davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
Likes the Edison Test
One Who Has Forgotten Nearly All
He Learned in College

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: No doubt many Of your readers
are amused at the discussion over the
questionable" ~ Mr.. Edison's which
applicants for positions are asked to
fill in. 1t seems to me that these CUES
tions are not at all irrelevant,
The youthful college graduates seem
unable to answer many of them. They
ask what is the connection between
many of the questions and incandesceM
bulbs, sales, production, etc. All the
questions, SO far as can see, are vsY
properly asked to test the general IN
formation and everyday intelligence Of
the candidate.
Mr.. Edison has a perfect right 10
put such questions, which are simple
to most of US. In my experience have
noticed that many college graduates
have to begin all over again after lesv-
ing their alma mater. I know that
practical, every day experience and ths
study of mankind are not on the cur
ricula of many colleges. Few Of che
great captains Of industry, nation
builders (practicaI men, not dreamcnl,
have been collegians.
am glad Mr.. Edison has so many
questions in regard TO geographical
matters. The dense Ignorance ofmsny
of our boys in regard to the GEOGRAPHY
and ethnology Of their own and Other
countries is astounding, especially in
these days when we are trying to build
up a merchant marine and win back
some of the oldtime world trade.
When at college myself long cline
ago one Of the first things I learned
from my dog-esred old Latin DelecFns
was the phrase "Experientia docet," ana
/ have forgotten nearly everything eise
I ever learned from long-winded sna
sage professors. Any really usetp
education I have absorbed since then
has been in the great free school o.
experience.
If these fellows cannot answer hf'
Edison's questions the best thing they
can do is to go out in tAe world anu
learn something.
have had college graduates sent V
me in construction work, and the less
said about them the better Wspl
boys have in many cases outdistance1
them ADsUA.
New York, May IL. 1921.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
Pioneers De Luxe

In the days Of the old frontier the
prairie schooner was a familiar
sight. Broad-wheeled, sturdy-framed,
canvas topped, it lurched and
bumped over pioneer trails, drawn
by oxen orponies or mules. 1t carried
the household goods-few in number,
,as a rule-and a supply of food,
limited to the barest necessities.
The men carried rifles and trusted
to the presence of game for their
supply of meat. Frequently the
grown-ups walked the greater part
Of the way to save the teams.
Progress was slow--ten to fifteen
miles day, with occasional longer
stretches, generally determined by
the location of water holes. There
were streams to be forded, with the
dangers of quicksands. There were
mudholes to bog down the wagons.
On the plains wood was scarce, and
water often bad to the taste. For
endless days the caravans plodded
toward an unchanging horizon
hundreds Of miles of dull, fiat land,
as unbounded as an ocean.
But the lure Of the beyond
goaded them ever forward. What
ever the dangers Of the moment.
there was the ever present dream of
the trails end. In the desert they
thought of the forest streams. When
game was scarce they talked of the
fat cattle they would raise in rich,
green fields. AS the storms at
tackled them they pictured the quiet
homestead in pleasant, sheltered
valley, and pushed on.
Not so the modern carayaners.
The prairie schooner has been re-
placed by the Ford and the trailer.
The gun has given way to the
butcher shop, and the -four sack to
the bakery. The caravan of one
hundred and twenty-eight families
that are about to leave Brooklyn for
Idaho by auto will not suffer from
lack OF water. Few dangers and
discomforts will beset them. In place
OF pioneer paths they will have
motor roads, and instead of plod-
ding for months in dust and loneli-
ness, they will speed along toward
their destination chattering of
punctures and spare parts and the
price of gasoline. For the lonely
camp fire they will substitute the
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
Drama at Washington

