i"0i" "H EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER- PHILADELPHIA, MOtoA, DECEMBER 10 W! , l "-wl"vw -vTwWfW5fwiwwv-'".. - r niwyii" TT-f nrr.gpBmpHMHpaBHWi 15, 1919 - ' - 1 . 1' i lEuening "public Eefcgcc rUBLIC LEDGER COMPANY , CTTIUS It. K. CURTIS, rnEdlBI.1T . Hiarlft Jt. t,uHnrton. Vlca PiMldsnH John C. Martin. Secretary and Treuurer: Philip S. lolllnt, Jahn B. Williams, John J. Spurtton, Director EDITOntAI. BOAHDl Cries It. K. CmTts. Chairman PA.VID E. SMItT naitor JOHN C. MAtlTIN' ... Central nu.lnm JUnawr rublnhfd dally at rcnt.10 LeIkjek . Itulldlne. inaepMiuence square, rnuaaeipina. ATIIMIW 1111.... nw oik DiTnoir, . ,ht, Lena C'utCiQo, .PrfjA.L'nirm TlulldlnM ..200 Metropolitan Tower 701 ford nulldln ..tons Fullerton Hulldlni; . .130- TfilMlie jjuuairr nisws bureaus. WaantVDTo". Itafiv, N. t:. for. Pennsylvania Ar. ind 1 'th SI. New Yotik nrnr.il' Tho Mm UulldlnB Lomhjm Dunt London ,7m SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Th Krcvivn l'l'BMO Lamm t afrV-d to aub acrlbera In Philailf-lphla and rjrroundlng towns at. the rate of twelve (1B cents pr week, vuabto Hi mall o'polnta outtl-Je of Philadelphia. In the I'nlted Stats. Canada, or t'nlted State poi-t-Kalmia, postaa-e free, fifty r0 tenti per month. Bit if"! dollar rw J-ear. pajablatn advance. i"ii all forelcn cou'ilrlta on !1) dollar r-T Noticb Puberlber t-lvhlns' addrera rhancM imut the old an v. ell a n'tr adcirea. Bat. 30C9 TAI.MT KEYSTONE. MAIN SOeO C? Jrtdrew oil oommmitc-af'ona to ?ien(nj Publlo t.edorr nrfeiendence Swarr. f'Mladrlpnlu. ."Member of the Associated Press Tin; .ssoci.riw riirss u exciv- ttvety entitled to the use for republication Of all tinrj dispatches errdllrd f" U or not otherwise credited In thli piper, and also the local tines pubUihcd therein. Ml rights of republication of special dis patches herein arc also reserved. rhlladelpliU, Mnmlir. tlrrrmbfr IS. l"l NOW FOR INJUNCTIONS! GOVERNOR SPROUL and the Dela ware britlRe commissions', hopefully and sincerely as they talk, have yet one certain obbtnelo to overcome before they can (jet their work fairly under v. ay. No one ever attempted anything worth while in Philadelphia without colliding sooner or later with a taxpayer aimed with an injunction. Trolleys, telephones, the Parkway, public improvements of all sorts have been achieved against the will of injunction-potters. It is too much to suppose that the Camden bridge project will get by unchallenged. But it will get by. A HUMORIST FOR CONGRESS? WHY should E. J. Cattell, who wastes x much of his talent in the office of city statistician, laugh so loudly at the suggestion that he run for Congress? Mr. Cattell might not take great wisdom to the House. But he is a humorist, and if ever a humorist was needed in Con gress one is needed now. jierc, for example, is the strange group that repealed the daylight-saving bill stirring For new activities. These mem bers, with a pious finger still on the pulse of the agricultural voter, gravely propose laws to restrict tho passage of city 'newspapers through the mails. Their concern is for the country publisher who dislikes competition. When Congress finally resolves to limit train service in order to encourage coun try trolley lines, when it prohibits coal shipments to keep the price of firewood up and forbids the mailing of books in order to encourage budding genius on tho farm and puts a ban on pianos with a view to a revival of the art of per forming on the jew's-harp of the hin terland, we shall need a humorist in Congress to make the Washington spec tacle even tolerable. FIGHTING JERSEY'S GOVERNOR pLECTION contests are not popular in -J America unless there is in the back ground pretty definite evidences of de liberate fraud. The dry leaders in New Jersey who propose formally to ques tion the election of Mr. Edwards to the governorship claim merely that a sum in excess of the ?25,000 permitted by law was spent in his behalf. Doubtless they are thinking of the publicity campaign conducted by wets favorable to Mr. Edwards. It is questionable whether the Anti Saloon League has even the beginnings of a case, since it is difficult under the law to estimate or limit the sums which the friends of a candidate may spend in election preliminaries. The drys appar ently intend merely to identify Mr. Edwards definitely with liquor. But, since Edwards made no secret of his an tagonism to absolute prohibition, the drys will make a mistake if they ask the people of New Jersey to spend good money to prove what everybody