The evening world. Newspaper, April 17, 1920, Page 8

‘BY JOSEPH PULITZER. Sunday by the Press Publishing fk Row, New York. ‘Treasurer, . Jr., Secretary, 63 Park ‘MEMUER OF THR ASSOCIATED PRESS. Amocinied Press in edetusivety entitled to the ese for repabiica'ion exediited to it or pot othérwisn credited tn (his paser berate. ‘the lotal news published _ PREJUDICE NO MAN'S RIGHTS. ably complex wely of tational and international inter-| communication. Always he battled against the scoffers who were sure “it couldn’t be done.” Repeatedly he demonstrated that they were wrong. While other men were working on limited dévelop- inpbde Mr. Vail was also reaching out for a larger field, His was the driving force behind the perfection of the long-distance telephone which enabled men to hear the surf of the Pacific with one ear and at the same time the waves of the Atlantic with the other. Theodore Vail was a many sided man, Age did not dull his enthusiasms, His death leaves a vacancy in TT HMS has been a strenuous week of strikes for NEW! the business world which no one man is able'to fill, York. It finishes with etter prospects in all quarters. outlaw strikers on the railroads are clamoring to ‘ @ brotherhoods counted as little as may be against food truckmen’s strike was called off when rezs raised the wages of 1,600. striking longshoremen are returning to their i “fo union of pier clerks. ‘The strike of the elevator operators who threatened yesterday “walk-up day” for -half New York d only in bringing hundreds of women elevator - Yorkers had to climb stairs. the public’s discovery ‘that it can protect itself igainst a tie-up of its indispensable utilities by jumping nm and turning the wheels itself. ‘This discovery ‘bids fair to result in permanent or- tilities threaten thé community with loss and suf- The mere existence of such organizations can have ‘4 powerful effect in discouraging strikes. Public enthusiasm for volunteer service of this ature should not, however, lose touch with sanity and Sense. » Citizen bing other men’s jobs. volunteers aré not strike-breaking for the fit of the employer. They are acting solely for own protection and the protection of (he com- ty when public welfare is directly menaced, fing a strike may bring upon the innocent. Public Welfare Leagues may properly be formed as ¢ no man’s rights, ’ . If Mr. Howard Figg were to join an j Paste »/Glub! we wonder if he would be able to buy 42.60 suits of overalls at the pre-war price of $1. BOSS BARNES WAS RIGHT. R. BARNES was correct last Thursday in diag- nosing the confined Progressives who stuck to the party after Roosevelt abandoned it. » He said they had ideas. _ Their numbers have been greatly augmented during et the. last cight years. t : 1916 they held the balance of power and they against ‘the “Republican policies for which Mr. s stands. : "© They hold the talance of power this year. Most of these are for Hoover first. He is the only _ candidate willing to reveal any definite ideas. 4 In any event, they will be for the pariy that gives most evidence of ideas. _ The Republicanism of William Bames does not The Republican Party itself cannot qualify so long 48 it is dominated by the Boss Barnes type of leader. aan A PUBLIC DISGRACE. T SEBMS high time that some one had courage and * public spirit enough to lodge a protest against the ing condition of the public consfort rooms of sub- iy and elevated stations, It is not a pleasant subject. Tt is unnecessary to attempt any description, The t ng public is well aware ofthe filthy conditions ‘that prevail. conditions are not only offensive, but a men- ‘ace to the health of the community. Apparently the remedy lies with the Department of . Until these premises are cleaned and kept n they constitute a public nuisance and those re- sible should be proceeded against on this basis. Any public official with courage and initiative to ce a general clean up will have the backing of a ous public opinion, ——————— eer IN ONE ‘MAN'S LIFE. 'HE death of Theodore Vail can scarce fail to em- phasize the wonderful development which he witnessed, His life history includes the entire of the telephone. fet even at seventy-five -Mr, Vail was not an old Almost until the day of his death he was the ng head of the greai organization he had helped = from its infancy. mi Meyspan of his mature life he watched : expand into an inconceiv- gee PERPETUATING EXTORTION. ck to work and have their insurrection against VERITABLE flood of stock dividends are being distributed in Wall Street as a result of the Supreme Court decision that these are not subject to the income tax. ~ The decision was correct in principle, but this does | but their claimis. of victory are denied by the| Ot signify ‘that some effective