The evening world. Newspaper, February 7, 1920, Page 8

country knows the man before it knows » his politics, Whe Politicians: “What could be more pre- ie Mal al ual , . THE IRREPRESSIBLE ISSUE. , a es oe 18 @ver Democrats sit down together Prohibition persists in a Gov. Smith of New York, though unable to be pres- efit, did not fail to get into his telegram a reference to Eigtteenth Amendment as “a restriction against liberty which Prussia in her palmiest days Edwards of New Jersey contrived to outwit embarrassed dinner committee and deliver a pre- speech which must have spoiled the taste of » Secretary Damiels’s soda water. * ‘Said the Governor of New Jersey: a . “I deny the right of men elected to Con- fi gress On totally different issues and without any s reference to Prohibition to caddle that condition 4 on the American people without « referendum i en the eubject. j “The issue was not presented on either ber Democratic or Republican platforms and the a people were not consulted. ‘ “I deny the right of Congtess to legislate at al’, except as a military measure, upon the right @f the people of the States to choose the form ef domestic economy and government they de- _) sire under the Constitution. “To me this ettuation is a political sacri- lege and I purpose to carry the fight to San "i Francieco, regardiess of what any man or any R © eet of men may think, so as to bring about Bese. © restatement pf the doctrine of State Tigtits and popular local home rule upon which our fathers founded this Government.” Does anybody believe that Gov. Smith and Gov. ®dwards are the only Democrats determined that the Ammetidment and the methods by which it was jammed into the Federal Constitution shall not ‘be glossed over In the interest of party harmony? ‘The issue will not down. Mr. Bryan can no more shoo it out of Democratic councils than Republican leaders can obscure it by dint of desperate party demonstrations in other directions, A Republican in this State has not ~ htished up Prohibition by raising a hullabaloo over _ Socialist members of the Assembly. Prohibition is another of the present issues which leave througia party lines and bring the people of the United States face to face with questions more funda- méntal than the protection of party fences. 3 * Political managers may talk themselves hoarse try- _ ing to prove that party solidarity comes first and ‘that Prohibition is a settled fact which must not be dragged ip to cause dissension. : {here are millions 8 Americans who are resolved that in spite of past mistakes, personal freedom shall tot be shelved and forgotten in the United States with- out a struggle. : Prohibition is going to play a big part in coming political campaigns in more than “bne section of the ~ * country. -No party can save itself by pretending to > igmore it. ‘ © PETTY OR GRAND LARCENY? : - IANTS of a certain Harlem apartment house AL report five increases in rent between Feb. 1, 4949, and Nov. 4, 1919;> The total increase amounted to about 35 per cent. Another attempted raise has >) driven them to exasperation. - ® This case is not unique. There are hundreds of others varying only in the amounts extorted, not in method. i Swuocessive small raises are an effective way of gouging. From the standpoint of the “leaster” they are more desirable than one big raise. 4 ‘Assuming the case of a tenant paying $40 a month. A335 per cent, increase would be $14. He would real- ize he could not afford it and seek less desirable quar- ters within his means. Such a demand might result im a general moving day and a loss in rent of vacant 4 nts, A 5 per cent, increase is only $2 a month, Mov- ing would cost more than to pay the increase for several fnonths, But another raise comes soon. The result is that tenants stay and pay rent they cannot afford by cutting down on food and clothing. Is it anly wonder they nurse a grouch? Assemblyman Dimin’s bill is designed to remedy this abuse by requiring landlords to do their rent raising all at once and during May. If so, tenants would know where they stand and could live in quar- ' terS corresponding to their incomes. ~ This bill is eminently practical. It would tend to EVE! Peace Should Pu NO CASE. Fah nantes for the Sweet cfique in the Assembly have concluded their presentation of testimony against the unseated Socialists. ; This testimony does not prove any case, and least of all the case which Thaddeus Sweet urged on the opening day of the session, Practically all the evidence presented was caught in the dragnet thrown out after the ousting. The most damaging evidence introduced was that - Ge thet ocbsiog. was" thy testimonial dinner to| of the Chivers gi, which, even if it were supported, Homer S, Cummings, the National Democratic Chair-|*pplied only to a single Assemblyman and not to the group against which the charge was preferred. Next week the turn of the Socialists’ counsel will come, If Mr. St@iman and his associates are truly anxious to have their representatives seated, they will be wise to rest their case on the complete failure of the prosecution to establish its case. If Speaker Sweet has the votes to oust the Socialists on the basis of the evidence introduced, then Speaker Sweet has the votes to oust them in spite of any conceivable defense, There is no reason to expect that the