davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17

Usurpation

What right has a President, eX-
cept authorized so to do by Congress,
or except as a necessary corollary
Of national policy duly recognized
by Congress, to forward such dis
patch as has been transmitted to
London, Paris and Rome touching
the boundary dispute between Italy
and the new nation Of Jugo-Slavia.
The dispute is one that may mean
peace or war. AS such, Congress,
as the only power competent to au-
thorize war, must be consulted in ad-
vance of definitive action. Any other
course is usurpation and involves a
plain disregard Of plain provision
of the Constitution.
With respect to initiating negotia-
tions for the formation of a league
of peace the President acted within
his rights. Congress has often de-
clared its approval of the league Of
peace idea. In 1916 it authorized
the President, when the war was
over, to enter conference touching
the matter.
But there has been no authoriza-
ton to trace boundaries between
friendly nations. We are not at war
with Italy; we are not at war with
Jugo-Slavia. The President has no
power to give judgment as to where
their frontiers shall meet. To play
on the circumstance that Jugo- Slavia
was part of Austria Hungary
would be to quibble. There is a new
status. To us Italy and Jugo- -Slavia
are both independent and equally
friendly. The President may not
compel either to submit to his adjudi-
cation.
The dispatch says that neither
solution of the Adriatic controversy
is compatib with the American at
titude. This is an unfounded state
nent. There is no American atti-
tude. The President may hold to
particular opinions, but they are pri-
vate ones, not the nations.
Not satisfied with threatening both
Italy and Jugo-Slavia if they disre-
gard his personal will, the note is
reported to say that if there is set
tiement disagreeable to the Presi-
dent the government of the United
States will find it impossible to con-
Germ itself with European affairs.
Here again is the implication that
the President is the government of
the United States, whereas he is but
one-third of it.
Will the President continue to pur-
sue an indefensible course?
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
The Sugar Tragedy

representative Tinkham has re-
opened old wounds by his attack on
the Administration for bungling the
problem of sugar prices. The house
wife who has to pay twice as much
for sugar as she paid year ago can
only have her feelings lacerated bv
fresh recital Of the governments
indifference to the interest of the
sugar consumer. She may be glad to
see those who consented to the boost
ing OF sugar pilloried. But how is
she going to get back the money
which that Indifference has cost her?
Thanks to a happy chain of cir
cumstances the government was able
TO plug sugar prices during the war
That was the one success Of the
campaign of price regulation. Since
the Cuban crop could be bought up
wholesale, 1T was comparatively easy
to deliver refined sugar to the Amer
lcan household at moderate price.
ret IN a way, perhaps, the very
success of sugar regulation became
a thorn in the flesh to the food con-
srol authorities. They couldn't hold
down the prices of other necessaries
ana the abnormally low sugar price
was always an awkward reminder
to the public of the inefficacy of
control in other fields.
Attorney General Palmer's policy
has been to talk earnestly about re-
ducing the cost of living and to rely
on talk to restrain profteers.
Talk doesn't restrain anybody. 1t
wasn't talk but forehanded business
sagacity which kept sugar prices
down in 1918 and 1919. And when
the Administration refused last sum-
mer to buy up another Cuban crop
the era of 11-cent sugar came to q
tragic end.
The alleviation in sugar had been
artificial. Possibly every govern
ment alleviation of the present high
cost of living must be artificial--a
temporary blocking of the operation
of economic forces. At any rate the
is no longer chargeable
with inconsistency in applying u
brake to sugar costs, but failing to
apply Nsto other food costs. 1t can |
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17

He would have dictatorship-not a
government limited by law. There
is affinity between the Wilson and
Lenine ideas Of government.
AS the Presidents ideas have been
uncovered by acts a fixed determina-
tion has wholesomely arisen to pro-
tect the Constitution. We are not
yet ready to Leninize, to MeXicanize,
to Kaiserize our government, and the
public naturally doubts the sanity Of
any one who thinks it is possible to
succeed in so mad an undertaking.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
A Useful Episode
} the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: Mr.. Wilson's letters are exceed
ingly useful in one particular. They
concentrate attention on the possibsii-
ties that do and may accrue in a Presi-
Dental hiatus. He has polntedly en-
phasized constitutional liabilities that
rule in those circumstances.
Congress. he seems to point out. has
too long delayed in defining what con-
stitutes mental and physical inability
of the President and giving proper
enactment to laws that will properly
supersede or relieve a distressed presi-
dent and people, not to mention the
Cabinet.
1t is high time that this matter be
healed. In fact, Mr.. Wilson seems to
demand it. GEORGE N. COLE.
New York, Feb. Is. 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
>oHsid ne.hod the Safe One

