davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Courthouses and Homes

Commissioner Hirschfield, in carry
ing on the courthouse inquiry, will,
of course. not neglect to try to ascer-
tain why Mayor Hylan, after seek
ing election on the ground that the
courthouse project represented wick
ed waste, suddenly turns around and
becomes a peremptory advocate of
construction.
With material prices what they
now are and a grave housing crisis
approaching, the time seems scarce
ly appropriate to spend $12,0O0,000
to S14,O00,000 of the public money
on postponable Improvement. The
person who is hunting for fat will
have queer feelings as he sees the
courthouse walls rise.
Tammany mayors have in times
past shown extraordinary interest
in building courthouses without re-
gard to expense. Is history repeat
ing itself?
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Face Cream in Politics

Fame, a goddess as tickle as For
tune, should not quite forget Mr..
G. II. Force, defeated in the Demo-
cratic primary as candidate for Con-
gress in the 10th Missouri District.
Mr.. Force spent just $2366S to get
doubled crossed, as he puts it. The
sum is not excessive, but the candi-
date records the details of his ex-
penditure as methodically as if he
expected to be charged with bribery.
The itenf which cuts so large figure
in campaign accounts-postage-is
ridiculously low. He sent out only
twenty-five letters to influential
men," He twice paid SO cents for
a notary's fee Two bottles of soda
water and crackers and cheese made
up all his treating. There was, of
course, no temptation to frequent
the brass rail. And IA cents is the
whole demnition total for carfare.
A simple coming-in enough!
But the more interesting items are
those which betray the presence of
woman in the contest. He confesses
to having bought two jars of face
cream one for a fascinating blonde,
the other for charming brunette.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Neither Moral nor Wise

The llltaste, to use no stronger
word, of our government presuming
to warn the Poles to stop their
armies when they reach line pre-
scribed for them needs no emphasis.
What right has the Administration
to attempt to tell Poland what meas
ures she shall adopt to insure her
national safety?
The warning recalls the day when
the Germans asked an armistce and
Washington assumed that the thing
to do was for both sides to cease
fighting, with Ludendorff able to re-
sumo it if he did not like the peace
terms. If the Bolshevists would sur
render their arms and give adequate
guarantees to abide the peace terms
it might be safe for Poland to go no
further, but the Bolshevists are to
keep their arms. So Poland may
properly say she is the best judge
of what should be done.
We have before US the old business
Of helping the foes of civilization.
The Administration has an almost
infallible instinct for detecting what
will injure the cause it pretends to
have at heart. 1t interferes to pro-
tect wrongdoers. Surely, such
course is neither moral nor wise.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Secretiveness

The Evening Post recently de-
voted nearly two columns to a de-
scription of how the State Depart
ment withholds information from
the American people. For knowl-
edge of what Washington has done,
is doing or proposes to do in rela-
tion to other governments. Ameri
cans are almost wholly dependent
upon newspaper correspondents. Yet,
as The Post points out, the CORE
spondents must struggle against diff
ficulties wellnigh nsurmountable.
The picture of the secretiveness
which has characterized the Wilson
Administration is heightened by it's
appearance in a newspaper hitherto
seemingly obsessed by Wisconsin.
This habit of secretiveness has
gone far beyond treatment of news
paper correspondents it has ex-
tended even to official representatives
of leading foreign nations. Take as
Illustrations the treatment accorded
two Of the great powers, both of
them recently allies of the United
States.
On Saturday, March l, 1919, there
arrived in America a commission of
leading citizens from Fiume, includ-
ing the Mayor of that city. 1t came
to tell America just why the people
OF Flume had appealed to Italy for
annexation. While engaged in telling
their story diplomatic bombshell
burst. Suddenly the newspapers
published a statement from a high
ofhcial' that the United States had
sent an "ultimatum" to Italy.
No hint was given as to the
nature of this "ultimatum,' or the
provocation for it. The Italian EN-
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Good BY to the Fire Horse

