The evening world. Newspaper, August 16, 1920, Page 18

CONCENTRATE. E report that a hundred housing bills are be- ing rushed into shape for the special session of the Legislature which Gov. Smith has called “for Sept, 20 is the reverse of reassuring. Cencentration on one or two simple, funda- mentil factors in the housing problem will be far more productive of, results than a helter-skelter _ massing. of palliatives, ‘When the Legislature meets next month, Gov. Smith should be able to urge for Its consideration not: above three or four compnet, thoroughly thought out measures fOr housing rellef. P What ts more, he should have the backing of a public that has put its mind to the situation and, tried to reach an intelligent understanding of how "Mitie rather than how much legislation 1s needed to remedy it. } ‘The experience of the last. few month?’ has : taught something. ; ‘ It has taught that, necessary as it has been to protect tenants from grasping landlords. by drastic rent laws, the only real solutlon of the problem is to get more houses built, It has taught that “drastic ‘rent laws, with no ine ducements to offset them, do increase the current tendency of capital to;shy away from fealty in- vestments tat would mean the building of more homes. : wey \ 7 It hag taught that, while “rent gouging must be repressed, tackling the problem on that side can- not-be permitted to put lasting obstacles in the way of tackling it on the other. In the samé way, State and municipal building or did to building, based upon the carefully studied experienés of Great Britain and other countries, may be nécbssary and desirable to tide over a temporarily adie housing emergency in New But the wisek advocates of State and municipal building donot urge it in a form that shall in any way tend to become permanent. ~ No level headed Amefican is yet prepared to a mit that the present housing problem in this coun try can only be solved by a resigned or despairing move in the direction of State Socialism. f ‘When private initiative fails to provide houses enough, public initiative must take emergency steps to prevent intolerable suffering. But at the same time public authority must study the underlying conditions which have caused private initiative thus to fail, and must do avhat it ¢an to re-stimulate private initiative and restore it to normal economic: action, Real estate in the Metropolitan district of New York is now losing, it is claimed, $30,000,000 of new investment money that would normally go into it in a year. Kt is said to be losing $200,000,000 more in liquidation and withdrawal of capital seeking other investment fields, Why? For one reason, because Investors see.a larger percentage of return in securities which are exempt from State and Federal income taxes. Could any one fact more significantly show why New York suffers for lack of new housing? On the other hand, could anything suggest more obvious means of inducing capital to come back to thes home-building field? Until the cost of, labor and material descends further from present high levels, exempt mort- gages on houses, apartments and residential build- ings generally from both State and Federal income taxes. Go further, if need be, and lighten for a time municipal taxes gn such properties, The result will be a rapid flow of money back " into home building. Directly that flow begins. and the supply of . houses and apartments promises to increase, the profiteering landlord will need few checks beyond the usual prospect of competition, On his Cooly the Hoag Comaiiitee ot te | State Reconstruction Commission reported to the | Governor last spring: . Mortgage loans must compete in the general market with other securities, and anything which tends to make mortgage loans more at- tractive will, pro tanto, tend to en¢purage building, _ For this reason the majority of this egmmis- sion finds itself in entiré sympathy with the proposition temporarily to relieve from taxa- tion, in whole or part, real estate mortgages up to the proposed amount of $40,000, particularly if such exemption be confined to loans on houses or residential properties. Expert thought centred on the housing problem has more and more agreed that tax exemption for . mortgages on houses is one of the surest ways to start building. It is idle to reproach capital for selfishness, Sentiment can never provide a solid and lasting remedy for housing shortage. On the other hand, show-capital how it can get 6 per cent, in housing investments and ‘millions of dollars will crowd to play a part in this sorely needed public service, By taking steps to exempt mortgages on new housing construction from. the State Income tax, the Legislature of the State of New York could set | @ powerful example to Congress, which ts already being urged to take similar action in regard to the Federal income tax. ; This move would more than counteract the ef- fect of such anti-rent-profiteering laws or such pub- lic housing projects as may prove necessary for immediate relief. js By insuring a revival of home bullding In the near future it would greatly reduce the necessity for multiplying or complicating such housing laws as are temporarily required. In his call for the extra session of the Legisla- - ture, Gov. Smith said: “The crying need is more houses, and nothing short of the active resumption of buféding on & large scale