The Washington times., 1921-07-21
Today

5000 Thsatsrs CloSsdA
A Dark Hole for All.
1000 Millions Enough.
by ARTHUR BRISBANE-I
Copyright issi.
The business Of handling and
lending money, always prosper
ous whatever else may 60 up or
down, grows marvelously. The
great National City Bank Of
New York. more than = hundred
years old, gives you these figures:
When that bank started there
were only lightweight banks in
the United States. And all their
capital was $4,000, 600.
Now there are $4,000 banking
institutions in the country. Their
capital Is more than six THOU
SAND MILLIONS. their deposits
more than FORTY THOUSAND
MILLIONS. It is a growing ma
ton financially.
In other ways we are not doing
% we'll They have fewer than
FIFTY THOUSAND idle people
in all France. I'VE have more
than FIVE MILLIONS idle, with
twenty millions depending on
them. And the people Of the
United States, apparently, worry
not at all about the idle.
The moving picture men feel
1t now. with three thousand the
aters closed, and others closing.
Five millions idle and twenty
million dependents are staying
home. They are keeping out of
the stores as well as out of the
movies. Somebody ought to be
Interested in that.
Eighteen-year-old Jeanne du
Brul, high school girl, spent
twenty-four hours in the black
hole of a prison ship to win a
prize of 500. Many will say,
II would not spend twenty-four
hours in such a dark hole for
anything" But in the regular
course Of events we shall all
spend many more hours in a
much darker hole, in the grave
yard. It doesn't worry us much
whether we are eighteen or
eighty.
What is indefinitely postponed
is not realized.
Wouldn't cremation be better
than the dark hole in the
ground? To be reduced to
ashes and have it all over in two
minutes is 80 simple, self-re-
speeding, and tidy. Those that
worry about resurrection in the
fiesh know well that the power
able to gather their dust from
earth and worms could also
gather their smoke from the air.
Cremation is convenient if you
happen to be great and people
want to preserve you. The Span
iards have dug up their national
hero, the Cid, who conquered 50
many Moorish kings and supplied
Corneille with material for his fine
tragedy. There were his ashes,
just as when buried, also the ashes
of his wife, Ximena. After being
examined, his ashes and his wife's
were put in different compart-
ments of a new copper urn, SOL
emnly buried in the cathedral, to
stay indefinitely, available for
new honors.
To the Spaniard "the Cid"
means everything that is magnifi-
Gently heroic, from Achilles to
Bayard, and from King Arthur
and Launcelot to Foch and Abra-
ham Lincoln. He is worth study
ing.
Alfred W. McCann, responsible
newspaper man, says a secret deal
was negotiated between the Inter
national Mercantile Marine Com
pany and John Barton Payne to
reft the Leviathan at a cost to
the people of $12,0oO,0O0 and then
turn it over to the private COM
pany. President Harding and Mr..
Lasker, now in the office formerly
occupied by John Barton Payne,
will want full information about
this.
Such secret deals have gone far
enough, and four Thousand mil
lions of the peoples money squan
dered by the shippiAg board
already ought to be enough squan-
dering. Those that have not yet