davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
An Old Story That Had
A Modern Sequel

Two hundred miles south of Riga
in the district of Goldingen, there
stood at that time an uncomfortable
castle. surrounded by great moat.
the center of large community which
was starving. Peasants pleaded for
justice, for some of the food being
gorged within the castle walls. They
were told to go away-not to annoy
the good baron of the estate. In thei.
submissive manner, the peasants did
this until at last the cry for food be-.
came louder than the baron's voice.
With a rush of that fury which
trese people hold within themselves
pent up for rare opportunity to burst
forth, starving peasants stormed the
castle in the midst of a great midnight
celebration. When the wrath of the
crowd had been appeased somewhat
the castle was mass of burned ruins
and lords and barons lay in smolderin,
ashes.
This fierce spirit has continued
down to the present generation, and
because of it Bermondt's plans turned
out all wrong. With an army of al
most 10000 men. on the night of Oc-
tober z, he attacked a Lettish army
of 1000. With IT'S machine guns.
six airplanes and twenty-four field
guns, he went against the Let's. wh)
lad only eleven machine guns, two
field guns and one lone plane. The
Lettish soldiers dressed in any clothes
they could find. They had no uni.
forms. Most of the men had no shoes
and many had no weapons other than
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
WOODEN CARTS IN RIGA

mans manual labor. from working on
roads with pick and shovel to plow-
ing fields or driving small, strong
native ponies l1itched to crude wooden
carts. When TIE pony SHES at the
startling sight of an automobile. the
woman is just as strong in tugging
on the reins, and is just as fright
ened herself as is her wide-eyed hus-
band
In Riga. the capital of tho republic.
is an opera company in which natives
sing scores of all nations in the Let
tish tongue. and after months out in
the bleak. flat. reckless country. with
the sun never Frightening the monot-
onous landscape. visit to the opera
is like coming out into the glorious
sunshine at the end of long under
ground journey.
On June 23, when days are longest
and only few hours of dusk mark
what should be night, farmers of the
land do honor to the Hay God who
guards their crops. No one sleeps this
night: all keep watch. Each farmer
when midnight draws near lights bar
rels filled with wood and tar on top of
tall poles that rise above every farm
over the countryside, like a succession
Of beacons.
Slowly circling around and around
each flaming pole. all the householders
and tenants chant a monotoLous folk
song whose end they seem never to
reach. Deep voiced men, laughing
women and excited children all wear
Garlands of wildflowers carefully
braided on head and shoulders. Ere
cue1tly they malt the chant, and the
good housewife brings forth from the
scanty larder refreshments of brown
home brew beer made from wheat,
large quantities of yellow cheese of
the consistency ard taste of hard
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
Whipping of Women Abolished
End of Eighteenth Century

1t was not until the latter part of
the eighteenth century that a statute
prohibiting the public f.ogging of
women was passed, and for centuries
previous it was a common sight TO
witness the public infliction of many
lashes upon the bare backs of women
in the market places or tied to the
end of a cart
Very often when the whip was ap
piled by the royal hand of a sovereign
instead of the usual hangman who
was the natural master of the art of
whipping, there would be added TO the
degradation and suffering of the pris-
oner the most horrible mutilation,
which in most cases resulted in the
death of the victim.
This was particularly true Of Rus
sia, where, as every one knows, the
knout might be rightly called the true
standard of the country, and many
terrible stories have been unearthed
which reveal the wide extent of the
power and use of the whip.
Every emperor and empress, with the
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
Little Latvia With Equal Troubles and Hopes
Has Best Asset in Peoples Physique and Will

clubs But at Riga they fought fo'
their homes.
Across the Duna River from Riga
hes Hagensberg, from which town
Bermondt attacked the insignificant
Lettish army, an army lacking guns
and clothes. Then on November IL,
just as at Paris in 1914, when all
seemed bright and there was no doubt
of their reaching their goal. the strong,
well equipped Germans were routed
thoroughly. When finally he halted.
Bermondt found himself in Germany.
wondering how the Let's had driven
him there. Perhaps the Let's Won
6ered, too, but it was very like the
castle episode in the sixteenth century.
when the natives rose in their anger
against the oppressor to seize their
liberty.
A year ago Latvia was officially
recognized as republic by the coun-
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
Only Child Welfare Is
The Relief Program Now

