Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-30
POINT OF VIEW
OF THE READER
To the Editor of The Star:

| the 100000 gas lease naturally rea walk
c. ems in the minds of many
| persons the interest attaching
4, Rates. to the important question of
public gas supply in large
| cities That this interest is not more wide
| spread and not more cnergetically mani
| tested than 1t seems 70 be. is of the
| anomalies of American civiiza ton that may
| be partly accounted for by the supposition
| that every one is SO busy about his own
| particular business that he has no time for
| and possibly no acquaintance with, any
| other Yet the most superficial knowledge
! of the subject would show some very
| pregnant object lessons and probably set
| us to thinking m way that would re-
| dound to benefit. II We were for in
| stance. to reflect seriously the modus
| operandf in Glasgow, the second largest
| city in Great Britain, would not soon
| ask ourselves why 1t is that gas is furnished
| there thy the municipality. of course) at 10
| cents per thousand cubic feet while
| pay nearly two and one-half times that
| amount? Will any undertake to say
that the difference may be legitimately
| accounted for by the greater cost OF ma
| terial and labor on this side of the water?
| Coal costs but little If any more here than
! In Glasgow, and il is well known that the
| Item of labor in gasmaking a large scale
| iS not by any means the most important.
| Indeed. II has been repeatedly demonstrated
| that the value of the by-products alone Will
very nearly defray the expenses of the en-
terprise. 1t is clearly a case of the gas
companies trading on the ignorance or
! apa thy of the public. and it is my convic-
! ton that were the question we'll under
| stood. 1t would not be very long before we
| would raise an energetic and effective pro-
| test against such wholesale spoiation, Let
| US think for moment what gas at "A fair
| price would mean to the millions toiling in
| our huge urban aggregations. AS said be-
| fore, Glasgow supplies gas to the consumer
| at 40 cents per thousand. and that at a
| profit to the town treasury SO that it is
no stretch of imagination to say that such
| rates are possible to us also, under honest
municipal management. At that figure gas
would readily displace coal for nearly every
| purpose for which the latter is now used.
and at a manifest saving of time. labor
| and convenience. The much vexed smoke
| law would cease to have a raison detre.
and the CRIME of unconsumed carbon would
cease to polute the air. Let us push our
| perspective still farther Into the future,
and ask ourselves if 1t is at all necessary
| that each city have Its own gas works and
pay heavy toll to the railways to bring to
| them coal that might much more sensibly
and economically be distilled In stu In a
huge central factory In the mining district,
leaving the gas to be piped to the points of
consumption, just as oil Is now piped to
points of shipment and distribution. Why
may not all this be done? And echo an
swers: "Why?' WILLIAM GIUSTA.
To the Editor of The Star:
In The Star recently was an editorial en-
titled "a Wait With Pedigree also ask
ing a number OF questions.
Abandoning Not having seen any answer
| Children to these, and having for the
last fifteen years given much
| Thought and study to the question of mari
tai rela tions | propose briefly to review the
case The mother in the case in point
wrote: Not being able to care for myself
and the child" Is not this good reason
for trying in the best way she knew how to
provide home for the helpless little one?
Especially a home with people whose
kindness of heart she well knew of, pos
sibly without offspring of their own, ana
who would be only too glad Ito take and
care for her as if she were their own"
Let it be remembered that this was
baby girl. Is there any significance In this
fact? More, I assert, than we are aware OF
or may be willing to admit, because it al
fordS clue to the conduct OF the recretnt
husband, whom she IN her refined nature
simply describes as having left me.
1t Is a notorious If not well-recognlzed
fact that in the case of at least four-nfths
of the pairs who separate with one chlld,
this child is a female.
This womans babe was five weeks old
Who shah describe the horrors she en-
dured of which her tongue refuses TO tel!
And none but a mother can know, who has
child, flesh of her flesh. soul of her soul.
Or who shall describe the sacrifice she made
to part with her baby girl only for its good
She could not for it and herself. She
would not keep up the struggle by selling
! the beautiful garments she had provided for
her child They should go with her. Her
baby would be dead to her Who could be
so heartless as to snatch the lovely shroud
from the body of the dead child to satisfy
even mothers necessities?
Let me describe case, as well as my
momory serves me, where the struggle was
kept up. You may ask If it is a true or
an imaginary case. l don't know, but II
was published in The Star a few months
ago. A mother. with three children, rented
one room, which was all she could procure
for her necessities. She went out to work
by the day and left the children in charge
az home a
years OF course, the children needed fresh
air and went into the street TO get IL
Some of the neighbors complained to the
police station that they We're nuisance on
the street, but they were always IN the
house before the mother came from her
daily toll. Here policeman found them
one day and carried them off to the sta
ton. Upon the mothers return, not finding
her chj+dren, she inquired for them and
learned the facts, going Immediately to the
station house. She was arrested and lodged
in cell.
A woman with a babe five weeks old is
more helpless in the struggle for existence
than to be without it. Real charity is not
utterly extinct" 1t has been relegated to
the Associated Charities. Their agents quite
likely would have had occasion to visit this
woman had she kept up the struggle, and
proved her sufferings to their satisfaction,
and reported to headquarters and possibly
to The Star for publication, as they did "a
case of restitution" in December, 1904.
The sweetest, purest and strongest in
stinct of woman" in the twentieth century
will be to sacrifice the fellowship of her off
spring for its good when deserted by the
heartleSS wretch whom it should call father,
but never will, and bravey struggle alone
to maintain a portion a. least of that re-
hnement which would be utterly impossl-
bic if she was to have the of her child.
. The world, society and the church have
much to learn even from an old book called
the Bible on the subject of the marriage re-
lation. l would suggest a close and thor
ough study of these texts: First, Genesis,
lIl:16, The Curse; second l Timothy l:l5.
The Prophecy; third, Luke, i:6S-I5. The
Promise. | am led TO believe that whoever
does this in the order named will find much
sophistry in the present ideas of married
life and the need of changes.
w. II. PRITCHETT.
To the Editor of The Star:
The proposition to tag bicycles is all
right, but cut the tax, 81, to % cents, which
will pay for those cheap tin
tags. This will pay all the