davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
Suggests April IS
As Ideal Date
Would See Inaugural
CeremonyatT Time When
City Is Fairest

There was spring rain Thursday, with
lightning and rumble of thunder March,
which came, in lamb-like, may yet send
blizzard and go out roaring disagreeabIy;
but we've had our touch Of spring.
Ii has not always been such agreeable
weather Inauguration week in the past, one
recalls; and one also recalls that there has
been much chatter in the past about moving
forward the inauguration TO days when
rather more decent weather may be ex-
pected.
There is this about it: The hotel regis
ters of the last few days show very plainly
that more people come to Washington
during Inauguration week than any other
time-when the nation is not at war, that
is. And Washington can not be really
appreciated this early in March.
=
A few weeks later, when the lawns are
rich green, when the Japanese cherry bios
SONS and the magnolia and dogwood
blooms are out, Washington is at its fairest
1t is only fair to the American pilgrims to
let them come at a time when their holi-
day can be made really joyous-for Wash
ington in springtime inspires joyousness
Of course it should not be much later,
because Of several things-spring plowing
in Ohio and Iowa, for one; moving day in
Detroit and St. Louis, for another; house
painting time in Oklahoma City and Den
yer for another.
Springtime is a busy time throughout
the North temperate zone, of course But
there is a week, just before spring comes
in earnest to the most populous sections
of the United States, most years, when
Washington is green and fair. And during
that week it seems to US that the inaugural
would most appropriately come.
L. l.. Kicker, secretary of the Wild
flower Preservation Society says that from
April 10 to May 10, The Japanese cherry,
the wild cherry, red bud, dogwood trees
and shad bush bloom Washington seems
TO be favored more with early springs than
with late ones. So, it seems, April Is
might be an almost ideal inaugural date.
Congress might do very well TO have a
committee confer with government weather
statisticians, horticulturalists and botanists,
in an effort to determine just what time
would be most suitable. We believe their
findings would confirm the opinion ex-
pressed here. B.PG.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
Extolls Greatness
OF William James

"Ardently adventurousI and humane"
that is the singularly happy phrase which
the son of William James has hit upon to
characterize the genius Of his incompatible
father. 1t would be difficult to give in
four words more accurate and comprehen-
sive estimate of that irresistible personality.
For thirty-ive years the mind of William
James irradiated the intellectual life of such
Americans as were exposed to its contagion
between the last of the seventies and the
tenth year of the new century, when his
swift and luminous spirit set forth to ex-
plore those environs of the actual in whose
reality he believed more strongly as he
grew older, because (as he said a few years
before his death) he was just getting fit
to live"
He died at sixty-cight, in the abundance
Of his uncommuted youth-for it is incon-
ceivable that William James would ever
have exhibited any spiritual feebleness or in
duration. He lived with an amazing full
ness, pliancy, senslbility. That blend of
honesty and flexibiity which was so dis
tinguishingly his is an uncommon appari-
ton on the intellectual stage of America.
His Scotch-Irish ancestry gave him some
thing OF his fusion of integrity and plas--
ticity, his rich awareness of beauty, his
boundlesS capacity tor human response, the
untameable sense OF comedy which CLEANS
and bubbles through the exuberant torrent
of his discourse. He will abide among the
greatest of his countrymen-with Thoreau
and Lincoln and Whitman and Franklin and
Emerson. For an encouraged few, he will
stand always for the ideal of r challenging
and uncorrupted intelligence, cleansed and
windblown, constantly vibrant, drenched in
the colors of human life, immeasureably re-
sponsive, bountiful, rewarding-a spirit mot
too divinely alien to console"-Lawrence
Gilman, in the North American Review.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

