New Britain Herald Newspaper, December 26, 1916, Page 6

NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 1916. ! ness, Civil Liberty, Freedom, and thelr ® i and there are fourteen of them, can i it fi for aside the cloak the last. Heral& COMPANTY. ach nation engaged in the war, today what it is iting if | of worid 1c | the to on in | the future the way they have in the ! , fighting because of old animosi- | that nurtured | .n | BBurope for centuries, then there will | | be state would but cast Then { know how long it diplomacy. would &t the Post O ond Class Mail by carrfer to § cents a week, Hons for vape bie in adva: a yea. the war will belligerents intend 50 - Dart of the city month to be sent by 60 cents a mont 5 have been in | ¥ profitable advortist b city rculation hooks B alwaye open to adver one side ! And | outcome, it is | al world to know it no end to this war until he other is utterly exhausted. that the well for the neut That is one reason why President Wil- or at Hota- Broad- | alk, At- { on salo 12na 3 ¥: Boa Hartford if is to be a v ! intic City, a Depot I the rote. His purpose is | for America’s interest. TET hess Offico brial Rooms son penned to look His note may be guilty of all the dis- | dited to it by the bel- the but if it succeeds in se- HONE CALLS, 2 out THE FIRST STE | crepancies accre | his week will probably mark the ‘ ligerent powers and by critics in | finning of the end of that portion,of | 1is own land; | ke street which lies between Wash- | zeal musweritofthe lone ibiej B A | auestion implicd throughout its thou- | Sngineer steps secure consultation the vill | "' IHE NATIONAL GUARD. the corner of lLake and Washing- | Criticlsm of the National Guard by {< and which prevents traffic | army officers should be well considered 11 who take interest in the nation's nse. These It & then and the on or more words then it will not been in vain. » | sand ween and po b1 ity have Counsel final bly be taken today to ion'on that parcel of land abutting | stre | m pursuing 4 safe course westward. | P chased by the city | def men know their busi- ness facle cut away, New Britain National Guard is a | be abandoned | medium of se- | But it is | doubtful if all the harsh words leveled | ibilities it should that of | for Michael | curing serviceable troops. free itself rrom-the -pos: | tailure more favorable uch appalling accidents e weeks 180, - when 1 untimely death. against this o There may be spots in the tem that are bad, there may be that are not worth the shoe leather they destroy in prac- | i of the manufacturing | zanization are deserving pany which owns this parcel of | of merit. 1 have acted Herald 2 | 1t the price placed ‘ars ago by the board | tice marches, but ju as the pre- e ecvinced a ire to | entire regiments as there are bad | Nine thousand dol- | Places so there are good ones. | New Britain is practically fortunate | sessing two very efiicient com- of the Guard. The boys who from this city at the call | have returned valuable members of an auxillaryto the United States army itself. They are trained to the minute. It would require but a little more polishing to make them as good soldiers as any who spend their lives in professional niuch little to It impos or too break | in pos injus- | a, | went aa will not it an pani L owner Inste: away to arms last Summer medi of protec- will nditions | The ned the ney the purchase. of v 11 come jill g afte and in when a clear p. d so that their truc o and from the | service. The captains who officered ut runaing these companies on the Mexican bor- der are men of the finest military type. Oae of them has been offered a perma- nent place on the payroll of the United and the | other could secure a like inducement | if he carrled in mind y action in this matter mon Council has merited th the entire city. Ther: I ime lost in concluding that an im- | States army as a lieutenant, ement was in order at the us W hington street crossi a professional career in the military. With Do the way to bring about such an | of such it facts is aifficult would be derived in our e where from rovement was the purchase as these perty closing of the street e the street is one that is essential sion benefit or the to any a wholesale abandonment of the Nation- | al Guard. New Britain has no mon- opoly on good troops. There must be, and there probably other throughout the land that have units | of organization just as efficient as those here. Therefore, it would | seem the better part of wisdom for | the authorities to consider well before | they do away entirely with an organi- | e progress of the city it cannot should not be closed. 'who holds the interest of the city | will welcome the endeavors Every citi- are, cities eart e by those in charge of the local This is but the first step this prnment. 