davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
the crowns. Of two hundred years

the crowns, of two hundred years
ago.
NO LINCOLN.
With birth control it is extremely
probable that we should not have
had Dickens, and Bach, and JEFF
ferson, and Mark Twain.
Had LincoIn's mother been for It,
we might reasonably not have had
Lincoln.
One Of these knew a debtors
prison as child, and another hun
ger and cold.
But surely. we whose lives are
actually influenced by. these men
can see now that it was their Gov
ernment's fault, it. was their slip
shod parents fault, that the home
and the supper were sometimes
lacking.
We would build minis fast
enough II ships Of virgin gold were
on their way to us from some far
shores. You and I would not say
that we could not find safety de-
post boxes fast enough were some
friend in Asia to write that he
was sending us a million dollars
in bonds!
And what a topsy-turvy world 1t
is when women can find anything
richer, sweeter, more utterly salts
flying than the raising of whole
families of sons and daughters!
What a government it is that does
not worry about a boys food and
clothing until it needs him to kill!
FLOUTING NATURE.
There is another phase OF birth
control, less perhaps of the spirit
than the body, and so less signifi-
cant, but important, too.
Our hospitals are full of white
faced women, struggling back to
partial health, winning a few years
before the inevitable and untimely
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

first. foremost, and all the time!
They need money control, and
dirt control. and health control.
"But what you propose to give
them is less. and not more respon-
sibility.
1They are not held to account
for what they eat or say, what
they spend or waste, what they
think or wear-economically, they
are a cipher. And now you sug-
gest that in the most vital, the
most fundamental Of their func-
tons they be made sterile, tool"
WHERE LOGIC FAILS.
Surely, this is the very apotheo-
sis Of perversity!
If you say to me, "Can decent
men and women spring from such
homes as you describe? Are not
such children a dead loss to their
communities, anyway" can
only say:
Logically, they should be! Ac-
tually, they are not.
probe into the lives Of some Of
our brilliant men, our writer's, our
statesmen, and you will find at
their base this same slatternly
Cbut often loving mother, and this
worthless father whose very de-
ficiencies are a stern education to
his sons!
ST believe" I could truthfully
add, "that with prohibition laws
enforced, health bureaus and baby.
saving stations nationally sup.
ported, school sanitation and food
and drug laws all behind them for
their safety, and perhaps a mar
riage law regulating the morally
or physically unfit, these ragged
little curly-heads will stand as fair
a chance as yours and mine, and
a better chance than children who
were born in the palaces, and 10
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
ITS NOWADAYS HOLD THEMSELVES MOST STE

ernments to decide, and in the
last analysis is a matter of good
taste. But for a German to sane
ton these things goes beyond
the bounds of decency and ma
tional self-respect. We are today
an Impoverished people, and it
would be contemplate for us to
play the role of social parasites"
Aftc~ all, a imam is mans
highest need" and the currents
now divided by heavy walls of
prejudice and war passion will in
evitably run together. Already
there are faint tokens that these
walls are weakening in places, and
to a close observer of the situation
it is patent that the first breach
will be made by the American am
bassador. Alanson B. Houghton,
man Of tact, breeding, sympathy
and understanding.
The wife of a neutral diplomat
says:
II always feel safe In inviting
Ambassador Houghton to meet my
friends from former court circles,
for know that his tact. will bridge
over any lingering prejudices and
that their sensitive souls will SUI.
fer no sting"
There is another phase of this
social problem and one OF a very
practical nature. Large numbers
Of tho German arlstocracy have
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

civilities, they hold themselves
sternly aloof from the haunts of
the newly rich and the war-made
men.
The more conservative element
among them shuns such thor
oughfares as Inter den Linden,
and still more the Kurfuesten-
damn - sometimes called the
"Hghroad to Palestine"-as If the
very air were polluted. They
would consider themselves as
violating the law of noblesse
oblige If seen foregathering at
any one Of the hotels de luxe, now
the happy hunting ground of an
international riff-raff, quite as
black as it is painted.
Not every member of BerIin's
former high society" to be sure.
maintains this attitude of con-
temptuous reserve; indeed, the
younger element is displaying
astounding adaptability in fitting
itself into the new social grooves.
These conditions have created
an awkward predicament for the
staffs Of the various diplomatic
missions in Berlin. Accredited as
they are to a republican govern
ment built up on the ruins of the
old monarchical state, they would
be guilty Of social as well as a
political faux pas should they evi.
dence too ardent desire to con-
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