Now the relief program includes
only child welfare, and all but physi-
clans have left the commission. The
nurses. have opened 40 clinics and
health stations. driven motor dispen-
saries into devastated and thinly pop
ulated areas. established day nurs-
cries, children's homes and a tuber-
culosis camp. as well as fed and
clothed thousands of children. cared
for their abscessed teeth and instilled
ideas of hygiene in youthful minds.
Latvia's hope is in it's youngest gen.
Grafton.
Latvia's condition has not yet
reached the unthinkabe depths to
which Soviet Russia has sunk. Even
the most pessimistic Lett will hold up
his hands in horror when he hears
tales of refugees escaped from the
stricken land where Lenine. the ruler,
has admitted abysmal failure. But
the future of Latvia is so connected
with that OF Russia and Germany that
the present assumes almost the same
aspect as the present of the two
neighbor countries.
Trade now is with Germany. and
even though the value of the German
mark has sunk because Of unlimited
issues OF paper money even more rap
idly has the Lettish ruble gone down.
Merchants find IL almost impossible to
keep accounts Of the great daily fluc-
tuations of the ruble and the mark,
the two currencies in which they carry
on what little business they can find.
Lettish factories have been idle
since war times. much of the machin-
cry having been ruined BY the Ger
mans during the occupation. What
few factories remained undamaged
now have no coal with which to OPP
crate because of the prohibitive cost
of coal in a republic that has no com
merce. Peasants in the country. till
ing the not too productive soil, keep
the little nation alive.
Without factories to manufacture
goods for export the harbors OF Riga
and Libau, two OF old Russia's busiest
commercial centers are lifeless except
for an occasional tug, small sailing
vessel or relief ship. or snowbirds that
sweep along the shore during the
cold winter days.
The New York herald., 1922-06-25

country. This law never has been
enforced.
Peasants and small landowners are
sturdy. Men and women alike are
nodded for hard labor and hard wear;
of good height, and with muscular
development that would astound an
athlete. Their lot is to struggle un-
remittingly, and usually for little
money and with small chance ever of
acquiring more, just as the Russian
peasant under the Tsarist system con-
sidered himself fortunate If. after a
years toll. he did not find himself in
debt. This constant laboring Just for
a bare living has lef; its mark on
the physique and the mind of the
Lett. Robust in body. his mind needs
development to show him there is
more in life than a mere grubbing
existence. the only one he knows.
The stocly peasant woman does a
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
Favors Return Of Whipping Post
AS EfficaCious Curb to Crime

the situation. most of the victims upon
whom the kncut or 'cat-o-nine- tails"
as il was called here. were the early
Quakers who came over from England
and braved the unknown perils of the
sea in order to get away from the re-
ligious despotism of that country.
Naturally, since the whipping post
was the most popular form of justice
in England and Gaotlend. the colonists
who first settled In America brought
the idea over with them to this coun-
try, and some recently discovered vol
umes on the history OF both nations
tell in quantity formed phrases that
In 1911 the London Company sent II
jamestown, Va. a code of laws for the
colonists. in which whipping was made
the penalty for long list of offenses.
In 1854, when the Governor of New
Sweden visited Fort Casimir, on the
Delaware, part of the entertainment.
and the part perhaps most highly en-
joyed by the onlookers, provided by
the Dutch Commander was the whip
ping until absolutely unconscious or
three "jailbirds.'
No respect for sex was allowed u
exempt women from a share in tho
degradation of this punishment here
in America until much later, and it Is
certain that women were publicly
whipped in New York, stripped to the
waist, as late as 1775, and in Delawar.
Until 1875.
The New York herald., 1922-06-25

event. All but very few arriving ship
ments are cargoes OF American Red
Cross medical or food supplies for dis
tribution, and when the American
vessel ties fast TO the quay crowds
of poorly clad. freezing men, women
and children stand at the gangplank
TO beg for a scrap of food. White
broad. ii only bit of crust, is looked
upon as gift of the gods. These
ships bring the only white bread
within the borders of Latvia. In the
cities the very poor daily take bread
cards TO government centers to get
only a quarter of pound. Not every
one may have card.
Practically all but money changers
are poor. Men who under the old Rus
sian government were sea captains
and important naval officers work as
tug pilots for $50 rubles a month Ca
ruble a cent? when, had the war not
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
By CHARLES G. MULLER.

