. HVT
'- :"Kwa,ii.i.
T
WiT'ii,""
JV i t"
EVENING PUBLIC LEDGERPHILADELPHIA, SATURDAY, AtJGUST 3, 1918
ttC"
m
f'
!I
E&
ri
ai
Eft
."
' v, . . .
mtna fmouc tteoget
THE EVENING TELEGRAPH
j ,1 UUL1U LiE.UUE.IV liUIHIAni
.V raw... a - nn.
gSftlea H. Ludlnrton, Vice President! John C.
iin.BKTprr ann rreaaurer: l'nnipn.uoiuni.
. Wllllama. John J. Spuraeon, Director!.
"- ttnrrnftfit, nninn.
i""" r?T.t,B TT. V fnvrim rti.l.min
' E. SMILEY . , . Editor
1 C MARTIN.... Qcntral Hualncaa Manaser
W'fl'lHIrtrt dally at Tcauo Lipom Ilulldlnj,
inufiienacncs pquare, i-niiaueipnia.
i CnMRiL.....Uroad and Ch.ilnm Htreets
iTlo Cur.... .....Preai-Vnlon Dulldlnc
LJi, pcraoiT 4U.1 I"orJ Huilulne
it. U)U1S. 1 1008 FulKTtGtl IIUlldlnK
,-... .......... ... a . .4.-.U .lluunc JJUMUIlia
. y NEWS BUREAUS.
,)!;'WiSmN0T0M BtJBKAU.
.sil N. E. Cor. PnmrlvAnl& Avv Atirl Hth Ht.
Kw Yoxk Bckkau. . . . The Stm Hulldlnir
-juo.npon suuu liondon limes
i$ J SUBSCRIPTION TEEMS
cne Err.Niso fcbuc IjKDocr In nerved to sub
ibers In PhUadlnri.A and fmrrniinrilner tnwtm
vthe rata of twelve (12) cents per week. payable
mav carrier
rBy mall to nnlnta nutnl.U nf PhllnriialnMn In
ft J,9 unura Diaies, LinanR. or united Piaien p"
swAo wt dollars per year, payable In adnnce.
month.
?i !U - wotic Subscriber wishing address chanced
vVfaiUBt aTlve old as well as new address.
WsSs, BELL, 3000 WALNUT KE STONE, MAIN 3000
fcy icfdrfaa a?( communications to Kvcnino Publio
Ledger, Independence Square, Philadelphia.
. rttkjiir nf aim A ccnriatftfl Prpet
jrJ'.reii rnfi.fed Jo fie use or republication
NT.- 'I M -T JMNfll' J''i'f I'iJI'VJW (g Mfiillt.
ftv& ef nil new dtipatchq' credited to It or not
Kyja oincncue crcairca iiv int paper, ana also
vm' ",e 'ora' iicim pub.ished therein.
KASfi. viK right of republication of special ills-
Iffaicncs Herein aic also tescrved.
rhil.Jflphl.. f.lurdiy, Auguil 3, 1918
THOSE CITY HALL ESSENTIALS
FT1HE Job salient at City Hall refuses to
- be -taken. Chairman Oaffne. of Coun
cils' Finance Committee, launched a bold
frontal attack the other day and under
went a BtaRRerlnK repulse.
Crossing the Marne Is a cinch compared
to mounting the perilous helchts nf a
rolltop desk and demollshlns powerfully
intrenched positions In a swivel chair.
( It may be observed that immortality
fought against the rash champion of
economy the Immortality of a political
Job. Its occupant may change with tho
swing of the party pendulum, Its form
tnay be superficially altered, but its func
tions at election time have an eternal alg.
niflcance In a land where ballots are cast.
The Director of Public Works, the As
sistant Dliector of Transit and the Direc
tor of Wharves, Docks and Ferries have
Indignantly denied that any ofllccs In their
departments are nonessential and the
spearhead directed toward their payrolls
has been Immediately blunted. Fall elec
tion reserves cannot be decimated by any
craven submission to the arms of retrench
ment. Furthermore, even should a political
officeholder freakishly quit or die, does not
his post endure? "The coin." declared a
, Wise French poet, "outlives Tiberius." He
was right
Naturally enough Russia has become af
flicted with cholera. She has been altogether
too choleric to escape It.
THE OPEN DOOR OF LIBERTY
TT MAY have been a mistaken concep-
-y tloa of the meaning of Sunday which
romptea the nosing or independence
Halt bn that day throughout two summer
months.