1t is the habit or the seasoned
Washington correspondent, doubtless
developed by knowledge Of what
his editor and the public wants, to
present the capitals political life as
drama. In his callow days he as
suned that the people would have
the facts, in cold narrative. He
learned better-that they insisted on
chronicle wherein events appeared
as on the stage or in q novel.
So again the business is on of Gre
ating hero (the President) sur
rounded and struggling with a crew
of pirates (Congresss and particu-
larly the Senate). In Roosevelt's
day this was the accepted method Of
handling the news, although it was
varied by more or less successful
attempt to recast the roles and to as
sign Mr.. Roosevelt to the part of
villain. MIR. Wilson's friends labored
hard to establish him as noble Ar
thur surrounded by wicked Modreds
and other heathen--and at times
tradition almost succeeded. Now the
old machinery is being given another
whirl. We learn from Admiral G.
Lowry in The New Republic that the
contest has once more begun to de-
termine who is to go over Niagara
in barrel.
President Harding Is TO break with
the Senate and things are again to
become unquiet along the Potomac.
Did not Senator Lodge say some
thing the other day that could be tor
tured into a difference of opinion
with the White House? Are there
not signs that Hiram johnson is
whetting his tomahawk? Is not
Senator Borah suspiciously idealistic
with respect to disarmament? Do
these things show that the Zulus are
beating the war drum and sharpen-
ing their assegais?
There is a weakness about the
present alarums-namely, that they
take for granted that both President
and Senate are deficient in common
sense. Comparisons drawn from
the era of Wisconsin are of no value,
for President Harding has no inten-
tion of initiating his predecessor.
Moreover, they leave out Of consid-
GRAFTON the circumstance that Mr..
Wilson could in the main have had
his way--that he was the author of
his failure. His treaty would have
been ratified had he not madly re-
| jected notifications which the whole
world now agrees would be accept
able. No compulsion rested on him
to make an alliance with the irrecon-
cilables. If he had not openly at
tackled a plain prerogative of the
Senate the record would have been
different. Like the Kaiser, he pre-
ferred war to abating one jot or
title from his demands. The Sen
ate didn't any more want to mobilize
than France did in l914--kept its
troops ten kilometers from the
frontier. The Senate would scarcely
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
Stacker List Error

z The revelation Of the gross err
rors in the War Departments
Stacker lists comes as no surprise to
those with a knowledge of how the
local draft boards were compelled
to keep their records.
The CONSUMPTION law was simple,
but it became unsimple when Gem
eral Crowder began to issue his
huge mass of supplementary regu-
lations. In theory those who were
registered were subject to the juris-
diction of the local draft boards
and those passed were to go
into the national army. In fact,
the policy of allowing other
branches Of the service to enlist
those who came under the draft
was permitted. Those whose num-
bers were posted voluntarily pre-
ferring some special organization
went to the recruiting offices. 1t
did not apparently occur to the War
Department that this would make
for confusion. It laid no obliga-
ton on the recruiting officer to Sc
cure clearance of an applicant
from his local board. Indeed, it
was more or less the practice OF
officers gaining jurisdiction to neg
lect to certify even when appealed
to that particular man was all
ready in service.
So the LOCAL boards lacked knowl-
edge, and often could gain none.
concerning absentees from their
draft lists. They had no option
but to report non-respondents as
deserters or slackers. Under these
circumstances the published Stacker
lists were found to include the
names of men who in selected serv-
ice had distinguished themselves.
The members Of the local boards
followed clews and tramped about
as tracing detectives, But many
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14

