Muncie Post-Democrat, Muncie, Delaware County, 11 August 1922 — Page 2
PAGE 2
FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1922.
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THE MUNCIE P0S1 T -DEMOCRAT
A Democratic weekly newspaper re{ a esenting the Democrats of Muncie, Delaware county and the E.ij ht Congressional District. | The only Democratic newspaper, in Delaware County. | Entered as second class matter Ja nuary 15, 1921, at the postoffice at Muncie, Indiana, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Subscription Price, $2.00 a :f ear in Advance Office 733 North Elm Street. ' | Telephone 2540 > GEO. R. DALE, Owner a a d Publisher. ! . ’ i — •?56I ‘II J.SDDIlV ‘AVORM
THE RAILROADS WON THE WAR i i Elsewhere in this issue appears ttfe reproduction of an editorial from the Chicago Herald-Examilier, in which the reader very forcibly declares that the recent Chicago street car strike has converted thousands to a profound t elief in municipal owner-; ship. i Evidently the writer of this editorial has failed to give the | subject of municipal ownership the dtjep and serious thought that it deserves. Either that or he failed to read a recent, edi-1 torial which appeared in the Shafer syndicate of newspapers, j which includes our own bright and shining Star, that great and] valiant defender of the rights of the 'people who pay twenty j cents a week for the privilege of soaking their system once a day with the wisdom which exudes daily in great and enlight-] ening gobs from its editorial page. \ ' • i The Star one day recently settled tlie question, once for all j as to whether or not public ownership y a success, and like all < other newspapers whose utterances are inspired by great, combi- J nations of corporate wealth, proved, beyond a doubt, to its own j satisfaction, and to the satisfaction ofi the great corporations; it serves, that the world would be a poofr place to live in if the | distribution of the great fundamental necessities were placed in the hand of the people themselves, instead of a group of Wall | Street philanthropists who serve the people through patriotism ] instead of profit. | The argument used by the Star, that America’s experience | with the railroads during the war proved public ownership to be a failure, is rather frayed out at the edges and has run to seed generally, through excessive promotion by corporation press agents, but it was sprung on the people of Muncie with just as j much assurance and cockiness as if the people had not already j been fed up on it to the point of nausea. .; , This is not particularly an editorial designed to promote the; cause of municipal ownerhip, but rather to puncture the Star’s • moth eaten dope about the railroads. In the first place the railroad strike and the coal strike has demonstrated to. the public , that the public should own the railroads and the coal mines. In j the next place no man with an ounce of patriotism in his system i | will dare to deny that the admirable functioning of the railroads p through government management, at a time when our very, hearthstone was in danger of German invasion, was largely re- f sponsible for the successful prosecution of the war and the final
downfall of Germany.
Woodrow Wilson, a real president, and not a professional golfer, saw the world on the brink of ruin, because the railroads, weak, ailing and completely broken down through decades of political and economic debauchery, were unable to transport troops and munitions to the seaboard. With a firm hand, the railroad administration, presided over by W. G. McAdoo, the greatest genius for organization and real, effective work that this country has ever produced, brought order out of chaos, cut out dead timber, standardized equipment, kicked out high salaried figureheads, centralized distributing points for distribution of passengers and freight, rehabilitated the moribund railway system of the country, supplied the exhausted troops in France with men and munitions and the war was won. It is tnie that'ffeight ratfe^ were high, passenger rates were increased, and dough boys given the right of way on passenger lines over tourists ^yho bleated piteously because it cost them more during the war to go to Petoskey in the summer and Florida in the winter, but the war was won and it would not have been won if the railroads had been left in the hands of private capital. Another great crisis is now on, the railroad strike, with no Wilson, nor no McAdoo to grasp the reins with a firm hand. Laddie Boy is the sole hope of the country in this great crisis.
