The evening world. Newspaper, July 8, 1920, Page 22

Press Publishing Row, New York. i HEN the Board of Aldermen adjourns next i Tuesday it will not meet again until the fall. One of the Board’s last acts before the summer “vacation will be consideration of an ordinance amendment aimed to prevent profiteering by mov- ing men. . One of the newest and most aggravated forms of robbery on the highways of New York City is that committed by unscrupulous moving-van owners _ under the protection of what is known as the “spe- Gal-contract” clause of the present worthless ordi- ‘mance. “yp “This clause, which is a “joker,” permits moving- ies ites to charge whatever they see fit. Evening World seeks to eliminate the “spe- : ract”’.clause and in its stead to establish legal for moving which will both guarantee the mov- - spling-man a fair profit and protect the person being > When Vice Chairman Kenneally of the Board of "Aldermen introduced the amendment in the Board it Fvas referred to the Public Thoroughfares Commit- "tee, of which Alderman Michael Stapleton is Chair- aman, «+ Chairman Stapleton's cokiness toward the pro- posed amendment has been modified by The Eve- ‘Ring World’s urgent demand. for action, and it is igen he will not oppose having it reported tout ‘at the meeting of the Public Thoroughfares \scheduled for 11 o'clock to-morrow Another Alderman who has shown himself more _ g0licHtous for the moving-van men than for the many poor people in his district who have been by these profiteers is Frank A, Cunning- who hails from one of McCooey’s bailiwicks Brooklyn. Friends of Aldermen Stapleton and Cunningham ‘will find it hard to understand why they should side with the moving-van gougers against the latter’s des Ohairman Stapleton, ‘members of the Thoroughfares Committee are Aldermen Sullivan (J. W.), Donnelly, Warren, Lar- y, MoGuinness, Schmitz, O'Kane, Wirth, Cardani, Gorman and Beckerman. -_,Utless this committee reports out the Anti-Prof- : ig Amendment applying to moving-vans be- _ fore the Board of Aldermen adjourns next week for 4 summer, next Oct. 4 is likely to see another wy of extortion practised on thousands who have to move on or about that date. Any Alderman who blocks this amendment ought to have to reckon with a public that will not hesi- fate to call him by name and ask why. j THE OLD DODGE? B “20 per ceht.” plan of dividing the proceeds of the salary-increase bonds finds favor in City Under this the higher paid -political appointees the larger increases. Lower paid Civil Service ployees get comparatively little. . Officeholder who has received $5,000 a year collects $1,000 more from the city.. Miss Under- | Clerk, at $80 a month, gets less than $100 ‘It would be interesting to know how Mr. Office- ider’s raise will be divided between his. bank ac- ©" count and the camphign fund of the organization ‘that gave him the job. ‘An the long run it is a fair guess that Mr. Office- holder. will not profit greatly. |. Raising salaries of “the faithful” only to assess =|_them for the good of the organization is an old and , thoroughly discredited political dodge for raising a npaign funds. Nothing, however, is too old or 1 for a Tammany Administration—pro- vided it produces the sinews of, war. i But New York taxpayers must pay the bonds, How will New Yorkers regard this form of en- contribution to the Tammany barrel? 5 A SR shexcarr RATES AND THE H. C. L. UDGING solely by recent experience, J. E. ' Weatherly, economic expert of the Department Justice, was certainly justified in forecasting a 9,600,000,000 increase in the cost of living as the \F | ~ result of the prospective $2,000,000,000 raise in 1) # freight rates. » But is recent experience an altogether safe terion? cri- uring and merchandising have been for several years on an abnormal basis, There has been a “sellers’ market,” with sellers adding any profits saw fit. - Freight raises have been only an excuse and not reason for the price raises. -. Of late there has been a different tone. Sooner or Mater we shall get back to the normal market ruled c in which freights will not be multi- manyfold in fixing prices. In a “buyers’ mar- / ke ‘the seller who can cut closest on his prices has ; ) advantage over his competitors. Under such Detitio ig. Wl? ‘before it is passed on. On the other hand, if a wage increase (which would be reflected in a freight raise) resulted in re- storing contentment and good railroad service, the country would gain. There would be a cessation of industrial tie-ups on account of coal famines. Kansas wheat of the 1919 crop would no longer clog the elevators. Trade would move more smoothly. Without the