1 a general clean-up of old con- bris. There are other improve- ts to follow. I THEY FIGHTING FOR?” B zation that offers far more encourage- ment and must be gathered together under the primitive method of volunteering. | Troops who train at intervals of even | hen other a myriad of forces opposing of 1 given object the chane | ‘ 1 16 ChAnces AYeé | . or two months must be infinitely | than those who rush to the any training whatso- on the one task con- ing e is some inherent merit in the e ! better ot of their attack. This was force- colors without demonstrated in the, late lament- i It pa-Case of President Wilson’s note bel ever. ions. may be proven again MEDDLING. e gerent nations of Europe. in It is no novelty to see the Hart- | ford Courant in the role of champion for transportation monopolles and so | it is not surprising to learn that the Courant objects to the editorlal ef- forts of the Herald to force the Con- company to improve its | But of course | ; are united the one task of emmnation. 1igland and France and Russia and will have nothing to do with the “stions offered hy- President Wil- | s Kngland and France and ind Italy have been placed on | ne with Germany and necticut trolley service here. the Courant must meddle in every- thing and it would be strange if an ambidextrous editor, who settles—to his own satisfaction—the affairs of city, with a pen in his right hand the affairs of Europe, and especially Iroland, with a pen in his left, were not able to dispose of New Britain’s trolley problem with a mere wiggle of one of his ears. i The Central powers will cend to hear music for prac- same reason. Yet both rusily engaged in discussing It is the sole state and nation and attacking the note of the All uture, day in all quarters of the of w augurs well for of =t ch for when the bhombastic ances have been exhausted there the quiet after the storm. the - Tull of pbling there may come sound rea- come in quarrelling and Switzerland over and above all other \in point in the note has been | Neutral nations has many reasons for | the of in desiring an end of the Buropean hostil- The little Alpine country has red internally as well as external- | In opinion, she has been a divided | of her people favoring | some the Allies. of Switzerland 4 by vast majority engaged merits of itie are earnestly r the this mes- | suft great neutral power. | 1. rly forgotten that at | camp: some tset the President took care | the Germans and tha Thus the atmosphere has been ever charged with dynamite. The fuse of destrucsion was liable to be touched at any moment during the t two and a half years. No wonder erland wants the smoke of battle ate 1t he was not oifering a | e proposal nor of hat ‘he did not What ig question terms peace even offer media- he did do was to ask the What are you f pas And that is the ou Swi of the or? ding ire As | to clear away. take whole note. soon he nations now at war to — All from | seetion those this who attended | the -Blue rst answers to this all important | Gray at Gettysburg in 1913, fifty years the famou with Ing an answer to the President’ newspapermen the country of ion then shall come the first dawn of Ece. | the great reunion and | ion, What are you fighting for?—- | after battle, were im- | all—will | pressed There | the late Maj. the e fe nations answer it at manner in which | answers worthy the name. Normoyle accom- task set hefore the be oceans of rhetoric poured over | piished the g There | him. Up to that ss the tortured | greatest enca and of humanity. But the question | has probably excelled even jot be answered in veiled terms or | by the army men of Europe. A special | prds such as Humanity, Righteous- | pension bill which will allot to ghigl of vaguenes be p time this ing words to car may not been i | collecting | the cotton ones unravel wealthy,” verse may be equally true, more S0: packers rich!”—Omaha Bee. | fragr widow of this gallant and eflicient officer the sum paid him yearly as the salary of a major will be heartily en- dorsed by all those who were familiar with his work, both at Gettysburg and at the two great floods, in Dayton and the Missis Valley 1912 1918. ippi in and The Water Wagon Club is getting it is very stylish New Ginger Beer a long waiting list. now to call for that which is drawn leading cafe. We could name a lot of very prominent citizens who favor Mr. Busch's anti-treating and if the movement progresses at Iits present rate there may be a meeting of those interested in the Mayor's office or at the Chamber of Commerce. We could also name some well known ideas on residents who have been anti-treaters for many s. Congratulations are due Postmaster W. F. Delaney and all the other men at the post office who assisted him in and distributing New Britain’s Christmas mail. Efficiency in handling the mails in this city is arc becoming aceus- the super- something we tomed to efficiency of the Christmas season was But there. Ask and probably overlooked. it was santa Claus. American exporters have succeeded in getting England to lift the ban on the importation of cotton hosiery into that country and there is joy all around. No one on this side of the Atlantic wants anything but silk,—let where they will. Many are called but few are equal to the emergency. FACTS AND FANCIES. The king’s guard in England has been ordered to the front. Another old Union. Haven tradition gone.