will bring adequate relief.” The Govemor shrould fix on the one best method of securing that resumption by attracting . the private capital on which, in the long run, hous- ing will have to depend. A jam of conflicting proposals can only cleg the legislative wheels and end in futility or worse, Concentrate, PROTECT THE PUBLIC. EPUTY SBERETARY OF STATE PARKER, sitting as a Magistrate, conducted an extraor- dinary court for automobile speeders Saturday. The result was the cancellation of three driving licenses and suspension of twelve other licenses, This result, satisfactory and important as It Is, is insignificant in comparison with thé revelation of the mental deficiencies of several of the drivers who had passed the tests which the State now imposes, Several chauffeurs were unable to answer simple questions.« One seemed.to be entirely irresponsible, He could operate his machine in a mechanical way, but his mind ‘was impaired. ¢ Recent experience with automobile killings have demonstrated that the motor car of to-day may be as dangerous as any lethal weapon. It is not a mechanism which may be intrusted to children or to adults with the minds of children, Something more than a mere road test is imperative if the State is to protect its citizens, The Evening World has repeatedly urged the need of a competént psychopathic staff as adviser to the court in cases where there is suspicion of .mental irregularity. Deputy Parker's examination would indicate the need for psychological tests which would establish the mental competence of those intrusted with the driving of the potentigly deadly automobile. If such tests are not to be required at the first issuance of a driving license they should be imposed as soon as the driver is first brought to court for violating the driving regulations, MR. BURLESON DELVES BACKWARD, ty the news of the last few days havé come ac- counts of the delivery of delayed mail, One postcard delivered in Philadelphia had been on the way for thirteen years, The addressee had been dead for five years. Relatively quick delivery was recorded in an- other instance. A message travelled across two States in the course of only ten years, Postmaster General Burleson deserves high credit for this attention to duty. In addition to attending to his regular duties, he is now finishing his term by checking up on the omissions of his predecessor. These delayed mes- sages hark back to the era of Presidents Roosevelt and Taft, Had Mr. Burleson devoted more energy to house cleaning and less to censorship ‘and politics he might have found time ¢o rectify some of the early mistakes in his own regime, THE RVENING WORLD, MONDAY, av veuer There is fine mental erercise What kind of letter'do you find most readabdtef Isn't it the one that gives you the worth of a thousand words in a couple of hundred? and a lot of satisfaction in trying fo say much in a few words, Take time to be vr Grinding am Axe. the Raitor of The Brening World ee erder to find out what the pub- z lew is on the subject of in- suggestion to print a voting coupon intl ally papers? My belief is that the people of the City of New York have got the Hylan-Hearat Adminis- tration up to their necks, We are all wililng to admit that plenty of water exists tn both com- panies and that they are over-capi- tall the buying power of the dollar. has diminished, The Hylan-Hearst combine has an axe to grind, far their attitude in the matter bespeaks itself. But why grind it at the public's expense? If this comBine has the poor pub- to's interests, at heart as they claim to have, let therm interest themselves in more vital matte: ch as food conditions. While they fight BROOKLYNIPE, Aug, 12, 1920. Spoiled His Trip. f ‘To the Editor of Tee Brening World # What are we coming to? Sunday last | made the trip 1 longed for. It was a trip to Bear Mountain. I! boarded the steamboat Grand Repub- le, scheduled to leave at 9 A. M. {tr left at 9.80. It did not take me long to feel that I was out of plice. and I belleve it should have been ordered out of service af least ten years ago, It is badly in need of a washifig—deck covered with swamps, Talk about profiteering! If you wanted o seat you bought it from the bartender, 1 can't understand why city authorities permit a pat ue unfit to cart coal to, carry passen: most Oe whom .are children. People viaiting Now York return with bad opinions of the elty authorities for allowing anything of that sort G. 1.8. 12, 1920. New York, Aug. Reared on Tobacco. To the, Rakor of The Drenlox World Will some one be kind énough to tell me what could be done with « ohiid who has been given tobacco by_his father since infanay? This boy knew how to puff on his father's pipe when he was nineteen montha od. and to-day his father furnishes him with chewing tobscoo, and has done so for the last three to five years, yeare old. He ts only in the fourtn | je in school, and the father ts too ignorant to know that it ts the tobacco that makes him so stupid. He lays it to the inefficiency of the teachers. It seoms that if he were taken away | The boy 4s now twelve sternly something mlent fe be made peo him. as he seems to be % aaet fares.as to the J. R. T. and! B. R. T. lines, would it not be @ good | |, but we inust also admit that) ‘The boat is forty-three years. old | !2 from his parents and dealt with a Please teil mé what can ‘pe done! and