The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-11-03

Men Die lngeniousIy.
Government and Labor.
The Editors Problem.
Sunny Southern Gases.
By ARTHUR BRISBANE
Copyright. IsIsO

Copyright. 1870
A new kind of suicide is invent
ed by a Frenchman, Adrien Thu
merel. Men often show more in
genuity in ending their lives than
in making the lives worth while.
A well-known ancient philoso-
pher jumped into the mouth OF
volcano, He wanted to impress
the world with his weird end.
That was vanity.
A Russian prisoner feared that
torture would make him betray
his friends, and he endured agony
to make his friends safe. On the
wall of his cell, high up, was a
small, smoky oil lamp with bare
flame. He lifted himself above the
flame, holding TO the bars of the
cell window, until he had burned
In his side a hole big enough to
cause death. That was courage,
such as thousands of women and
men have shown fighting the Gar.
One young Russian woman, SEN
fenced TO death for killing brutal
officer in Siberia, could have
saved herself by letting It be
known that she was about to be-
come a mother. The Cars bru-
tality let him send women to ST.
IBERIA, but his superstition would
not let him kill an unborn child.
The young woman deliberately al
lowed herself to be executed to
make the Gar worry on learning,
too late, of her condition.
Men have fallen on their sword
points, jumped over cliffs on
horseback, tried all kinds of poi
sons and weapons. The blind King
Of Bohemia had his horse chained
between the horses of two faithful
soldiers, and with them rode into
the thick Of battle, hacking at the
unseen enemy with his sword until
he and the two were dead.
The latest is thoroughly modern
and scientific. Monsieur Thumerel
and his fair one were unhappy;
the world had disappointed them.
In fact, Monsieur was accused of
stealing hams.
He was determined that the
world should hear about him, and
It did. He got thirty-five pounds
Of melinite, the highest sort of ex-
plosiye, shut himself, his lady and
the meiinite in a small hut and
exploded himself out Of the world.
The noise was heard for miles,
property was destroyed all around
and there was not enough left OF
the two bodies to make a canary's
funeral.
There is no moral to this, but il
is interesting, showing what queer
ideas are locked up in hah-devel-
\ oped human beings, who believe
That useless -hfe can be made
better by noisy death.
A question important now and
that may continue to be impor-
tant for many years, OF at least
long enough TO upset the country
seriously is this: aJust what can
the Government do to control
great bodies of organized working
men seeking to regulate their
wages aid hours through indus
trial fights when those fights ap-
pear to menace the general wei
fare? ?"
You can have courts enjoin the
men from striking. That has al
ready been tried, but the men have
struck.
lou can have soldiers to protect
those willing 10 work against those
that are on strike. That expert
ment viii be tried today.
You may by injunction, through
contempt Of court proceedings,
and by action Of the nations legal
department punish men for con-
spring to violate court orders.
But you cannot punish man for
nnot working in a coI mine If he
Noes not want to work there.
A big problem has been grow
ing up slowly, getting bigger and
bigger, and the war with the reck-
less outpouring of money and the
great increase in wages has
brought on the crisis
In a few weeks or months the
country will know a good deal
more than It does now about the
power Of government when il deals
with bodies Of men running into
the millions.
Mr.. Upton Sinclair, whose inter-
esting story about the human fin
gers in the sausages persuaded
Theodore Roosevelt temporarily to
destroy the American meat busi-
less in Europe, has a definition OF
the newspaper business that will
interest publishers, wondering
where their next carload OF paper
is coming from. Mr.. Sinclair, quot
ing an ancient one, says: "Jour-
nalism consists in buying white
> paper at 2 cents a pound and SELL
ing IL at 10 cents a pound"
IL may surprise Mr. Sinclair,
who, like others, is in too much of
a hurry TO be careful about facts,
TO learn that the newspaper pub
Iisher in real life is wondering
how he can seH 10 cents worth of
Il n n l.