davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12

Most Of the wise folk predicted a
gloomy automobile show for 1921,
with business dull and scant popu-
lar interest. They have received the
shock of their lives. Not only has
the show been crowded, but sales
have exceeded all expectations. The
great American public has refused
to be scared by hard times, or talk
Of a panic, into clinging to worn
out cars or denying itself the econo-
mics and improvements of the new
cars.
The truth is that the conception
of a motor car as a luxury still
clings to popular thought-even
hangs on in the motor world despite
the facts and publicity to counteract
it. There are obviously motor cars
which are sheer luxury. They are
the conspicuous cars, too, and it is
natural that an exaggerated notion
Of their Importance to the industry
should persist. But every such car
could be wiped out Of existence, as
manufacturing factor, without de-
stroying more than l or 2 per cent
of the motor car business of the
country. The great mass of Amer
lean family automobiles earn their
way as delivery wagons and hacks,
with only an incidental service as
pleasure vehicles, in just about the
same ratio as the oldtime farmers
horse that every so often carried
the household to church or a picnic.
1t was upon this bygone theory of
the motor car as luxury that the
recent clouds of gloom enveloped the
trade. 1t is only by a realization of
how largely the motor car has be-
come a necessity, an integral part of
the basic economics of American liv-
ing, that the surprisingly active
buying of the present show can be
explained. People are buying cars
to-day exactly as they buy shoes
because the old ones are worn out
or have reached too poor a condition
to make their further use economi-
cal. With the reduced output Of the
country's automobile factories there
are barely enough cars to fill this
need of replacement, and those buy
ers who are shopping thus early are
using good American trade judg-
ment.
Business is as usual in the motor
car business because the American
people are still moving about as
usual. The symptom is a sign of
ordinary health, and to this extent is
a sign of return to normal condi-
tions. But no more miracle is in
volved than in the facts that trolley
cars still run and car couplings and
rubber boots and paving stones sell
as usual.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12

If host may venture to express
what conduct best BELTS a guest, it
is perhaps permissible to say in the
hearing Of Gilbert K. Chesterton
that there is no reason why he
should not be himself during his
lecture tour. May not a diffidence
born of too much thought of the box
Office mitigate his utterances and
dull the fine edge Of his fervors?
The country is pleasantly familiar
with foreign men Of letters who come
to speak to us and instruct us. But
too often there is a chilling con-
sciousness that they do not give us
their best-that with the excuse
of politeness they stoop to conceal
and to flatter. Terribly frank in
their own countries, they become
warily timid here, and criticisms that
might be of great pith and value are
never heard. It cannot be said that
there is real meeting of hands and
minds across the sea until Britons
in America and Americans in Britain
cease to father smooth phrases which
show they do not feel the at-home-
ness that they declare.
In London Mr.. Chesterton has the
repute Of not being careful Of the
heads he cracks. AS a philosopher
he has been lusty assailant of pre-
vailing modes of thought. He has
not adopted the notion that to praise
moralities and spiritualities is to
betray ones self a superstitious
old woman. He has not gloried in
heresy. He has dared to praise
orthodoxy.
If his eyes are open he will note
that American life and literature
are colored with the same colors he
objects to when at home. What does
he think of the limitations of Nietsche,
1bsen and Shaw that our young men
and women have essayed? What
does he think of the French unre
serve we have imported, or of Rus
sian worship of the ugly as it affects
America?
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
Soldier Secretaries of War
Attempts are being made to spre