With the passing of the last fire
horse on the Island Of Manhattan
fades the glamour of the fire engine
in the eyes of youth. The insistent
outcry of gongs, the thunderous rush
of the glittering machine, remain,
and to these there will be an answer
ing thrill in the blood. But it was
the horses, after all, that gave
heroic touch to the spectacle. The
clatter of hoofs is a sound like none
other 1t awakens atavistic i'm
pulses even in the city bred, and
there never were and never will be
more glorious horses than the Fire
Department had. The police horses
stir just admiration, but theirs is a
milder, gentler order of beauty.
The machine has romance of it's
own, but you cannot get out of it the
sentiment that attaches to flesh and
blood. The solitary horseman Of
VI. ~. q dlIlcS-OOcS any OIlS IcdQ
his novels nowadays?-is a property
that cannot be duplicated in a motor
car. Things may happen in the lat
ter case, but they will not be the
same kind of things. The modern
Turpins who make a quick getaway
in an automobile have lost the pic
turesqueness Of their prototypes.
There is excitement in it, but no
compelling surge Of high emotion.
The lost rapture cannot be recap
tured.
In the city streets the fire horse
was the last symbol of breathless
adventure. To see, from the top of
a bus, the engines swing up Fifth
Avenue was better than anything in
the movies. But the small boy had
the best Of it. Running in a vain
attempt to keep pace with the horses,
dodging in and out of the lines when
at last he had overtaken them, steal
ing a chance to stroke their glossy
necks--bliss was it in that dawn to
be alive. All ages Will still 90 to
fires, but the new generation will
miss the old fierce pomp.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Mr.. Hilly's Suggestions

Senator Calder and others have
offered permanent remedies for the
present housing shortage, which can
be overcome only by building on a
large scale. Chairman Hilly of the
Mayors Rent Committee has his at
tention fixed on the question of re-
lief for present householders until
the shortage can be cured.
This is the emergency side of the
question. Since insufficient accom-
modations exist, the community is
compelled to weather the crisis as
best it can, even though some re-
straint is put on the free operation
of economic law.
The great defect of the rent laws
passed at the last session of the Leg
islature is that they merely prolong
the agony of dispossession. If the
Legislature believed that the hous-
ing emergency could be ended in
1922 it might have persuaded itself
that stays of year or less would
stabilize occupancy and prevent hun
dreds of thousands of tenants from
being thrown into the streets. But
the emergency will probably last
five years or longer. To allow
tenants unable to find new quarters
and unwilling to pay extortionate
rents stays Of six months, nine
months or a year is to give them an
illusory protection. Evictions will
be in full blast again in 1921 and
1922, and the laborious process Of
legal resistance to dispossession will
become continuous performance in
the lower courts.
Mr.. Hilly wants to eliminate the
harassing hold-over period and to
have rents adjusted definitely by the
courts whenever a tenant wants to
stay on. The landlord would have
to present the evidence on which he
asks an increase in rent and the
court would pass on it. If the ten
ant refused to accept the courts de-
cision he would be dispossessed with
out delay. If he did accept it the
decision would have to be modified
in court later before the landlord
could ask for an eviction.
One dispossession suit against a
hold-over tenant is enough under
present conditions. Nothing could
be more disturbing to good order and
the preservation Of public health
than a turmoil of litigation, ending
in the complete congestion of hous-
ing and the doubling and tripling Of
the number Of people lodged in a
house or an apartment. While a per-
manent solution of the shortage prob
lem is being worked out, what is
most needed here is stability and Sc
curity for those who have a shelter
above their heads and want to
keep it.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

may have whetted the desire of the
press for sensational stories about him.
But over and above all this was the
fact that he was good copy Ii he
had possessed $50 0OOo.o0O we have little
doubt thas the shredded wheat
story would have found its way
into the newspapers JUS. The same
Sinclair makes a mistake in ground
ing so much Of his case against the
newspapers on what they have done
to him. After all, when somebody IS
sues complete and devastating attack
on press which is sometimes dis
honest, and even more often limited
and short-sighted. he viii have no time
to give to the fact that the editor Of
a great conservative New York news
paper once invited a novelist to bis
Office and tried to kiss her Even
radical editor might do that"
The Brass Check is published b.
Mr.. Sinclair himself His address is
Pasadena, Calf.
And that's that.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Fire House Shower Baths

