davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
For Benefit of People.

The coal deposits were pro-
duced and stored by nature with
out mans efforts. They are in
capable Of replacement. Thus
they are naturally differentiated
from the products OF mans skill
and industry. to the possession
and enjoyment OF which his title
is unquestioned. For this very
reason there are cogent argu-
ments why the country's coal de-
posts should be developed, as
long as they last, for the benefit
Of the whole people and not for
the benefit OF a monopolistic pri-
waite oligarchy.
Before the coal deposits have
been exhausted, it is true, Q new
and unknown or unsupported
source OF, light and heat and
power may be discovered by Sci
ence. Since that would be an
economic fundamental in national
existence. when it comes 1t
should be Immediately taken over
by the Government for the bene-
fit Of the whole people. We have
had our lesson with coal.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

numbers in use in all general hos
pitfalls in this country. --
AT the same time, it states that
many cases Of serious maladjust-
ment never reach these hospitals.
The expenditure for the insane
alone, in some States, it points
out, exceeds the amount for any
other purpose. with one excep-
ton, perhaps, that of education,
while the cost of maintenance of
persons in hospitals for mental
diseases throughout the country
amounts to about $75,O0O,OOO!
While these figures are suf-
ficiently astonishing to the lay
mind, statistics from other reli-
able sources furnished by members
of the medical profession point
out that one out Of every ten
persons in New York alone is now
receiving, or has at some time
during his or her life, received
treatment for mental trouble!
Aside from recent reports
showing the mounting number of
suicides induced by a morbid
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
BY HELEN HOFFMAN,

Universal Service Staff Correspondent.
= s our twentieth century civil
zation responsible for the n.y.
u per-nervous condition of socl-
ETY. today, with its attendant in
crease Of nervous and mental dis
eases?
Members of the medical profess
sion, observing this increase with
alarm, are giving serious thought
to the question Of coping with the
growing number Of patients who
apply to them for treatment.
Neurologists and psychiatrists
and other members of the medical
profession view with amazement
the shocking statistics concerning
this phase of national life recent
ly compiled by various agencies
interested particularly in this
question.
According to the bulletin issued
by the national committee for
mental hygiene, the number VI
hospital beds occupied by patients
with mental diseases exceeds the
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

to be done about it?" And how
is it to be done?
1t is a big problem-not to be
dismissed with an airy wave OF
the hand and an offhand opinion.
There is powerful sentiment that
Congress ought to nationalize the
mines. But even the most eager
opponents OF this plan seem to
agree. that before such step is
taken the Government should ex-
pertinent by taking over several
types Of mines and working them
efficiently on strictly CONNER
cial profit basis for q sufficiently
long period, say Of one or two
years, before investing q mini
mum Of from two to two and
one-half billion dollars Of the peo-
pies money.
The supply Of anthracite coal
for the nations needs that still
remains unmined and most Of
which Is held in reserve" by
the six or seven largest opera
tors and their affiliated railroads,
is roughly estimated to be suf-
ficent to last the United States
for seventy-five to one hundred
years. Some authorities say fifty
years.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

I do know that his voice led all
the rest in the nightly song tests
of the saloon called the Farm
er's Home and that he never did
get too heavy to serve as cox
swain, but continued to hold his
honor until he graduated, a
triumphant example of what
could be done on beer.
OF course, beer was considered
entirely inadequate after a foot.
ball game or in that great release
which followed the writing Of the
mid-year examinations. At such
times convention demanded whis-
key, and the streets were full of
drunken students.
There was even a fraternity Of
drunkards, society to which
only those who got drunk con-
genially and frequently, without
the special stimulus of football or
examinations, were invited.
The college authorities paid
very little attention to drinking.
The faculty never disciplined a
man for drinking unless his
drinking led to arrest by the po-
lice. There was only one rule
about drinking: the fraternities
all forbade their members to
bring liquor into their chapter
houses. This rule was rather
rigidly enforced by the fraterni-
ties themselves.
But, paradoxical as it may
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
To Regain Rights.

