Evening star., 1923-09-03
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS

The most astounding feature Of the
anthracite strike has nothing to do
with COAL 1t is the announcement
that 1000 bars in the mining region
have been ordered CLOSED"
Let's see, How about the Volstead
law? Does 1t take a coal strike to
cause "the federal and state officers
to unite in efforts to close the sa-
looms" in the anthracite region? THE
proprietors are ordered TO remove all
bar equipment and desist from keep
ing. or selling liquor" Strange!
Passing. strange! It takes a lot of
digging to support 1000 bars.
Several ships bringing aliens into
the United States on the night of Au-
gust 81. raced into port as, midnight
was approaching. with the result that
they beat the clock by Few minutes.
and arrived in August instead of Sep
tember. Under the strict construction
Of the law some $4,000 emigrants
therefore must be counted in the Au-
gust quotas OF their respective coun-
tries. In most cases the August quo
tas were already exhausted, therefore,
in all such cases. the "sooners" must
return to Europe and start again.
This is tragedy.
The immigrants. in no case were re-
Sponsible for the management of the
ships. They were passengers. and yet
because the captains were SO eager to
reach port. these victims must make
an ocean round-trip voyage, unless
the Washington authorities .overrule
the technical barriers and order the
port clocks constructiyely turned
forward a few minutes.
X + x.x
When Congress wants to circumvent
the law as to adjournment there is
no hesitation in stationing a man at
the clock to turn back the hands.
Thus they prevent noon. or midnight
or whatsoever be the hour set for ad-
journment from arriving until they
are ready for IL. 1t seems a childlike
fiction when everybody knows that
the clock is registering false time.
Yet IT is fiction practiced with i'm
punity.
To save innocent victims from
tragedy. from ruin and great hard
ship, may not the clocks be turned
forward at Ellis Island? To disap-
point the immigrants at the very gate
OF the country when they have com
piled with all requirements in good
faith, and to return them to Europe
upon the verge OF war, has in its
tragic action the elements OF madness.
Brig. Gen. Hanson f. Ely. COM
mandant of the Army War College.
in addressing his graduating class.
said I'm spite of the war waged to
end war. there have been twelve
wars since it's termination, and the
seeds Of war are more thickly strewn
than has been the case for many years"
That enunciation was made before
news had come OF the stormfnE of
Corfu by Italy, the probable begin
ming OF another European war
Secretary of War Weeks warned the
graduates of the War College against
trusting too much in the dogma they
had learned in their college course
He asserted that there is no institu-
ton in which the danger Of .abstrac-
tion is so great as in a military estab-
lishment. History Is filled with the
defeat OF scholastic soldiers at the
hand of practical leaders"
There is bigger Lesson in the
principle set forth by the secretary
than the one to which he applied it,
The same principle may be applied
to every walk Of life. Rules and alb
stract generaifties are useful in
training. but after the training is
achieved, the sooner the trainee
learns TO ignore rules and arouse his
own initiative and keen alertness, the