davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01

When seaman signed the ships
articles in Liverpool and came to
New York, and his vessel was in a
safe harbor, there was no longer the
community Of risk that requires that
the master shall be absolute in con-
troll. If he undertook to leave his
vessel and seek employment on some
other vessel, we were under treaty
obligations to take that seaman
wherever we could find him, take him
back and put him upon the vessel
that he had deserted and compel him
to fulfil his civil contract, some
thing that we had never ATTEMPTED
to do in this country with the men
who are engaged in industrial pur-
suits; and when a vessel came from
Calcutta to New York with a crew
OF Lascars at SO per month, if thew
undertook to leave their vessels in
New York and seek employment on
other vessels, we used our police
powers under our treaty obligations
to run down those seamen, take them
back on board of the vessels thew
had shipped on, and compel them to
return at the same terms and under
the same conditions as they signed
for when they left Calcutta.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01

satisfaction that there were two
very distinct reasons why our mer-
chant marine had been driven from
the seas; and the first of these rea-
sons was that our shipowners had
to buy their vessels in an American
market, protected market, prices
enhanced by virtue Of that protec-
ton, and yet had to utilize their
vessels in free competition with the
vessels built in all the countries of
the world. In other words, it cost
the American shipowner more for
his vessel Of the same carrying ca
pacity than it cost his foreign COM
petitor. 1t required the investment
of greater amount of capital to get
the same business transacting plant.
That was partly remedied by some
of the legislation recently passed,
giving to American shipowners the
privilege of American registry for
certain kinds of foreign-built ships.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Cabinet Member Predicts Amer
lea will Emerge From Recon
str11ctiOn Period Four Months
After Peace Is Proclaimed

into enemy countries will add
another quickening impulse to our
trade. All these markets Of the
world are open to us, and the oppor-
tunities, in greater abundance than
ever have been known, challenge the
enterprise and the spirit Of our
leaders of industry. l believe our
business men will be quick to act
on the promise the future holds
forth and the problems of demobili-
cation and unemployment will dis
appear in the full measure of their
success. 1t is my, purpose, in con-
nection with the Department of
Labor, to do all that l can to estab-
lish confidence among all our people
to the end that the coming of the
days Of humming business activity
may be fastened.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01

suddenly swept over a scope of coun
try two hundred miles north and south
by more than one hundred miles wide
with deep devoutness, many of the
church members are contributing their
tlthes to the work of the Lord. Not
only are new church cdifices being
erected, but munifcent donations to
charity, to education, to public well
fare enterprises Of various kinds. and
especially to home and foreign missions,
are being made by these men and
women of wealth.
These newly-made folk of fortune
many of them millionaires-res
generously to the many requests for
contributions to various kinds of re-
llgious and charitable projects. The
Baptist church near Ranger is piling up
fortune of something like 100000 a
year from royalties on it's two oil
wells, and the deacons of this little
body of worshippers are distributing
the money among educational institu-
tions and other activities of that de-
nomination. In this instance the money
comes direct to the church, but in the
numerous other cases the wealth is in
dlvldually held by members of the diff
ferent congregations because of the
sale of land leases of fortunate oil
strikes.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
No Reduction
In Wages

My own judgment is that there
will be little or no reduction in the
wage rates, that it would be folly
on the part of business men gen.
orally to attempt any general re-
duction in the wage rates, that if
reduction in the wage rates could
be forced it would not last for a
very long period of time, because
as sure as we get through our
period of readjustment, and we are
going to get through it, just so sure
will we have a prolonged period of
industrial activity that will create
a demand for workers that will be
difficult to fill and compel employers
to pay as high as or higher rates
than they are now paying. But that is
not true with regard to the cost Of
materials. Wage rates went up.
They went up higher in some indus
tries than they did in others and yet
there was comparative uniformity
in the increase in the wage rates.
The cost Of material in some lines
Of industry kept pace with the in
crease in the cost Of wages. In
other lines Of industry the increase
in the cost Of material was higher
and in others still higher.
In one line Of industry-in GER
tain branches Of the metal trades
the cost Of labor had gone up so
per cent, and the cost Of material
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Where Spending
Is Fantastic