wage raise our traffic tangle is likely to go from bad to worse. In any event the public can—if it only will— restrain the over-multiplication of freight charges in the marketing of commodities, The pressure of intelligent discrimination in buying, coupled with a refusal to buy at unreasonable prices, has shown itself effective in the clothing market. DEFENDING FIVE-CENT FARES. BE sfpescae handed down yesterday by the Court of Appeals assure the public of this city a larger measure of protection against the efforts of transit corporations to raise fares on surface and subway lines, The court holds that, save in the case of fran- chises granted prior to Jan. 1, 1875, when the amended State Constitution became operative, and franchises granted subsequent to July 1, 1907, when the Public Service Commission Law went into effect, the Public Service Commission has no au- thority to permit a street railway company to set askle a contract made with smunicipal authorities under which a 5cent fare was stipulated as a condi- tion of the company’s receiving its franchise. Aside from the exceptions noted, the Court of Appeals thus reaffirms the decision in the Quimby- Rochester Street Railway case two years ago, when the general principle was laid down that the Legis lature did not mean to give the Public Service Com- mission power to release the obligation of existing contracts betwean railroads and municipalities when the contracts establish rates as conditions of the franchise, ‘ Corporation Counsel O’Brien believes that the exceptions will afford few opportunities for attempt- ing to raise fares above the 5-cent rate in this city: “The franchises which fall outside the scope of the Rochester ruling are so few and so in- terwoven with franchises which are plainly controlled by the Rochester decision as to make it practically impossible to work out any in- crease in fares upon any of the systems of street railways within the city.” No one will maintain that the Court of Appeals decision settles the fare problem or guarantees the continuance of street railway service on the basis of the 5-cent rate. What the decision does do is to restrain the Pub. lic Service Commission from high-handed revision of fares in favor of transit corporations without a thorough overhauling of evidence bearing on the transit companies’ contention that the 5-<cent fare is not giving them adequate return. The Public Service Commission Law was meant to protect the public (including the public of this city)—not to make it easier for public service cor- porations to evade their contract obligations through proceedings to which the city is not even a party. A DOUBLE SUMMER COURSE. EAVY enrolment for the summer session at Columbia is a tribute to the excellence of the university. It is also a testimonial to the attractive- ness of New York as the greatest summer resort in the world. At summer school one element is “strictly busi- ness,” here to learn and interested in nothing else. Another group is here for a summer frolic and uses the summer session merely as an excuse for com- ing to the city. The great bulk of the attendance lies between fpese extremes. These students propose to make educational progress and to enjoy New York in spare time. Other schools offering equal intellectual advan- tages cannot compete with Columbia's advantage of location. There is good reason and sound judgment in the preference for Columbia. A course in “Knowing New York” is well worth the time, effort and ex- pense—not ta mention the pleasure of the labora- tory periods. THE WALLOPING YANKS, UR league-leading, walloping Yankees, at home or abroad, are popular with the fans, Your true fan delights in clean, fast, clever play that keeps down the score, Then for a change he likes to see a game with some fast, hard driving, with hits in the pinches, He likes to listen to the sound of the bat connecting with the ball. He likes to see the race around the bases. So the Yanks are popular abroad because they afford just the right spice of variety in their visits, When the Yanks arrive the fan knows there is ex- cellent prospect of a high-class exhibition of hitting and running, even though it may “break up the old ball game” as far as his favorites are concerned, At home—well, it is scarce’ necessary to explain the popularity of the Yanks in New York, Have a look at the sporting page and note the “won-and- lost” record. A word of caution, Fourteen runs in one inning is very well—once. Too frequent repetition would prove monotonous, AGL ey SAP PE AT EE Bi ae # ST NTS ES to say much in a few words. Take Seconds the Motion. ! To the Editar of The Evening World: | T'll gladly second the motion of Robert W. Priest to raise the price of New York's best evening paper to three cents, { For news, special articles, ete., The | Evening World has no equal. Com- pared to the other evening papers of Gotham, The Evening World is worth @ dime, I'll tell the World.” WILLIAM JEON, J. PIDG! 5 No. 361 E. 159th Street, New York, July 4, 1920. ‘ Worth More, Bat —— ‘To the Editor of The Brening World: I do not second the motion of Mr. R. W. Priest in regard to raising the price of The Evening World. I imagine he is interested in some other paper and desires The World to raise its price go that some of the new readers of The World will go back to the one he my be interested in. My advice is to keep the price as it ts, and increase your circulation, I have been reading The Evening World many years and would not vhange if the price did go up. J. C. F, PRIEST, No, 302 Palmetto Street, Brooklyn, July 6, 1920. Mostly Hypocrites, ‘To the Editor of The Evening World: I note a letter in your paper headed “A Hypocritical Advocate.” I wish to assure the writer that nine out of ten Prohibitioni: are the same. Backing the: man whose history is well known—W. J. Bryan. He has run for President and failed, and dis- graced himself when as Secretary of State he resigned when this country was at a crisis of history. Naturally all his followers are of the same sort, anxious to get into ‘he limelight, no matter how. I haven't had a drink since about eighteen months before Prohibition, but hate to see some people who do enjoy an occasional glass of beer de- prived of it by a bunch of confounded (the word isn't strong enough) fools who most likely get theirs when they want it. I am a steady reader of your edi- WILLIAM REED. torials. Brooklyn, July 6, 1920, Back to a Peace Basis. ‘To the Extttor of The Brening World; In Sunday’s World of even date I note article, “Rush For Europe Still Unchecked,” despite increased rates on liners, | are now ed to $10. “Unchecked,” |my goodness, if you want the real truth take it from one who has lived among them and done business with them all his life. It is only com- mencing. Ask steamer ticket sales- men about business. They have but [one complaint, can't get tickets enough or fast enough to meet the demand, It is a case of all going out FROM EVENING WORLD READERS _ What kind of letter do you find most readable? Isn't tt the one that gives you the worth of a thousand words in a couple of hundred? There is fne mental exercise and a lot of satisfuction in trying time to be brief. final protest against that utterly un- American Eighteenth Amendment, which practically nullifles what was up to now the greatest Constitution in the world—bar none. The sooner that despoller of the} Constitution 1s unconditionally re- pealed the sooner will this country have made good The Evening World's slogan, “Get the Country Back on a Peace Basis.” | SERVICE STAR. | Yorkville, July 6, 1920. Probation Officers’ Examinations, ‘To the Editor of The Evening World Wish to analyze all the unnecessary efforts put forth by candidates in preparation for civil service posi- tions, especially the probation officers’ examination. Citing experiences per- sonally gone through by myself, wish to say that in order to pass an ex- amination for probation officer one must either be a lawyer or be a poli- tician with great influence, or prob- ably related in some way to the examiners, I am an ex-service man, having served my country in France for elghteen months, residing in the City of New York, for the past twen- ty-seven years and took the course that the Knights of Columbus 6o gen- erously offered free of charge to ex- service men in preparation for the po- sition, With all this in my favor, as each one of the above items counted for percentage on this par- tlcular examination, 1 was notified of having failed owing to inexperience. I am not one who is addicted to criticising any branch of the civil service, as I am at present employed in a clvil service position and earning $800 more per year than the probation position offers, although the latter has better hours, I am simply adyis- ing young men who have any trade |‘ ay from civil service at ail to keep a positions, as there is too much red tape attached to them. But if you do take a notion to take a civil ser- vice position, especially probation offi- ver, be sure and look up your birth certificate, doctor's prescriptions, love affairs, and any other nonsensical data that you believe will enable you t s the examination, ee A READER, Now York, July 1, 1920. “Ireland and the League.” ‘To the Editor af The Krening Works Your editorial on “Ireland and the ERNE OE BE OE TN League” has aroused much comment. It ig a splendid editorial, and takes the American side of the argument, which is @ sane and farsighted as- pect of the matter. The “League of Nations” is the most progressive move of the age, one in which America will soon take an honorable place, and the only fac- tor through which Ireland can func- tion for a form of home rule, When I say Ireland, 1 montion only the south and western parts, for Ul- sterites would fight to the death, and nothing coming in, and we are told the real rush will only come | after next election. your own | Séaenry wish to re; x just one sooner than sacrifice their rights as British citizens. It partakes of the humorous to hear @ certain gentleman speak of ee ene UNCOMMON SENSE ' By John Blake (Copyright, 1920, by John Blaha) A FREE SCHOOL THAT IS BANLY ATTENDED. You ca» learn, of course, by your own mistakes, But a college education would be far cheaper. The easiest way to learn many things you need to know is to follow the advice of the elder Pliny, and profit by the folly of others. You will ‘find abundance own immediate neighborhood, you happen to be. The man who attempts of folly to profit by in your it makes no difference where to establish a business with neither the capital nor mental equipment will have a good deal to teach you, if you observe him. So will your office mate who thinks that by office poli- ties he can get ahead of men who are trying to rise by hard work. ‘ So will th® lad who fancies that he can follow a busi- ness or profession by day and drink whiskey and play poker at night and do both with any measure of success. Every failure you see, and, unhappily enough, you will see plenty of them, will teach you something. The first mariners that sailed uncharted seas hung their ships on reefs here and there, and furnished excellent ex- amples for subsequent ‘explorers not to follow. plenty of human wrecks you can learn from. There are They may have been no good ta themselves, but by profiting by their examples you can rescue them from the stigma of having lived wholly in vain, which is something, The old and wise will be free with their advice as you go along the way, but you are hardly likely to pay any at- tention to it. You will pay stiH less attention to the ex- amples of the successful, for your mind will be on their success and not on how it was come by. But folly is spectacular, and alarming, It will be easy to notice, and easy to heed. The combined folly of the present day is the best school there is for the youth trying to go up the road. It has altogether too few pupils. war for the sake of “Irish Freedom." In his letter of June 28, the Yankee hit the truth, for only an insignificant minority, which lodges largely in New York City and Boston, would favor such a rash and ill-advised way of bringing a different form of freedom to south and west Ireland. Let us think for ourselves, taking a viewpoint from every angle possi- ble, Seeing things only through the eyes of Tammany and W, R. Hearst is perceiving our country as other than American. ‘Aa 1 have said before, when we take our official place in the League |Treland’s disputes will be settled by friendly and judicial means. Until then we cannot interfere with the affairs of the British Empire, for we would be very indignant if a plot were hatched in London to help the Philippines to another so-called form of freedom. ‘That real Americans do not: favor interference in British affairs is proof enough from the cold recep- tions that greeted De Valera in the South. The Southern people evident- ly have in mind the Insults and at- tucks tendered to American satlors that were encamped at Queenstown, Ireland, HOWARD T. LAKERY, New York, July 1, 1920, “That’s a Fact’ By Albert P. Southwick Copyright, 1920, by 1 f * HRMS, Woah une co. Preston 8. Brooks was indicted at Washington, D. C., for an assault on United States Senator Charles Somner on July 8, 1856, and fined $800, rea tear On July 8, 1839, the birth of John D. Rockefeller. erie) At No. 73 Pearl Street, New York City, is a tablet commemorating the site of the “First Dutch House of Entertainment,” later the site of the Stadt Huys, or City Hall, ae A bronze plate at the southern edgo vt Aldrich Court, No. 41 Broad- way, New York City, marks the site of the first habitation of white men. ee 8 Texas would make 210 States of the sise of Rhode Island, ev By Sophie Irene Loeb. Covrifies Now York Eratag Wenase ATBST reports show that there are 86,000 cripples in the city, 60 per cent. of whom are under sixteen years of age, and that 63 per cent. be- come cripples before reaching the