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: l notice that the city has
erected impromptu shower baths at the
different frehouses so that the poor
children of New York may get cool
and possibly clean, but, like SO many
charitable innovations, this shower
bath idea. because it was not given
sufficient thought, has brought about as
much evil as it has good
The majority of the children who
use the baths stand under them in
their regular wearing apparel, and they
stand about for hour afterward in their
wet clothes,' which is bound to result
Immediately or in the future in such
affections as rheumatism, neuralgia,
neuritis. etc. This is also true Of older
folks who go in bathing and then lie
around on the beach in their wet bath
ing suits. 1t is no wonder that peoplc
have aches and pains on Monday, Tues
day and Wednesday when all day Sum
day they repeatedly compel their bodies
to use up vital energy and heat TO dry
off wet bathing suit. There S only
one way to go into the water for health,
and this is to swim or bathe for
reasonable length of time and then
make a dash for the bath house and
into dry clothes. The time 10 loll
around on The beach is before one goes
into the water.
People so. off on expensive weekend
and vacation trips telling themselves
that it is vitality essential TO their
good health and working efficiency that
.they should, and yet almost Invariably
when they indulge in this recreation
their one thought is having fun, WORK
ing efficiency being entirely neglected.
My very extensive work in hospitals
clinics and eymnasiums has been
mainly directed toward preventing DIS
ease and Ill health, and I cannot but
help sounding a warning ike this n'@
and again.
ARTHUR A. M'GOVLEN.
New York, Aug. %, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

bassy was dumfounded, hut no one
was able to learn the nature of the
grave charge against Italy. Yet the
story was telegraphed throughout
the country, and the public received
the impression that Italy had COM
mitted some outrageous act against
the United States. Forthwith hard
! and fast supporters of the Admin
istration began an editorial cam
paign against Italy so violent that
the representatives of Fiume found
ii impossible to gain further hear
ing of their case, and went back
home. But up to this day not an
other word has been said about that
"ultimatYn,.' No wonder An,erican
citizens who are familiar with Ital-
ian affairs are indisposed to vote to
indorse party which is lyrical in
praise of the Wilson Administration
and thus says it's agents, if given
an opportunity, will continue it's
course.
Washington, under the present
regime, is regarded as the most "dif-
ficult" capital in the world to which
an ambassador can be appointed.
Criticism is not directed solely at
the President. The men he has
chosen as associates and underlings
come in for a large share of it.
One British Statesman after another
had shown reluctance to serve as Am
bassador to the United States. Great
Britain was greatly pleased when
Viscount Grey accepted the post,
for more than any other English
man of equal caliber in statesman
ship, he was believed to coincide
with President Wilson's views on
many important subjects. For two
months he remained in Washington
vainly waiting to be officially re-
ceived. Then he went back home.
The present British Ambassador
seems to have remained in Maine
during all of the recent turmoil over
Polish -Bolshevik relations. When
the Administration note respecting
Russia came out it appeared that
none of our recent allies had been
consulted, though the matter dis
cussed related to common action.
Nothing approaching this general
policy of secretiveness ever before
was known in the history Of the
United States. 1t has not been du-
plicated in modern times excepting
in Russia under czarism and in
Germany under kaiserism. That it
ever will be countenanced here in
future is unthinkable. One turns
with renewed amazement to the first
of the Fourteen Points, which says:
"Open covenants of peace openly ar
rived at
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Heavily Handicapped

o the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: 1t is a matter of grave concern
that the Republican politicians are sup
porting for United States Senator the
man of many handicaps, James W.
Wadsworth. He is handicapped by his
"wet" stand, which, although it NAV be
popular in New York City, is decidedly
unpopular upstate He is handicapped
by his legislative record. He is handi-
capped by his attitude toward the
women voters, who are properly in
censed by his long drawn out and vio-
lent opposition to woman suffrage. He
is handicapped by his reprehensib!e
conduct at the Chicago convention as
regards General Leonard Wood. He is
handicapped in the opinion Of the pro-
gressive element in the Republican
party, by his reactionary views on pub
lie questions.
With so many splendid men in the
ranks of the Republican party fitted to
act with dignity and ability as United
States Senator's, one is forced to ask
with amazement and disgust: Why
Wadsworth? The answer is, undoubt
edly, purely political one, and it is
time the citizens who have affiliated
themselves with the Republican party
show their contempt for petty maneu-
vering and their desire for candidates
who will be credits to the party and
real acquisitions to our governing
bodies. FLORENCE MINTYRE
BROOKLYN Aug 26 1920
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