Naturally these newly rich folks are
spending their money in more or less
spectacular way-not all of them, of
course, but very large percentage of
so many big six-cylinder limousines in
Ranger, Burkburnett, Cisco and BESIDE
mona that the streets are not wide
enough to accommodate them. The
former tillers of the soil no longer
guide the handles of the plough; some
of them are making no pretence of
farming this year. Not few of them
are enjoying a period Of ease which
to their minds just now can be no
better had than sitting around town
watching the incoming and outgoing
rush of investors, gossiping with their
friends and telling what they are going
to do with their money.
1t is the land owner who has reaped
the greatest financial benefits from the
oil discoveries. To be sure, enormous
sums of money have been made by spec
ulators in leases and royalties, and in
few instances purchasers of stocks in
legitimate, fortunate companies have
protited largely. The big oil corpora
tions are the ones that are making
the most money out of the crude
petroleum. The men who are inter
ested in these concerns are not of the
spectacular type, and therefore not as
much interest attaches to them as does
to the men who have suddenly come
into big fortunes.
The membership of many of the
country church congregations in Cen
trail West Texas are rolling in wealth
derived from the leases of their farms
for oil exploitation purposes. In not
a few instances men who were 80 poor
that it was hard for them to raise
enough money each year to pay taxes
on their unproductive lands have OBJ
tanned anywhere from $4,000 to $4,000
an acre for the oil leases Of their
holdings. The Golfers Of the churches
are reaping the benefits Of this un-
precedented era Of prosperity that has
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Texas, Corged With Wildcat Wealth.
Indulges Its Taste for Limousines
What Happened When Barren Farms Were Sud-
denly Found TO Be Worth Thousands an Acre
for the Oil That Might Lie Beneath the Surface

around, in wildcat territory, enormous
sums were paid and are still being
paid for prospective oil rights.
In one case at least the difficulty
met with in locating the owner of a
sixty-acre farm in the Ranger district
shortly after oil was discovered here
last summer brought the man many
thousand dollars more money for his
oil lease than he probably would other
wise have received. The farm owner
in question was Henry Lobard He was
one of the drouth refugees who had
gone to a shipbuilding plant in Louisi-
ana in order to make enough money
to live on. When the Ranger field be-
gan to develop land lease values
mounted to dazzling heights. Scores
of oil operators and spectators want
ed to get hold of the sixty-acre farm
Of Henry Lobard, but he could not be
found. Had he been on the spot in
the beginning of the excitement he
probably would have accepted few
dollars an acre for lease of his place.
1t was several weeks after the discov-
cry we'll was brought in that Lobard
by chance picked up a daily newspaper
and read of the great oil excitement
which was raging at Ranger. 1t was
the first he had heard of it. He quit
his job and came back to town. News
of his arrival quickly spread around,
and in no time he was surrounded by
a group Of oil men, each trying to OBJ
tain a lease on his farm. He finally
accepted an offer of $1,000 an acre and
one-eighth royalty of all oil that may
be produced Besides the lease pay
ment of 100000, he is obtaining an
income of approximately $500 a day
from royalty on wells that have been
drilled on the sixty-acre tract.
Instances Of quick and big fortunes
that have come to poor land owners in
the new oil-p1oducing region are so
numerous that 1t would require col
umns Of space to give them. Practi-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Aspects of the
Seamen'S Act

