The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1936-03-05

This column has been called many
things, but it remained for Mr.. Tru.
man c. Bittinger to put the finishing
touches on them all.
In delightful telephone converse.
ton with him on Friday afternoon he
called me to task for few statements
made in the column last week.
81 challenge you to prove the state.
ments you made in that NEFARIOUS
COLUMN of yours" he whispered.
But before I can answer challenges
1 must tell you about Nefarious. Since
Webster's dictionary will figure some.
what in this weeks column, 1 went
straight to him to see just what kind
of column had been writing. II
said:
NefariOus-Wicked, iniquitous, de.
testable, horrible, heinous, atrocious
villainous, Infamous, impious. "See
iniquitous," the explanation continued
but I had had enough. l was afraid to
look further.
Last week l claimed that to the gen.
eral public the words shire" and "em-
ploy" meant the same thing. The re-
port of the relief investigating COM
mittee stated the words were differ.
ent and used the difference to show
they never said the Crellin woman
was "hired" but was merely "em.
ployed" by the welfare chairman. They
called on Webster's dictionary as au-
thority for the fact that employ meant
to furnish work for"
claimed that excuse was pretty
fiimsy and that if the committee was
so sure of the wording when they
wrote the article several weeks ago
then they were purposely misleading
the people of the county.
**&
Feeling a little insulted because
had apparently abused Mr.. Webster
and him, Mr.. Bittinger assured me the
people of the county ought to have
known the difference, and intimated
if they didn't they were as much of an
ignoramus as was for trying to hide
my ignorance by making such claims.
And he asked me to prove 1 was
right.
AS their investigating committee
had investigated IS cases on relief
thought l had better do as much, so |
interviewed Sc people, including ban
kers, druggists, people on the streets,
merchants, officials in the Court House
and elsewhere. l asked them if in or
binary usage of the two words "hire"
and employ" there was any differ
ence. l have yet to find one that knew
any difference, either in ordinary or
extraordinary usage. To them both
words meant the same thing.
1 could have gone to the President
of the United States and received the
same answer. For does he not have
his Unemployment Administration =?
Or take WPA. They are employed and
get money while lot of them don't
even work.
l have yet to hear Of anybody out
looking for hirement. I guess I'd stand
poor show of either hirement or en-
ployment from the Investigators.
*#%
But if one is unable to believe the
findings of my personal committee of
investigation, let US go right back to
Mr.. Webster.
In the Office of the Clerk of the Cir
cult Court there is a 1885 Webster
dictionary. Under employ" are these
words: Estate of being employed, es-
pecially rendering service for wages
In the dictionary in The Republican
editorial room, which is not quite SO
recent, there is the following under
employ: Employ is used to empha-
size the idea of service to be rendered;
hire, of wages to be paid; but the
words are often interchangeable"
*##
So now, children, the lesson in words
and their uses is just about over for
the day. Next we will take up spelling,
geography, history or civics, which
ever you prefer. And no fair throwing
paper wads or verbal brickbats at the
teacher.