davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
BEEF AS POWER.

Representatives of the American
packers whose goods consigned to
neutral ports in Europe were seized
year ago in more than 60 ships, on
the ground that they were actually
destined to Germany, agree that the
cash settlement now made by the Brit
ish government was exceedingly lib
eral. More than $15,000,000 was in
volved IN the payment, and the Brit
fish authorities who conducted the
negotiations are said to feel that the
proceedings were as important as
those involved in the matter Of the
Alabama claims.
The Alabama arbitration prevented
war with the United States. The ad-
justment Of the packers claims pre-
vented war with the beef trust. When
these seizures were made, agents Of
that combination served notice on the
London government that unless salts
factory compensation were provided
for the trade thus interrupted, there
would be no more shipments Of pro-
visions to the British islands. 1t is a
queer blockade that pays its alleged
violators IN hard cash, but Great Brit
ain is not the first nation to discover
that the beef trust is a frst-class
power.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
NEED OF A NATION

France stands forth today as the
most unified nation in the world. In
1870 she was playing with fire and
went through the fire, because of her
neglect to note seriously the indica-
tons of decay in her official life.
America is less unified than
France" says the Minneapolis Jour
nal. She does not know history, else
there would be less minimizing, less
demagoguery, less party politics in
the houses of congress.
THE rule of the people has been
accepted as substitute for ability,
and therein lies one of the greatest
dangers in the nation today. Cheap,
insincere men, talk loudly to the peo-
pie and are elected to congress. Their
inherent weakness and ignorance is
costing this nation an immense sum
Of money, both in the way of waste
in direct appropriation and in the way
| of waste in lack of preparation for de-
tense.
1T is equally true that business
men elected to congress have violated
their trust by virtually serving as
agents for individual business, which
has helped In a large degree to leaG
the people to an easy response to plat.
form defamation
The nation needs men of ability
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20

Here is a letter from a reader. It
speaks for itself
MY mother has just died from can
Ger of the breast. | have lump the
size of hens egg in the right breast
which is very painful. We have a
splendid family doctor, who operated
upon mother after she had had trouble
with the breast for many years. The
doctor Is very anxious to operate on
me, but l have no faith in either the
knife or X-ray (my mother had X-ray
treatment after her operation.)
Il have heard some doctors can
draw them out Our doctor says they
are fakes. In the meantime, what is
to become of me?
What l want Is honest, disinter-
ested advice. ! discovered the lump
about eighteen months ago, but l did
not tell the doctor about it till last
week. l would be very grateful if you
will answer through the paper"
Playing with fire Is a gentle pastime
compared with the risk this woman is
assuming. What kind of psychology
! is 1t that explains her procrastination
She states that she has a splendid
| family doctor, and that he has urged
! her to submit to operation. But she
wants honest, disinterested advice!
Where can she obtain such advice, If
not from that same family doctor? He
has given her the only advice an hon
est doctor would dare to give in such
case Would she look to the char
latan who draws them OUT for hon
est advice? No paste ray, diet, medi-
cine or treatment of any kind what
ever can offer even fighting chance
for cancer of the breast. There Is only
one hope of cure, and that Is by prompt
and radical surgery. Procrastination
not surgery, brings the diSappoint
ments. A week of delay may turr
down the balance against cure. An,
woman with a lump in the breas
should not rest single day withou
having absolute proof that the luml
Is not cancer.
We have personally observed score
Of instances in which certain type 0
doctor" save the name, attempted t
draw it out" and while the poor, de
luded victim often imagined tn,
sloughing off mass of the canoe
meant that cure was assured. invari
ably the result was disastrous. No
even the knife, which at least does it
work in clearly way and neve
causes hloodpoisoning, can offer rea
sonable chance of cure unless tn
nodes or lymph glands high in tn
} armDits are thoroughly dissected out
} too. For the lympth- glands draining tn
cancer are invariably involved in tn
disease and must be removed. Al
lcancer pastes. oils and other devices o
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
THE ALTO.

The shades Of night were falling fast,
When through a distant suburb passed
A lone man in punk machine
That was propelled by gasoline.
The motor car was secondhand,
1t hucked and coughed to beat the
band.
The driver had just bought the car,
But had not run it very far.
Things had begun to happen quick;
Grave things that made the owner sick.
Twas Of the vintage nineteen-five;
You'd hardly know it was alive.
TO go up slight inclines it tried.
And then it shivered and it died.
The man got out and grabbed the
crank,
and gave the thing a vicious yank.
The old car woke up with a shock.
Then 1t was pierced with sudden pain
And straightway it gave out again.
He'd paid two hundred for the boat
And 1t transpired he was a goat.
He took it to an auto shop.
They looked it over. wheels to top.
They'd fix it so 1t would run nice.
Five hundred dollars was their price.
He bought stick Of dynamite
And blew his auto out of sight.
He walks where'er he wants to go
And he is saving wads Of dough
ROY X. MOULTON,
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
The Chipmunk Is q Hermit.

