davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1921-11-18
JITNEY STATISTICS

Concerning the jitneys
Looking over records in the office Of
the CITY controller a Times reporter
The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1921-11-18

State and Holman streets"
Two addresses out OF the state.
Mayor Brown will ask the council to
regulate Jitney traffic by ordinance, 1t
is said.
The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1921-11-18

Follow tho leading society. artistic
and professional women to East Chi
cago TO the Blue Bird Beauty Shop. 500
Chicago ave. Phone East Chicago I4O7.
The New York herald., 1921-07-10

only gods and heroes are allowed to
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
Consult Fifty Year Old Files
And See a Marked Advanc

IL is true that there are newspapers, and
only too many of them, which delight in
describing the kind of things that people
ought not to like to read about, which are
themselves pitiably lacking in good taste
and good manners and which do not aspire
to n severe standard Of prose style; but
these lewd journals Of the baser sort are
not important or significant. In some news
papers Of a more worthy type there is often
a free and easy breeziness, more especially
In the sporting pages, which are sometimes
so bespattered with technicalities as to be
unintelligible TO the uninltiated. And even
In the best Of the newspapers of New York
and London there is at times a tendency to
over emphasis and TO a somewhat pre-
ponderous treatment of the often trivial
happenings Of the day, the incidents and
accidents which must ever be the staff and
substance Of journalistic chronicle and of
journalistic commentary. There is a ten
dency TO use a sledge-hammer to "swat the
fly" But any one who can recall the news
papers OF fifty years ago or who has had
occasion 10 consult their files will bear
witness to the Improvement which has
taken place in the last haf-century
IL Is nearly threescore years since Lowell
wrote the ever delightful discussion of the
Yankee dialect, prefixt to the second series
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
Deflation Period Awakens Many Communities
to Danger in Concentrating on Single
Line of Commercial Enterprise

During the European war many large in
dustrial communities came into being for
the manufacture of firearms and general
equipment for the army and navy. Just as
soon as the armstice was signed the plants
were closed down tighter than a drum.
Whole mushroom cities were abandoned and
offered for sale. Many communities which
had expanded to twice their former size as
a result OF the war found that they were in
a sadly Debated state.
There are often cities in this country
which were founded for the promotion of
one industry only which have been gradually
growing out of touch with Industrial cond-
tlons. II has thus been seen that these
cities which are largely given TO the making
OF one product have suffered much more as
a result of changed conditions than have
such municipalities as New York, Philadel-
phia, st. Louis and Newark where the in
dustries are numerous
One OF the most prosperous and best bal
anced OF the smaller cities of the United
States. for instance is Rochester which has
n population of n quarter of a million, of
whom 52975 are employed In 1926 different
establishments. There are 148 factories and
shops for the making of clothing and eighty
FIVE for the production Of tobacco and smok-
ers' wares. At first blush Rochester would
seem TO be given over largely to the manu-
facture of cameras and Photographic ma
terials. for six thousand men and women are
so employed. II the big laboratories should
shut down however, the city would not be
80 greatly affected one might suppose,
because there would still be large reserve
In other trades.
Another good example OF a city readjusted
to new conditions Is Paterson. N. j.. which
Is now undergoing special treatment from
the municipality Of specialists. This com
munity came into being through the genius
The New York herald., 1921-07-10

and move and have their being in the sun
of passion action and achievement, the
more lasting, pungent and penetrating IS
the literature of the period" And he
praises the newspapers of the British COM
monwealth and of the United States, be-
cause they have been hospitable to 1.-The
illegitimate verbal offspring of the street,
born on the wrong side of the blanket"
He calls the humorous columns of our
American papers "a sort of bedding bench
where the new phrases and words of the
hour are set out as the gardener beds and
pots young plants before they go to live
in the garden-beds with an older bloom"
He holds that the modern newspaper Is
doing its duty "in preventing a great tongue
from being divided into a language of the
past for letters Ia. e., literaturel and Ian
guage of the present for common and daily
use, neither sharing the life of the other
In his suggestive and stimulating book,
Literature in a Changing Age Professor
Thorndike is as emphatic in his praise Of
the newspaper and or its English as is Mr..
Talcott Williams He notes that "the ex-
tension of reading is usually charged with
lowering of standards; De Quincy pro-
ing long, loose, slovenly sentences; but his
particular criticisms have scarcely been
justified" since newspaper English on the
whole has been simple, clear and vigorous"
In another chapter Professor Thorndike
asks, "Is not the newspaper, so crowded
with human living, so vivid in its express
sion of the emotion and thought of the
hour, itself a pageant that honors mans
gift of expression, a triumph of his art?"
And the power Of the press is set forth
forcibly on another page of Literature
in Changing Age: "The kind of things
that people like to read about, the standard
Of prose style. the basis of common knowl-
edge on which imaginative writing must be
promised, the guidance Of good taste and
manners, all these depend in the large not
on one post or on all the dramatists or on
any master of prose or halfa-dozen moral
lists, but on the thousands who write the
daily news and comment"
The New York herald., 1921-07-10

