The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1933-02-10
Howe About:
Giving Good Advice
War
Those Who Paid
BY ED HOWE

BY ED HOWE
NEW York people have laughed
IN at us farmers long time because
Of our mortgages. o. o. Mcintyre, a
farmer from Missouri, is now in New
York, looking up the records there, and
has discovered so far that every build
ing on Fifth avenue is mortgaged, ex-
cept st. Patrick's cathedral and Tif-
fany's jewelry store.
The only rich man know now re-
Gently called on me; he used to work
in my shop for eight dollars week,
and / recall thinking occasionally it
was too much. He is at present get
ting fifty dollars week in the me-
: chanical department of a big town
newspaper.
His aim in calling on me was to get
help in saving his little home. A build
ing association has small mortgage
on it, and it obligates my friend to pay
thirty dollars a month through term
of years. such payment to include his
rent and gradual reduction Of the
principal sum.
Joe, have long known you to be
good worker and an honest man." ]
said to him. do you mean to tell me
that with wages of fifty dollars week
continuing over eight years, you have
not been able to pay thirty dollars a
month rent, when this sum included
six dollars to apply on your mort
| gage?"
He thought awhile before answering.
as men do when stumped, AMI mo-
ticed that look of despair have so
often seen lately on the faces of other
good men and good fellows.
"Well," he answered finally, II
didn't"
Many good man has made the
same reply, when he knew he was to
blame; have been guilty Sc often my
self hadn't the heart to say anything
further, although I did ask him If he
had never heard of the old advice to
steadily save something for a rainy
day.
"Yes," he replied, II was brought up
on it; mother always fused at father
about that, and / buried him."
Its another American tragedy;
don't know what to do about 1t.
There was excuse after excuse In
this good mans case; for one thing,
he had four daughters, and loved them
devotedly, for they were good girls,
and three of them married shiftless
husbands. Still, excuses are usually
urged for neglected duty; some Of
them are eloquent, and true enough,
but they don't count much when
mortgage is due.
l have often wondered what would
have happened had Woodrow Wilson
been brave and true man before he
entered the World war, and said: "We
have not sufficient cause to engage in
this conflict, which will cost us billions
in money, and hundreds Of thousands
Of tragical deaths. There has been
popular expression on the question;
the people elected me President be-
cause kept them out Of it. will re-
sign, but / will not enter the war in
response to clamor Of mistaken mi
nority."
Probably there would have been so
much indignation from the mistaken
that Mr.. Wilson would have resigned:
probably his successor would have
plunged in.
But today Woodrow Wilson's MEM
DRY would have been blessed by the
majority as the memory Of no Presi-
dent has been blessed in the history Of
the Republic.
In the early sixties DIR. Oliver Wen
dell Holmes, while sitting in his home
in Boston, received telegram saying
his son had been shot through the neck
at the battle of Antietam. The dis
tressed father at once started for the
battlefield.
The Atlantic reprints an account Of
the journey Doctor Holmes wrote
while its events were fresh in his MEM
ory, and the horrors of war have never
been more powerfully depicted. He
walked through many hospitals look
ing for his son; inspected many wag-
ons carrying dead and wounded;
talked with soldiers who had buried
unknown dead in long trenches like
cattle; met other frantic fathers who
were looking for dead or mangled
sons; saw the wreck Of the battlefield;
heard the screams Of wounded; wept
at sight of thousands Of good-looking
boy soldiers horribly mangled.
All through my reading of the story
/ kept thinking. And the people who
fought and paid for the war never
wanted it, never asked for it; 1t was
ordered by few men who never suf-
fered: some of whom profited by the
carnage. Out of this unnecessary
fighting came Abraham Lincoln, who
was never in a battle, lost no sons;
Lincoln as President issued the first
call for troops.
Probably no man ever had friend
he did not hate little; we are all so
constituted by nature no one can pos
SihIv outiroIv aunr0vn Of rs