The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1918-01-31
ToURsDAY, JANUARY 80, 1918.
Ceased -

They we're everywhere-apparently
those suffocating fumes-blinding,
stiffling, nauseating. To escape them
was impossible. They penetrated, per-
vaded, permeated the very atmosphere
until every breath of it was saturated
with the acid taste Of them and the
sulphurous, sickening tickle of them in
nostrils, throat, and lungs. Unable to
stand it longer the coughing victim
reeled through the stencil of it and
lurched rather than stepped into the
purer air beyond the danger zone.
A midnight atroeity in NoMan S
Land, Somewhere in France? Moan
early morning outrage in Some-Woman s
Kitchen Most Anywhere in Kenosha.
AT that the chlorine, pineapple Il,
or mustard" gas employed BY the
merciless Hum has nothing on the
deadly variety released on Kenosha
housewives by the mereenary chemists
of the Gas and Electric Company. In
passing-we would suggest that sever
al tons of the local "stuff be tanked
and shipped to General Pershing in
order that he may be ready to follow
the advice of Walter Malone and give
the Teutons He'll for Hell'. The
same action might accomplish results if
applied to the Gas and Electric Com
pany by it's long-snfering victims in
all parts of the city.
To interpret--an emergency hearing
ON the gas situation in Kenosha will
be held at the City Hall at ten o CLOCK
on Thursday morning. In this tribunal
representatives of the Wisconsin Rail
road Commission will hear complaints
against the local gas and use the data
so secured as a basis for subsequent
orders to the Gas and Electric Company.
Under the circumstances that morn
ing's post of duty for every woman in
Kenosha, who has been, or may be
f'gassed", is in or as near the City
Hall as she can possibly get, regardless
of weather, household duties or any
other considerations of lesser import.
If the line stretches to Main street,
action from the commission is assured,
provided, of course every woman has
an evil look in her eyes and a venom
GUS speech on the tip of her tongue.
"a little sally into the kitchen just be-
fore starting will easily supply the lat
ter, fits a big one, too-it doesn It
leave the "sallee" too choked or faint
to stagger down town for the hearing.
Such action may not be exactly religi-
GUS but it's necessary, safe and sane.
incidentally it may save good bit of
religion, now prodigally expended in
profanity upon every entry into kitch-
ems, that are uninhabitable without
gas-masks for any except those whose
lungs have become calloused to the
stifling fumes.
A chief duty of the good citizen y,
said James Bryce on one occasion, lis
to be angry when anger is called for
and to express that anger in deeds''
If Mr.. Bryce was right--and we think
he was--now is the time for all good
citizens to come to the aid of their
city, get good and angry, and pay
their most malignant respects to the
Gas and Electric Company.
Some such action as that is the per-
scnal and civic duty of every gas-user
who is honestly concerned for the
safety of herself and her family.
Every doctor in Kenosha has pro
nounced the local gas positively
injurious" to health and consequently
intolerable", Therefore-leave the
dishes unwashed, the beds unmade, the
living room unswept, if necessary, but
get to the City Hall on Thursday
morning and lodge your complaint
with the state commission. Yes, bring
the Riddles along if there's no one
else to keep them. At that they re
safer breathing the air of Goods out
of-doors', zero as it is, than inhaling
the sulphurous gas that pervades
Kenosha kitchens.
AS Parthian shot-if you must die,
die for your country and not for a cor.
poration. It's barely possible that you
are so saturated with gas that life fol-
you has lost its romance and its glamor
If so, organize "Battalior Of
Death, fight VIGOROUSLY or die
gloriously beneath the open sky and
the Stars and Stripes but don 't--don Z
be content to have your throat, lungs
and life poisoned by an insidious gas
all because you didn It have the energy
or the nerve to complain to the
proper authorities.