It may have been reluctance to spend the
um of $12 a day for guarding the shrine
of liberty when the nation which sprang
R&yT from It Is lavishing billions on the cause
pri,3 or ireoflnm. Kiir rn rnnsf. nr minn rmiv
S-3, 1 happily Immaterial now that the rem-
Announcement has been made that the
so.. t, Rtatn House" will herp.ifter ho rlncpd
sjitffi "State House"
y only at night. Sunday, when the surcease
u .. ..... -..... .. -
5fcs;s irom -me irei ana stir or mis dim spot
5?P which men call earth" Is supposedly con-
Fir a-ental to hlch thoughts. Is Iml'-prl Mia mnst
KWJ 4lfM. r.f oil lln... In ...ts.U n..l
Ki n i.e. w. uiiica ... iu.ii n, i ciiiemiju.
." vt. mnA r.v.r. ttir. mn.f ' ti.anlnii. r.lu I..
... .b.v.w ...b ..u.b t,t.ww.S Ctll. Ill
America.
The "always open" policy Is said to have
;), been adopted chiefly for the beneht of
Kj; visitors, especially soldiers and oallois1.
a34JBut this conception of the new ruling is
'rk narrow, rhiladelphlans as well as strang
le ers may profit by the unextlngulshable
.Sfos aplrit of Us stately old halls and nf the
rMcred bell, mute but ever ringing in the
btjhearts of freeman.
fc ' A mad people In Europe will some day
either be crushed or they will heed those
h subtle spirit tones. The "open door" will
i&r'P help to speed it.
Tit !.. v-Att-Atir rafnln.a
a patriotic
And yet we
IvVi ' t.a.arflln ,'fhnillht In ha n..."
rso- ......... CT... .w ., ........
hope it will be far.
TOUJOURS PARIS
fc. TiTV tVit tViA CDPnml K-attto nf tVia Mneno
ffVl Al hflut hppn wnn. rpnUaHnn that th
ptvttiU ,1 una iu uujrv.ii c ui uic vjciiiutn jiiuh-s
Ife1;talnd without misgivings. In .the mlcW
3&ftof the Hun8 spring successes the delu-
Kjilon that he had some other purpose in
K&nRilnd helped to comfort us in time of peril.
kgThe thought of losing the Channel ports.
STV fViriiierVi torrlKlft wad tr-lnf nV.1
m : .
ray" tfTirthermore.-tne error of overest'rr.at
E&Urf ff-ir nrman suffer v whs. ns pier nr.nt
&rti. . i '
VfVln Ally and American quarters. :Uhn
' failed to take Paris at the outset of the
'5-iT war' 'l wa8 conceived that the nnemv
H& !-. !. ha itai-alinlnn nnmA !!?....,... . J
olto victory. By this time, however, ne
ought to know that our foe's wnr designs
Mve always been monotonously simple.
vln the fondly Imagined fall of Pails In
1914 he foresaw the end of a short, sharp,
umpbant war. In 1918, relieved through
collapse of Russia of fighting slmul-
neou'sly on two fronts, he once again
ctured a parade of goose-steppers
rough the. Arc de Trlomphe.
fJt Is hardly to be questioned that his
eary suojecta at nome were promised
e 'occupation of the French capital as
reward and termination of the four
in' struggle. In whatever terrain the
German offensives were pushed, their In.
'Variable object was the establishment of
. r .pivia u.j. ...bi. ...c Kiauu Muvanie on
.far ts. coum oe Desi pusnea. Possession
llke of Amiens and Rhelms was sought,
ri6bo much because they were important
jcjtles, but they could effectively be utilized
i in tremendous movements' aiming at the
' heart; of France.
i .Reduced to its simplest terms, Germany's
k JftflMr' to take Furls, or even any longer
a . . -. . . . .. ...-. 'i. maani.tli.t !....
------ '-'-!-.- --'- i ,i, J;.."ij..
7',rrm", i
vm ;-.-' . -r 'x
A
Ay J .J ;1 toCS
FiiL tuMFIsaMMMir
UL
THE CASUAtTY LISTS
America Can Feel More Than Sorrow and
More Than Pride at the News of It
Loss in France
TTERE and there you can still find per-
sons who speak of wnr as if it were
glorious. That is because the wnr hns
for them a quality of unreality. It is
far away, perceived dimly in flashes and
rumors, a fabled thing in a fabled place.
