davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
An Ancient Landmark

' Not for many years has any one
>openly loved the city chamberlaincy,
or at least acknowledged affection.
Mr.. Bruere, the first Chamberlain Of
the Mitchell administration, urged he
be legislated out of office and justi-
fed his incumbency by doing other
work for the city. Mr.. Maltbie acted
as traction expert for the Board Of
Estimate rather than as Chamber
lain.
The chamberlaincy, abolished by
the Downing Simpson bill, which has
been passed by both houses at AL
bany and is now before Mayor
Hylan, is a survival from days when
public Office was deemed a private
snap. It's nominal business was to
look after city funds, and it's incum-
bent enjoyed the incorporeal here
ditament of graft incident to the fact
that banks paid interest on deposits
which seldom reached the city's
treasury. The salary was large and
the indirect compensation larger. It
was bit of patronage so juicy that
Tammany named her conspicuous
sons, even her bosses, to enjoy it.
Now it is to go to the limbo Of the
defunct fat-fee Offices where not
long ago the coroners arrived. Here
and there a few remnants of the old
days still remain (for example, Nc
Cooey's life job in Brooklyn), but,
except for divers useless county off,
GERS, an unchamberlained New York
will be without functionaries expect
ed to be elegantly idle. Long has
been the tussle Of the reformers, but
they have kept steadily at their job.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
The Muse of Whisky
Grave Question Is Raised Of
Its Poetical Potency
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To tho Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: have read with interest in Sun.
days issue Of The Tribune lstter,N
signed ID. Dixondea," self styled 1.-The
Wandering Shepherd" in which the
writer attempts to refute a statement.
made by Lady Astor at a recent tem-
perance meeting in an English city,
to the effect that Robert Burns would
have been a much better poet if it had
not been for whisky. This statemen.
the Shepherd processes to consider q
slander on the name of this great
poet. He explains with some sat that
Burns plainly tells US he had to have
"his wee drap tae tickle up his no.
ton" before he gave to the world bis
best effusions. He omts to mention,
however, that the tickling process con-
tinued progressively until Burnss death
at the early age of thirty-seven years.
or, that during the poets latter wears,
not only his health but also his mental
powers were greatly impaired by this
fact, and it seems reasonable to assume
that the national drink of Scotland pre-
vented his genius from reaching The
fullness of its development.
The Shepherd, after referring in
poetic vein to the "banks O. Doom" old
fashioned Scotch mists and barley
Whisky, makes the following astonish-
ing statement in regard to Tom Moore
and Burns. He says: "He (Tom Moore
was croony of Burns, and, when the
parted, had final dram OF prime oil
Irish. It was then that Burns said, while
clasping hands, My boat is on the shore
and my bark is on the sea, but before
go ava, Tom Moore, here's double
health to thee!'" Moore was born in
1880, while Burns died in 1896. and II
such an affecting parting ever took
place between them, it must have been
before Moore was sixteen years Old
If the Shepherds statement be correct
it carries with 1t much more serious
reflection upon the name of Robert
Burns than anything Lady Astor said
for, not content with "tickling his own
notion" Burns was persuading young
boy to take a double dram.
But while the Shepherd is attempting
to protect the name of one poet from
what he considers an unjust aspersion
he is stealing from another, equally
distinguished, the credit which is b's
due, for it is undoubtedly fact that
Lord Byron, and not Burns, was the
author Of the verses beginning: "My
boat is on the shore" Without intend
ing any disrespect to the "Wandering
Shepherd" I venture to suggest that
shepherds, and more especially those OF
the wandering variety, are more Ia
miliar with Scotch whisky and the
tickling" sensations derived therefrom
than they are with the works OF Scot
tish bards. This is one of the cher
factors which have had a depressing
influence on the sheep industry.
JOSEPH LAROCQUE.
New York. April 12, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

