The Washington times., 1922-02-10
Today
Who Owns the Air?
The Sad Sea Gull.
A Ladies' DecaIogus.
1,2Oo Per Cent Not New.
by ARTHUR BRISBANE
(Copyri9ht, iSaa.)

IRy ARTHUR BRISBANE-l
tcopyright. isaa)
Who owns the air?
That question must be Off
cially settled. The American
Telegraph and Telephone Com
pany hopes 1t will be settled in
favor Of the American Tele-
graph and Telephone Company.
There are "air lanes above
your. head, as there are ship
lanes on the ocean. Messages
sent haphazard by radio collide
and interfere with each other,
like ships wandering in fog.
Regulations must be made as
to tuning" of wireless instru-
ments, hours at which "air
lanes" may DO used. The pub
lie will await with interest the
decision as to air ownership.
Below Albany on the Hudson
river, where big icehouses
stand, a sad sea gull stood on
the river, frozen from shore to
shore. 1t was a little after
seven in the morning. The gull,
q young bird, Matched last year,
deeply discouraged, doubtless
thought to itself:
"Well, this settles ME-. The
water has suddenly turned solid.
No more swimming or fishing
ever"
That is how we reason when
things go wrong, for we also
are birds born last spring. We
see war and conclude that it
will last forever. We see hu-
man selfishness governing. ex-
plotting, robbing the weak, and
think that will last forever.
But it won't.
Far from the sea gull, on the
west bank of the river, men were
cutting ice, to store it away,
while 1t lasted. In the East the
sun was rising, with plenty Of
power to melt that ice.
On this earth, the industrious
profiteers are cutting and storing
Ice as rapidly as they can. But
the sun is rising.
A good lady has written "The
Women Voters Decalogue."
Number 2 tells ladies they must
belong to a party; "A free lance
gets nowhere"
Bad judgment. The free lance
gets everywhere. Napoleon was
a free lance, defying all tradi-
tions and parties. He got on
the throne, then on St. Helena.
John Brown was a free lance.
He landed on the gallows.
Christopher Columbus was a
free lance. He landed in America.
The Wright brothers, of Ohio,
were free lances of the air, they
.got- somewhere" with venge-
ance.
Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo,
Newton were all free lances Of
the intellect. You would not say
that they "got nowhere"
They will be honored when all
workers in all political parties are
completely forgotten.
The lady voters decalogue
says, "Let US try to make our
party right, then support it
Fundamentally"
How are you going to make
It right? A party often is like
q carpet-the best thing for 1t
Is a beating.
Parties begin in enthusiasm,
honesty, good intentions. They
end in the hands % corrupt
conservative" grafters. and are
like ships that need to be taken
out Of the water and scraped.
Parties need to be taken out
of power anG chastised.
Usurers in Bolshevist Mos
cow charge as much as one
hundred per cent a month
twelve hundred per cent a year.
Horrible, but mild compared
with what some Of the prof
iteers did to their Uncle Sam
In the war.
And the interest rate that
Moscow usurers charge is mild
compared with interest that
many young men pay on their
own foolishness.
Ten foolish, sleepless nights,
with nervous strain. have cost
many q man ten years Of life,
and more.
That is more than twelve
hundred per cent.
You have read discussion
about new and unpleasant taxes
to be imposed to pay the SOL
diers' bonus.
A tax for a special purpose,
whatever the tax may be, will,
of course, antagonize the pub
lie and make the bonus unpop-
ular.
Is anybody interested in MAX
a AZ. ..--1n,,IorS