OF Alexander Hamilton in 1791 and its foun-
der believed that one day IL would indeed
be the Industrial capital of the United states.
Judged from the conditions which obtained
in the last part of the eighteenth century.
there was much to back up the distinguished
statesman and pubicist in his prediction.
Situated on the Passaic River and having
power from the famous falls, there seemed
to be every reason for Paterson to expand
and rival the metropolis II still has re-
markable facilities, as 1t has three lines OF
railroads and is not far distant from water
courses from which much cheap and effec-
tive hydraulic power can be derived The
clear water of the Passasic, drawn from
many springs-fancy that now turgid stream
ever having been clear-greatly interested
the dyers Of silk. They gravitated toward
Paterson and before many years the place
was known as the Silk City or "the Ameri-
can Lyons"
When the silk shirt craze thrilled this
country and every goose was a swan and
every laborer wore a cnging gossamer "a
the anchorage of his celuloid collar II did
seem as though Paterson had come in for
shimmering glory. SILK factories sprang up
all over the town.
When the American worhingman ceased
to be interested in seven and eight dollar
shirts there came an appalling slump. The
bottom had fallen out of the silk trade in
Japan with ruinous results while in other
parts of the world silks were becoming a
drug on the market Many Of Patersons
newly made cocoon sorters went to the
wall with a rush. Thousands of men and
women were thrown out OF employment
1t was printed in one New York newspaper
that the city had undergone n loss of $780,
900, 900 on account of the great silk slump.
1t was at this juncturc that one of the
City Doctors called UP the secretary of the
The New York herald., 1921-07-10

~ Ut OF the discussion concerning the
Ideal City. the subject of an article
published recently in the Sunday
Magazine Section Of THE NEW YORK HERALD.
have come many suggestions and criticisms.
Although a city may be built under what
may be considered ideal conditions from
sociological point OF view or from an artistic
one n cannot be n success unless its COM
merciai life II on a substantial basis. Hence
while cities are being rebuilt and recon-
structed the planners and revisers of them
are rcmedying the industrial defects.
Tho City Doctor is becoming factor in
the municipal life OF the country. for he is
doing all that he can TO correct urban de-
nciencics through the diversihca;ion Of in
dustrIen one OF the most helpful ways of
looking after the welfare OF a city.
According 20 the old methods OF creating
communities. a milling industry might be SO
centred IN such a place as Minneapolis that
A would be called "The Flour city" Just
as the farmer would be assured OF having
aiwava a living In case Of a bad year, by
diverslfylnr crops 80 the modern ideal city
has begun 10 systematically vary it's indus
tries n IL not enough 10 have ones eggs
an In one basket and watch the basket. as
Mark Twain improved the homely adage.
The city Of to-day, N u would be always
successful. must keep It's eggs in several
baskets
when the city Doctor takes hold Of a COM
murlty which has been thrown out OF bal
auce BY the war. he makes general survey
Of tho piace with reference to labor, trans
portatlon. power and all other factors and
especlallv does ne diagnose the situation to
see n the principal industry IL not over de-
vClopcd.
Hc knows, for instance, that II everybody
In a city f. engaged IN making locomotives
many members OF families will have TO
60 elsewhere 20 seek employment. He real
izes that a slump in that trade would mean
that the whole money making power OF the
CITY would bc shut of or cramped at once.
This would mean panic and trouble.
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
Cities Diversifying Industries for Economic Safety

