Evening star., 1923-03-01
CAPITAL KEYNOTES
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

tea. Maybe the fair ladies, az she
suggests, might arrest the moonshin-
ers better than do the huskies now
employed in that laudable task. But
would they like the rough work con-
nected with it?-getting shot up. or
chased down the road by dogs, or
manhandled by toughs whose rule
Is the hard boiled "treat 'em rough"
That is what Mrs. Annette Abbott
ADAMS, assistant attorney general,
believes. She does not think that
ms Is society assignment at all.
Perhaps she is helped to this idea by
the report of the internal revenue col
lector that 90 per cent of the man
officers sent after bootleggers and
! moonshlners are either corrupted or
Killed within the first six months.
1t would muss up things badly to
have that happen to ladies. Mrs.
Adams is not favoring the vets in
this argument. She is the assistant
who wrote the ruling which barred
Mr.. Laskers bars on shipboard and
another ruling putting wholesale
liquor dealers out of business.
X X X 4
Possibly both ladies are right. Mrs.
Adams is mindful of the rough
brigandage Of the road and the slum;
Mrs. Pinchot may be remembering
ciety which sets going an influence
most perniclous. Woman detectives
may be useful in tipping off the fash
ionable vioiators. 80 that they may
he watched and evide nee accumulate
Let the ladies get together and all
will be well.
Some one should offer a reward o.
several triliion marks for cvidencd
leading to the discovery of the motive
or provocation of the ghoulish glee
with which Congress delights to at
tack the schools of~the District of Co
lumbia. If the germ or microbe1
could once be isolated, Il parasite or
antidote might be developed to at
tack it. At present the whole assault
by our great and wise and learned
statesmen is so utterly inexplicable
that the most scientific research fails
to Identify the seat of the disease.
Possibly the psychologist was right
who specified the exact number o!
years yet before all Americans Would
be crazy. but no one expected break.
ing down SO near. physically ana
chronologically.
Will any one deny that the teachers
Of Washington are wretchedly under
paid; that the school buildings are
inadequate to house the children en-
titled to full school hours and the
best of teaching talent? Will any
one give rational explanation why
congressman should think it their pa
trfotic duty to rob Washington chill
dren of their birthright? Can any
one dispute the fact that the schools
of the capital of the nation ought TO
be the model schools of tho nation!
Or that they are, by reason of the
niggardliness of Congress, national
shame and scandal?
x X x x
One of the things most bitterly re-
sented by the reconstructed states
after the civil war was the carpet
bag rule" Men from distant states
came into communities. with no COM
munity interest, and reigned accord
ing to their Interpretation of what
was good for their Subjects. His
tory is not clear as to whether they
cared whether school kept or not. just
SO they got their per diem and mileage.
"Carpetbag rule" has been abolished
everywhere except in the District OF
Columbia Some rulers still don't
care whether school keeps or not.
Perhaps they have no children at
tending the alleged public schools OF
Washington. Certainly they have no
relatives or friends undertaking to
live comfortably on a teachers pay.
Copyright 1923 by p v CoIlins)