already knows. CHRISTMAS WILL BE MERRIER fpHE removal of restrictions on the use of light and heat follows the settle ment of the coal strike without delay. Business may now resume its normal course and every business man may get as much coal as he can induce any one to sell to him. Or he may use the supply he has on hand, confident that -within two or three weeks it will be possible for him to renew it according to his needs. Now it is possible for us all to enter tho season of Christmas holidays in a cheerful mood and at night to go about the streets festive with the usual display of lights making attractive tho show windows of tho shops, gay with gifts awaiting transfer from the mer chants to the recipients. SHRUGGING OFF THE RAILROADS TF THE President, despite the inaction - of Congress, carries out his announced urpose to turn the railroads back to tliijir owners on Jnnuary 1 without proper financial provision and protection, he is likely to precipitate a condition of con fusion and panic which by its disastrous magnitude will dwarf the industrial dis turbances of the last few months, great us they were. Without some guarantee of rates high enough to meet the increased wages paid by the government, there Is hardly a railroad company in the country that could escape bankruptcy. Their ability to pay dividends would be destroyed and many of them could not even pay tlid interest on their bonds. This would mean disaster to savings banks and in surance companies, for these institutions which serve the men and women of mod erate means hare invested largely in railroad bonds. TJje, protection of the railroads cort- corns not tho capitalist nlonc. It comes right home to tho plain people. Lack of it will directly threaten their savings. Congress will adjourn over tho Chiist mas holidays so that there remain only ten days for action. Senator LaKollctte has been occupying several days of the time of the Senate with a speech airing his views on the importance of chastis ing the men who own the railroads. There is no knowing how much tnorr time will be taken up with similar talk. Tho prospect of the passage of any satisfactory and worknblo vailrond law before January 1 is so slight that cvciy one familiar with tho conditions is hop ing that the President will await action by Congress, even though he sees lit to make none but generalized recommenda tions for a solution. The. administration cannot shunt tho burden with a shrug of the shoulder. EUROPE'S FAVOR TO REVISIONS FOCUSES THE BLAME ON US , Only Political Perversity Now Stands In j the Way of a Compromise Insuring the Passage of the Treaty I OPPOSITION lu a meiitorious cause , -' is sometimes it means of dcinonstrut- ; ing iU worth and inspiring its chain- ' pious. The peace treaty is a case in point. Fresh from lb'- hands of its makers in June. 191!), it was said to have satisfied nobody. Hut, as tho chorus of detrac tion swelled, the very exaggeration of it gave to saner champions of a world to bo remade a sense of realities. It was evident that tho treat j was a good deal like the climate. The average mortal, bound t" his environment by in dissoluble tie., mint accept it or cease to exist. And bo these ci itics of the pact, originally displeased because it did not attain perfection, came to a realization that, whatever its faults, it was indis pensable. Hostility, which took a sensational and unreasoning form, unquestionably united the friends of the document and increased their number. Borah, John son or Reed on tho rampage exercised a profoundly sobering elfcct on hyporcrit icism. Although the treaty, technically speaking, lies "dead" in the Senate, it is safe to say that it never had so nianv ad vocates as at this moment. Similar events, although moie cilcd, have taken place abroad' It has been reported, and perhaps with considerable truth, that prevailing sentiment in Euro pean official circles was unfavorable to the league covenant which was inextrica bly bound up in the treaty. Doubtless there were cynical diplomatists who hoped that American opposition would kill a program making for disarmament and the end of the balance of power system. Realities, however, have been admin istered in large doses abroad since last summer. The pound, the franc and the lire have been parachuting toward eco nomic chaos. Bolshevism is not throttled. B. P. Kospoth, foreign correspondent of this newspaper, declares that it is ad vancing with alarming speed. The antidote for it is not merely a pol icy of espionage and arrests, but