The Lesson of the Car Strike (Chicago Herald and Examiner) Private ownership of Chicago’s street car lines has given a final demonstration of its flagrant disregard of the people’s rights. \ After the representatives of the companies and the unions had agreed on the complete basis of a strike settlement it was announced that TWG AND ONE HALF DAYS more must elapse before the cars could again be put into operation. The millions who had to work yesterday, as well as the millions who depend on the street cars for their brief bit of Sunday joy today, must walk. They have been ordered to wait sixty hours before they can ride again. The people of the city of Chicago— without whose franchises and without whose patronage there would be no street car companies—are still walking. They are not to be permitted to ride until Monday morning. It is estimated that the strike loss to the car company employes in unearned wages has been $672,000. The loss to the companies has been $600,000, but under the 55-45 per cent division of net income, the traction fund of the city of Chicago carries 55 per cent of that loss, or $330,000, leaving a net strike loss of only $270,00 to the company stockholders. On the other hand, the excess fare paid by the public during the strike week are estimated at $2,000,000 and the loss to Chicago business houses at $5,000,000 more. The public pays—as it always pays—in money and in discomfort. But the public has learned a lesson that may well be worth even this exhorbitant price. The flagrant disregard of public rights which marked the entire strike—from its inception to the sixty-hour delay which the public are cynically informed must elapse before they can ride again—is the very essenceof private traction ownership. Under that system, the people have no rights. The streets belong to the car companies. The slightest whim of an impatient individual like President Blair is morepowerful than the voice of a million protesting voters. If he gives the word, the comfort and convenience of 3,000,000 people must be feacrificed, their business and industry threatened with paralysis—because a few thousand dollars of corporation profits are at stake. That is private ownership. Look at it, you citizens and voters of Chicago! Look at it, all you who may still be in doubt. You have just had a real experience at its hands. You have just felt the contempt in which it holds you, the disregard for your rights which it has flaunted in your face. The past week has made thousands of converts to municipal ownership. It has converted thousands of men and women who so far had hesitated to give up their convictions, who had left that private ownership, somehow, was hound up with their political views of property rights and economic systems. But they have learned that no imagined weakness of municipal ownership can equal the cold and sneering destruction of the people's rights which has marked this week’s climax of the real operation of private ownership. These men and women were willing to endure—and even to apologize for—the miserably inadequate service of the antiquated lines out of which the Rockefeller interests and their fellow stockholders were trying to wring profits from the street car patrons of Chicago.* They were willing to defend this pitiful excuse for modern transportation against those who urged a speedy substitution of decent city-owned lines. But they have been cured. Mr. Blaid has cured them. The strike has lasted less than a week. But it has marked twenty years of progress toward the people’s ownership and control of the street cars of the city of’Chicago.
MAY BE GARDENS
U. S. Land Commissioner Says Millions of Acres Arc Open to You.
Asserts Thrifty Farmer is the Most Independent Citizen in United States.
BY WILLIAM SFRY. Editor’s Note.—No higher authority on government lands can be found than William Spry. Commissioner of the General Land office. He has known the life of the farmer from actual experierree and with this for a base his continued investigations have enabled him to secure a wide knowledge, a viewpoint that is just to both producer and consumer and also a sound economic knowledge of general conditions.
THE KLAN AND THE FLAG When a Ku Klux spieler marched up to the stand in New Albany Sunday night he “had wrapped himself in an American flag in order that, as he explained, the police would not be able to touch him.” Somebody should have touched him right then for violating the law against prostitution of the flag. It is as much a violation of the law to wrap a Ku Klux spieler in the flag as it is to wrap a keg of near-beer in it. Aside from the violation of the statute, however, any use of the stars and stripes in an attempt to promote the interests of the ‘Ku Klux Klan’ is a desecration of the flag that floats o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.! There is no freedom in a land which could be ruled by prowler swathed in shrouds and hidden by masks; nor is there any bravery in night prowling behind masks. . The man or the organization that works in the dark and in masks either has no comprehension of the meaning of the American flag or has no respect for it, and forfeits all right to its protection. There is no place in this Republic for an Invisible Empire.
We hear every day of some new plan devised by Harding to settle the rail and coal strikes, but the trouble seems to be that neither the employers nor employes seem to take very much stock in Harding. It will probably have to be left up to Laddie Boy in the long run.