Evidently the chipmunk has no part
ner and will spend the winter in his
subterranean retreat alone. ] think
this is an established chipmunk GUS
tom, rendered necessary, it may be, by
the scant supply of air in such close
quarters, three feet underground, and
maybe under three or more feet Of
snow in addition. At any rate, the
chipmunk, male and female. is her
nit, and there is no cooperation or true
sociabiity among them. They are
wonderfully proyident and Industrious,
beginning TO store up their winter food
in midsummer or as early as the farm
er does his.-John Burroughs In
Harper's Magazine
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
Selected by Tavenner

studies o. the budgets Of American
workingmen's families indicates that
the point of adequate subsistence Is
not reached until the family income
Is about ssh year." the report con-
tinues. Less than half Of the wage
earners' families in the United States
have an annual income of that size,
according to all statistics of income
for workingmen's families.
IF this be true, over half Of the
families Of American wage earners
must either lower their standard of
life in other respects in order to have
an adequate diet, or make sacriflces
in their diet in order to secure health
full housing, favorable community en-
vironment, and a few Of the reason
able comforts.
THE effect of the rapid increase In
the retail prices of foods that have
been found to constitute the diet OF
workingmen's families cannot be over
looked as an additional factor in this
connection. Between 1900 and 1913
the average increase in the retail
prices of foods was about so per cent,
according to statistics published by the
| department of labor. During the same
period wages increased less than 80
per cent, according to the same au-
| thority.
ut is clearly evident that the ten
denCy during the period 1900-19l3 has
been toward an impoverishment of the
diet of families with low incomes"
The report sums up the economic
causes of diseases:
mo attempt to present the real
meaning Of the problem of health
among wage workers and their fam
lilies can be complete without taking
Into consideration their economic
status-the wages they earn and the
Income which the wage earner's fam
lily is able to receive-and comparing
it with those standards which have
been agreed upon as reasonable ant
necessary for the maintenance o.
, health.
. statistics Of total incomes Of wage
, workers families point to the conclu
sion that the average total annual fam
: lily income Gncluding earnings o
women and children) in the principa
/ manufacturing and mining industries
, has been between $500 and $500 in re
. cent years. This average, however
does not adequately depict the real sit
2 uation; for the conclusion is also indi
Gated that one in every 10 or II work
5 ingmen's families had at the time o
5 the Investigations an annual incom
2 of less than $500 year; that nearly
: third had incomes Of less than $500
E and over one-half had incomes of les
than $3.50 year.
I From the foregoing, say DR.. Ware
h and Mr.. Sydenstricker, it is eviden
T that underlying all other economic fac
tors affecting the wage earners' healt
f is the fact of poverty"
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20

and sincerity, and the attempt should
be made to raise the standard of our
representatives. This being repre-
sentative government, there is need
of genuine ability. On the other
hand, some progress has been made
gress there are still good men and
they are making their voices heard
in way that in some degree drives
the demagogues to cover.
Minneapolis should be casting
about for strong men adequately to
represent this great city in the houses
Of congress. 1t is important for all
the people that this should be the
case. The time has come to conserve
careful expenditure of money in con-
gress. Evils have rooted themselves
deeply, and the nation is paying the
bill. 1t is probably no exaggeration
to say that the payrolls at Washing
ton are burdened with a double sup
ply of help, placed there by the in
luSINc VI vi IUHSltoS. lie
pork barrel still flourishes. The pa
triotic note is dulled in the congress
sional chambers.
Government cannot be played with
Penalties for overcast, inefficiency
and carelessness will be demanded
through the economic law that rules
in the end and rules hard"
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
BY gibson GARDNER.