It seems safely removed from all the
things and persons we know.
And now, through the lengthening
casualty lists, the war has struck nt the
heart of Philadelphia. It is spreading
sorrow in countless Pennsylvania towns.
The wonder and mystery of these days
is suggested in the news that Pottsville,
which had not been even heard of in
France two years ago, suffered thirty
seven casualties (six killed, thiity-one
wounded) at the Marncl
The motheis of the men whose names
are on the casualty lists will not think
of war as a glorious thing. They will
feel in their hearts that it is unbeliev
ably cruel, inexplicable and strange.
They will say that they aie glad their
sons died as they did. But they will not
be glad. They will know heartbreak and
bewilderment and pain, and they will
pretend bravely because in pretending
they can do a last service to a world that
they always serve so variously. The
truth is that men can be glorious in their
courage and in their aims. But war is
not glorious.
For innumerable persons there will be
shocks in the new lists of dead and
wounded. War is just revealing itself to
such as these. They will remember inti
mately the men who have given up their
lives. They will perceive that it was Bill
this or Eddie that, a man who worked
around the corner, who used to drop in
for a cigar or the baseball score, who
was suddenly moved onward and upward,
with the eyes of all the world upon him,
to consecration and martyrdom. It was
some one whose manners and gestures
and tones of voice you remember, the
boy of a few years ago, who was killed -on
the Marne! They were not legendary
heroes who fought there, but men you
knew. Then were the average men,
careless, unpretentious, imperfect like
the rest of us, who proved when the
time came that they had in them deep
hidden somewhere, waiting only the need
and the opportunity, the ivill to great
service and the light of exalted devotion
to noble ends. Average men all of them,
who dropped in for a cigar or the base
ball scores!
The news of our losses will harden the
resolution of the nation. But it should
do far more than that. It should aid to
self-revelation and to self-knowledge.
It should light within every man a new
understanding of the stuff that makes
America. There should be a new sense
of common obligations and, above all, a
new sense of intimacy and sympathy
with the chap across the aisle in the
trolley, with the man at the mechanic's
bench, with the careless, unconscious
rank and file. Such as they gave us the
heroes and the martyrs of our first deep
plunge into this war.
The nation at large should be wiser
hereafter and stronger. We have noth
ing to regret, no reason to feel that these
men could be saved. There was no other
way. We tried them all. And there
fore we shall overwhelm and conquer
every obstacle.
But in the present moment it is the
average man who stands revealed a
nobleman. And because of that we must
learn to hate nil liars and to recognize
finally the senseless infamy of all those
icho for any reason would ever again
divide the mass of Americans into cliques
and classes with selfishness, hatred or
bigotry as animating motives. The
cruelty and folly of that familiar prac
tice is something which our dead in
France could have told us had they lived.
The force of our latest drives must
Indicate to the Kaiser that there are some
Americans with ery pressing engagements
In France.
BACK TO THE LAND
THOSE who loe to toy with theories and
the like have begun to wonder about
the ultimate result of a universal increase
In the costs of transportation. In Read
ing a trolley ride now costs eight cents.
Gasoline and automobiles are to be taxed
anew. That, of course, will force a great
many persons to use the street rallwriys
with a view to economy. But If trollov
fares continue to go up, a good many peo
ple will feel that they cannot afford to
ride at all. They will walk.
Xow, walking takes a lot of time If one
has to walk far. Industries are conducted
on the theory of quick transportation.
When thousands "of workers decide to wal!
to and from their employment Industry
will not be speeded up. It will he slowed
down. And yet the general public will
not be able to save money, because shoe
leather is still going up in price. ,
These are complicated days.
Uncle Sam Is rightly confident that the
new ships which China is building for him
will not be of the junk type. All the junkers
are In quite another part of the world.
'THE TIGER"
THE new vote of confidence that has
been accorded Georges Clemenceau in
the Chamber of Deputies Is gratifying evi
dence that France's political machine has
been made as resolute and unswerving as
her dauntless military engine.
It Is hard to realize that the great states
man, who has put an end to the monthly
or quarterly procession of Premiers and
the once frequent mercurial political up
heavals of his nation, Is a veteran of
seventy-seven years. It Is all the easlnr
to forget that fact since allusions to 'this
virile patriot seldom or never saddle him
with the phrase "grand old man."