Attempts are Delng MADE TO spread
the opinion that it is against prece-
dent and also against the law to ap-
point an army officer Secretary Of
War. A regular army officer on the
active list may not be appointed to a
civil Office and still retain military
rank. Any regular officer, active or
retired, who accepts appointment in
the diplomatic or consular service
automatically loses his army status;
but retired army officer may hold
any other Federal civil Office to
which he has been elected or ap-
pointed by the President. Officers
on the retired list have sat in Con-
gress, and may sit in the Cabinet.
AS to the question of precedent
and public policy, there has never
been any recognized bar to the ap-
pointment Of army officers to the
Secretaryship Of War. The first
Secretary Of War, under the Consti-
tuition, was General Henry Knox.
He had served under the Confedera-
tion regime and was continued in Of
flee by President Washington. Gen
eral John Armstrong was called into
Madison's Cabinet during the War
of 1912. General Henry Dearborn
was nominated by Madison in
March, 1916, for the same post, but
the nomination was withdrawn be-
fore the Senate acted on it. In the
latter part of Andrew Johnson's
term General John M. Schofeld was
nominated and confirmed as head of
the War Department. johnson had
tried to oust Edwin M. Stanton, but
Congress refused to concur in the
removal and forced Stanton back.
In the couyse Of this struggle Gen.
eral Ulysses S. Grant and General
Lorenzo Thomas had served by
Johnson's designation as secretaries
ad interim.
When Grant became President he
appointed his devoted friend and
companion, General John A. Raw
Inns, to the War Secretaryship.
Rawlins died in Office six months
later. The Senate not being in ses-
sion, Grant then appointed General
William T. Sherman Secretary. The
latter served about two months, re-
signing and being succeeded by
William w. Belknap. In 1872, near
the end Of Grants first term, Con-
gress provided in the army appro-
priation act that no. officers on the
active list should be appointed to
civil Office.
Since that time no army officer
still in the service has held the post
Of Secretary Of War. But there is
no inhibition on the selection of a
regular officer who has resigned or
gone on the retired list. Nobody
now In the army who, like Leonard
Wood, has the qualifications emf
nently desired in Secretary, is ex-
cluded by law or precedent from
qualifying for appointment in the
Harding Cabinet.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
The Case of Wells

In his contribution to the discus
sion of the problem Of Russia n. G.
Wells has declared:
First, that as things now are the
collapse will soon be complete, with
nothing left but population of
primitive peasants;
Second, that the Bolshevik gov
ernment, incapable and inexperi
enced, is unable Of itself to avert the
completion of the wreck;
Third, that, incapable as they're,
the Bolsheviki constitute the only
group in Russia with a program,
and thus they should be generously"
assisted to create in Russia a new
social order based on the principles
of communism or possibly "a miti-
gated communism"
Fourth, that inasmuch as the Boil
shevik government holds that pri-
vate traders are "pirates," it is nec-
essary to "sell" to the Bolshevik
government, and thus to recognize it,
Analysing this Wells statement
and argument, Winston Churchill
points out that it is in effect said
that demonstrated incapacity estab-
fishes claim for sympathetic sup
port; that the common notion that
wreckers are not the best agents to
be trusted to efface the consequences
OF their own folly is erroneous; that,
on the contrary, the true policy is
to trust further those who do i'll.
For presuming to criticize in this
fashion Mr.. Wells in reply to Mr..
Churchill has nothing to offer except
abuse. He asperses his motives
and intimates he is an imperialistic
adventurer. If this is so it does not
appear how the fact is pertinent.
One can imagine with what fine
scorn and fluency the accomplished
Wells would fall on any one who
condemned Bolshevism because he
had personals objection to it's de-
| fender.
But there is one matter Mr..
Churchill neglects. BY what divin-
ing or prophetic powers is Mr.. Wells
able to know that the incapable Boil
sheviki, poor stuff though they may
be, are the best Russia has? No one
knows or can know. No new group
is allowed to come together. There
is no free press. no free public as
semblage; any one disagreeing is not
allowed to travel. Suppose, with
free elections, a constituent assem-
bly, were chosen in Russia. Who
has right to say it could not or
ganize a government? Mr.. Wells
might have some faith in the demo-
cratic principle.
But Mr.. Wells, when attributinp
their failure to personal incapacity.
Is not wholly fair to Lenine and
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
Why Battleships?
Admiral Sir Percy Scott, of the Brit
ish Navy, Wants to Know

