davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
Meticulous Maine

Perhaps because Maine was q pro-
hibition state before William Allen
White was born or William J. Bryan
began to chivvy the Demon Rum be-
fore him she desires to supply to
her forty-seven sister states 4 whole
some example in law enforcement.
At any rate, she has enacted a dry
law which makes even the appear
anoe Of evil a punishable offense.
The extent Of her unselfshness in
this matter is shown by the fact that
in carrying out her purpose she has
placed under the ban one OF her
chief products. to wit, ice.
Because In the old, evil days ice
clinked in the pitcher as the boy
came down the hall. cooled the
deadly hiehball and was pulverized
20 chill the iniquitous cocktail II may
not be served on restaurant tables,
even with ouch utterly innocuous
drinks as water.
The State Of Maine man who de-
sires 70 allay his thirst must get his
water out Of a cooler or take IL at
the temperature Of the tap. Let him
so much as drop in piece Of ice, and
he finds himself outside the law.
And this applies 70 lemonade and
ginger ale and even Tnilk-shake.
There once was a mean-minded
paragrapher who prophesied that
after the Volstead law became efec-
tive a man would have 70 travel
clear TO Maine 10 get a drink. Per-
haps it was resentment Of jibes Of
that sort that caused the state 10 re-
solve 70 be in the future like Cesar's
wife.
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07

school as those who tell Of the cold
winters Of the days that arc no
more. Billiards. as every one knows
are things Of the past. seen only BY
the Oldest inhabitants or read Of IN
books Of long ago. The SHOWS Of to
day are like the beer Of to-day. Even
ice isn't what It used 20 be. RS all
the fault Of the Gulf Stream, which,
according to our best amateur sc''n-
fists. has moved nearer to the coast
When these disciples Of the back
to-the-good-old-days movement are
questioned by scientists they resent
the imputation that they have for
gotten the ordinary winters and that
az the billiards were the exceptions
these were remembered and talked
about for years.
So with the weather diviners. The
fact that the last time blackDiros
roasted or the grounding came out
or the geese few over Hoboken the
weather paid no attention 20 these
manifestations is OF no interest TO
them. Likewise they resent the
claim Of scientists that many a bird
has been found frozen to death be-
cause il had not migrated in accord
ance with the demands Of the
weather.
But Il cannot be said Of these
seers and tale-tellers that they live
In vain. Theirs is gift Of social
value 70 almost every member Of so
clety. They add elasticity TO the
weather as q topic Of talk, and so re-
lIeve many a moment Of ombarrass-
ment.
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
The Ticket.Speculating Evil

Last winter the Legislature passea
and the Governor signed a bill pro-
hibiting theater ticket spectators
from charging more for each ticket
than so cents in advance Of the box
Office prices. A penalty Of fine or
Imprisonment for violation was pro
vided. The constitutionality Of the
bill is now under attack in the
courts. Meanwhile the spectators
pay no heed to it.
The purpose Of the present agita-
ton by the producing managers Is
twofold. First, they seek to prevent
the raising Of prices beyond the 90
cent advance charged by ticket
dealers operating large Offices. Sec
ond, they want to stop the practice
Of selling cut-rate tickets-whieh
are sold by one large firm for plays
which are not selling out" They
believe that both purposes can be ac-
complished by opening a central
ticket Office, on the plan Of the cen
tral railroad ticket Offices that were
opened by the government during
the war and are still operated by the
railroads.
The chief concern the public has
in the matter is 70 end gouging by
spectators, who buy up in advance
large blocks Of tickets for successes
and sell them for whatever they can
make the public pay. 1t is the con-
tention Of the managers that they
have no power themselves 70 stop
this practice. Anybody, they insist,
can buy tickets at the box Office in
any quantity. II these purchases
are made by sharks they have no
choice but to deliver the tickets
through the window.
A decision Of the Court Of Appeals
upholding the constitutionality Of
the law passed last winter will re-
suit it is believed, in ending the
business Of the sharks. II the law
is upset the only remedy seems TO be
a central ticket Office honestly main
tained by all Of the producing man
ayers.
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
More Truth Than Poetry
By James ]. Montague
The Wiser Course

