davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
bOOPS By Percy Hammond

Grant{and Rice in this column the
other day made the entertaining sug-
gestlon that the literary experts tabu-
late comparatively the more meritorious
Of the authors after the fashion OF the
Judges in football or boxing. Ia this
way, he seemed to think, the public
might become as well Informed about
the great penmen as they are about the
distingui shed halfbacks He forgot,
possibly, that American critics of
literature are not as authoritative as
are those Of sports and pastimes. Most
Of them at best are third-rate review
ers" who prefer TO operate spuriously
as tcnth-rate "critics"; and among them
there are no Walter Camps, Fred
Hawthornes, Jack Lawrences or ". J.
Macbeths. Mr.. Rice, pursuing his
whimsical invasion of the less mus
cuar arts, announced his selection Of
Jnc UneSl llenS iOt Ali dlltllolOSy VI CIlS
war. 1t included august, 1914" by
John Maseheld; "The Soldier" by
Rupert Brooke; "In Flanders Fields
by John McRae, and Il Have a Rendcz-
vous With Death" by Allan Seeger. 1t
might we'll have contained some of Mr..
Rices own soldiers verse, which has
music and sorrow in it. but no Whim-
pering I myself like such things as
this, taken at random from many SIM
liar epics in "The london Times of
several years ago;
Snead -Cox-Eilled in action on the 30th
October 1914. Geoffrey Philip Joseph
Snead Cox. second lieutenant 1st Battal-
ion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers. second son Of
J. c. Snead Cox, Of Broxwood Court, Here
fordshire, and 80 Egerton Gardens, aged
nineteen II. I. p.
Snead- -Cox-Killed in action on the 2Sth
October 1914, Richard second lieutenant,
Sd Battalion, Royal Scots, eldest son of J.
c. Snead- Cox. Of Broxwood Court, Here
forashire, and $S Egcrton Gardens, aged
twenty-one. Il. /. F..
Miss Dorothy Speare, Smith, 20,
writes with optimism of and to "thc
girls of to-day" in her animated story
of the dissolute adolcscents, Dancers
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Penny Unwiise

Uncle Sam, turned real estate
agent, has bought a building, in
Santiago, Chile, to serve as the
American Embassy in that country
Beng out of change, he has had TO
borrow $4,000 from the American
Ambassador and his secretaries to
complete the payment on the pur-
chase. The original appropriation
1or an embassy there was S136 900
The building cost $146,0OO. Private
individuals had to advance the Diff
ference.
Whether or not they are re-
lmbursed the incident shows the
kind Of silly economy that delights
congressman. The American ON
bassics and legations are the Off
cIal offices Of the American gov
ernment and the homes of it's rem
resentatiVes. Foreigners expect and
Americans demand that these build
lngs shall be appropriate to Amer
lcas position in the world Bejng
permanent acquisitions, the country
has right to want them to be we'll
CHOSEN. The process of purchasing
such buildings in the different cani-
tails of the world has been started
only recently, and few suitable places
have been found that could be BOUGHT
for the niggardly allowance made
by the government. Congress has
apparently looked upon the sum as
current expense rather than as
capital investment, and has there
fore treated it with the airy scorn
that 1t feels for all matters per
tanning to our foreign relations.
The foolishness of endeavoring to
save $4,000 in the purchase of a
building that is to be the permanent
abode of American officials in for
elgn country stands out all the more
forclbly when it is compared with
the glibly granted appropriation of
100000 d year for free seeds for
Congressman. The only possible ex-
planation is that it is more I'M
portant that Mary Ellen shall have
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Americas Rhine Claim

Secretary Hughes's note states
completely the case for reimburse
ment of the cost of the American
occupation on the Rhine. Our gov
ernment performed a service there
for which payment was pledged by
the terms of the armistice, of the
Versailles Treaty and of the Berlin
Treaty. Until recently no one had
challenged our right to share jointly
with the other governments which
furnished garrisons in the fund,
which was made a preferred charge
against German war payments. Last
November the Army Costs Conn. s.
sion appointed by the Allied Su-
prcme Council included American
expenses with the other military
expenses to be paid ahead of repara-
tions. 1t was only when the Allied
finance ministers discussed on March
8 the ALLEGATION of Germany's 1922
payments that any hint was given
Of an intention to ignore the United
States
Our claim is so manifestly well
founded that Mr.. Hughes hesitates
to assume that any Allied govern
ment will seriously question it.
Great Britain and France seem to
feel now that it was a mistake not
to have made provision at the
finance ministers meeting for the
liquidation of our account. Refusal
to settle it would be almost incom-
prehensible, since it would involve
the paradoXical contention that be-
cause we didn't ratify the Versailles
Treaty we were never really a
belhgerent, never really signed the
armistice and never enjoyed any
rights of association with the En-
tente nations as a common enemy of
Germany.
The United States is not asking
for complete and immediate pay
nent. 1t is willing to accommodate
its more needy allies. But the money
due us is a primary war charge
against Germany, and it is essential
that cur right to collect it on the
same privileged conditions as the
other powers must be asserted and
safeguarded
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Making 1t Painless

