davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
A kindergarten for Women.

1t is very easy to be humorous to-day at
the expense of women's clubs as they once
were, and still arc. in certain parts of
America. The parlor circle Of a genera
ton ago that dabbled in little self-made
learning about nothing in particular can
scarcely be defended as a centre of culture.
Yet in any history Of nineteenth century
feminism these selfsame clubs that sprang
up in the SOS and '90s all over the country,
in city and village alike, deserve high rank
Precisely because the learning was self
made and amateurish the smattering Of
knowledge had big results 1t brought in
its train a sense of freedom and self-re-
lance that is the basic fact in all woman's
progress to-day.
Women had done vast services before in
organizations churches, in hospital
work, for example-but always with the
reservation that they were not self-direct-
ing beings. This oldtime theory persists
to-day in some quarters, and we still have
with US the spectacle of a library or
school or a hospital with body Of women
furnishing all the motive power and doing
all the work and few tired men acting
as fgureheads The lean-on-me theory Of
feminine mentality dies hard. But 1t is
dying. thanks in no small degree to the
women who for the last decades have met
in clubs and taken thought like inde-
pendent human beings. That to-day these
schools for women, forsaking Browning
for street cleaning, are in their turn edu-
eating communities and doing as well as
thinking confirms the one great discovery
of the movement: Women really are
people.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
The Mail Tubes Retained.

The Senate Postofice Committee has
acted wisely in rejecting the recommends
ton by Postmaster General Burleson that
the pneumatic tube mail service here and
in other cities be abandoned and motor
car deliveries substituted for it. In New
York particularly, with its overburdened
streets, that would have been a step in
the wrong direction. The mail automobile
trucks which already infest these crowded
streets have proved themselves a menace,
and while recently the accidents caused
by them have been, fortunately, less fire.
quent, that seems TO be more good luck
than good management, for they are often
driven at rate Of speed positively reck-
less.
Abandonment Of the tube service would
be a serious thing for New York, and
scarcely less undesirable for other cities.
1t should rather be extended, as the Mer-
chants Association Of New York recently
urged. II is a time saver and here, at
least, a life saver. The public should be
that the Senate committee or
dered a renewal Of the contracts for the
tube service.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
Much Sad Reading.

To the Editor OF The Tribune
Sir: Your editorial "A Note to England
is very sad reading for lover Of justice
and honor. You say that the attitude of the
majority Of Americans Seems to The Trib-
une utterly ridiculous" and then you blame
the English for not understanding it. The
masses OF the English cannot, and never
will, understand it, because they cannot be
lieve it possible for any considerable body OF
people 10 take such an attitude. Do not the
Americans Of Revolutionary stock" yet
know that the great mass Of the English
people, led by Burke and Pitt. symps thized
with the colonists in the Revolutionary
War, and that their descendants have done
so ever since, and that this war was forced
on US by George III, king of pure German
blood, and mad at that?
But, in view OF this editorial, may it not
be asked WIZ you published your former one
on British Failure" and that other upon
Ireland? You know perfectly well that but
FOR the British navy the war would have
been won by Germany eighteen months ago,
and that but for this same navy she would
win IL now. You also must know that the
Irish revolt was only made possible by the
extreme and, as some think culpable leniency
OF the British government toward traitors
and yet you blame them for small measure
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
The East River Project Wins.

