The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-03
BUSINESS OF LIVING
German Lies About the Kaiser's Kind
Treatment of the WOrkingInan Find
No Believer in Eleanor.
BY MRS. EVA Lee NARD

Aunt Laura, what was done about
Jason Smedley's refusal to salute the
flag and the traitorous speeches he
made in the Grange? 1 have not
heard you say anything about it fo-
some time now" Eleanor and Aunt
Laura were jogging along the hard,
dusty road on the way to town
"Oh, that ended 1 was afraid it
would" A cloud passed over Aunt
Laura's face 1.-THE Grange gave him
the chance it promised him to defend
himself, and listened to a lot Of tire
some rot about trying to down ma
| ton that had done more foc the
working man than any other"
Il thought you said he was not a
German sympathizer interrupted
Eleanor.
Il said he was not of German
descent even, so 1 could not suppose
he would be a German synpathizer-
mirer and the reign of frightfulness
has not been enough to kill that ad-
miration.''
What is it he so admires?" asked
Eleanor in scornful tones.
"Oh, their care for the working
man; their old age pensions and care
of the sick"
How does he know all this? Has
he been to Germany"
mo. He gets his information Just
Dy reading, L suppose.
1T is an instance of the old say
ing: Set down your value at your
own huge rate and the world will
pay it Germans have loudly pro
claimed that their workingmen were
better cared for than any other peo-
mouth and swallowed down the talk
whole. 1t is past comprehending how
a boast will travel around the world
while the truth is putting on its
shoes, especially if the boast is a
falsehood." Eleanor aased for breath
II myself used to bow before Ger
man efficiency till Bertrar, opened
| my eyes"
Bertrand What does ne know
about it?" asked Aunt Laura.
Why, he spent a year there study
| ing conditions, and he came away
with his views utterly changed. He
| took no ones word for anything, but
saw for himself and the result was
that he believes the workmen of Eng
land and France are far better off
that those of Germany. He did not
study conditions in Italy. Spain or
Russia. The workingman's pension
! in England is far more liberal in its
! provisions; the men work shorter
| hours and get higher wages. Fer
| tram asked one of the educated Ger
! mans with whom he talked if the
| statistics he had seen compiled were
| true and the German said: Surely,
/ that fact explains why we are dis
/ tancing England in the commercial
race"
But they are efficient. The way
they have carried on the war proves
| that" objected Aunt Laura.
Certainly, They are efficient in
I this way. Every man. eveUy business.
every dollar in the empire is used to
! the best advantage of the kaiser, and
! this was the case before the war Just
as truly as it is today. These old age
pensions are not payabls till those
who receive them are sixty-five and a
person must live fifteen years to get
back the money that he has paid in
alone without any intere whatever
These figures were taken from gov
eminent statistics. so they sre correct
You see the pensions are pitifully
small. not enough to keep a person
If the old person lives with a relative
! what he gets helps toward mis- sup
port; if he has no relatives he goes to
THE poor house and the government
takes the pension. 1t is really an in
surance for the government"
why that"
Large families are encouraged
among the poor that the army may
be furnished with soldiers. The edu-
Gated classes cannot afford large
families as one professoe wife said
to Bertram- But the workingman ?
he objected. oh. certainly; that i,
necessary for the army was the an
! swer And that Is the sort of gov