check should not be ed Fruit Company, which declares that it takes} placed on this convenient method of inflating capital- back only under the old conditions and recognizes | ization and watering stock, The financial and industrial situation is extremely favorable to such operations. Many industrials have been making enormous profits and piling up huge sur- ‘back to the jobs they held-during the war, | Plus funds. The Wall Street theory is that any property should 45 ‘The outstanding feature of the week has, of course, | be capitalized at its earnings divided by the current in- terest rate—when earnings are on the increase. The theory is abandoned when earnings fall. Then the managers plead that the organizations should be gations of citizen volunteers ready to step forward Permitted to earn high profits so that the “widows and do their best whenever strikes involving public] Orphans” whose life insurance money is’ invested in these “securities” may continue to receive their accus- tomed dividends. This is the cycle by which Wall Street attempts to perpetuate extortion. The huge surplus funds piled up in years of war and profiteering, which the directors hope to distribute volunteers must be careful not to take sides | gradually in dividends, are another reason for inflation, labor or to represent themselves as in any way] A 6 per cent, dividend on $2,000,000 looks better than a 12 per cent. dividend on $1,000,000. - A third incentive is the increase in brokers’ commis- sions from dealings in larger numbers of shares. Surplus in cash or securities is not a proper basis for ty do not deny the justice of workers’ demands| capitalization. Neither is a temporarily inflated earn- h amy given case. They merely act to avert the suf-|ings account. Capitalization should depend on actual investment in productiye plant. There are instances in which large earnings have ‘But they should lay it down as a first principle that been reinvested in such a manner as to warrant in- ole’ putpose is public protection, in which they} *eased Capitalization, But this is not the case in sev- eral recent stock distributions. The worthy cases would ngt be embarrassed by definite regulatory laws ré stricting capitalization increases to correspond to plant values rather than to book values, Such rules would not help to perpetuate extortion and would be a considerable protection to investors. . “SNAKE BITE” IN SCOTLAND. uae is something truly moving in the outcry that comes from Greenock, Scotland, over the character of certain recent importations of American whiskey. , “Whatever their composition is,” declares the Greenock constable, “their effects are terrible. They not only poison but madden and leave persons nervous and depressed after the intoxicating effects have passed away.” No people in the world are better known whiskey distillers and whiskey drinkers than the Scotch, But the humblest Scot has always drunk clean, pure whiskey, because it has neyer been thought worth) while to manufacture any other kind in Scotland. To introduce American “third rail” to a Scotchman is like putting morphine into grandfather's liver pills. American “snake bite” bears the same relation fo Scotch whiskey that the American saloon at its worst trad come to bear to the British “pub.” Therein lies one of the chief reasons why the Anti- Saloon League found it so easy to abolish personal freedom in the United States. VIGILANTE TACTICS. | Seeeeldiaed of commuters’ “vigilance commit- tees” to guard. the property of the Long Island Railroad and insure the safety of volunteer substitutes for the striking trainmen is entirely right and proper. Strikers have no shadow of right to interfere with the operation of Long Island trains which they them- selves refuse to operate. This is paflicularly true be- cause the substitutes are in no sense endeavoring to gain employment for themselves at the expense of the strikers. Vigilance commitlees are justified in restraining strikers from violence. On the other hand, the vigilance committees must be required to restrain themselves from violence. Re- ports have come from several towns that the vigilantes have warned strikers to “go back to work or get out of town.” Such tactics are as wrong as those of the strikers, “Behave yourself or go to jail” is a proper order, but any effort at coercion is a breach of law. Not even lawlessness excuses lawless reprisals, The strikers have an absolute legal right to refrain from working and to be unmolested so long as they do not molest oth ‘ ' . THE EVENING WORLD, SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 19 7 20 wh Copsright. 