. Testifying at his trial before Mayor Quick, Phil McAbec swore that the fifteen hundred dollars he collected for the Harry New campaign fund was used legitimately. Of, course, of course, who would dare accuse the angelic republican machine of Muncie of electing irregularities? By the way, it would have been interest-
other end, but he followed his belief and kept at his work until \ the time came and he was granted a patent on his device in 1876. | Since that time millions and millions of wires have been stretched ; over the country and the telephone has become a necessity of every ' day life. Great changes have been made in the telephone since, i Mr. Bell first offered it at the Philadelphia centennial for Ixamina- ’ tion and it has played a great part in bringing all parts of the! country together in business, commercial and social relationship. The death of this great man makes one wonder what the world would have been without the telephone. Mr.*Bell had other ideas in mind and just a few years ago is quoted as saying*; “The possibilities of further achievement by the use of electricity is inconceivable. Men can do everything else by electricity already, and I can imagine them with coils of wire about their heads, coming together for the communication of thought by . induction.” Mr. Bell was a man of science, he brought great things to the world. His greatness has been appreciated by his adopted country, the United States, and by every country where the telephone is in use, and all are glad to pay tribute to his genius and the wonders and inventions he brought to the world. The
nation mourns his loss.
DEATH for ducks
THE VACATION MONTH
August seems to be the best time of the year for vacations. It is generally the hottest month of the year and the ideal time to hunt some cool place for a week or two of idleness. Many prefer to spend the time in making motor trips and just as much fun as possible is crowded into these last few weeks before school work is resumed. Those who find it necessary to stay at home enjoy as much leisure time as possible. Picnic parties seem to be the favorite form of amusements and those parks and recreation places which have tourist camps and swimming places are ' 1 the most popular. This year automobiles of tourists with girls and sometimes women in knickerbockers and with luggage carriers loaded down are seen daily'passing through the cities. Out door life has a charm of its own and the automobile has made it all the more popular as is evidenced by the many tent equipped machines seen along the waterways, in autoists camps and all shady nooks. And August seems to be the accepted time. Many a worth while trip can be planned and carried out for the few remaining weeks of the month and there are maoy delightful and interesting places in this section of the state well worth visiting and enjoying.
There are today approximately 200,000,000 acres of public lands in Uncle Sam’s domain open for settlement. ■ All of this can be utilized for some purpose or another, from the
making .of happy, contented homes I G’ years .
and communities, to the grazing of sheep upon deserts that can only be utilized during the winter months, when there is sufficient snow to furnish the herds and herders then drinking water. In addition to this, there are nearly 200,000,000 acres more j in our Forest Preserves, 86% of which ’ is public land, and perhaps 50% of j this is more valuable for agricultural
than for other purposes,
j It is also estimated that the swaynp lands of the United States show an I area of 80,000,000 acres of wet or overi flow lands, and in addition, 150,000,000 j acres of what is known as farm land but too wet for profitable cultivation, the production of which could be increased at least 20% by proper drain-
age.
What Has Been Done.
The United States Reclamation Service, during the last twenty years, have been engaged on various projects, with the purpose in view of reclaiming the so-called waste places by a careful distribution of water, and wherever they have pushed their work, the desert has been reclaimed and made to blossom. For the year 120 crops were produced on 1,153,820 acres to the value of $66,171,650. Up to March 31, 1922 water has been made available for 1.183,410 acres, and the total cost up to that time has been about $110,000,000. The Service ,however, is doing but little else jost now j but mark time, owing to a lack of ; money to complete projects already ■ undertaken. In addition, there are | many perfectly feasible projects \ which must await action until Conf gress has provided the money to com- ■ mence operations. Many bills are be- : fore the National Body, looking to- ; ward the reclamation of lands, per1 haps the most comprehensive being 1 the so-called Smith-Mx-Nary bill,
a watchful eye on what is going on, and w’hen harvest time is on, the goods arc there to deliver. Hard work, of course, it’s hard work for I’ve tried it; so is railroad section work, and I’ve tried that too, but I confess I have never felt nearly so independent doing section w r ork as I have felt on the farm. The sense of
proprietorship was not there.