The National Marine Leagues ex-
position at the Grand Central Pal
ace is striking novelty. Public in
terest in the American merchant ma
rine wasn't pronounced enough be-
fore the war to warrant such a
venture. Now Americans are awake
again to the Importance of creating
and maintaining an ocean-carrying
feet.
The slogan Of the league Is:
American cargoes, mails and pas
sengers carried in ships built, owned,
operated and manned by Americans;
ships classified and insured byAmer-
lean companies, equipped and re-
paired by American industry" The
United States was driven by the war
into colossal effort to recover it's
status az maritime power 1t has
built or has under construction
fleet which will enable us to carry
our own foreign trade and to COM
pete for the trade of other nations.
This feet was constructed at a
very high cost. Part Of this cost
must eventually be written off as
war charge. The ships represent,
however, great national invest
nent. We don't want to sell them
to our commercial rivals. They
should be used to establish an ocean
service To all parts of the world and
70 open new fields for American
labor and industry.
The only question is whether they
ssn be best operated by the govern
ssaes4 - hv pr1vat4 concerns and In
d!viduals. Government ownership
~ 0pkxstion are not desirable.
=
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
AN OLD ATLANTIC CITY READER.
Atlantic City, N. j., April 9, 1920.
In This Age of Specialization

In This Age of Specialization
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In theory the strike is directed
against the employer, in practice it
hits the public. In these modern times
industry has become so highly spe-,
cialized that it is within the power OF
any large group to infict tremendous
injury upon the whole people by cessa-
tion Of work. The employer may suf-
fer monetary loss, but the nation may
have to endure actual physical suffer-
ing. Thus a strike in one Of the vital
services Of life becomes public
menace. Neither the employer nor en-
ployee has the right to use such a
weapon to secure his own ends. The
community must find the means to pro-
tect itself against the selfish action,
whether it be of labor or of employer.
II, however, we forbid the use Of the
strike in the vital services, the COM
munity must likewise see that the
means for adjusting differences will
not fail to do justice to all parties.
HAROLD PEYSER.
White Plains, N Y, April IL, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
A Slogan for the Outlaws

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: Owing to the great success of
the striking railway workers in stop
ping milk and food trains and in clos
ing up factories and workshops, |
judge they will be pleased to have a
slogan for their new union, which they
could recite in unison at their big
meetings. 1t was suggested by Mark
Twain's celebrated jingle Of "Punch
Brothers, Punch and is as follows:
Strike, brothers, strike with care,
To hell with the public and the pas
sengaire.
CONTRIBUTED TO THEM WITH
OUT CHARGE BY A PAS
SENGAIRE.
Brooklyn, April IL, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
No Compromises!

But one proper way exists to bring
to an end the strike or walk-out
which disturbs local and national
transportation. This one way is the
unconditional surrender of those re-
sponsible for the disturbance.
This country confronts case Of
Prussianism as the world did in 1914.
The Kaiser, drunk with a sense of
power, held his will should dictate.
Similarly, believing that through
superior organization the American
people are at their mercy, Grunau
and his partners launched their sud-
den attack.
There is talk of conferences and
compromises. Immediate comfort
bangles a temptation to buy an end
of the trouble by concessions. All
sorts of interests will urge purchas-
ing peace But too heavy price is
often paid for peace. 1t will be a
calamity if anything is granted to
coercion. 1t is time for the old
Americanism to assert itself-a
spirit whose watchwords we're: emil
lions for defense, but not one cent
for tribute"
The issue of Who's Who in Amer
lea must some day be fought out
and decided once and for all. There
is no use postponing the disagree
able. If there is yielding now it will
not be long before another Grunau
will arise to lead another raid. The
present is as favorable an oppor-
tunity as any other to get settle
ment which will be settlement.
Those who are weak of knees and
wabbly of backbone, all the an@mic
victims of habit who think the
supreme thing in life is to make the
$40, will, of course, shrink from
seeing the conflict through. But the
crisis is not one to be met by a
doughface philosophy.
The principle at stake is whether
the majority is to Re enslaved by
minorities. In the old days our an
cestors took away from bandits and
freebooters the weapons by which
they carried on the predatory craft.
The call now is to perform similar
task. No group in temporary pos
session of economic power through
control over some key industry may
be permitted arbitrarily to impose it's
will. The new force must be shackled
as the old one was.
Justice for the railroad workers
OF course-full and complete justice
But no railroad man, or any other,
can be safely trusted to to be Judge,
jury and collection agent in his own
cause. The justice accorded must
be as the public determines, not as
selfish and partisan industrial liti-
giants demand.
And, as heretofore, no man is tc
be allowed so to use his freedom as
to destroy not only other freedom
but the life of his neighbor. Some
principles are not subject to com
promise, and the public now stands
in the presence of one Of these,
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
Our Reserve Strength