While it is true that a ride in
the subway costs more than five
cents, everything over the nickel is
extracted painlessly from the people
Of New York in the form of taxes.
What they do not feel doesn't worry
them.
Had the request of the Inter
borough for permission to advance
the fare to seven or eight cents been
granted by the Transit Commission
very general protest would have
followed. Subway riders do not
want to break into the second nickel
They regard a fve-cent fare as an
.oalienable right They look to the
Transit Commission to insure it to
them.
Governor Miller appeared to
understand this situation when he
signed the amendment to the transit
law which deprived the commission
Of power to increase rates on any
single line in the transit system.
Chairman McAneny Of the commits
sion showed that he understood it
when he recently announced his be-
lief that the fve-cent fare could be
maintained.
Under the terms of the contract
between the city and the INTERIOR
ough part of any cost Of an in
dividual ride over five cents falls
on the city. The city passes it on
TO the taxpayers. The taxpayers do
not complain. Most of them feel that
cheap fares are of direct benefit to
them. Business is better with a
freely circulating population. Better
business makes for general pros
perity.
When the transit tangle is com
pletely Strengthened out the actual
cost of each subway ride can be ac-
curately estimated. Then the ques-
ton of whether the people prefer to
pay the extra two or three cents in
taxes, which, Of course, embrace
rents and everything purchased in
the city, or to jingle them into the
slots on the fare gates will come
up again.
That Is not likely to happen for
at least year. In the mean time
the action of the Governor in sign
ing the amendment and of the COM
mission in keeping the fare where it
IS will be generally approved.
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Too Close to the Bone

The decreases which the House
Of Representatives favors in army
and navy enlisted strength are ex-
cessive. The Naval Affairs Com
mittee has agreed to report a bill
fixing the enlisted personnel Of the
navy at $4,000 seamen and 5000
apprentices. This is 10000 below
the Navy Departments recommen-
dations of 10000 men and 5000
apprentices. But the Appropria-
tions Committee wants to go further
and cut the seamen's corps down to
$4,000. The House has voted to
limit the enlisted strength of the
army for 1928 to 115, 900.
The size Of the army next year
should be determined not by war
needs but by peace needs. There
may be no immediate threat Of war.
But our military system has just
been reorganized and modernized.
It's permanent value depends on the
maintenance of sufficient home
force to keep the new machinery
from rusting. Secretary Weeks
feels that 10000 men are needed
for this purpose. Chairman Kahn
of the House Committee on Military
Affairs wants 143, 900. Those on
whom the lessons of our pitiful un.
preparedness in 1917 have not vet
been lost would rather err in having
the margin on the safe side. Tenn
porary economies through over
reduction have to be paid for later.
An adequate force for the work
to be done is the best economy.
The navy needs more than
10000 men. To operate the treaty
and battle fleet alone $4,000 men
are required, To operate it's auxil-
iaries requires $4,000 more. With
one man ashore for every two men
af1oat the total enlisted strength
would go to $4,000 The auxiliary
feet will have to be cut down and
the practice efficiency of the fight
ing feet will be lowered if the en-
listed strength falls to 10000. The
navy will not be the perfected ma
chine which it ought to be to bring
the best returns on the nations in
vestment in it. 1t will detcriorate
in material and skill.
There is passion in the House
for military retrenchment which is
emotional more than economic.
The old pacifist dogmatism and un-
reason are cropping out. Sound
economy would keep the army and
the navy we'll tempered, dependable
peace-time Instruments.
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24