—New So far the re-election of President ‘Wilson has been blamed on to every- | body but the kalser and King George. | —Muncte, Ind., Press. The one man we envy least is Am- bassador Gerard, going back to Ber- in and forced to he urbane and po- | lite.—Lowell Courier-Citizen. The way prices keep ° going up makes one wish that whén Sir Tsaac | Newton | made it a little stronger lis invented gravitation he had —Indianapo- News. The cost of mackerel has come | down a bit and that’s the first friend- | Iy word that has been time for states and cities on the salt- ed seas.—Milwaukee Journal. said for some farmers But re- if not “Farmers are making the ‘“‘Packers are making the so we are told. President Wilson declares that the service which Mr. Bryan rendered in protection than one that | the late campaign was ‘‘unselfish.” Is this a delicate way of saying that a cabinet position will him?—New York Evening Post. not be offered The Interstate Commerce Commis- sion has ruled that bankers who fin- ance railroads are not entitled to rail- way And it might have add- don't need them.—Al- passes. ed that they bany Argus. The danger is not that the num- ber of anti-high-cost-of-living bills to be introduced in congress will be too few, but that out of the mass there will not be even one that will meot the situation.—Rochester Post-Ex- press. ‘“The Beginning.” (By Rabindranath Tagore). From the Crescent Moon (Child Poems). So much interest has been aroused by the coming of this fa- mous poet and philosopher to Amer- ica, which includes a visit to Boston, that the Post reproduces the follow- from the wood at a } OUR WASTE OF FOOD. Tlustrated in the a Club. Experience of (Milwaukee Journal.) “Since the new stewardess took charge of this club, the garbage can contains almost nothing,” said the Janitor of a Milwaukee club recently, { who was comparing the work of .a heavy waste every morning, that of a carcful economical | istration of the club kitchen. The } daily yield of 100 pounds of garhage, due to the waste of food, had been with | former steward who had a large and | admin- | { that a Maine farmer or rural reduced to mere actual and unavold- | able garbage of some 10 or 20 pounds | per day. This is eloquent comment on what goes on in many clubs and private | homes In Milwaukec can is the best supplied “member of the household.” Tood of the auality is dumped away indiserim- inately, with no thought of ut | left-overs in an appetizing way. respansible for the present acute shortage throughout the country. They are helping to raise food prices, not only for their own extravagant class of wasters, but for provident housekeepers as well. Americans used to scorn to save anything, fearing to be caught in an act of economy, which was almost synonymow. with poverty itself or stinginess. 1ppily, this false ideal is passing. The milllonaire wrestles with the plumber’s bill at least as a: slduously as the laborer tries to pare down Tis allowance for potatoes and smoking tobacco. If every family ellminated food waste, by careful apportioning when cooking and by the utmost care in | utilizing left-overs, the food problem | would be solved without a sign of a boycott or investigation. E Rural New England's Decay. (Rollin Lynde Hartt in the Century Magazine.) With age comes decay. generations a community fear that “the stock has run out,” and in certain districts of rural New England it would appear that precise- Iy this has befallen. It is less a ques- tion of abandoned farms than of abandoned farmers. While no one pretends that such in- stances are at all broadly representa- tive, there are fishing villages where in forty years no marriage has oc- curred, and farming villages where couples separate without divorce and form new alliances without the aid of clergy. Here and there Inbreed- Ing results in deformity, idiocy, and criminality. This has gone so far that the problem today is, “How to pro- | tect the cities against the country?” | Says President Hyde, “Poor land | and rich water make New England a manufacturing community.” Her hill towns, now decadent, ought never to have been built. Those rocky, Infertile upland flelds forbade tha use of agricultural machinery and presupposed labor—that s, hovs compelled to work for their fathers without hire. When that ceased ruin began, increasing as the west outrivalled New Hngland in ising o Te, sheep, hogs, corn, wheat, and v'hat-not hestde Rail- roads developed her valley deplet- ing her hil Great towns grew up, and thither fled her peasantry. In formerly prosperous rustic hamlets the weak and stupld remained to breed a race of poor whites. This continues, though optimists have pointed to many a hill town still thrifing, and felzn to belleve that modern innovations—bicycles, trolley cars, motor cars, telephones, grapho- phones—will somehow rescue the others. After ten begins to Shattering Faith. (New York Evening Sun.) The Christmas spirit is being ruffled in the City of Brotherly Love by a dispute over a rollicking