Does reclamation pay? Go ask the people of the South, what the drainage of their lands have done for them. Go to the Everglades of Florida, which the school children of the country have been taught was a dismal swamp, and witness the- redemption that draincfge has brought. Go to your reclamation projects of the West, and count, if you can, the increased wealth they are producing for the country. Where is your industrial venture that will return an income of $66,171,650 in one year on a total investment of $110,000,000 covering a period of tveh-
Not one/of the projects
but what has produced far more wealth than is represented in the cost
of construction.
Find Odd Result la Farm Tractor Study
Mon on Ilillier Holdings .Get Most Horse Work Out. of Machines,
It is Said.
Results of a tractor survey covex’ing 38 farms in nortlwvestern Ohio and 46 farms in northeastern Ohio contradict a general impression that the Ohio northwest gets more drawbar or traction work from its tractors than do farmers in the north-
east.
“On the contrary, announced F. L. Morison, nn'al economist at the Ohio State University, who compiled the figures, “farmers in the more hilly region to the east do an average of 18 percent more draw-bar work with
their machines.
Mr. Morison explains this by pointing out that the eastern section plows for wheat, whereas the. west disks wheat in after corn;’’ that the heavier soils to the east require more cultivation than the prairie loam; and that the eastern section makes greater use of its tractors on the roads, because the roads need it more. He concludes: “Another interesting fact is that the eastern section with smaller tractors does more light work with these machines, such as cutting hay and grain, drilling/ or even unload-
Northwestern farmers use
< 1 _ w~-,, ing hay. NH which creates irrigation and di’ainagfc their tractors a lot for husking corn districts, and authorizes the isuanco ] and grinding feed. The facts are
of bonds as in school and. other uJsti'icts. The feasibiliy of every project including the estmated cost, must first be preseted to the Secretary of the Interior, who, if interested, pi'ovides for an inspection by the department engineei’s. If convinced of its practibility, and there is money available. the project is undertaken. When it is so far advanced as to represent a value of two dollars for every one dollar of construction cost, the bonds up to an amount representing cost, are ox-dcrcd sold, and the money derived from the sale is turned into the reclamation fund for use in the development of other projects, the management of the completed project is turned over to its owners, and the annual payments for both principal and interest on the bonds are collected as all other taxes. No default need be anticipated, for the bonds are
that they do 60%. more belt work than do the dairy farmers of the northeast. More extensive use of the tractor will make it a more economrtal proposition on almost any
farm.”
Destroy Insects Before Storing Grain
Insects in wheat or other stored grain may be destroyed by making the bins air tight and fumigating them with carbon bisulphid at the rate of 5 to 8 pounds of the poison per 1,000 cubic feet of space, according to a leaflet published by the Ohio Experiment Station, Wooster. How-
Station entomologists
ever, the Station entomologists re-
. commend that infested bins and cribs a lien against the project, as are tne cleaned and sprinkled or Avashed
bonds of any district or municipality.
Why More Farms.
Noav the argument arises with some Avhy the necessity for more farms ?
with 10 percent kerosene emulsion a week or two before filling Avith grain. If this precaution is not taken, it may be necessary to resort to the
| Isn’t it difficult to sell the produce j " a rb on bisulphid'fumigation, which from the farms Ave already have? ! ; s done on a warm day as the Well, perhaps prices for farm prod- j temperature of the bin should be nets may not have been altogether j r; ]j 0ve 0,7°. The bins are made air what the farmer has thought they tight by pasting paper over all cracks
REGARD TO TRANSPORTATION
of
J. M. Amick of lone, Aniadore county, California, Avith a fowling-piece which lias been in his family for many centuries. It ps now seven feet long, but originally Avas a full eight feet six inches from butt to sight. Mr. Amick
The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce has an-
ounneed there are 935 motor transport companies in the country uscs the sun for duck hunting and which can be made into a national transportation system, should . 110 JT bring !l bird down iroIn a the occasion arise. It is also stated there are enough'motor cars to 300 feet ' take care of passenger traffic for an indefinite period and enough ! A 1 TL f motor trucks to prevent a shortage of essential supplies for at Loan
least 60 days.
