Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-08-16
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Wake Up, Mr.. Hotel Man.

Bee: The other evening, with two friends
l dned at one Of our leading hotels. Inc
dining room was well appointed. the linen
clean, the silver shining and the general at
mosphere of the place gratifying. But the
waiter! Suffering Moses! The odor that
permeated the air round about him would
have proven his fortune had he but rented
himself out to the South Side packing
houses as an advance agent!
His sable garments. stiff with the per-
spiration too classy" a word. / assure
you'll of these recent torrid weeks, might
have WED for popularity with those of Jean
Vatican after his memorable fight through
the citys sewer
II our hotel men must have the services
of these dusky sons of Africa's sunny cline,
can they not see to it that they are intro
duced to the mysteries Of the bath and clad
in sanitary garments that could be boiled
at least occasionally?
Mr. Hotel Man. whose middle name is Rip
Van Wrinkle. this means you. and you. and
you'll Wake up! and try TO realize that this
is not the Dark Ages. nor is 1t Show-hee-
gan, but Nineteen-Sixteen, and Omaha
our Pride Of the West! Zoundsl
NUNTOO SQWEEMISH.
Ex-Governor Shaw on Provincial Business.
New York, August 14.-To the Editor of
The Bee: Speaking at. Detroit, President
Woodrow Wilson said some pleasing things,
and when viewed in the light of well known
facts they become very amusing things.
For instance:
America, of all countries in the world,
has been timid and has not until within
the last two or three years provided itself
with the fundamental instrumentalities for
playing a large part In the trade of the
world. America, which ought to have had
the broadcast vision of any nation, has
raised up an extraordinary number OF
provincial thinkers, men who thought provin-
cialy about business, men who thought that
the United States was not ready to take its
competitive part in the struggle for the
peaceful conquest of the world"
James J. Hill conceived transportation
company that should circumnavigate the
globe and was progressing rapidly. when
the government interfered and prevented
the contamination of his dream. Does the
president libel the memory of James J. Hill
as provincial thinker and actor. or does
he criticise the government Of the United
States for the part it took?
E. H. Hartman conceived a Transports
ton system to extend from New York City
to the Pacific coast. southwark across Mex
leo, across the isthmus. across Central
America and across South America. but the
government, supplemented by death, pre-
vented contamination. Will the president
please designate the object of his criticism?
Is It Mr.. Hartman or the government?
The Standard Oil company did circum-
navigate the earth. 1t conveyed its products
across the continent in tank cars and pipe
lines, carried it beyond all seas in tank
steamers. took it pretty much the entire
length of the Andes mountain ranges, on
the backs of caravans of llamas, 1000
miles up the Yanktzee river by boat and
thence for a thousand miles inland on the
backs of coolies to the very heart of China
but the courts dissolved it because other
concerns had not done the same thing.
Shall it enlarge and extend its operations
or quit entirely? Will the president be
more specific?
The International Harvester company I'M
dertook to carry American perfected agri-
cultural implements across all seas and un-
der all skies and to anticipate the injunc-
ton with which the president closed the
speech referred to, go out and sell goods
that will make the world more comfortable
and more happy and convert them to the
principles of America" Does President
Wilson approve or dsapprove of the Inter-
national Harvester company. or does he ap-
prove of the efforts of the government to
limit its operations?
The United States Steel Corporation
claims to have sought in quiet and unob-
trusive way to be unprvvIncial and, finding
it impossible to compete in overseas trans
portation against subsidized ships of other
countries ever ready to carry domestic
freight at nominal rates, and frequently
gratis. charging extra for conveying Amer
lean products, purchased ships that it might
put the products of American labor on the
western coast of South America, up into
Alaska and Vancouver, but it, too, found
itself in the tolls of judicial proceedings.
The fact that 1t was able to show itself
guiltless did not prevent the government,
under the direction Of our orator president,
from prosecuting an appeal to force the
Steel Corporation to be provincial in both
thought and conduct. Will the president
square his actions in the premises with
his speech at Detroit, square future
speeches with his acts?
The great packing houses and the United
Fruit company have each sought to be
provincial, but the former has not escaped
the courts. nor has the latter avoided the
watchful eye of the ubiquitous army of high
salsried inspectors. Investigators and prose-
cutors.
speak of these things not to question
the wisdom of the American people for hav-
ing demanded governmental insistance that
American business men must and shall be
provincial, but to suggest that Mr.. Wilson
must have failed to note the ever present
restlessness and chatting caused thereby.
suggest that if the author of the New
Freedom in Business" is as anxious that
American business. men shall take large
part in the world. his speech would indi-
cate, and if he is willing to grant immunity
from criminal prosecution to those who seek
to follow his suggestions this is a splendid
time to publicly announce that policy. Abso-
lutte frankness on his part should have great
influence in the campaign.
LESLIE M SHAW