The Seattle Star Newspaper, December 15, 1923, Page 8

The Seattle Star Published Daily by The Star Publishing Co, 1907 Seventh Ave, © MA {n-0600, Newspaper Knterprise Assoolation and United Proas Borviog, By Maal, out of city, S00 per month, 3 months $1.60, 6 months 42,00, year 63,60, By carrier, ‘Gttman, » Spectal Representatives, office, Mon a, Tribune Bde: Canadian Tremont Bi A Blessing? EARLY 5,000,000 men and women in our country are unable to read or write, according to their con- fessions to the census takers. Many others, of course, were too sensitive to admit such handicaps, In January there'll be a national illiteracy conference in Washington, D, C., to map out plans for reducing il- literacy. Sometimes, when reading some modern fiction and our ~ own stuff, we wonder whether the people unable to read should be pitied or congratulated. Those images that were designed to protect King Tut's tomb from © desecrating hands seem to have failed in their purpose at the archacologi- cal moment, Ban Francie ‘ew York office, Magnus says he will not run wild in the senate, but, If he doesn’t it ~ will be because the senate is less exasperating than usual, Now they tell us the feet of college women are growing larger, which, of course, gives a better understanding of higher education, ; More Power to Him ISTEN to Congressman Dallinger, of Massachusetts, _ when he says things: IT favor only such new legislation as is absolutely neces- Sary and demanded by genuine public sentiment, but if T could have my way, which of course I cannot, I should _ be willing to stay here for six months or a year and have _ congress spend its time repealing many useless and dan- gerous measures which, by the propaganda of organized minorities, have found their way onto the statute books of the United States.” It is a wise legislator, indeed, who recognizes the use- _Tessness and unwisdom of much of the stuff he and his - fellows thrust upon a patient. public. Out of such recog- nition may come, in time, a fixed purpose to purge the books of bunk and balderdash and to retain or enact only such real public sentiment as is crystallized. So far as this matter is concerned, more power to Dallinger of Massachusetts. ‘The originator of the “Coney Island hot dog” is suing his wife for di- vorce because she reprimanded him. Since the hot dog is now epidemic coast to coast, it is plain that her reprimand was too long delayed or ed severity. It was a wise thing to put congress and Christmas in the same month. ‘We do need a counter-irritant for the former, ‘The day is rapidly approaching when Mr. Bok will be in no danger of losing $100,000. Fire OT so long ago we perfunctorily observed “Fire Pre- vention week.” A “Chewing Gum week” would have attracted far more popular attention. Yet the rec- ord of fire waste in this country is an appalling revela- tion of the wanton carelessness of this people. Every second of every minute, $16 worth of our prop- erty is déstroyed by fire. Every minute of every hour, $1,000 worth of our prop- erty is reduced to ashes. Every four minutes of every hour one of our homes is consumed by flames. Every 35 minutes of every 24 hours one person in this country is burned to death. "+ The money lost by fire in the United States in 1921 was sufficient to have built 2,477 hospitals, each costing $200,000. And these losses are increasing year by year. In 1921 the losses aggregated $500,000,000, or $141,500,- 000 more than in 1918. Last year 15,000 persons were burned to death—nearly half as many Americans as were shot to death in the late war. It is true that 75 per cent, or 37 out of 48 recognized causes, of our fires are preventable. ‘These astounding facts and figures mean much to the country and to the individual. We pay. an enormous price for our carelessness and indifference—pay it in hard Money and human life—-but we learn no lesson of benefit. Pouf, say we. It is less trouble to be reckless than right. We get no kick out of being safe and sane. A gasoline tax that will maintain streets is a late suggestion, but what we really need is a gasoline tax that will maintain lives on the street: The wife doesn't like our radio. she can’t have the last word. She found that this is one case where A Poignant Query i are deeply moved by the poignant query of a regu- t lar subscriber. He wants to know why it is, since the public debt has been decreased some $600,000,000 and the expenses of the government have bem cut a billion by application of the budget system and other salutary methods, that the well known tax charges to the indi- vidual remain the same or are increased. The query is pat, all right, but we cannot answer it satisfactorily. We admit our ignorance. However, there may be excellent reasons why, since we do not have so much to pay out, we must still pay out as much or more; that, having