The llberty-lovlng world should rejoice
Jn this. The description bespeaks tem
porizing Vlctoritwiism andls auggeetlve
tl8plrtt
Mii'mtflt ,eomproflU.
MLXfsMi?-' saLSa
fits this superb knight of democracy, In
whose breast tho fire of freedom burns
with youthful vigor. His compatriots call
him "Tho Tiger," and thero Is truth In
their speech as well us picturesque
Imagery,
It Is Incontestable that France owes
more to his until Ingly heroic energlei
than to any other statesman since Cam-botta.
Considering the tremendous difficulties
involved In our bridging of the Marne, the
little Job yet to be performed between Cam
don and Philadelphia ought to bo compara
tUely simple.
COURTESY ON THE RAILROADS
rpHE ancient disposition of one class of
1
Government employes to regard cour
tesy as a negligible factor In the day's
work seems to have nfillctcd some of the
railroad operatives at thn Instant .hen
they found themselves under Federal con
trol. Otherwise A. M. Smith, regional di
rector In the eastern district, would not
have found It necessary to Issue tho sharp
rebuke which has Just been sent to orll
clals and employes against whom com
plaints were made by travelers.
Courtesy makes life easier. Private
ownership recognized this rule, nnd It
recognized, too, the propriety and wisdom
of meeting its public in a helpful and
cheerful mood. If railroad men are to
become Germanized under Federal control
and In the nbsenve of the rompetition
which made courtesy a necessity of the
day's work, then most people will hope to
hco the old order restored at the earliest
possible moment.
Colleges In the coun
The nrrnteat Eilura- try are looking for
lor of the I'.porli -ward to a vastly re
duced enrollment for
the coming term This, while deplorable, Is
unavoidable. But there are compensations.
The war continues to be an amazing ievU
tlon of human motives, human errors, human
aspirations. It Is, In a way, the most com
plete exposition that the world has ever
known of the Influences that hap diiected
or hindered human progress. H tells ot the
past, the present and the future. The news
that pours oer the cables dally Is adequate
to gie a lazy world a new knowledge of
geography, politics, religion, commerce, bank
ing, diplomacy and the soul of man. The
war is the greatest educator of the time for
those who know how to study It.
Captain Eoy-Ed de-U-noat
Fuelt clares that the Kaiser's
L'-boats "can't waste
time hanging about for Ameilcan transports "
He's right, for there's cry little of that
commodity to spare when the conoys hit up
the tune of thirty-five knots.
Apropos of the new
lie Saj It Smoothly, reenue bill. Chairman
Though Kltchln, of the Wass
and .Means Commit
tee, confesses that his estimate of two bil
lions of taxes is "rough." Aje, erllyl
The food shortage in Austria may be
fully realized from the comment of a Swiss
obserxer, whd asserts that "there Is no
leather to be had "
"Perfect thirty-sizes"
wanted for the army.
seem also to be
HIGH ADVENTURE
TN' READING the stories of the air
- which have wittily been entitled "Piano
Tales from the Skies" one sometimes has
an uneasy feeling that the aviators aio
trying to tell us of facnsatlons and satis
factions that can hardly be described. We
can imagine, for our own part, how haul
it would be to convey to a man who had
neer been lmmeised In water any inkling
of the exhilaration and delight of bathing.
We can hardly blame the flying men if
they frankly admit the Impossibility of ex
plaining to us groundlings the novel ec
stasy of their course on the intangible
toads of the air.
CAPTAIN JAMES NORMAN HALL, in
his delightful volume "High Adventure,"
tells us as much of the flying man's Joys
and problems as any aviator has done; but
he, too, admits that he lias no language
that satisfies himself.
CAPTAIN HALL, one hopes, will be one
of those whose pens will remain en
listed In the service of aerial literature. His
book has all the humor, tho fine sim
plicity, the self-foigetful modesty that we
would expect In the author of "Kitchener's
Mob." His experience of the war has been
remarkably varied, and perhaps In the en
foi ced atterrlssage of a German prison camp
(he was brought down on May 7 slightly
wounded within the enemy lines) he will
be able to find time td put down some
phases of his "whale of a story" that ac
tive flying left perforce unwritten.