1920. Biue Overalls) «:2#tsis:, = to say much in few words. Ne Half Free Land. | ‘No the Mditor of The Evenirg World | In a letter by Walter W. Carr,| which appeared in The Evening World a few days ago, it was, sug- gested that all the “booze hounds” be kept’on an island all for themselves. Now, suppose they were taken to an island, what guarantee would they have that the Prohibition fanatics would leayg them alone and let them | have peace? Are not the Prohibition- ists planning a world-wide movement to make the earth dry? Have they not already visited the free island of Cuba? If Mr. Carr means by “booze hounds” all Who are opposed to Pro- hibition .he will discover after the election ‘next fall that putting his {dea into practice would require an island of pretty large size. For at that time the American people will robably have a word to say about Prohibition. The reaction against it is bound to come. Prohibition has to come off the map. The world cannot exist half Prohibition, half free, E, A. JOHNSON. New York, April 18, 1920. Traffic Signal To the Editor of The Evening World; I beg to submit the following suggos~ tions for traffic signal improvements: Replace the confusing signals now used for Fifth Avenue traffic with four signal boxes, each tos lave ones red and one green signal lamp, placed op top of signal towers. * The four boxes to face the four di- rections of traffic. When clear for avenue traffic the two boxes facing up and downtown respectively to show green, or "go ahead,” signal; the boxes facing east and west respectively to, show red, or stop, signal. For cross- town traffic reverse. Anybody who !s driving on'the avenue for the first time will be able to understand the above signals, A. T. BE. New York, April 14, 1920. Specifications in Eco To the Kaitor of The Evening World: Answering “Brooklyn Girl's" ques- tions on economizing, I would say that the shoes I refer to were bought in @ Douglas store for %5. ‘The price now would raise the yearly cost to 4. ‘The present soles are of a substitute for leather, The O'Sullivan heels were put on at @ cost of $1.75 cents and have been under constant wear for eight months and are good for another eight I buy Masiern grown apples of wagon bucksters at an average of one and a half cents each, Each ts worth @ dozen of the Western grown “show” fruit, J. A. SIBLEY, April 18, 1920, Port Chester, N. Y To the Faditor of The If Justice John R. Davies would think more about curbing the profit- eers who are imposing upon “the What kind of letter do you find most readable? Isn't it the one that gives you the worth of @ thousand words in a couple of hundred? There is fine mental exercise and a lot of satisfaction in trying» Take time to be brief. would be doing something far better than his crusade on profiteering ser- vant girls. As servant girls are not a, neces- sity the easiest way to curb them would be abolish them, but His Honor should not forget that the poor little housewife is worrying less about the high cost of servant girls than about the high cost of food and cloth- ing for her little ones. Put the profiteering servant girls on the bottom of your crusade list and put food and ‘clothing on the top, where they helong. S JOHN MARTIN, JR. * Anxiogs to Bay. To the Editor of The Evening World: I wish to take this opportunity to best piece of reading of its kind that I have ever seen in a newspaper, and I am impatiently awaiting the day when it will appear in book form, for rest assured I will be one of the first to get a copy. B, W. E. New ‘York, April 12, 1920, The Excess Profits Tax. To the Editor of The Evening World: I have perused with deep interest Martin Green's article on the faults of the excess profits tax ip The Evening World of even date There are just several items to whioh I desire to call the attention of Mr, Green, ° Mr. Green states with much em- phasis that it costs thirty-three mil- lion dollars to collect one billion two hundred and fifty million dollars in tax. A little effort on his part to discover the percentage of expense to income will indicate that the Goy- ernment spends 2.6 cents to collect every dollar. I would like to know of any other tax levied which is col- lected as cheaply. For Mr. Green's information and the public in general it is stated that the income tax and excess profits tax are worked simultaneously for all years up to 1919, and any attempt to separate the cost on each tax is only mere conjecture, 1 would like to know what Mr. Green's idea of a high salary is. ‘The average salary for the accountants and auditors who are employed in this work is not more than $2,000 per annum, This notwithstanding that tha requirements for the position are stringent and the work arduous. The amount of tax collected by means of these investigations is in- conceivable. A thorough audit is made of the books of the conparation or