Perhaps the worst thing about
modern civilization is the narrow
ness of function to which extreme
specialization has reduced US. When
strike of railroad men threatens
to halt our food supplies, the first
sensation is one Of helplessness and
the first temptation is toward sud-
den and needless panic. We know
only our own narrow job. We
haven't the faintest idea whence or
how our food reaches us-or how to
get it if it fails to come to our door.
Fortunately for all of us and un-
luckily for the One Big Union (com-
posed of tiny fraction of the ma
tion, amounting in the present erup-
tion to something less than one-one-
thousandth Of the population), these
alarms are wholly superficial and
utterly unreal. AS the British rail-
way strike showed conclusively, not
even complete strike involving
every railway worker in the country
can starve a nation with courage and
will to fight back. Not only did
London not starve in the great rail-
way strike; its food supplies were
hardly affected, so complete was the
motor lorry service. AS for the
railways, volunteers speedily stepped
forward, and by the end of week
over two thousand trains were rum
ming daily. So far as the strike
was aimed at the starvation of Lon
don or any part Of England, the
great affair was complete fzzle.
The reason is the obvious one that
human beings are still far from the
helpless, one-groove beings that we
appear. Perhaps we shall become
such in the course Of centuries of
specialization. But we are-most of
us-still only a few generations
away from an era Of self-subsisting
households. The power of adapta-
bility is still the strongest quality
to distinguish us from other animals.
There are plenty of white-collar men
in every community with experience
and knowledge and sand enough to
run all the motor trucks and trains
needed to keep us amply supplied
with food. There are urftapped re.
sources in every one of us, in every
nation, easily capable Of coping with
such situation if we only have the
sense to use them.
Witness the commuters of New
Jersey who are running trains. This
is only small and tentative illustra-
tlon Of what could grow into a vast
machine If need be. Witness, for a
particularly instructive illustration,
the fact that aeroplanes carried
large quantities Of food to London
during the British railway strike.
Flour flew across the English Chan
mel day after day. We have not the
same flying equipment here. But
the same imagination to devise new
methods and the same courage and
will to act are here, we know. Be-
hind our modern round of grindstone
tasks there is a reserve of strength
untouched, unlimited. Woe to any
union, big or little, that sets it loose
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
Woods Hole Orthoeraphv

One of those alert and invaluable
citizens who live for the main pur
pose of letting no guilty writer
escape addresses the following
criticism to us:
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: l notice that you and other
newspapers, no better Informed, con-
stantly refer to the place where the
President is to sojourn for the sum-
mer as Woods Hole. think you will
find that the residents Of the place
call it Woods Holl, not Hole.
HENRI GERARD.
New York, April 12, 1920.
This raises a highly important
question which cannot be ignored
merely because Woods Hole is not
after all destined to be the summer
White House. Presidents and ma
tions are born, climb, descend and
fall, but words go on forever. We
gladly give our best attention to the
problem Of Hole VS.. Holl. There is
no question that the latter SPELL
ing has considerable usage In it's
favor. Lippincott's Gazetteer gives
it as an alternative; 30 does Sweet
ser's Guide to New England. But
the prevailing spelling is unquestion-
ably "Hole"-witness the infallible
Postal Guide and the general run of
maps and charts. How came this
conflict?
We refer our correspondent to
the Century Dictionary for an in
teresting explanation. One of the
meanings of the word tfhole" it gives
as "a cove, or small harbor, as
Holiness Hole, in Martha's Vineyard,
and Woods Hole, on the coast oppo-
site" It adds the statement that in
1875 Woods Hole was changed to
Woods Holl Gin conformity with the
unfounded supposition that hole in
such local names is corruption of a
Morse word 'holl,' meaning hill "
According to this ingenious theory,
the word was brought to America by
the Norsemen Of the tenth century
and preserved from that remote
period by the American Indian.
Whence came this cult Of 'fholl" be-
levers? Who changed the name and
who changed it back again? The
record says not, and we leave our
ingenious correspondent to discover.
But we think there is some con-
frmatory evidence that makes the
Century's statements at least likely.
"Hole," as small, deep water an
chorage, is a good, old seafaring
word. The use Of Holmes's Hole is
significant, for this is mono other than
Vineyard Haven, familiar to yachts
men and more than ono New York
Yacht Club cruise. There is scant
enough hill at either Vineyard
Haven or Woods Hole; but there is
good anchorage at both.
Locally, the word has gone through
another shift. Well wager our cor
respondent that local fishermen all
think Of the narrow channel at
Woods Hole when they speak of the
"Holc." There are Quick's Hole and
Robinson's Hole down the line, NAM
ing similar narrow channels between
other Of the Elizabeth islands. 1t is
hola bstween islands, or between
an island and the mainland, that the
word has ultimately coin6 to mean
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