There Is a singular fascination In all
these books of the air, a quality of humor
and exhilaration that seems native to those
who ride their cunning chargers over the
abysses of empty space. The magnificence
of the sport reacts in an Interesting way
on the men who learn It. Having mastered
this Infinitely glorious and triumphant
game, they hate to put It to uses that
seem ignoble. Hall describes his distaste
when he was assigned to the task of at
tacking German balloon observers. He, of
course, would be armed with a machine
gun; they would have .only automatic pis
tols. To his chivalrous objection his com
mander replied Ironically:
"In case any pilot objects to attacking
the observers with machine-gun fire he Is
to strew their parachutes with autumn
leaves and such field flowers as the season
affords."
AGAIN, Hall describes what he and a
comrade saw In a French cellar one
moon-Ut night last autumn when boche air
raiders were expected:
A woman was sitting on a cot bed with
her arms around two little children. They"
were snuggled up against her and both
fast asleep; but she was sitting rery erect,
in a strained, listening attitude, staring
straight before her. Since that night we
iiae believed that If wars can be Won
only by haphazard night bombardments of
towns where there are women and chil
dren, then they had far better be lost.
And he adds, with an honorable satis
faction, that his own work' consists in
Mhtln.wtMiUJlfW
adveraarise 'ta ,
i-"" i npsninnfTi &,
i .'j-jwai
ifc.'-TW. l.aKMHMrX .. . A.
Las'3aQnfltlsVAIwAlwAlwAHlHflEdtiiaSL3
THE CHAFFING DISH
Chestnut Street From Our Fire Escape
JUST outsldo our office window Is' a fire
escape with a little iron balcony. On
warm days, when tho tall windows are
wldo open, that ratber slender platform Is
our favorite vantage ground for watching
Chestnut street. Wo have often thought
how pleasant It would be to hae a pallet
spiead out there, &o that we could write
the Chaffing Dish In that reclining posture
that is so Inspiring,
Hut 'we can tell a good deal of what Is
going on nlong Chestnut street without
leaving our desk. Chestnut stieet sings a
music of Its own. Its genial human sym
phony could never be mistaken for that of
any other highway. The various strands
of sound thai compose Its harmony grad
ually sink Into our mind without our pay
ing conscious heed to them. For Instance,
there Is the light Rlldlng swish of the trol
ley poles along the wire, accompanied by
tho .deep rocking rumble of the car, and
the crash as It pounds over the cross
tracks at Sixth street. There Is the clear
mellow clang of the trolley gongs, the
musical trill ot fast wagon wheels
running along the trolley rails, and the
rattle of hoofs on the cobbled strip between
the metals. Particularly easy to Identify
is the sound every citizen knows, the rasp
ing sliding clatter of ii wagon turning off
the car track so that a trolley can pass it.
The front wheels havq left tho track, but
the back pair are scraping along against
the setts before mounting over the rim.
TflVER'S
-' noise
'ERT street has Its own distinctive
,es nnd the attentive car accus
toms itself tn them until they become al
most a part of the day's enJoment. The
deep-toned bell of Independence Hull
bronzing the hours Is part of our harmony
here, and no less familiar Is the vigorous
tap-tap of Blind Al's stick. Al Is the
well-known newsdealM- at the corner of
Chestnut and Fifth. Several times n day
he passes along under our windows, nnd
the tinkle of his staff Is a well known and
pleasant note in our cars. We like to
Imagine, too, that we can recognize the
peculiarly soft and eas -going rumble of
a wagon of watermelons.
T3UT what we started to talk about was
--' the balcony, fiom which we can get
a long view of Chestnut street all the wnv
from Bro.td stieet almost to the river It
is a pleasant piospect. There is something
very indh idual about Chestnut street. It
could not possibly be in New Yoik.
The holid, placid dignity of most of the
buildings, the absence of skyscrapers,
the plain stone f touts with the arched
windows of the sixties, all these bespeak
a city where it is otlll a little bit bad form
for a building to be too garishly new. 1
may be wrong, but I do not lemember In
New York any such criss-cross of wires
above the streets. Along Chestnut street
they run at will from root to root over
the way.
"I AZING from our little balconv the eye
- travels down along the uneven profile
nf the northern flank of Chestnut street.
From the Wnnamaker wireless past the
pale, graceful minaret of the Federal Re
serve Bank, the hkyline drops down to
the Federal Building which, btnndlng back
from the stieet, leaves a gap In the view.
