davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
Advice to Guardsmen.
T of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: | have read that heartrending appeal
from one who has left his fresde to serve
his country. The poor boy is certainly up
against it. He might have done better were
he to enlist for Piattsburg; even tnere, fear,
the privations of military training would dis
gust his refined tastes. This unhappy youths
suferngs are, no doubt, real, but he must
expect that he cannot get all the comforts OF
home. Tomato soup, corned beef and hard
tack are too prosaic. Mince pie, iced milk
and ice cream would have made the repast
more interesting, and deadly.
The trouble is this: The Connecticut Ma
tional Guard has been suddenly brought face
70 face with an unknown quantity-the prob
lem of rationng an outfit on active service.
! Composed as It is of separate companies ag-
gregating one TO each city in the state, this
problem has never been seriously considered.
/ In Mantle they contract for supplies in bulk
and try to eat them the same way. | have
seen good food and whole chunks of meat 20
into the company incinerators so that the
stores would be quickly disposed of in sani-
tary manner. Therefore, when ten days ra-
| tions were issued to troops entraining the
men ate them up in three, and then we read
of our starving boys breaking into lunch
counters. They did the same thing on full
stomachs when they visited New London the
first night that they pitched camp in Man
tic in 1914 and this was dore out Of spirit
of horse play A little course in the science
Of messing, as per regular army system,
would keep the men healthy and contented
and would teach the officers something that
they do not know.
The troops had to cut grass with their
bayonets upon detraining at Nogales!
wonder if our friend remembers when he had
to chop down bushes and dig up roots and
rocks before he could pitch his pup" tent in
stony field on maneuyres among the Man
tic Hills with those same bayonets? | wonder
if the Guards" as they style themselves, are
furnished with printed instructions for the
care Of their feet? They did not have them
when | was connected with them.
As a member of the Depot Battalion, 14th
Regiment, y. c.. y. Y, | can state that
we are not growing because we have to fur
nish ourselves with our complete outfits, from
uniforms to blankets, etc. (and that costs
more than 70 cents. We are only too glad
to do So and we have no immediate prospect
of active service, either.
Our comrades words in English are: 81
came down TO shoot greasers, and if have to
work ana do routine duty, why III kick TIL
am sent home A word OF advice! Soldier
ing is not all evening parade, nor is it a
series Of luncheons given by the sewing circle
at which such deadly drinks as pink tea and
lemonade seduce heroic warriors. Eat less
milk chocolate this is serious. Do what you
are told without answering back and, above
all, never commit the crime of paradng your
petty discomforts before others. Then you
will be q soldier and a man.
/ MEMBER DEPOT BATTALION, 14TH REGI-
MENT, y. G.. y. Y.
Brooklyn, July 10, 1916.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
James Whitcomb Riley, Poet.

There have been definitions which
would exclude James Whitcomb Riley
from the rank of poet, but they may be
left to professional upholders of the
special view of culture. In warmth OF
imagination and in lit Of line, as in un'
questioned appeal and influence, the
author of "The Old Swimmin' Hole
spoke with the voice Of a poet, minor
one if you will, but a true singer of the
emotions within his range. He deserves
the honor which Indiana pays him, and
his country is the better for his fine and
gentle example.
1t is a far cry from the old swimming
hole to Spoon River, yet the mind in
stinctively takes the leap in seeking to
establish Riley in his niche of fame.
Just why does the rudely built verse of
Edgar Lee Masters, another product of
the Middle West, offer promise of greater
things, an outlook incomparably more
stirring, than the pleasing rhymes OF
Hoosierdom? To Gescant on Riley's dia-
lect as a handicap is scarcely to the
point, for Burns wrote his greatest lyrics
in lowland Scotch. AS for petty subjects
dealt in, the people Of Spoon River were
type for type the people of the Riley vol
umes. Swimming holes and sweethearts
were equally familiar to both.
The contrast lies in outlook, not in any
limitations of time or place. The weak
ness of Riley was and is prime weak
ness Of American thought. He wrote not
the truth of life but a partial, sweetened
version Of it, suffused with easy, conven-
tional emotion. Such things as doubt,
ueliness and sin not only have scant place
in such writing, even by way of artistic
contrast; they have no share in the mould
ing Of the goodness which is upheld be-
fore us. The cheerful ending in novels
and on the stage, the whole school OF
sentimental fiction in our magazines, are
part of the same national tendency.
1t is not a gloomy, pessimlstic or
decadent art that we need by way of cor
rective. 1t is the truth-that alone makes
anv people free. The fine, noble things
that Riley wrote of would have been far
finer, far nobler, had they touched life and
reality rather than conventionalized tear
ducts. Whether the tragedies of Spoon
River can claim any share of immortality
and wherever they are to be ranked, they
at least seek to turn our faces in the
right direction. Therein lie their strength
and prophecy for America.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
A Newspapers Opportunity.
CFrOm The MilrduItee JoarnaI)