At the request Of Elizabeth, Pro-
fessor Broun hereby, is Informed, in
answer to his recent query, that good
part was written once for Mr.. George
Hassell, and that he played it we'll, at
the Century Theater, May, 1915. The
play was "The Tempest"
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
And What, Pray, Does That Prove7

anu Wndt, fray, UOeS Ihat PrOve7
Two men-New Jersey commuters
We're convcrsing on a ferryboat,
Which they had been forced to use
On account of the strike
Among the Hudson tube employees.
Looking across the water
One Of the men said:
~ had almost forgotten
How beautiful the river is,
And the city"
His companion replied:
"Thcse ferries are damned slow"
Of the two men, the second speaker
Looked much the more prosperous.
j. D. McMASTER.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
The Same Old Situation

(From The Providence yournaD
Conditions in Mexico are evidently
just what they have been for the last
five ycars--chaotic and brutal. And
conditions in the State Department at
Washington are apparently just what
they have been during tho same period
-watchful and waiting.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
Back to Obsc,,ritv

From Tho Warrington Erenin0 Starr
1t Is little strange that Alexander
Bergman and Emma Goldman should
have dropred out Of sight In an en-.
vironmcnt that would secm peculiarly
congenial and stimulating.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

According to the New York Times.
Reginald Werrenroth was billed to
sing in Brooklyn Monday night.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
nsnBra OF THE ASSOCIATED pnrss

The Associated Press L. exclusively entitled TO ths
for republication Of all news dispatches crcditsc
- II not otherwise credited in this payer: and
herein.
An nshss OF republication Il all othsr matter
herein alss reserved
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
W. W. E..

Some reminiscer the other day spoke
Of the bicyclist who rode at the rate of
sixty miles an hour behind a Long
Island train. II should like to know"
writes r. NJ. W., an anxious mother,
what Long f1sland train. Anybody
bicycling at that rate would telescope
the train"
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
The Brave Days of Old

Sir: Now comes Art Higgins, the
best Office manager the Shoe and
Leather Reporter ever had, and drapes
his long, funereal form over corner
of my desk. Art erode with tho Chel-
sea Cycle Club" which is said with
tie same Election as worked with
Dana on the New York Sum-" Listen
to Art. I nave to.
"If this bird Adams don't mention
the Chelsea Cycle Club, he amt heard
nothing yet. That's all. How good
were we? Good? Why, the Chelsea
Cycle Club led the East-and there
wasn't any West in those days.
Didn't Jimmy Moran carry the
Chelsea colors on his first two Euro
pean trips? I'll say so. he was a
charter member. And we had Jimmy
Ingraham and Hughie and Alec Mclean.
Harry Elks rode his first year under
our colors. Hughie and Alec were the
champion tandem team Of the country.
Alec is now promoting pugs. Must be
dull life after the pace he used to
set. Darn we'll I remember what that
was.
"Apybody remember Bill. Potter and
Fred Lake? Humph! Ask any old
New England century rider.
"Did you ever go out and risk your
neck and sweat forty gallons in a
so or 100-mile road race? For what ?
A PIN! And a DINNER; oh, man,
such a feed, at the Anishl Those
dinners would cost $75 plate to-day.
And I'd pay it if I thought 1t would
taste the same. But it wouldn't. Girls
and fellows, hot, dusty and happy.
Bike suits and bloomers all gathered
in some good old roadhouse or hotel
in Revere or Saugus or Marblehcad--
oh, we'll!
"Remember the Century runs?
How the bunch was divided into the
fast and slow divisions? The society
guys in the slow division, all dressed
so pretty. Sitting up straight with
their handle bars raised-trundling
themselves down the pike. Then came
the scorchers-with rams horns way
down. Old pair of pants and a sweater
or blazer. Wheel How we kicked
the dust. And kidded the dudes as we
passed 'cm.
"Aftcr we finished the 100 l sup
pose you think we boys had a shower
and went to bed for long rest. Yes
we did-not. We jumped in the ocean
ate a large meal and some dozens
of seidels and then beat it off, maybe
another thirty miles, to keep a date
with a girl. Home at p. m. That was
me-ART HIGGINS"
w w U
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
GUARANTY