reduced our expenses, our expenses are still as high or higher. We say there must be a reason, but, of course, there is little or no logic in this sort of thing. So, it is all beyond us. The politicians who loudly exploit figures of the character mentioned, and who point with pride, may or may not be able to explain. If not, then turn with con- fidence to Mellon. He knows how to make figures stand up in a row or lie down and roll over, as the whim seizes him. Or Senator Smoot—ask him. Perhaps he can ex- plain why a reduction of your expenses is never reflected in your tax charges or bill of expenses. Those things are easy to some minds, you understand. And, whatever you do otherwise, let not your faith be shaken, even if your financial structure It now develops that they used castor oil for preserving fleas back in King Tut's time. Oh, them were the happy days—eh, boys? By the way, what has become of the Indiana man who said he would not shave until Bryan was elected? Headless Week LEVELAND, Ohio, fifth city, after Detroit, faces a week with no head, which is peculiar, if not dan- gerous. Under its new charter its mayor quits on January 1 and its council elects the city manager “the first Monday in January” anuary 7. One can imagine many dis- turbances, if not calamities, during the hiatus, but, may- be, the party boss will be found on deck, running things. There seems to be no better excuse than this for the in- telligent people of Cleveland failing to provide against such a void in government. "t you just see President Cal as he throws the next day's and disgustedly says, “This is what comes of talking so much The most convincing sign of a coming hard winter is the there are only two dozen dinosaur eggs on the market, fact that In addition, Doc Zangwill attempts to prove we are a barbarous peo- ple by elting and denouncing our safety razors. j if it si a! AA AOR CORN sg THE SHATTL SMILES — ‘Tho fastest run on record ts the Christmas run on the banks, ‘There is a lot of money in work- ing, but it is hard to get. Everybody loves a fat man dressed Up as Santa Claus, ‘The foreign situation is about thi same, except the names are getting harder to pronounce, With so many other things to won- der about, some men insist on won- dering {f their hair is combed, Gone are the days when overcoats wero built for three years’ wear, A wise man never falls in this close to Christmas, It ts estimated the energy wasted knocking congress would fill about 999 giant balloons, love Fifty years ago today people were just as surprised to find Christmas was #0 near, Only a few more shopping montha before bathing suits, You can hear Cubans singing on the radio late at night something to sing about. Czechoslovakia still has her tnde-| pendence, but she continues getting harder to pronounce. | | Belgium's tired of backing up the French. Only thing she can get out of the Ruhr ts herself, ‘The world may be small, but its ND, ex-U Right and aw un. S. senator, 3 Justice cannot be obtained less in the hearts of the people the spirit of right and justice abides, and so abide, law js not needed. e spirit of fraternity is all. ng, penal laws will be en ash mi ng, bac @ good pi yund mer chandisi: he vestmen s can make oo, that the Golden about growth har tremel t from that mat human DR. ©. personal physi hard-boiled t a or in public lit E. SAWYER, Hardin; A man must SENATOR CAPPER, kK which to die in a ¢ our affair.’ JUSTICE DIKE, supreme Y« “The cold « ALL JOSEF WASHINGTON 11 1 American get better th etter than the They have | X.LETER FROM | AVRIDGE MANN | Dec. 15, 1923. |] Dear Folks: We have quit our “dally dozens"—no one needs them any more, with the uncles, aunts and cousins needing presents from the store, For it’s now the Christmas season, when the public goes and buys; and there isn't any reason for our taking exorcise! » » For it's push! Push! PUSH! While we try to spend our cush; and we ramble and we scramble, till we feel wo want to flop—when we shop! What's the uno of exercising, just before we hit the hay, with a shopping rush comprising every moment of the day? “For !t keeps us pretty busy, as we rzah from place to place; till our dome ts Weak and dizzy with the Christmas shopping race! . . . For | its rush! Rush! RUSH! ‘ill our Jegs are made of mush; and . fying, vying, buying, never pausing once to stop—when | we shop! And at night we're weak and weary carting bundiqs to and fro; and our eyes are pale and bleary, but we've blown a lot of dough! | For tt keeps us wildly hopping, and it’s far from being tame; when || We do our Christmas shopping. football seems an easy game! . . . || Fer it's push! Rush! RUN! But we have a lot of fun! For we're iiviog when we're giving, and our heart is right on top—when wo shop! | ——— ARTHUR CAPPER TELLS THE PROGRAM OF THE FARMER IN CONGRESS | BY ARTHUR CAPPER U. 