the open policy that there is no individual
right in property, but that what each may
be able to take is his as long as he can
hold on to it.
Where the will to do what is right, to be
honest. to-regard trust as sacred, breaks,
punishment must follow. 1t has followed
as to nations. and it must as to individuals.
But that is not the cure. Civilization does
not consist of punishment alone. Children
are not trained by the whip alone, any
more than by overindulgence.
Something else is the remedy and 1t must
come from the top, from the nation in its
government, from elders in their example,
from parents in their training in the home.
All modern tendency has in large measure
been away from this. 1t has been toward
indulgence, making things easy, the. surren-
der of responsibility, the refusal of obliga-
ton and failure to recognize, that real civ
ilization is based upon the individual de-
velopment of ability and capacity for just
one object-service. 2. E~.'.tl> ~ -
There should be an end of the present
plethora of governments interference with,
the daily life of people which already is
.~oA "ASSAhS HuiNiuuai responsibility. AS
Representative Campbell recently pointed
out, 100000 employees of the United States
go out from Washington to every corner Of
the country to regulate, supervise and con-
troll the private affairs of its citizens.
Add to these the hordes from State
capitols and city halls, and there is mighty
little left for parents to do save to do as
they are told. 1t saps individualism. It
saps responsibility. II runs from the home
to business and to all individual and group
efforts.
Germany had the most complete system
of monarchial Socialism the world ever
knew, but the United States is running her
close second. 1t is even proposed here
to socialize the home-something Ger
many never undertook, and at which Rus
sia has failed.
Those seeking the cause and the remedy
of cracking civilization need 60 no further.
When the individual ceases to be held to
strict accountability, when he and she can
shift responsibility, when not permitted to
bear their own obligations, no one need be
surprised at crime waves and weak willed
youth.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
The Evaders.

Edwina Stanton Babcoci, in the March
Century Magazine, points out that the
typical American of the widest and best
opportunities is not really occupied In up
holding those ideals which he Cor she)
would be willing to recognize as American,
but in "giggling evasion" of them.
~. 4
"We educate ourselves" she says, "as If
1t were Na solemn duty, by a carefully
worked-out system of tastes and needs; at
the same time we are engaged in a giggling
evasion of our own acknowledged ideals
We say that we abhor class distinction,
and we maintain and educate our children
to maintain a rigid and stupid exclusive
ness; we say that we are sensitive to suf-
fering, but never, even among American
Indians, has there been more aversion,
more openly expressed and pitiless repug-
nance, for the malformed or afflicted per-
SON than there exists today. We say we
abhor the idea of UNEQUAL sharing, and at
the same time see to it that we proceed
with abnormal acquiring. We are sorry
that the proletariat shodld be ambitious
beyond his station, but we, whom he has
for example. go on trying to keep ahead
of him"
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
Individual Responsibility.

There are times when the whole process
Of civilization seems but the coating of
human nature with veneer. It appears
to make no. fundamental change in men.
That Is left for religion, and even there the
change has not yet been sufficiently COM
plete to be controlling.
It is not surprising that the veneer, fire.
quently with individuals, and occasionally
with entire nations, cracks or breaks. Then
follow wars, crime waves" and frequency
of criminal acts, less than wave, but suf-
hcient to startlec the staid complaeency of
tho elect y
The symptoms seem to show disease.
and the disease to promise an epidemic. It
is then the wisdom of a people begins to
hunt for cures with diligence never
shown as to preventive. Yet the wise
ones viii differ in remedies as broadly as
does the human nature under the veneer. or
as the thickness and staunchness of the
veneer.
few days ago . boy not yet voter,
who was trusted as bank employe, to
handle large sums Of money, stole 100000.
But the coating only cracked. He con-
ASoSSo eao ASA1AhCo thC IuOuCy. wv nat 10
do with. him might wen have bothered
less volatile nature than that of Judge
Lands, who punished him, but also CEN
sured the bank management
Later another boy but ~ years old, also
trusted bank employee of the same city,
stole over 100000. Both boys found it 50
easy. and the latter had the added induce
ment that. if caught, the judge would be
easy with him. These are not lone cases,
as all over the country pop up like ones of
just boys whose veneer has not had time
to cure, who have not had the gradual ap-
proach, who have been trusted far beyond
what age might warrant and who have
yielded. d
More than this, they have had and still
have, the example of world gone wrong,
OF whole nations where the veneer seems
not cracked. but crushed. and where it is
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
Sir William Gilbert on sBlue Low.

