Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-19
WE POINT OUT FUTILITY
OF TOMTOMS


in China. There accretons Of wealth,
growth Of luxury and other influences in
duced a national policy Of pacihsm which
was ancient when this country was still
undiscovered and the name Of Columbus
appeared in no history book. One Of the
attributes Of pachsm is hysteria, and in
the hysterical arts the Chinese became so
efficient that they first discovered the tom.
tom. Moreover. it is recorded that in
many bloodless engagements the myrmi-
dons of oppression by the excellence of
their tomtoming achieved great ana i'm.
portant victories
But the tomtom cannot be heard amid
the peans Of machine guns and the roar
of Busy Berthas. Not all the tomtom
beaters in the world could carry a line Of
trenches; for, however painful the tomtom
may be to the ears, it is not deadly, while
the bullet from the machine gun carries
an argument to which there is no answer.
We have listened with undisguised fear
and apprehension TO much Of the tom.
toming prevalent in America. We have
seen fat.bellied men singing the national
anthem-with a printed version in their
hands-and heard them between music
courses complaining bitterly that some Of
their excess profits would be eaten up by
taxes. We have heard eminent flnanciers
demanding that the nation he saved. How?
Why by tomtoming business into going
ON a strike. Save, save savc." was the
burden Of their tomtom, as If it could pos.
sibiy be OF any service whatever to the
nation for an individual to quit buying
Z The things he needed. Yes, quit wasting
food, quit wasting leather, quit wasting
everything which is needed in the war, but
in the name Of common sense why quit
producing the one thing on which every
thing else depends-money? As well talk
of stopping the manufacture Of steel and
iron. We have to make money to spend
money have we not? And we have to
spehd money to make money, have we not?
But among the great merits Of tom
NOilllIiB Is lilt wv tlSlAN VI Allt IAbLfNSl'l4s
More than one tune can be played on a
tomtom While, for instance, we tom.
toned for selective conscripton and got
it. we awoke later to find that in the proc
ess the word "selective" was dropped. Con.
slider the drafting Of miners from schuyl.
kill County, for example. There were III.
900 mine workers in the anthracite fields
in 1916. Now there are about $4,000
Some OF the missing ones are in camps and
some have gone to other industries. They
have been tomtomed from the one essen.
tial industry into some other industry that
cannot keep going without coal
"The finest railroad system in the world"
shouted the tomtom. No doubt but some
of the best railroad administrators in the
OF the best trained railroad men in the
nation are learning how to drill, So since
the coal stays in the mines ana the rail
road trains move with the rapidity Of
snails, the Fuel Administration tomtoms
"A signal for general halt as IL the trouble
were not that there is too much Of a halt
already, and all the opposition tomtoms,
Of which there are many million, tomtom
with such din and racket that ratiocna.
tion is unknown in the land and the hemI-
sphere is converted into a prodgious pho.
nograph.
Let's quit the tomtoming. 1t does the
Hun no harm. He likes it and makes a
pretense of doing the same thing him.
self We have a problem TO solve, not a
ghost to frighten. We want, do we not, to
get coal out Of the mines-millions and
millions OF tons Of it--and we want 70
move that coal to the seaboard and the
cities. ITO have more coal more miners
are needed" reasons the General Commit,
Zee Of Anthracite Operators, apparently
having no tomtom at hand and depending
for results on the statement OF a simple
truth.
There are some thousands Of men In the
nationai service. many Of them trained in
mining and railroading and all consecrated
% the defeat Of the Hun Would it out
,aeo the military caste for some of these
men 10 be permitted TO come to the rescue
of the country In this emergency and rip
tbe heart out or the coal exigency by con
.plcuous emergency seryiee2 Would they
1. Aoy ne les valuable soldiers on accodnt
* ~ re useks u training they would