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

F7 HEN the present Rent Laws were passed last spring The Evening World realized that y were “not the best imaginable” and said: More and more the tenants of New York are ding to the conclusion that the direction of this must be toward legal prohibition of an ex- “gessive rate of return on real estate investments. | in recent weeks many tenant meetings have ex- rp d this sentiment. It has gained new strength “the indorsement of several large landlords who ve pursued a live and let live policy instead of “We want all we carr get” policy expressed by ni at the realty meeting at the Hotel Astor winter, ‘One landlord recently said to a reporter for The Pi am getting the same net return I did he- . fore the war. It satisfied me then, and it does now. There are very few actual owners of houses built before the war who have the more] right to charge more than §7 to $8 per room. But this man fs an exception. a iAfter passing the Rent Laws last spring the Legis- © ature adjourned without making any provision to ge new construction, although several plans a result, New York’s housing crisis has not im- wed with the passing months. As Oct. 1 ap- s the crisis of Moving Day looms larger. it is evident that further steps must be taken to the more greedy rent profiteers. A special sion of the Legislature to patch up the holes ich have developed in the makeshift laws passed seems inevitable. The same session mild enact a constructive programme to stimulate home-building next year. mwhile, the present laws must be made Some of the worst abuses have arisen from conflicting interpretations of the laws by the Munici- a are taking eviction cases to courts in which the Justices are on reoord as favoring the THE NEW SWIMMIN’ HOLE. ITY youngsters know not the joys of the ol swimmin’ hole in the shade of the okt fled tree that grew at the bend in the “rick.” tt fs one of the penaities the children of the opolis must pay. not to discover the thrill of being ‘first a breatttless race across the pasture. They know the joy of fashioning the “slippery le” down the clay bank. They cannot discover the tog or fence post and voyage down the stream, uintaining a precarious balance as only a boy can. do the city youngsters have more than half ce to learn to swim unless they are able to the luxury of a journey to the beach, with its or less formal bathing regulations requiring ng and “cops” on guard to see that the rules eyed. fo make up in a measure for these deprivations e Fire experimented yesterday with a : one style of swimmin’ hole, the sprinkling frames Pap in crowded cily streets, rue, the youngsters of the tenements cannot pam to swim in a shower, There can be no joyful slides” on the tard pavements, heless, these sprinklers provide the nearest ch possible to the fun of the old swimmin’ le. Under them the city children will invent new rts and new stunts which not even the country ys can enjoy. The cooling spray will provide | and relief from dog day heat. By all means let's have more of the hot weather sprinklers. Not only the children but many n-ups will thoroughly enjoy and profit shower baths at frequent intervals. aie rite a a FROM FORCE OF HABIT. four years the Prohibition Party has been to meet and go through the mo- ‘of nominating a candidate and writing a plat- s year of 1920 is no exception. The Prohibi- arty is meeting once again. Naturally it is ting the victory. Strange as it may seem, it dering candidates. ly? Is it merely from force of habit? ‘Mr. Hinshaw and his cohorts become so accus- seeing their names in print that they can- f % THE EVENI 264,133 votes in the popular poll for President. That was the high-water mark of Prohibition support. In 1916 J. Frank Hanly had only 221,329 sup- porters. Suerly the Prohibitionists have a perfect right to nominate a candidate for President. He will have just as much chance of election as his predecessors, If, as the Prohibitionists hope, the ticket should be Bryan and Billy Sunday, it would add vastly to the variety of the campaign. But from the standpoint of practical politics, Pro- hibition Party activity is a puzzle. In the Congressional elections, at least, the wet and dry issue is bound to play an important part. Every vote cast for a Prohibition Party candidate Is lost to the dry cause. It cannot count for either a dry Republican .or a dry Democrat. The Anti-Saloon League, whatever its fautts, was practical. It was never so foolish as to enter politics except with @ blackjack and sneakers, FIGHTING AGAINST EFFICIENCY. BITTER row in the management of the Phila- delphia Rapid Transit Company has culmi-” nated in the resignation of B. T. Stotesbury, Chair- man of the board, after President Thomas £. Mitten refused to permit a raise in fare. This business quarrel is of more than passing {n- terest to New York. Mr. Mitten, it will be remembered, is operating manager of the Philadelphia traction system. Mr. Stotesbury, it is generally known, is intimately con- nected with the Morgan group of financiers, which is heavily interested in traction intorests in many cities, among others, New York. . Mr. Mitten has been an excellent manager and has maintained earnings at the old fare in spite of rising costs of operation. Only Mr. Stotesbury’s interests in other tractions can explain his great concern over a fare ralse in Philadelphia. The fact is that Mr. Mitten has been a thorn in the side of Mr. Stotesbury’s associates when they have sought to raise fares in other cities. Municipal officials and the public