II so. how can the people, who
have been frozen and robbed in
the last winter, come again into
their own and regain possession Of
their natural resources? Equity
suggests that the coal mines, both
anthracite and bituminous-al-
though there is at present no such
monopolistic strangIehold on soft
coal as exists in the case of hard
coal-be taken over by fair pur-
chase from their present holders.
Such purchase would not be con-
fiscation, 1t is urged, but would
only be the exercise of the right of
eminent domain, which, in this
country, at elast, is regarded as in
disputable.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
white Coal.

''If the white coal" or water
power of the entire country were
developed to its fullest extent and
sold at low prices justified by
public control and development,
as recommended by that Philis-
tine servant Of Big Business.
Electrical Wizard Steinmetz, of
the General Electric Company,
who holds his job because of his
genius and despite his private
convictions, coal would not be
such a worrisome item in public
economy.
But the electrical interests of
the nation, it happens, are fl
nanced by the same folk that
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
Federal Commission, Under Direction of
john Hays Hammond, is Investigate
ing Difference Between Necessary
and Added Cost of Fuel

financed steel and iron ore, the rail.
roads and the coal mines. In other
words, the fundamentals of eco
nomic existence are al practically
under the same financial wing.
And the financial interests do not
want to see vast water power
transformed into convenient cleo.
tricity for household, traction and
general power and heat require
ments.,
It would adversely affect the.
mining, railroad, trolley. lighting
and power interests. This obvious
~ is at the bottom Of organized re-
sistance to plans for public conser.
walton and development of power
and heat resources whether such
projects are agitated in individual
States or at the national capital.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

mental state, the national commit.
tee for mental hygiene lays
emphasis on the tremendous
economic loss to the country an
nually through loss Of health
caused by mental troubles, and
estimates this loss at more than
$2O0,O00.OOO a year!
While the destructive phases of
modern social life are denounced
continually by members of the
clergy, physicians are endeavor:ng
to find the cause OF the great
social unrest" that is under
mining the public health repre-
scented in the ever-incresing num-
Der of persons requiring treat
ment for nervous and mental
disorders.
One expression of this great un-
rest, physicians claim, may be
observed in the almost spectacular
pursuit of new pleasures and
new interests, the latter furnished
to a considerable degree oy the
big and growing number of re-
ligions and cults which now num-
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
Monopoly Exists.

What the ultimate effects or
these exposures will be remains to
be seen, but since the organized la
Dor vote OF the nation is aroused
and the entire voting public, in
the anthracite consuming States.
has been shown the details Of mon
opolistic exploitation, far-reaching
results may be anticipated.
Powerful municipal, State and
Federal political forces have been
galvanized into serious considera-
ton once more of the facts respect
ing the methods of a monopoly
which has its ramifications through
Wall street, Chestnut street, Penn
sylvania avenue and thence over
the railroad web down into the
mines themselves.
Privately and publicly, the
State OF Pennsylvania, seat Of
hard coil monopoly, is exacting
toll from the rest Of the nation.
New York, the biggest customer,
is hardest hit.
The question now is. What is
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

And every fraternity resorted
to exhortation to persuade its
members to fill what it regarded
as its social duty. Not one man
in five danced spontaneously. Men
did spontaneously call on girls
and even took them driving and
a few rather old students had
canoes and occasionally took q
girl out on the lake.
There was special student
word for all this sort Of thing.
The word was fussing. 1t did
not mean spooning, or what would
now be called petting, even by
implication. 1t did not mean a
serious interest in the girl. The
nearest equivalent you will find
in the dictionary is flirting. But
Irritation is patiently more seri-
Gus than fussing.
GREAT DEAL OF FUSSING.
was not frowned upon.
A few men did great deal Of it.
But the majority did very little.
And a great many-surely more
than half-avoided it altogether.
There were nearly four times as
many men as women, so that
there were very far from being
enough girls to go round.
The life of the university out
side the classroom was almost
wholly in the hands Of men. All
athletic sports were theirs to
control, as a matter of course.
But they controlled nearly every
thing .else-the publications, the
elections, the social life. The
board of the college humorous
paper had once elected coed to
membership.
But in my time the episode was
so far forgotten that nobody
knew just how it had happened.
It was taken for granted that 1t
would never happen again. The
college daily was less exclusive.
It permitted. goods to work as
hard as they liked, so long as
they confined themselves to re-
porting.
But they were neither elected
to editorships nor permitted to
take any part in the actual man.
agement or production of the
paper. The fraternities doni-
mated social life.
They exchanged courtesies with
the sororities on occasion. a
small percentage of sorority girls
won invitations from fraternity
men to the Junior Prom and its
accompanying house parties. But
it was distinctly understood that
it was the fraternitieS and not
the sororities, that had the favors
to bestow.
THE CO.EDS "BELONGED."
There was no feeling against
goods as such at my college; they
belonged. But they were to an
amazing degree ignored. Other
colleges were less and net more
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