Chamber of Commerce of Paterson and sug-
gested IL was time that something were
done about such a situation. He proposed
as a remedy that the city at once proceed
TO diversity its industries. campaign
fund of $4,000 was raised for a preliminary
skirmish and the Chamber retained a firm
OF factory agents TO go about the diversi-
fcation on large scale.
With all due respect to a worthy industry,
no silk mills were received with open arms.
Paterson already had an extensive locomo-
tive works and some machine industries
which required the brawn OF steel thewed
men. but the lighter occupation of spinning
silk had made a large demand for women
workers. Although this was counteracted
somewhat by the fact that mechanics came
20 I'VE In Paterson and commuted TO
Newark and New York to work. there was
"A dearth OF male wage earners which
alarmed the Chamber OF Commerce Of the
American Lyons.
A better tone came into the municipal life
when new industries began TO appear as
result Of this serious EFFORT on the part OF
the Patersonians. One concern which makes
aircraft brought In several hundred new
workmen. Among the corporations which
have about made arrangements 10 20 10
Paterson is a printing concern which II pay
ing $500. 900 I'm wages a year TO It's men, n
sum which makes a considerable difference
even In n city OF $4,000 population. where
there are already 10000 toiiers.
Just now Paterson is trying 20 gct some
automobile factories. A place like Detroit
might be able 70 spare her few In exchange
for silk mills.
From such excursions az these into city
revision II will be seen that the whole coun-
try In In need OF reconstruction In It's large
industrial centres. IL In generally found,
declare the apostles OF this new cult. that in
cities where the industries are diversified
there are better living conditions. business is
more stabilized and prosperity is at higher
level
The task Of divcrsincation In being done
by many chambers OF commerce and boards
of trade, and In some cities also such a
course is being considered II Is believed
that this phase Of rcadjustment eventually
will become nationwide
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
Spoken and Literary English
Develop on Different Lin,

In his address on the Relations Be
tween Spoken and Written Language" DIR.
Henry Bradley drew attention 10 a peculiar
and disquieting condition I'm the English Of
the present time. Among peoples in
which many persons write and read much
more than they speak the written language
tends 10 develop more or less Independently
Of the spoken language. I'm English, owing
10 historical causes. this process has gone
further than In other languages. so that we
have the unique phenomenon Of literary
vocabulary Of which a large part has no
connection with the oral vernacular, hut
has been developed In writing by the pro-
cess Of transcribing the written forms Of
words Of foreign languages. Many of the
words 80 formed have come into popular
oral use. hut a vast number of them are
hardly ever pronounced except IN reading
aloud" DR. Bradley does not provide any
examples. ! venture 10 suggest that irrc.
frogable would serve ~ well A. any Per.
haps only a little Jess unlikely 90 have
ever been actually heard by the average
reader are habffWdc and irrcdccmoblc and
yet both are not unfamiliar % the eye.
In English. therefore ofiener than IN the
language of any other cultivated race r.
there danger 81 n more or less immediate
divorce between the vocabulary ~ the
artist and that Of tho artisan. between the
written word and tho spoken word That
this divorce has not already becn decrced
I'm England Is due in part % the lnnuence
OF Shakespeare and of the English Bible
and II this influence shall ever weaken the
last state of English win 10 worse than the
first There T. another Influence so Mr..
Tslcoit Williams has Insisted which IA
now being cxertcd the Influence ~ the
newspaper. both In The Un'ied states and
Great Britain on Influence which does what
II can 10 prevent any widening ~ the
breach between the uuduly fasiidious Ian.
guage of the library aud thc casually care.
less language ~ the market niacr.
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
Criticised Newspaper English
Can Make a Good Defence

Newspaper English has often hecn de
nounced and derided and the newspaper
itself has been called chief among the
many corrupters Of English. Mr. Talcott
Williams does not waste time IN defend
ing newspaper English; he contents him
self with dwelling on lts merits and he
makes out good casc. lie tells us that
when the men Of letters cease 10 use the
speech Of everyday life the speech Is for.
ever refreshing itself from new sources
under new impulses. the result Is "a mum.
mied tongue whereas so long as ac-
cepted and acceptable writing accepts and
shares the daily changes Of the voca abulary
of the market place. 50 long as both live
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
By BRANDER MATTHEWS.
Professor of English Literature of Co.
lumbi University.


