Evening star., 1923-09-11

The bituminous operators special COM
nlittee, appointed to look after welfare
york. In mines. and mining neighbor-
hoods, has issued an elaborate report
discussing the question What is a
company town7'', The report Is ad-
dressed to the United States Coal
Commission.
The brief sets forth a defense of the
alleged popular assumption that COM
psnS town is "a, feudal survival re-
sulting from the attempt OF conscience
less operators 70 deprive their workmen
sof the civIl liberties of American citi.-
E.zens.-s-.
The reasons for the existence of COM
lpany towns at mines are that q coal
mine Is usually in an unsettled region
and that the average field lasts rarely
longer than twenty to fifty years. and
that. therefore, the miner has little in
centive TO own his home, which will be-
come valueless after certain period"
q y ~
The influence upon the peaceableness
OF citizen exerted by his being a home
owner is so we'll recognized that the
t.aboye argument. quoted from the BRIEF
fis strangely contradictory of the gem
eral teaching. OF economists. The life
iof an ordinary frame house does not
Eayerage twenty yeare
| 1t seems regrettabie that the home
downing influence cannot come into the
life of the miners. to steady them and
build up self-respect and stability
The brief seems to recognize these
facts. in saying labor turnover is ex-
pensive and labor turnover is ,m-
! fuenced approximately 80 per cent by
houses and living conditions
No matter how humble, the home that
Is owned by the occupant takes on a
charm from the skies'' which is never
found elsewhere, and lends contentment
and steady industry to it's possessor,
which no rented home can give. regard
less of the easy terms Of rental.
| X ~
The skies are darkenlng. The sun
| is being eaten by a black shadow.
The dragon is bent on swallowing It..
The black fate of utter destruction
did not succeed in the earthquake.
when the monster spider was snaw-
ing inside the earth. but today the
spider is up in the sky. for 1t has the
power of throwing its web from star
to star and quickly leaping across the
heavens. This is the end.
Such may be the thoughts of the ig-
norant and superstitious and un-
nerved Japanese. as they look up at
| the eclipse of the sun. The shadow
of the moon and the corona of the
sun. with Venus seen inside the mar
nomenon which, will not be repeated
until 1862. 1t is far more inspiring
to scientists than to the supersti-
tious; so are all the great phenomena
| CT nature. The greater the under
standing, the more awe-inspiring the
phenomena.
Compare the superstition of bar
| barians, as they gaze in terror at the
spider biting the SUM-" with the sci
entists' vision of the shadow of
and across the earth. and the glory of
the sun so shaded for a few hours
! that from it's crown flames may be
seen to reach out into space 100000
Imiles--sixty times the diameter of
the earth, And with all this mon
of years. the sun is not consumed.
There are so many countless millions
i of other suns, with their planets and
their blazing CONGREGATIONS! Com
/ the childish superstitions of the ig-
norant!
| y
| Through smoked glass one looks
upon the eclipsed sun and wonders.
| Through a great telescope one may
see the confagration and shudder at
| the flames streaming into space. But
how little do our eyes tell of the
fereeness of the heat pouring out
| from that furnace! II all the heat of
the sun were focused. IL would be suf-
hcient to change 1s5 millions OF cubic
miles from freezing to boiling, in one
second.
| When a great conhagratlon is rag
ing on earth, the ire causes winds TO
blow These winds are not of hur-
ricane speed. which is 100 miles an
! hour. but they are stormy. The
mighty holocaust on the sun similarly
causes winds which rage. at speed
of 100 miles a second--not an hour!
The hery explosions throw up debris
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