were likely to ask, “Why don’t you get a man like Mitten here? Then you wouldn't need a higher fare.” It Js true that conditions were unusually favorable in Philadelphia. It is likewise true that there are few transit executives like Mitten. On the other hand, the Interborough’s 20 per cent. margin of profits before the war was vastly greater than the margin on which Mr. Mitten worked. New York is not convinced that if the Inter- borough introduced Mitten efficiency it could not maintain at least a part of that 20 per cent. profit. Mr. Stotesbury’s resignation may be only another gun in the battle on Mitten. Perhaps It presages another attempt to force out the efficient manager. The row will bear watching. If the banking interests should ever contrive to oust this traction wizard, the public could interpret it only as a barefaced attack on efficiency in the in- terest of higher fare propaganda. Because of the publicity attending the row, even this desperate attempt would fail. A DRY ON DRESS REFORM. iy a letter printed in another column, Andrew B. Wood, Assistant State Superintendent of the AntiSaloon League, comments on a recent Evening World editorial, “Prohibit Both,” Mr. Wood senses the irony, and in his closing paragraph he applies It logically enough to dress reform, But a word of kindly warning to Mr. Wood— Coming from a staunch Prohibitionist in good standing in the inner circles, Mr. Wood's suggestion is surprising. In Prohibition circles even the sug- gestion of the abolition of dress verges on heresy. Mr. Wood must know that the Prohibitionist atti- tude on women’s clothing was old and well estab- lished even before the AntiSaloon League was formed: It is typified by the harem veil. Your original Prohibitionists were the followers of Mohammed. They believed that women should be entirely covered and kept out of sight. More recent Prohibitionists have merely carried the Mohammedan attitude toward women over to the liquor question. Booze, they say, must, at least, be kept out of sight. A PRESUMPTION OF MERIT. ¢)* point in favor of the findings of the Rail- way Wage Board is the fact that it is so dif- ferent from the way in which the Tammany admin- istration distributed the proceeds of the salary bond issue. Engineers and conductors received only moderate raises. In general, the lower paid workers received a much larger percentage of increase and in many cases a larger actual sum. Tammany's system was the opposite. Per- centages were equalized so that Tammany’s politi- cal appointees would receive the largest money in- creases, and would so be better able to contribute NG WORLD, THURSDAY, JULY 22, FROM EVENING WORLD READERS to say much in a few words. Take Abolish Clothing. To the Haitor of The Brening World: In your Jasue July 10 the fronical editorial “Prohibit Both” suggests that marriage be abolished in order to cure divorce, since you observe with some degree of tenderness that alcoholic drink was abolished because some people misused it. The cases are not parallel, The intoxication point in marriage would be polygamy and not divorce. I can see no excuse for the former but can for the latter, Mar- riage being a sociul contract, the di- voroee is the one who plans to abolish it and not the reformers. Putting it mildly, a married man !s “under an obligation,” but no one 1s under any obligation to drink liquor. If your suggestion were followed the priest who made the women pin up thelr law necks at the service would be subject to reprimand by you for not prohibiting dresses as the real cure for it. ANDREW B. WOOD. Assistant State Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League, New York, July 15, 1920. A Free Country? ‘To the of The Evening Wortd: Now grees ie regulating our drinks, and, likely, what we have to eat will be next, It 4s compul- sory to send the children to school. It 1s much more necessary that children up to eighteen years should attend thelr church at least once a month, This would surely improve thelr morals much more than the entoreed echool attendance. Attend to this, Mr. Anderson, After this comes what we have to wear, Bayside. T. M. 8. To the EdMor of The Fyening World Why do New Yorkers display such lack of tntelligence as to choose the beaches and amusement parks Just to be “far from the madding city?” We know that hundreds of thou- sands of people crowd these resorts every Sunday to overflowing capacity, yet we wonder at the heat prostra- tion records, When one considers tho getting up at 6 o'clock Sunday morning, making sandwiches, hustle, bustle, crowded cars, ferry, then crowded cars on the other side, being pushed, shoved, jostled and jounced until your sides and body ache; arriving, spending three hours, getting a few “dips” or “going on everything.” thon getting So sunburned that it is almost impos- sible to touch your clothes to your body, and go through the same routine coming home, you will admit that you had a fine time nevertheless, Is it any small wonder that we have made Monday morning famous as “blue Monday” at the office or in the shop? Here is my suggestion, which I think is worthy of consideration, to say the least: On Bunday afternoons my friend and I select a bigh class vaudeville theatre, see @ good, coool show and come out more refreshed than whe. we entered, We often take in a night theatre et some other What kind of letter do you find most readable? Isn't it the one that gives you the worth of a thousand words in a couple of hundred? There is fine mental exercise and a lot of satisfaction in trying time to be brief. | Wo aro satisfied to go to the beach | and resorts that are overcrowded | once a month or even less, as we pre- | fer the comforts and coolness derived from not being one of the many who travel to these places called, by a few, “wonderful beaches,” If one has a bungalow, it's all right, but not other- wise, as the travel takes the enjoy- ment out of life, Iam sure that careful constderation ot this suggestion will change the opinions of many who were formerly beach-combers, &&o, With ‘best wishes to your paper, which I have read since a child of five, I remain, Yours truly, ROBERT RAY MO ROLPH. 