davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17

but I must say l have heard, on the
whole, less crude remarks from those
directly engaged in teaching young
America to Cat, cat Cor whatever the
modern start is), in analyzing the Con-
sthution, in developing the history of
capitalism, than from some other pro-
fessions.
"Of course, whatever our jchs, we
are all propagandists in our way. For
my part, should not have the slightest
scruple in the world in advising young
sters, for the cause of Original Think
ing, to keep away, for the present, from
beer and tobacco, even if their tender
years were nurtured in a German
school.
"Well, after we have listened meekly
to the parents-for, after all, they fur.
nish the children-and less meekly to
the principals and superintendents,
who, perhaps, accept their role Of pub
lie servants too slavishly, we close our
cSfNO1AOoHA QOOI duu go OuI VWu gait
Sometimes we get little encourage
ment from our victims, the pupils.
They tell US they like one or two Of
the books we have read in class; they
argue hotly with US over My Last
Duchess" of all things; their eyes
grow big as they discuss men and
women and life with capital Ii they
indulge in Homeric laughter cloud guf-
flaws, at any rate) when they read parts
of Palmer's Odyssey, and they con-
descendingly lend US books and advise
US as to our reading. Once in while
they evolve thought, and some Of US
dare to hope that the next generation
will be a little less trite In its mental
processes than our own"
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
No sQuarter to Sweehsm

The Tribune has never dissembled
its condemnation Of the attitude of
the Socialist party during the war.
1t was and is its conviction that this
attitude was not only unpatriotic
but in contempt Of human freedom
everywhere. Moreover, it has been
persuaded that the behavior Of the
leaders Of the organization sprang
from no nobler source than con-
scious or unconscious sympathy with
Germany.
But, holding these views, The Trib-
une is equally convinced that the
brief filed in behalf of the five So
cialists is fundamentally right when
it says that the excluding proceed
ing at Albany is one for which
"there is neither precedent nor ex-
cuse." Call the roll of the utter
ances of great Americans, and you
can quote no word, whether by
Washington or Webster or Lincoln
or Roosevelt, even indirectly justify
ing the course of Speaker Sweet and
his associates. Even during the heat
Of feelings engendered by the Civil
War, when the so-called Confederate
brigadiers trooped to Congress, there
was no claim of a right to exclude
unless a man was personally on the
list of those politically disabled. Not
only has Speaker Sweet trampled on
g fundamental of Americanism, but
he has been false to the policy fol-
lowed by the Republican party in it's
great days. Not of Republican orr
gin is the heresy he has sought to
energize.
The attempt to establish personal
guilt against the Assemblymen pitt
ably failed. The prcsecution's brief
in effect confesses this when it rests
it's case on the claim that the Assem-
blymen should be excluded merely as
Soclallsts-a doctrine which implies
that all Socialists are ineligible to
office. No power exists anywhere to
draw and enforce so general an in
dictment. If there was, democracy
would be in it's last gasp, for a group
in power could exclude at pleasure
those with whom it disagreed. But
it is not necessary to argue the issue
We're the Sweet contentious gener-
ally adopted, forcible revolution
would be justified; and to provide a
substitute for revolution is prime
object of our institutions.
Sweetism is a near relative Of
Leninism. No quarter whatever can
be given to it.
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
Lend a Hand!

There is not a Tribune reader. we
are ready to believe, who would not
lend hand to struggling family,
stricken by illness or accident IL the
facts were within eyeshot and first
hand knowledge. The desire to helm
ones neighbor does not die out
merely because life in a large citv
extinguishes a sense Of neighbor-
hood and reduces human relations to
friends and family and business ac-
quaintances.
The difficulty is that with all the
desire in the world neither the on
portunity nor the facts are within
a city dweller's observation. There
IS the danger. Seeing little at first
hand Of hard-luck poverty, we are
in danger of forgetting it's existence
and living our lives exactly as if no
such suffering or hardship existed
1t is precisely in furnishing this op-
portunity and presenting these facts
that the A. I. C. P. serves US all
so well-serves not merely the Door
and needy, but the rich, who need
quito as urgently the chance TO lend
a hand. :.
ISds but ono of 1,200 cases. but
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
"'JOSEPH p. =
France at the Rhine
Let Her Stand Fast There for the
Worlds Salvation