In 1919 the motor transportation came as a great help to
Limit to Farmers
Be Changed
should be. but to the laborer in the congested cities they have been decidedly more than they should have been, so much so that it has started a movement to the country from the city that no noAver can stop. Of the 490 farm units created since the passage ol Public Resolution No. 29. approved February 14. 1920, giving former serv-
ant! openings. The poison xxxay be spraved over the grain through a small opening in bin or it may be applied bv means of saturated burlap or cotton rags thrust into the gram. The fumes are heavier than air and' penetrate to the bottom of the bin. Carbon bisulphid is inflammable and poisonous and must be cautiously
ice men a sixty-day preference right ] ian( jh}d lest the fumes be breathed
slush pot was given to him by others, if he had been asked who those “others” were. The treasurer of the New For Senator Club, in his statement, which is on file in the county clerk’s office, swore that the money was contributed by McAljee. The corrupt practices act requires that the names of the actual ^contributors to campaign funds shall be included in the report. Of course an organization whose treasurer made a perjured financial statement would not be capable of using money for other than legitimate purposes. Perish the thought.
The women of the Delaware Comity Republican Club, who were tricked into thinking that they were to be permitted to name the republican county chairwomen, know how it feels to have the political road roller run over them. County Chairman Billy Williams, who turned the trick, says the women ought to get out of politics if they can’t take a joke. The republican women of Delaware county might just as well make up their minds, first as last, that they will never get anywhere in politics until they bust Billy’s organization wide open. They must vote independently and defeat at the polls every republican candidate backed by Williams.
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
The whole world regrets keenly the death of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, which occurred last week. This great genius w^as born in Scotland and his studies were along the line of scientific research. The telephone w-as a dream of his youthful days. He had no means pf knowing that the human voice could be carried through wires and produce the sound at the ty' alonc
that in case of a railroad tie-up transportation can be taken care of,, for a considerable length of time at least and the people have a
„ Farmers in all sections of the
transportation medium which would prove a God-sendTnVase'of f oun i, r -. r a re urging the amendment of the General Ot, t f;" <t ‘ / con- i ^nstmctioL’ta’Taid'o?ty° KStoi ‘to em or Irene V It Wod m u j • 4. y : the Federal Farm Loan Act, accord- gardless of statements ™ J™ 1 rwxtto* improvement rM «iutk>n. b emeigency. it IS nopecl the piesent Situation Will be adjusted sat- ing to a letter received recently bv t.rary, there is a hvd _ hunger j mertjonedi and
isfactorily to ail, however, and there will be no immediate need Farm bureau leaders, from sec-
of/ entry, 467 hr/ve been taken by the soldiers and 7,445 of these boys made application for a chance to draw for the 490 units; 45,000 of them made inquires concerning the. openings. In the General Land Office, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1921, there avcto received 63.816 applications for homestead and kindred entries, :ind 6,744 desert Find applications. Since the date of the Act tq_June 30, 1921, there were 62.401 stock-raising homesteads entered. To keep pace with this demand there are approximately 10,000,000 acres of land being sur\ r ey~ ed every year under the direction of the General Land Office. So that, ve-
into the lungs or ignited.
22-YEAR DEBTS PAID Dunsby, Eng.—Just 22 years after lie Avas adjudged bankrupt. Rev. Woodsworth Jones paid his last debts.
CITT ADVERTISEMENTS Department of Public Work*
Office of the Boat'd
212 Wysor Block ,
Muncie, Indiana.
Notice to Contractors end to the Public. Notico is hereby priven. to the public and to all contractors, that the Board of Publie Works of the City of Muncie, in the State of Indiana, invites sealed proposals for the
.... .
belrrw
to put the motor transportation system to the test, though it is 1 !’ etaar J J - W. Coverdale of’the Amer-, their willingness to , e believedjt.wou ld proy^ntirely satisfactcy in^ of^cssit"i | T& ^
*'i ~ | mentioned, and according to the plans, pro Show j file?, drawings and specifications therefor op
grapple
May Bring In Feeder Sheep From Ranges
RA T ailable supply of such feeder stock in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Texas, Neiv Mexico and Colorado is hoav being made by farm bureau livestock
men.
their efforts to obtain such amend-
ment.