how to go about It MRS) J. B. 8. New York, Aug, 12, 1920. he Family. ® ‘To the Editor of The Drening World I am told that a Woman in our neighborhood is making «a boast of her independence in politics and voic- ing her intention of voting against the Presidential candidate favored by her husband. It seems obyious that this woman will merely. ‘4ill” her hys- band’s vote, and yet I understand that she and others like her really think themselves “smart” qnd believe that they willrin this way swell the vote of their own favorites. I wonder what the would-be “inde- pendents” who believe they are going to revolutionize politica will think when jt dawns upon them that such tactics will not affect the result—that thelr ballots will be virtually blanks— that where two in a family “palr off” in this way they are merely giving a vote to 8? LISTPNDR. Now York, Aug. 12, 1920. Why Net a #T. 0. A."t To the Hditor of The Rvenina World Regarding your editorial in Thurs- day's iamue entitled “A Low Start,” 1 am of the opinion that It is about jtime the theatregoing public had something to say about the numer- ous obscene plays now on Broad. way. The Actors’ Bquity Apsociation erotecta the actor; the Producing Managers’ Association protects sthe producing magnate, so why pot "The Theatregoers’ Organization of Amer- " lf the public supports Moth the actor and producer, should it not have something to say as to thr kind of productions it will strrd be- hind? I'm sure If some one will back diate change. ‘The producer must be made to realize’ that “the public can make or break you at will” There are many thousands of show; like opportunity to. patronize or béyoott, as the case may be. Let us make Broadway a “White” Way, “Dark Green” or "Black" Way. ROBPRT RAYMOND RALPH, New York City, Aug. 18, 1920. hath Maida eaten SE | “‘That’s aFact’” By Albert P. Southwick mp At: bata n° ANSWERS TO QUERIES, » (a) Please inform as to tho death and burial place of Aaron Burr. (b) Was Alexander Ham!l- ton's son te iS £ duel three before his father? tie A" READER, St, Paul's Chapels City. (a) Burr was born in Newark, Hd. om Fem if ame: ans dunk such an issue phere wil 1 be animme- | LIKNEW THIS JINGLE WOULD WAKE 96u UP UNCOMMON SENSE By John Blake- (Copreidht, 1920, by Yona Blake.) LEARN TO KEEP, AS WELL AS'TO GET. All men. make money. Few keep it. Those who make it, evea if they make large amounts, live improvidently and die in debt. Those who keep it live comforjably and usally leave fortunes behind them. Proportioning outlay to income is of course compara- tively easy to the big money maker. For a man on aa average daily wage, with costs where they iA “just now, to do it veems invpossible. Yet all’ around you are men and women who are doing it. And in time they will have laid tne foundations for i- dependence. Your income is probably fixed. You have just so much to spends Spend all of it and you have nothing left at the ead of the month. j Save a little, and’ you are that much ahead. But you are more than ahead in money. You are ahead yin knowledge of the conservation of money. = You have learned that tnere ate some things! you can do without, with no sacrifice to your comfort. You have learned also the pleasure of knowing that you have started a bank account which: will Epes ithen- lously—by itself if you let it alone. The art of keeping is born in some people. It can be cultivated by, others, always provided, of course, that their burdens are not so great that saving is impossible. But great as your burdens may be, you will find that they are no greater than tnose of many a» immigrant who supports a family on the profits of a ‘pushcart and learns how to save besides. Saving is hard Work. It means sacrifice, often discom- fort. But it also means competence and perhaps prosperity by and by. . » Figure out your own expenses and it may be that you )ean saye mare than you thought you could. And once you learn‘how to keep as well ds to edrn, you will be-on your way toward the independence which is the goal of every right thinking man. : ae | other volumes listed under card |, Yadéx, “Real Estate" see “New |) York City Real Bs Ben- son J. Lonsing’s ry of New York City Fronv 1608 to 1830 and development from 1830 to 1864) We have already given the selling. Brice | of lots at Cocaties Blips Birest and elsewtiere, ond’ the aout and selling price of the Jumel ‘Mansion, grounds, &o, a A myseif wha would jump at such an]. at Messerau's, now Port Richmond, Staten Ivland, on Sept. 14, 18 He*lles burled tn Princeton, at the foot of his father.and grand- father, President Burr and Preai- dent Edwards of Princetén Uni- versity. (b) Hamilton’ jeat Son, born about 1782, fell a victim to the barbarous practice of Lahey 4 in a petty quarrel at a theatre, three years before his father’s death, Baid to de on the same.spot where his father fell and the action to have been instigated by one of Burr's supporters. Will you -kindly® publish ‘the- boundary of the Mason and Dixon ine? + A CONSTANT READER. New York City. ¢ The boundary dispute between the Baltimores and the Penns, a long story, resulted in the original Mason and Dixon's line. There wan a temporary ‘Hine in 1789-40, By’ an agreément between: the proprictors of those two States, Charles Mason ant, Jeremiah Dixon, English sur- | evens sane emplowed in i790 Am contemplating writing a se- of articles on thé history of w York real estate. suggest any =| Cana you saible.reference? IN GREENFIELD. 