The Washington times., 1932-08-24
A Mr.. Spate
GILBERT SELDES

pean system of renting chairs in public parks. He
brought comfortable rockers and other SIMPLER seat
and the moment you sat down, attendant arrived
to ask you for five cents (rockers) or three Genus
simpler). Was it coincidence or was 1t one OF those
things governor might have to ask mayor about! :
the same day all the free park benches were elther
cared away for repairs or placed in the brolng sum-
while the Spate chairs occupied all the shade No one
can say The populace rebelled For days, through
unparalleled hot SPELL the battle continued Chairs
were broken or thrown into lakes attendants were
beaten policeman, defending law and order was
cast into pond; the police were finally ordered not to
assist the collectors and not to make arrests except on
warrant. In the end the park commissioner who had
given Mr. Spate the concession for five hundred dol
lars year. with the imputaon of ten thorsand dollars
in bribery announced that he would buy all the Spate
CHAIRS at his expense and give them to the city,
Different Now
What struck me when read this story was the feel
ing that it couldn't happen Protests against dis
honesty conducted sombery at mass meetings in
Madison Square Garden, not by riots in Madison
Square. A few months ago when the bus lines were
held up for day. hundred thousand people suffered
acute inconvenience, most of them felt that Chi
canery lay at the bottom of their troubles, yet
violent protest heard. Riotng has been handed
to the Communists and protest to the Bonus Army
1t seems a pity, because riot is only effective if
respectable people participate; and respectable people
gradually losing all their weapons that their
spectability merely lets them suffer in deeper and
deeper silence.
weekly q think it is the American Freeman) has
been denied of the mails for an issue which con-
tanned incitement to riot The author noted quite
correctly that fifty years farmers and mechanics
would not have suffered what they now suffer with
out some counter-attack their enemies Many
people, observing the calm patience of the Americans
they starve have wondered whether this that
have lost power to resist And this is the point
where the rocking chairs in the park offer clue
Possible Riots
The riots we can have would be directed against
the Government for incompeence) and against wealth
(because it remains wealthy; but rioter could lead
an attack this mans house that officials office
crying He is the who led us into the swamp-he
is guilty of making starve-he took our jobs away.
From the very beginning we have missed the consola-
ton of feeling that personal devil existed in the de-
preston. The first sign was the collapse of
stocks and naturally assumed that Wall Street re-
GREETED the crash less than did. We got reports
in the papers of the collapse of wealth. obviously the
panic hurt richer friends more than it hurt
us. By the time got round to studying the depres
sion convinced that it all due to natural
forces, international finance, ten years of oyridng
faulty economic system-due, that is to anything at all
except the wlful and criminal acts of any individual
We know of two bears in the recent markets
who have grown rich We think of them sharp fell
lows who somehow avenging But neither Con-
gressional Investigations private rumor has been
able to turn up real culprit for sacrficia goat
figure burn in effgy It is little foolish to
burn ourselves.