sort with former court society,
however congenial this might be
and undoubtedly is-to certain
diplomatic groups having strong
affinities for the old regime.
CALLS FOR TACT.
The British group, for instance,
with an English peer as chief of
the mission, or the Swedish, Dan
ish or Dutch, whose own aristoc-
racy is bound to that of Ger
many by close ties of kinship
or inter-marriage must display
tact in maintaining on the one
hand the status quo of long
friendships and on the other
avoiding anything that could be
interpreted as an affront to the
powers that be.
1t must be understood, how
yer, that the obstacles to frater-
nization are not wholly on one
side, as there are large numbers
of the older and more conserVa-
tive families who still consider
themselves on a war footing with
their late enemies, and would in
dignantly reject any oVertures
made from diplomatic quarters.
This was proven on the occa-
sion of a big costume ball given
at the British Embassy last sea-.
son, when Prince Muenster, the
head OF one OF the families Of
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
MRS. ELIzABETH GALE PoINDExTER.

have, In being able to capitalize
upon the regulations OF Mr.. Ma
son and Mr.. Nolan. but both are
considered able and energetic by
their colleagues. And then, OF
course, we have had the vener.
able Mrs. FELTON,, Senator for a
day''-another instance OF COM
plinent to American women.
BUREAU CHIEF IMPORTANT.
Probably, however, the nation
at large does not realize how
prominently women figure in its
executive and judicial functions.
Members of legislative bodies are
continually in the limelight, but
bureau chiefs and judges do not
appear 50 often in the news.
Their work. however, is often.
times even more important than
that Of members OF Congress.
The public little realizes how
much legislation originates in the
bureaus, and how much is killed
by the opposition of the bureau
chiefs.
OF course. there have always
been women Of exceptional tech
nical skill in the Government en-
ploy. Many of these entered as
ordinary clerks, but were later as
signed to highly specialized work
in which they became the fore
most authorities. There are all
sorts of queer jobs for women
in the scientific departments OF
the Government - photographing
stars, chasing comets, studying
bugs or clans, and all that sort
of thing. But scientific workers
in the Government service are not
only for the most part none too
we'll paid, but they have to serve
under conditions that require al
most complete anonymity. These
are in no sense political Jobs;
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

pre-war days came out with
public dement, when his name
and that of the Princess were
enormously published in the list
of those present" And when,
in the discharge of their official
duties, the then German Chan
cellor, DR.. Wirth, and the late
DIR. Rathenau, appeared at a
soiree given at the French EN-
bassy, they were attacked by
both the fright" and left press
for their "lack of pride and pa
triotism." Only recently, a Ger
man writer anonymously exhort-
ed his countrymen and women to
refrain from accepting the hos
pitality of the foreign missions
as something beneath their dig
nifty.
While admitting the necessity
of the correct and courteous OBJ
servance Of thef.s social amenities
toward foreigners here on an Of
fetal mission, the writer strongly
condemned any inclination for
closer contact at a time when, as
he said:
NOT SOCIAL PARASITES.
Our intelligentsia is slowly
starving to death, and our bour-
geoisie is physically and morally
going to ruin. Let these foreign
ers feast and revel as they like:
that 10 a aAestion for their gov.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
By CAROLINE v. KERR,

Dy Ok11OU4AAGND W NAJASAOS
Universal Service Staff Correspondent.
~ ERLIN society at present is
like an inverted layer-cake
- with the cream filling lying
in a super-gelatinous state at the
bottom. while the heavier and
coarser batter has risen to the top.
This is a smile that would occur
to anyone in q position to compare
pre-war social conditions with
those existing today.
The scenes and personages of
yesteryear have vanished COM
pletely, and even the inquisitive
and initiated eye has difficulty in
discovering more than sporadic
traces Of a. society that once made
Berlin one Of the most brilliant
capitals in Europe. This society
was indigenous to the soil, and so
rooted in centuries of tradition as
to make it inconceivable that it
should ever permit itself to be
stifled or effaced by the new
fungus growth Of postwar society.
ARISTOCRACY ALOOF.
The members of the German
aristocracy seem to have with
drawn into their shells like the
proverbial snail, and while there
- undoubtedly a large colony Of
these snail jewellers who keep
UP an animated exchange Of social
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

