The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-08-20
T T'oday
To the War Department. Good News for Big. Four Lame Feet. Northcliffe's Success.
 By ARTHUR BRISBANE


 To the War Department: You are the boss of rivers flowing into the ocean. Your attention is called to the fact that road builders are fill ing up with sand the mouth of the MarasQuan river in New Jersey. That river, properly used. could be made a refuge for ships in heavy weather and most useful as an inland har- bor, in time of war. Closing the mouth and ruining the outlet Is stupid, and it's your business to stop it.
 With the strikes apparently dying down. corporations winning. labor losing, as might have been expected. the news Is good news for those that deal In money on 8 big scale. For instance. there is a runor of BOO per cent dividend on Gulf Oil The merger of Bethlehem and Lackawanna Steel Is completed with $77ooo,ooo preferred stock. ss2.ooo.- GOO common stock.
 There will soon be . big merger in Chicago. The tariff makers are going ahead with duties as high as 45o per cent. The message to big industry is. If there is anything you want, step up and ask for It"
 For the little people who don't count now that the war is over. prices are rising. Retail prices are up, wholesale prices are up. Food Is dear in the city. The farmer doesn't get enough to pay for raising up. Something happens between pro- ducer and consumer.
 Germanys money has gone to smash. A statistician says Germany is far richer than France and that's so. as regards actual wealth. But if your money is worthless, your wealth doesn't help. It's like having a big. powerful horse with four lame feet. What was the most important fac- tor in Lord Northcliffe's success? Some important Americans have paid tribute to his power, now that he is dead.
 A good many little Americans have eheerfully advertised themselves in similar tributes.
 Northcliffes success was based 80 per cent on the fact that he was not afraid of anything. Seventy per cent on the fact that he knew the things you must not do and kept away from them. To know what not to do is a great part of success. especially in newspaper work.
 Tn the first reference to Lord Ncrthcliffe's death in this column your attention was called to the fact that Northcliffe lived and worked for England. He was no lop- sided. sloppy, toady of any foreign land or people The cabled report of the editorial published about Northcliffe in his own newspaper. the London Times, starts thus: To the British empire he was devoted heart and soul" a, powerful men devoted heart and soul to that country
 We have too many so-called Statesmen" in the United States whose hearts seem to be in England or some other European country, theIr stomachs and their pockets in the United States.
 Frank Munsey publishes the letter of a gentleman who wonders why unions do not incorporate. If they were incorporated, says he, their members could learn what becomes of their dues"
 Possibly. but the New Haven rail- road is incorporated and thousands Of old ladies in New England. robbed of every dollar invested in the road, never knew exactly what happened. There are more ways than one Of skinning the cat and the public, and Incorporating is one of the most efficient ways.
  nament of the world, probably, Other names in the tournament are Alechine of Russia, Vidmar of Jugoslavia, Judow of Russia. Maroczy of Hun- gary, Rubenstein of Poland, Tartak- over of Russia.
 You need not mourn because you recognize no American name in the list of worlds greatest chess players A dozen Americans might be In it, but fortunately for this country, their minds have beeen on machinery, in- dustrial construction. Build up the greatest chess attacks or openings, and you have built nothing. Build a new idea for an automobile and you have done something. Chess never made any brain more efficient. and 1t has ruined thousands, wasting en- ergy that should have been produc- tive.
 One interesting word comes from that tournament. When Capablanca was asked how he ''trained" for 1t. the reporter supposed that the reply would describe concentration on chess books, chess theories, etc.
 T walked out into the country ana into the air and sunshine to keep my health good" was Capablanca's re- ply. That's the best training for mental effort.
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