1t may be that general satisfaction over
the Senate's restoration Of the approprla-
ton for dredging the East River so that bat
tleships may enter the Brooklyn navy yard
at any time will make the country overlook
the reason for which the Senate Commerce
Committee struck that item from the riv-
er and harbor bill. But it should not.
If ever there was more brazen confession
Of pork" grabbing, a more fragrant in
stance Of hold-up methods in order to OBJ
tain Federal money to spend "back home"
it does not come easily to mind.
According to Senators Clarke and Oliver
there was no question of the merits Of the
appropriation fol New York's harbor-an
appropriation of 100000 this year, with
an authorization Of 100000 for future
expenditure. That total OF 100000 will
not only accomplish an important military
purpose, but will benefit commerce which
last year amounted to 81 ,50O,OO0,000. New
ertheless, the Senate committee struck out
the item because, forsooth, there were GER
tain district appropriations desired by GER
tain of its members, and they thought if
the bill went TO d conference committee
that they could obtain these by sticking
back the New York item at the last mo-
ment
Fortunately, this project was little too
big for them TO juggle. The Senate has
reversed them. It is to be hoped the
country at large, and their districts in
particular, will take full note of the
brand of patriotism and public service
of the men who voted to kill that item
and had their trouble for their pains.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23

To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: Your editorial May 10, "The Presidents
Speech" rings like the trumpet Of chiyairy
or like the voice OF prophet rather than OF
a counting room. II seems So in the age OF
calculators and economists, though it should
be enough TO say for it that IL rings like the
voice OF mana human being. II is dismal
10 think that in the Presidency Of this term
an emphatic satisfaction with quiescence IN
the presence Of crime is deemed an idealism
Of morals, virtue rather than necessary
evil. man bedridden perforce may not be
blamable. but when he breaches the virtues
OF being bedridden and lectures on the sub
Jet from his cot he is ignoring the often
and acquiescence.
In Mr.. Wilson's CHASTITY series Of verbal
facilities their blandness has revealed blank
ress which is almost like the absolute zero Of
sublime space. His infelicitous felcties are
rot only one step from the sublime they are
sublime in their sublmation. His indefat-
gable determination to make a cut flower
grow in the air his scorn of root, stem and
ground, is the very sterility of rarefaction.
To be divine before you are human is an un-
feeding divinity, and the desire makes Presi-
dent Wilson the Mrs. Jellaby Of Presidents.
The pursuit is not even moral: it is not for
the substance, but for the shadow of moral
ity, however earnest and inveterately ecstatic
the pursuer.
In your editorial you also stand for prin-
o.ple, rs Mr.. Wilson fancies he stands for
one. But you stand for a working principle,
for practical ideal. for vital necessary.
human feeling. But if this, too. is too ideal,
there is something which is bare fact alone,
namely, that the Belgians, French, Russians
and the English feet do fight, are fighting,
our battle, not merely Of principles, but for
national safety. And if it is not ideality, it
is, nevertheless, plain decency, If nothing
more, to acknowledge our protection, IL IT
succeeds, from the abhorrent approaches Of
the Hun Therefore it is very unseemy
and tragic ideality which declares that we
must avoid chat subtler breach Of neutral
ity" lovely phrase (which consists in think
ing one unneutral" (and untender) Thought"
Les it be hoped that you are NOT in a mi
rority in your stand against the improprie-
ties of propriety- against something the
speaker means for the acme of propriety,
sweetness, prunes and prisms, and which is
fundamentally improper.
FRANCIS DANE BAILEY.
New York, May 10, 1916.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23

tributable to sources of information closed
to inquirers there.
The difficulty of determining submarine
losses was shown by the recent official re-
port in Germany of the destruction OF the
British submarine E-3l, whereas in real
ity she had already returned safely to her
base There is evidently not the least
reason to suspect that the German state
ment was deliberately false; the obvious
explanation is that those who attacked the
vessel thought they had sunk her. 1t IS
not always easy TO be satisfied beyond a
reasonable doubt in such cases.
1t was suggested in the House OF Com
mons the other day that the Admiralty
should publish the statistics up to the
close of 1915. A table Of this sort, 1t was
urged, could give no information TO the
enemy, and might reassure the public.
The proposal was TO be laid before the
First Lord, but in all probability nothing
will come Of it. since it would be mani
testify undesirable to publish an official list
that might be wide Of the mark one way
or another.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
GLORIOUS FRANCE
In Praise of a Sister Republic in a Great
Hour.