individual being examined and the results obtained refute the inference of Mr, Green that the taxpayers are “pulling wool over our eyes.” Very few instances have arisen, compara- tively speaking, where | taxpayer’ have filed fraudulent returns ot intentionally evaded thedax, and those few are being dealt with very severely, poor little housewife with three or four children,” in whom he seems to taken bani i great interest, he In all articles on the complexities of this tax the writers lose sight of Uhg fact that this tax Is designed to congratulate Mr. John Blake on his| article, “Uncommon Sense." It is the UNCOMMON SENSE: By John Blake. (Copyright, 1920.) WHO DOES YOUR THINKING FOR YOU? Rivers, propelled by gravity, follow the line of the least resistance. The human mind, to which laziness is natural, does the same thing. It is easier to borrow thoughts than to think them. For that reason most people use their own thoughts very spar- ingly. iktre will be happier, and mentally healthier and more successful if you do your own thinking. Original thinking, if it is any good at all, has a market value. And its value is high, as is the value of all things that are rare. Of, course thinking is hard work. If,you have done but little of it you have to accustom your brain to it, as by exercise you accustom your muscles to do hard physical work, Habits of thought cannot be acquired at once. They must be cultivated, slowly and patiently, You must learn to know the difference between thoughts that are yours and thoughts that you have borrowed from other people. And even after you have learned to think for yourself you will find it no easy task to keep from slipping back into the old way of borrowing thoughts. If you MUST borrow thoughts, borrow good ones, Do not borrow the thoughts of the positive neighbor who has views about men and issues that he wants to impress upon you. Do not borrow your political thoughts from the leader of your political party. Do not borrow your thoughts about the high cost of living or the financial situation or what ought to be done to meet the Bolshevik menace from the man you work for or your office associates. Find out the men who really have some knowledge of these things, and borrow THEIR thoughts about them, They will be better than n6 thoughts at all—vastly better than the half baked ideas of the people about you. ~ For thoughts on the important things of life borrow from masters of thought, great statesmen aiid great writers. You will find their thoughts conveniently printed and bound in all the libraries. But it will be far better for you to do your own thinking, and to do it industriously and constantl. Your brain may not be as great as Carlyle's or Emerson's, but it is all you havey and it will be much better if you use it than if you allow it idly to pick its thoughts from those of your neigh- bors. Think, and think hard, Socrates was told that water- cresses didn’t grow by thinking, but the sarcasm didn’t trouble him, He knew that men do grow by thinking. Ma Rn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnmmnnnmmnnnnnnnnnnnnnsn @ - — cover every kind of business in ex- It must Ibe istence in the United States and) Internal Revenue Department pro- therefore the law had to be suf-|duces all the Government's * income ficiently broad and comprehensive to | with but slight expense, aml a greater bring industries and occupations of | effort t® reduce the cost of such de- every category within its scope, No! partments as the army and navy text could be compiled to include | would be infinitely more beneficial to everything, consequently additions | the country are made whenever a new point a I would also suggest ¢hat Mr, Green remembered that the involved or disclosed. make’ his researches more detailed ‘The most prominent accountants | before he assumes the grave responsi- and economists constructed this tax, | bility of informing the public of and to say that it was the work of! monstrous errors committed by Gov- Southern politicians is to do the con- | ernment officials. scientious organizers of this -great DAVID 8. POLLOCK, governmental department a gross in- Internal Revenue Inspector, Justice, PSs Bridgeport, Conn., April 12, 1920, _| biography, | oe | A Wilson Biography G THE PAGE Lord Fisher’s Philosophy--- ' “Never fight a cnimney sweep? 