The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-08-19
I 'oday Hon. John, Aged 5. Planning" Is One
 Thing. Good Times-for
 Whom? Stealing Rivers.
 By ARTHUR BRISBANE

The Farmers Loan and Trust com pany sends $2.ooo,o 900 to the honorable John Jacob Astor. John Jacob Is years old. The money represents a small fraction of trust created by his grandfather, William Waldorf.
 Little John never worked, of course. His father and grandfather never worked. The grandfather lived in England, where judicious spending of American money made him a lord.
 Millions of American mothers through several generations. produc- ing millions of babies that were not called honorable" created a demand for real estate that built un clysm. little honorable" Johns can have millions year sent from Amer ica to England indefinitely.
 That makes single taxers of some, but needn't. It doesn't make any difference whether money goes from rents or dividends on railroads. as long as it is spent by those that do nothing
 It isn't serious yet. This nation can afford a few tens of millions a year for the foolish and unpatriotic. But that is the sort of thing that sent Ireland to ruin, sending to England all the money the Irish peo- plescouid get together. One of these days it might become interesting here
 Meanwhile. Providence works wise ly. If the right to leave money to their children makes men work. let them have the right--for the present. The work Is needed. few Astor favorites don't count.
 President Harding decided what was right In the railroad strike. The men said. Yes; the railroad own CTS said "No."
 Then the President asked the men to go back to work without their seniority rights. The men said 1 -No," but probably they will 20 back. Corporations are having their turn.
 The latest heading is Harding | Plans to Curb profiteers." Planning to curb Is one thing. to curb is one thing. curbing is another.
 In England CT rance tLey would | make law and profiteers breaking | it would go to Jail. We don't do l that here because profiteers have more to do with making laws than people buying coal
 That's the American system. 
 An industrial leader pr diets Good | times with the end of the strike" cut
 What are good times if not good | times for all, and especially for those l that labor? And whence do Indus I triaiists imagine that good times come?
 Good times depend on the purchas- ing power of the cple. That power | depends on wages.
 They have never really good times in China where men work for 10 or 10 cents day. or half that.
 To demand good work for good pay is just To demand good times by cutting down wages, reservtnr the good times for carefully seIec- ted few, is stupid in addition to ba- ing brutal.
 stealing rivers is the new com piaint of nation against nation we | nave discussions as to the water and | power this country and Canada | should take from the Great Lakes and from Niagara.
 chicago wanted to turn river around and make 1t go the other way taking sewerage away from the ,alo instead of into it. and Canada ob- jected.
 various rivers rise in the Pyrene.a. treat wall between France and Spain. The Segre, rising on French terri- | tory. flows down through Spain. The French intend to turn the river around. make 1t stay in France and flow down the French side of ,h. fsrenees' to be used for power, ir- rlgation and navigation in France. spain says to France: If you do that we shall change the course of the Garonne river, which rises in our mart of the mountains and then wo.s to france. To take the Garonne from French soil the French geography
 
 would seem like taking the Thames out of England. There will h. compromise.
 In the state of New York. one river that is flowing westward i,, the Catskills is being turned aror,a brought IS miles under big noun tain and made to flow eastward ,o New York city and supply drinkirr water All this is the beginninr nt things men will do with the earth to get it the way they want 1t.
 The Senate. 45 to g. refuses A durv on oil. You will be told the duty wac beaten because big oil companies want to bring in oil from all cou,- tries. They will get that right. ana It's just as well.
 If there's one human being that r needs no protection. 1t is the owner of an oil we'll
 One senator In favor of the duty ,x part owner of well that throws up s,00e barrels day
 When your oil comes out of she ground and hits you in the face you E ought to be willing 10 put 1t into