BY our treaty obligations, by our
own police laws, under those treaty.
obligations, we maintained for the
shipping interests OF the world out
side of the United States a labor
advantage that was disastrous for
our own shipping interests. What
the seamen's act did, and the
principal thing that it did, was to
give freedom to the seamen. It
was based upon this principle: That
the Constitution of the United
States declares against slavery
that every man in the United States,
irrespective of race or color or
previous condition of servitude. is
free man, and the principle of
the seamen's law is that whenever
any vessel comes into American
waters under the jurisdiction of the
American government and this
vessel is safe from harm, then every
seaman upon it becomes a free man,
1t provides that those seamen
shall have the right to leave their
vessels when in safe port, when
they are in any port of the United
States, and the effect has been what
the originators and the advocates of
the bill believed it would be. 1t
came much more rapidly than they
had expected it would come, but the
effect has come, nevertheless, and
to-day the wage rates of the Brit
ish vessels and the Norwegian YES
sells and the other vessels of the
world, with the exception of France
and of Japan, are the same wage
rates that the American shipowner
is paying, and that is all that the
American shipowner ought to ask.
| have every confidence in the skill,
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
A New
Rich Church

An illustration of the wide range Of
these church donations is that of the
Methodist church at Ranger, which re-
Gently received an appeal from Sid R.
Anderson, a Methodist missionary at
Sung-kiang, China, for money with
which to purchase new motor boat.
1t seems that Mr.. Anderson's mission
charges are scattered around the shores
of a lake, and he wanted the boat to
voyage back and forth to the different
meeting places. Mr.. Anderson was born
and reared at Rising Star, out in West
ern Texas, not far from the scene Of
the oil discoveries. The news of the
wonderful riches that had suddenly
come to his old acquaintance at
Ranger had reached him In far-ofP
China. The congregation Of the Meth
odist church at Ranger not only bought
tho finest kind Of motor boat for Mr..
Anderson, but sent him money with
which to erect a handsome church and
residence at Sung-kiang.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Foreign Trade
Competition

The second reason was that it cost
the American shipowner more for
his operating expenses than it cost
his foreign competitor. 1t did not
cost him anything more for his sup
plies, for his ordinary repairs, for
his insurance or any of the costs of
that character. 1t cost him more
for his operating expenses because
he had to pay more for his labor.
He had to pay higher rate for his
seamen. An illustration: In 1913
IA, before the European war came
on, before the seamen's act was
passed, American seamen shipping
from New York to Liverpool were
paid $50 per month. British sea-
men shipping from Liverpool to New
York were paid $25 per month.
British vessels trading with the
Orient, with British colonies in the
Orient, were able to secure foreign
crews, British crews, Lascars, at So
per month, coming to American
ports, while the American shipowner
had to pay $50 per month to secure
a crew to engage in exactly the same
trade. That meant that the Ameri-
can shipowner was at a decided dis
advantage in his operating expenses
and it was not to be expected that
American capital would seek invest
ment in American vessels where it
was placed at such disadvantage in
competition with the shippers of the
world, when it could find more
profitable investment in industries
on land so American capital drifted
out of the shipping industry
The reason why the American
shlpoWner was compelled to pay
more for his seamen than his COM
petitor was that the seamen, under
the maritime laws of the world under
the treaty obligations that we as a
nation had entered into with some
twenty three commercial countries
of the globe, were compelled to full
fiji our civil contracts as to labor.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01

in the energy, in the business
ability Of the American skipper,
and believe that If you place him
upon an equality with the shippers
Of the other nations Of the world
with his ingenuity and skill and
business ability, he will get a proper
share Of the business for American
bottoms, and that alone would help
to build up our merchant marine.
But some things have interrupted
and have changed the conditions
since then. Our engaging in the
war, the destructive submarine war;
fare carried on by Germany, the
necessity Of furnishing ships and
still more ships, as Lloyd George
said, turned our attention to ship
building operations and as re-
suit we now have the second largest
merchant fleet in the world, already
floated; and we have more vessels
in the stocks under construction,
soon to be launched upon the waters
of the world, than any Of the other
countries Of the globe.
That will furnish US, then, the
third necessity of overseas trade,
and with these things in our hands,
already prepared for US, when our
business men have reached the
point where it is necessary to de-
velop overseas trade on an extern
sive scale, they will find the means
of vitallzng the laws we already
have in existence.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Putting Back
The 100000