684 Broome Street, N. Y. C, Prohibition. ‘To the Fiitor of Tio Evening World: It has been said that Prohibition would ruin the hotel trade, make deserts of our popular resorts and kill every joy in fe, Strango, 1s it not, that after one year of dryness the report comes trom Atlantic City that two and three-quarters of a million dollars was deposited in ten local banks and trust companies after the most prosperous Fourth of July that has ever been known tn that resort? The comments of bankers were to the effect that the people spent Mb- erally and that they were amazed at the amount of gold which was de- posited, indicating the unusual pros- perity of the patrons, ‘The hotels not only did the langest business in their history, but the theatres and movies were jammed, the restaurants could sarcely supply their patrons with food, and the Boardwalk stores had more patron- age than they have ever enjoyed. Of course no one ts prepared to say exactly what proportion of the two and three-quarters of a million dol- lars expenditure Was made possible by Prohibition, but one thing Is cor- tain, nobody can say that Atlantic City has been ruined times. Very truly yours, A/D, BATCHELOR. Brooklyn, July 13. by the dry The Pre-Conveo ca To the Faltor of The Brening World: ‘The comments of Mr. William G. McAdoo concerning the question of the pre-conyention campaign expendi - paleo, tures are decidedly timely. His sug- geation that these campaign expendi- tures be met from the National ‘Treasui involyes, however, a num- ber of important considerations. If, for instance, the people of the United States are to be called upon to finance & pre-conyention campalgn such as was waged by Gen. Wood during the last spring, they woukl have to have some assurances that when, as a re- sult of that campatgn, candidate has shown that he was the choice of the party, he would recelve without question the nomination, lt 1s prob- able that most of the expenditures of the several candidates were alto- gether legitimate and necessary, Lf the pudlic were to pay them, however, UNCOMMON SENSE By John Blake (Copyright, 1020, by Jobn Blake.) PICK OUT A MOUNTAIN YOU CAN CLIMB. Ambition is necessary to success. But unless your par- ticular ambition is attainable, it will only be a trouble to you. A boy who is stone deaf may aspire to be a great vio- linist, but he never will be. A youth with no eye for perspective or sense of the beautiful may toil his life away trying to paint, and pro- duce only worthless daubs. G The mountaia climber who wants to get to the top of a peak does well to select a mountain that can be climbed, He may discover, after he is well up one height, that no further progress is possible. It will be slow, wearisome work descending and begin- ning the slow, laborious ascent of another mountain, But unless he is williag to do that he will never be a success as a mountain climber. Few men get the right start in life at the beginning. Most of us discover at some time or other that the way we are travelling is the wrong way, wad that it will lead us to no worth while destination, The thought of going back and beginning all over agaia is staggering. But there is no other way, if we really mean to succeed, Be as careful as you can in picking your career in the beginning. With your own judgment and knowledge of yourself, and with all the advice you can get, choose a vocation that you are fitted for. But, if it so happens that you have chosen wroag, don’t be afraid to descend that particular mountain and start up another that has a clear trail to the top. It will be hard work—much harder than starting right in the first place. But it must be done, And do not count the effort that appears to have been thrown away as wasted, The work that you put in in the first vocation, while it may not directly contribute to later success, will have sharpened your faculties and trained your mind. ’ And because you have done it, and because it has taught you how to work, the tasks that must be done to briag you to success will be far easier than they would have been if you had never tried at all. the action of the Republican conven- the tion in refusing to nominate the - * falar ‘egies would mena Kak” the FR nn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnmnmnnnrnnenmmenn na! §) ‘Treasury had been cheated out of over $1,000,000. Moreover, while it is of course necessary that steps be taken to make it possible for men of moderate means and modest fnan- cial backing to present thelr qualifi- cations for the Presidential office, It would be equally necessary, should the public be changed with the ex- pensea of the campaign, to prevent mere publicity seekers rom taking advantage of the opportunity to get the public to pay a round sum for national advertising. There is certainly nothing to indi- eate from our experience with the re- cent political conventions that our present method of selecting Presi- dential candidates 1s one to