Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-04

The Return OF Belisarius
TRAY days in the prairie country do
~ not come very often. but they are
very depressing when they arrive. The
landscape is not of the luscious kind: it
has no close correspondence with pic
ture by Corot or Constable: sunlight is
needed to give it the touch of the
habitable and the homelikc. 1t was.
therefore, unfortunate for the spirits
of the Lebanon people that the meet
ing summoned by local agitators to dis
cuss with asperity affairs on both sides
of the Sagaac should, while starting
with fitful sunlight in the early morn
ing. have developed to bleak grayness
by three o'clock in the afternoon, the
time set for the meeting.
Another strike was imminent in the
factories at Manitou and in the railway
shops at Lebanon. due to the stupidity
of the policy of Ingolby's successor as
to the railways and othe" nuaG"ial and
manufacturing interests. If he had
planned campaign of maladroitnesS
he could not have more happily fulfilled
his object. 1t was not good time, for
reducing wages. or for quarreling with
the Town Councils of Manitou and Le-
banon concerning assessments and other
matters.
November and May always found
Manitou. as though to say. upset. y
In the former month. men were pouring
through the place on their way to the
shanties for their winters work. and
generally celebrating their coming in
ternment by ''irrigation in the latter
month. 'thPy were returning from their
winters Imprisonment. thirsty for eX =
citement. and with memories of winter
quarrels melting them to ''have it out
of some one.
And il was in October. when the
shantyman was passing through on his
way to the woOds-a natural rcvoiu-
tionary. loving trouble as a coyote loves
his hole-that labor discomfort was vir-
tually whipped into action. and the
councils of the two towns were stuhg
into bitterness against the new provo
cative railway policy. Things looked
dark. enough. The trouble between the
two towns and the change of control
and policy of the railways. due to
Ingolby's downfall. had greatly shaken
land and building values in Lebanon.
and black eye, as it were. had been
given to the whole district for the mo-
ment.
So serious had the situation been re
gardpd that the mayor of Lebanon. with
Halliday the lawyer and another no
table citizen. all friends of Ingolby. had
'gOne East n journey to Mon
treal. Toronto, or Quebec was generally
called--to confer with and make appeal
to the directorate of the great railways.
They went with solss elation and hope,
for they had arguments of an uncX :
pccted kind in their possession. carefully
hidden from the rest of the population.
They had returned only the day. before
the meeting which was to be he'd in
the square in front of the town hall. to
find that a platform had been built at
the very steps of the town hall with the
assent of the chief constable. now re
covering from illness and returned to
duty. To the deputy mayor and the
council. the chief constable. on the ad
vice of Gabriel Drusc. had said that it
was far better to have the meeting in
front of the town hall where he could.
on the instant. summon special cen
stables from within if necessary. while
the influence of well built platform
and the orderly arrangement of a regu
lar meeting were better than a mob
Grafton from the tops of ash barrels.
1t was gray enough day at Lebanon.
and dark faced visitors from Manitou
felt the need of winter clothing as they
sll<eringly crossed the Sagalac by
Ingolby's bridge The air was raw and
searching; nature was sulky. In the
sharp wind the trees shook themselves