow the soviet flag. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Proverbs. I have listened to proverbs until I am tired. They're not to be trusted, however ad- mired. They say, “Time is money.” It's only a joke. My time is no good when I'm idle and broke. We're told that to stay in one spot means a loss— “The stone that keeps rolling will gather no moss.” But rolling o rocks will & polish im- part. The stone that Nes quiet gets hit by a cart. A man accused of plotting against | MY teachers this maxim endeavored the life of Prof. Einstein in Berlin has been fined $16. The reprehension in which the offense is held would be clearer had it been made known whether the sum is $16 in regular money. * A morsel of radium lost in Chicago is likely to prove dangerous to anybody ‘who tries to keep it. Self-preservation should assist honesty in securing its return to rightful ownership. ’ European affairs continue to be com- plicated by the man who wants a throne without exactly knowing what he wants with it. l There is a feeling that a gentleman by the name of Dawes may be relied on not to delay action in order to polish up his literary style. i Some of our most eminent golfers are distinguished by their scores as good losers. f The ex-kaiser desires to move to Brazil. Unrest is by no means con- fined to the working people. Secretary Mellon and the Press. ‘This is 2 news announcement: “Interpellations by newspaper men of Secretary of the Treasury Mellon at the regular semi-weekly confer- ences will hereafter be put in writing the day before the journalists meet the Secretary.” There is much to be said in favor of this arrangement. In the first place, every outgiving of the Treasury Department about the department’s business is read with great interest, and particularly at this time. Financial questions touch at all important points. They make a wide, almost popular, appeal. Men but little acquainted with financial matters know in a general way that such mat- ters are at present in a disturbed con- dition and giving both Congress and the administration some concern. | Hence, as all such outgivings are wide- ly read and pondered they should al- ‘ways represent care and thought in their preparation. A question hastily formed and put, and as hastily an- swered, might, unintentionally, con- vey a wrong impression, and so do barm. In the second place, Secretary Mel- lon lacks the trained politician's art of fencing with an interviewer. It is an art. The interviewer, naturally, ‘wants all the information he can get. The polttictan, as natusally, wants to measure out information according to. to push, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” But the bird that is best is the bird on the wing, That lives without fear and rejoices to sing. “Make hay while the sun shines"—yet life is more gay For him who toils on ’neath a sky that is gray. “Wealth breeds discontent”—but the sorrow I view Is caused by the want of a dollar or two. It is better to face what may come, un- atraid, Than to trust to the wisdom sent 'round ready made. Il heed the conditions that rise day by day, But I'm off those bunk proverbs hence- forth and for aye. Disappointed Hopes. “Hiram,” said Mrs. Corntossel, “our boy Josh has learned to play a regular tune on his new violin.” “That boy wontt do nothin' but waste time. What does he want with a regular tune? I was educatin’ him for leader of a jazz orchestra.” “Sometimes you see a man,” sald Senator Sorghum, *“who behaves to- ward his country the same as he does toward his wife. The more he says he loves her, the worse he seems willing to treat her.” Something in a Name. The fighting is over. We're striving at last To banish from thought certain griefs that are past; For liberty cabbage is now ladled out And eaten with pleasure as plain “sauerkraut.” Solving a Problem. “We'll put a cook stove in the auto- mobile and go touring,” announced Mr. Chuggins. “But what'll we do for a servant?” inquired his wife. “It's the only way to keep a servant. Once we have succeeded in hiring one, the only way for her to resign will be to get out and walk.” Fascination of the Obscure. *You employ rather long words.” “I'm obliged to,” replied Prof. Hi- brow. “If my audiences succeed in getting precisely what I am talking about, they won't feel they have had their money’s worth.” ily humane Editorial Digest Gassing Murderers. Nevada’s attempt to soften the hor- rors of the death chamber by pro- viding for the execution of criminals by means of gas administered while the victim “sleeps” is not accepted by the entire press of the country as a step toward humanizing capital pun- ishment. While many writers sup- port the new plan, which they believe eliminates the horrors of the noose and the electric chair, others feel that the mental suffering would