TN the Sanskrit drama, so we are told,
only gods and heroes are allowed to
use Sanskrit, which was a highly
artificial court language; the women and
the subordinate characters were generally
limited 10 Pail, which was the vernacular
Of everyday intercourse. In Shakespeare's
plays, n we know (and perhaps most obvi-
ously In "Julius Casari), the heroic figures
utter their inmost thoughts in lofty and
stately blank verse. the less important
personages have to content themselves with
rhythmic prose. while the illiterate rabble
does the best Il can with the commonest
words. without imaginative adornment and
without poetic measure.
These were conventions of the drama in
Persia and Ia Elizabethan England long,
hong ago and yet we can find a parallel
here and now In the divergence between
the language Of the library and the language
OF the market place. The practice which
delights us on the stage is often disquiet-
ing when We observe II outside the theatre.
Whenever there Is a literary class there is
likely 10 arise literary caste, taking
pride IN itS aristocratlc aloofness and think
ing scorn II the speech of the people. This
literary caste tends 10 develop a dialect of
Its o~n. abounding ia wonis rich in literary
associations; and often il hesitates TO
make use of the homely terms common in
everyday ~peech.
when Jared Sparks first edited the cor
rcspondence Of George Washington he was
shocked 20 find Israel Putnam called "old
Put: and as this familiarity seemed TO
him inconsistent with the dignity OF his
tory he corrected washngton's lapses
from a more scholarly standard and for
"old Put" be substituted General Put
nam" samuel johnson was constantly
on the watch 10 correct the terse ana un-
pedantic expressions natural 10 him so that
he might disguise them In ornate and re-
dundant polysyllables. Like the Yankee,
he wanted 20 prove that Il can talk long
tailed II I chose" Very few Of the most
renowned orators have ever approached
the noble simplicity Of Abraham Lincoln, to
whom dignity was instructive and who
could make the lowliest words serve his
purpose
The New York herald., 1921-07-10

the boldest. 1t is the writer's in our periodi-
Gals, daily and weekly and monthly, rather
than in the writer's of our books, that we
find the greater willingness to suck up
the feeding juices secreted in the rich
mother earth of commonfok." In the bright
lexicon of journalism there are few bookish
words, few, "lnkhorn terms" as they were
called by the men of old No doubt our
journalists tend to suck directness rather
than delicacy. yet their fortnight stark
ness rarely leads them into violence or
even vehemence- in the stress of a
Presidential campaign. Probably they
would satisfy the severe taste of Stendhal,
whose we are told by "despised
mere style and insisted that writer had
attained perfection when we remember his
ideas without recalling his phrases"
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
Merits Brander Matthews Sees Them Outweigh Feakh Tricks of
Headline Writer'S Futile Facetiousness Sob Sister Patos and
Other FautsFnds Marked Advancement by Looking
Back Files of Fifty Years Ago

of the 'Biglow Papers" He told us then
what we need to have retold to US genera
ton after generation that we are In danger
of being made to talk like books by the
Universal Schoolmaster, who does his best
TO ensave the minds and the memories OF
his victims to what he esteems the best
models of English composition: that is to
say, to the writers whose style Is faulty
correct and has no blood warmth in IT,"
since mo language after it has faded into
dictiOn, none that cannot suck up the feed
ing juices secreted for it in the rich mother
earth Of common folk, can bring forth a
sound and lusty book" Then he added
that while the schoolmaster has been busy
starching our language and smoothing ii
fat with the mangle of a supposed classical
authority, the newspaper has been doing
even more harm by stretching and swelling
it to suit it's occasions"
Lowell supported this last accusation by
fearsome instances, i. e., rendered him a
banquet for asked him to dine; com
menced his rejoinder" for "began his
answer; the individual was precipitated"
for the imam fel'' "the coniagration ex-
tended its devastating career for the
way into eternity for che died" Lowell
declared that he had begun to collect these
Horrible Examples before the civil war;
and it may be doubted whether he could
have gathered such a nosegay of flowers of
rhetoric from the newspapers of thirty
years later. Certainly he could not pluck
another bunch from the journals of either
New York or London in the opening dec
AIDES of this twentieth century. Probably
the reporters of Lowell's youth believed
that they achieved a superior impressive
ness by an exaggerated imitation Of Dickens
at his worst; and the reporters Of our time
are under the more wholesome influence of
Charles A. Dana, who whatever his sins
as an editor, knew what good English was.
Mr.. Talcott Williams tells us that Dana
had no hesitation i'm the use by his staff
OF any two-fsted phrase of the streets so
it did his work" In other words Dana
recognized the truth Of another remark Of
Lowells in this same essay: "vulgarisms
are often only poetry in the egg" 1 con-
fess that have sometimes wondered what
the poet who wrote the "Blglow Papers
would have thought of the prosemaster
who wrote Fables in Slang"
Mr.. Talcott Williams thinks that Ben
5amin Franklin set the standard style for
the American newspaper, and that he saved
us from the evil influence of Samuel John
son. Professor Thorndike points out that
at the very moment when De Quincy was
denouncing the British journals of his
time Cobbett was revealing himself as a
master Of nervous English. And Father
Donnelly. S. J., in his interesting book on
tbA Ant 30
"Macaulay, of all English writer's, con-
tributed most TO the making of the language
Of the journalist Macaulay gave swiftness
to the English language. Macau-
lays style is light-footed.'
The New York herald., 1921-07-10