In the '60s it used to be said that every
man in upstate New York waited for The
Tribune to see what Horace Greeley said be-
fore forming his own opinion o. events The
New York Tribune has had varied fortunes
since then. Just now it is apparently having
a struggle with its conscience, to determine
whether il dare throw off party shackles and
serve the nations hour as it sees it ought to
be served. Are the men who control The
Tribune great enough to seize the oppor-
tunty to lift it above the dead level of its
contemporaries and put it at the head Of the
press of the country?
The Tribune knows what 1t ought to do
It's real conviction was expressed on July G.
the day before the Republican convention
opened in Chicago, when it said:
Mr. Hughes has been designated by
the Hyphens as their agent TO punish
Mr.. Wilson for his partial refusal to
comply with Potsdam orders. No Ger
man-American has made the smallest
concealment of the purpose of the Hy-
phens to use Mr.. Hughes to enforce Ger
man wishes at Washington.
No words of Mr.. Hughes after nomina-
tion can in the smallest degree remove
the impression that will prevail that he
was willing to win the nomination by
Hyphen aid and that his silence, his re-
treat behind the Supreme Court bench
was deliberate attempt to get for him
self votes and support that might be re-
pulsed if he said before nomination what
he will have to say after it.
The Tribune does not believe that the
Al. F.s4 .-..1
from Mr. Wilson TO a Republican candi-
date who has not only followed the
course which has earned Mr.. Wilson just
censure among patriotic Americans but
has also permitted himself to be used as
the club of disoyal and reasonable cti-
zens.
The Tribune had no doubts on July G.
when it did not believe Mr.. Hughes would
be nominated. A week later, it backed and
filed and appeared to accept Mr.. Hughes
But still later it called on him to say where
he stood. Since then it has been bding its
time. To what purpose?
Suppose The Tribune men were big enough
&c say: "This is Republican paper, it is
true, but the nation comes first, and we shall
not lend ourselves TO the attempt TO punish
a President of the United States for remain
ing true to America. even if he did not serve
America in detail as we would have had
Kim" That much would mean that The
Tribune would necome at once a national
newspaper. For men listen to a paper that
gubordnates its preferences and political al
iinces to its patriotism.
The Tribune sees the way clearly enough
but it is hard for il to kick against the
pricks. Partyism is strong, habit is strong
/. takes bigness even when the way is clear
l. The Tribune big enough?
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
The Excuse Of States Rights.
or of The Tribune