Socialist at- torneys will rest. They have an unparalleled oppor- tunity for propaganda, and propaganda is what we are apt to get. It should be judged accordingly. As a matter of fact, the winning of the case, that is the reseating of the five Socialists, is immaterial to them if not actually undesirable, The five ejected As- ‘|semblymen would be more effective propagandists if expelled than if seated. If expelled, the very proper sympathy excited by the expulsion will be used as a vehicle for tne furtherance of the essentially false and fooljsh doctrines of Socialism. The very natural and commendable desire to vote’ against the rottenness of the Sweet brand of politics will be used to induce a vote in favor of the equally rotten economics of Socialism, The unthinking will be asked to believe that if Sweet is wrong the Socialists are right. This is not true. The Evening World has two very good reasons for urging Assemblymen not to accept the Sweet dictator- ship and proceed with the ousting of the Socialists, ’ First: It ts right to reseat the Socialists in the in- terests of representative government and justice, The five Assembly districts have the right to be represented by those they choose, even thoug’ the electors choose unwisety. Justice demands restoratior? of the rights, because the case against the accused was not proved. Second: It is good policy to reseat the Socialists and so undo as much as possible of the damage which Sweet’s asinine effort has done. It is wise to deprive the Socialists of the advantage they will have in pro- moting their pernicious doctrines if the Assembly un- seats the five. Either of these reasons should weaken Sweet’s sup- port. Both should overwhelfh it. FARMS FOR FIGHTERS. OLBIERS, sailors and marines who served in the World War are to have prior right of entry on homesteads in two large irrigation projects in Wyo- ming to. be opened next month. Judging by the demand for free or cheap govern- ment land which prevailed before the war, the civilian will have small opportunity. Ex-fighters will take all that is available, and of these only a minority will be provided for. If, as is anticipated, the demand greatly exceeds the supply, it may prove something of a shock to Con- gressmen who ‘have been holding up the reclamation projects which Secretary Lane recommended for im- provement some two years ago. The Lane plan, it should be recalled, provided for employment of demobilized service men in the prepar- atory work of reclamation, part of the wage payment to be made in credit on the farms reclaimed, At the time Secretary Lane was receiving many applications for such opportunities, But Congress delayed, Nothing was done. It ap- propriated money for a hundred wasteful purposes, but ‘had none to devote to’ this potentially profitable scheme which would enable city-bred soldiers to get on the land under favorable circumstances. If a host of ex-service men file for homesteads on the North Platte and Shoshone projects, it will be rather clgar evidence of what the soldiers wanted and did not get. It will be a very distinct expression of disapproval of a dilly-dallying, wasteful, unapprevia- tive national legislature, , In a recent Evening World cartoon an American farmer pointed to figures represent- ing the pay of city workers, including window- washers, carpenters and bricklayers, and asked: “Where would food prices be if 1 paid such wages?” Several window-washers and bricklayers s ANY fy “BAYURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1920," t a Check on Government The War Is Over; Lighten the Taxpayers’ Load so ee IN THE LORD” ing man in my life, yet ¢ can’t help but indorse yeur splendid stand against that anti-freedom, anti-lib- erty law of prohibition. As a travel- ing man I know the sentiment of the people, and I am convinced that were it left to a yote, this country would never be dry, My only wish at present is that I were @ voter in New York State and that Anderson run as a candidate for any office. AMOS L. PRICE. Scranton, Pa., Feb. 3, 1920. Red Tape and Life, ‘To the Eilitor of The Evening Work! : Dear Sir: Pussyfoot Anderson in hie sermon at White Plains makes the assertion that many druggists are conscienceless profi! Mr. Anderson with that same. token “brands” hi, 4 ‘The writer is intimately acquainted with over 3,000 druggists, and knows has @pent from ten to twenty-four hours a day for fifteen years in close association with druggists. Right now is a good time for any- body to satisfy himself as to what manner of man this Andenson is, Go into any drug store, any place, to- night. Stick around the prescription coumter for an hour or two, That will be enough. ‘There is no class of workers in any line more faithful Uhan the drag- gists. There are few, if any, excep- tions. They work harder than any workman, and in most cases earn less, They are on the job eany and late in epidemte times. The druggists object to the liquor regulation sheerly on account of the additional fraction of a moment it entails, Moments count in sjckness, and the jons are cumulative at the prescription counter. It is no un- common thing to ind druggists two hours behind with prescriptions, and working hour after bour without food or rest no exceptions. Kach reader of The Bvening World should picture one of his own loved