Overwork and underpay are the
principal forces at work in breaking
down the health Of American working
men and women. This Is the conclu-
sion OF the United States public health
service in a bulletin Just published,
dealing with the effects of modern
industrial conditions upon the lives
and happiness of 30,000,O00 American
wage earners.
DR.. B. S. Warren, surgeon, and Edgar
Sydenstricker, statistician, of the pub
lie health service, are the authors OF
public health bulletin No. rs, entitled
Health Insurance, Its Relation to the
Public Health" which shows the con-
ditions in American industry today.
This report recommends a plan for
compulsory health insurance for wage
earners, to be administered by the state
and federal governments. Its out
standing feature, however, is the in
dictment Of present-day social and eco
nomic conditions.
Each of the 100000 workers in
the United States loses on the average
about nine days every year on account
of sickness alone" says this report
The causes of disease are given as
follows:
The occupational hazards of disease;
irregularity of employment, unhealth-
full conditions of living; the employ
ment of women in industry under mod
ern conditions of work, particularly Of
married women; and the economic dis.
advantage at which large proportion
of wage workers and their families are
placed as the result of low wages an(
insufficient annual income.
The report makes 1t clear that eco
nomic disadvantage" as a cause of dis
ease overshadows all the rest. For ex
ample, inadequate diet is set down al
the first Of "unhealthful conditions o
, living" and the report says:
Income statistics published by fed
eral and state governments in the las
lew years luuICdLe lIldt Ii COuSlueldUi
proportion of the families Of wag
workers have not been able to main
tain a diet that will provide for prope
nourishment.
"a larger proportion can maintai
an adequate diet only at the sacrific
Of healthful environment and of othe
items which go to constitute reason
. able standard of living. There can b
; no doubt that nourishing food is sacr
feed In a large number of instance
in order to obtain some of the comfort
and amusements and to crafty som
of the wants which are entirely ma
i ural and to be expected of the averag
. American"
: Less than half of the families {
: American wage workers get enoug
. wages to maintain decent conditions
Il existence. according to this report.
IAN examination Of a number
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
JAPAN sTIRS DUTCH.

Japan is talking of taking the Dutch
East India islands of Java and Sum
matra TO add TO the Caroline and Mar
shall groups which it seized as belong
ing to Germany. The former islands
are separated by the Sunda strait,
gate way of the Asiatic seas and their
possession by Japan, it Is claimed by
an exchange, would give it a great ad-
vantage over any power which might
want to send a feet there. Already
Amsterdam is greatly stirred by an
article which is said to have gone the
rounds of the Japanese press, In which
a former minister of education urged
that I'VE should occupy these Islands
in the first place from a strateglcal
standpoint" Of" he adds, Holland
ers cannot improve the manner OF life
of the natives and are not IN a posi-
ton to maintain peace and order
among them then Java and Summarize
constitute a threat for the neighboring
countries and we are justified in taking
possession of them
This of course is specious reasoning.
But Holland cannot complain at one
point that is made against it. Ameri-
can travellers who have visited the
Philippines and then stopped at Java
and Summarize have noted that the
United States has done more in a dozen
years for the Ff1ipinos in the matter OF
schools and uplift than the Dutch have
done for the natives In their colonies
| in as many decades.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
WOOD AND IRON SHIPS.

When iron and steel first came into
use as materials for shipbuilding il
was thought that a vessel SO con-
structed would last forever, or there
abouts, or at least that it would out
live any wooden craft, but experience
covering more than 100 years shows
the contrary Metal ships are rather
short-nved, while many old hookers
fashioned of oak and other native
hardwoods on the north Atlantic
coast in the first half Of the last CEN
fury are yet afoat and earning their
way.
Since the little Philadelphia bark
True Love, which was built in 1897,
disappeared from the American reg
istry the honors of maritime age have
been worn by the little 45-ton schoon-
er Polly, built at Amesbury, Mass, in
1905.
The Polly had remarkable career
as a coaster, having carried, as some
one has figured it, enough lumber,
bricks and lime from Bangor, Rock
land, Calais and other Maine ports to
Boston to build a good-sized city OF
wooden houses. There was an enter
tanning fiction Of wide and persistent
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.
Treatment of Tuberculosis.

What is a good diet for tubercu-
losis patient? Is milk good? Should
it be taken cold, COW. warm, or boiled?
Are raw eggs better than soft-boiled
eggs? Is wooden or cotton underwear
preferable?. How much exercise should
he take? What is the doctors name
who claims he has a tuberculosis cure?
Answer-The diet should include
full variety of all ordinary foods. MIX
is good. however you like il best. Raw
eggs are in no sense preferable 10
cooked eggs. In general, woolen IN
derwear is better; light weight, knit
ted goods. The amount Of exercise
should be determined largely by the
temperature; when fever is present.
rest is the thing The doctors name Is
Nature-we think Old Doctor Nature
is the only healer that has ever pro-
duced any great number OF cures.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
The Daily Story
Running From Fortune-By Edward T. Stewart