10 lNe EullOT Ol Inc tribune.
Sir: May l ask The Tribune why Pres
idont Wilson is so active in supporting and
pushing the Federal child labor measure.
which directly violates the doctrine of States
rights, which he at the same time offers as
his excuse for failing to support Federal
woman suffrage measure?
The Democratic platform of 1912 contains
no child labor plank. II it is proper for a
Democratic Congress elected on that plat
form to enact child labor legislation at the
behest of the President, would it not be
equally proper and possible to act on the
suffrage measure If the President so desired
Conditions in woman suffrage states show
child labor laws have been strongly sup
ported and initiated by women. Nothing
could sooner enforce-as a natural sequence
strict nationwide abolition of obnoxious
labor conditions than nationwide suffrage for
women. In choosing to support Federal child
labor legislation and TO oppose Federal legis-
lation for woman suffrage, is not President
Wilson showing real hostility TO woman suf-
frage per Sc?
a man who refused his neighbor the loan
Of his wheelbarrow. because he needed it to
NOV the lawn with admitted that "any ex-
cuse is good enough when you DO not want
to do the thing" States rights seem TO be
the convenient excuse But perhaps on No
yember it will not deceive the millions Of
voting women of the West who Justly de-
mand recognition by the Federal government.
IDA MOODY PALMER.
New York. July q, 1916.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
Our Dirty Town.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: This letter is about dirt-not about
dirt downtown in the congested districts of
New York, but uptown, which is supposed to
be very clean-right off Fifth Avenue.
There is dirt in Twenty eighth Street,
where | arrive every morning on my way
from the Hudson Tubes to my office. 1t has
been there so long that | am as familiar
with it AS with the man who sweeps down
the tube stars. And he sweeps them, which
is more than / have observed about other
tube stairs At Thirty-third Street the steps,
Up and down which the womens dress skirts
sweep, are filthy They are gummed with
dirt; they are spat upon; they smell very
vilely.
Up and down Twenty-eighth Street the
same pieces Of fur seem to have wandered
for days. Under the outside steps of the the
atre between Sixth Avenue and Broadway
rubbish has camped down for the summer
Behind the structure. where excavators are
busy, the very ggandfathers of removable
dirt are dwelling with the third and fourth
generations Of their descendants Meanwhile
Of course, fruit venders halt their carts all
along the streets. both here and on other
side streets in this section.
| am not grumbling at all about city off
cials. | take it that they are trying to do
their duty. But the fact remains that now
in this time Of peril, even in the best protected
parts of New York, there is no real sanitary
cleanliness at all. Nobody stops splitting,
for one thing, and nobody molests another
for breaking the law and splitting whore boots
and skirts trail by. Nothing about these en-
frances and exits to the city is clean, as a
woman understands cleanliness for her own
house What is the use of prohibiting chill
tren from going to districts around New
York and then permitting the dirt Of the
streets TO trail across to the ends Of New
Jersey and out TO Montauk Point?
If the lesson that womans world doesn't
stop at her own front gate IS not plain to the
world this summer il doesn't seem as if any
thing could make it So The path from home
70 Office is also woman's world, whether she
treads it herself or her husband and soma
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25

mart Of Dickens balk at "Pckwick." Even
more specific prcjudces control. Take
"Macbeth" itself. Such wholesale spill
ing of blood may seem rather dull stun
70 psychological moderns in an age oi
Ibsen.
What we are suggesting is that tne
classics are not, for any normal stomach
a required table d'hote of culture 10 DC
swallowed whole, but an inviting card Oh
delectable dishes among which we are 10
pick and choose. 1t is apt to be duli
soul who sits himself down and dutifuily
reads his Scott from "Waverley' to Cas-
tie Dangerous" Much more hope lies IN
the casual reader who takes sudden lik-
ing for Giuseppe Garibaldi, Jane Austen
or Charles James Fox or who not, and out
of sheer affection noses out the whole
wealth of literature and personality and
time and race thereunto appertainlng'
DUTY reading may do good to somebody
Rut such memories as we retain from re-
ouired readings at school and college COM
prise chiefly undying hatred for the tedi-
Gus matter forced through our minds, be-
ginning, of course, with the worst chore
of all, the stupidest book ever written,
Casar's "Galic War"
AS for really universal literature, some
thing common to every one, we need not
dismiss it altogether by dismissing "Mac-
beth" There is the Bible, there is "Mother
Goose" and there is the whole wealth Of
fairy tale which never becomes obsolete
CT dull or irritating. 1t is the one required
course in literature that every one takes
and every one enjoys. After that, unfortu-
nately, we grow up.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
Peru Gave Us the Potato.

(From The National Geographic McOasine)
The gold of the Indies was the attraction
that led Columbus TO sail westward, that car
ried Cortez to Mexico and Pizarro TO Peru
The lncas had large stores Of the precious
metal, representing. no doubt, the accumula-
tions of many centuries The capture OF such
booty resounded through Europe. Spain be-
came for time the wealthiest as well as the
most powerful nation of Europe, and this was
ascrbed TO the gold of Peru.
But Peru held another treasure much more
valuable for the nations of Europe than the
golden booty of Pzarro. Carrying the potato
TO Europe event Of much more pro-
found significance in relation 10 the subse-
quent history of the world than sending the
Inca gold 70 the Golfers of Spain. But nobody
understood the value of the potato. and its
Peruvian origin was generally forgotten be-
fore the plant became well known. Instead
of Peruvian potatoes We call them Irish po-
tatoes.
The potato was the basis Of the ancient Pc
ruvian nation and has attained almost the
same importance in other parts Of the world
within the last hundred years.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
Old Hotel Names.
(From The Boston Tronscript)