AolA 4~dtyS w dlllS 10 IATOW
(Fron, letter IN Tho eLondon Times,
To the Editor of The Times.
Sir: Will you help me in nv igno-
rance? cannot get an answer to NV
question, What is the use of a BATTLE
ship?" She must be of some use or the
United States and Japan would not be
building battleships. A lot of naval
officers have written to me, but they
only tell me what she is not useful for:
they Will not answer my question. Is
her use secret that only few know
and will not disclose? Will it be dis
closed by the Committee Of Imperial De-
tense, who are going to settle what the
weapons of the new navy are to be?
Admiral Hall, a young and vigorous
officer who had wide experience during
the war, will not enlighten my igno-
rance; he is only telling the public what
the battleship is not useful for. What
is the good Of that? Before we spend
100 millions on battleships and another
100 millions in making safe harbors for
them we ought to know what use thew
are. Now, sir, do try to enlightcn nv
ignorance. Ask Lord Sydenham or some
one else who knows all about naval
affairs. Yours, faithfully,
PERCY SCOTT.
81 South Audley Street, Dec. II.
P. 81 had just finished this letter
when l got further show-up of NV
ignorance. I got letter from an air
man, who wants to know WHY am
talking about "safe harbors for batt,e-
ships!" He says such thing is impos-
sible: q door will not do; the harbor
must have roof on it. "Have l for
gotten the attack made in 1919 bv eight
aeroplanes carrying torpedoes that few
from Gosport and torpedoed the fleet
at anchor in Portland Harbor?" he
asks.
This danger can, of course, be got
over by roofing in our harbors; it will
cost only few thousand millions and
will be provided for in the new Naval
Estimates.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
Simplicity First

Senator Harding's instinct about
inauguration trappings is sound and
wholesome. It is rooted in more
than a natural aversion to what
most Americans look upon as un-
democratic fummery. Senator Har-
ding has lived in Washington and
been through inaugurations. He
knows that the spirit Of the occa-
sion which has brought March 4
crowds to Washington has not been
happily reflected in the form Of cele-
bration now in fashion-a cross, in
some respects, between Mardi Gras
and Old Home Week. Mr.. Wilson
cut out the meaningless inaugural
ball. Mr.. Harding goes further and
vetoes the costly Inauguration pa
rade.
If a military and civic pageant
were entirely in keeping with Amer
lean ideas about the inauguration
ceremony, certainly no more dismal
setting could be chosen for it than
Washington at the tail end Of the
winter. The capital is then usually
at its worst. Many Inauguration
days have been execrable, 80 far as
the enjoyment of outdoor exercises
is concerned. Washington ia one Of
the most beautiful Of cities. From
the aesthetic point Of view the ideal
time for an official celebr: ion, pic
torially brilliant as well as dignified.
would be April 80, the day on which
George Washington was first in-
augurated in New York. But our
political calendar, though admittedly
faulty, is very difficult to change.
George r. Hoar worked for years to
amend it, and the Senate onco got
TO tho point Of voting to do away
with the March hoodc>. But the
House refused assent. A leader in
the House expressed his contempt
for the Hoar scheme by saying that
it was an attempt to prevent elderly
Senator'S from catching cold on tho
Capitol east front portico.
Prssent conditions being unfavor-
sble - ~ ambitious outdoor or gen.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
Unrescinded

Mr.. Swami, under the prodding Of
Mr.. Whitman, was brought to see
that Police Rule No. 1874 wouldn't do.
This rule is the one which requires
any policeman working for the Dis
trict Attorneys Office to report to
Police Headquarters at once any in
formation he may pick up bearing
on a possible prosecution of police
officers.
So Mr.. Swami called up the May
or's Office to arrange for an inter-
view to discuss resembling or sus-
pending the rule. Apparently Com
missioner Enright gained touch
with the City Hall first. At any
rate, the Mayor declined to receive
Mr.. Swami. He was not exactly
kicked downstairs, but the door was
heavily slammed in his face.
The consequence is that the rule
stands. The Mayor would have
dictaphone policemen in the District
Attorneys office. He proposes to
take no chances of not having early
knowledge as to whittier the grand
jury investigation is tending. Wick
ed men are numerous, and they
might find out something to the dis
credit of the city administration.
The agitated Mayor would get to
work speedily on needed alibis.
That it may not be said that the
summary of Rule No. 1874 is inaccu-
rate we venture to quote it again:
".Any member of tho department
summoned to the District Attorneys
Office of any county, in connection
4oith a case in ,ohich he or any other
member of the department Is apt to
be made or become defendant. sOill
report the facts in detail at once to
the Police Commissioner"
There it is in it's bald simplicity.
No wonder Mr.. Whitman. gazing on
such a barefaced attempt to ham,
string the grand jury or any agency
depending on the District Attor-
ney's Office for authority, fears he
may be made ridiculous. Even if
it is possible to draw the teeth Of
the rule, the fact that it was forrnu-
lated shows what sort Of cooperation
he may expect from the Police De-
partment or the city administration.
1t is the same sort of sitting,
blocking cooperation that Samuel
Untermyer found in his way when
he began to reach the quick in the
housing investigation.
But one general conclusion is to
be drawn-namely, that a legisla-
tive committee is the only instru-
mentality that will be able to un-
cover that which needs to be uncov-
cred.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12