ones dangerously ill and forced to wait Rich or poor, there are too long for his prescription. There would then be & public movement that would put an end forever to ir- responsible trifiing in vital public af- fairs by rattlebrain leagues and false praphets, Get the red tape out of the perhaps several thousand more, and | WY, Seventeen Summers’ of a fact in United States history of which he may be in ignorance. In 1917 before our country entered the war more than 87 per cent. of the territory of. our Nation had voted it- self dry by-the process of local option. In fact, the total wet territory in the United’ States on June 30, 1919, was less than the area of the State of Calitornia. I trust that George H. Rover, L. H. Richménd, the would-be “church | taxer,” and the other wets will take; note of the above item and remember it when they speak of the few fanat- ics who put over prohibition. ONE OF THE SO-CALLED MINOR- bey . Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 4, 199). | | Pains A Luxery. | ‘To the Eititor of The Brening Work: H During this recent epidemic I was compelled to purchase various arti- cles of drugs and while doing so I found that I was paying a small, tax which came under the so-called ‘Lux- | ‘Tax’ Law. If our wonderful law- makers think that it is aeluxury to have any aches or pains, then they can have as many as they want, with pleasure. Already they have deprived us of our beer and wine, In Albany they have disregarded the people's one great right, namely, representation, by ousting five duly elected men, but of course, the people don’t count anyway. Js there anything else they are go- ing to do to win the Crown of Au- tocracy? 1G. New Yortk, Feb. 4, 1920, Something to Think About. To the Editor of The Brening World Representative governments exists when the people choose persons to attend to their na ‘airs. The elective persons mi and order according to the wishes of their elect- ors, In such a condition the common mass are the rylers, Their ate are simply obeying th the people. > ing masters, the people have thority to voice their opinions on things im general. Such forth of government can only live when the last-mentioneéd rule is strictly observed, But when law- makers that are chosen to do the will of the people misuse their power and | issue gug laws and other inhuman, outrageous weapons that destroy the “ivr is BEYOND PHYSICAL EFFORT AND WE MUST PLACE OovVUR TRUST Lnore Peron UNCOMMON SENSE By John Blake. (Copyright, 1920.) READ—BUT READ WISELY. It is easy to read and learn nothing. For example, you could pore night and day over a telephone book without gaining. much knowledge that would be useful to you. And many of the books you read are about as useful—as far as imparting information is concerned—as a telephone book, In all good novels you find far more than the story. Thakeray, Dickens, Hawthorne are continually challenging your thought—imparting to you information you might per- haps gain in no other way. The works of Anatole France, the great French novelist, are full of philosophy—of new and unexpected viewpoints. Nobody could read them at- tentively without learning a great deal of history, of science and of art. Biography and history are of inestimable value—but un- less they are marvellously written few men have the patience to read them carefully. . The novels of Dumas, which are written solely for the purpose of entertainment, are well worth reading, for they deal with historical scenes and characters and excite a desire on the part of the reader to know more about the time and manners they depict. # Many a novel has thus laid the foundations of an excellent education. - No reading is useful if it is utterly frivolous or utterly tedious. The dry narration of battles, the love affairs of dull kings, makes no impression on the brain and is of no use to the mind, But read any good book carefully and you will get a great deal out of it. Sometimes it will prove a veritable mint. In the “Books That Have Helped Me” lists many men could truthfully number books which were read merely for entertainment, and which turned out to be of amazing ben- efit, in that they aroused a thirst for information. And it is the st for information that makes education. Select your books carefully. Any librarian will tell you which are the best books. And you can read carefully no good book without desiring to read more books. Careful, thoughtful reading is the best mental exercise you can get— save by doing mental work of your own. Read—but read wisely, Read good books and good wspapers. But waste no time on trash, written for the r and forgotten as soon as it is read. SRE SES MRRL PAS eT ACER ale ee * Spending: No. 46—Elsie Venner. By Oliver Wendell Holmes. 