FTOm Ihe Boston IrGhScTiplJ
The old American House, on Hanover
Street, which gives up the ghost after sixty
five years of continuous service as hotel,
was the parent of thousand american
Houses" all over the country. The name
itself was older than that; the building, still
virtually in.act, erected in 1851. had had a
predecessor on the same spot, TO which the
name American House had been given in
1885. In the years which were the high noon
of the nineteenth century no new town was
opened up in Wisconsin. Iowa, Nebraska or
California without its American House, called
after our original That was the period Of
Aamboyant, spread-eag which was satr-
lied in Dckens's Martin Chuzzlewit," and of
which Hon. Elijah Pogram was the shining
example. English names for hotels, such as
the Westminster, the Windsor, the Victoria,
the buckingham, and on, then de-
cidediy at a discount. It was the period
which gave US such names as the American,
the United States. the Revere House, the
Eagle Hotel. It followed the epoch of fan
tastic and picturesque old titles such as the
Blue Bell, the Indian Queen, the Red Lion,
the Green Dragon, the Blue Anchor and the
Bunch Of Grapes, all of which had their
names from the sign which swung before
their doors.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
MR. BENNET VS.. Mr.. HOWE
The Commissioner of Immigration Called n
Enlightened Public Servant.
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

% the EDITOR or me A44o04ts
Sir: Permit me to thank you for yog
brief but wholly adequate editorial this nor
ing in regard to Representative Benns'i
scandalous attack upon DR.. Frederic c. Hove
To those who have the honor OF knowlif
Mr. Howe your word was unnecessary. a.
though immensely gratifying. To those VIE
do not have this knowledge 1t was as mi
forming as it was reassuring.
Dr. Howe may safely be described as on
of the most enlightened. devoted ard trus'
worthy citizens OF this country. He IS .
scholar of recognized authority on govern.
mental problems; an executive Of tried en-
cheney; a reformer Of sound intelligence, clear
vision and rare courage; a champion d gen.
uine as contrasted with spurious democracy.
! His books, his long record in Cleveland, Oah
his work as director Of the Peoples lnst1
tute, together with his activity in vaTi'a
| directions OF usefulness well known TO h
associates and friends, furnish abundant r'
dence of his unfailing and honorable ser'a
Of the public interest.
Any man, even Congressman, who assn
Commissioner Howe must prove his ess
That Mr.. Bennett, in lieu Of facts, presents
nothing but idle rumors, vile insinustar
and accusations lbellous in any other plis
but the halls of Congress is sufficient sns5s
20 the charges, and more than sufficient coz
mentary on the character of the man VI,
spoke them. Mr. Howe needs no praise
mine; but it is pleasure to use this o'a
sion to state my conviction as to what :
means to New York and the nation to hsr
such a man at the gates of Ellis Island.
JOHN HAYNES HOLMES
New York. July 20. 1916.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
The British Blacklist.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: have just read your editorial In IN
Tribune of even date, and in the news eo.
umns a list of American firms blacklists:
by Great Britain. | do not wish TO disp1s
in any way the claims you have made, ''
rather the quotations from Colonel teye
in regard TO the German ambitions 81.
prophecies, but why not be consistent ar.
tell us about ambitions and prophecies o.
the Entente? There are quite a few Of ycr
readers that are neither pro-German na
pro-Ally, but pro-Amer.can, who are patricu'
and interested enough in their own counu'
to read its history and that of other ns'lo''
as well in order to get an idea as TO VINO 81
and who are not our friends.
The list of firms printed on the front psc
of your esteemed journal Of even date, al
also a short cable dispatch from Haysni
quoting from Professor Osaka, saying ms
Japan would aid Mexico in case of war WIZ
the United States, and that "war was ns
averted. only postponed" and the publ0
tion Of the treaty between Japan and Ka'
sia which has just been signed-if all me
reports are true sufficient 20 the NOS
ordinary to form correct conclusion as
who are the friends Of America
Let your sympathies lie wherever ns
may, but give US fair play, or rather oeS
sides of the case, and let US as free peeps
with clear mind, judge whom We should >.
morally and otherwise. For il is sure 10
we will be affected seriously by the ou'eeo'
of this war. Therefore, the public, beng y
jury, should know all the evidence IN y
case to be able 70 render a correct yerdia
RE. WILSON
New York, July IS, 1916.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25

