The Washington herald., 1917-02-03
Interesting Chats
From Hotel Lobbies

Before we start to place the blame for
the hight cost of living. let us first con
sider how 1t happened" said James p.
Gordon. author of "a House for Two" and
otner stories in homemaking. Mr.. Cor
don is native of Vermont and is in
washington for q few days at the Shore
ham.
Let US 90 back fifty years" he sad.
and see Just what state of affairs exist
"a relative to our food supply. Before
the outbreak of the civil war you could
nor nave convinced soul in the world
that this great country, with its re-
sources. could ever be actually short on
roodstuffs. / believe the real reason of
an tnis hub-hub is that when this country
was hrst settled, and for fifty years after
ward the farming population, the con-
suiners, the landowners and every one
eise' thought that the country was too
ois TO even exhaust its boundless re-
sources; that the population would never
eaten up with the supply of food.
But when the test came and our far
mers could not meet the strain and the
SPECTATORS had a glorious time, we howl
ed and howled A nation the size of the
| united States. the biggest prodigal In tine
world, lives for today and does not care
hang for tomorrow. We need a thor
oush overhauling. We are the most ex-
TaVagant country In the world. We
average Americans waste enough In a
day to feed small European family, and
they would not lose weight either. Do
you wonder that the immigrants come
/ rich7
| They save and economic like they did
Il IN tne old country fe nd brad
In them not to waste. I do not mean that
we should lower our standard of living
but we should learn not to be so waste
full"
"A comparison Of Napoleon's fighting
methods and those of the Germans today
VIII show very close resemblance, but
for one thing" remarked A. l. King, OF
Detroit, stopping at the Willard 81
have studied both methods very closely -
| said Mr.. King, and I have found out
| that Napoleon's statement that God is
| on the side OF the heaviest artillery, does
| not always work out. The idea OF artil.
| lery fire and a curtain of fire worked as
we'll in his time as 1t does today. Ma
| poleon was a firm believer in cutting his
| way through the enemy with artillery
fire, but we have no record that he wai
| a believer In trench work
| THE greatest difference between Ma.
poleon and the German War Lord is that
| Napoleon never violated the unwritten
| rules of war. He believed In fighting
armed comhatants. he never subjected
noncombatants to indignities II he could
| help II. He never sought to tcrrorize
| women and children, he never sought the
| enmity Of the citizenry and whenever a
soldier was caught doing an outrageous
| act he was shot l do not mean that all
| his soldiers were well-behaved, but re.
| fer TO the totally unnecessary acts of Pill.
Iage. murder, rape and incendiarism. He
| believed that body Of men who became
/ lawleSs were uncomfortable in the ranks
| "Of course. his men did all that you
could expect any body OF men would do
| but to violate promise or to be a party
| to a breach of etiquette with the enemy is
something no one can charge against him
His word was his bond. On one oc-
casion Russian general proposed spar,
| ing a certain building and Napoleon
agreed that II the enemy would rcspec,
| II he would. Neither side used the build.
| ing for spying purposes and It stood right
in the midst OF the battle and was only
| scratched. Its historical value was moi
! impaired. Can you ina gine a German
living up to such a promise7 They re-
spect not even the house OF God"