8. Senator and Head of Farm Bloc ASHINGTON, Dee, 1 | Proba! | Some method must be devised to reach for taxation purposes the income from tax-exempt bone affecting # 1 T h will come befor 4 I Mellon that choice: nm there fs the bonus, do not agree with Secretary we must make a reduction and no bonus or bonus and no tax reduc. tion. I believe we can ture, whic «4 has to do with transportation. * The high road rates now prevailing on farm products are an absolute «r rall- tax ve both the bonus and tax reduction. barrier to agri- Congr cultural pros perity and , must | tered. ‘3 will pass many ap. Propriations this winter requir ing more money than the bonus, and do it as a matter of fact, Out West the sentiment ta gly for the bonus. Here in East the opposition centers y in the financial centers, notably in Wall Street Transportation, be al. While matter of not one stro thi chief rates { en which con gress can pass directly, being in the hands of the ter- state commerce markets, reduction and bonus. Thos the big issues in the congress which will affect the bi of citizens. tax CAPPER i mass commission, to help the situation thr ngress mi uld be authority Telling It to Congress | HOW TO LOSE AN OLL RESERVE | are y of the rlor state ral to deal with local rates and conditions. prod to drilled min. nd the y of the navy |, thorized to conserve, develop, and use the naval |reserves free from ext “directly or by contract, otherwise,” SENATOR |(D.), Mont. In senate of creating, |public lands an rve nuthorit Ag a 75 | . . MONOPOLIES will remember ng claims in nay ims our at tuff directic WALSH : committee on n mi port Cory session b: wet armer erman anti act, which have for the 1 in trade in the United m hat they have Ia monopolie a of in particular indu statutes restraining SENATOR PITT in senate commi MAN (D)), 50 fire f fire last yea: ources 0) I think that the A THOUGHT The wicked sea, when it forest) the a Nittle rest, are like troubled cannot whose waters cast up mire and ditt—tIsa. Iwii,:20. Eee ble nobod offended. has} ing | ~ st law and] ir| the prevention of monopo-| foreign countries | encour-| FIRES | r oe nn ae. bra mnrennerpceesoeeranenaiycina ihe ie ebb SATURDAY, DIKCEMBER 15, 1928, The Railread Question What Uncle Sam Did With wi son's fifth BY JOHN CARSON ABSHINGTON, Dec, 15-—The government took over tho railroads under an agreement to y a rental of $906,524,000 each The rental was based on the net income of three of the most profitable years in railroad hin tory, Senator Cummins of Iowa, re- publican leader, denounced tho rental as being “too high" and paid that “it shocked the moral sense of mankind,” ‘That was the first handicap to successful operation by the gov- ernment. Then Jt was-war-time, Railroad tracks had to be built to, camps and later discarded, Valuable freight could not be shipped because of war embar- goes aguinst it, and the govern- ment lost that business, Passen- ger travel way curtailed and the government carried soldiers on furlough at 1 gent a mile, The labor forces. were disorganized, The equipment was run down, On the other side of the ledger, the government had the aasur- ance of patriotic service from thé men as distinguished from mere dollar service; it had the government power to force pri- orities; it had the right to halt competition and force co-opera- ton Almost immediately the gov- ernment got results, Within a comparatively short time the blockade on Eastern lines was ended and President Wilson told the war allies they not only could have food, but that so much of it had been dumped at Atlantie ports, shipments would be halted unless it was moved abroad. LABOR CONDITIONS WERE BETTER, SHIPPERS SAID The answer to this service is found in the improved labor con- ditions, the power of the govern. ment to finance operations and the power also to force co-opera- tion, Most of the improvement I should attribute to the im- proved morale of the employes. Shippers of Western fruit, packers, ore men, coal men—all invariably complimented the rall- gers then and insisted » they had been able to get under the private operation just preceding. ‘Theso testimonials were given ecutives then work- government. By © executives they were mado lic. It is significant that 9 of thene executives were ed upon to testify for the ads when the raflroad man- agers began denouncing govern ment operation of the roads, That much for service. The financial operation of the roads must be considered ¢ government took over the on January 1, 1918 The roads were turned back to private ownership on March 1, 1 to railroad ¢ ing for t n@ charges once made by ex- ecutives against government op- eration and the answers tn the light of facts today, were as fol- lows: ailroad executives $1,2 railroad executives insisted ~ tho total loss $1,800,- Som on mak 000,000, ‘Tho actual loss, as