the co hesion of the best elements in civiliza tion in a definite reconstruction program. Ratification of the treaty will end one of the most dangerous interregnums in all history. The indorsement, if one sided, will be futile. The co-operation of the United States is absolutely im perative to repair the tragic mischief wrought by the woild war. It is vital to Europe's interests, selfish as well as idealistic, that America become a part ner in the treaty. So pressing, indeed, is the necessity that convincing rumors are now abroad indicating that reservations which we may make to the treaty will be received in a spirit of tolerance. The Matin, hints that Senate recommendations, unless too truculently perverse, will be accepted. There are sound reasons 'for believing that this prominent Paris journal speaks with authority. Its editor, Stephen Lau zanne, was a special representative of the French Government in this country during the war, and is admittedly in close touch with diplomatic affairs. John W. Davis, American ambassador in London, has been visiting Downing street, where Premiers Lloyd George and Clemenceau have been in conference. It begins to look as if that momentous document were worth a few sacrifices. Europe is seemingly willing to make its share. Europe hopes for eventual agree ment on the subject; prefers it, whether on grounds of self-interest or not, to un derground intrigues and the formulation of imperialistic projects. Presumably the values in the case have been care fully appraised, and the new regime, even with American provisos, is found prefer able to tho old one with its shadows of industrial wreck, financial degradation, revolution and anarchy. In other words, common ,ense is prevailing. It warrants imitation in tho United States. Here, also, it will entail sacri fices, but not of anything vital. Politi cal jockeying must be renounced politi cal vanity and obstinacy and political playing for points. With these factors eliminated temporarily permanent re form would involve the remaking of man the treaty can indisputably be re vived and passed and the wishes of the vast majority of the citizens of this re public be gratified. The prime responsibility rests upon the President. His original stand may have been sincerely taken. Perhaps the mood of Europe when Mr. Wilson left Paris was distinctly unfavorable tq any American iMmuriug wim me treaty, how ever trifling or well intended. But the solvent of time has been working. What the foreign ministries were thinking six months ago is conceivably quite dif ferent from the color of their thoughts today. It may be also that the rejection of the treaty 'in the Senate exercised an illuminating influence abroad. Mr. Wil son and the friends of the treaty in both parties would, of course, have in finitely preferred its immediate adop tion. But it is at least arguable that the President's recent policy of Inac tivity on the subject may have been directed quite as much at Europe as at America. Europe has had time to con sider the case and weigh tho perils and promises of her position. In nnj event, the President can no longer afford to make himself and his party responsible for a stagnation pol icy unless he is desirous of going on rtcortl as hostile to the very pact of wticlt lie was hu ardent a champion. The time for personal pique, political Muff ing and an olntinale blinking or facts i.s past. The latest statement from the While House is the wrong approach to the theme. Whether reservations to the treaty ate actually needful or not. the nation, as a whole, would like to see them mnde and would like to see the document adopted. It has no longing for rcsolu-tioii- that are deliberately offensive and there is no reason why any such ill-tem-peied challenges .should be forthcoming. What Is needed is u pionipt revival of action on the treaty and the formation of some compromise plan on which con cord can bo reached. The average citizen, unblindcd by par tisanship, is assuredly more eager for tho present situation to be ended than ho is to sec points scored by cither Dem ocrats or Republicans. In a matter of such imposing char acter, gler- or dismay as to the final ic tory or defeat of Mr. Wilson, Mr. Lodge, Mr. Mct'umber or Mr. Hitchcock is of trifling significance. The only individuals who will be depressed or exalted by the manner in which the treaty i.s passed will bo the politicians. They have already overplayed their hands and the nation is wear of the sorry game. Europe w becoming conciliatory