We took 100000 of our workers
from industry and put them in
trenches and training camps. We
are now sending them back to the
industries, but the best that we can
hope for is that 100000 of them
will be demobilized at the end of the
calendar year. Thus there are more
than 100000 workers less than the
usual supply under normal condi-
tons. This shortage becomes of
even greater concern. when we con-
template the almost certain increase
in demand.
Our workers, our wage earners,
have enjoyed more remunerative
pay during the war than they ever
received IN peace time. Due to
overtime, working on Sundays and
having steadier employment than
customarily, they have been enabled
to invest in Liberty bonds and to lay
by something for reserve. Their
savings mean a tremendous amount
IN the aggregate added to the pur-
Chasing power Of the United States.
Our farmers have been placed in
similar situation. The returns for
farm products have been the highest,
computed in real money, that have
ever been received in the history of
the world. The farmers also have
extensive funds in reserve and that
reserve viii be used, to very con-
adorable degree, in equipping their
farms and their households as they
nave never been equipped. The
farmers constitute a vast potential
buying power.
linen there is this great South
american country that lies with it's
ooors open waiting for us. German
influence in Latin America is at an
END and the vast volume Of COM
merce that brought wealth to the
= ports Of Germany will now be di-
Ycrted 70 other routes. The United
States will get its share of this
trade.
Rebuilding Of devastated France
ana Belgium will cause heavy de-
mand Tor our products. Eastern
EUROPE holds out manifold oppor-
'uhities, and sooner or later Russia
ahh the Central Powers will enter
sps market for our wares. Release
" trade restrictions enforced against
.he neutrals of the north through
lsar that they might become the
see"ay Tor movement of supplies
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Rehabilitation the
Real Problem

So that our problem resolves itself
down into the problem of demobiliza-
ton and rehabilitation. There
has been a great deal of hysteria
about the question of recon
struction. We are passing through
the same kind Of atmosphere that
we passed through at the time when
we engaged in the war. Then there
was very general fear that we
would not be able to mobilize our
forces with sufficient rapidity to be
of assistance in the conflict; that if
we could mobilize them we would be
unable to train them; if we
trained them, we would be unable to
carry them across the ocean because
OF the shortage of shipping; and if
we did carry them across the seas,
that they would be unable to partici-
pate In the war over there through
lack of equipment; and yet when the
great crisis came, when the German
forces had broken through the West
ern front and there was nothing be-
tween them and Paris but thirty
miles of space, it was those same boys
that we feared we could not mobil-
lze, could not train, could not trans
port to France, could not equip
who stepped into the breach at
Chateau Thierry, stayed the oncom-
ing horde of Huns, turned them
backward toward Berlin, restored
the morale of the French and the
British forces and by their COM
blned efforts won victory for our
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Financial Bureau

Financial Bureau
Special Correspondence
RANGER, Tex, May 29.-Many of
the stories of sudden and big riches
that have come to men and women of
the Central West Texas oil fields dur
ing the last several months read like
wild flights of fancy. Aladdin with
his wonderful lamp and ever-handy
genii had nothing on the strange god
dess that seems to be presiding over
the material destinies Of the people
Of this region. The average land owners
of Central West Texas went through
a trying time during the long period
of unprecedented drouth which only
recently came to an end. Their farms,
that even in the best Of seasons pro-
duced barely enough to give them a
living, were wholly barren of vegeta-
ton during the three years of drouth.
Fortunately for the discouraged
owners there was no demand for their
lands at any price. No one wanted to
buy the burnt-up farms. In order to
provide themselves and families with
a living scores Of the drouth- stricken
farmers moved temporarily to other
parts of the state and even to the more
remote parts of the country. The de-
mand for shipbuilding workers and
other government laborers at that
time was very great, and large num-
bers of these land owners left their
farms and accepted positions at good
wages in different parts of the coun-
frv
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Business Leaders Must Build Up
Their Organizations Now Be-
fore Shortage of Man Power
Blocks Plans for Expansion