YING Is degrees closer than
New York to the North Pole.
Latvia, the new Baltic repub-
lic has days shorter in winter and
longer in summer than has New York.
Dark months from September to April.
shed s,sa daylight hours. and those few
s:eem heavy and dreary Rising barely
to the city's housetops and then stink
ing across the skies just above the
horizon, the winter sun almost always
is partially obscured by a haze. WEsn
occasionally the haze dissolves in lats
morning or early afternoon unaccus-
toned glare on hard snow blinds eyes
used only to dull light.
But from April to September the
sun, rising early and bright, beams
gloriously over the land. sinking into
the Baltic. far in tn northwest, at
10 o'clock on May nights, orange. yell
low and gold In color and huge in size.
BY the end of June one lives continu-
ally in daylight, for one goes to bed in
the northwest twiligL and wakes to
find the sparkling sun in the north
est.
NO one has learned who were Lat
Was original inhabitants, though bones
and bronze rings and bracelets have
been dug near Libau from graves that
date from the stone ages. 1t is known,
however, that the early settlers were
hardy and fighters. Accustomed to
subsection. slow to fight. the present
Let's have a fierceness that is terrible
in its might when let loose.
Germans call the country Lettland
and the inhabitants Let's, but in the
Lettish tongue their homeland is Lat
wija, pronounced Latveeya, and from
the native spelling and pronunciation
comes the English form-Latvia. AL
most all, peasant and tcwnsman, speak
three anguages-Lettish, Russian and
German-and many speak Polish.
French. English. Lithuanian and
Swedish as we'll.
No Sooner Established,
Latvia Had to Fight
Hardly had the little republic begun
Its inauspicious existence when Prince
Bermondt, a German general, in Octo-
ber of 1919 gathered an army ostensi-
bly, to fight the Bolsheviks. Among
his troops were German soldiers, who
Liked fighting and who were promised
much booty, and many former Rus
sian prisoners of war. to whom Ber-
mondt gave promises of land in Rus
sja If they drove the Bolsheviks out.
With this army and these alluriny
promises, Prince Bermondt started
north from Germany. Well on the
march. he rather forgot his promises
and seemed content to advance against
Riga, to take the city, and, by captur-
ing the capital. to subject the country
TO his rule.
But Bermondt's psychology was
wrong, just as German psychology
was wrong back in the days when
barons of Courland let the country 60
more or less to seed. In those days
peasants were permitted to starve and
no attention was paid to their cries
for food, while mobiles reveled after the
wild, unrestrained manner of the six.
teenth century.
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
BRIDGE NEAR HASEN poTH

tiles of the world. On January 2, 1921,
tie Supreme Council at Paris recog
nized de jure the little Baltic prov
ince, in the name of Great Britain,
France. Italy. Japan and Belgium On
that day Finland also accorded the
same honor to the Let's. After years
o. struggle Latvia had secured its
place among the nations of the world
The news spread like wildfire through
out the country, and for two days Riga
was the scene of joyous exuberance
Throngs, wild with excitement, pa
raded the streets. Two months later
Holland, too, recognized THE republic
Economically Latvia was in a bad
way it's first year of independence
Lacking wheat at the beginning of
Its existence, little food was to be had
Almost everyone was hungry. Chill
dren cried to be fed. sni would have
died by the thousands without the
opportune help of the American Re-
lief Administration, the Hoover or
ganization which provided one meal
day for every young boy and girl
in the land
Lacking coal. all factories were idle.
Locomotives. of which there were
hardly half dozen at Latvia in 1919
and of which only one or two ever
could be used at one time. ran on
wood. To trave! from Riga to Libau.
$50 miles. took thirty-six hours. and
every few miles the engineer stopped
the train SO passengers might get off
TO chop wood to keep up the engines
steam. Cars were unheated, even in
zero cold of winter. Then. early in
1920. Germany sent to Datvia sixty To-
comotives and many cars as repara-
tion according to the Versailles
treaty.
A boat in port was and still IS. an
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
The Judge Is Not a
Pioneer in This Advocacy

Judge Gammill is not pioneering
when he suggests the return of the
whipping post. Many other learned
authorities have suggested the rees-
tablishment of this almost obsolete in
stitution. And these increasing de-
mands from personages TO whom the
public listens with more or less atten-
ton would indeed be gratifying 20
those oldtime authorities who so per-
sistently claimed that the whipping
post rightfully belongs wherever man
or woman is subject to the temptation
to do wrong
However, these men whose long and
experienced handling of public affairs
render them just in their decisions
offer as one of their strongest argu-
ments that the whipping post was a
method of punishment which in one
form or another has been used in all
ages and all lands. Furthermore, that
the history of practically every nation
shows that the legal administration of
justice has been founded on the pub
lie whipping of all lawbreakers. OF
course this is true of some countries
Il
which the knout has been used from
the first settlement of the inhabitants
until to-day there has been practically
no change. The whipping of petty Of
tenders, of criminals and of insur-
gents still continues to be the most
common punishment meted out by the
representatives of law in many for
eign countries and even in some parts
of America
The. fact that in nearly every case
the offenders were so effectively cured
of their evil desires makes the return
OF the whipping post a matter to be
seriously considered. Its close alli-
ance with the national administrations
OF past history shows that it has been
always a means Of the enforcement Of
justice looked upon with favor by all.
When the recent agitation concern
ing Judge Gammill's favorable indorse-
ment of this institution spread over
the country many curious facts were
brought to light. and one of the least
known incidents relative to the use
made of the whipping post in the past
was that 1t was not only to those who
violated the law that the whip was ap-
pied. but for many years lunatics
smallpox and uf1wary victims of SINH
lar diseases were treated in the same
manner as the other offenders.
Indeed the list of offenses which
brought the penalty of the whipping
post on the heads of the lawbreakers
was one of the longest which could be
made up by the courts and represen-
tatives of justice. They included
everything from the small crime of
picking wood in the forests to i'm
morality
The New York herald., 1922-06-25

T HOUSANDS Of persons go every
year TO the Bureau of Engrav-
ing and Printing in Washington
to see Uncle Sam make money. Sew
eral young women are assigned BY the
bureau TO act as guides for these
visitors. who are taken about in groups
Of six. They are first shown the silk
threaded paper as it comes from the
Massachusetts mill. where il is made
expressly for the Government and un-
der close supervision Much OF the
protection against counterfeiting lies
in the paper IL comes in sheets Just
large enough for four bills.
The back of tte note is printed
first. then the face. while the third
time the notes are run through the
presses the serial numbers are stamped
upon them. and the fourth time the
Government seal. Ttis last process Is
carried on at the Treasury Depart
ment proper half mile away. in
order TO make a check on the Bureau
NJ Engraving and Printing Besides
money postage stamps. bonds and
various Government securities are
turned out AT the bureau.
Although the employees number
thousands not one of them is allowed
to leave the building at night until
every sheet Of paper that has been
given out is turned in and accounted
for. Tie nominal value Of the con-
tents Of the huge safe in which this
work is stored over night is often
millions OF dollars although litde Of
II has received the last impress, or
seal. which gives 1t actual worth.
Besides this bureau the Government
maintains q, printing office. said to he
TIE largest in the world. at which the
ordinary Government publications are
turned out The proportions Of its
work are seldom realized. The De-
partment Of Agriculture one year
alone printed something over 7.5oo. 900
farmers bulletins
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
TUDGE ". NJ. GAMMILL of Chi

TUDGE W. NJ. GAMMILL of Chi
cago has advised the committee
on law enforcement of the
American Bar Association to revive
the whipping post. He believes SUCH
action would have a great effect on
the reduction of crime.
He cited examples where's flosging
tended to reduce crime, citing at the
same time figures showing the num-
ber of murders in the large cities in
1921. These were: st. Louis, 426;
Boston, 1o2; Washington. SO; Chicago,
206 New York, 261.
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
Could Creative Mind
Result From Selection?