be as great or even greater during the hours of suspense before the sleep that would be the last. The “pain- ful features” of any execution, many agree with the Pittsburgh Gazette- Times, “can be avoided only by abol- ishment of the death penalty.” The Roanoke Times feels that “just as the electric chair was deemed an advance over the gallows, so the gas chamber seems to be an advance over the electric chair,” and “to execute a man in his sleep,” the Newark News believes, “invokes a practice as near- when _Socrates drank the hemlock.” The Utica Press con- siders gas “in a sense less horrible than_the electric chair,” and the Jop- lin Globe, recalling that in Missouri “capital punishment was restored be- cause public sentiment seemed to de- mand it,” looks upon the inaugura- tion of the gas chamber as “an im- portant development of crime pun- ishments” worthy of belng watched with interest. It is “an_improve- ment,” the Omaha World-Herald be- lieves, “on all attempts to make cap- ital punishment less horrible for the condemned and less horrible for the public to contemplate.” “This deduction would seem correct ‘at first glance,” the Harrisburg Tele- graph remarks, but demands that its readers place themselves “in the con- demned man's position.” 1t con- tinues: “Fear would keep him from sleep until utter exhaustion closed his eyes; for days he would be on the verge of total breakdown, fighting away the sleep that might be his last. Insanity would very possibly result, as the interminablé suspense of the Spanish inquisition broke down the mind of its victim.” In striving to provide a humane method of execution, the Fort Wayne News and Sentinel thinks that Nevada has perhaps “adopted a plan of re- fined torture,” for no doubt prisoners “of a nervous organization will die a thousand deaths,” under the im- pression that ‘gas has been intro- duced into their cells before it really has.” Electrocution is favored by some newspapers, and the Trenton Times expresses doubt “whether the Nevada method will be any more painless or humane,” though under the latter “the condemned man will be sparad the experience and excite- ment of being prepared for the death chair in_the presence of a score or more officials and witnesses. But “lethal gas,” it concludes. “is to be preferred to either shooting or the gallows,” the alternatives between which sentenced Nevadans were for- merly allowed to choose. To place a man in the specially conatructed cell immediately after the death sentence “would tend to produce insomnia” the Hartford Courant believ: “and in time a most refined torture.” This, it _points out, “is exactly what the law was designed to abolish.™ The Times of Buffalo, N. Y., recalls the post-mortem of the first criminal to be executed in the electric chalr in that state, and quotes the author- ity, Dr. Spitzka, “who has witnessed ‘hundreds of electrocutions,” and who has declared “very emphatically” that the “infliction of the death penalty by electrocution was by far the most humane way of disposing of such cases.” To the Philadelphia Public Ledger death in the lethal chamber will be more than the one pictured by Poe in “The Pit and the Pendulum”: “What manner of man can retain a gleam of reason in Nevada's gas cell? What manner of man will ever sleep other than the sleep of exhaustion that precedes death? How many deaths will he die before he dies that death that the law has ordered and the court approved? And it has been ‘written into American organic law, the Constitution of the United States, that ‘cruel and unusual punishments’ shall not be Inflicted!"” To this the New York Tribune agrees: ‘To die in one’s sleep is the ideal death in popular imagination. But theory has very little to do with such psychology. Experience may prove that no torture is more ex- quisite than the doubt which a con- demned criminal in Nevada must now face, of never knowing which sleep is to be the last.” procedure Generalizations as to how the vic- tim will be affected cannot be made, in the opinion of the Syracuse Her- ald, which declares that “it will all be psychological experts cannot venture to lay down any fixed rule In these premiges.” The Indianapolis Star takes the same view. “In the end.” it predicts, “it will probably resolve Itself into an individual equation.” Freedom to Resign Public Office. Mr. Lansing’s book serves to direct attention to a striking defect in the American attitude toward the resig- nations of high officials. As Secretary of State Mr. Lansing was, next to the President, chief American eace commissioner. Yet he went to Paris knowing that he differed from the President on fundamental {ssues, and that this radical difference reached back at least two years. Why was this difference permitted to continue for 8o long by both men, at the expense