statue Of male Civic Virtue thumbs
would point down.
The West is supposed to be de-
cidedly virile, yet it has been quicker
than the East TO avail itself Of
women who have an aptitude for
public service and the inclination TO
perform it, Women oficeholders in
general have made good. They ask
no special consideration ON account
Of their sex. If the city mothers of
Des Lacs. make mess Of running
the town no doubt they will be
turned out at the next election,
They have already done something
to put Des Lacs on the map. When
it grows bigger, bette and cleaner
we probably shan't hear of it. That
wouldn't be a first page story,
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24

in the Dark She sounds note more
hopeful than that piped mournfuliy b.
Scout Fitzge erald in MS sullen studies
Of the baby debauchees Perhaps, if /
nad read Mr.. Fitzgeralds The Beau
tiful and Damned which the generous
Mr.. Doran, for reasons OF his own. did
not send to me, | should not say
"sullen studies,' since it is Ainted that
between the lines of It's discousolate
narrative is to be found encourage
ment. Charles Hanson Towne in last
Sundays Tribune pictured My. Fitz-
gerald a quite human person, lunch
ing heartily at the Coffee House
Club, with his proud pockets Iull of
good notices He blushed with
quiet amazement, even as did the
startled and doelike John Dos Passos.
when. in the same institution, he
learned accidentally that his works were
hit. SO it may be that Mr. Fitzgerald
is just as sunny in his conclusions as
is Miss Dorothy Speare concerning the
appetites and prospects of our youth
tul ephemer@, who. according to them
and the dictionaries, are brilliant hut
little fly. In the local Grub Street
circles they are calling Miss Speare
"Fitzge raldine.'
=, # ):
Miss Speare gets the good title of
her book, Dancers in the Dark" from
the casual, smart bathrooms, where it
is the habit to turn out the lights dur
ing the silent toddles and scandal
walks. Youth on the prov, folly at the
helm, the wise new generation of in
genues in life mistake irritation for
waltZing, and it suspects that pant
ing in a dance hall is an emblem of
emotion. ''ls this your son, my lord ?"
you may ask as you read Miss Speare's
minutes of the naughty goings-on; or
you may determine never to send a
daughter of yours to metropolis
to learn to express herself" as the
saying is. Arts difficult curriculum,
according to Miss Speare, includes late
hours, hootch, deep breathing, the eur
rent ''whiffle" and conduct with
students in the midnight taxicabs.
Dancers in the Dark" dispels ap-
prehensions, while emphasizing hazards
Miss JOY Nelson, the heroine, from
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
More Truth Than Poetry
BY James ]. Montague
The Trend of the Drama

Time was, when play was little
bit raw,
The clergy called in the police,
And a magistrate said, when the
drama he'd read,
That its public production must
cease
And the manager cried, with his
hand on his heart,
That the show was unjustiy
tabooed;
The law, he declared, was CON
demning high art
At the whim of some prurient
prude
However, he laundered the scenes
that were bad,
And found the taboo was a peach
of an ad.
To-day when d play doesn't fully.
comply
With the standards the moral
lists set,
And no one sees fit to 90 cunning
for it,
he managers worry and fret.
We ought to be turning the poo-
pie away
The thing is so awful" thew
crOak;
Unless the police come and stop
it to-day
And get people coming, we're
broker
For the show Of the aresent must
be pretty raw
Before it attracts the stem frown
of the law.
Tomorrow, if things run along
as they are.
No matter what's put on tho
stage,
The public won't feel that its vul-
gar appeal
Is worthy Of virtuous rage.
Instead of requesting the cons to
step in
And drag all the actors to court
They will pass up the drama Of
slum life and sin
For play of a wholesomer
sort.
And the over-frank dramas will
never succeed
or the lack Of the ad that they
all of them need.
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
City Mothers IN Des Laos

North Dakota took "fyer" in
Nonpartisan administration and re-
pented. Now the town of Des Lacs,
in that enterprising state, is going in
for non-masculine government. In
the municipal election it has in
trusted most of the important Offices
to women-chairman of the village
council, two trustees, treasurer, mar
shall and justice of the peace.
Bigger, better and cleaner Des
Lacs" was the womens campaign
slogan. The men candidates folded
their tents like the Arabs. 1t was
walk-over If Des Lacs were to hold
a referendum on the MacMonnies
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Mr.. Hays Is Too Hasty