While considering what 10 do "a.
sitting one morning On the porch q,
the hotel reading a local paper. 4,
that time the Venezuela matter win
England that was handled 50 resoIuta.
" by President Cleveland was attract
ing attention, and I read in the paner
an article written with view TO civ.
ing the British side. There were GOV.
erai Latin quotations in II, and 1.
seemed to me rather the work Of
scholar than a statesman. witbou,
any definite object in view, I went IA
the Office Of the Journal and asked who
wrote the article. I was told that Il
had been sent In from mining camp
In the vicinity, but that was all tia
editor knew about II. ! went to thu
camp and found there a man working
with a pick and shovel whose appear.
ance belied his calling. His accent was
that Of a well bred Englishman. Hs
called himself Bill Anderson.
talked about the article I had read
! In the Georgetown paper. condemning
it bitterly as British argument against
the Monroe doctrine, watching Ander.
son to observe the effect my TRADE had
upon him. could see that I was r.ling
him, but he maintained silence.
1--WE been told" l said, that some
one In this camp wrote that article
Anderson shot suspicious glance az
me.
whoever wrote it is a university
man." I continued. Miners don't quote
Latin"
Anderson turned and was stalking
away through thick growth of trees
I was not sure that he was my man.
but l was sure he wished TO escapa
me. I feared that II I let him 20 I
might not get him again. 1t would be
impossible to get In the fact that I
wanted him for his advantage. must
take him by proceeding as If he were
criminal.
you! Anderson I shouted. T
want you"
He turned, drew a revolver from bis
hip and fred at me, the bullet singing
near my ear, then turned and ran lie
a deer. I followed him and saw him 20
into a cabin. I called to the others who
were following me to help me capture
him without bloodshed. They consent.
ed to surround the cabin on condition
that I would make good my claim to
him under the law. promised. When
the circle had been completed I sent
one Of the men to him with the letter
that had been received from England
Then I waited to learn If I had the
right or the wrong man.
Presently the two came out Of the
cabin, Anderson's, or. rather, Thorn
toms, face aglow with a pleasurabe
excitement. He advanced to me with
. Thank God I missed you" extended
his hand and acknowledged himself t.
|, be Ralph Thornton,
He went east with me and sailed or
the next steamer for England.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
BRYAN'S BIRTHDAY

The 56th anniversary of the birth
of William Jennings Bryan was OBJ
served recently in Lincoln, Neb II
was attended by friends of the great
commoner from several states besides
hosts of his friends in Nebraska.
Many who went to Lincoln to attend
the meeting at which Mr.. Bryan, in
the evening, delivered a political ad-
dresses, were unable to gain admission
to the great auditorium. Thousands,
it is stated, were on this account pre-
vented from hearing the address. The
Columbus, Neb., Telegram, in speak
ing Of the ovation paid to Mr.. Bryan
at the celebration Of his 56th birth
day anniversary, among other things
says:
"Mr. Bryan's message of welcome to
his birthday party was inspiring. He
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20

Rock Island has lost one of its sturdy
men in the passing of James E. Lar
kin, former member Of the county
board Of supervisors. Mr.. Larkin
stood for the things that made for a
better city and he worked and fought
for them. He was a man of positive
convictions and never wavered when
he believed he was correct in his views
on question. Expressions of sorrow
over his death are heard on all sides
His passing is a distinct loss to the
community.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
FOLLOW SACHS

The coroner of Cook county says
suicides have increased to an alarm
ing extent during the two weeks fol-
lowing the suicide of DR.. Sachs. He
declares there is no doubt that the
manner in which DR.. Sachs act was
agitated Influenced weak-minded per
sons Of morbid temperament who
otherwise might not have committed
this crime. A great mistake was made
in the manner In which the Sachs
case was treated. While there was
great respect for his memory and
praise for the work he had accom-
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20

plished there was no occasion to
glorify his suicidal act. On the con-
trary, 1t should have been condemned,
II spoken OF at all. But it was pub
licly praised at mass meetings. The
coroner Is confident this had a bad
effect on persons OF defective men
tally and would like to find a. rem
edy. 1t is really a sad state of af-
fairs, as the coroner suggests, and a
subject about which 1t may be difficult
to offer advice. But 1t is certain that
the case of DR.. Sachs was handled
the wrong way.
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20

spoke but sparingly Of his own great
work for democratic principles. He
put the branding iron upon the cheeks
Of those democrats in Nebraska now
denouncing him as a traitor to Presi-
dent Wilson, and told how on his meet
ing with those same Wilson friends at
a town named Baltimore he saw in
the hand Of each of them a blood
stained dagger, and on the blade of
those same special evil interests
which are now backing the corpora
ton Villas in Nebraska His refer
ence to the candidacy Of his brother,
Charles w, Bryan, for the democratic
nomination for governor was a beauti-
full tribute to a brothers devotion to
a brothers cause. 1t was a great par
ty in honor Of the greatest private cit
izen in all the world"
Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-04-20
Mediterranean Blue.

The extraordinary blueneSs OF ths
Mediterranean has two causes. one
that very few large rivers of fresh wa
ter run into this sea, the second tnas
the Mediterranean is practically ianu'
locked and, being exposed 10 power
full sun, evaporation is great. By acl-
ual test the waters of the MedlteFrah-
can are heavier and more salt ihaA
those of the Atlantic.