age of sixteen years, A field canvass of the city has been made, and it was shown that over 60 per cent. of the cripples go on in their struggle unknown and unaided. People interested in the welfare of cripples point out that a central or- ganization covering the city is @ vital necessity. It is hoped that by such an organt- ration identifying records of all crip- ples can be maintained through school census bureaus. ‘Thus potential crip- ples of all ages could be known. Co-operation could be established with olty departments for appropriate treatment; also training and place- ment of cripples in order that the best might be done for them, and that their usefulness and well-being may be pro- moted, to the resulting good of the community as well ag the great hu- manitarian principle involved. Science has so advanced in this di- rection as to make it possible for the average cripple to maintain himself and get some enjoyment out of life, 4 It ought to be done. oe 6 IE French police have started a ale @ campaign ‘“'to wipe the slur of immorality from the fair name of France.” They estimate that there are thirty thousand fallen women who nightly haunt the streets of Parise and who are brought to this plight because of the low wages paid to shop girls and needlewomen. ‘The statement of the authorities is to effect that “it @ moral im- | possibility for a gir! without a family to support herself now in Paris by honest work unless she is of extraor- dinary capability and mentality.” They further draw the contrast of the United States with this situation, saying: “What a picture the stresis of Paris must supply at night to the rich American visiting our beautiful country for the first time, ‘What comparisons must he not be forced to make in-thinking of his own clean, well-run country!” There is considerable truth in this statement. With the wages paid in this country and the fine possibilities of livelihood, there 4s iittle or no cuse for the girl who chooses a@ life of lawlessness. ‘She does it most of the time to get luxuries and the longing for the bright lights of life. Certainly most any girl can secure the necessities and keep her self-respect if she is bent that way. ee Economics Primer MONEY AND CREDIT. By Dania Kysor. | com a te tte Money. Money must be distinguished (1) |from wealth, (2) from currency, and | (8) from credit | By money an economist does not ‘mean the things that money com- mands in exchange. Wealth consists of all the commodities and services | that have the power to satisfy human wants. Money is one form of wealth, Our standard money, gold, is a commodity that has want-satistying power in and of itself. Long after man learned to use and prize gold and silver for various articles, these | metals came to be used for another | special purpose—that of a medium of | exchange. Money is any metal stamped by the |/Government for monetary use, also any representative or substitute therefor that is legal tender for pay- ing debts. In practice uncoined gold in the possession of banks is counted by | them as money, as are gold and silver certificates. These certificates are |merely receipts, and represent actual gold and silver deposited in the |United States Treasury. The metal |mast remain there in the vaults while the certificates are in circula- tion, One of these certificates reads: “This certifies that there have been deposited in the Treasury of the United States $10 in gold coin puya- |ble to the bearer on demand.” ‘These certificates are representatives of metal stamped by the Government for monetary use. Side by side with gold and a limited amount of silver circulates a quite different kind of money — paper |money, Government promissory | note: se the “greenbacks” jread: “The United States will pay the bearer five dollars." There are |now about $360,000,000 in circulation. |This amount cannot. be increased |without special legislation, There are also about $2,000,000 in United States Treasury notes issued by au- |thority of the Sherman act of 1 ‘These Government notes are substi- ltutes for metal money. | Bank notes (the promises of banks [to pay money on demand) are not money. ‘Dhey are instruments of credit, Because they pass readily and are accepted as a medium of ex- Jehange, they are called currency. \ne Federal Reserve notes and Fed- eral Reserve Bank notes are curreney, SUMMARY, ‘We have, then, three forms of “law- ful money?” gold, silver and paper |money (Government notes). Since no additional silver or paper money can be put into elrculation without special legislation, it is the expansion land contraction of our supply of gol@ |that affects our supply of monay,