Secretary Weeks has disposed of
most of the difficulties arising from
his designation of General Pershing
as chief of special general head
quarters staff by making him also
chief of the existing General staff.
Conflict of authority is thus avoided
and there will be no need to recast
the army reorganization act.
What Secretary Weeks has had in
mind is to create here general staff
in the European sense. Our army
chief Of staff has been more of an
executive, occupied with the details
of army administration. He had
taken over many of the duties pre-
viously performed by the adjutant
general. The Secretary Of War
wants to break away from the old
routine, unsuited to modern military
conditions. General Pershing is not
to do what General March has been
doing. The administrative work is
to be assigned to General Hartford,
who is to be designated assistant
chief Of staff. Pershing will be left
free to train and organize the regu-
Lar army and the reserves, to main
tain a permanent general staff of his
own and to stand ready to transform
the army at a moments notice from
a peace to war basis.
These are the primary duties Of a
modern general staff. 1t keeps the
machinery of military preparation
going. 1t is ready to take the field
with the armed forces in an emer-
gency. General headquarters will
be kept distinct from ordinary ad-
ministrative headquarters. 1t will
link the peace army with the war
army as they have never been linked
before.
The superiority of the new model
of organization is beyond question.
No other officer than Pershing could
well have been put in charge at gen.
eral headquarters. But the expert
ment might have failed if a chief Of
staff had been appointed who was
disposed to stand ON the existing
law and to dispute any interference
with his prerogatives. AS long as
Pershing is the dual head Of the
army the organization Of the mill
tary forces for war purposes can
proceed without fear of official jeal-
ousies.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14

have won had it not been palpably
making a just defense.
Touching foreign matters Presi-
dent has every advantage. The Sem
ate knows this, and knowing it Is
grulnblingly pacific. The imponder-
ables of public opinion and the pom
derables Of patronage are on a Presi-
dents side if no does not pursue a
course plainly unreasonable and
autocratic. Those who would TO-
ment row because row is inter
esting to write about are likely to
be disappointed this time. Neither
President nor Senate has any active
desire to pull the hair or tweak the
nose of constitutional partner; and
when partners would agree they COM
monty agree.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
A Failing Strike

Admiral Benson may not be quail
flying himself to be an acceptable
successor to Samuel Gompers, or to
be popular in circles made sad by
the runaway of William D. Hay
wood, but there is an explicitness in
his advocacy of industrial fair play
which suggests that courage and
common sense have not wholly de-
parted from America.
Marine workers, or that percent
age of them which follows the lead
ership of the chiefs of their organ
izations, are still receiving war
wages. Other workers are getting
less, but shipping employees hold
that they should be specially favored.
Admiral Benson, as head of the
Shipping Board, does not favor this
exemption from the common lot. He
thinks that it isn't fair to the gen.
eral public and knows that it would
drive the American flag from the
seas. So he would reduce wages Is
per cent-under all the circun-
stances a small reduction and less
than the sailors of other merchant
marines have accepted.
Every one in the country is con-
cerned about revival of trade. To
secure this it is necessary to have
the ships move. Their idleness not
only means q higher cost Of living,
but unemployment for hundreds of
thousands. And American ships
won't move, except in a meager num-
Der, IF operating costs are kept at
artificial war levels.
The policy of the Shipping Board
is friendly to the men of the sea, not
unfriendly. 1t will contribute to
their material welfare. It tends to
end the period of loafing about the
waterfront with no earnings at all
The Admiral would lower wages Is
per cent. This is better than to
lower them 100 per cent, which, at
least to thousands, is the practical
consequence of higher wages than
the industry will bear.
The public has great respect for
men who go down into the sea in
ships. 1t would be just to them. But
they must be just to the rest of us.
1t isn't fair for one element to as
sumo that because it got much in
flush times this gives it vested
right in a wage scale, and that the
only function of the public is to pay
the bill. Those who argued that q
higher level Of prices justified de.
mands for more dollars in pay are
precluded from resisting a reduction
when prices are down.
The marine strike, therefore, can.
not hope TO win. 1t is not receiving
public support because it disregards
the rights of others.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
The New British Speaker