Yes can purshass merchandise aavsetss.d In Ih9
TRIBUNE With absolute safet--for II dissatsfas.
tea results ia any case THE TRIBUNE guarantees
. pay your msnsy bask upon reeusst. Ne rcd tape
No qulbhiing. We make good promptly the
advertiser doss not.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14
Tho Triumph of Cold Storage

(Fro7n The Westerly (R. H. Sun)
Prc-war chicken salad supper. Christ
Church Guild, Thursday, Apr. 8, at $50
D m. adv
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

1t is Birneyess's most plumbless re-
gret that Sir Oliver Lodge wasn't born
in Christiania; for in that event he
might cali him Norouijan.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

We sec by the paper-the Albany
Argus-that on May a Albany will be
entertained by the Chicago sympathy
Orchestra.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

Not that the outworn theme of no.
menclature is matter of moment, but
Fl. l.. A. nominates for National Pro-
hibition Csmm ;ssioner Miss Carrie A.
Flask, Of Paducah, Ky.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

Backward, Turn Backward
In days Of old
When knights were bold,
And barons held their sway,
You co1ld live in 4 swell
And grand hotel
For less than twelve . day.
But the old days, when things cost
less than they do now, we'd hate to
have back. Mr.. Poe was doing we'll,
we believe, tc get $25 for a short
story; our hodiernal fictionists, many
of them, get $4,000 for q short story.
And most Of the colyumists had to go
on the lecture platform to keep b. and
s. together. No, though shoes cost
$21.50 pair and gasoline is 33 cents
a gallon and everybody is kicking this
planet around, we prefer-as long as
We have to live-to be living nova
days. For, as times go, the human
race is having about as good time
as it ever has; and quite as good a
time as it deserves to have.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

Sounds Like a Poet Dismantling the Plant
From the Washington Times]
REMINGTON TYPEWRITER, I mimee-
e:aph. / baby carriage, stale bread, left
over sandwiches, etc. 1872 II. st.. N. W.,
or Franklin 2014.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

pansy" it takes several seconds for US
to realize that he means "the brown
derby"
"Our complete characterzer," con-
tinues our Princeton correspondent,
"has divided the book, like Gaul, into
three parts:
Limitation of Booth Harrington.
Limitation of Oscar Wilde.
Limitation of H. G. Wells"
Harold Brighouse's new novel, "The
Marbeck Inn" Little, Brown & Coz, is
somewhat disappointing to any one who
knows the author only from his delight
full play, "Hobson's Choice" 1t is a
theme half done. Mr.. Brighouse tells
an interesting story of the son of a
porter who receives, through chance, an
education at fashionable classical
school, and the manner in which he en-
ploys culture as means to worldly
success. With great skill the author out
lines the various factors in politics
and the publishing business which mire
the hero more and more deeply into in
sincerity. Then of sudden he decides
that he will reform his hero and he does
SO in a few chapters by means Of love
affair and divorce. While we are will
ing to admit that there may be an in
spirational quality in divorce, we do not
think that salvation should ever come
with such lightning rapidity. Meaning
no disrespect to Mr.. Sunday or other
evangelists, it seems to US that when
a man has definitely mislaid his soul he
must scramble about on hands and
knees for no little time before he finds
it again.
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

by giving his address 40 Ouijata,
Kansas. FpA
New-York tribune., 1920-04-14

One factor which makes the novel
difficult for US Is tho alien slang which