To say this is not to say that all the
newspapers of the United States and Of
Great Britain are always and everywhere
models Of style Far from it; even now
there is bad writing Of varying degrees Of
badness, in the editorial columns as well
as in the news pages; there is too much
of 1t, even If there is far less than there
was once upon a time. Especially are
there futile strivings to be humorous and
strenuous efforts to be pathetic. Humor
has its place In the newspaper as 1t has
in life; but we resent having serious mat
ters presented with futile righteousness by
reporters, and more particularly by head
line writer's upon whom nature has not
bestowed sense of humor. OF all sad
words of tongue or pen, the words Of
labored jocularity are perhaps the sad
dest If there is anything sadder it is the
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
Journalists of To-Day Seek
The Simple and Bold Word

Whether they are treading the trail of
Franklin, with his clarity and his common
sense, of Cobbett with his terseness and
his sharpness, or of Macaulay with his
light-footed swftness, the journalists of
to-day. reporters as we'll as editorial writ
ers are on the right road and are forever
In quest of the right word, the simplest and
The New York herald., 1921-07-10

Brander Matthews widely known teachers of
English Literature since he has held that
chair in Columbia University He author of books and plays
The New York herald., 1921-07-10
newspaper ENGLISH IMPR OWING, SAYS NOTED CRITIC

premeditated assault upon primitive senti-
ment, such as we are likely to ind in the
wilfully pathetic articles of the sob
sisters"-as they have been happily named
misguided ladies who strive to out
Dickens the Dickens of blank verse death
beds and who ask us TO shed saltess tears
over the pitiful lot of amiable assassins
Headline Writers Described
As Void of Sense of Humor
Then there are the freakish tricks
played upon our unresisting language by
the perpetrators Of scare-heads, struggling
to put infinite riches in little room and
feeling themselves compelled to the use Of
abrupt words Of the needful brevity In
place of the more appropriate terms too
long for the line of type. In their COM
pressed vocabulary an investigation ID q
probe, a cross-examination is quiz, and
It's victim is griued. Stolen jewelry Is
entitled gems; and treaty becomes pact.
If two politicians wrangle we are told that
they clash. This is bad enough, but worse
remains behind. Men protest an action, In
stead of protesting against it; they inquire
instead of inquiring about; and they battle
the police instead of battling with the
police.
In one of Mr.. Irwin Cobb's revelatory
tales of newspaper life he introduces to us
an editor who thought in headlines and
who was therefore drawn to individuals
with short names and instinctlvely disliked
individuals with long names" Mr.. Cobb
tells us that If this editor had to handle
the account of the death of a tenement
house child beneath the wheels of trolley
car, he would order 1t to appear with this
scare-head: "Tiny Tot with Penny Clutched
in Chubby Hand Dies Meath Tram Before
Mothers Eyes" This is absurdly vera
cious; and attention may be called TO two
Characteristic details-the beheading of
beneath to meath and the use of the Britt
cism tram for the Americanlsm trolley
merely because the alien word is briefer
by three letters.