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: 1t has been certain ever since
the armisticc that what has now hap
pened in Germany would occur Those
laundering dullards who wrote and en-
gineered the armistice are now seen
to have betrayed the world. The Ger
man army was let off entire, to walk
homo in glory and prepare revenge.
Not one advance step in solution of the
German world menace was taken. The
good Professor Wilson, still wholly
stepped in the imbecile hallucination
that gushing generosity to that tiger
nation, Prussia, would wiring tears Of
Christian grief and penitence from it's
bloody eyes, and cause it to kiss the
hand of its conquerors instead of chew
ing it off at the first safe opportunity,
utterly nullifed the victory and made
vain and anguishingly useless the death
of all those millions of Allied slain.
Let the immitigable horror of this fact
burn its way into every American soul.
Another world war! That is certain.
III can De met, restricted and, perhaps,
extinguished before tho planet is again
all in flames, only by France. Nc. other
people had the wit to see what should
have been done, none other has the high
courage to act. France should now ir-
revocably take, to permanently hold,
the Rhine. That is the solitary preven-
tive of more damning worldwide
holocaust. 1t should require the terms
of the treaty changed to sanction its
possession. And if Great Britain and
the United States of Wilson decline to
sanction that act of world salvation,
France should ignore their suicidal veto
and preserve mankind by going forward
alone, despite the Anglo-American per-
fdy. MORRISON !. SWIFT.
Boston, Mass, March Is. 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
"Not Acceptable-W. W."

On the margin Of letter to Sena-
tor Hitchcock the President, with
respect to the perfected reservation
to Article K, is said to have written
the words Of the above headline.
No reason is reported to have
been given. There is only an oracu-
lar ipse di1it. An overwhelming
majority of the country, Of the Sen
ate and of the Presidents own party
in the Senate would have an abate-
ment of a contumacious personal
stubbornness. Every one Of our
principal allies and the forty other
friendly nations ask for an accept
ance of the reservation and an entry
of this country into the league of
nations. Practically every we'll
wisher for mankind adds his plea to
the same effect. But the President
will not. Why, he cannot, or at least
does not, tell, but his is the power at
this Juncture, and in an ecstasy OF
self-will and personal pride he pro-
poses to exercise it.
But one hope remains. 1t is re-
vealed that Senator Lodge has sue
ceeded in bringing all(but sixteen Re-
publican Senators to agree to ratifi-
cation. If the number Of Demo-
cratic votes against ratification can
be kept down to sixteen, there will
thus be ratification by the necessary
two-thirds. Are there more than
sixteen Democratic Senators willing
to go down to history as men who
against their own convictions voted
to defeat the treaty simply because
a President told them to?
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17

The Educational Reuiew a stimulat-
ing discussion Of physical training
in colleges by p. x. Holmes, of Ohio
Wesleyan University. The writer
pleads eloquently for a new interest
in physical training by our academic
leaders, and especially for its recog-
milton by faculties as required
subject Of first Importance in every
curriculum. 1t is certainly a sorry
commentary upon the educational
wisdom Of our universities-whero
above all other institutions round
ed appreciation of human develop
ment might be expected-that the
bodily welfare of students has been
left almost wholly to voluntary stu
dent activity in the form of athletics.
Mr.. Holmes pleads especially for the
giving of scholastic credit to re-
quired athletic exercise exactly as to
mathematics or any other essential
study. Otherwise faithful and effec-
tive work is impossible. Also he
urges that the amount of supervised
physical education be placed at not
less than five full hours a week.
The work Of change is going for
ward steadily. Twelve states now
have laws requiring physical train
ing in all schools. Seven universities
already require it Of all men; six
more will have similar require
ment next fall. The time is surely
not far distant when a university
that does not train the bodies of it's
students will be regarded as failing
in one Of the fundamentals of edu-
cation.
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
The Kapps of New York
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
SIR: May be allowed to make
slight correction regarding the resi-
dence Of DR.. Wolfgang Kapp in New
York, also to relate one or two Incl
dents of boy life in which he was mixed
up and which may interest some OF
your readers? AS I read the article
regarding Kapp in to-day's Tribune 1t
came to me like a shot. Here Is tne
Walter Kapp q think we called HIM
of my boyhood days:
He lived at IL Mansfield Place
now West Fifty-irst Street-nos N
West Fiftieth Street, as your article
reads. His people owned one OF row
Of cozy little three-story houses, sls.
ting we'll back from the street, called
English basement houses, a type Of
home very popular fifty OF more years
ago in New York City.
The Kapps, as l recall them, wsfs
one Of probably FIVE well-to-do Ger
man-American" families Of that dss
and time living in Mansfield P'see.
When we American boys had p'tcas0
battle, as we often did (stone light 'n
plain English) with the Fifty-seeond OF
Fifty-third Street gang, or any otne'
bunch Of fighters, Walter Kapp end ni'
Germans would fight as valiana5 "
any Of us, and Fifty-frst Street vas
known far and wide as good bunen
of scrappers.
l wonder if the chancellor" ever
looks back to those days? The pos'
Of that time and of that vicinity as
tended school at old No. II, located ~
West Forty Street. John -
Robinson welded the rattan or pireh
rod with liberal hand. The Germans
as The Tribune states, attended priv''s
schools, "soup schools" some OF tne"
were called at that time
EDGAR H. FOX
New York, March Is, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
MASTERS and Savers

The World showed the other dav
that in the last six months of 1910
taxes amounting to S67,O00,OO0 were
PAID on goods subject to the "luxurvn
tax. The total value OF these goods
ran to S2,5Oo,00o,o00 or over. Since
tne armistice, The World figures.
SS'5oo,o0O,00o has been spent in this
country on indulgences. Some items
IN lts list are: Automobiles, S1,400,-
ooo'ooo; jewelry, s275,0oo, 900; the
aters, sao7,ooo,ooo; perfumeries and
cosmetics, s174,ooo, 900; musical and
sporting goods, ETC., s37o.0o0 900.
medicinal preparations, 1854 900 600,
Inc most extravagant expenditure
mas been In the West and South
But all sections have run riot aince
'he era Of wartime retrenchmen+
ended.
The violent reaction from +ho
period OF retrenchment has had I'm.
fortunate economic effects. Yet T.
seems to have passed it's crisis II
was an orgy which affected all the
belllgerent nations, undoubtedly a
natural result Of the vast imitation
OF war wages and profits.
There is another. side to the pic
ture, however. A part Of the excess
has been saved by wage earners who
have been making easy money dur
Ing and since the war. The report
OF the New York Superintendent of
Banks shows that in 1919 deposits
IN these institutions increased S225,-
100000. Investment companies in
this state made a phenomenal gain
last year, their resources increas-
Ing from sos, 100000 to s4o7 900, 900.
This gain Of more than $500, ,OoO, 900
q tor single .state. So the waxesl
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
Physical Illiteracv

The phrase is a good one and a
vivid one. 1t records accurately the
fact revealed by the war that Amer
lea is suffering quite as much from
a low bodily standard as from any
failure to train the mind. Under
modern conditions Of city life, of Of
fee work and machine work we
reach our maximum of bodily eff
cheney at fourteen, as some experts
assure US. After that we decline,
most of us, developing one weakness
after another.
Not one but many agencies will be
needed to counteract this physical
degeneration produced by modern
civilization. AS a fundamental we
must revise our national philosophy
and realize something of the old
Greek attitude toward the body as a
prime glory Of man, to be devoutly
trained and cared for. This point
OF view is indissolubly bound up in
the ideal Of service to the state; we
doubt If the new regard for physical
welfare can ever be broadly achieved
save as an integral part Of a system
of universal training, not for selfish
purposes, but as sacrifice for the
good of all. Only thus can the ideal
Of bodily perfection be made noble
and commanding.
But every collateral aid "a to be
welcomed andwa arr RladtNo note it
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
The Call of Character

The primary news from Minnesota
is in keeping with prior news from
other states-Leonard Wood leads
the poll. He has no special claim on
Minnesota. There is no particular
reason why he should be strong
there. Yet there, as elsewhere, when
an opportunity for popular express
sion was offered, the plain voters
marked their ballots for him.
A reason assigned for the diffu-
sion of Leonard Woods strength is
the fact that, more than any other
candidate, he is a national man.
Local pride is potent in America, and
long may it remain so, but with re-
spect to the Presidency it is not held
important where a man opened his
eyes or where his life has been
passed. Roscoe Conkling, with the
instinct of a great orator for sensing
deeper feelings, did not speak Of
Grant as from Ohio or Illinois, but
as from Appomattox and its famous
apple tree. Not all Americans have
the gift of being national men; when
one has it the people find it out.
Roosevelt was not regarded as Of
New York, nor Blaine as of Maine.
But there is another influence of
greater attractive power than ma
tionalism. 1t is the call of personal
character. A mans character counts
for more than knowledge and ap-
proval of his views. Mr.. Hoover's
many admirers have little idea of his
political opinions. They don't much
care. So it is with Leonard Wood.
If you were on wrecked ship and
he were captain you would not have
doubt as to who would be the last to
leave. He is the sort you would
bllndly trust to deliver valuables to
a wife or child when the conditions
prevented the giving Of a receipt.
The most effective campaign docu-
ment circulated by the Wood BOOM
ers is the simple story of their candi-
dates life. 1t reveals an unbroken
record Of fidelity, of hard work and
Of measuring up to responsibilities,
Without fuss or advertisement he
has followed the path circumstances
have marked out for him. Cape Cod
boy, struggling young doctor, fight
ing plalnsman, organizer of the
Rough Riders, administrator of Cuba
and. the Philippines-his conduct is
always off the same piece. Not the
least of his victories was his con-
quest of his natural resentment when
he was meanly excluded from q
chance to lead the soldiers that he
loved.
On most public questions that have
engaged his attention Leonard Wood
has been right-courageouslv right
when other men were wrong: but
though this has built for confidence
back of all particular matters is the
perception of man who spontane
ously mas kept true to ideals, whose
nature every one understands.
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17

"Will you convey, through your
column" writes e. B., "my congratu-
lations to Mr.. S. Miles Bouton for his
courageous and penetrating compari-
son of American and European edu-
cational methods? AS European
with five years American experience,
gained in New York and in the Middle
West, have had opportunity to watch
the workings of the American public
school on children, both Of native
and foreign parentage, and to study
the finished product. Of European
lands, l am fairly familiar with Ger
many, Austria, England and Scandi
navia, and although / never specialized
IN education l am interested in its prob
lens as a student of literature and So
ciology, viewing them from the angle
of the average Continental university
bred man. What strikes me as the es
sential difference between European
and American education is this: that
whereas in Europe the emphasis is on
smilating processes of inquiry and
Judgment, in America the stress is laid
on the storing Of contents; or, to put it
IN one word, European schooling is
dynamic, American static. This differ
ence, and not any innate superiority Of
the European brain, seems to me to
account for what I call the intellectual
helplessness Of the average educated
American. He makes usually an excel
lent specialist, but he is usually at sea
the moment he is confronted with oues
tions outside his habitual range. Amer
leans are told-mostly by other Ameri
cans-that one of their distinctions is
an exceptionally quick intelligence.
Without any intention to offend I must
say that my experience does not verify
that claim. To me it seems Americans
are swift thinking quite extraordina-
rlly so--along their own specific lines;
they are surprisingly slow of thought
IN whatever does not pertain to their
individual routine. In contrast, the edu-
Gated European, while perhaps not-in
matters of engineering and commerce
certainly not-possessed of that simpli-
tying inventiveness, that unfailing sense
of the short cut which is the Ameri-
cans greatest asset, has an elastic mind
which responds incomparably faster 70
intellectual stimuli and adapts itself
without effort to any intellectual emer-
gency.
o. (which reminds me Of another differ
ence. In matters Of culture we Of
Europe do not believe in short cuts;
whereas many Americans do. For us.
culture consists In the acquisition Of
certain mental processes, self refining
and self-correcting, directed not SC
much toward the retention of data as TO
ward understanding things. On the other
hand, the prevalent American concen-
ton of culture seems to center in the
acquisition of fixed and measurable
knowledge. Here is a crude example:
Europeans think the important thing is
TO be able to judge that certain paint
ing may be by some artist BELONGING
to the school of, say, Leonardo. Amer.
cans would prefer knowing for certain
VINO the artist was. The former way
involves mental process; the latter,
possession Of facts. There is absolutely
no short cut to the former; there may
be short cut to the latter, though /
personally don't believe it's worth much
sven IT you can find It,"
0aStner Byowder xnd tan oth.r -..A-
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17

carncrs are not sinking all they
make above their needs in riotous
living. There are savers as we'll as
wasters, although the latter class
have too often seemed to be having
it all their own way. A clearer
balance can be struck when the
savings institutions of all the other
states are heard from.
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
The Building Embargo

The obstacles to a revival of build
ing on large scale were disclosed
with considerable frankness at the
housing crisis conference. The dead
lock is not a simple one. There are
distractions to cooperation in three
different camps.
The relations between the building
contractors and the real estate loan
ing interests are strained because the
latter have cut down the mortgage
margin on new construction. This
restriction is due, it is explained, to
the imposition of Federal and state
income taxes on interest derived
from mortgages. The loaning inter-
ests say that they will lend money
more freely for building purposes as
soon as steps are taken at Albany
and Washington to make mortgages
more attractive investments.
Then, there is the clash between the
builders and the building materials
people. The latter say they cannot
foresee any abatement in the sky
rocketing costs of brick, cement, lum-
ber and structural iron and steel.
They claim that they are at the
mercy Of the labor they employ and
are unable to guarantee stable costs.
Finally, the building trade unions
are conducting feuds and boycotts.
The allied council is at war with
the outlying bricklayers' and carpen-
ters' unions. In order to injure each
other the two groups have virtually
put ban on building. Each is dis
posed also to quarrel with the con-
tractors over wages as soon as build
ing starts.
All these separate interests are
working at odds. Each suffers from
its own policy and the public suffers
enormously from the contrariness of
all. Health and comfort are i'm
paired by the building blockade. The
city's natural growth is checked. An
artificial boosting of rents leads to a
reboosting of the cost of all the
necessaries Of life. Unreason tri-
umphs over the community's self
protective instincts.
Yet something is accomplished bv
uncovering the factitious and other
obstacles to an increase of housing
facilities. A happ'y-go-lucky system
Of supplying homes for the city's in
creasing population has broken
down. The community finds that it
cannot help itself because Of the re-
strlctlons of that happy-go-lucky
system. 1t pays for this disability
in suffering and extortion. But it
knows now why it is paying. And
since emergency legislation seems
helpless to go to the root of the
trouble-which is the actual short
age OF accommodations pub1ic
must now unite to bring moral
pressure on elements which, if they
stopped wrangling for selfish ad-
vantage, might get an era of new
building under way. A committee
OF eleven is to be appointed to de-
wise means for lifting the building
embargo. 1t deserves united sun
port. The housing crisis is too
grave to be trifled with any longer
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
France May Count on Us

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: There is a great hue and cry
about the necessity Of rehabilitating
Germany. 1t is very characteristic of
the Germans to threaten, if we do not
help them, to become a cesspool of
plaques which will infect all Europe.
| would have the Allies say to them:
very we'll. in view of our recent ex-
perience with you. we will take the
risk"
We have seen what a menace to
Europe strong Germany is. Could
weak Germany. even a plague-spot
Germany, be any worse? In her
strength she has shown herself a
breeder of all the plaques known to
humanity. 1t would be a colossal
blunder to trust this nation, which
has made almost speciality of repudi-
ating every obligation. Have the
leaders Of the Allies ever heard the
fable of the man who warmed a viper
in his bosom?
Not all the people in the nations al
lied with France are spiritless mon
strosities of good nature. There are
plenty who have the normal amount of
spirit. who are capable of indignation
at atrocious outrage. These people
are not very vocal, but France can
count on them. Any thing less would
be disgrace to human nature. hope
she will count on them. I hope she
will assume that her allies are not,
in their Lack Of spirit. q disgrace to
humanity. and that she will insist on
the fullest reparation Of which Ger.
many is capable.
HENRY Il. KELLER.
Tor4-Lauderda1s. Hla Nsrcb.o. 1870
New-York tribune., 1920-03-17
Why San Francisco

{From The chicago Dolly Nsscs,
Governor Edwards threatens to ms.'
The nation "as wet as the Alsn.s
Ocean," This may throw some Aea'
on the retirement Of the peuoerss
National Copveption tosths shes =
the mild PaciaS