of administrative ef- ficiency? Mr. Lansing explains that he did not want to embarrass the President by resigning, at a crisis, and no doubt he was conscientious in staying on the job. But there was, no doubt, another reason for his holding on. The Ameri. can public usually jumps to the con- clusion that the man who resigns a high post has really been dismissed because of inefficiency, disloyalty, or some other discreditable reason. The American public official who resigns has to run the gantlet of much criti- cism and suspicion. He is thus tied to his job oftentimes, even when he can no longer conscientlously func- tion. ‘This attitude of the public does not obtain to any such degree elsewhere. Resignations are so common in Brit- ish official life that they are taken as the natural order of the day. French officials are accustomed to resigm on the slightest provocation. No obloquy should necessarily at- tach to the resignation of a high public official. Events run swiftly, and often the circumstances of a sin- gle day put a new face on matters. |3 For the public to attach a stigma to an official who resigns. is to put & handicap on strong leadership and a premium on subserviency. The prime requisite in effective ad- ministration is teamwork and sin- cerity of purpose among officials. | ‘When this is impossible, public opin- ion ought to permit them to resign without penalizing them by false im- putations.—Minneapolis Journal (in- dependent republican). A man may be down, but he's never out of alibls.—Baltimore Sun. Nowadays when Greek meets Greek it's generally on a home run.—Phila- delphia North American. Plutocrat—A man wealthy enough to_pay both his fine and his lawyer. —Nashville Tennessean. Apparently there are physicians who don’t care who makes a nation’s laws if they can write its prescrip- tions.—Baltimore Evening Sun. With Rene Viviani making so many calls, it's well we're not glul- ing = about anything.—Washington Post. Englishmen consider prohibition a joke. Most of us can laugh at a joke when it's on the other fellow.— Greenville (8. C.) Piedmont. Headline avers: “Flour, Eggs and Butter Hit Toboggan.” It should be a cake when it hits the bottom.— Portland Telegram. | a matter of temperament,” and “ev . SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 192I—PART T AR RTRET R & i VN STAIRS STORE -Qf’a@sSkx@rzbeererc/zandiSe? | DO 2_ CONSTANTLY growing business always brings problems of serv- ice and space. For forty-one years we have expanded and made many moves to secure the proper space for the merchandise demand- E ed by our clientele. But, due to the physical confines of our establish- i 5 | : ment, we have been forced to forego many merchandising oppor- tunities, and to serve our customers at the varying price ranges de- manded by them has not always been possible. Long before the war we had considered the establishment of a Down Stairs Store, where lesser priced merchandise might be offered upon the same assurance of reliability characterizing every section of our store. THE fulfillment of this ambition has been realized, and on Friday, April 15th, we shall present to the public of Washington a Down Stairs Store that we believe will be a revelation in the manner of meeting the requirements of those seeking Dependable Merchandise at Lesser Prices CCUPYING the basement of our Main F street building, well "li'éhted, partly sunlit—well ventilated, orderly arranged sections easily reached by the three F street elevators and two stairways — a store that we shall be proud of and in which you will find pleasure and profit in shopping. A thoroughly equipped merchandising unit, giving, along with its reliable merchandise, the same satisfaction in service as prevails in our upstairs sections, differing in no way from every privilege that applies to them. A SEPARATE and distinct organization, buying and selling the prod- ucts from reputable manufacturers at all times; personally se- lected by specialized buyers, thoroughly familiar with the Woodward & Lothrop standard and who know the markets of the country. I T shall be our policy to maintain the same conservatism in our an- nouncements as has always characterized our advertising, for after all, it is the quality and fair price of the goods themselves upon which we shall rely for your patronage. WHEN this Down Stairs Store opens as we have planned, on the morming of Friday, April 15th, you are going to find excep- tional values in merchandise of merit. The creation and establish- ment of this new merchandising unit—The Down Stairs Store—the manner in which it shall be conducted, and the goods which we shall offer has this single purpose TO BETTER SERVE OUR CUSTOMERS OF.(Bsser PricedsMerchandise Opens Friday, April 15th, at 9:15 a.m. I .00 00T L0 e A 0 e Wioobmwark X Lothrop W A i