When IL comes to 81 consideration o.
the various schemes for what is termed
Characterization" it VIII be well to
remember that, valuable as they MAY
be as additional factors in the process
OF eliminating undesirable aliens hFl
making them desirable, the whole Wis
dom and power of our great nation
must be employed on the problem be-
fore 1t can hope for solution. Our
VIDE open hospitality may have 10 re-
strict ITS generosity and turn back
undesirable aliens with firmer aane
than formerly. the term OF apprentice :
ship for American citizenship may have
to be made much longer and our sociai
nlceness may have to be greatly taxs"
by an unwonted and conscious enieaV''
TO welcome into our more intimate eoh''
munity circles those who hitherto ha's
never got far beyond the cold POM
zeal threshold of our nation.
Our opportunity is greater than oa1
peril. The sound method, action sup
ported by fundamental principle, IS ta'
safe method. Our government can Oss'
promote its stability by resting lss's'
lation confidently on its original coz
ception of justice and fair play.
CHARLES H. BREAl' S
Buffalo. N. Y, Feb. IL. 1920. -
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
Our Heritage Of Fair Play

The matter under discussion IS not
whether or not we should bring Justice
to bear upon undesirable resident
aliens. There is no room for two
minds on the subject. The problem is
how to deal with them squarcly as
we'll as effectively The act under
consideration finds its prototype in
some of the panic legislation of Eng
land at the end of the French Eevo-
luton, when even the poet Wordsworth
returned from a visit to France de-
tending the execution of Louis XVI and
advocating republican government.
The tocsin of alarm was sounded; the
spy and the informer ran hor.foot
through the land. Proceedings were
instituted against Tom Paine N his
absence and the great Erskine sprang
10 his defence. But the climax was
reached when Hardy, Horne Tooke and
tnelr comrades were either ACQUITTED
OF high treason or else released with
out trial. England then quickly re-
gained her balance and reverted TO
those principles of justice and fair
play which are. also our own heritage
and the foundation Of our security.
The swing of the pendulum has al
ready begun with us in the direction
OF normal methods, though not before
the departure from national traditions,
initiated by Congressional action, has
injected one state Legislature, to its
discontinue.
The Secretary of Labor quite fairly
maintains that it does not devovs upon
him "officially to determine whether
congress was wise in creating the law
or the Communists party wise in cre-
ahng the facts. 1t is his duty to apply
the law TO Che facts as he finds them,
But Is 1t not the responsibility of cit1
lzens at large 10 throw such light on
this law and procedure under its pro-
visions as will test its character and
its moral effect?
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
A Pardonable Query

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: May ! not suggest that Mr..
Wilson could now tittingy complete the
wrecking of the Administration by
himself resignng and allowing a less
temperamental man one year in which
to clear up?
We're he to take this step there
might perhaps be said of him some
thing akin to the famous verdict upon
the pathetic and dignifed passing of
Charles II OF England: mo incident
in his life so became him as his leav-
ing it," r. C. TOWNER.
New York, Feb. Is. 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
Ability Not Wanted
the Editor of The Tribune.

10 the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: In connection with the reslgna-
ton of Secretary Lansing it may be of
interest to note an observation Of John
Flske in "The American Revolution. "
Comparing the disaster that followed
Gates with the brilliant successes of
Greene in the South Carolina Campaign,
ne says Men of narrow Intelligence do
not like to have able men about them,
and do not know how to deal With
tnem. +. B. l..
New York, Feb, IA, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
Your Burglar