nnd is thinking constructively. The obliga tion on our statesmen is similar. AN ORDINANCE OF CONFUSION rpiiu enforcement of tho dayllght- saving ordinance of Councils will bring about complications which were not foreseen when it was signed by the Mayor. The ordinance changes the legal time for this city for the period of several months beginning in March. But the legal' time for the whole state is fixed by statute, which went into force in April, 1887. That statute declares that the mean solar time of the .seventy-fifth meridian of longitude west of Green wich, commonly called eastern time, "shall be the sole and uniform legal standard of time throughout this com monwealth." This is why, in the extreme western part of the state, where the railroads are run on central time, the municipal time remains an hour earligr, or eastern time. All legal business is done on the time of the statute. There is a saving clause in the law which permits business to be done on a different time standard, provided there is specific agreement to that effect. The municipal ordinance cannot re'peal the general law. It can put the clocks ahead an hour, but all court transactions and all business deals and all municipal af fairs must be conducted according to the legal standard unless the parties to each transaction agree on a different stand ard. All sorts of complications are likely to arise unless the ordinance is re pealed, for it is inconceivable that every business man would have forethought enough to put in his agreements a pro vision that they were to be enforced in accordance with municipal rather than with state time. There was no such con fusion with the national daylight-saving law, for an act of Congress supersedes an act of the commonwealth. A Red Cross sent can Natural History Note be trninod to do stunts that arc "perfectly wonderful" such as cleaning streets, build IiiB sanitary houses, inventing scientific ap pliances, discovering scientific fucts, caring for the hick, feeding the hungry nnd a thou sand nnd one other things designed to benefit humanity. Kvery man, woman and child should at once become the posse-sor of a Hock or a drove or a sl.oal nr n school or a herd or a stuck or a bundle of tnme seals. Not the least nmazing More Uencrals Needed of the sardonic para doxes marking the war's aftermath is the existence in England particularly, nnd in a lesser degree else where, of an ncute unemployment problem nt a time when the world faces famine be cause of lack of production. What is needed more than anything else just now is a few great generals in the economic field to say to uppronehing Want, "Thou shalt not pass!" The national checker A Thrilling Game tournament between the wets and the drys has its thrills. There have been many shrewd moves, one or two huffs and an oc casional man in the king row. Hut the one big moment in the game is now at hand. The time for shilly-shallying, in the draw corners is past. The wets' last move took the, ruse into court. The next move must either sweep the dry board or the sideboard. .Sir Charles l'arsous, No 1'ower to I'uglish engineer, says I'revent Trouble that by boring a hole several miles in depth in the earth's crust sufficient energy may be tapped to lurnisn an inc motive power of the world. With generating power plants operated by natural steam, coal strikes will have no terrors but, of course, that doesn't say that the engineers mnj not go on strike. It is right that the operators and miners should settle their differences for themselves, To paraphrase Gilbert: The problem nil sublime they'll solve, we'll bet a dime, And make the recompense fit the time, the recompense fit the time j And worth with wisdom blent nchieTe" with shrewd intent A source of innocent merriment, of Inno cent merriment The innocent merriment, of course, being caused by the increased prices the public will have to puy. An aching tooth awakened n local man in time to save him from n burning house. If this bad been an economic case instead of a pcrsooal ouo a party would be at once started with a platform urging that steps be taken at once to make all teeth ache. The poet who put the pig in the parlor had vision. lie was looking ahead to the Varlor Bolshevist. Here and there arc Indications that rest and unrest hkve become synonyms. IRRESPONSIBLE MESSING WITH THE CONSTITUTION ' Governor Sproul's Commission De nounccd at an Invasion of the nights of the People of Pennsylvania potJ.OM'IS'O is a letter icorlh the serious roMiiilrrdfioii of Governor