my o1enins head Is Kensingfon,
HON. scolkisg there the sinner hordens,
Which uhen haze enlarged sbop,
II 60 to sSseondly-its Gardens
Ny Thirdly eomb,eheHdeth, sFiyds,
"Of Secrecy the gaits and sh1meses;;
MY 'Foaythlyi .Pork.-ifs verdare suidc--
Ny fFtfthiy, comprehend ST. JsmeSs'
II hat matter settled, shall reach z
The SiEthiy 1 my solemn teflier,
lad shoso that srhdt is true of each -.
rs also true of all together.
"ThsnI shall denonStrote TO yos,
According to the rules of Whotcley,
That frhdt IS true of all Is true
"Of each, considered sepdrotely'
In ldSish streams his accents foT,
Tom, Bob, ond Billy dare not foa him;
He argued high, he argued IosU,
He also argued round about him, 80.
"Ha, ho!" he sold, "yos loathc yoar auys,
'Yoa sOrithe at these my spords of 1Cdrnisg,
Tn agony yor hands yoH raise"
'(And so they did, for they trere yosrningJ
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

There was a blue law movement in Eng
land some half century since. II had its ad-
vocates, as plentifully possessed of solemnity
as lacking in joie de viyre. Against such mirth-
less precentors, Sir w. S. Gilbert compeer of
the musical. Sullivan, couched what would now
be described as q amean lance" Every time
Sir William saw emeging from its lair
blue law movement, he bore down on i with
a kindly but keen shaft Of satire. To his
credit, perhaps, should go the deaths of more
burdensome, absurd and pernicious British
statutes and British customs than to all other
agencies Of his day.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
Describes an Arabic
Drama In the Desert

Dressed IN a garment of Sackcloth-
patched and tattered in a hundred places
and glrdled with hempen rope, an Arab
takes the stage. He informs the audience
that he is mighty caliph and that his
wealth amounts to 5000 camels and twice
as many donkeys, not TO mention several
herds of wild stations that Craze on his
fertile plains. He is the guardian of the
famous jewel, the Mound Of Light.
But / am young and yearning for love-"
he declaims. Grant me, o Allah, mate
to share my throne!"
young girl arises among the audience
and, approaching the caliph, prostratcs her
self at the royal feet.
What do you seek, o beauteous maid:"
singsongs the caliph.
"A boon, great caliph," the maid re-
plies.
Speak, o rose-gsrden!"
Il have come from Kudes," saws the
maid, TO PROSTATE myself before thee. He
who loves me most is unloved by me He
has grown sick and angry and has threat
ened my life. have come to thee for aid"
The caliph is at once smitten with the
rods OF love. He thunders: 81 call my serv-
ants. Bring me my great sword! / go to
the defense of this fair maiden"
An Arba boy appears with a scimitar,
which the caliph seizes. Mortal man, be-
warel The great caiiph has drawn his
sword" And he disappears out of the circle
of light, followed by the maiden.
thin young Arab carrying a curved
sword now comes out of the darkness. He
sings of a maiden whom he loves. Her
beauty is beyond telling. But alas! she is
cold toward him. The audience is moved
At this point, the great caliph enters in
, disguise, as he tells US, in an aside Il have
come to deliver a beautiful maiden from
your vile attentions" says ne to the lover.
al hHld ,f
a soldier"
They fight long time. At last the lover
begins to give way.
With a shout dozen Arabs lean 10 their
feet. The caliph's adherents leap to meet
them. The fight becomes general. The &C
tors are very serious Some are wounded
blood flows. young woman falls TO
weeping.
The chief calmly smokes his narehile
/ whisper that he ought to interfere. He
laughs, but to please me he calls off the
show.
"But who is victorious?" asks the chief
near the fire.
ar" shouts the caliph. 81 was stronger"
mo, II" the lover cries, my pain was
The quarrel is on again. but the chief
;nterferes.
I'VE will ask Ben Ali" he says.
They were full of Spleen" says Ben
Ali, the maiden, "and did not see what
happened. saw that one of them would
die for my sake. Ny conscience srnote me,
for was weak-hearted. ran forward and.
standing between them, received the NOR
tai wounds they meant for each other. Now
! am dying and with my last breath / call
them to be friends"
Let II be So" decides the chief.
And the loyer aud the c.i;ob Lee
other upon the cheek and sit down near
the ire. teconciled.-From Drama in the
Desert by Joseph Koven, in Asia Maya
zine for March.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
At the Breakfast Table.