carol which parents have discovered that their children were singing in one of the Philadelphia schools. The first stanza runs: Way up in the clouds Or way down in the cave With Santa Claus, jolly old man! Nohody knows where, Nobody knows how; Believe in him then if you can. Believe in_ him then if can. Ha! Ha! Believe in him then if you can. you Politicians who for years have re- | fused to reply to charges that they were getting rich at the expense of the city, grow tearful as they voice | their indigne tion against those who ing lines to give an idea of this style | would lightly shatter a child’s faith. to thoge who are not so fortunate as | As they hus to have a wider acqualntance with his poems: “Where have I come from, where did you pick me up?” the baby asked its mother. She answered, half orying, laughing, and clasping the her breast: “You were hidden its desire, my darling “You were in the dolls of my child- hood’s games; and when with clay I made the image of my god every morning, I made and unmade you then. “You household deity worshipped vou. “In all my hopes and my in my life, in the life of my mother you have lived. “In the lap of the deathless spirit, who rules our home, you have nursed for ages. half in my heart as with worship were enshrined in hig our i “When in girlhood, my heart was | opening its petals nce about it. our tender softne: vouthful limbs sky hefore the su “Heaven's first darling, with the morning ] f 5 floated down th life, and at last on heart, I e you hovered as a cane bloomed in like a glow in the ise have vorld's ded you of my on vour face myste crwhelms me who belong to al b e m fear of losing you 1 tight to my breast. What snared the world's treasure slender arms of mine?” ¥ hold you magic has in these & baby to | | Towing the ver | ing but loves, | shout, 'V | been | twin-born | | kily explain, there was a | time in their own lives when such a blow would have so warped their character as to render it forever im- possible for them to develop into cit- | zens of the right sort. They cannot understand the neutrality of the teacher especially responsible for al- es to be sung, who that 200 of her 400 youn hopefuls take no stock In Kris Kr and that it is only fair that they should have an occasional chance to utter their sentiments, in- stead of heing obliged to sing noth- carols which they regard as Tt is a beautiful song, she in- ask the children which one want to sing, and they will Up in the Clouds.” calmly says ngle, false. sists they | The Cider Exeraption Clause in the | | out why State Prohibitory TLaw. (Boston Herald.) Several readers of the Herald have | | written to ask about recent allusions | to the exemption of cider under the | Maine prohibitory law. ** it true,” one asks, “that there is actually dis- | « nation in favor of the favorite | hevers of the farmer and against the favorite beverages of those who live in Here is the swer, WO uoted from the prohibitory ndment to ine constitution, adopted in cit | | 1 | t intoxicating ler, and the € of intoxicat- ing lquors and shall be forover prohibited. cept, however, that the sale and keeping for sale of such manufacture ¢ not including keeping for The liquor cl cale and are l The garbage | best | Zing | - | vinegar. but of course that Is a huge Those who waste food are largely | | or selling cider when any man with | may jown use or for the entertainment of | Maine farmers who do not drink cider | or make it, but all who desire to do | clder is an i has been responsible for many | tragedies. | retary McAdoo in his recent annual | its public | fect that “common sense and business j ernment business should be ized only in localities where they are | reached liquors for medicinal and mechanical purposes and the arts, and the sale and keeping for sale of cider, may be permitted under such regulations as the legislature may provide. nyone who knows Maine political history knows that without the cider exemption clause the prohibitory amendment could never have passed the Maine legislature in 1883 or have been adopted by the people at the general election of the following vear. Without that provision the amendment could never have sur- vived the ‘“resubmission” campaign of a few years ago. It is true enough mer- chant who sells hard cider freely and ) openly to all comers may be prose- cuted for maintaining a “tippling shop” or ‘“common nuisance” and such prosecutions are not unknown. But the key to whole situation lies in the clause that allows the unre- stricted manufacture of cider. - The theory may bhe that cider is made only that it may he kept until it is joke. There is small need of buying an orchard, or who can buy apples, haul his apples to the cider mills that operate in every town and make all the cider he wants to for his his friends. And if a man’s supply runs out there is never the slightest trouble in getting more, and no ques- tion is asked whether it is to be kept for vinegar or to give to his hired man more interest in the hayfleld or the wood pile. That is the cider situation in Maine. Of course