ing time or after. Beer was be-
neved to be good.
The coxswain of the crew, one
of the most popular men in col.
lege. was reputed to live wholly
on beer in the interests of his
career. A coxswain, 1t should
perhaps be explained, must be
light in weight, since Tracing
crew cannot afford to carry
heavy man; he must have a re-
liable sense Of time and pace;
and he must have a stentorian
voice with which properly to en-
courage tagging oarsmen as he
beats up the stroke with his loud
Hep! Hep! Hepr
The coxswain Of my day valued
his honor, and he knew that, like
a jockey for a lightweight cham
pion, he would lose his job If he
gained in weight. Beer was fat
tening If added to the three
meals a day of a regular diet.
So he hit upon the simple ex-
pedient Of emitting the meals
and drinking all the beer he
could hold. simultaneously he
exercised his voice, and perhaps
his sense Of rhythm, by roaring
the ribald songs Of the day in a
chorus of his fellows. ...
LED ALL AT SONG TESTS.
I do not know how rigidly he
denied himself of solid food. But
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

being. comfort, health and, as in
the last winter, life itself is at
stake.
The public has learned through
suffering that it has its rights.
But it also realizes that the task
OF rescuing them from predatory
and rapacious interests is yet to
be accomplished. It has learned
that peace has its campaigns of
frightfulness no less than war
and that great financial combina-
tons present an ever-existing peril
unless checked.
Through the United States Coal
Commission, named by President
Harding and headed by John
Hays Hammond, the public is
seeking to differentiate the neces-
sary from the added costs of coal.
It is demanding to know actually
how much goes for an insufficient
wage at the mines, for transpor-
tation, distribution and delivery,
and how much for exorbitant
profits to the mining companies,
railroads and financiers.
Contract miners, the operators
can truthfully say, may receive
up to $3.50 and in cases 50 a
day, but they are in the minority,
for most mine work is done by
laborers receiving half as much.
Then, too, all of them work only
part OF the year.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

one-quarter OF the sum the ma
ton raised in Liberty loans during
wartime and now owed to this
country by other nations, would
suffice, probably. to acquire the
coaI-mining properties. It IL Ger
tain in the light Of the exposures
by the Hearst papers that ff acquisi-
ton Of the mines within . few
years does not appear q judicious
or feasible undertaking. although It
could be done by a public bond Is
sue without Gripping national
finances. strong control Of the
mines should be exercised by ma
tional authority.
This seems to sum up the besr
thought on the subject to date
by men who have given many
years of study to it.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

constantly made against the
younger generation are true. I
wanted to know just how differ
emit the dress and manners and
morals Of this generation are
from those OF its predecessors.
And then I wanted to know why.
There was a very special rea-
son for choosing Western colleges
as the place to find out. These
colleges are communities Of
young men and young women
perhaps one ought to say Of boys
and girls-such as do not exist
anywhere else in the world. Co
education is an American inven-
ton.
A WESTERN INVENTION.
Indeed, It is a Western Ameri-
can invention. No country in
Europe-unless it is soviet Russia
has, yet dreamed of sending
thousands Of girls in the age be-
tween sixteen and twenty away
from home to school for four
years on the same campus and
in the same class-rooms with boys
Of the same age.
Our own Atlantic seaboard has
in special cases tolerated rather
than accepted co-education. But
west Of the Alleghenies co-educa-
ton is not only the accepted but
the approved thing. It is almost
the only thing.
1 can now remember but one
Western college of standing that
is not co-educational. Through
out the immense region from
Pittsburgh to the Pacific going
to college means going to a CO.
educational college.
Here, I thought, one might see
the younger generations in action.
one might listen to what it had
to say for itself; one might learn
what its teachers had found out
about it-as we'll as what they
hadn't found out about 1t. Here
one might actually discover the
secret Of changes. that seemed,
: despite their newness, so deep
and so disturbing.
COMES TO NEW YORK.
I went from New York to
the Middle West with certain
prejudices. I was born on one
side of the Mississippi and grew
up on the other. saw tho
prairie country and the corn
lands and the Rocky Mountains
as boy; but not the Atlantic
ocean. attended a co-educa-
tional State university.
l never saw college to which
women were not admitted until
Taught in one of the exceptions.
So my first prejudice was that
took co-education for granted.
l had heard that co-education
had changed it's sober habit.
had heard that young men with
heads for business ne longer
worked their way through college
as laundry agents; that they had
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
workers Blameless.