'N the quaint old New England vil- lage of Rockland (supposed to be Pittsfield, Mass.), Mr. Venner was Pointed out as the richest and most cultured man of the whole region. ‘Yet, the good people of the neighbor hood were prone to speak of him with: pity, rather than with admiration, ‘This because of his daughter, Elsie. Back of the villagé loomed a bigh and rock-strewn mountain, among whose ledges swarmed thousands ef rattlesnakes, Years earlier—just be- fore Elsie’s birth—Mr. Vennera wife had been bitten by a rattlesnake from this mountain. And the shock of the mishap had “marked” her only child. Elsie grew to young womanhood, beautiful and accomplished. Yet there was something abnormal about her. Her motions were sinuous like @ snake's. She had black and piercing eyes which held a strange hypnotic power, And, around her white throat (always covered by a necklace) was @ reddish birthmark, in the form of @ serpent. The other village children shunned the mountain. Elsie used to warider there for days. The snakes never mo- lested her. Once, as a Httle girl, she had been teased, to the point of fury, by her cousin, Dick Venne-. Elsie had flown at the boy and had bitten his hand. He had been treated by the doctor as though for snake bite. And the teeth marks had never vanished from his hand. To Rockland came young Bernatd Langdon, to take charge of the local school—this when Elsie was eighteen. At sight, the lonely girl fell hopelessly tn love with him. Langdon did not return her lowe. Indeed, he avoided her. There seemed to him something uncanny and repul- sive about her. He felt toward her az he might have felt toward a tamed snake. Elsie noted this, with wistful sor- row. Vainly she tried to win Lang- don's favor. Always he treated her with courtesy. But always he was te of that odd repulsion toward er. Once, a8 he strolled along the ledge of the mountain, he was attacked by a rattlesnake, Elsie appeared, on the ledge, as the snake was about to strike. At a commanding glance from her shining black eyes the serpent glided away, leaving Langdon un- harmed. Back from a long tour of South America camg Elsie’s cousin, Dick Venner. Dick was penniless, It oc- curred to'him that the easiest way for him to become rich would be by marrying his heiress cousin, Elsie, But, at the very. beginning of his love- making, he saw that Elsie was tao ,, much in love with Bernard Langdon-~ to have thoughts for any other man. st by killing him. The at- tempt was foiled and Dick was forced to flee from the law. Meantime, her hopeless love fer Langdon was sapping Elsie’s health. She pined away and at last lay on her death bed. As she was dying the hard and hynotic light faded from her eyes, leaving them soft and beautiful.’ The red birthmark vanished from around her throat. Her old nurse cried aloud in exultation: “Praise the Lord! He has taken away the mark. She is fit to meet His holy angels, now!" News Flashes From Around The World Armenians Destitate Within a radius of 100 miles of the City of Erivan, Armenia, ‘more than 500,000 destitute refu- gees are wandering about like no- mads, clothed in vermin-infested rags and with scarcely enough food to keep them alive, accord- ing to estimates made by Howard Heinze, representative of the American Food Commission in the Near East. Mr, Heinze says - that the 80,000 tons of toga already shipped to this district from America brought tem porary partial relief, but that the supply will be entirely exhausted before, winter, ee 6 A Chinese Newspaper, According to the Chinese sti- dents’ directory published by the Chinese Students’ Alliance of America, there are 1,124 Chinese students now studying in various colleges in the United States. Of { have assured The Evening World that the wage figures given in the cartoon were too high. Bricklayers have also pointed out that they lose an aggregate of eight or ten weeks’ pay in the course of a year because of bad weather, Tt is the farmer's turn to point out what he suffers from drought, too much rain, wind- storms, crop diseases and bugs, chiefly professional studies, med- ; icine comes first, with fifty-eight students; mechanical enginecr- ing a close second, with fifty-seu- en students; pharmacy claims eleven, dentistry nine, bactert prescription room and keep it out W. FRED M'LBAN, No, 80 Bast 42d Street, Fab, 4, 1920. Cite the freedom of epeech, when | -wwwwnnewnnnnnn nnn nnn MA AAAAAARAERALPPRLPAAAALAL constitationally elected men ane de- nied seats in a law-making Assembly because of their opinions—then rep- | resentative government dies automat- foally, then the iiberty that for years miltions of people have fought for, died for and suffered, dies. It would seem then that all the rights that our equalize the bargaining power of landlords and tenants. ‘Toe principle would work little or no hardship on - Yandlords who wish to be fair. They can anticipate | “probable expenses and fix rents accordingly in May. | Unless there is an insuperable constitutional objec- lon the bill should be enacted into law, * our Government body. Do we want men that will represent us as liberty- loving Americans @#hould be repre- sented or do we want men that create “sedition bills?” there would exist a fow, which is) just the same, But such a condition we can still prevent. Let us Americans think hay ‘and more earnestly than we ysually do. Toe onanne eesion 2 ‘This, I think, te comemiieg bo think! ology three and sanitary engt Kvening World readers, forefathers sacrificed their lives for|drawing near. is for us now ort. RRIS KULISH. L T would like to remind the “Lad of would Re in vain. Instead of one czar deckie whet sort of men we want in| Spring Valley, Feb, 3, 1920. neering two students, z ‘it Dry Area tn 1917, ‘To the Biitor of The Brening World: I have been a reader of your paper | for years and must say I find it in- ‘teresting, especially the letters from. “ ly