there are thousands of so have the privilege, and thelr num- ber is legion. And of course this is no reflection on Maine, for the same is true in other states as well. And it is not to be disputed that hard intoxicating liquor that rural The cider exemption clause in Maine's constitutional pro- hibition has been the basis of many attacks as class legislation and as fos- tering political hypoecrisy Perhaps the state will some day follow the ex- ample of some of the states more re- cently added to the prohibition col- umn, and become actually ‘“bone dry.” The $38,000,000 “Pork” Bl (Springfield Republican.) In the last twenty years, says Seo- report, congress has appropriated $180,000,000 for public buildings, and of that vast sum the larger part has been spent in small places where “neither the government business nor the convenience of the people justi- fied their construction.” Congressman Frear of Wisconsin, who has made a special study of gov- ernment waste in expenditures, de- clares that 80 per cent. of the pro- Jects in the $40,000,000 public build- ing bill of 1913 would have been con- demned, under Postmaster-General Burleson’s proposed rule that no pub- lic bullding for postoffice purposes should be authorized in any place where the rental of government offices is less than $1,000 a year, and then only when the gross postoffice recelpts amount to $15.000 or over, or the pop- uiation to 5,000. The subject of federal building ex- penditures was investigated by a spe- cial commission in 1918-1914, and the majority report recommended “that in the case of every proposed public building the cost of rental of sufficient accommodations, of maintenance and operation, Including interest at 3 per cent. shall be considered, so that the building shall not be untertaken un- less it would be a desirable or prop- er investment.” If congress were to apply that sound financial principle to building legislation the country would hear less about con- gresstonal “pork.” If the president contemplates veto- ing the $38,000,000 public buildings bill now before the house, he may bhe sure of strong support for his action This measure has all the vices of the past in “pork” legislation; and it em- bodies none of the promise of reform in expenditure for the future. It vio- lates every line and syllable of Sec- retary McAdoo’'s declaration to the ef- judgment would seem to demand that structures for the transaction of gov- author- imperatively needed, and that build- ings should not be erected where no public necessity could be shown.” If Mr. Wilson hopes to make prog- ress In his second administration to- ward the elimination of waste and extravagance in government expend- iture, he may as well begin before his first administration ends. He cannot begin too soon. The Fablc of the 100 Per Cent. and the Watered Stock. Once upon a time there were two men who engaged in different enter- prises, each susceptible of great ex- pansion. The first man had little | capital. For many years he found it sary to sink all his profits in cxtension. These profits ry slight—about a quarter of a cent on each manufactured article selling for ten cents. BY manufac- turing in large and ever increasing quantities he made a good deal of money from this trifling and even precarious profit. When his business something resembling max- imum proportions he was subpoenaed as a witness in an inquiry to find his ten cent article cost so much. “What your capital stock?” asked the Chief of the Inquisition. The man replied that it was $50,000. “Ts it not true that you pay divi- dends amounting to 100 per cent. on this capital stock?” “Yes, but—" “Did your wife divorce you 18937" went on the Inquisitor. TLater the man got a chance to ex- plain that while his profits enabled him to pay 100 per cent. on his capi- | ock they were really only 5 per | cent. on the money actually invested in his business. But the inquisitors | ere not impressed hy this statement. hev could see only 100 per cent The second man was fortunate as to be able to command at the out- in likely to need for years to come. He issued capital stock of $1,000,000. The enterprise at the time was worth about $60,000. By marvellous good fortune he eluded jall. Twenty yvears later his business was worth $1,000,- 000 and was paying 5 per cent. an- nually on its stock. When he was dragged before in- quisitors he was told that the reason his stock did not pay a higher divi- dend was because he had watered it so heavily in the beginning. ing stock was a crime, or would shortly, he was given to understand, and it was a lucky thing for him that he had done it twenty yvears earlier. “But, sir,” this man protested, I didn’t water the stock. I watered the business—and it grew.” This ingenious explanation did not avail. The inquisitors insisted some way must be found to reduce the 100 per cent. dlvidend of the first man and take the water out of the second man’s capital stock. So they recommended legislation and lived happily ever afterward. Better Be Right Than Funny. (New York Times.) This is the time of