Evening star., 1922-11-25
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

What lot of sunshine that idea
pours into the wards of the lonely
patients of hospitals throughout tia"
world! Who will endow radio sets
Tor all the bedsidcs of convalescents
OF the Washington hospitals? EN-
ploy Francis Murray 10 supervise IN.
hospital radios. He is the hC< VINO
| hrst installed a radio receiving set
upon bicycle. so that as he wheeled
ABOUT the city he was in constant
communication with home and wiki
nus boy friends and could listen IN
TO the music of the air
< y: X x
Hait fare on street cars in WasI,
ington for school children is one ol
the reforms urged by citizens in their
! community centers 1t is a severe
burden upon parents, they claim. /"
pay the nigh fares now charged: and
! yet 1t is too great a strain on the
vital energy of the children to COM
pei them to walk, often long dis
tances, to school The Capp.r bill
now pending in Congress viii make
schooling compulsory for all children
in the District of Columbia most
necessary measure. which should
| have been adopted years ago, ac-
companied by provision of the neces-
sary school buildings to house them
and that will make half far. on th..
street cars all the more desirable.
Even in rural schools. almost every
where. provision is made for carrying
children. free, to school Busscs ar
run for that purpose. Railroads ac-
cord half fare for children. And II
is argued that the increased use Of
the street cars by the children would
offset the discount in the fare.
One Of the most successful manu-
facturers of automobiles tells US that
anybody can manufacture, but IL
takes salesman TO sell" In short.
the selling end of q business is its
singer end-its business end. That
is truth which only recently the
farmers of America have begun to
appreciate. Before this idea broke
upon them they assumed that they
had done their full duty when they
had learned to produce. They com
plalned because they had to sell upon
d buyers market at whatever th.
market would pay. They thought
that was due to Il business conspiracy
against them, and the favorite COM
plant was against the mysterious
! manipufations of wall street" skin
ming the down-trodden farmer
Now the department Of Agriculture
is laying more stress upon market
ing methods than upon crop produc-
ton, and Secretary Wallace tells OF
the establishment in many cities of
commodity councils of farmers. W whos.
function is the gathering of market
Information and helping farmers to
dispose of their products to advan-
tage. Cooperation in selling is OF
/ far greater Importance than taking
prizes at local or state fairs for fine
corn or big pumpkins. or even pure
bred cattle.
1t is hackneyed to say that upon
the prosperity of the farmers rests
the prosperity of the city men-rne-
chanics and everybody else Half OF
the manufactures of the city are SDIu
to farmers, and If the farmers cannot
buy the factories must close. Much
is said of the need of American aid
to Europe, SO that Europe may be-
, come able to buy our surplus goods
| The market for American goods
among our own farmers is worth many
i times the possible markets Of the rest
of the world
The Monday Evening Club censures
preachers for not taking a more ac-j
tive part in social welfare work, and
some speakers charge that the
preachers are lazy" In much the
same spirit Mr.. Edison recently at
tackled colleges because they did not
produce men who eagerly sought
dirty work in his factories. but pre-
ferred nice, clean positions" as su-
perintendents, even before adequate
training.
In both attacks the best answer ls
that of PhidiaS. Let not the cobbler
go beyond his last
4 X
The Monday Evening Club speakers
were not pastors and have never had
,, experience in the duties of pastors or
! preachers. but they have become per
sonally interested in some form of
social service, and SO they feel them
selves competent to criticiSe others
for not joining their particular line
of work. Their social welfare work
may be ever so commendable. but.
on the other hand. according to the
! preachers. the actual good to the
| souls Of the "beneficiari.s will need
, to stand the tests of the centuries
before its apostles will be justified
| in censoring the conduct of the
| churches.
, DIR. James E. Freeman pastor of the
| Church Of the Epiphany. voices al
! entirely different criticism of his
fellow pastors. He declares that
!: preachers should not undertake 4"
speak oracularly on subjects with
which they are unfamiliar-topiCs
such as the relation of capital t.
labor and other matters of social
economy. wherein their proneness t.
sympathize with the unsuccessful!
leads them aStray.
The church is not college of eco
nomics. and the less the speakers de-
part from the fundamentals for which
the church is founded and maintained
and for which they have had special
training. the better for their infiu-
ence. Let the good work of social
welfare go on: let its enthusiasts bs
praised. they deserve, and let the.
preachers identify, their sympathies
with them: but the object for WHICH
a preacher is sapctified and also pam
is to discuss spiritual things.