These ladies passed out his cards, on
what occasion we are not told. OBJ
viously Mr.. Force has a poetic
imagination and an eye for the pic
turesque. With fascinating blonde
and charming brunette to choose
between, none would fail to take a
card. Nor could Mr.. Force lose votes
by appearing to favor either type
above the other. Many a man has
been lost because he ventured to
play the part Of Paris.
In one respect Mr.. Force falls be-
low the expectation reused by the
catalogue of his pre~primary activi
ties. He bought pair of openwork
hose for "a plump widow" re-
ward "for her work and influence
among her many friends and adj
mirers." BY his own admission this
was a shabby reward, for he con-
fesses that the hose cost only a dol
lar, and what woman would think
stockings as cheap as that worth
wearing in these days! Mr.. Force
hardly deserved that the widows
many friends and admirers should
vote for him. They probably con-
sidered him a tightwad. AS for
that, a jar of face cream seems an
inadequate compensation for being
q fascinating blonde or charming
brunette. We do not see that the
candidate was double crossed at ALL
Had he gallantly spent the whole
sum of $236.68 on the three ladies
who deigned to help him he would
have got more than his moneys
worth.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Farming Does Pay
1t Is Also Keeping Up It's Full
Poper of Production

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: An example of the needless
alarm of some of our intellectual COM
mentators on farming conditions is to
be found in The Tribunes editorial on
Tuesday. under the caption Making
Farming Pay"
The deduction from the editorial is
that the decrease in rural population
portends serious things for this old
world of ours "and calls upon think
ing men and women to consider 1T in
relation to food supplies and food
prices"
1t is needless to say that the policy
Of the unions, many of whose members
are engaged in the production of nom
essentials, in increasing wage demands
and reducing working hours and pro-
duction is placing a heavy burden on
the farmer, and he would be less than
human if he did not now and then ser-
ously wonder whether it is worth while
for him to toll twelve or more hours
day in the hot sun or in the bitter cold
to produce the wherewithal for the liv-
ing of the pampcred, weather-protect-
cd wage slave" who wants anywhere
from forty-four down to thirty hours
weekly of easier work.
1t is equally needless to say that
when the labor unions try to line up
the farmers for their policies they run
against something like stone wall,
for, all aspersions to the contrary not
withstanding, despite the high ratio of
motor cars to inhabitants in Iowa, for
example, the farmer puts in long, hard
days in the fields.
But that fewer men on the farms
means less production is a joke to
those who, like myself, departed from
an Iowa farm twenty years ago, noted
with mingled feelings that the 1910
census showed a decrease in the popu-
lation of Iowa whereat a great many
editorial writers who knew nothing
about the situation waxed eloquent
and ridiculous-but also noted that
the production of the Iowa farms,
thanks to increased efficiency and i'm
proved machinery, kept right on 60
ing up.
A few weeks ago I returned from a
trip through Iowa and Minnesota, and
l found the farmers more contented,
more prosperous, raising vastly more
of the staple crops to the acre than in
the days Of my rural career, and, Incl
dentally, performing duties which, un-
der the initiative deadening influence
of the city unions, would take fourteen
different varieties of unions to per,
form.
saw crops which make ridiculous
the statements Of experts" one of
them the publisher of so-called
agricultural" paper in Springfield,
Mass, that this country is facing a
critical food situation.
The thing for US city fellows to do
is to quit worrying about the farmer
and his lot in life, his intellectual
limitations and the monotony Of his
existence daughter from the CALLER
ies), give him a good run for his
money and not begrudge him the pros
perity which is unquestonably his at
this time A. NJ. ADAMS
Brooklyn, Aug. 25, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

an offensive against the Germans.
The Battle Of Warsaw has probably
crippled the Red western armies for
the rest of the year. 1t has restored
to Poland the upper hand in the
peace negotiations With Moscow.
More than that, it seems to have
solidified the Allies in support of
Poland's claim to national existence
and secure frontiers.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Tannenberg and Warsaw