year when Jjokes about the oigars bought by women for husbands and other ob- Jeots of their affection bring in an appreciable and appreciated contri- bution toward the annual revenue of all professional humorists. They are a harmless and even estimable folk, the humorists, and nobody, unneces- sarily, would do anything, especially with the cost of living what it is now, to increase the difficulty in meeting their bills. Stil], justlice is justice, and unless it is a fact that Christmas-pres- ent clgars are of the quality asserted by the jesters, gains made out of ridicullng them are the products of an inaccuracy in itself reprehensible, and it is made the worse by the lack of consideration for the lack of con- sideration for the tender sensibilities of the fair-sex which it illustrates. 8o far as known, there has never been made of the Christmas cigar that intensive study which alone would warrant the light and careless condemnation bestowed upon it. That either denunciation or ridicule is de- served by it, however, can safely be held more than dubious, and for sev- eral reasons. First ,there is nothing in commer- cial or industrial records warranting bellef in the existence of a cigar manufactured for the holiday trade alone, and though there do seem to be cigar boxes that appear in the shops at no other season, the con- tents of those boxes have an all-the- year-round appearance. Presuma- bly, when less elaborately decorated, they are bought by men in what may be called the course of nature and smoked with equanimity if not with any notable amount of satisfaction. Next, the woman who buys Christ- mas cigars always takes what is, or pretends to be, expert advice before she does it, and though she may think longer having more sense. in such matters—than a man ahout paying for cigars what a hundred of the better reputed ones cost, she can heed her instinctive impulse for rea- sonable economy by buying a half or a quarter box. And that is her customary compromise with what most women in their hearts regard as an evil. Another thing: The Christmas- cigar joke rests on the assumption that men have knowledge as well as opinions as to the intrinsic merits of tobacco—if it has any—and no as- sumption could be more perilious than that. The truth is that men judge cigars very largely by external- ities and irrelevances. A prettily gilded band adds confidently imag- ined flavor to many a cigar that is or ought to be cheap, and few indeed are the men who found judgment on anything that goes deeper than the “wrapper.” If that be pleasing to the eye, the vast majority of them say the cigar is good. THE DECLINE OF QUILTING. Something That Is Missed in the Country on Cold Nights. (Rutland Herald.) Another fast-vanishing Vermont art i quilting. When one feels chilly these bitter nights and pulls around him the store bedclothes which most of us use, how we m the old- fashioned, padded quilt, which was frost-proof, nearly everwearing and contributed beside to the artistia spirit of mankind. A quilt designed by an old-time housewife, tied at a ‘bee,” full of generous pudding and exhibiting its gorgeous evening face to the tired bed-seeker, was quite a different thing from the factory-made substi- tute which gives neither adequate warmth nor esthetic pleasure. Sleeping under a crazy quilt did not make the sleeper crazy. If it took long months of patching, the result was not only striking but comfort- ing. There was an eminent fitness in the ‘“log-cabin” design and the ‘ris- ing sun” portrayed a daily miracle as well as keeping the body warm. Hven folks who possess the price- less, old-fashloned quilt are apt to hide it under the frivolity of a “spread,” so that neither the pictorial beauties nor the promise of satisfy- ing protection appeal to the eve, bui it is lamentably true that even by counting these hidden treasures, the visible supply of quilts has disap- peared. It was a long, trylng job to and tie a quilt, but after it was done, concelve of the glory and satisfaction of a deed well done! ‘We are no busier people today than we were when grandmother tied her last quilt. but we have less time for such work. We waste more, both in time and energy, and we are too apt join with people who think shioned things out of date. | A native, characteristic effort like hand-made quilt is never out of It is not only excellent indus- | try. but it makes for conservation; it saves money, util waste, and a quilt is also a fine harrier against our climate. If we had raise more windows have fewer colds and sew and we should less tuberculo- riore set practically all the capital he was sis. Water- | be | that | old- | In Terms of Guns. (New York Giobe) A modern army is not so much & matter of numbers ss of equipment and of intelligent direction. Mere numbers count for as little as the; { did when the :yriads of the Persian king met the better armed Macedon- ians. ‘War machine: cleus of a force ulation of the competent to officers, and & nus illed in the manip- machines, and thus instruct others, are the prime essentials. Instead of