Mn Will II. Hays is quoted as say
ing that the need of the day is less
Chou shalt not and more Let's
so. This may be true of many in
dustrios, but it is u rather dangerous
doctrine to apply to the business of
which he has recently become the
executive head-to wit, the "movies.
The Lets 60 theory has been
practiced by movie maRnateS since
the beginning of the industry, and
it hasn't done it any particular good.
In the mad rush for thrill 1t has
collected a very considerable amount
Of dirt, with the result that care
full parents first inquire solicitously
about the program before they take
their children to the picture show
A few "Thou shalt nots' self
imposed by "movic' producers would
have spared them the Imposition of
many "Thou shalt nots" by local
and state boards of censorship.
"Thou shalt not is not a pleasant
phrase to persons who are in Il hurry
to make money. But when they are
purveying amusement to 100,000,0O0
people it would be we'll to make
their plays observe in spirit at least
the "Thou shalt nots" which arc in
cluded in the Decalogue.
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Forceful Action Needed

he coal industry is as vitality I'M
portant 10 the nation as are the rail
roads. Paralysis of coal production
would cause endless misery, and if
persisted in long enough would bring
economic disaster.
The people, therefore, are directly
concerned in the projected coal
strike. They cannot sit by supinely
and dismiss the matter as one that
concerns only the miners and opera
tors. 1t is their duty and their right
to assert their interest and to be
protected by their representatives,
tie government at Washington,
from the evil effects of the strike.
Through the smoke clouds that
both sides have thrown out it is diff
ficult to penetrate to the facts in the
situation. To judge of the relative
merits of the cases of the miners
and the operators can be done only
when profits as we'll as production
costs are made public property and
when the peculiar conditions of the
industry are understood generally.
The operators by refusing to meet
the miners around q table start un-
der the handicap of not making
clear why they do not wish to confer.
The miners, on the ether hand, by
asking for thirty-hour week ex-
pose themselves to the charge of
unreasonable demands.
A mass Of other contentious could
be similarly advanced on both sides,
But they do not alter the fact that
On April ! the present wage agree
nent between operators and miners
expires and that the settlement Of
he wage question cannot be evaded
lnless there is to be chaos in the
oal business.
The public must have coal. The !
wo or three months surplus will,
oubtless, at the end of six weeks be
exhausted to bring about
marked increase in price ard, if
ne strike persists long enough, to
e up industry.
There is no excuse for permitting
le matter TO reach such a stage.
forceful action by the
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24

OK Corners, become involved, Vhils
having her voice cultivated IN Baasl
with male peus from Harvard. knqz
Is ''Paeky,r "Dum DUN, "Twinkg7 sla
Crawl These are all thoaghtless
dangerous chaps wao iriak. drive
their own cars and make Cambridge
the ruddy. sophisticated suburb that
il is. They anoV rhair way about the
Massachusetts to2dhouses, and msst
of them can play upon the pianofOEte
while, a Miss Speare says "a girls
scarlet lips. parted ia an avid, gsnin
grin, jut forth such rioald midaigh'
anthems a.:
1 wanted some men aad sought them
made myself UP li5e doll
The ether girls, on. now ! fought
them!
They handed il ,o m2 Tor gall
I wanted some men and I've got them
Turned down I'VE bids for dinner
last nighe
But somehow they're rot what J
thought them
And somehow l know IS no5 rigAi
:; *
Well. Dancers IN the Dark suggests
that we are not on the road TO rub
and that debutante may booze
canoodle, live her own life and learn
about men from lessons in limousine
without impairing her domestic future
Miss Speare marries JOY TO the bar
barian jim Dalton, who is noble
though not a member OF fraternitss.
derry who cheats, who "inhaie'
thirstily and vino has bees
all things to many young men, - achieves
as a husband rich and imposing NeS
York bachelor. The wages OF sin seen
10 be contentment. Jerry" is a bss
girl. but she is so attractive in As'
Speare's explanation of her that sa'
is a seXly argument for unconventioa.
atty. How pleasing it is 10 reao u
the students in Harvard and the lnss'
tute of Technology forgetting then
studies to bid for the privilege OF chew
ing the chewing gum that Jerry "a.
between her white teetas
Miss Speare's idea seems to be tas'
one, If one is young and can dance u
the dark, may get away with 1t
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Germany Must Play Falr
The Reparation Commissions note
, Germany embodies the Cannes