Men having four or five in fam
lily to support draw on an aver
age, it is shown by indisputable
facts, less than 500 a month,
which is not a living wage in
these times. In twenty years the
wages OF miners have increased
81 per cent to reach their present
level, but in the meantime living,
costs have trebled. SO the miner
OF today is worse off as to net
income than he was two decades
ago.
The operators, therefore, cannot
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
LED SEPARATE LIVES.

Der in this country alone more
than two hundred varieties.
While no complete figures have
as yet been compiled on the sub
jeet it is believed by experts
that the mentally afflicted ones
are almost equally divided be-
tween the sexes.
Reports from various institu-
tions during the past decade show
that the number of voluntary
commitments to hospitals for
mental diseases has increased
from Is to almost 90 per cent.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
Secret Society of Youth Attacked at Fot I'm Effort
to Bridge Ckasr1 Between Conventions
of Older Generations and Growing
Laxity of Younger Folks

seem, the tone Of the college was
sober and Industrious. The COM
munity was chiefly composed of
young men who took getting an
education seriously.
And of course drinking was
practically unknown among the
women. I knew, in four years, OF
only one coed who drank any
thing containing alcohol and she
disappeared from the university
rolls and from the sorority OF
which she was a member sudden
ly and forever.
College men and college women
led surprisingly separate lives.
There was a series of hops in the
gymnasium to which any student
in the uniform required for mill
tary drill might go and to which
he might bring a coed or girl
from town, as he pleased. There
was a Junior Prom, when all the
fraternities gave elaborate HOUSE,
parties.
LED SEPARATE LIVES.
Indeed, every fraternity and
every sorority gave one formal
dance in addition each year and
a number Of informal dances. But
these dances-it was the day Of
the waltz and the two-step-were
singularly dead. The truth was
that most students regarded
dances as q bore.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

found q more profitable enter
prise in bootlegging.
had heard that young women
in college not only bobbed their
hair and rolled their stockings
and smoked cigarettes and
kissed promiscuously and turned
up their insouciant noses at the
ideas and ideals Of their mothers
but that they drank the stuff
that bootleggers sell.
1 had heard it from people who
thought they knew and who were
not in the habit of lying. But
I did not really believe it. I
gave these stories a certain Gre
dence-as one does. But I had
securely in mind a picture of the
co-educational college as I had
known it.
HABIT OF CO-EDUCATION.
I mentioned the sober habit
of co-education. AS a matter of
fact, when I was in college fif-
teen and twenty years ago drink
ing was perhaps the most uni
versal social diversion among
men students. Drinking was not
regarded as serious vice so
long as it was masculine.
The town was full of saloons.
Students sat around these sa-
looms drinking beer from 8
o'clock in the morning until clos
The Washington times., 1923-04-15