discus- sing armies in terms of numbers, as General Scott does, we should discuss them in terms of artillery. We do this as to ships, but we cling to the old® numerical error when talking of the army. We should say an army of 10,= 000 guns, not an army of 1,000,000 men. Civilians adequately equipped on the whole have done well in the pres- ent war. It does not appear that the civilian British, when on a level with their opponents in weapo have, failed in the presence of an equal OF { less number of better drilled Ger- man It is not necessary to have vastar- mies, but it is necessary to have stores , of military supplies. Expenditure should be for material rather than for the pay of great regiments. The adaptable American will be able to handle the machines if he has them. Special services e those of the afr need to be trained, but there is mno reason, except for non-military ends, why millions should march around with rifles. There is more prepared- ness in a munition factory than in a regiment. The regiment can be im- provised more quickly than the fac- tory. The chief army officers are under the dominion of an archaic terminolo~ gy. Thus they emphasize secondary factors and make it more difficult to have preparedness. They should open their minds to the plain lessons of the_ present war. To enlist 3,000,000 men will not help us much if there are lacking the machines of war. Arsenals and storehouses rather than barracks are required if this country is to be able to defend itself. To put the em- phasis where it belongs would help in solving the preparedness problem. Homicide Statistics America. (Springfleld Republican.) Homicide statistics for 1915 in the United States show a slight decrease, according to a study of available rec- ords which has been prepared for the Spectator, a New York insurance pa- per. But the figures to be had are not complete, and the decrease is o slight that it amounts to no mor than a fluctuation. Homicide rate in this country have been practically stationary for the last 10 yvears, with an average somewhat higher than the average for the preceding decade, and far above those of most other civilized countries. That something can be done about them, and can be done without wait- ing for any evolutionary blossoming of brotherly love, is made evident by thelr conspicuous geographical varia- tions Out of 31 cities selected from all over the country, the rate for those in the south was found to be from four to five times large for those in the northeast, not only last year, but every year since 1905, London with her average of ome homicide to each 100,000 inhabitants mAy well look with horror on York’s four, Boston’s five and American average of eight; when these figures are compared with in New Orleans in Charleston, in Atlanta and 85 in Memphis, Tenn., it becomes clear that here is a prob- lem more pressing than some of those to which we have glven pre- cedence. In states where records are sepa- rately kept the rate among negroes is from four to six times as great as among whites, but the count here is of persons killed, not of persons killing, and it has become obvious even to foreign observers that negroes dle by violence at the hands of whites as well as blacks. Race friction, probably, is one factor in thls prob- lem, but it i1s a factor for which two rrn('ers are accountable. in as as the Usury On Hats, (Warcester Post.) Fourteen thousand, six hundred per cent, is a pretty high rate rent! But it's just what you pay when you hand the cloakroom pirate a jitney for watching your hat for an hour. Do you get us? Well it's like this: when you pay 10 cents for the loan of a dollar for a year, you pay 10 per cent. But if you pay 10 cents for tha loan of a dollar for a day, vou pay 865 times as high a rate or 3650 per cent It's just the same way with your $3 hat. When you pay 5 cents on it for an hour you are paying the rate of $438 a year, counting only 12 busines hours a day. And this is at the rate of 14,600 per cent. Tell this to the cloakroom girl to- day and get her ‘‘comeback.” ut don’t blame us if she’s a bit snippy. Perkins and Billy Sunday. (Emporia, Kan., Gazette.) We note that Billy Sunday is going to go after the devil in New York. That will be a good time for Mr. Rodeheaver to take a lay-off For New York has in its own fair bord the sweetest singer of gospel hymns who ever led a revival We refer to none other than the erstwhile commis- sary sergeant of Armageddon, George W, Perkins, with whom we once stood up in the coliseum in Chicago and sang “Onward Christlan Soldiers!" 1f Billy Sunday can secure the ser- vices of Brother Perkins the devil will indeed and in truth have a hot time in New York. of Vermont Talkes Heart, (Waterbury Record.) Some congressmen were enough to go to Washington | sworn in recenflly. This worse than representatives the Vernfont ature trunks ta the capitol they can board and room ther it makes one think that the in- telligence of the average Vermont rep- greer to De mucl elected tc ending theit building—think is so | resentative will pass mustes.