Then the slant of roofs draws the ee up
wjid again, over the cluster of little coni
cal spires on Green's Hotel (like a French
chateau) to the sharp ridges and heavy
pyramid roof of the Merchants' Union
Trust Company. This, with Its two atten
dant banks on either side, is undoubtedly
the most extraordinary architectural cu
riosity Chestnut street can boast. The
facade with its appalling quirks and twists
of stone and iron grlllwork, Its sculptured
Huns and Medusa faces, Is something to
contemplate with alarm.
AFTE
XX nut
FTER reaching Seventh street, Chest-
ut becomes less adventurous. Per
haps awed by the simple and stately beauty
of Independence Hall and Its neighbors,
it restrains itself from any further origi
nality until Fourth street, where the or
nate Gothic of the Piovldent claims the
eye. From our balcony we can see only
a part of Independence Hall, but we look
down on the faded elms along the pave
ment In front and the long line of Iron
posts beloved of small boys for leapfrog..
Then the eye leaps up to the tall and
graceful staff above the Drexel Building,
where the flag ripples cleanly against the
blue. And our view Is bounded, far away
to the east, by the massive tower of the
Victor factory In Camden.
IT IS great fun to watch Chestnut street
from the little balcony. On hot days,
when the white sunlight fills the street
with a dazzle of brightness and bands of
dark shadow. It Is amusing to see how
all pedestrians keep to the shady southern
pavements. When a driving shower comes
up and the slants and rods of rain lash
against the dingy brownstone fronts, one
may lpok out and see passers by huddled
under the awnings nnd the mounted po
licemen's horses sleek as satin In the wet.
The pavement under our balcony Is no
table for Its sllpperiness: It has been
chipped Into ribs by stonemasons to make
It less so. In the rain It shines like a
j mirror. And our corner has Its excite-
meniB, iuu. uue okcij icw inonms me
gas mains take It Into their pipes to ex
plode and toss manholes and paving sixty
feet In 'air.
TH
v
HE part of Chestnut street that Is sur-
eyed by our balcony Is a delightful
highway: friendly, pleasantly dignified,
with Just a touch of old-fashioned manners
and homeliness. It Is rather akin to a
London street. And best of all, almost
underneath our balcony Is a little lunch
room where you can get custard ice
cream with honey poured over It, and we
think it is the best thing In the world.
Hog Island, So Styled
THE most perilous episode in the his
tory of Hog Island was in 1655, when a
Swedish surveyor (LIndstrom) tried to give
It the name of "Kaiser Island," or "Island
of Emperors."
The name Hog Island happily was re
tained. It is a literal translation of the
Indian name for the island, which was
Qulstconck, meaning "place for Hogs."
And now Hog Island's first ship Is to be
called the Qulstconck. Good luck to her!
Now that so many German notables
have fled to Switzerland would It be per-
miyed, te;sr Jt, au$oti desert
IJM'aMH-'JHRh : ,JMd .: . "! IllIll I II HI IH " I'll III Will II W WW Willi
iainiljwu.yFrrt ffjywflwnwii iw si n . vw.yba .'.aa - ssraEuwi -j-. t.t ay1.
wttiiilmi ii if iiMiis.wffinn i i rrifflHraMWiiiiiaii ''i'lmWnmm t . ;& .-
feF '
i SagS.
-&n-
WALKING INTO
By Roy
w
ALKING northward toward evening
over the new Alexandila road, one
makes a dramatic descent Into the love
liest city In all the western world. On the
right, as one makes his way to the peak
of the hill that fronts the gieen acres ot
Arlington, the three curious spindly towers
of the wireless plant loom up with their
open network nf stays and wing bracings,
the first hint of that new world hpiilt which
bows neither to space nor time In the new
earth of which this shimmering city In the
valley beems destined to be a spiritual
capital.
THE road dips a little the towers of
Arlington ate half sunk behind the
cemetery hill on which the new amphl
theatie of white marble looms. The lights,
are on down In the valley, though one may
still see the giaceful dome and spreading
wings of the Capitol, clear byt pcaily blue
In the thin evening haze that has fallen
over the city. The lighted dome of the
library is behind It, the clocks on the old
postofllce tower, and below these an In
finitude of shimmering points, a field of
Wesselton diamonds, blue and sparkling
through the mellow evening air.
Lights indeed this evening in a thou
sand spots where till the year of the great
war the city would have been dark and
deserted lights from long rows of office
windows where a few months ago were the
tall, dark elms and maples of parks and
pleasure grounds.