Sproul, At tornri) liencral hivhafjer and the tteentii-five tallies nnd gentlemen comprising the com iriiftii'ui on rri'faion of the state constitution holding sessions from time to time at Han is lurg. ft iras submitted 6) Itobert llraunnn, a irell-hnoirn member of the Philadelphia bar, a former assistant city solicitor and a prominent journalist of this city. It raises a number of extremely pertinent questions and should challenge attention and ansiccr by the attorney general. To tt.r I ttitor nf fft EvrvAng I'uWio l.tdvcr: Sir Did the Legislature and the Gov ernor of l'ennsjlvnnin create the constitu tion of this commonwealth or did the con stitution create the Legislature mid the Governor? It seems that the Legislature and the Gov ernor entertain the notion that they are the creators of the constitution. The former has authorized nnd tho latter bus appointed ii select commission of twentj-ilve men and women to revise the constitution, ntid that commission has now organized nnd entered upon the work of framing a new constitution for the people of the state. Rut where do the Legislature and the Governor derive the power to delegate to a commission of citizens the right to revise and to recommend changes in the funda mental law of the commonwealth? The constitution of Pennsylvania is the child of nil the people. It had its birth in tlie sovereign will of the electors nt the conimoiiwdillh. Nowhere in that instru liienl mi there be found an grant of power to the Legislature nail the Governor to dele gate to any body of citizens uuthority to re vise or to recommend a revision of its liowers. it i.s perfectly true that the people have in thir constitution granted to the General Assembly all of the legislative power of the commonwealth, but it is also true that they have, in the article on amendments, limited to the Legislature itself the right to sub mit to them for their approval amendments to their constitution. The power of amend ing the constitution is therefore not included in the general powers of legislation granted to the (iciicinl As-trmbl. That power is the subject of a sepurnte article, and the Gen eral Assembly must look to that article for its power to name such a commission as it has mithoried. 'The article on amendments to the constitution contains no such grant of power. It gives to the Legislature, and to the Legislature nlone, under certain specified regulations, the right to submit amendments to the people for their approval. And that i.s as it should be in n represen tative government. The people, having es tablished nnd ordained the constitution, have thus provided that they can, through their own representatives in the Legislature, sub mit to themselves any changes in the or ganic law which they maj deem to be neces sar.v. Thus have they kept in their own hands the power over their organic law. Rut the Legislature and the Governor, in giving that constitution into the hands of a commission of twenty-live citizens for revis ion or amendment, have, to that extent, usurped the power of tho people. They have delegated a power which the people vested in them alone, as their direct representa tives, to n body of citizens who are not re sponsible to the people and who do not rep resent the people, inasmuch as they have had no voice in their selection. As one of the members of the commission has very truly said, "it is an unusual and unpre cedented" body which the Legislature and the Governor have created to revise the con stitution. Hut I venture to assert that it is also an unconstitutional body. The fact that its recommendations nre to be mnde to the Legislature and will have no force or effect until they are approved by the people does not relieve it of its un constitutional character. For it is to be re membered that a constitutional convention authorized by the people, and whoso dele gates arc chosen directly by the people, has no-greater powers than have been delegated by the Legislature to this commission. The work of such n convention when completed must be submitted to the people for their approval before It can become effective. This constitutional commission of Governor Sproul is, therefore, a legislative substitute for a people's constitutional convention. It proposes to do everything that n constitu tional convention could do with the single exception that it submits its report to the Legislature, whereas a convention would re port directly to the people. ' Now what reasons nre advanced to justify this, "unusual and unprecedented" and, as