or as one reckons it in economic
phraseology, "the price Of a loaf
of bread" For the same reasons
concerts and theaters have been
eliminated from the family pro-
gram.
Berlin society, whether regard
ed from this specific angle or
taken by and large, is totally
bankrupt in intellectual and spir-
itual values. It is in the grip or
what the psycho-analysts would
diagnose as a money complex"
to be more accurate, a dollar
complex" All intellectual inter-
ests have been relegated to the
background by those Of q purely
economic and materialistic nature.
All Germany seems to be OBJ
sessed with this dollar complex"
Every street car conductor. every
woman selling wilted flowers on
the corner, every servant. maid,
every coal HEAVIER knows the pre-
else stand of the dollar, and even
the infants prattle Of this mystic
rlous bosey-man.
BLAME IT ON DOLLAR,
When a bunch OF parsley
grown very likely on a window
box of the cellar dwelling, takes
a sudden jump in price, your
marketweman explains IT simply
with 1.-THE dollar rose today" bor
to the German mind the financial
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

been reduced by the war to
state of genteel poverty, in many
cases of actual need, which makes
entertaining even on the most mod
est scale wholly prohibitive. Not
even the lean years Of the war
were economic conditions as they
are in the fifth year Of peace.
TRANSPORT A FACTOR.
Although invitations to meals
were out Of the question, it was
still possible during that period
for people to come together in the
evening for a friendly cup Of tea
and a cigar-even If both were
made of sumac leaves. But today
even this would cut too deeply in
family budgets.
Added to this is the mechanical
or technical factor of transporta-
ton. Tram, omnibus and subway
fares-it Is futile to speak or taxi
cabs, as they have long ago been
relegated to the list Of unattaln-
able luxuries-have now mounted
to three figures, with q fresh IN
crease always lowering on the
horizon.
Berlin, like Washington. ID a
"city of magnificent distances"
and a married couple, for instance
accepting an invitation for SIM
pie abendbrod with friends living
across the city. 10 confronted with
an outlay Of several hundred SSharks
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

they are highly specialized
branches of scientific work.
JOBS SHOW PROGRESS.
The real extent of woman's
progress under the suffrage
amendment is best illustrated,
probably. by the number Of APP
pointive jobs they have landed.
There are now a good many Of
them.
Ten years ago or more. when
Julia Lathrop was appointed head
Of the ChiIdren's Bureau, the news
created general excitement. Presi-
dent Taft named her for the job.
which was then the biggest paid
position in the Government serv-
ice ever given to woman. and
1t was considered necessary. ins a
way, to apologize for 1t. The
country was informed that the
Children's Bureau needed g.
woman at it's head: man couldn't
properly fill the place. Even 30,
imagine q good many deserving
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Republi-
cans-were disappointed. If
man wants a job he isn't always
concerned with his fitness to fill
the position.
But matters went on, with Miss
Lathrop stM considered as some
thing almost unique. until the
war. It was the war that first
gave women their opportunity in
the Government, and suffrage that
confirmed It.
WAR GAVE CHANCE.
There was a need in Washing
ton, during wartime, for all the
executive talent the country could
muster, and it was discovered then
when so many men were in the
military service, that women mad
their share. Mabel Boardman ana
Anne Morgan did wonders for the
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
,SAY VS.
Miracle of Life

There are just classes Of things in the world in
one class are all these wedding presents of yours and
theaters and Jewels and books and all the other hfeess
things that changed And in the other class all by
itself the miracle miracle of life as mysterious
and SO much sweet than death-the fairies come
alive and yours-your children!
The Society for Throwing Money Into Bays and
Rivers 1.-THE Society for Destroying All Flowers in
june 1.-THE Society for the Suppression of knowledge
these shall join long before send my subscription
in for what is known as birth control
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
Ohioan Breaks
Bank of Casino
at Wiesbaden