As we dip further Into the valley toward
the Totomac bridge the acres of blue-mercury
lamps In the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing grow almost too dazzling for
comfort, but wo can still bee behind and
Above them the tall and majestic obelisk
through .which the nation was Inspired to
do honor to the memory of George AVash
Ington. FOR, despite the cheap sneer that the
Victorian taste of Arnold Bennett
directed against the Washington Monu
ment, that old shaft remains for daring
the supreme daring of absolute simplicity
the finest memorial effort of the modern
world for any of Its great dead. In the
early morning when In quivering bloes
and grays It lifts against a warmer sky,
at midday when In the full brilliance of a
southern sun it stands golden against the
blues of the summer sky, In the evening
when it rises dim and almost impalpable
between one and tho stars. In all these
aspects It has been an influence an in
spiration to all who have looked on it.
That out of the half hundred florid de
signs submitted for the monument this one
should have been selected at a time when
it is popularly believed the level of Ameri
can public taste was distressingly low was
.almost an esthetic, miracle,
AMONG American towers I know of only
two that are at all worthy to com
pare with this shaft in Washington, that
show American taste risen to an equality
with American daring and American'
power. These two are, that much-praised
Woolworth Building the supreme modern
embodiment of1 the Gothic dream and the
tower of the City Hall of Philadelphia,
whose splendid proportions, whose majesty
and whose remarkable beauty of color;
no., longer). UirMttut
- -- Z- !tir -irT"-- ''.'-'-'. ...-----"-,.""' ..,- w--..iJk&.
almk.'i WWyWUl.wMJHW..
CLANK!
t.i .. -.aija.
' vim, VI?" 'j'. ii, xiMV '
WASHINGTON
Helton
paint, render it unique among the tall
buildings of the world.
It Is n somewhat sad reflection on the
achievements of American art that the
development of any national feeling in mat
ters of taste and beauty has so sadly lagged
behind our power to express taste and
beauty in conciete, steel or stone. Our re
cent public buildings seem to me not at all
Inferior to lecent European buildings, but
that is not enough.
The buildings we are now ci eating will
endure for many hundred years. They
will be our landmarks for posterity and are
now our permanent greeting to the rest of
the world today and tomorrow.
Theiefore I believe they ought to be
American.
"UR building sciences are American,
our energy is American, our power to
create, to achieve dauntlessly Panama
Canals, Woolworth towers, undeterred by
any failure of the past Is surely, wholly
American. But we shall never be a great
people until our art, our aichitecture, our
sense of the beautiful Is also wholly our
own.
Perhaps the most significant example
and surely the most tragic In the history
of American art of the failure of great
artists to sense In any fashion the ideals of
America Is the new Lincoln Memorial in
the city of Washington. As we come Into
town In the evening Its huge and Impies
slve mass seems to hover over the water
like a second Parthenon.
For the Lincoln Memorial Is a remark
able building, beautifully planned, located
with masterly art, a delight to the eye, If
anything a bit over artful in curve of line,
in the elimination of hardness, but alas!
a thing surely and pitiably wrong and false
as our country's great tribute to our coun
try's finest man.
Has Amerioa nothing of her own to give
to the typical, the undying product of her
own life, of her own thought?
TTERE at the end of a triumphant
- century all we have to offer this man,
and to present at the supreme opportunity.
Is copy work, skilled stonemason crafts
manship, reproductions from Doric Greek
temples built thousands of years ago by
the people ot a small Mediterranean city
whose fteemen numbered 20,000 souls.
What has Lincoln to do with their
Parthenon? Lincoln was born in. a log
cabin In the State of Kentucky and lived
and died on the soil of America. He was
less Influenced by European thought or by
Doric tradition than any great statesman
that ever lived. Yet we Americans In a
moment of colossal stupidity have allowed
the memory of this man whd showed us
what American soil could do with Ameri
can blood to be entangled In the academic
traditions of conventional art.
T)ERHAPS it is not without significance
r
that of the States whose names are
deeply cut into the marble above the en
trance way of the great memorial the.
States of Lincoln's birth and of his man
hood are around 'somewhere to the side,
while centered over the doorway on a par
ticularly white slab of yule marble Is the
name of Massachusetts. I do not regret
that the State Intellectual should be so
honored yet one wonders why. Surely the
w lWiwmw'ym.