There was then. as there is to-day
difficulty that amounted to almost
an impossibility of coming to an
agreement on definition Of what a
creative mind really was. After cen
turies of endeavor TO bring forth one
such. with infrequent success and
very constant failure. the producers
would be) of what was not yet
known as superman decided that
the creative mind is always an object
of desire. but that there is no formula
to produce IL.
And whether IL is ever to be pro-
duced by an exquisite selection Of the
parents, where both shall contribute
TO the desired result, or whether in
the case of a superior mother, the
father is of no consequence or the
reverse, Is still involved IN, mystery.
The New York herald., 1922-06-25

But the mother is a different thing.
II she is careful. saving. smart. If
she has brought up her children to
see the necessity of order, if she has
urged them to educate themselves
and at the same time to cultivate
character then ] know her sons are
just the material every manufacturer
needs. l rely on the worth of this
product
A young woman who has made a
very careful study of heredity and
whose own traits would seem to be
drawn from ker great-grandfather, a
noted publicist in his day, holds ex-
actly the opposite opinion She said:
Nature Never Shows
Such Discrimination
az nlcss the father Is TO an ex-
traordinary degree weaker in will and
intellect than the mother, and even
in such painful conditions il would
seem to me to be absurd to believe
that all traits predominating in the
--fspring are derived from the distaff
side. This would be attributing to
nature qualities OF discrimination and
elimination that so far as have read
nature has never shown.
"In so many cases of unfortunate
marriages where there has been prog
eny the mother seeks and is COM
PEELED to seek, every means of edu-
cation. precept and example to up
root bad qualities that have descended
from the father. Sometimes a de-
voted mother succeeds in her pious
purpose. very often her labor goes for
naught.
This conclusion may not be phil
osophy. but II is based on experience
and not conjecture.
why. IL the contrary opinion we're
true and should be carried out 10
The New York herald., 1922-06-25

But, granting these instances. there
still remains "A reasonable doubt that
the fathers of these celebrated men
were actually negligible. And list as
striking Of famous authors and gen.
erals and poets might be drawn up
where the father contributed the
brains and the impulse to expression.
A search for the cause of the Gre
ative mind has been going or forever.
Philosophers in classical times. as
they walked and taught in their gar
den schools. looked for It among their
pupils as though it were kind of
hidden treasure. In the Middle Ages
it shared the atteition of the necro-
mancers and alchemists. The view
was generally held in the later dark
times that but one such mind emerged
in each generation, and that for the
sake Of finding a creative mind and
developing it everything else was to
be sacrificed.
The New York herald., 1922-06-25
Napoleon I. Had a Father,
But Owed All to Mother

The father of Napoleon Buonaparte
has left no mark oil history. and IL
may be presumed that he left little on
his great son. while Madame Mere"
was n power In her family and in
Europe and welded II automatically
from First Consul to Emperor days.
Goethe's mother transmitted great
qualities to the poet his father. n
great character in his way, was a
stumbling block 10 his progress.
Herschcl has told of the tremendous
influence exerted on him by his
mother and sister, the. latter as great
as himself. and for his success he
credits these women. It was Tenny-
sons mother who nursed the genius
she had bestowed on her son through
the weary days Of indifference he had
to endure before Ulysses brought
him recognition.
The New York herald., 1922-06-25

a legitimate conclusion what kind of
race of males would be produced
by humanity? If they drew more and
more from the feminine the final re-
suit would be the utter destruction of
man. or we would have a state of
things like the bees where but one is
required to fecundate the hive"
In spite of the sureness of conviction
of this speaker the history Of mdny
of the geniuses of the world rather
tends to make the opinion of Mr.. Vau-
CLAIM seem at least reasonable We
know. IL is true, very little about
Mary Arden. Shakespeare's mother,
but the fact that she was of higher
social type than her butcher husband
may account for the poets natural
liking for friends of rank. 1t may
even supply a reason for his ambitious
desire to be able TO write after his
name the word "gentleman"