John HI. Whitley, the new Speaker
of the British House of Commons,
reached his post with due regard
for ancient form and ceremonial.
First he was unanimously elected.
But this did not make him Speaker,
On the following day, according to
custom, he covered his head with a
bob wig and presented himself in the
House of Lords. Here he ceremoni-
ously heard the royal approval of
his appointment. He was now en-
titled to wear the full-bottomed wig
and silken gown of the Speakership,
and to assume presidency Of the
Commons.
Mr.. Whitley, cotton spinner of
Halifax, England, should have dis
tinguished career as Speaker. AL
though of the majority party, he has
the sympathetic esteem of the La
borites and the Independent Liberals.
He is the Whitley of the Whitley
Councils, the Joint Industrial Coun-
ellis that have been taking firmer
and firner root in England since
1917. Under q sort of capitalistic
guild system he provided for ma
tional industrial councils and subor-
dinate district councils and works
committees for every industry, SUI
prene council of all industries to be
finally formed when a great major
ity OF the workers had come under
the J. I. c. aegis.
His plan has been generally ap-
proved, a defense of it having been
made by j. H. Thomas, of the Brit
ish National Union of Railway Men,
now in this country. It has not
been adopted by the railway indus
try, nor by the transport workers or
miners. But outside of the so-called
Triple Alliance most of the indus
tries Of Great Britain, including gov
eminent civil employees in offices
and works, Admiralty dockyard Ia
borers and workers on municipal
tram lines operated by local govern
ment boards, as well as all public
utilities workers, whether under
state or private ownership, have
been Whitleyized.
This method of quasi-partnership
in industry, in which elected en-
ployees sit regularly with an equal
number of the employers executive
officers, usually under the chairman
ship of an arbitrator, was proposed
by Mr.. Whitley in 1915, when en-
ployers and employees in every in
dustry had been compulsorily organ
lied by the government. The plan
worked so well that the associations
of employers and employees upheld
it when its continuance was urged
by the Minister Of Labor, who still
exploits it.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
Chairs for Gas Victims

To the Editor Of The Tribune:
Sir: Over seventy of our World War
heroes are patients at Seton Hospital,
Riverdale Avenue, the Bronx. They
are poison gas victims of the Argonne,
scissors and the Hindenburg line, and
are in various stages of tuberculosis.
They need entertainment and auto
mobile rides which the good people of
the hospital cannot provide. And, oh,
how they would welcome and appreciate
easy canvas reclining chairs,
The members of the Patriotic Service
Society, of which C. S. Wood, 52S
West l21st Street, is president, have
secured two dozen of these special
chairs at cost Of SIS each, which will
be given to the boys. Will other
organizations or individuals help in
this worthy cause?
MRS. RANDOLPH MARSHALL.
New York. May IL. 1921,
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
Narcotic Drug Control
Medical Profession Already Tried
and Found Wanting

and round Wanting
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In recent editorial you as
sumed that because Judge Collins advo-
Gated at the Albany hearing the aboli-
ton of the state narcotic department
1t had "bungled the drug situation"
Judge Collins is not an authority, as
you seem TO infer, on drug addiction,
nor has he studied it intensively, as I
have done for twelve years; neither is
he acquainted with the achievements of
the department. For long time he
was a stroag advocate Of the depart
ment. Within the last month or two,
without assigning any reason for his
change of base, he has allied himself
with the other camp.
Governor Miller in his inaugural ad-
dress advocated the abolition Of the de-
partment, but did not charge it with
ineficiency. He suggested the change
solely on the plea of economy; neither
did he recommend to the Legislature
that all control should be abolished. On
the contrary, he was very careful to
state that, in his opinion, the control
should be transferred to the state De-
partment Of Health.
The medical profession, which you
advise should have sole Jurisdiction,
has already been tried and found want
ing. Drug addiction was really started
by DR.. Alexander Wood, Scotch ply
stefan, who invented the hypodermic
syringe, which proved narcotic Pan
dora's box, in 1855. From that date
until 1914, when the Federal Harrison
anti-narcotic act was passed, and in
this state until 1918, when the state
narcotic department was created, politi-
cal physicians in boards Of health and
medical men in private practice had
full say-so in regar / to the drug situa-
ton; and they cannot point to one
achievement having for it's object re-
storing the addict group to normal or
of Riding the nation Of this scourge.
Before the creation of the narcotic
department doctors treated drug adj
diction as an incurable disease and
kept their patients on the drug year in
and year out. The department has COM
bated this erroneous diagnosis and
demonstrated by hundreds Of hospital
cures that addiction is habit which
needs medical treatment for ten 90 If
teen days only, and at the expiration
Of that time the patient should have
institutional custodial care.
SARA GRAHAM-MULHALL,
Administrator First District.
New York, May IL, 1921.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
Welcome to the Destroyers