The Wiser Course
So humbly the populaee wor-
SHIPPED the crown
In the days Of the Ottoman
rule,
That a man who'd suggest that
the Sultan step down
Was fed 10 the dogs Of STAN
boul.
When the dogs had consumed
half a hundred Of such.
And polished each traitorous
bone,
No person whose prudence
amounted 20 much
Made wanton attacks on the
throne.
Whenever the Sultan was pleased
with a maid
(Which he was every fortnight
or two)
To his glit'ering palace she
straight was conveyed
And the wedding bells tangled
anew.
And though her young man and
her parents might feel
That such things were not all
for the best,
All show of annoyance they
strove 10 conceal.
For they knew what II meant
70 protest.
But now when a citizen says with
a frown
To his dinner companions some
night
"Tt's time that the Sultan was run
out Of town.
The others cry fercely, That's
right"
And the Sultan, as soon as he
hears the bad news,
Cuts his twentieth honeymoon
short,
And promptly embsrks on an
aeroplane cruise
For a Mediterranean port.
For the Sultan, in spite Of the
gems on his fez,
Is a cautious and sensible lad,
And he knows thai the folks 20
the north Of SueZ
Are a murderous lot when
they're mad.
He may hate TO 90 Oft 70 some
mean little town
For all Of the rest Of his days,
without any harem or sceptre or
crown,
But he knows he'll be dead II
he stays.
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
Ireland Go.u Free

II is a striking fact that two poets,
William Butler Yeats and George
Russell, are TO sit in the first Senate
Of the Irish Free State. Here is a
good symbol Of that mystic beauty
which has led Irish patriots onward
to their present success, the actual
launching Of ireland as q self-gov-
erning dominion.
The prayers and good wishes Of
Americans will follow the new ship
Of state. It has been through
stormy waters in its years Of trial.
Rebellion still stalks IFS decks. Open
water and fair winds still lie below
the horizon. But il is the strength
Of a people bred in mysticism and
the speech Of poetry that their cour-
age thrives on disaster. Only Irish
men could persist in q blind, misled
battle az do the followers Of De Va
lera; only Irishmen could fight and
fight down, with the ruthlessness
needed. such fansticism.
After all. a little more poetry
might not hurt some governments
We could think Of. George Russell,
better known TO bis readers as "E,"
is a student Of land tenure, the
greatest expert upon Ireland's veyed
agricultural problems, as well as the
creator Of mystical verse among the
best that modern Ireland has pro-
duced. Ireland can be expected 10
mix poetry with her laws as long as
she is Ireland. But who knows that
she may not some day reach a state
all the better therefor and. confound-
ing all her prosaic critics. live as end
the fairy stories, happily ever after?
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
Books and So Forth

Hergesheimer caf come around almost
any time and get his badge.
On naming over individual members
had better say that all members are
divided into two elasses-aetive ard
sustaining. am the only active mem
Der that there is and the others mere
l. sustain me when / think Of them
"our members do not exclude any
class Of writer's. All that we do insist
on is the exclusion Of bunk, both Of
the super er-melodramatie and the super
pedantie. For example, any writer
who says the eyes Of her for her
eyes could not be elected. Neither
could any critic who names overlong
lists Of rather obscure foreign artists
without giving genuine evidence that
he lie really familiar with them. that he
really likes them and that they arise
naturally out Of his context.
ON view Of our frankly Victorian
principles you may be rather sur
prised at some Of the names which
have been proposed for membership.
The entire editorial board Of Vanity
Fair Is now up for sleetion-on ono
eondition-that they will tell us
whether The recent series Of articles
on certain futurist painters and seulp-
tors are genuine or hoaSss. II they
are genuine ths candidates viii be re-
jeeted. II they are magnificent hoaxes
The editors will be elected with glee.
"Mr. Scott Fitzgerald, although gen
orally rated as an ultrA-modern, has
not only been elected 70 the Fascist,
bat has been given a vote Of sympathy,
the hrst because he Is a good writer
and a hrst-rste bunk eTploder, and the
second because 30 many idiots don't
read bis books as serious works, but
10 90 around trying 20 tell Us what he
said 20 some one AZ Princeton.
George Jean Nathan will be eagerly
elected II he will consent 70 appear be-
FORE an examining board Of the
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
An Amphibious Tank