The action which, the farmers Avish
trary, there is a
everywhere.. ami men , gj;-Bj»rt
public improvements herein below described,
to-wit:
fight under the most adverse conai- * 1. r. No. 899-1922, for ekfawalk on north linn-- in order to establish homes and t Vide of 12th street from Hoyt Avenue to
build communities that there may ex-1 ^mpaon Avenue.
ist a happy and contented people.
taken is the raising'of the loan limit And why should they not brikiP. ' from $10,000 to $25,000. Officials of Th e average thrifty farmer is tn
? _ n : , , . I farm organizations sav that the law I Tnost independent citizen m be co A Livestock leaders assert that the has-been of. great assistance to the j try today. What if ms crops have not chief A'alue in the direct purchase of I farmers of the country in carrying * paid him all he should have iccei.ei.
T „ , , , , feeder stock lies in the obtaining of ; on their- business in a more efficient ^ He has had an abundance to eat, in Plans noAv being made by the live- j a much more uniform- lot,, and'get- 1 manner. They are, however handi- j both quality and quantity, mtimteij stock department of the Ohio Farm j ting; them to Ohio feedlots in better T capped in obtaining sufficient finance I better than the average man in the
Bureau Federation are expected • to i condition .They also are able to 1 to prosecute - sonic of their major result m the bringing m of feeder j make considerable cash saving in I projects. Neither does the present
their purshase. limit allow tenants sufficient oppor-
sheep directly from Western producers. The plan will probably be similar to the one used in bringingin 40 carloads of feeder cattle from
Colorado last year.
The project originated at a meeting of livestock men in Clark county recently. Requests for about 4,000 head if feeder lambs were made among the men present, and it is thought, that, upward of 10,000 head could be distributed in this one epun-
Inquiry concerning the
“AFTER THE BALL” Athens—M. Marcel Chilon.et and his wife Avere arrested here after giving n ball for 200 guests. They are accused of stealing $60,000. HYBRID ROOSTER-DUCK Canton, 111.—A hybrid fowl on the faim of E. C. Baxter has the head and body of a rooster and the feet and Avings of a duck.
tunity to become land owners. ALDERMANIC FAMILY
Norwich, Eng.—F. W. Fitt and Miss.Doris Fitt. father and daughter are members of the City Council.
SOMNAMBULISM TRAGEDY Little Rock. Ark.—Walking in her sleep Mrs. Theodore Diedrich fell ' down a flight of stairs and was killed.
I. R. No. 909-1922, crroeTit sklcwalk ow pouth side r.f 11th street from Sampson Avesus
to Pierce Street.
T. K. No. 901-1922, cement sidewalk on eenth Bld“ of West Adams street from High Street
t-> Franklin Street.
I. R. No. 903-1922, cement alley; between F,cechwood and Ashland Avenues from Re*
serve Street to Pauline Avenue.
Ea’h bidder ia also to file with the Board an affidavit that there has been no collusion in ary way affecting said bid, according to
city,,who, by. the v-ay, must pay cash ,h, ot s« 95, ., a. Art o, M.rch sa,.
190r-. (Acta 190,i, p. 219.)
A!! such proposals should ba sealed, and must be deposited with said Board befone the hour ef 7:30 o’clock in the evening of the 22nd, day of AugUat 1922 and each such proposal must be accompanied by a certified eft elk payable to said City, for the suns of SI00.00. which shall be forfeited to said City as iinuidated damages, if the bidder deposit-
for everything lie put® in hiS hiouth until by the time lie has met his dai-5» weekly, or monthly expense', find® his salary vanished and himself under the necessity of hustling continuously to keep the supply from stop-
ninj Weil, th, ke ff In, th, ,,™ .6.11 Ml duly »d Mumptly to hustling: COO, hut WnllC (loing SO, ^ ^ j execute the required contract and bond, in can’t loose sight of the fact that his case a contract shall be awardad him on such
partners are always on the j'.h lend.- accompanying proposal
ing a helping hand, and should he an ^DFoard reserves the nght to reject any want, to visit the parks or the beaches BY order of the board of PUBLIC
in his automobile during the ripening works.
season, old Dame Nature is keeping;' " ' • c, M.ry E. And.nuu, clerk.
leu - .col/ - irroccpi