he Battle of Warsaw has been
another Tannenberg. The Poles re-
port the capture of about $4,000
prisoners, which probably exceeds
the number of prisoners taken by
Ludendorff and Hindenburg in East
Prussia six years ago. In many re-
spects, however, the Battle of War
saw promises to loom larger in
history than Tannenberg did. 1t was
fought on larger scale and over a
vaster stretch of territory. Its politi-
cal and military results probably
will soon be seen to have been more
extensive and decisive.
Ludendorff delivered East Prussia
and a part of West Prussia from
premature and poorly organized
Russian invasion. He destroyed one
Russian army and expelled another.
Weygand's offensive freed the
greater part of former Russian
Poland and saved the Polish capital.
Had Warsaw fallen the Poles would
have been obliged to maintain their
fight for national existence in the
portions of the republic recently ac-
quired from Prussia and Austria,
stretching in thin belt from the
Baltic down to the new northern
boundary of Rumania. Weygand has
destroyed several Bolshevist armies
and driven remnant of the in
vaders back in disorder toward
Lithuania.
Ludendorff had to deal with two
isolated Russian armies. One, under
Rennenkampf, entered East Prussia
from the east. The other, under
Samsonoff, entered it from the south
They would have effected junction
to the east Of the Vistula if Luden-
dorff hadn't been too quick for them.
He depleted the front opposite
Rennenkampf and concentrated his
forces against Samsonoff. The lat
ter's army was practically enveloped
near the Polish border and only the
rear guard escaped. Rennefkampf
remained inactive while Samsonoff
was being crushed. Ludendorff next
turned east against the remaining
Russian army. But it avoided dis
aster by timely retreat.
Weygand's maneuver was far
more complicated. He used five or
six armies on a front Of nearly two
hundred miles. The Red forces had
been dangerously overextended, try
ing to encircle Warsaw and at the
same time to cross the lower Vistula
and isolate Danzig. The Poles held
fast the Red right wing on the Wis
tula line and northwest of Warsaw,
and attacked vigorously to the north
OF the capital. But their main blow
was delivered to the east and south
east of Warsaw, where they broke
through the Red positions toward
Brest-Litovsk. and then rolled up the
Red right center northward toward
Bialystok. Thus the whole Russian
right and right center were fattened
out toward the border of the pleb-
scite district of East Prussia, and
the only avenue of escape toward
CrOdnO was closed
Tannenberg had no great effect on
the progress of the World War on
the Russian front. Its military value
was quickly offset by Austro- Hun
garian reverses in Galicia II mere
ly demonstrated the inability of the
Russian armies to make headway in
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
York, Aug. %, 1920.

(From The Springfield RepnbAocr)
Less than ten years ago Puncn
thought that it had done something
humorous when it printed picture
showing motor traffic in busy London
square being directed by railroad sema-
phores. But New York has not only sig
nails but signal towers 70 direct trano
at the busiest intersections
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
Our Most Popular Product

(rrons The Toledo Blade
No matter how much fault some aiien
parasite living off this country finds
with American houses, food, customs
and government, he never seems abe u
find any fault with American money
that gets into his hands.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

Where the candidates stand on the
Dry question will be the subject Of a
statement about to be given out by
the Anti-Saloon League. We, for one,
declare for the candidate who stands
With one foot on the brass rail.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

Players who lose balls in the
shrubbery near tennis courts may find
them by waiting until the night is
dark. Walk, with your face to the sky,
in the vcinage of the lost ball. You
will turn your ankle on it.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

Even when tho telephone service
was fawless, we doubt whether the
operator caused the bell to ring any
and exciting message was about to be
transmitted than when somebody called
to say "How's e hoy? Thass good"
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27
For Best Man: Karl X. Kitchen

From The Schenectady Gazette]
George <. Fry, 116 Bridge Street,
and Henrietta Kann, 429 Paige Street.
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tho Associated Press Is exclusively entitled TO tho
for republication OF all news dispatches credited
also the local news o! spontaneous origin published
hc.en.
"a r,sht. Of republication Of all othor ma,tsr
herein also reserved
New-York tribune., 1920-08-27

You can purchase merchandise advertised In THE
TRIBUNE with absolute :afeN-for II dIssatsfac-
ton results In any case THE TRIBUNE guarantees
to pay ycur money back upon request. No red tape
No qulbbilns We make good promptly II tho
advertiser doss not.