There Is nothing so agreeably in
vigorating to read of as somebody
else's burglar. Whether it is short
story in your favorite weekly relat-
ing how the startled heroine in neg
ligee comes face to face with a
masked but obviously chic and dis
tingulshed cracksman toying with
her pearl necklace, or the picturesque
burglar hunt at Sound Beach in the
days news, your sensations are the
same. Your breath comes and goes
with the breath of the heroine's, for
instance, and when she conquers with
her ready wit or her melting smile
you conquer with her. Y ou put down
the tale feeling-somewhat unjusti-
fiably, we insist-that burglars are
rather in your line
But when it is $3.50 a. m. and you
are asleep in your own bed at home
and you awake suddenly, having
heard you are not quite sure what
(but your wife, light sleeper, con-
found her, is sure what)-when the
burglar arrives under these condi-
tions, we say, he is quite different
customer. 1t is always SO cold, for
one thing. If houses were only rca-
sonably warm at 3 a. m.! Then
there is the probability, almost a GER
tainty, as you explain it to your wife,
that it is no burglar at ALL For
every thousand householders who
arise in their might and pajamas
and search for burglars only one
is rewarded by finding burglar, it
is safe to bet without even a glance
at the statistics. 1t is always the
new kitten and the garbage can or
the wind operating upon last years
door screen, of which you forgot to
mend the latch, or some other inno-
cent but briefly noisy affair. Why
spoil ones slumber on thousand to
one shot! SO runs the whispered ar
gument between the pillows
The answer is, of course, that
ones slumber is already spoiled, and
as for ones domestic honor as a
fighting husband that, too, is in
grave distress. We never could un-
derstand just why a husband whose
knowledge Of firearms was rusty,
even if not rudimentary, and whose
only weapon was probably either
mislaid or barren of ammunition
anyhow, should be expected to enter
into a shooting match in the dark
with an expert trained to the mo-
ment for exactly such an encounter.
No wife would dream of asking her
husband, who boxed little at COL
lege but who is now sadly fat and
scant of breath, to step into the ring
with Jack Dempsey at 3 o'clock of a
morning or any other hour without
seconds training. Yet that is lust
what the loving wife does when she
digs her spouse in the ribs and prods
him out of his warm bed 10 do battle
with burglar.
Witness the case of the burglar
hunt at Greenwich Here were not
incHpert husbands awakened out of
bed to hunt their prey in slippers.
The two courageous huntsmen were
armed and expert; yet, as the event
proved, they needed all they had.
They escaped with their lives and
succeeded in Staying the burglars by
a combination Of pluck, skill and
luck. Yet that is exactly the sort
of pretty problem that may face any
householder who goes blinking, stun
bling downstairs armed chiefly with
goose flesh. Will all wives kindly
take notice!
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
Why We Went to War

Vice-President Marshall apollo
gized some time ago for not having
realized quickly enough that the
United States couldn't hope to keep
out of the great war. Before April,
1917, he opposed participation.
Now the Vice-President goes still
further and shows how radically
his views have changed by saying in
his recent letter: "We were in the
war from the very moment of it's
European beginning, because it
affected our internal affairs"
In this statement - true, though
somewhat exaggerated for rhetori-
cal effect-Mr. Marshall ignores the
Administration theory Of American
participation in the war. He seems
to reject the idea that the United
States went to war primarily to
make the world safe for democracy
to establish a league of nations, to
restore the freedom of the seas or
to crusade in general in behalf of
humanity.
The Vice-President is right-so
far as formal record is concerned.
The United States made war on
Germany for self-protection - in
order to maintain national rights
and interests which Germany had
challenged. And it was obvious
from the day the Lusltania was
sunk that the German challenge
could not be lodged or evaded.
President Wilson frequently set
forth what he called The war aims
of the United States But the
President hadn't the power to de-
clare war Congress alone had that
power, and it alone was competent
to state why America took up arms
against Germany. 1t did do this in
the resolution declaring war, passed
or April 6, 1917. This resolution
read:
"Whereas, the Imperial German
government has committed repeated
acts of war against the government
and people of the United States of
America; therefore be it
"Resolved by the Senate and House
of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress as
sembled, that the state Of war be-
tween the United States and the I'm
perial German government which
has thus been thrust on the United
States is hereby formally declared"
Addressing Congress on April 2,
1917, the President himself opposed
q declaration Of war against Ger
nany's allies on the ground they
had not attacked us. II have said
nothing of the governments allied
with the imperial government Of
Germany because they have not
made war upon us or challenged
US to defend our rights and our
honor"
That is the record. 1t has been
obscured by multifarious express
sions of the Presidents personal
views and war aims. But Mr.
Marshalls view is historically sound.
The United States went to war with
Germany to defend it's own national
rights and interests; but, having
gone in to achieve a particular end
it, of course, had the right when
making peace to ask for guarantees
that would safeguard against not
only the recurrence of particular
evils but evils cognate them.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17

still talk about reducing prices by
moral and legal pressure. But every
body knows what that means. Per-
haps the housekecper who to-day
pays 20 cents or more for sugar will
be the more easily reconciled to the
inevitability of the inflated cost of
ether things.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
Guilt Not Personal

THAT any alien who, at any time
after entering the United States. is
found to have been at the time of entry
or to have become thereafter mem
Der of any one of the classes enumer-
aled IN Section ! of this act, shall,
upon the warrant of the Secretary OF
Labor, be taken into custody and de-
ported in the manner provided in the
immigration act of February S, 1917.
The provisions of this section shall be
applicable to the classes of aliens men
tloned in this act irrespective of the
time Of their entry into the United
States"
The first thing to note is that the
associations of man are, for the pur-
poses OF this act, the determining fac
Tor of his character. Mere member
snip IN an organization Of the pro-
scflped class is sufficient ground for
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17

slim protection. and such as there is
seems to be there more by accident
than by intention. Among the pro-
scribed groups are those who are igno-
rant because there has never been any
one to teach them, those who are weak
and led by the nose, those who through
carelessness have drifted into evil COM
pany. Our instincts of fairness revolt
against their being outlawed from the
protection of our traditional and sound
judicial system.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
Wanted
To the Editor of The Tribune