As the men and women of this country
sit at the breakfast table, they may not
realize the extent to which the price of ali
they eat as well as the newspaper they
read, is affected by world economic condi-
tions. The coffee they drink is probably
from Brazil, or the Far East, the bacon
and even the -four in the bread or rolls may
be from Canada or Argentina. -
g Everything an American eats or wears,
or has in his home, is now subject in its
price and value to the constant varying of
exchange rates, the problem of credits and
to all the aftermath of war conditions
abroad There was never a time when
just in their daily lives, Americans were so
intimately touched by foreign economic
conditions. - =
1t is startling fact that from debtor
nation to an amount estimated as high as
$5ooo,ooo,ooo the United States has be-
come creditor for the rest of the world
to the colossal amount of around $4,000
100000. The debt has been paid and the
credit extended to total of nearly $eo,-
100000 in but the period of six years.
Imagination can hardly grasp this, yet
it is cold, hard fact which we meet in its
effects, no matter what we buy, or try to
do. 1t makes the whole field of economics
of immediate importance to every man and
woman. 1t is fundamental factor in the
cost of living for everyone.
Tables of exchange values take on a new
meaning. In their terms, we must read
the scales Of wages, the relative cost of
things, the difference in the cost Of pro-
duction, and by sequence, the flow of world
trade
Foreign countries must now send here
and sell in this market, $Soo,oooooo and
more of goods just to pay the Carrying
charge of their debts to this country. In
their own money this amount is increased
from a half to near twenty times. This
country must take these goods to get Just
its interest payments. y
These foreign countries are living and
producing on this low money standard.
When they sell here, they sell at the high
money standard, and after paying their
debt, they get cash. The United States
alone of all the great markets does not
need credit.
On the other hand, this country now
owes, nothing. Whatever is sold abroad
must be for cash OF, credit; it must be paid
in dollar values, the highest money stand
ard. Of course no country will buy, here
anything it can do without 1t cannot pay
in cash, and cannot afford to pay from
one and. one-half to twenty times in value
in its own money, nor do our traders want
that sort of money.
The only way this country can sell
abroad in large quantities, is by giving
long term credits. long enough to bridge
their period Of monetary depression. long
enough so they can repay in money that
has fully or largely recovered its value.
To give much credit is the purpose of the
Foreign Trade Financing Corporation now
organized
These are all problems that every Ameri-
can meets each morning. They are prob
lens The Herald brings to them in its fnan-
cial section in their own terms, in a form
that is readable and easily understood. 1t
belongs at the breakfast table as part Of
their everyday life.
Every time Uncle Sam tries to maintain
the open door in China he puts his foot
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

To "Tarenty-frstiy" on they 60,
The lods do not attempt to scout him;
He dygaed high, he argued lop,
He also org,ed round about him.
"Ho, no" he cries, ~yoI bov yoar erests-
MY eloqHenee has set yoa apceping;
In shame you bend upon your bredstSl"
C4nd 50 they did, for they aDe,e sleepingJ
He troved them this-he b,o1ed them that
This good bm sreayisome Gscetie;
He jumped and thEmped apon his hat,
He stus so Uery energetic.
HIS Bishop al this moment CHANGED
To pass, and found the road encountered;
He noticed hosp the chareh,ndn danced,
And ho1U his congregation SlEmbered.
The hundred and eleventh head
The priest COMPLETED of his structure.
".Oh, boSL!" he lrorfhy Bishop soid,
And tDolked him off, as in the pictarc.'
'But w. S. c. did not furnish the sketch
showing Sir Macklin's humiliation. 1t is a
loss to posterity.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06
Vachel Lindsay Places
Wreath on Poe Bust