I hold, unconstitutional method of revising the constitution? Well, it is urged that it would be "un safe" to allow the people, in their present stnte of mind, to choose representatives to a convention to revise the constitution. It is argued that there is too much radicalism among the people; that discontent and un rest have unsettled their sane and sober judg ment. Therefore it is necessary to select a few cool and wise heuds from this great mass of discontent and intrust them with the power to revise the fundamental law for the turbulent majority. It is, of course, part of the plan, as now announced, that, the peo ple shall be permitted to hold a convention after they havo quieted down and become once again normal to consider the work of the wise men and women. Such is the argument for the "unusual, unprecedented" and, as I believe, uncon stitutional nction of tfie Legislature and the Governor. That nrgument is no justification for the creation of this constitutional com mission. The facts of history answer that nrgument so incontrovertibly that they need only to be stated to completely demolish it. Since the independence of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania there have been four con stitutions adopted. The first was adopted lu the midst of the Revolution, a little more than a month after the Declaration of Inde pendence. It was a time of unrest, excite ment and turbulence, and jet that constitu tion contained the Hill of Bights under which we enjoy our liberties today. Tho next was the constitution of 1700, the con vention having met in 1780, during the first yenrif the life of the present federal gov ernment. It was a time of unrest and turmoil, nnd the convention was preceded by riots in the city of Philadelphia, where it was held. Tho state council, whioso duty it was to call tho convention, refused to do so unci the J Legislature of that day usurped the power f and authorized a convention to alter the constitution, me next constitution was that of 1838, and the convention which adopted it sat in the panic yenr of 1837. And any one who has read the debates of the convention of 1873, which framed the present consti tution, will be put hard to it to say that opinion today is more radical than were those advanced in that convention. The peo ple of that day were buffering under the ac cumulated evils which followed the Civil War and which finally culminated in the panic of 1873. It is therefore an historical fact that every one of the four constitutions which the state has bad since its Independence was adopted by the people in a period of unrest I sad turbukmcc, The SMMftt tst$ of nni''iiiihi m ? , mm ran WKBmmi 4 mi mm m mi SaBRr -m -- AWS& THE CHAFFING DISH MEDITATIONS IN PORT By William McFee (Special Correspondent of The Chaffing Dish) S. S. Xurrialba, New York, Dec. 10, 1010. TUSED to be the only man iu England who did not privately entertain the conviction lie could write a play. I never did thluk so, which is why I have never written one. Stay, I did an operetta culled i'n'iicc f7i!o rophyll, in which the Green Spirit of Spring is identified with the figure of Romance in the blood and personified ns a benutiful young prince. However, none of the pub lishers or musicians bad ever heard of chlo rophyll, so it got lost. A friend in Ens and who had it says (when he is in town), Oh. it must bo in my desk in the couufry. When I get him in the country he says, "Well, I suppose it's in my desk nt the i public mind is no different from thnt of the people of Pennsylvania in '70, in '8'.), in or in '73. It affords no justification what ever to the Legislature and the Governor to withhold from the people "their inherent right to alter, reform or abolish their gov ernment" and to substitute therefor an irre sponsible commission of citizens to prepare a constitution for the whole people. When I say an "Irresponsible commission I do not wish to be understood as reflecting upon the pctsons who comprise that commission. 