The Washington times., 1920-12-07
Today
A Ticket for Fool Land.
The Deceived Burglars.
Consumption-Taxation.
WeII-Named Mr.. Petty.
Arthur BRISBANE
tCopVrixht. 1891

Smith hamon, just peiore 1&Me
Hamon, the Oklahoma politician,
was shot dead, contains these lines
on which every clergyman might
base G good sermon.
Lesson, lesson Bot what good
are lessons! Who heeds q les
son,. knew all that ! now
know when l bought my ticket
for Fool Land Now I've lived
through another lesson, which will
mean no more than others did to
me, snd-puff-I am gone"
Every day young men and young
women take tickets for Fool Land.
no diary, no warning will stop
them.
An intelligent jeweler In New
Jersey determined that burglars
should work for \ living. He had
three big safes, one containing his
valuables, two empty. The bur-
glars came, with great difficulty
broke open an empty safe, went
away disgusted.
The English had this good idea
before that jeweler. Lord Fisher
writes of the battleship Queen
Elizabeth. on page So, first volume
of his Memories"
Lucky she did leave! The Ger.
man submarine, prowling around
for a fortnight looking for her
(and neglecting all the other bat
tleships), blew up her duplicate
wooden image"
This suggestion is humbly Of
fered to Secretary Daniels, U.
S. NJ:
II foreign fleets ever attack
US, submarines, directed by flying
machines via wireless, will deal
with them. Attacking battleships
and destroyers will be on the look
out for periscopes. Why not, in
addition to the real submarine
fleet, build few fleets of imita-
ton submarines, the imitation to
consist of a small propelling en-
CINE below the water propelling a
regulation periscope above the
water. The enemy might be kept
busy firing at imitation periscopes
not knowing which were real,
while the real submarine, moving
among the periscopc limitations,
crcpt up to DO the damage.
Automobiles killed 3,808 people
in this country in 1919.
tuberculosis germs killed more
than one hundred thousand. The
country gets excited about the
3,808 automobile deaths and hun
dreG laws in a year are suggested.
No excitement about the one hun
dred thousand deaths from the
White Plague, no serious sugges-
tion that the plague be stamped
out, as it could be by proper care
and feeding Of children unSer five
years of age. Consumption that
kills starts usually before the
fifth year.
Dean Wigmore, head of the Law
School of Northwestern University
in Chicago, suggests that rents
could be fixed as railroad rates
are fixed by making dwellings
public utilities. That might work,
but it probably would not.
A simpler plan would be to
exempt from taxation, just as you
exempt orphan asylums, every
home and every cooperative
apartment house in which owner
ship represents an investment not
exceeding fifteen thousand dollars.
Could anything be more idiotic
than taxing the home in which a
man serves his country by bring
ing up children to do the work Of
the next generation?
Do you doubt that the founder
of Christianity if HE returned
would wonder at tax on work
mems cottages? Would He not
order it transferred from that
cottage to the rich mans tax-frce
churdh? He would.
The Rev. Mr.. Petty, secretary Of
an important Baptist ministers
conference. criticises Monsignor
Lavelle, Of the Catholic clergy, for
referring to the United States as
the Greater Ireland"
The Reverend Petty should know
that this is Greater Ireland" for
Of Irishmen and their descendants
there are more in America than
there arc in Ireland, o. soon will
be.
This is the "Creater Ireland" as
il is also the Greater jerusalem"
There were never one-quarter as
many Jews in Jerusalem as arc
now in New York.
We have cities with more Ger
ran citizens than many cities in
Gerrranv. We have lnrge sections
chiefly Itali"n, and it is to be
Hoped that these sections will in
crease.
The United States is fortunate
in its Irish. Jewish. German,
Itaiian. French, Polish, Scotch,
English. RusSinn. and all other
nationalit'es. Each country sends
US its ambitious, enterprising men
and women-only courage and
ambition will send poor man
across the ocean to an unknown
land.
This is the Greater" country Of