Sixty.three destroyers are an
chored in the Hudson. Many of
these vessels helped convoy our
troops to France. Many a German
U-boat skunk away when they ap-
preached. In storm-tossed seas or
fair weather they patrolled the
ocean lanes, so that our army
might be fed and replenished.
Many of the men aboard the
fleet took part in this work. When
they had shore leave in New York
during the war they were received
with open arms. They were in the
service, and the public gave them
a warm welcome. Besides the old
timers there are many new recruits
men from the farm, and college
and city. They are strangers to
New York, bus it has long been
their ambition to see it. Many
have saved up part of their pay
looking to the day when their ships
would anchor in the Hudson River.
These men will now have shore
leave and will explore New York
with many a thrill. Their comrades
who were in the war will tell them
of the welcome in those days and
boast of the hospitality that is no
more.
Our people have short memories.
But to their credit be it said that
the Navy Club, which was formed
in 1917 to provide a home for the
boys on shore leave, has not forgot
ten. It's clubhouse at Is East
Forty-frst Street is still open and
will welcome the boys of the feet.
There they can obtain a bunk for
80 cents and excellent food at cost
prices. A reading room and writ
ing room await them, and big club
rooms with pianos, pool tables and
games. They will find at the Navy
Club the same welcome to-day that
existed in 1917.
Drop in at ID East Forty-frst
Street and see for yourself what is
being done. Perhaps you can lend
hand in their welcome.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14

village movies. In place Of isola-
ton they will be in constant touch
with their friends and relatives back
East by mail and telegraph.
But their objective Is the same.
Like the aquatters Of tha early days,
they seek new homes in new coun-
try. Their dreams are of pleasantly
watered farms In the West, where
they may start life anew, under
favorable circumstances. As in days
Of old Horace, still the call is $50
West, young man.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14
America
To the Editor OF The Tribune.

To the Editor OF The Tribune. !,
Sir: Why do you print "Anenea
meaning the United States? America !,
European way of saying the onlna
States, but not our way until recea.'s.
During the war we, for some sirgoi',
reason, even in official speeches ~
papers, called our country by nan'
that is not it's own. ~
No Frenchman calls France use
or the "Ile de France" or AIRY esns'.
but her own name. No President PRIV
to Roosevelt ever spoke Of our eVss
try as America. Not single ie.s
or speech Of Lincoln's contains W =
name, and / am not sure that Roossss
spoke of America meaning this e0'-
try.
AN OLD TRIBUNE READER
New York, May II, 1921.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14

absentees of course could not
be located. The War Department
had a system and was deaf to APP
peals to improve it. ''Isn't the man
in uniform?" asked officers when
applied to. ''Why bother me?" So
new lines of care appeared in the
faces Of members Of the local
boards, and now the War Depart
ment says that the boards are to
blame for the errors in the lists
because they did not keep their
books straight
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-05-14

CATULLUs: CARMEN yuI

CATULLUS: CARMEN VIII
"Mtssr Catallo. desisses tseptiYss
o Catullus, why aoswretched?
Cease your Scllyl Como TO lifei
She you loved now loves another,
And will never be your wife.
Come, snap out OF IL, CatRllusl
To be sure, those days we1a3 fair
When The maid was keen about you;
Bat she wasn't on the square
Do not follow one who acorns you;
Better drop her from your mind.
Show her that her friend Catullus,
Too, knows how to be unkind.
Farewell, Levy dear; your lover
Now Is obdurate az stone.
After this I guess you'll have to
Go your weary way alone.
You will grisve; do not deny It'll
F Catullus you desert,
Who will love you? Who will kiss you ?
They will know you for fiirt.
Who will tell you you are charming
Who will pay you any heed?
Well, 1T won't be v. Catullus;
Nay--no matter how you plead.
LATINUs Y.