New-York tribune., 1918-04-08
I.Stuf Correspondence1

ERTI BALL, BATAVIA, n. Y, April I.
1t is now permitted to announce, as
tho boys in France say, that the big
push is on. Propelled by those twin
Uncle Sans whom New York has seen
IN the picture supplements so often OF
late, Uncle Sam NJ. Houston, 113 pounds
roadside, and Uncle Sam w. Lowry,
who weighs in at 11Sls with his whisk-
ers on, the 350-pound Liberty Ball has
put behind it. some forty eight of the
five hundred odd miles that lie between
Buffalo and Broadway.
1t isn't hoax, after all, nor one Of
those press agent stunts that fall to
pieces when they're looked into. Here
is a ball, and there are the two flesh
and blood Uncle Sans, and between
them they're gong to get to New York
or bust Maybe it will be bust, but
that won't be the fault of the human
power plant. Malcolm Houston and
Willard Lowry, who never did any work
much heavier than walking through a
mob scene for the movies, are pretty
we'll done up by their cXertions to date.
Ball Shows Strain
Still, at that 1t is the ball itself that
shows the strain most. 1t was bit
wabbly, in fact, when it was pushed
into Batavia under a drizzling rain at A
O'Clock this afternoon, twentyseven
hours outbound from the Buffalo City
Hall.
Before it proceeds in the morning
the village blacksmith will have to do
some lively tinkering; TO explain n
what's the matter with the Liberty Ball
entails telling of its history.
In the first place it was intended to
! have the ball fifteen feet in diameter,
absolutely symmetrical and built en-
trely of wood To this there were
many objections. Such bali would
: would certainly prove unmanageable,
and, besides, some Of the state roads
are only sixteen feet wide. So as it
, has been built the ball is only seven
feet in diameter. The only wood about
| it is the bamboo frame, on which the
red, white and blue canvas covering is
/ lashed. What makes its weight is the
iron tire on which the ball tracks, and
with this tire the trouble lies. 1t will
be appreciated that the Liberty Loan
! Committee found it hard to find con-
tractor skilled in the construction OF
| liberty balls, SO it is not 10 be Won
dered at that some Of the stove bolts
! that hold the tire in place weren't
strong enough for their Job. They
have sheared off, and must be replaced
| before the ball rolls on.
| Batavia, for that matter, would be
! glad enough to have it stay where 1T
| is until the folks can come in from
the farms to get an eyeful. Where il
is laid up for repairs, just inside one
Of the wide windows Of the fire house,
the ball is ideally open to inspection,
and the crowds have beel. SO great
on the sidewalks thereahouts that the
Batavia police porcc is scratching its
| head over its first traffic problem.
4 However, if the Batavia blacksmith is
any kind of patriot the ball will be
on its way again by nine ir the morn
! ing.
Liberty Coach in Batavia
1t chances that Batavia is the rest
ing place tonight for both the Liberty
Bail and the Liberty Co.ch, which
started out of Buffalo aboU the same
time yesterday for the sam, objective,
New York. From here on, indeed, their
routes are the same. They will pass
| through twenty-nine counties and
eighty-four cities, towns and villages
! on the way, covering on the itinerary, a
/ population of about 6,500,000. And if
the rest of the towns respond as
/ fundamentally to the patriotic urge as
I have the half dozen that nave been
put to the rear, there will be not the
slightest doubt of the wisdom of the
committee in selecting this means of
spreading the loan through the state.
From Buffalo to Batavia the ball and
the coach have escaped one ovation
only to fall in with anott er. Mostly
il has been the Boy Scouts who have
turned out to push the bail, but the
sweating Sans have also mad the as
sistance part way of the entire fire COM
pany Of Eggertsville and lusty body
of prominent citizens Of Williamsville,
all decked out in duck trousers and
white hats. And that isn't the only
way they're keeping the ball rolling
along the route. Although the Uncle
Sans say never a word, but just keep
/. plugging on in the general direction
of the big town, and although the
speakers riding aboard the liberty
coach aren't selling bonds themselves,