coming from the hands of that la
Dor, the selling price of that prod
uct, had gone. up 275 per cent. Now
there is a possibility o. squeezing
down that accordion and reducing
the cost of material until it comes
down to the equivalent of the in
crease in the cost of labor, and that
could be done without disturbing
labor in any shape or form. 1t has
oeen undertaken by the Department.
Of Commerce. Whether it will be
successful in carrying it through or
not time alone can tell. But in
any event the employer of labor
who fails to maintain his organiza-
ton during the period Of readjust-
ment will find himself at disad-
vantage when the period Of read
justment is over
Before the war we were receiving
into our body polite in the neigh
borhood of 100000 aliens an
nually OF that number 100000
were returning, leaving us net in
crease of 100000 immigrants, near
ly 100000 of whom were working
for wages For four years we have
not had that increase in our work
ing population. With the beginning
of the European war immigration
fell off almost entirely. We were
getting some, principally over the
Mexican and Canadian borders; but
the number coming in was about
equal to the number going out, and
SO we have had shortage of some
100000 in what would have been
the increase in our working popula-
ton. We have taken a shipbuilding
industry that had but few tens of
thousands in it and we have built
it up to the point where there is
approximately half a million work
ers. Those half million workers
have been drawn from all the walks
| of life. They have been gathered
together in our shipbuilding centres
and trained to new lines of activity.
They are taken out of our other in
dustries, and are likely to remain
out of the other industries for a
prolonged period of time.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Bv William B. Wilson
Secretary of Labor

rF every man engaged in bust
ness in the United States We're
filed with the idea that the
thing for him to do is to get
going. to get his establishment on at
least as large and effective basis
as it was prior to the war, then our
demobilizing and unemployment
nroblems would be readily solved.
Confidence is the great need of the
business world to-day, and the en-
ployer who starts to build now on
the promise of tomorrow will have
a tremendous advantage over his
competitor who holds back waiting
for prices of material to fall Or for
wages to decline. 1t is the business
man who proceeds now to strengthen
his organization, to build up his
working force, who will reap the
first fruits of the revival of trade
and industry that is coming The
EMPLOYER who hesitates is closing his
ewes to physical facts which unerr-
incly point to unprecedented trade
evanston and industrial develop
ment.
l believe there will be no more
of an interim than four or six
months at the most between the
signing of the peace treaty and our
getting into regular postwar swing.
am strengthened in this belief by
many considerations.
In the first place, in nearly all
lines of industry and commerce there
has been depletion of stocks, except
those that are closely related to sup
plies for military purposes. The
shelves are emptied and they have
to be filled to their normal business
weight Then again, the supply Of
labor is not so ample as an offhand
examination of the situation might
Indicate. Before the war broke out
we were admitting annually to the
United States, from all nations of
the world. approximately 100000
aliens, who were used for the de-
veopment of our industrial enter
prises.
Of this number 100000 returned
leaving us net gain of 100000
every year. After four years of
war We are confronted with a short
age from this source Of 100000
workers, because during that period
the numbers who have gone out have
equalled those who have come in.
Before the war we had but few
tens of thousands engaged in ship
building; we now have approx
mately 100000 engaged in that in
dustry and our merchant marine
programme will keep our shipyard:
increasingly active for many year;
to come.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-06-01
Fortunes Made
Overnight

Now many Of thcse men who little
more than a year ago were forced to
borrow money to got out Of the country
are millionaires or ear-millionaires.
They returned from their war jobs to
find their barren farms worth almost
fabulous prices. Not only was there n
wild scramble for oil leases of land
In the proved fields, but for 100 miles