266 Grand Street, City. You will find’in the Central New York Pub!ic Library a list of books, ~ aii in! &e. lke "Real Estate of the Bible By ng eh eg ‘No. 7—Othniel ang Achsab’ ERE’ js no prettier love atory, anywhere than that of Oth \ ach, [ Caleb, hsab's er, Prince of the tribe of "stood #0 high in the Lord's jhe was joined with Joshui nt itted to enter the Promised | je was, in a word, the second b man in Israel. - And Caleb said, “He that smi | | oity af the “Sons of Cp the mense stature and prowess caused them to be known “giants.” It was no light task, ‘fore, that was to be perfo! jthe one who was to win the heart hand of Caleb's daughter. be observed further that Caleb’, ‘was of a general So desperately an: rible Sons of Anak thrown that lie stood ready to bis daughter to any man who ould) | conquer them, ‘The prize was a epiéndid one, and| andj] itLempecially tugged away at Othniel'al heart atrings, for Achsah already ] deeply beloved by him. He mad his affections upon her lony before her father made’ the ecg! about the} taking of Kirjath-Se; The proof of Oth are, sincere for Achsah js seen from the fact it was for herself alone that he was to gq out against the Sons of Anak. The maiden alone was offered Caleb as tho inducement to the at-_ tempt against his y, and {had no reason to expect anything more than the maiden heresif in the, event of his success at Kirjath-Sepher, | ‘The success came, the giants were overthrown, and true to his word) Caleb's daughter became Othboiel's bride. It is worth noting that in this aj clent story we have the very fii instance of chivniry recorded in h tory, After the wedding ceremor| jove 4 i} ‘had been completed tthe bride proached her husband, “and tt came to pass as she came unto him, @he movetl him to e@sk of -her father a) field; and she Kghted off the ass. and | # Caleb, her father, raid unto her, ‘What woulist thou? And ehe sald unto him, ‘Give me a biesaing; for thov hast given me a south land, give me also springs of water.’ And Caled | gave her also the upper eprings 4 H the nether eprings.” It reminds us of the much later e 4 stance of chivalry on the past of the © great Sultan, Saladin, when, he’ sent i his camels to the mountains for snow ‘with which to cool the fevePed brow of his enemy, Richard the Lion- Hearted " In the “south lend" the hot land, © Caleb gave his daughter .the bag yf Upper and nether springs, of ahd sparkling water! Very beautiful indeed—deautiful gs the love of Othniel and his pbrincéss bride. Of the captor of Kirjad-Sepker and the winner of Achaah. the Bible teliv us far too little. It may be permis. sible to ‘say, right out, that silences of the Old Book about of ita perso: pemlece downright pro- yoking. Why so distressingly ,briet where we would give almost anything to know just @ little more about the persons and events? Tn thd third chapter of Judges find ‘this statement, terrible in its | laconic ‘sincerity: “And when the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, the Lord raised up a Saviour to Sty 6; children of Israel, who saved thi even Othniel, the Son of Kenaz. /? the spirit of the Lord came wpotiy and hé judged - Israel ; the land fad rest forty years. i Othniel, the son wf “Kenaz, died. Love and death! Will it not be @@ death—and love again? Ff it any \ i i Their engagement was made om June 20, 1763 On April 4, 1765,. after having, as} they claimed, made many correa- tones, they began at their firm ob- jective point three miles east of the, \ ast corner of Maryland. The | point westward reached by them’ was 288 miles, 17 chains und 48 links, when they were stop-|_ ped by the Indians, and their Anall Plans delivered to the Rev. Richard] Feters, on Jan. 29, 1768. The com pletion between Pennsylvania and Virginia wes made on May 7, 117) by James Tilingham and Fra | placed all along the line, and have been several re-sury Allien. The “Newcastle Circle,” ‘eye ab that time, one as late as May, 1909, ary of Delaware, was the eereeae ; an agreement or n neither willing! to ‘cooen a wh rect enst and west line—-betws the Commissioners of the States, called, forming the northern Sound ‘There were stone monumen' Kindly let me know whe Bugene Debs, the Presidential can. didate of the Socialist” Party eve practiced Jaw or not. DAILY READDR, New York City. There isn’t any account df fi having done so, He made his iy; i ing for many years by speeches writings, principally ifor the Eugene Victor Debs ton, garded as violating the Act, in the Foderal "Prison at At- lanta, Ga. He arrived there on Juno 38, 1918, Can you say if Gen. ‘Washington used the cern cr} Mansion @s his headquarters dur= ing the Bevotution? A.M. Saw: York Cit The Kennedy Rope was built by Capt. Kennedy, RN, at No. 1 Broadway about the time of Meh” marriage with his first wife, Se. a] ter of Col, Peter Schuyler of Jer y, in April, 1765. Washington a brief residence there in the spring of 1776. Afterward ‘it was ocoupled by Sir Henry Clinton and British Generals, There, also, Major, Andre wrote his celebrated letter to Benedict Arnold, which he signed ‘Jobn Anderson.” NOTE—W. T. T, iw advined, "in Brookiyn, x communication, tat ithe he meen urallzed before the son reached age of twenty-one the bo: : comes an American cltisae. hy then he must take ou naturaliza—