EEIIOW I broke the bank g
II the Casino IN VETS
BADEN" Is . favorlte story Of
Peter A, Fitzpatrick, Column
bus plumbing contractor, who
has returned from 3 trip
abroad.
One hundred and fifty thOa-
sand marks In crisp bank
notes was the spoil . fat
crOupier pushed across the
table to Mrs. Fitzpatrick enc
day last September. With the
aid of q friendly waiter IN
nearby cafe, the Columbus
man figured up his winnings
in American money.
They amounted - SbS.la
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

~
" into her own in Washing
w, ton. In these days, the
city is one to delight the heart
of feminist.
Women hold down a lot of very
good jobs here. Women, even
wealthy women. are back Of some
of the most prosperous businesses
of the Capital. There was a time
when woman IN q Government
job above the grade Of q clerkship
was almost a curiosity. Nova
days they get almost as many
plums az the men.
I am not referring here to those
wives. sisters, cousins and of MEM
bers OF Congress who get on the
payroll up On Capitol Hill and
thereafter never do anything to
justify it except to drive around
once q month or so in their
limousines to the disbursing offices
to collect their pay. There has
always been plenty Of that sort Of
thing, and probably always will be;
and that circumstance is one that
explains why the wife OF Repre-
sentative or Senator OF compare.
lively modest financial station can
outshine the wives Of men who are
really wealthy.
HOW THEY DRESS WELL.
It was q year or more after
came here before / found out that
some Of the best-dressed women in
Washington society were the wives
Of. men Of ordinary means.
But nowadays there are plenty
Of women who really work. who
hold responsible offices and who
are every day showing the men
that they can do quite as efficient
work as the lords OF creation
We have had our first woman
Senator and there have been four
women in the lower house. There
will be good many more as the
years roll on.
It Is extremely dubious.
think, that women would have
anything like as large a part in
national affairs as they now have
IL the equal suffrage amendment
had not been adopted. Al good
many appointments of women to
administrative positions have
been made lately where there
were almost none before. In poll
tics. the rule that has worked
for centuries is still going strong.
Appointments are probably made
more often than not with an eye
toward pleasing some particular
group of persons having political
influence.
OFFER JOBS TO WOMEN.
So it happens that with a dou.
bling OF our electorate by adding
good many millions Of feminine
voters, the politicians of both
parties feel that something ought
to be done to please these
women. When 1t is possible for
women to be elected to Congress
in States so widely separated as
Montana, Oklahoma, California
and Illinois, 1t 10 clear enough
that the power of the feminine
vote is considerable.
Miss Jeanette Rankin, of
course, was the first woman to
be elected to Congress, and Miss
Alice Robertson followed two
years ago. They are decidedly
unlike-Miss Rankin, young. &C.
tive, with a tendency to radical.
ism; Miss Robertson, middle
aged and intensely conservative
Mrs. Huck, who has just finished
serving out the term of her
father, and Mrs. Nolan, who sue
ceeds her husband in the
House, have had an advantage
that their predecessors did not
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

catastrophe is due always to the
rise Of the dollar but never to the
fall Of the mark, thus making the
currency Of the United States
shoulder the responsibility Of Ger
many's financial debacle.
During the war Germany was
derided for her culture the
time will soon como when she
will be tainted with . lack OF It.
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
E<wwY HY don't you ever ex-
w press yourself about
w birth control?" a cor