chant marine to its pristine glory, and
might result in guaranteeing American
producers the opportunity to ship their
goods under our flag TO any port IN th'
world.
That is the goal toward which genu'
inc American shipping policy ought tc
work. We can have an adequate mer'
chant marine if we want it. We can have
it. too. at far less cost than the S5O,Ooo''
600 which the Wilson-McAdoo bill pur'
poses squandering on useless, pork-barrel
government-owned ships.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
British Races.

To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir: My letter of the 18th inst, puoiiss'',,
in your paper, has provoked an INTERESTS
dissertation on ethnology by your e0n.
spondent Ernest 2. Horrwitz, but II 20
me little or nothing to reply 10, dealing %
does with a different subject from T.
which was confined merely TO the euns..
local iealousies in the British Isles eone'.,a I,
ing national appellation. At the end o. =
letter Mr.. Horrwitz contends that the VIZ.
of the British Islanders spring from one 9,
mon stock, ",he Aryan, or Indo-Europs,s..
His statement, though rather far-ie".,.
from the dim and distant ages past, IS p,
ably true, and the knowledge Of It shoala !.
far 20 salve any feelings Of wounded p,-s
which the too frequent use Of the w ~,
England" may engender in the minds Of
weaker brethren" OF Great Britain
Ireland. ENGLISHhAS" ,
New York. July %, 1916.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25

tread it. Women have right to put wom-
ans ideal Of clean stairs into the govern
ment, for one thing. The filth of New YORK
travels out to New Jersey and to Long ISL
and, carrying disease germs with 1t.
SutTragists with one mind everywhere have
walked up to the infantile paralysis fight as
they seem to have walked TO almost no other.
It is as if they saw in the citys horrible
clutch upon the home the very principle
for which they are cOntending. After this
it doesn't seem as if any man or woman
could continue to be so blind as not to see
Why women want votes. NJ. D. W.
Summit, y. j., July 81, 1916.
New-York tribune., 1916-07-25
A Chemist in Wartime.

Sir William Ramsay was better known
to the public than most of his sclentiilc
contemporaries. 1t is true that the gen.
oral reader would probably be at loss TO
define his more important activities, but
his name would be quite familiar, recall
ing vaguely the discovery of argon, to-
gether with a great deal about the posi-
Utilities of radium, the transmutation OF
metals and sundry other things that make
good reading. For it so happened that az
times his speculations took turn that
hit the fancy of many who were not par
ticularly interested in the branch OF
science he practised; and as he had a
genial way of speculating on matters by
no means confined to his own special field
of research he came to be popular
among readers who scarcely knew the
names of other eminent workers in similar
fields
There can be no doubt that the remark
able popularity he enjoyed was turned to
excellent account in the war Many OF
his colleagues were as keenly conscious as
he was himself of the Importance of stir
ring up the government and the people to a
realization of the bearing of scientific
work and method on national efficiency.
But Sir William Ramsay was peculiarly
fitted for this enterprise, and he undertook
it with his usual energy and zeal. He
was among the most active Of those who
have tried in the last two years to bring
about something resembling scientific
organization of the industries of the
country, and he never tired of endeavor-
ing to make British statesmen and poll
ticians understand, as the Germans do,
the necessity of enlisting the services Of
scientific and technical men.
In the early days Of the war he did his
best to convince the government of the
of putting cotton on the list OF
His warnings were abso-
lutely ignored. For more than a year cot
ton continued to pour into Germany, and
il was only by the pressure of popular
opinion JldL lHt SONtI NOilSSiNNN W
stop the traffic. But it was in large
measure through his efforts and the
efforts of his scientific colleagues that the
pressure was at last brought to bear.
Ever since then he was tireless in his
efforts to bring about further reforms In
the conduct of the war and to provide
against some of the evils that are bound
to come after it is ended through lack of
organization and foresight. He was able
to direct attention to many possibilities
the mere lawyer politician never thinks of
and does not understand and as he had
the public ear he was in a fair way to ac-
some things that the government
will never put their hands to unless
forced to do so by the influence of public
spirited thinking men on the mass Of
voters.