1 speak of it as being irresponsible for the reason that it Is about to revise the work of the people without any direct authority from the people or without nny direct responsi bility to the people. The constitution ns it now exists is the direct voice of tho people. It speaks the people's will to every department of govern ment. Yet this commission, without the people's direct consent, is undertaking to alter the voice of the people with regard to their rights, their liberties and their gov ernment, tt It Is an innovation iu constitution-making that should challenge the attention and the serious consideration of the free men of Pennsylvania. It strikes at the foundation of all their liberties inasmuch as it infringes upon their sovereignty. Jt violates thnt principle enumerated in the Bill of Rights which declares that "all power is inherent In tho people," for It assumes tlio power to alter even the people's Bill of Rights with out ever having received from the people directly the authority to revise that or nny j other article In tuc constitution. The Supreme Court of the state is open. It is the people's refuge when the Legis lature and the executive overstep their con stitutional powers. Its authoritative and final judgment should be had upon the act by which the Legislature has authorized and tho Governor bus appointed the "unusual and unprecedented" commission to revise the constitution. The question involved is far too important for the people servilely to acquiesce in the action of the Legislature and the Governor. It is by tame submission to such innovations upon their rights aud liberties that free peo ple are ultimately enslaved by the power of government. When, therefore, the freo peo ple of Pennsylvania hnvo notice that this innovation has been introduced because the men whom they intrusted with the power of government feel thnt it would not now be safe to allow them to exercise their sovereign right to hold a convention, it behooves them to defend their sovereignty by every lawful means. It is their constitution that has been enmmltted into the hands of a commission for alteration and change. It is tbclr rights and their liberties and their government that that commission is to deal with. And they will only prove themselves worthy of the great blessings of liberty which they have inherited from their forefathers if they shall resist with all of their power this first at tempt to take from them their inherent right to a voice, through representatives of their own choosing, in any body which is created by law to reform or alter their constitution. JXOBI3RT BRANNAN. rallcWiia, Dtemler12. , .. - e V "READY?" i f Dftl MOT H lint." And so I have lost that deathless masterpiece. 1 say deathless, for somehow or other n SIS. which is no good always conies up grubby and smiling when the years huvo fledf' I use the lyrics nowaday, when young ladies ask ine to write in their keep sake books. They nre nstounded nt my fa cility in writing impromptu, nnd I don't let ou. I can never get anybody on the ship to think me clever, so I linve to vamp up n Hull adulation among those charming people who live ashore nnd don't know me well enough to discover the flaws in the easting. I CAME across a curious case of self hypnotism flic other day. (No, this isn't a drinking story.) One of the shore gang of mechanics was loafing on a job nnd I got on to him, which is my job. He not only de clined to recognize me ns having any juris diction, but he referred jjnrkly to what I used to do in New Orleans. "I hoard all about you working the crowd off their feet down in New Orleans before the war. You won't do it to me." "Well," I said, "I want to get the job done quick." "Yes," he said, "you've got that bloody limcjuice idea of rushing things. It don't go here." "Are you an American?" I inquired. "Yes, Jhank God, I am," ho asseverated piously. Well, I went up and got him fired, of course, nnd he is now brooding upon tho queer fate which dogs his footstcfis cyery where. I nsked the superintendent: "He says he's an American. I'm sorry for that." "American!" says he with a snort. "He got bis final papers lust week and he was bom in Wnpping and never saw the United States until the war started!" Tho boss wnrned me at the same time, saying: "Mind, Mac, you won't get men to work the same ns you used to." Sailor Blanc for "British." . ' "ITC7HAT I want to know is, Is this periua- ' nent? Are we slowing up? More im portant still, nro we to have no more of thnt doing a job because you are fond of it? These men nowndnys who nro getting pro digious wnges and all sorts of fine things said about them by governments and employ ers seem to Lave no heart. They have no nervous energy. What you call pep, 1 sup pose. The force that makes n thing go through in a sort of regulated frenzy, a passlonnte desire to sec it done nnd done with n conscientious adherence to the way you were taught. No, any old way will do. Anything to get out of tho toil nnd trouble of life. We have got to a pitch when it is nil trade union and