The new amphibious tank which
is as much at home in the Hudson
River or ciambering up the Palisades
as it is on Riverside Drive is an
invention after the heart Of II. G..
Wells. II has the capabilities Of the
early reptilisn monsters which he so
sympathetieally describes and the
possibilities Of working destruction
more effectively even than the en-
gines Of war which he pictured In
his novels. The only qualities that
it lacks are the ability to fly and
the power 20 burrow in the earth
like a mole.
As a development Of a weapon
that proved Of great value during
the fighting in Flanders this new
amphibious tank Is a matter of no
small Importance. II was designed
to combine three qualities-speed on
good roads. which it achieves with
out the use Of the tractor appli-
ances; climbing ability, and the
power TO cover bad ground which
the caterpillar tanks possess and the
ability TO cross rivers and streams.
The value Of being able to make
greater speed than the normal
tractor is open to debate. There
are some who claim that tanks need
not move faster than the accom-
panying and following troops Of
support Others emphasize the value
for mobilization purposes Of tanks
able to cover large distances be-
hind the front in a short time.
The swimming power, however,
is probably the most interesting
innovation. Other experiments have,
Of course, been made with land
vehicles that could also readily move
in the water, but Of those on a large
scale this holds most promise. II
it retains its powers after consider
able use and does not begin 70 leak
after it mas been run a few miles,
and If, furthermore, Il can be built
and operated at a reasonable cost, II
may well become a weapon Of real
irnnnrtance in caae OF q new war.
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
Aids TO Conversation

The Hackensack seer who has
prognostieated a warm December be-
cause a flock of blackbirds roasted in
his yard the other night has the
merit Of being candid. The birds
we're chattering vOciferously, but he
admits that he could not make out
whether they were talking Of going
north or south. They departed after
dark without lighting their tail
lights, so that he had no way Of see
ing what direction they took. Never
theless their very presence, says he,
means a prolonged warm season.
This prophet belongs 70 the ssme
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
The Children's Aid Society

The Children's Aid Society, in It's
seventeen annual report, presents
with pardonable pride a report made
by the department Of city welfare
Of the society's health campaign
inaugurated three years ago. The
survey was made to determine the
value Of efforts to combat the NAL
nutrition which prevails among
the children in the congested quar-
ters Of the city. The improvement
in the health Of the children reached
by the society has been so remark
able that other organizations are
studying the methods adopted.
When Il is realized that 1900
children daily attend the ten health
school centers Of the Children's Aid
the extent Of the work may be imag-
ined. These children are handi-
capped by heart trouble, anemia or
deformity, and are given special
food, care and instruction TO AZ
their respective needs. There are
also four day nurseries conducted
on the same lines Not the least In
teresting part of this work is the co
operation Of the parents, mostly
foreign born, as soon as they really
understand what it is all about.
That their children should drink
milk instead Of tea and coffee fills
them with surprise, but they are not
slow 20 notice the difference IN
health that follows.
The boys welfare department.
the report says. needs not only
money but the help Of young men
to manage the athletics and en-
courage the right sort Of gang"
spirit. The court records Of the
city show that 76 per cent Of male
offenders are under twenty-one
years Of age. This fact alone should
inspire interest in the preventive
work Of the society. as most Of these
lswless ones lack the harmless but
joyful activities Of normal boy life.
The placing Of deserted and or
phaned children IN individual homes
throughout the country is another
department Of the Children's Aid
Society that emphasizes the good
sense Of its operations. Two hun
dred and Sixty-Avs children iast
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
What Readers Say