S-.-JAdBEi'.
1I11H
-sfMnnCf fi'n ' f , v - -'j,j q)fu- SfJi '"$?
:&
'.ifi
d.. SI
. -Trvl
. Jl'J:vltt, -wai
y&
iA j kv.' yj
CORN
TNJUNS glowed It before we come,
- Fattcnln' up In the fall o' the year
'Gainst the winter of snow and cold
On the succulent milk of the roastin' ear.
When rlnened nt Ihe harvest. limn
They cracked the grains In a bowl 'of Mj
wood, ?
Inventln" hominy for us to use.
An' glvln' the 'world nnother food.
The yaller meal, like flour of gold, i
Is a product rich and rare
Nothln' like the light corn bread
To fill out a bill o' fare.
I love to see the tassels bloom
In armies over the field,
And know that every acre adds
Sixty bushels to the yield! '
Don C. Seltz. Jn "Farm Voices."
; -a?
I READER'S VIEWPOINT j
In Defense of Labor .
To the Editor of the Evening Public Ledgtr: ; .
Sir In yesterday's papers there appeared
an ad asking mechanics to stick to their
Jobs and claiming that the discontent of
labor and Its shifting around Is due to Hun i
propaganda. However, we hae the state
ment ot the war labor board In Washing
ton that the remedy fo this condition s'
to be found only in the standardization of
wages.
Not only would this stabilize' the labor',
market, hut the production of war material"
would Increase at least 40 per cent, You can- i
not blame a skilled man, with the cost of liv
ing continually mounting, for trying to 1m
proe hlsVcondltlon. ,
A MECHANIC.
Philadelphia, August 1, ty
Destructive Don Davs .'"'?
To the Editor of the Evening Public Ledger:!
Sir The other day a citizen wrote you a
letter which you published under the title
"Do Dogs Eat Cucumbers?" He seemedU
to think It foolish to suspect dogs of robbing ,
our gardens.
An enemy alien dog came from a farm
above us and ate all the ripe grapes day . ,
after day. He stood up so as to reach theti
highest (four feet) bunches. I saw him. My.iiA
wife saw him. We did not want to shoot hlnv"!
or have the enmity of our German neighbors,, .
so we only protested HOWARD BREEJ3. ' v
Center Square, Pa , August 1.
What Do You Know?
I?
QUIZ
1, Who I nentnil Otxoutte?
Z. Where la DatamT
3. What U the French national anthem?
4. What la mrant bx "the llan'a share"?
5. What la the capital of Tenia?
j1
L'l
A. Who la Major flen.rnl Jam., n lf..lw.i
ortf ,-. '
7. What It Ih "Malthualan doctrine"? "i"3.
. Whlrh la Ih. "Tltr of nraih.rl. 1....( . .:'-'
0. What la the Irarnil of Mahomet's coffin? '.,
10. Whs aid, "(orncllle la to Bhakeipean aa ''
cIlDDvd hedce ! to a fonat"? - V
Answers to Yesterday's Qui j'Al
,1. General von I.iiricndoi-IT la tenrrallr rrttllta&J
Willi neinx tile unite rmei or ine tavrau
crnrral Mn. 'ulthninh hU apnolntm
naa nrter uecn connrmen orriclallr,
2. "DIiit"! n aohrlquct o? Ilenjamln War
iiaiM-inaii, r.ari oi iieaconsnein ana
mler of Great llrltaln.
3. Major (Irncrul Omar Ilundr la In command "i
i-niira mate iroopa in ine aiarne aalM
II haa Juat been named command! of i
of tho nonlr formed American corps,.
4. "Kin Rolomon'a Mlnea"t a romanca (,.
5. Chalons, an Important French tltr near
M.pn.. Ih. lnt.rae.llon nnlnt A ..M.
rail warn about tbtrtr milea aeatktwat'.a
Rhelmi.
6, Atlanta la the' capital and larteet enr J
Georgia. U.V
1, Ftorlferounei the flonrrlna capacity (H
pinni, uanniir in in. aenae or numarauw
8. nuUset ateim a form of zovernmantal I
Inn in. men rinrnqiiurrs are met
n nrevljua aiatematlcaUr ralrulat4
m.ni Ol l "no-, i.nncmrfi io ma ap
lien si.irm. in nnirn minp
rroprUteU and txpendltarta
from;
.. M. A.
IW-ta the
VH
. '