To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: GLORIOUS France, land OF Chevaier
Beysrd.'
II was predestined in the book OF fate that
Gaul should become one Of the worlds great
est nations, and the instrument chosen was
julius Ceser. Has there been any other
human event so replete with consequences
to tn. human race as the conquest of Gaul
by julius Cesar? From that era to the pres
ent ono France has trsversed through many
complex situations, and from them she has
emerged chivalrous, happy, buoyant and elias
tic.
One of the indications OF the phenomenal
prosperity Of France, in her arduous period
of 1871, has been her mastery in the art OF
beauty. Taking precedence over all the other
countries in this the products Of her gift
and skill are eagerly sought by every land
and every people. Artistic France should
avail herself of the first proptious moments
10 convey true reproduction to canvas OF
the present pathetic condition of some OF
her temples, in order that posterity, upon
comparing them with their copies now in the
Louvre, may analyZe the rayages Of German
culture" and what its criminality has done
for civilization, and as an everlasting appeal
from barbarism to the Almighty.
The most sublime accomplishment in the
worlds history has been the glorifcstion Of
the spirit of France. Her sons are courage
ously fighting on all the battefelds to lib
crate the world from the tyranny Of mill
tnrism. Her tireless and indomitable chill
dren are battling for all that Americans hold
sacred and dear-freedom and liberty.
No American should forget that GLORIOUS
France" in the hour Of Americas direst ex-
tremity, and regardless OF all sacrifices,
helped her to establish her freedom, so that
she might take her place among the greatest
nations Of the universe.
May the future OF GLORIOUS France" re-
ceiye the fullest warmth and splendor of the
sun. and in her efforts of universal civili-
ration may she attain the highest stand
ard Of perfection, as her noble sons are
singularly gifted and know the value OF
tranquility, as they had it for thousand
years, and are a race of freemen who can
never be enslaved by system of tyranny.
j. GERALD DE POLO.
New York. May l6, 1916.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23

dtions. The scheme finally put into eff
feet throughout the citys schools may not
he the simon-pure Gary plan. but there is
every reason to expect that it will be one
as we'll adapted TO the needs and condi-
tons Of New York as that plan is to the
Indiana community.
This years appropriation, according TO
Controller Prcndergast, will take II per
cent Of the part-time children off part
time That is splendid beginning, cs-
pecially hopeful in view of the fact that
the work-study- play system is calculated
to give better all-around training to
the children than anything the city has
yet had.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
Fire Losses.

,From Tho Springfield Republican,
Insurance companies of course, keep a
close watch upon fire losses, not only from
month to month, but from day TO day, for It
is with them matter Of business. But such
waste is Of no less interest to all Of US, for
every owner of d building is interested IN
that which affects the rates he must pay.
For the first four months Of this year the
fire loss in the United states and Canada
amounted to s97.555,42 as compared with
the loss Of 1900 for the same period
in 1915 and Of SsS,l62 $50 in 1914. Last
Years record as whole was by comparison
n favorable one. and this year starts of
badly. March was an especially bad month,
with Gre losses amounting 20 S3o.82O,25O'
while the April loss is only Sl2,6Sl $50. No
where i'm business il preparedness more 20
30 desired than in guarding against the loss
caused by fire. C4relessness and criminalty
Are always playing TOO large q part in tins
matter. We are making progress in the d.
roction Of better regulation Of building IN
The cities, but more than all else eternal
watchfulness and honesty are needed.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
Fables for Indian Mahometans.

