Intermountain Jewish news., 1925-12-10

| was commerce. Joseph fels WIS the
name Of the boy.
swift OF motion, n pleasant o0nversa.
tIonalist, an excellent salesman, he sold
not only the goods OF his firm. but his
personality ns well. His circle Of
friends grew with every town he Wis.
tied.
One day he passed through KeOkuk,
Iowa. Conversing with one Of his Gus
toners, after the usual courtesles had
been exchanged, the buyer, learning the
| salesman's name, hastened TO inform
| him that there was Jewish family In
the town bearing the same name
Fels.
With the family love peculiar to the
Jewish race, Joseph left his business
and his prospects and hastened to visit
the house and to get acquainted with
these people who were, perhaps, mem-
bers Of his family.
Joseph Feis Meets Mary
When he reached the door OF the
house and pulled the knocker, a charm
ing little girl came out to open the door
| and usher him to her father and
mother. He was 20; she was .. His
name was Joseph Fels; her name,
Mary Fels. They became acquainted
with her school books and probably
dreams of that young prince who would
some day come and take her to his
castle, as is so beautifully told In the
stories Of princes and princesses. No
| one could foresee that the results Of
this meeting would be important not
only TO the pair, but would perhaps CON
stitute one step forward in the social
order of humanity.
The young man spoke about the
topics Of the day-it was an important
epoch in the history Of the country
of business affairs, and about the
weather. When he departed, he prom
ised to return in due time. However,
every year the young salesman came
| back TO Keokuk, with the regularity of
| a clock. When he came, he did not fail
to visit the house of Mary. Nine years
he came and went, until the two were
| married.
when l saw this little girl / de-
| cided that she would some day be my
wife" Joseph Fels testified after many
years.
Keokuk, Iowa, the results of which
were important not only to the pair,
but to many.
Fels and Soap
| A clever observer once said, 'If you
desire to know the cultural standards
of any given country, ascertain how
great is the amount of soap sold in that
country" Joseph and Mary Fels
changed this observation little: If
you desire to know the measure Of
justice which must be introduced. into
the world. ascertain how great Is the
number of those who are deprived of
the chance TO use soap properly.
Builders of one of the great Ameri-
can industries, succeeding in placing
the Fcls-Naphtha in almost every house
in the United States and other coun-
tries, Joseph and Mary Fcls devoted
their attention to the problem of social
ingt leo fIhnrn "a ti,nvnmnpt
connected with the social problems, that
they did not support. There was not
II group of writers, artists and labor
| leaders who did not find n sympathetic
reception in the Fels household. Fore
most, however, in their attention was
the Single Tax movement.
ture in the theory of the fighting Amer
lean liberal, Henry George. Every evil
that is to be found in human society,
all the injustice that is experienced by
man, the want and misery affecting
humanity, have their source and their
origin in the fact that the land is with
| llclu iIou inc luTse luasStS, WIS tnc
principle advocated by Henry George.
The earth is the mother of all life; the
soil is the treasure of all wealth and
products necessary for the development
of society. Since the day when the
land became plaything in the hands
of SPECTATORS, every day has added
another measure of misery and another
economic plight to the many in exist
cnce. The land is here to be cultivated
| by man. 10 live on and to derive his
livelihood from it. The right given to
the landowners TO put fences arount it,
not to cultivate it and not TO permit
others to cultivate it, but wait until
prices went up, is the cause of social
! injustice. When 'the Lord cyiled man
from the Garden of Eden" from that
day on the epoch of social injustice re
>ulting in misery and want began.
The Solution: The Single Tax