jellyfsh, ash dumps. But what shall
be said Of his wisdom in the sordid
wickedness of these sinful times? AS
an infant in his rompers, toying
with his bottle, or at most a bland
toddler Of four, smiling at the uni
verse as at bowl Of mush, is his
honor confronted by the tricks and
wiles Of a wicked world. Almost
one wishes that even at the expense
of his innocence he might grow up.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
Books

Later in the week we expect to re-
port more fully on Hungry Hearts
(Horghton Mifflin), by Anzia Yezier-
ska. On the basis of the four stories
in the volume which we have read Miss
Yezierska seems one of the most elo-
quent of the fictionists who have gone
to the East Side for their material, The
stories may serve also as models for
all who deal in dialogue, for there is
just sufficient touch to indicate the
foreign quality of the speech, but no
attempt at photographic and phonetic
exactitude which drives the reader
wild.
Curiously enough, the one story
which is featured on the cover as the
gem of the collection because of the
fact that it was abundantly starred by
Edward j. O'Brien in one Of his yearly
anthologies is distinctly inferior to
the rest. This particular yarn, which is
called "The Fat Of the Land" is a
moderately skillful use Of the time-worn
theme in which somebody is taken up
from the Ghetto to Riverside Drive and
is unhappy there. This story never
moves us much, for it does not seem
to us that it is necessary for anybody
to come from the East Side in order
to have rotten time in Riverside
Drive apartment house.
But even this story is not devoid of
charm, since it contains Mrs. Breineh's
boast about the generosity of her son
Benny, the playwright, who "gave
away more than hundred free tickets
for the first night" And there is elo-
quence later in the woman's outburst
against her children when she cries
out: "Why should my children shame
themselves from me? From where did
they get the stuff to work themselves
up in the world? Did they get it from
the air? How did they get all their
smartness to rise over the people
around them? Why don't the children
of born American mothers write my
Bcnny's plays? 1t is I, who never had
chance to be person, who gave him
the fire in his head. If would have
had chance to go to school and learn
the language what couldn't I have
been? 1t is l and my mother and my
mothers mother and my father and
my fathers father who had such a
black life in Poland; it is our choked
thoughts and feelings that are flaming
up in my children and making them
great in America. And yet they shame
themselves from mel"
More particularly we recommend
wings" and Hunger" as stories done
with fine fire and feeling by a woman
who evidently knows her folk and their
environment at first hand.
The Theater, the Drama, the Girls,
by George Jean Nathan, has just
come to hand. We have not yet had
an opportunity to look it over, al
though we have seen some of tho ma
terial in magazine form. This is ut
least the fifth or sixth collection of
this author which Alfred Knopf has
published, and we are . little puzzled
as to why the Jackets of Nathan books
are still so much like patent medicine
wrappers. Each time Nathan is Of
fcred in the guise Of q more or less
obscure writer who ought to\be read,
because Elegante Welt, Of Berlin, has
called him "America's leading critic
Of the theater." Or because Le Temps
has referred to him a. "Ono Of the
soundest and wittiest Of critics." On
the front Of tho book James Gibbons
Huneker, George NJ, Cohnn, William
X
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12

Trotzky. Their failure is not so
much because Of personal deficien-
cies as because of their system.
Abandon the system, and Russia
would probably speedily recover.
The remedial prescription Mr..
Churchill offers is in two words
namely, "drop communism"
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
The Coming Tower
TO BETTY

Lady, I snite languid lyrs,
And smite it all in vain;
For only tangled discords come
When l would sing a strain
To celebrate the beauty Of
Which you are justly vain.
And if it strike uncouthly ON
Your ear, this lay I sing,
And if you like it not at all,
My tuneless lyricking,
Go on believing you are fair
I'll say you are, old thingl
G. w. W.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
II. DOUGHTY,
Butterick Bldg, New York.