no trade. Three-quarters of the people who are shouting about trnde unionism nre not what we call "trndesmen" ; thnt Is, a man who has been apprenticed to and knows his trade. I don't believe the union leaders nre blind to this. They are aware that this spirit of gloomy inertia which is hanging over many of tho men is bad for them in tho.loiig run. My own explanation is that they have discov ered to their amazement nnd consternation that merely getting big wages docs nothing to make them any happier. I hnvo a queer idea that after this Bolshevik business has died away there will bo a great revival of piety and simple faith. I do really. I be lieve men, in say ten years' time, will begin to tire of all this ceaseless material pros, pcrity. There will, of course, bo saints, and drinking songs and good ale, and monas teries where bachelors cau get a little peace, nnd no doubt we shall have martyrs burning brightly in the market place. Aud you nnd I will beat up tho watch aud hear the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow, B' thing in Pepys' Diary the other day. He goes to a play and is impressed chiefly by the sweetness of the wind music "when the angel comes down," nnd be uses these re markable words: "so Ewect It did ravish me, and Indeed In a word, did wrap up my soul so that It 'mad w rally stole, Just as I hv U ' formerly been when In love with my wife." Now isn't that nearer the mark than about 700 pages of "Sinister Street" or eighteen volumes of Arnold Bennett's pottery works? More nnou. I hnve just had u couple of egg sandwiches and a pint of "cauffee" sent in, which is my lunch. WILLIAM McFEE. Desk Mottoes The human mind Is capable of being excited without the application of, gross and violent stimulants. WOIIDSWOHT1I. Five Christmas poems have already reached us containing the rhyme "holly jolly." That was already an old rhyme when Shakespeare bung up his stocking; nnd our conviction is thnt John G. Whitticr er trnctcd the last 'possible nourishment out of it. Into the basket I One of tho things we would like to see In the New Year's parade would be a line-up of all the gracious damosels who have been lensed in the back-page Beauty Corner, per sonally led by flic genial editor of that fea ture, our own Harry L. Wittmau, past grand archon of pulchritude-pickers. It was supposed that Santa Clans had given us peace as a Christmas present a year ago. But the statesmen liuven't got all the red tape off the package even yet. A little peevishness must be excused this week. We arc trying to write our annual Christmas sermon about good will and kind liness. SOCRcVTBS. What Do You Know? QUIZ 1. Name two of tho most destructive earth quakes of the last half century. 2. What tropic line is crossed in passint fromKey West to Havana? 3. How many states have ratified the wnmnn suffrage amendment? A IITU. ..... TTnnn.inn In Alneetf.nl ntt.nl ' ogy? 5. When was the present calendar adopted? 0. Who was Fra Diavolo? 7. What is Satsuma.ware? 8. What is the meaning of the word Sat urday? Name two long narrative poems by Shakespeare. Whnt is an endemic disease? U 10 'Answers to Saturday's Quiz 1. Giuscppo Motta is tho newly clecttd president of Switzerland. 2. St. Paul is the capital o4f Minnesota. 3. Cleopatra is said to have been about , forty-eight at tho timo of her liaison with Mare Antony. 4. James A. Garfield was President of tho United Statin for a little more than six months. He was inaugu rated on March -1, 1881, and died on September 10, 1881. C, Tho Hellenists were those who used the Greek language, but were not Greeks. The word also describes Greek scholars. fl. A nenuphar Is a water Illy. 7. VaudeviUc is "a corruption of "Vai Vire," or in old French "Vau d.'. VIrc," the native valley of Oliver Basselln, a Norman poet, founder of n certain class of convivial songs which he called after his own val ley. These songs were the basis of a type of entertainment which de- vcloped into Jths modern vnudevills. 8. Cockburn Is pronounced In England as though It were spelled "Co-burn," 0, The word plaza, if Anglicized, should be pronounced as it is spelled. It was originally Spanish, and in that lan guage it is souu'ded as though it were spelled "platha." "Platsa" is ab solutely incorrect, for it luvolres the ltuliau bound of "." The Italian form of tho word is "piazza," 10. Three cviiimuuders on the British sid in the American Itevolution wers Howe, Oliatoa and 0rwlU,, M &y ' wM $ I .:" t4 " JO . y
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers