Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-26
West Wind Drift
BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON
Copyright Ig2G, by Georoe Barr ucCutobeo,
Copvri0ht, 1870. bv George Barr McCutcheon

~ ~ lHS tCUt Ol, tnelf nEeS IHnBlNS
| from hve to fourteen. Most OF Them were
| youngsters from the stceragc. bright
! eyed little Batirs who had picked up
WIN liVelN aNdity no small store of
English, They were taught in English.
The council, spurred by the far-see-
| hg PeFcival, recognized thc peris of n
! period OF inactivity following the har-
| vest and rhe failing days. The majority
| or the men and wCmen would be COM
| n"ratively idle. Preparations for thS
| hulIiing, nf small ship occupied the
! ttiNc and interest of few engineers AMI
! ~ Cnrpantera. but 10 some weeks we're
| bound to pass before the work ruulL ne
rA'h II earnest, an interim Of .intpa
icnce would have to he hridged Work,
| Hnd plenty of it, was the only presCrip-
| ton for d, srair.
Already symptoms If increasing
noodinesS mark, d the mcr Of the lcsA
ucciu, among the castawaya. while
It was not generally known. two men
at alttmltci suicide. and one of the
ifra2iIian ladicS--a beautiful young
married WJm1r--- was in n pitiful state
at c0llap%c. She had husband and two
small CHILDREN N Rio Jansirc The sep
ration was driving her mad.
There were othors--.both men and
| WCmnn--whoso minds were never free
| from the thought of loved ones far
across the waters and whose hearts
| be subducd by philosophy. but they were
| strong and they were cheerful In their
souls burnt an unquenchable iirc. the
ire Of hope; they stirred II night and
day with the song Of the unvauquishcd.
improvements IN the hastily con.
siructcd cabins provided not only Occu-
patton but interest for the ,able-bodc1
| men and wOthcn. There was no little
\ N.tEaiTy IN the matter Of interior embel-
,Shmcnis; those skilled in the use Of
! hnplemcntS TOOK great pride In hewing
out and adding more or less elaborate
augmentation to the faC1dts o. thGU
| NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. al door
posts and capitals. Hwniug9 pDrUhrs
ana so forth A shell read vas In proc
eSS Of construction from orc end of
the village to the other while over in
Dismal Forest woodsmen were even now
cutting down the towering Norfolk pines
| and hewlsg out the staIyCh timbcrs for
the snip that was to sail out one day in
| guest of the world they had left behind
them But these enterprises provided
| work for men only. The women. in the
| main, were without occupation. with
the approach of winter the men in active
| control of the camps affairs realized
| that something would have to be done
! 70 relieve the Strain--at least, to tighten
It until spring came to the rescue with
toll in the fields and gardens.
system OF exchange was being
| worked out. As has been mcntonen
| before in this chronicle, tn" people OF
the sterraSc were the plutoCra'S. Their
! hoardings represented real money. tn"
savings Of years. When il came to an
! actual SHOW -down"--tO use PerCivals
! expression these people who were poor
! \ the accepted SENSE Ifnw were rich.
! They could buy and sell" tive pluto
crats" Of another day and auo'h'r world.
The theory that one good turn de-
serves another was an insufficient toun-
| dation upon which to construct a sub
Stantial system of exchange. II il all
very well TO talk about hrUthcrly love,
said P"rCival The trouble * that Ger
! tain brothers are forever imposing upon
other brothers, and the good turn does
| not always iNd It's rrCOmpl use. Social
| ism, he argued, is fine thing until
! YOU discover that YOU arc not alone In
| the world BrOthcrly love began with
! Cain and Abel and scot tliSm Is best eN-
| emnlihcd by puriOv aquarium. Nothing
! happens to disturb the serene existence
! Of the goldfish until sOw"nOdY forge
to feed them, and then they begin nib
| bling at each other.
You mend my fence, I'll mend yours "
! Is an ideal arrangement until you find 1t
| Is our fence" and dOcsn l. need n"ndinr
TO Landover, Block and other financial
experts was delegated the power and
monetary system First Of all, they ar
! H;trarily declared the dollar. tn peso
! "rl tho shilling to be without rail"
! Time scrip was to be issued by the
would automatically hccun" u#nl's" on
/ The day the Cuslaways were discovered
aud taken off the island. no ".u""n was
/ TO he allowed to reduce or diSsipatr his
| hoard of real money
! LandOvcrs proposal that a central de-
! poSitory be established for the purpose of
holding and safeguarding th' poSse3-
marly intended TO prevent the surrepl!-
, tOus use Of real money,
This project met with almost universal
opposition. The rich" preferred to hanS
onto their money thereby running true
to form. While pro;rssng the utmoa,
confidence in the present integrity Of the
! banker and his friends they i3E uuouSiy
! wanted to know what chance ihry would
! have Of getting their money back VIII n
! these masters Of finance wrr" NCady to
| leave the island SO they elected to hide
their gold and silver where 1t would be
! safe from uusCTupulous hnan,t"rs And
! nothing could shake them IN this re-
"r'ro" waa the hasi" principle on
which the value Of the scrip was to be
| determined. and as time. IL this IN
/ stance meant hours and nothing else
! citizens income depended entirely on his
| readiness to work Ten hours preA"nt-
! I'd full days work. Tn" hAnCprcSS on
ronrd the Doraine was used t" print the
! hours" as the little slips mad" from
| he stock Of menu cardboard were
called They were divided inlO five do
nominations. viz. one hour, three hours,
! five hours, seven hours and hn hours,
| Each Of these checks bore III" signature
| of Abel r. Landovcr and a seal DEVISED
| w Peter Suip", who besides h"irg an
author was something Of drattSman
-- indeed, his enemies said no was tar
! Lrtter artist than IN" was an author,
| which annoyed him trrm, udouSlY IN
! view Of the fact that he had stUppc |
| drawing when h" WAS nlt""n ""'auS.
/ eminent CartOOnistS and ilIU5WliurS mad
! told him he had no talent at niL Th"
| ,,"t,,riT.,r ANA stamping was done on
board tie Dorainr and the scrip was
aortl,' to l." put into circulation. Land
! over was slated to become treasurer OF
| Trigger Island at the general election,
! a. nm illustration this sort of diI-
logue was soon to become more or less
0''1ShH' "WhHat's the price of this hat, Madame
! Ohosly?"
"GImme an hours worth Of smoke
Andv." meaning. of course, the suDau-
tute for tobacco.
"You blamed robhtr. what do you
| mean CHARGING six hours for half~SOItug
them shoes? If you was any good, you
could ha' done it In half the tune.
Every individual in camp over III" age
| oF thirteen WAS obliged to have an OCCu-
ion 70 "A certain extent, this occupl-
tion was selrClvc, but in the main It was
| 10 he determined by n board whose busi-
nrss II Was to see that the man-pOWer
wns dIret led to the best advantage for
ali concerned \ camp tax was ordered.
| ~ The end Of the week. every citizen
was required 20 pay into the common
| trnasury two hours, tie could not
work out" this tax, 1t had to b" paid
| I'm "rnsh " out Of the taxes so received.
the school. the church, the "hospital' and
! Inc "gOvcrumcnt' were TO he supported,
| 1,be "poyernor" of Trigger Island and
,bn hunlhlest workingman wcro to re-
rriye exactly the same pay; 'hour' for
Gour Thirty thousand hours repre-
| Santed the total issue, or, approNlmatHIy
fiftv units for each individual over the
"Bt " C' rnan's hours was worth more