Somebody told Min that one-way
street wheeze as having been pulled
recently by friend of his, SO, although
we were swindled, the swindling was not
accomplished with intent to deceive. It
is good plan, Min, never to believe in
the newness of wheeze any one tells
you if CD it's good; (2) it begins "This
really happened"; (3) or you didn't
make it up yourself.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
A Horrible EXAMPLE
(From Tho rndianapous Nom

tFrom Tho Indianapolis Nc,os)
The No-Tobacco League will probably
argue that Uncle Joe Cannon might
have been in Congress longer than
forty-three years il no had not smoked
10 many cigars.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
A Gold Brick .
tFrom The Boston rro~scrspt)

(FrofN The Boston TrnMscr3pt)
II you are thinking Of buying Kam-
ehatka from Washington B. Wander
lip, bettcr consult an international
conveyancer. There are rumors in cir
culation about q flaw In the title,
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
xr,fnrn or rrE A.socuArrp rxrss

tho Associatsd Press Il exclusively entitled - the
- for republication OF ali news dispatches
credited 10 1t otherwise credited IN this papes.
and also the local news Of spontansous origin pab
ushsd herein.
All rishts Of repubreatiea sf all ethss nsstas
hsgsn also are rcserved.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
By
Heywood Broun

Lyon Phelps, The Nation, The New Re-
public, The New York Evening Post,
The Chicago Tribune. The Boston
Transcript and Gordon Craig are all
summoned to his assistance. It is even
proudly announced that The Detroit
Sunday News has called him one of the
worst of dramatic critics. The climax of
the list, to which all the other names
are obviously building, ic a quotation
from The New York Times, in which
we read: "He probably knows more
about modern dramatic literature than
any one now writing on the subject in
England and America"
The effect of all this is to suggest to
any book buyer who has never heard of
Nathan-if, indeed, there be any such
that here is forbidding and learned
sort of fellow lo ought to be read
because of his worth and weight, but
must be, for all chat, rather arduous
medicine. AS matter of fact, Mr..
Nathan is easy and agreeable and
hasn't learning enough to offend even
the most casual reader.
Gilda Varesi's successful and anus
ing play, ENTER Madame" is now
available in book form. The attractive
edition is published by G. P. Putnam's
Sons and Alexander Woollcott has con-
tributed an introduction in which he
outlines the personal history of "Enter
Madame" and gives some indication Of
just how far back go the roots Of a
play, even such a one as seems the
easy work Of few weeks inspiration.
He recounts, too, the ominous prophecy
of Modjeska, who taught the young
Varesi, and then remarked, sadly, "She
is thin and honely and an artist. On
all three counts the American theater
will have none of her" This, to be
sure, is prophecy which has not been
fulfilled. Perhaps Miss varesi has
grown stouter.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
GUARANTY

GUARANTY
Yes cav purehase merchandise advetttseA Ia rhG
yNieuNE with absolute safsty.-ter u elssatIsiass
Hes results Ia any case THE TRIBUNE svarsatsss
3 pU ysur msnsy haea upsn rssusst. No ~ ta1s.
Ns suibbine. We make ses6 promptly u the
sdvsftlssr dess net.
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
GARNErr LA1DLAw EsKrw.
THE AGE OF SPECIALIZATION
[From The Brooklyn Eagle1

[From The Brooklyn Eagle1
WRITER
All year round position with a snlendtd
opportunity for advancement Is open in
the Butterick Publishing Company for a
young woman measuring SO bust; no pre-
vious experience. Apply by letter, giving
experience, to
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12
The New York Takers

Je hear wot's de matter wit Carus'?
Nav. Wot?
Boigulars robbed all his money off
him, an he hollered so much about ut
he sperled his verse;
Wadja mean sperled?
Rooned. Absoluly rooned. C. A.
Fair is the warning Of L. Colitti e.
Co., commercially candid firm, an
nouncing that Reasonable prices will
prevail until February 18TH"
New-York tribune., 1921-01-12

"ln something over five decades"
philosophers our favorite Marion, Ohio,
newspaper, The Star, 1--WE fail to recall
where anybody ever boosted his own
business or that of his community by
dwelling on business depression" In
something more than FIVE minutes, which
is a long time to give to any subject,
we fail to recall one instance of anybody
starting business boom by playing a
piccolo solo in the dark.