fA PACC0 ySAA0OAA eAOS0S
birth control?" a cor
respondent writes reproachfuliy.
You've written fifteen books
and something like a hundred
articles closely touching the things
that interest and concern women;
you've talked from platforms
about much less vital subjects.
This is the most important
issue OF them all! Are you afraid
OF it?"
After q few seconds In which
indignantly repudiated the sug-
eestion of fear, I decided hunbly
that yes. really was afraid of
It.
1t is a ticklish matter to put !.
down in harsh black and white;
It is rather a subject for the
morning room. where mothers and
daughters talk together.
One of my fears, realize
now, was that for an article read
generally by all sorts and kinds
Of persons, there was even q
certain improperly in selecting
the question of birth control.
sat upon second thought a
great deal is being written and
said about 1t already, and there
is at least a possibility that the
little high school girl am
lnstinctively protecting may be
discussing it freely with her
group and finding plenty of print
ed matter to support whatever
attitude she takes about 1t.
TAMPERTNG WITH NATURE.
One more article can make no
special impression in the heavily
running tide, and mine might
even present, to little Sixteen, a
slightly different--a new, point
Of view.
Firstly, then. of course / am
for birth control, and man and
woman and child control, and
school and church control. and
alcohol control, and trust con-
troll, and all other manifold con-
trolls that make for sane COM.
monwealth and sane people.
But that does not mean that
!, or any other reasonable and
conscientious person, need be for
tampering with what is equally
natural for the body and the
soul.
To use the word control" for
what is really deliberately license
remedied by unnatural means is
q stupid misuse Of terms.
We do not speak of the old
Romans, who gorged themselves
stupid and then. habitually used
emetics, as controlled" On the
contrary, we use them as an ex-
ample of utter and unbridled glut-
tony and self-indulgence
SELF vs.. BIRTH CONTROL.
Control, after all, is only another
word for choice" And choice is
one of the great privileges of
freed. educated, highly civilized
people.
To choose our laws, our law
makers, our husbands, our homes,
our books, to choose our friends
is this not to be free in the highest
and finest sense? What character
istics more indicative of intelli-
gence may a man or woman have
than that he or she chooses" his
or her words?
So that when a woman points
out TO me a slovenly, Incorporate
home, a complaining filthy woman,
q stupid, unreliable man, and n
crowd of children, and asks, Now
can you tell me that they don't
need birth control here?" can
answer honestly:
my dear woman, of course
they do! They need self-control,
The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15
KATHLEEN NORRIS
Hunger,
OhceFohs Whom Have Made
NGnaceof ohhcs Must Now Deal New Factor

end, because nature will not be
eternally flouted, because delicate
flesh and blood must pay the price
when great privileges are abused
and great purposes baked.
This attitude toward motherhood
is one of the obsessions, one of the
completes" Of our day.
Girls so into marriage buoyaltly
definite about it. ! get very tired
of hearing these young things say
sayIy:
I'VE don't want q family for
awhile And. you know, I'd never
want more than we could bring UP
comfortably and give every advan-
tagep'
Yes. you poor. little blindfoIded
child" one feels like saying in an
swer,. land ten years ago you. said
that when you had to stop playing
with dolls you would kill yourself
and ten years before that you
would have handed over the Kohl
moor itself for q graham crackerl''
THE GREATEST MIRACLE.
There are just two classes Of
things in the world in one
class are all these wedding pres
ents of yours, and theaters, and
jewels, and books, and all the
other lifeless things that never
changeI
''And In the other class. all BY
itself, is the nniracle-the miracle
OF life. as mysterious. and so
much more sweet. than death
the fairies come alive, and yours
your children
Don't arm yourselves against
them. one wants to say. Don't
put them out Of your life. Begin
with lesser things!
Put away vanity and selfish
ness, put away the silly compe-
tition that makes home-making
SO hard.
Put aside the caste prejudices
that make it SO hard for you to
keep a servant.
Study the problems of yourself
and other mothers, cooperate,
make your nursery the hub and
center Of your life, build your
days full of companionship and
work about it!
There is nothing downtown to
draw you away, there is a full
ness and a sweetness right here
in your hands that might make
the most successful professional
woman in the world sick with
envy!
PROOF OVERLOOKED.
The proof of this is all about
US, but so many young women do
not, cannot. see It. And she is
going to be a pioneer in her gen.
GRAFTON that young woman-per-
haps a child today-who brings
the big family again into fashion,
who arouses the envy and admira-
ton of all her world with her
boys and girls!
She will be all for control,
indeed, but not of babyhood!
She will be for doing away first
with alcohol, with want, with
cold and hunger. with fashions
and bridge parties, with travel
and the arts-with the very roof
over her head and the shoes
under her feet, and then we shall
find her camping triumphantly in
the woods, fishing, building fires,
contented and happy because,
whatever else has failed her, the
children are all here!
The honor of bearing children
ought to be one to make men
envy, revere, and marvel.
1t is-the minute you begin to
analyze these things-the one
supremacy strange and important
possibility that falls to human
beings.
Copyright, 1923. by Republic Syndicate.