conclusively shown, was $714,000,000, lous will be discussed in a later WAGE BOARD RAISED PAY MORE THAN U. 8, HAD Railroads contended th were run for politics under Me- and that unwarranted wage ses had been granted. Sufficient to say now that atfer all the wage increases under government operation, railroad labor board iner es by $800,000,000 more th McAdoo and Hines had given. The railroads claimed McAdoo and Hines employed an unwar- ranted number of 1 wom. en. The number of employes did increase, but McAdoo and Hines answer first, that again under private operation in 1920 tho number of employes was 118,000 greater than in 1919, the last of government operation. Since then there has been McAdoo and Hine war took the efficien road men and it was he employ old men, women year and, onde, comparatively speaking, boys. McAdoo and Hinew say it took more of these unnkilled men to do the work of skilled men and hence the number of employes increas The railroads contend McAdoo recognized — without warrant cort or organizations. He did r » them. There may be some ground for eritielem there, but there was also reason given for the recognition. ‘The railroads contend that cere tain working conditions were es tablished—without warrant—and conts increased. McAdoo and Hines insist most of the working conditions had been established on the greater part of the roads under private operation, SCIENCE Iceland's Ponies. Feed on Dried Fish. Withstand Cold, gland is importing ponies from celand for use in coal mines. | These ponies belong to one of the | dx of domestic animals | in existence, 1t i probable that the original breed was due to the Norse migration and there has been no mixture with foreign blood since the first settlement of Norsemen about the year 1000, ‘The animals hive entirely by graz ing in the summer. In winter they are fed a diet that is the most pe- cullar offered any members of the horse tribe—small quantities of hay and heads of dried codfish. They thrive on this diet and in fact often hunt for dead fish cast up by the sea, The Icelan ponies have unusually heavy, thick hair in mane and tall, and also have a heavy coat of hair| New device tells the depth of the on the hindquarters. ‘This protection | sea by echo. Try at the three-mile enables them to withstand severe! limit and the echo will be drunk. weather, They are not fast, but can endure hard work and hardships without discomfort. They are an im-|fortune playing poker. Poker is portant part of the life of Iceland,| much harder to play than music, as they do all transport work and _—_—_——_- _- furnish the only meang of travel in You can't have your Christmas the interior, funs and Christmas funds, too, Frieda’s Follies HE WAS one of those adventur. ous chaps, ALWAYS praying for war. PERSONALLY, I have ha@ enough. WHAT WAS a bomb in his young lite? EXCITEMENT was all he cravei. 1 TOOK him to a pacifist meeting. ONE SHOULD always hear both sides OF ANY question. QUEER how some men never can keep still, HE IS wearing a new hat, IT 18 o halo, Chicago is lively. Musician lost British object to our movies being shown there, Well, we object to her booze being shown here, Prince Von Schaumburg -Lippen shot at himeelf in Berlin, perhaps be- cause of such a name. The British elections were rough. Boy of 16 was caught moonshining They threw eggs at the candidates,'{n Cutler, Cal. Sixteen is too young but it only egged them on. to start a big business. METROPOLITAN 2 wanres’ DEC. 26-27 EVENINGS A Verfect Christnias Attraction, Under the Auspices of Nile Temple blew of the Myntle Shrine With the Following Soloists Mins Nora Fauchald....Soprano Mr. George J. Care: Miss Rachel Senior.......Violin Mr. P. Meredith W Mins Winnifred Bambrick,Harp Mr. Wm. M. Kunkel Mr. John Dolan..........Cornet Mr. Joseph De Luca Four Brand New Programs Including “ON WITH THE DANCE” | | | Oa athe Merrie fe ¢ chelling’s “THE VICTORY ! MR. SHEA played by the world's Sousa Marches MAIL Prices—Matinee, Se, $1.10, $1.65, $2.20 onDEeRs nf Spaz. - SEAT SALE Prices—Evening, $1.10, $1.05, $2.20, $2.75 DEG, 24 METROPOLITAN SEATTLE’S LEADING THEATRE —START THE YEAR RIGHT— AND SEE OUR New Year’s Week Attraction @ 3.2 BEGINNING WEEK SPECIAL NEW YEAR'S AND DEC. 30th SATURDAY MATINEES A.LERLANGER presexts” THE MERRY CHRISTMAS CAROL-IST “ThePERFECT FOOL’ HIS NEWSxSts RIOT IN ZACTS ~19 SCENESS2aa82% Exact as poesenTES santa cLausiy Seats tases FIRST TIME HERE ALL HIS GOODNESS NEVER CREATED SO MUCH CHEER AND GLADNESS ‘ +... $1.00, $2.00, $3.00 PLU! +500, $1.00, $1.50, $2.00, $250 TAX ORDERS tes (Make Your Reservations Early) Now KING: and his JOLLY JESTERS “an original KING Production WRITTEN FOR LAUGHING PURPOSES on.y” e el et HERMIE KING IS & ~ and SUPER ~ SYMPHONIC cay cine ALASSY “GANGWAY ARTISTS NEW YEAR'S EVE MIDNIGHT FROLIC! ALL SEATS RESERVED Bs Railroads During the War )>)