The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-12-18
MAYOR STOPS GOSSIP
German Burg0master Taboos
WOmen's Sacred Rights.
LIST OF SCANDAL MoNGERs
The Lord" of a Hessian Town Has
Concluded that While Men work
Hard, Wives Frifter Away Their
Time I'm Talk 20 the Neglect of
Their Chiidren's Training.

In Germany, where everything appears
TO be ''verboten. officialdom in the per-
son of lone burgomelster has at last in
yaded the most sacred right Of women
gossip.
All Germany is looking askance at the
town OF Hattersheim, in Hesse. apprehen-
sive Of the widening waves Of authority
that would undertake TO bride the
tongues OF the fair.
AS for Hattersheim under its sudden
affection OF deterrent law, it appears to
be getting along very well, thank you,
and is enjoying a peace and freedom from
envies, jealousies. and backbitings that
no community has known since human
records were mixed at the tower Of Babel
Neighbor now greets neighbor with a
peaceabie ''guten mOTgen," husbands cor..s
home from their business with appetites
destined TO remain unmarried BY recitaIs
or daily quarrels; and there has been a
marked diminution in the number OF al
ley fights that landed their participants
in the local courts.
The spirit Of peace abides, because the
mailed fist Of ''verboten" has come down
with bang on all scandal-mongering.
The United States. in every village and
city ward. produces its own crop OF re-
tailers or gossip and maligners of their
nelghbors- Where the incomes are low.
the more dignified move and the less dig
nitied are liable to fight out on the spot
Where the incomes are greater and lit
cation appears TO be a luxury not too
nigh for the cost of living, the conn4un-
ity is diverted with a libel suit. What
ever the climax OF rows, and whatever
their beginnings, he would be hardy
mayor or magistrate indeed who would
dare call 10 account the whole commun-
ity. The common law here has TO meet
every individual emergency, from the
Quelling of the familiar scold TO the ex-
uemes OF two pairs Of black eyes.
"By Vested Author4ty.s
But in Germany, vested authority
doesn't hesitate to command peace by
wholesale. On that basis the burgomefs-
ter OF Hattersheim has proceeded and he
has issued a proclamation that is as full
of observation and philosophy as it Is OF
authority.
Prosecutions for libel and SANDER"
declares the stern burgomeister, have
attained of late. great proportions in Ger
tain sections OF our city. Bitter enmities
and litigation cost that amount to heavy
financial losses are among the eonse-
quences."
He remarks that the cause Is usually
the same:
The men are hard at work. while the
women fritter away their time in gossip
ing and quarreiing. the children's training
being neglected and the household suffer
Ia fan -
winner comes home and the days events
are untruthfully told TO him. he must be-
take himself. as the protector Of his
angry wife, 10 the police or lawyer or
10 the court Of arbitration"
On such persons, remarks the burgo-
meister. the teachings are wasted. which
require woman TO occupy herself at her
own freside. scorn all scandalmongers.
and seek only 20 provide a comfortable
home for her husband and her children
There is no true domestic happiness with
them.
Therefore, concludes the burgomeis-
ter. solenlniy warning all and sundry
who are offenders. poor relief will hence
forth be given in exceptional cases only
where people have involved themselves
in prosecutions for scandal. The police,
besides, have beer instructed 20 compile
a list Of such persons and warn all land
lords and tenants against them"
District OmciaI Novelty.
Thus far, no other burgomeister in Ger
many has initiated Hattersheims execu-
tive, mainly because the distinct novelty
OF his official course demands that Ger
man conservatism restrain the devouring
rush of German authority. II may hap
10 .F4 - Ill -
ishments at his temerity, the good wom-
en- OF Hattersheim will dispute his right
to enforce the regulations no proposes.
While the power OF the burgomeister
is very extensive and can, in emergency.
be supplemented with all the force re-
quisite TO make ii operative, the moral
force repTesen ed by a community Of re-
calcitrant housewives is something which
even Germany's system of things yer
boten,' must pause before.
And, thus far, no man who has lived
has been able TO check the worlds flow
of gossip. in which scandal invariably
plays so large a part Preachers have
delivered thousands OF sermons against
IL, and women themselves have organized
TO compel their friends and neighbors to
utter only words of sweetness and light.
But, somehow or other, envy has always
managed 10 find its way into the councils
of the most cultured. and backbiting has
followed as naturally as the curl Of scOrn
pursues the bonnet fresh from Paris.
HattersheimS burgOmeister has. how
ever. one august ally-the kaiser-in the
general spirit of the homily. and critics
OF current German affairs profess TO SEQ
in the proclamation recently issued in
the obscure little town in Hesse the
emulation by minor officialdom OF the
imperial sermons. defining wOmen's
place in the household
But even the Kaiser has not had nerve
to try to shut of gossip. If the Hessian
town prove that scandalmOngers can be
abolished, the daring burgOmeister who
undertook the difficult job stands large
chance of advancement