The Reparahon Commission note
to Germany embodies the Cannes
terms for 1922. Berlin must de-
liver 720,0O0,0O0 gold marks and
goods worth 1,450.0o0,000 gold
marks. This is a considerable light
ening Of the German burden
The commission was met last De-
cember with plea from the Wirth
government that it couldn't fulfill
its treaty obligations. AS things
were going in Germany then there
was some plausibility in this non
posSu0lasS, The Reich was spending
much more than its income, paying
out open and covered subsidies, in
f1ating the civil personnel and un-
dertaXing the German people. The
commission wasn't responsible for
these conditions and bluntly refused
to be held responsible for them. 1t
told Chancellor Wirth that Ger
many had no other excuse for de-
faulting on the 1922 reparation
schedule than that she had made no
honest effort to pay
To the partial remission of pay
ments this year and the acceptance of
goods instead of gold some neces-
sary stipulations are attached. The
commission doesn't intend to be CON
1ronted again with a bold announce
lnent that the German goose doesn't
feel like laying any more golden
eggs. It will see to it that the goose
IS properly fed. Il has called on the
Wlrth ministry to give guarantees
that German revenues will no longer
be squandered at home. Phe pres
ent status Of artificial insolvency
will be terminated. This can he ac-
comphshed by levying the new taxes
which Chancellor Wirth spoke of in
his note of last January. by reduc
ing the enormous cost of railroad
service and civil administration. bv
abohshlng subsidies and subventions
and all expenditures on public
works, and by readiusting the
budget so as to bring some real
money into the Treasury. A guar
anty commission Will act as an AL
he'd agent in enforcing these
reforms.
The greatest obstacle to the
liquidation Of Germany's debt has
been the rooted conviction of the
German government and people
that payment could somehow be
avoided by persistent obstruction
Germany has never yet had the will
TO pay. Yet she had the will in 1914
to throw all, her possessions in the
melting pot of war. If she had been
the victor she would have LAUGHED
at any claim of the vanquished that
they could not pay. The Allies are
treating her far more generously
than she would have treated them
Her pleas for relief so far have
been lnsincere. She herself doesn't
know what she can pay or cant
pay. She doesn' know because she
mas never given her capacity to
make PREPARATION serious trial.
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24

Executive can still bring about a
conference and settle the strike. But
the action must be prompt and deci-
sive. The government in forcing
settlement acts neither on behalf of
the operators nor of the miners, but
as a representative of the public. In
so doing it will have the support of
the country.
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Picking on the Jury
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune
Sir; have read with nueh pleasure
John Emery Mitehell's letter entitled
Average Common Sense" The fact is
that cur Judiciary especially some
judges in this city, have fallen into the
way of scolding jurors whenever jurors
decide according to their own and not
the judges opinions. A jurors oath
requires him to decide by the light of
his own mind, And yet when a Juror
serves in a New York court he now
knows that if nc does not take the
Judges version of the facts he is apt
to be in for good, thorough lambast-
ing from the bench, to which he, of
course. may not answer back, except
later through the public press, where
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
What Readers Are Thinking

upon he is frowned upon by pronins@
members OF the bar,
He goes home angry and humli'assSs, !
not merely because he has been caiisN
down, but for the better reason 'nsA
after being admonished to decide ~
case solely as his own common Sen's
and conscience direct and after hsVips !.
done so to the best of his ability nc :, =
denounced as a numskult and sent p@ss
to his neglected business witn -. ~.
consciousness that he has i'll served 'A'
community
LYMAN W0RTHINGToN'
New York, March %, 1922.
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
Lines to Remember
To the Editor of The Tribune.

SIR I note in to-day'a Tribune an
article by Grantlsnd Rice asking the
question, "Who Wrote the Greatest
Linc?' He surely has started something.
and Mr. Rice himself is no obscure
poet, as evidenced by many of his more
serious poems.
We usually look for the great
things along any line outside of our
own immediate circle; hence | beg to
call attention to poem published
February 28, in "The Tower" called
"Worship." In the second verse VIC
read:
"One hand upon the arm of God"
And the last line OF the poem is:
And heard Gods footsteps passiug by. "
Each line is complete thought.
| hope Mr.. Rice will keep up these
articles. They will not only make
more familiar beautiful and sublime
eSpressions-hut have an educational
New-York tribune., 1922-03-24
| hriving Beggar8

10 the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: The panhandler who begged 10
cents for meal and whose pockets
after his arrest disclosed SIS in cash
and over $500 on deposit is fair
sample of the beggers who infest our
streets and subways. Such imposition
on tbs charitable public deserves
prompt and energetic suppression by
both police and magistrates. The city
provides ample charitable assistance,
but these professional mendicants
naturally prefer the rich pickings
derived from sentimental dupes.
Why is it permitted?
GEORGE W. HILLS.
New York, March %, 1922.