Evening star., 1922-12-08
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

when Mike asked Pat where tho pup
was gong. and got for reply:
nont know. and he don't know,
and he's done ct his tag"
NOW a new rule is about to bc in
auRurated in the traffic rules Of
.Masnihgton. whereby any automobile
s1 sns. rs ie1t standing in the congested
streets longer than half an hour WiIi
be put in the position OF the lost n,,n
Ine IN police are to eat" its tag. That
VIII sidetrack the automobiis untii
me owner appears in Police Court
anu redeems the tag. for an automo-
unthinkable eAs !"
The management Of the Veterans,
Bureau is in for a roasting from
many Of the employees over It's al
legged harshness in decreeine that
hereafter employees who are not at
their desks. ready for work. when
the O'Clock gong strikes. will lose
the fun days pay. But how unrea-
sonable the rule really is may be
Judged by little figuring. There
are between 5000 and 1000 employees
Ten minutes loss for even half of
tMa,na tnsm amounts nana to ss3 hours. Or over
many would claim that when an en-
ploye is deliberately absent twelve
paid? ~
Or. loss for one person OF ten
minutes a DAY amounts to a weeks
vacation every year. in addition 10
the regular holidays and leaves al
lowed
on January there will be SON.
800 employes let out: Will they b.
tn" ones most often sIackers a. y
o'clock" The chances are that = q
! O'Clock tardy one-tardy habitually-
loses many ter minutes during the
course of the day. for the tardiness
Indicates lack of interest in the
work 'i'
OF course. special interfer.nces
over which the victim has no controI
account for occasional lateness. even
Ior the most puncuua1. but the record
shows that condition to be excep-
tionai IT ts a marked characteristics
OF really big business men. that they
are never late in keeping an appoint
ment; they arrive on the dot Slovenlv
folks think that punctuality is
mark of fussiness: it is a mark OF
eNactness and perfection.
,orao Love not sleep lest thou come 10
snalt be satisfied with bread"
To he Roman citizen was once a
great honor and privilege To be an
American citizen today is equal tn
that ancient honor. and il is always
gratifying to find a court that apprc-
ciates that the honor should not he
lightly bestowed upon the unworthy.
John A. Nalltos. Greek. came to
America in 1888 and. although in
1915 he took out his first papers de-
claring his desire to be naturalized.
, yet he evaded the draft in 1917. on
the ground that he was a citizen Of a
neutral country-(ireece-an when
| that evasion was made known to the
court. this week. upon his application
for his final papers. they were re-
fused by Justice Bailey of the Dis
trict Supreme Court on the ground
that he had shown that he wanted the
benefits OF citizenship without the OBJ
legations accompanying the same.
All patriotic Americans feel that
the refusal was right and we'll
merited. There is lesson in it which
should come home to many who were
born into the honor and the obliga-
tion and who chafe and shirk under
their responsibilities. That does not
apply merely to war duty. but to civic
duty in time Of peace. Men should
belong to mems clubs which under
take civic betterment: they have no
right to shirk. Women should belong
to women's societies for help to the
helpless. That is far more important
than merely belonging to the church
and listening to inspiring sermons
and thrilling music. The man or
woman who does not attend discus
sions of public questions and who
purposely neglects to vote is no bet
ter than the Greek who has lived in
America thirty years and yet refused
to do military duty either for America
or Greece.
Some will say he is an undesirable
citizen and should be deported back
to Greece. in the midst OF Greece's
present war But what shall be done
to the native American who is as
great a shirk as the Greek alien?
Shall he be defranchised, on the
ground that We do not feed pearls to
swine?