8 of the soot comes off om you.” : “‘Liberty of conscience means doing wrong but not worrying about it afterward.” “*Tact’ is insulting a man with- out his knowing it.” “The pavement of life is strewn with orange peel.” And, most useful hint of all: “Acknowledge the receipt of @ book from the author at once; this relieves you of the necessity of saying whether you have read it.” From “Memories and Records” Lord Fisher, oy eo An Anecdote of Mercier --- No finer figure has come out of the war than that of Cardinal Mercier of Belgium. None of the many visitors from Europe whom we have seen in the Past months has won a more warm regard or greater respect from the American people than this stern faced prelate whose smiling eyes Qelie the thin line of his firm lips, Now Ghar- lotte Kellogg, of the Commission for Reliefyin Belgium, has given us his ‘Mercier, The Fighting Cardinal,” that tells his story from boyhood in Brussels to to-day. One of the most amusing anecdotes that the Cardinal tells of his experi« ences with the German High Com- mand is that of smuggling the now famous ,"Patriotism and Endurance” Pastoral Letter to the outside world. The letter told of conditions in Bel~ sium, and the Germans were anxious that it #hould not get beyond the border, Telling of the ruse that got the letter to the outside world, Car- dinal Mercier says: “At the frontier between Hol- land and Belgium,is a seminary with seven or eight hundred stu- dents, and for their living they usually receive a great quantity of Dutch clieese in boxes. The Germans liked the cheese and let it pass into our country. I made my letter look old and dirty, like the. paper wrappings of the cheeses, and it was sent back with the empty cheese boxes to Holland. In the seminary my friend received the letter, pub-’ lished it, and sent it throughout the world.” a . Under the title “Woodrow Wilson and His Work,” William E. Dodd of the University of Chicago has just published a new biography of Presi- dent Wilson, : . The Young West-. “The teams were again hitched to * the wagons; once more the bull whips: cracked in the air, the drivers and [riders swore, and we went onward, Throughout that day Will and Mr, Rose talked incessantly of their town; how it would grow; how brick and frame buildings would replace the shacks and tents whieh now stood there. Again day, and again evening. The wagon train circled, and left us at the edge of a hill. I looked appre hensively at my husband. “ ‘Don't worry,’ he said. ‘The town's right over the hill. “Up the hill we started. We made the top, and the two men dropped their arms, aghast. The moon was shining down, down upon what had once been the town of Rome, with its two hundred shacks and tents. But Rome—Rome had*roamed away, Only the shack which sheltered the saloon was stanling, its lights glowing on the debris of where a town had once stood.” Z Such was the introduction that Mrs, William Cody, bride of the famous Buffalo Bill, had to the wilds of Kan- sas when she trekked with her pioneer husband across the Western plains to where he said they would find a thriv- ing city and make their home. The railroad, then just pushing through to the coast, had “built a better town to the north,” and Rome had been entire+ ly abandoned during the time Cody had been “east to St. Louis" for his bride. 4 The incident is typical of the pfe- turesque color and anecdote of the “Memories of Buffalo Bill,” by his wife, Louisa Frederici Cody. It is a vivid and graphic picture of the life of the great Mid-West of a half century ago, and will take its place as a con- tribution both to American. history and to the “Buffalo Bill Legend,” which has already won for itself ‘a place in the traditions of our coun= try. ae a5 A Book for Business Men-.. ‘Any business is like a bridge that is building. You must anchor your structure to a foundation of knowledge and experience and rivet home each member as you add It. ‘To carry your span safe- ly across the new and untried— build on. what you have learned either from your own experience or from others.” Thus Frank C. MeClelland intros duces fhis valuable book, “Office ‘Training and Standards.” ‘The bc ‘published by Shaw. contains chaceae on office organization and efficiency, and should be of particular benefit ta the employee studying for an execue ‘tive office position, . 9) 6 The Age We Live In--- “Each of the generations thinks itself, commonplace. Familiarity breeds equally indifference and contempt. Yet no age of the world has witnessed so much of the drama of life—of the roman= tic and picturesque—as the age we live in."—Henry Watterson in “Marse Henry.” ' When the schoolboy of ten yeai ago thritied to the March of the Ten ‘Thousand, or in imagination sailed Phoenician galley westward beyond the pillars of Hercules, or with Care lyle watched the Parisian mob surge koward the Bastille, he longed for the adventure of the old days—the herolg Ages past. ‘Dhat was ten years ago. To-day we fre a bit saturated with adventure, fh bit weary of thrills and of pb sa ‘Rather than @ gaileon on the ‘Main, the man of to-day would ieee gix months’ vacation in the shadow bf Barchester Towers, ‘ @ miele |