intelligent people and placed IN ~
Eponsibls positions. When one eOntem-
plates the enormous proportion Of mis-
iits that must exist In the industrial
world. and that such mishts mean dis
content and unhapplness for the en-
plcyee, one can but wonder how much
Of the present unrest is due TO this
fact"
We are told by men lfks Dr. Goddard
that the number Of people Of relative
ly low intelligence is vastly greater
than Il generally appreciated. civili-
1atlon is growing more complex everT
day and making Il moro diHaeult for
these people 10 adapt themselves 20
their environment
JEANETTE R. HoDcDoN.
New York, Dec. s. is22.
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
WreckinE Restriction

The attempt Of Messrs. Lodge,
Wadsworth and Sterling 70 introduce
sentimentallty into the immigration
law may well have bad results. They
have asked that the refugees from
Turkey be permitted 20 enter this
country without regard TO the immi-
grafton quotas.
The appeal will naturally be sup
ported by some Americans. They re-
member the old boast that America
IL the haven Of the oppressed, and
they see many homeless sufferers In
the Near East. Why not, say they,
bring them TO our shores7
Pitiable as Is the condition Of these
refugees, there are other and better
ways Of caring for them than By
transporting them 10 America. Be
sides. there is the difficulty that is
sure 70 arise II the United States
diseriminates in their favor and does
not in the case Of others. Why
should il not make a like exception
for the suffering people in Poland
and Germany and Italy and China?
In the present instance the fact that
their troubles have been more spec
tAcular than usual and have been
more widely reported is the prinei-
pal reason for this movement IN
their favor.
The people Of the United States
have the deepest sympathy for these
suffering exiles. They have ex-
pressed this sympathy in the relief
which they have extended to the suf-
ferers through the Red Cross and
other charitable organizations. They
viii doubtless use their influence to
have as much as possible done in
Ansir behalf.
But, great as is this solicitude for
the trials Of alien peoples, It can not
and does not blind them 20 their
duty 10 their own. The prin-
ciple Of immigration restriction has
been approved by the country. Not
oyen the valid objections which have
Leen advanced against some Of the
"details Of its administration justify
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
The German Threat of War