The present Viceroy Of India and his
predecessor. Lord Hardinge, have been
at great pains to bring forth all the evil
dence they can gather to controvert the
rumors of sedition so industriously propa-
gated of late by German agents IN this
country and elsewhere. There has evil
IDENTIFY been some unrest-when was India
completely free from agitation in one
quarter or another?-but neither among
the Mahometans nor among any OF the
other sects has there been n concerted
outbreak on the scale imagined by Indian
propagandists in this country or by their
German prompters.
Considering the prodigious efforts Of the
Germans to educate the people in that
part Of the world and TO show them on
which side their interests lie in the pres
ent war. the response has indeed been sim
gularly disappointing Some curious par
ticulars of their endeavors were given
lately by Bishop Stileman at meeting Of
the Church Missionary Society in London
They gave out that one Of the chief objects
of the British in entering the war was
TO satisfy an old desire to possess the
bones of the prophet Mahomet and to
add them to the collections at the British
Museum. At first glance declaration OF
war against Germany would seem to be
a roundabout way of gratifying this singh
lar ambition. In reality it was, however,
the natural course 10 take, because all the
Hohenzollern tribe are direct descendants
of Mahomet's sister and are therefore
deeply concerned in preventing any viola
ton of his tomb. Besides, when the Kaiser
was at Mecca he lay three days and three
nights before the great shrine, when there
came from Heaven a voice declaring him
the savior of Islam and saying Arise
and fight"
Another story which the Germans tried
on The Mahometans was that the Kaiser
possessed a great flying machine equipped
with a magic lodestone Of great power
Bv means of this curious device he had in
a Journey extending over the greater part
of Europe contrived to capture the Presi-
dent of the French Republic, the Gar of
All the Russias and finally King George
himself. who was extremely disconnected
when suddenly one night the lodestone
passed over Buckingham Palace and
plucked him bodily out of his bed in his
pajamas.
Bishop Stileman thinks these surprising
stories chad a great and dangerous effect
upon the people in Mahometan lands"
and his experience justifes him in judging
of the effect. Yet it is conceivable that
in this case, as in so many others, the Ger
mans moderated the intelligence of their
audience and went a little too far.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
Red Apples and Green Hills.

IRON lHe i'ht0d,lphiu ifrHgt'f'
From the Office OF the Secretary Of Stat. Of
Vermont is sent broadcast an enticing little
volume dressed in blue and buff bearing 'he
canton Vermont Farms" The text and pict-
ures are redolent of the atmosphere OF the
Green Mountain State, with its mountains and
meadow lands and water brooks, its kline ans
orchards and murmurous fields Of clover; and
il looks like the sort Of advertising that IS
sure to bring returns. One long in city
pent," especially at this season Of the year.
looks on this picture and on that OF elm
shaded farmsteads, of buxom bossies prodigal
of milk. or stalwart Morgan horses, OF sap
gathering in snowy woods, Of apple trees
abloom, Of championship potatoes and corn
and string beams and he does not wonder al
the loyalty of a thrifty, sturdy population to
their heritage in spite Of the ctyward trend
and the farm abandoned.
The literature is sent out TO disabuse the
public Of the idea that Vermont is a bleak.
sJb-arctic region where a scanty living is
wrested from a reluctant soil in a fierce, short
summertime. The average farm in the United
States measures 1873 acres The average Yer
mont farm holds l43 acres. This is much
above Ohio's So, Indiana's 80. Mchigsn's 90
acres Vermont is rich in marble in timber
in cattle, in apples and other fruit, in dairy
PRODUCTS Of all kinds. Fern gathering for
florists is becoming a considerable business
and in a recent year Vermont produced nearly
twice as many butternuts. hickory nuts and
Deechnuts as all the other New England states
combined.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
NOMINATE ROOSEVELT
At Least, Make the Views in His Detroit
Speech the Campaign Keynote.

10 the Editor OF Tho Tribune
Sir: | have been so i'll for many weeks
that | have not been able to follow closely
the development OF events. but this morning
| have been able to rend Colonel Rooseyeits
speech made yesterday at Detroit. IL seems
to me to be statesmanlike in the highest
sense.
This, in my judgment, is the issue OF the
approaching campaign, and the man who has
so nobly defined it seems TO me to be the
man who. as the Republican candidate, would
embody it most effectively. hope, there
fore. that Colonel Roosevelt may be tne
nominee OF the Republican Convention, but
If the animositics Of the past make that I'M
POSSIBLE | trust that the Republican plat
form will take as Its keynote the sentlmen"
~ tbis great address SETH LOW.
Bedford Hills. n. Y, May 20, 1916.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
Ending Part Time.