CHARLOTTESVILLE Va, March s.
Vachel Lindsay, the American poet, on a
recent visit here, presented the University
Of Virginia with wreath to be placed
upon the Zolnay bust of Edgar Allan Poe,
whose one hundred and twelfth birth
day has just been celebrated. Poe was a
University of Virginia alumnus of the class
of 1896.
In connection with the anniversary, the
Jefferson Literary Society, of which Poe
was secretary, held. a Poe Night" at which
DR.. James Southall Wilson, Edgar Allan
Poe professor of English, spoke upon the
personality of the poet and presented some
unfamiliar facts about his life.
To DR.. Wilson, the author of "The
Raven" will always be the, Hamlet of
American Literature" because of the mys-
terry which surrounds his birth, his lonely
existence as young man, and his strange
and unexplained death upon the streets of
Baltimore.
Poe entered the second session of the
university on February H., 1896. He ex-
tinction in French and Latin and was pub
licly praised for his work in Italian. He
was also proficient in mathematics and took
particular pride in his accomplishments in
this exact science.
AS student, he gained some local repu-
tation as an athlete, being fair broad
jumper and sprinter and good swimmer
His natural aloofness probably kept him
from entering into competition with much
zest and it is surprising that his modesty
permitted him the pleasure of membership
in the Jefferson Literary Society. ....--
The Ragged Mountains, mile distant
from the university, served as favorite
haunt for Poe and he spent much time in
long walks over them. They furnished
material, for number of short stories,
some of which are now lost to the world
because of a nickname given the poet by
university students. One of the characters
whose name appeared frequently in these
stories was called "Gafy," and it was this
monicker that students bestowed upon the
writer. His sensitive nature rebelled at
such familiarity and in a fit of petulance he
burned all the manuscripts which con-
tanned this character, "Gaffy."
Some of Poe's earlier biographers have
attempted to create an incorrigibly gro
tesque and impossible life for the poet
while he was student at Virginia. This
idea has, however, been largely refuted by
subsequent and more sympathetic biog-
raphers.
Poe was not expelled nor asked to leave,
the university by its governing body, nor
is there any evidence in the. records of
the university that he was ever subjected
to the discipline of the board of visitors
or faculty during the short time he was a
student.
a
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

It must be a great pleasure to the Rus
sian proletarian to be able to dictate the
heel that shall rest on his neck.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

Poverty is Austria's inheritance, says
writer. Sure; might as well let her unite
with Germany in the holy bonds Of patri-
mony. i
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

Recent revelations make us wonder IL
some of those "dollar-a-yesr" men were so
called because that was all they overlooked.
Brooklyn Eagle.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

An American steamship reports having
part OF its propeller bitten off in the Csrib-
bean by some sort of fish And we have
been told our ships were "dry."-Pittsburgh
Dispatch
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

The Japs are proceeding about their
affairs with typical German efficiency.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

The retailer says he can't replace the
goods at the price he is offering them.
Why doesn't the wholesaler buy up these
stocks?
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

There are no Giiberts now, though there are
lot of Gilbertian imitators. But none of
them has been able to match, even by employ
ment of piaigairistic methods, such gems as
the following, reprinted from the immortal
.Bab Ballads" - .t'2
y Sir Macklin.
of all the youths tver saso e.,
None srere so Wicked, Sdir or silly,
So lost to shame and Sabbath Iozr
As suoydiy Tom, and Bob, and Billy,
For eve,y Sobbafh Day they 1pdlked
(SYeh sods their Coy and thoughtless natur)
In parks and gordens. aUhere they talked
From three to siF, or eTen later.
Sir Mdckiin tpds priest seUcre
In conduct and in conversation;
IL did q sinner good to heoy
Htm deal in ,oiioeinotion.
He could IN every action shov
Some sin, and nobody could doubt him.
He argued high, he oygasd iosr,
He also argued round aboat him
He ppett to think each thonghiless youth
Contoined of Iriekedness skinfnl.
HHd burnt to teach the daufnI truth
That sudlking out on Sundays sinful.
eA%
~
~
@0k my yosths," he said, II grieve to find
The course of life you're been and hit on-.
"Sit dosrn," said he, "dnd nevcr mind
"The Pennies for tie chairs you sit on.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

Every day of quiet in Mexico intensifes
the nervous tension in America.
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

Every time Uncle Sam tries to maintain
the open door in China he puts his foot
in it.sz
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

And so the California mountains are
moving. Well. it's cheaper than paying
rent sl.zlA
The Washington herald., 1921-03-06

The universe Is change; our life is what
our thoughts make it-Marcus Aurelius.