There is an extremely reminiscent
note IN the arguments Of those
pacihstie folk who smile in a su-
osrior fashion at French fears OF
German attack They are, in fact,
exactly the same people who scoffed
Il the thought Of war in the halcyon
Gays before 1914. "Why build q
navy? Why have an army? For
these many reasons your fears are
absurd" And then they would ex'
plain that neither international
finance nor labor would permit a
war, and other clinching arguments
that were suddenly hushed in a
certain month Of August
NJ. Clemenceau Is now seen not TO
have exaggerated in the least the
facts as 10 the German threat. He
did not prophesy war Immediately or
soon. He did not say that Germany
vas completely armed or on the
march. All he asserted was that
Germany's win to war was as lively
~ ever, and that IN 30 far as
Allied supervision could be avoided
she had prepared and was prepar-
inR. All this has been abundantly
confirmed from other sources. And
i is enough. France, left alone by
her allies would DO utterly mad not
20 guard hsrsef against such a
danger.
The anti-preparation folk always
talk as If they had proved their case,
once they have shown that war is
remote or unlikely. They seem 70
think that because modern civiliza-
ton has reduced the causes and
chances Of war. therefore any milf
tnry preparation against 1t Is absurd.
Apply the same reasoning 70 danger
from fire. Our school buildings are
now freproofed in every known
way; the chance Of fire in them is
reduced TO a very long shot Yet we
stfll have strict fire drills TO meet
that long shot, and anybody who ad-
vocstes ending them would be run
out Of town. We should look upon
a war drill in exactly the same
spirit
There are ample facts in Germany
20 demand Frances military pre-
paredness. II America had the same
eastern frontier and the same
neighbor east thereof instead Of the
Atlantic Ocean for frontier and
neighs1r we would unquestionably
take the same steps, and in 50 doing
we would feel that We were merely
taking common sense precautions to
preserve peace.
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
Industrial hiishts
Editor Of The Tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir; We have become 30 accustomed
recently TO the warning that only 4
redistribution OF wealth" can save
'the collapse Of civilization that Dean
Klmbali's address last night before the
American Society OF Mechanical Engi-
neers does not startls us
IL seems worth while. however, 20
occasionally point TO the fact that this
more equitable distribution Of wealth"
doss not always make for hAppiness or
contentment. Even the Dean OF Cor
nell admits that the general level Of
physical comfort and education is un-
questionhbly higher than ever before.
Close observers are beginning TO
wonder II At least a part Of the "un-
happiness in this country. whore the
average mental age is less than four
teen years, may not be due 70 Indus
trial mishts. A distinguished author
ity, Henry Herbert Goddard. has pointed
out in his Human Efficiency and
Levels Of 1ntelliEencs" that much
chronic unhAppinsss IL directly trace
able to tho fact that the Individual Is
attempting to do a work for which his
intelligence Is not equal.
"0ur army abroad says DR.. Cod
dard. has a wsll-esrnod reputation for
efficiency, and no small part Of the ~
salt may be attributed to the fact that
tie 10 par cent lowest in intslligenco
we're not sont ovsrssas. In our social
groups the lowest 10 psF esnt ere not
recognised and ass often uistaksa fgT
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
Sing sings Show
To The gdItOr Of The tribune.

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: According 10 the report in this
MORNINGS Tribune the prisoners az
Sing Sing are to present a musical
show called Honey Girl" for four days
and the public IS 10 be admitted. Prs
oners are 70 perform in female eos
tune and names o. actors are given.
This IL the most outrageous Of a
series Of outrages. Sing Sing prison
10 advertised with the prolific art Of
the press agent ard Il Is very obvious
that instead Of hlling its proper func-
ton a. a place Of punishment for con-
vietsd fslOnS Il Is a happy hunting
ground for musky erankH and senti-
msntalists. JOHN G. PURDIR
Nsw YsFk, poa 4 1e11
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
"A Conrad of the Near East

To the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: Have you read Command" By
william MeFeeR started IL on
Thanksgiving Day, and I think all
readers have great cause for thankful
mesa
Here We have . Conrad Of the Near
East, and SAloniea II brought before
us as We had Bangkok. Those who do
not like Conrad had better not read Il.
FOR we have the observation and
philosophy, as well as the human In
terest. though lacking certain somoei
tones that belong. apparently, 70 Con-
rads environment.
JOSEPH ID. HOLMES.
orungs, N. y Dsa ], lszA
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07

year were brought 10 the society
from institutions and by social
workers. Homes were found for
them where they could obtain the
best Of care and opportunities. And
they are not bestowed here and
there and forgotten, but they arc
considered wards Of the society un-
iii Il is certain that their fostor
parents are all that could be
desired
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07
The Lantern
Corr, y,T YORK Tri1aaa To- il''

We have Just been writing n
Preface Preface and Re-Dediea-
tion-for a new edition Of Tho
Cruise Of ne Jasper b. which viii
be issued before very long.
We are short Of copy II
would almost al n column in
short. the temptation to print it In
the paper before we slap it into the
front Of the novel is more than we
can resist.
So here goes:
New-York tribune., 1922-12-07

abandoning this principle By max
ing exceptions for a particular group
Of sufferers on a particular occasion.
The precedent once established could
only end in the complete breaking
down Of the percentage principle.