It was the rule Of the fraterni-
ties at one OF the neighboring
State universities sthat no coed
should under any circumstances
be asked to dance, and it was
considered such bad form for a
college man to address an un.
necessary word to q college
woman that freshmen were repri.
manded for it.
The typical college girl Of the
period was a serious-minded per-
son who expected to teach in a
high school. There were excep-
tons. Frivolous girls were not
unknown. But they were un-
usual.
The tone Of the women was az
toundingly serious. They might
have been five years older than
the men they met in classes.
They dressed simply and quietly
and with what would now be re-
garded as an excess of modesty.
Rouge was almost unknown and
the hpstick was unheard of.
The coed led q severe life.
rigidly controlled by the rules of
an association to which every
woman in college automatically
belonged, a league Of her sisters
that forbade her to be out Of her
room after 10 o'clock at night
(when the library closed except
for special occasions, when spe-
cial permission might be granted
after an investigation.
A MANS COLLEGE.
The presence Of women
there were some 900 in. the stu
dent body of more than 1000
made very little difference. The
college was really a mans college
at least, it was 50 to the men.
I remember several quite serious
discussions among college men a.
to whether there were any attrac-
tive girls in college.
The general opinion was that
the phenomenon known 90 the
pretty girl did occur On the
campus, burt much more rarely
than off it. But the men weren't
really interested In whether It
did or not.
It was with such . picture as
I have sketched that 7 went back
to my own college. I knew that
some changes had occurred. I
knew, for instance, that the Vol
stead law was three years old.
But my picture of college life
was a picture Of which the social
background was the saloon.
Now that I have written down
that statement 1t rather shocks
me. But 1t is true. So when,
approaching the campus after
many years, I saw that the
Farmers Home had become a
flat-building I had sharper sense
of the coming Of prohibition than
have ever had in New York. /
walked on toward the campus
wondering just what had taksa
the place of the Farmers Home
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
By FRANCIs j. TIETsORT.

|" HE revelations Of recent
weeks concerning present
day conduct of the anthra-
cite industry by the operators, ex-
tortionate profits on underground
mining, reclamation Of mine waste
banks, on whoIesaling, transporta-
ton and retailing of fireproof and
Indifferent coal under the excuse
OF shortage" that has proved to
be arbitrary and artificial, have
shocked the nation.
These revelations, coming after
first-hand and intensive investiga-
ton by the Hearst newspapers.
have not only stirred the public as
never before, but have agitated the
inner circles Of the coal and rail-
road interests and have even prod
ded officialdom here in Washing
ton.
The Washington times., 1923-04-15
By LUCIAN CARY.

I" HE present younger genera
ton is the most startling
thing that has happened to
these United States since the war.
Everybody has attacked its dress,
fits manners and its morals for two
years. But nobody has explained
It.
The change in the attitude Of
young people land particularly in
the attitude of the girl Of the
period began spontaneously. It
is still only partly conscious and
almost inarticulate.
But it has now reached the pro.
portions Of a revolt-a revolt Of
action-against the older genera
tons ideals of conduct.
And yet the standard adult re-
action is still to look aghast while
listening to the latest scandal
about the young. There is scarce
ly any attempt to understand
what the 6Cauudl IHSduS.
GIRL SURE OF HERSELF.
Even so serious a student OF
youth as DR.. G. Stanley Hall, the
president of Clark University and
the author of two thick volumes
on Adolescence" is content mere
ly to state the change.
Never since civilization began"
he says in a recent review, has
the girl in the early teens seemed
so self-sufficient and sure of her
self, or made such a break with
the rigid traditions Of propriety
and convention which have hedged
her in. From this, too, it follows
that the tension which always
exists between mothers and daugh-
tiers has greatly increased and
there now seems to be almost
chasm between successive gener-
atoms
Now "chasm" is good word.
It describes effectively the space
between the two generations of
our day. But 1t doesn't explain;
it doesn't tell why. And it is
only possible to deal with a So
cial change when you know why.
One great difficulty in finding
out the why of the younger gen.
GRAFTON is that it is able to tell
us so little about itself; and an
other difficulty is that it won't tell
us as much as it Is able.
A SECRET SOCIETY.
Youth is a secret society with a
code of its own, language Of it's
avn, and a profound suspicion Of
adults as it's common bond. It is
not given to middle age to pene-
trate it's Utmost heart. Neverthe-
less, you can if you try, go long
way.
1t was with the intention of try
ing, Of going as far as could to-
ward understanding the younger
: generation that ! visited some OF
the great co-educational colleges
Of the Middle West. I wanted to
know & the charges that are so