assure the cholce of the ablest or most ac- | States 4s necessarily a polit the nominating convention wou'd in any essential regect improve the alt- uation. The President of the United offleer, either controlling or controlled by his panty organization, So long as this ia true there would seem to be no escape from the domination of the nominat~ ing machinery by the politleal oriant. zation. ‘The process does not seem to be subject to popular control, in the sense that the whole people of the United States can effectively partici~ pate in the aeleation of candidate. It {8 a business which da, and apparently will remain, in the hands of the or- ganization of the party and the func- tion of the public 13, and probably will ceptable man. Our experience with the direct primary, however, aa it has been applied in State and local elec- tions, not hold out hope that the Of tha direst primacy bas Albert Payson Terhune 1900, On! No. 109—-THE SEA-WOLF, By Jack London. Humphrey Van Weyien was & youth of wealth and leisure and ef & fragile body that had never been toughened by a single day's work. He spent his time in study and ia dreaming, Thrown from a ferryboat, during ® collision in San Francisco Bay Humphrey was picked up by @ whal- ing schooner, “The Ghost,” captained by @ brutal and eccentric giant known as “Wolf” Larsen, Humphrey offered to pay eny sum to be set ashore, Larsen, through a surly whim, refused to land bim any- where; but sald that “for the good of his soul” he must make the whaling voyuge, on the Ghost; serving as cabin boy and learning to work as other men, worked, Life aboard the Gihost was a horror to Humphrey and to every one else who had the misfortune to displease the half-mad Larsen, And matters Were not made less complicated by the appearance on board of another castaway, Maud Brewster, beauty and educa by the aehooner, fro: t a girl wen Be Humph the girl Weyden who was lear her Once Larsen caught Maud tn his arms in a bear-like embrace. Maud strug in vain to free herseit Humphrey caught up a knife and drove it into Lursen’s shoulder, It was a mere fiesh wound; yet Larsen col helpless to the cabin floor. ‘The knife had not ha him to extent. But, he boen etr! with a sort of paralysis, and for the time he was helples Humphrey and Mand tor tage of his condition to ¢ open boat, n ‘The schooner was in p ition, Her crew had done con best to destroy her before deserting to a rival whaier Larsen alone was aboard, blind. still made him a dangerous foe, until He was Yet his hatred for Humphrey Ma to work repairing the Ghost; nning to sail her to some port. Hut the arrival of tenmship rescued them from their eward they went, to a life to- gether; their hardships and sufter- ings having united them in a death- less Jove, and having taught them the value and need of toll. By Sophie Irene Loeb. Covrra Paplishing Co. ise New York evening World). HE Negro Foreign Born Citizens’ | Political Alllance 1s seeking the co-operation of the world at large "for the apeciflo purpose of hing the foreign born negroes of 2 York and vicinity American ideals and to urge upon them the study of American Institutions.” This group, organized «bout atx months ago, points out that between 1Zlst and 144th Streets there are 5,000 West Indian negroes and not even 1 per cent. of this number are citizens Doubtless this condition exists be- cause of the absence of conc tion to teach them the duti benefits of American citizenship. ‘At present this alliance 1s distrit uting hand bills and holding stre: meetings in the hope of spreading Americanization. This is a worthy movement and should have the support of all Amert- cans of whatever oolor or creed. It has been driven home to us with considerable force that the way to avoid unrest and revolution 1g to take an interest In the foreign born al- most ag soon as he comes to our shores, UNIFORM system at eoda foun~ tains is badly needed. Inconvenience and irritation would be saved thousands of people it all the placea where light drinks are seryed would either permit checks to be purchased at the cashier's desk or at the fountain. ‘A person goes into one soda foun~ tain place, finds a seat, and is about to order his drink when he 1s told to go to the cashier for the check, He re- turns to find his scat gone. Perhaps in the eame day he will be in another place and when he seeks the cashier first, he és told to pucchase the check from the soda fountain at. tendant. Still another system is where the fountain attendant gives you a check which you present at the cashier's desk when you phy, Many a groan goes up from the tired, thirsty person at these various methods of securing such @ simple service, Tho trend of the times fe in the ai. rection of automatic and uniform seem vice. ‘There ts no better place to hogim than in these necessitous places, ————— oe “That’sa Fact” By Albert P. Southwick A copy of the Dongan Ch: (Thomas Dongan was Governor New York from 1682 to 1688: bearing date of April 22, 1686, 4 preserved in a& tin box in he New York City Hall, . * Tn 1882 Asiatic cholera raged te a fearful extent In New York City, It returned two years lato modified in Violence, and again 4a continue to be, to indicate contluence| 1849, 1853 and 1866, t in one organization or the other by e e . ratifying that organization's cholce, The Denny press was extads MILTON B. LOOMIS, Ushed in New York City tm 188 Assigiont, Froteener. of Government, wile Gideon Lee was ayer, t , New University, jewsboys, oars unienewe, wens waly 14, 2080, — | sons Mbnind sas. Af ies est a apes Fooes|