The voting OF S5,9O0,00O by the Board
Of Estimate and Apportionment for alter
ations to old school buildings and con-
struction Of new ones on duplicate or
ganization" basis does not mean the COM
plete adoption of the so-called Gary plan.
IL does mean that the authorities of the
city have definitely decided-and acted on
that decision-that the only possible way
TO eliminate part time is by workstudy-
play schedule for school hours, under
which one group Of pupils may use a
classroom while another group may use
playground auditorium, workshops or
some other part Of the equipment.
New Yorks school problem is not that
OF making the total Of seats equal the to-
tai number of children Of school age. It
is getting adequate accommodations where
and when they are wanted 70 fit the needs
of a shifting population, at the same time
discarding the used-up schools and keep
ing abreast of the demand by building
new ones. And the city had so far fallen
behind that in 1914 the Board of Super
intendents demanded at once $4OOOO,OOO
for new sites and buildings demand
obviously far beyond the resources Of the
treasury.
The duplicate organization has been
tried out here. under disadvantages. This
large appropriation, and a similar appro-
priation of S6,OOO,O0O contemplated for
each Of the next two years, will afford
opportunity to try it under the best con-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
The Tribune.

To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: | wish to commend your editorial
Of to-day. Penfose, Barnes and their crowd
cannot deliver. They may wreck the party
and cause another accidental President, but
OF this be assured: They cannot deliver the
winning punch.
want TO vote, and any number OF my
business friends want 10 vote, as Repuoli-
cans. hut We are unaltersbly opposed 10 the
course which a few really discarded bosses
seem about TO pursue. Al this most critical
time in the history of the nations we are not
willing TO accept any one who has not been
tried.
Under ordinary conditions ] would be glad
10 vote for any one Of several men coIld
name. but conditions are not normal so
shall vote for either Roosevelt or Wilson and
certainly not the latter If the former is TO be
voted for. - -
New York, May 10, 1916.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-23
A Familiar Operation on the
Local Purse.

Governor Whitman'S veto of items in
the appropriations legislation was all
right. as far as il went. The trouble was
that it did not 60 half FAR enough. The
fact that he drew a provisional bill con-
siderably smaller than that the Legislature
adopted and remarked that the Legislat-
ure could doubtless chop even his model
about 100000 led the public to expect
far more drastic cuts than those aggregat-
ing S1,90O,000. Because he attributed the
size Of the 1915 total to a necessity for
supplying 100000 deficiencies Of the
Glynn administration, the public expected
a total this time far below last years. The
public is grievously disappointed.
Two courses were open to the Governor.
He could have cut the appropriations as
Mayor Mitchell and the Tax Reduction
Committee suggested. sparing neither local
pork nor the general appropriations
which benefit upstate at the expense Of this
city. as certain road appropriations. He
could also have vetoed appropriations for
certain sinking funds, which now contain
more than the proportion necessary TO
amortize them at the end Of their exist
ence. Or he could have accepted, in sub
stance, the bills the Legislature handed
him, vetoing only the obviously and mani
festly unnecessary items, and continued
the course Of heaping up unnecessary
money in the sinking funds.
The latter course the Governor elected
to follow. BY taking it he avoided pos
sible lawsuit regarding the sinking funds.
He avoided any issue with upstate poll
ticians whose favorite bit of pork" might
have been cut out But he continued the
policy he adopted in 1915, when he forced
q direct tax of nearly S14,000,000 on this
city unnecessarily. In this way ne denied
TO this city and the state at large the radi-
cal economy without which, Mayor Mitchell
has said, the metropolis would find itself
facing a real estate crisis and unable 10
help itself
Governor Whitman is a candidate for
denomination. On this record he deserves
the support of the upstate politicians. But
does he deserve the support Of any tax
payer in New York City?