Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-02
CAPITAL SUFFERS
WARS TYRANNIES
Mr.. Palm Beach, Jr., Fails to Hire
Train--Congress Viewed
as "the Great Leveler"


own limitations. War may not have intended
to make an autocrat Of the railroad ticket
agent, but It has given him certain powers
not defined by the Constitution, which mil
lionaires and magnates, major generals mad
admrals cannot successfully resist
II may be possible in peace times for
Mr.. Palm Beach, Jr., to engage n drawing
room for comfortable riding, but when tho
railroads are taken over by the Government
for war purposes the plight OF Mr. Palm
Beach, Jr, who unsuccessfully seeks TO en-
gage the attention OF the scornful Mr.. Pull
man. Jr. in the railroad ticket once Is
pitiable beyond words, To sec the delicate
and pampered Mr.. Palm Beach, Jr., jostled
about In the crowds at the main gate and
jammed into an ordinary day coach with
the soldiers and the baggage, the subcon-
tractors ard the ham sandwiches are
now the Joyous privileges OF potentate and
pauper allke-is 20 witness one OF the humor-
Gus phases Of wars supremacy.
II matters not whether Mr.. Palm Beach,
Jr, or Major General Bliss. or Samuel NJ.
Nauclain, of the Baldwin Locomotce Works.
VINO Is coming to be an indispensable alu
to the Government at Washington, happens
to be the victim--the status OF the ticket
seller is fixed He can assign you to the
smoker to the baggage car as he sees
1T, and his power extends TO women just as
banofuly AZ IL does to men. The House OF
Representatives recently voted equal rights
to women. and though 1t may seem ironical,
they are getting them now with n vengeance
the trains and trolleys that attempt TO
relieve the congestion at the national capital.
Sometimes they occupy the smoker and some-
times they stand like men" from Washington
to Baltimore, or on TO Philadelphia and
New York.
1t is no longer a question OF influence or
of money. The car man has so many tickets
to sell, and If you get one you're lucky. IL
you don't get one, you walt or take your
chances. That's the petty tyranny of war.
on the street cars in Washington 1t has
degenerated into a riot There Is no peace or
comfort on the street cars here. 1t Is
jam, regular war janl-white, black. male,
female soldier civilian, officer and private
all packed in and generally standing like
huddled cattle. No one exercises any au-
thority but the conductor. He tells you to
move up front" and to keep moving
Gentlemen in uniform, with insignia desig-
mating generals, colonels and majors, men
who are accustomed to give orders and to
sit in courts-martials that send men to prison
or to death, keep moving" under these cir
cumstances like ordinary mortals. 1t Is
sight for the gods, this railroad and street.
car etiquette in Washington
Officers Too Thick to Salute
When the mobilization of troops began
the dignfed young officers, as well as the
soldiers newly recruited, were profuse In
salutes. The practice became tiresome as
the number OF soldiers increased and to a
large extent II Is now dlsregarded in WASH
ington, where 1t Is not always convenient for
one uniformed man to observe another So
many new officers meet each other in the
departments, on the highways, In the theatres
and on the cars, that IA nod OF recognition Is
now confined largely TO those between whom
an actual acquaintanceshp exists Where
ever the soldier IL on duty, OF course. 1t Is
different But there are 80 maNS soldiers
and sailors everywhere about the national
capital that salutes except on formal oc-
casions, have become almost bore.
The soldier off duty does not hesitate to
keep his seat in the street car even though
the colonel stands, and 1t Is not infrequent
that both the colonel and his lady are COM
PEELED to stand from the theatre to the home.
In this respect war Is certainly success
full leveler. particularly so with regard to the
new brand of officer, the former civilian,
who has donned uniform and accepted
military title for expert work In the Quarter
masters Department or in the Ordnance
Bureau. where the epaulettes are sometimes
not so much the symbol of war as they are
indicative of special qualifications for pur-
chasing supplies or directing manufactures,
Congress the Great Leveler
The greatest leveler OF all. however, is
Congress. where in peace times, as well as
in war times, the big man" at home becomes
one only of four hundred and thlrty-tive Rep
rosentatives Back in the home town every
body from the boy on the street to the
richest banker may hold In highest esteem
the learned judge or the distinguished bar
rster who becomes the peoples representa-
tive in Washington. But here at the capital,
the hero of his constituency unless he spe-
caizes or sensationalizes early in the game,
Is just one judge among many. He Is as
"COlOnpl'
IL in Kentucky.
Many man has made triumphant cam
paign on Il platform to reform congressional
methods. one gentleman from Texas was
elected upon the promise that he would start
the House working about the same time the
farmer started to work and would keep the
Speaker at his job until the sun went down.
That gentleman Is in Congress now. but his
herculean task is still ahead of him.
A wealthy Representative from Massachu-
setts, believing II popular at home 'to jump
on Congress-" met his Waterloo this week.
due to the publication In the newspapers OF
n caustic letter written by him to the Speaker.
But for this incident the gentleman might
still have been counted among the obscure,
for when chided for writing the letter, the
Massachusetts Representative received his
first recognition at the hands of the House.
He had been here all the session. but when
referred to by his critic the cry came up from
all over the hail. "Who Is he?" And vet
early in the session this same gentleman
bought a million dollars worth of Liberty
Bonds,
II is a curious thing about the House
and Senate that no matter how wealthy a
member may be or how sumptuous or Inn
posing his home surroundings, In the cap-
itai itself he figures as he proceeds III the
performance of his work. His personal
strength and popularity depend almost en-
tirely upon the intelligence and activity with
which he does his duty.
The war. as President Wilson has demons
mated it, is a war for democracy. a leveling
process which threatens the crowned heads
and bespeaks the equality of man. Legis-
lation has proceeded on this theory since the
war began. Even the strongest OF our fnan-
cial and business institutions have felt the
leveling process of legislation thus far en-
acted, but a struggle for Independent initia-
tive in business and finance may freely be
predicted as an early and inevitable after.
math of war. ], HAMPTON MOORE
THE REAL ATHLETE
An athletic authority says thirty-nve IL
| n for