TO The Editor Of The Tribune.
SIT: "anted-A multiplex or Cabi-
net dictaphone for Immediate install
lation in the various governmental de-
partments in Washington. Each instru-
ment must be supplied with direct con-
nection with the Executive offices in
the White House. (Signed) The Die
tator. EDWARD S. FIELD.
New York, Feb. IA, 1920.
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
No Lynch Law for Aliens
Plea for Return to Our Historic Principles of Fair Play

deportation. The Secretary of Labor
has recently made a ruling to this ef-
feet. "Give a dog bad name and
hang him." Here is distinct de-
parture from our accepted conception
Of justice. The fundamental doctrine
that guilt is personal is abandoned.
No Normal Court AciiOn
In the next place, our traditional
judicial methods are ignored as though
they were not competent to deal with
cases that clearly should come under
the normal processes of the courts. 1t
is the Department of Labor which in
itiates action b., . warrant issued by
its agent. Local immigration inspect
ors form the prosecuting attorney, jury
and judge in each case. Though the
accused may employ lawyer, the right
of appeal to the courts is ilusorv
The courts will not interfere with this
summary proceeding except in a linn
tied way, viz, to determine the question
of alienage or to determine whether
there is actually no evidence to support
the decision of the immigration in
spector. In theory of law the decision
of the inspector is the action of an
executive branch of the government.
and If there is any degree Of evidence
to support it the courts have no power
to substitute their opinion for the de-
cision of the Inspector. 1t is common.
II not customary, to place the amount
OF bail beyond all possibility of its
being secured. The inspector in his
examination may and frequently does
question the accused with the inten-
tion of making him incrimnate him.
self-a procedure contrary not only to
the Constitution, but also to the pri
mary instincts of Justice. The iudg-
ment of the inspector having been
reached, it is reported to the Secretary
OF Labor, whose office, or it NAV be
subordinate in his office, pronounces
the final verdict. Thus from first to
last the settled judicial processes of
the Republic are ignored and a doubt
full substitute for them is operated bv
representatives of an executive depart-
ment Of the government
New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
The Coming 7ower
nA11Anr oE BALLADES

HALLADE OF BAbLhbCO
Sharp. to begin with--if you would compose
A sound balade--you must forbear 10 rloe
Your Pegasus too giddy on his toes;
You must be chary of the spur and hide
Your finer frenzies meath tempered stride
But howsoever slack your bride be-
Make certain that one curb-bit is applied;
Don't use the oyeryorked rime-ending Zee
Accessible verse primers will disclose
The gait Mt which you properly should glide,
The cant precise of academic nose.
The thoroughbred acceptance OF denied
Caprice: three laps. and half of one beside,
Eight-ply ababbcbc---
But even il, skittsh, you should spurn this
guide
Don't use the overworked rimc ending zee"
The pace, IN short Ia one that ftly flows,
Neither too headong nor too petrifcd,
Midway between the pattering trot of prose
And the limp gallop that is doggerel's pride
Hobbled and gagged, quadrupedully tied.
AT least you get somewhere--yes and beat
free
Verse to it every start. If this be allied:
Don't use the overworked rime-endng "ee.'
L'ENvoI
For the refrain epgram provide
Groomed to survive. four turns. And 10,
decree
OF victory! The secret you've deserted:
Don't use the overworked rime-endng zee"
STANLEY KIDDER WILSON.
The tailors, it appears, have "aban-
doned the hope of reducing prices on
mems clothing within the coming year"
"Tailors Hopeless of Low Prices Soon,"
the headline says; and the impression
given ~ that the tailors, depressed and
helpless, see no relief in sight. Our
guess is that the headline should read
"Tailors Drop Fear of Low Prices"
and the story should tell that they are
hopeful of keeping the prices at least
where they are for another year.
Without any education and with no
guiding hand to steer him in the right
direction" says the Brooklyn Eagle,
about Jack Sheppard, "he was early in
life apprenticed to a carpenter" "The
biographcr," suggests c. G. B., "must
have had some sad experiences with
Carpenters Local. And what a pity
that lad Of Jacks gifts and proclivi-
ties couldn't have served an apprcn-
ticcship in restaurant"
Our old celluloid collar friend has
been eXhumed again, this time by
Raphael. He wears sleeve garters;
uses a mustache coffee cup, cigar
cutter, and a change purse; his name,
in gold letters, is old d-Englshed on his
shaving mug; and he carries his watch
in a chamois bag
1t takes all kinds Of boasters to
populate vainglorious world, includ-
ing those who vaunt that they never