Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 March 1917 — Page 2

Feldner’s Conscience

By JOHN ELKINS

(Copyright, 19X7, by W. Q. Chapman.) Katharine Worked In the office of the big machine factory; she pounded a typewriter, endlessly printing “Dear ftlr” and “Yours respectfully” without thinking much about the matter between, though she was always accurate and conscientiously earned her wages. How can a young woman of twenty, whose mind dbes not run into the commercial ’groove, be expected to take a burning interest in contracts for machinery, or the price of steel plate? So Katharine did not take noticepf the change in the firm's materials, nor the shipments of the same. She took much more notice of the tall, well-built, fair-haired young man who was quite sure to be somewhere near the entrance when she went out to lunch. They became so well acquainted that after awhile he called on her at her home, where she lived with an aunt. Max Feldner had come to America with his parents when only a tiny little lad, and had been trained and educated with a love and loyalty for Its institutions. Though thoroughly American, he did not forget his fatherland. Both parents were now dead, but Max kept on his sturdy, honest way, keeping alive the ideals they had left him. We w»s n master-mechanic, so capa--ble and efficient that he well earned the several raises of salary he had received. _______ Perhaps it was because Katharine, too, had her ideals that they became such good friends. She was not so very different from many other girls, but she certainly was different from those whose ideals are bounded by pretty clothes, jewelry, automobiles, no work and unlimited amusement. Life meant to her something finer and higher, and she read and studied toward the opening up of larger vistas. But Max went sometimes far beyond the regions she had explored. To be sure, they went to movies, plays and danced like all normal young people are wont to do, but these things did not entirely make up their life. So far the relations between the two had been outwardly only ’ a pleasant friendship, but with Max if meant something much more. He did not mean to marry till there was more money laid aside for - a little home, but he meant to ask Katharine if she would share ft with him. Suddenly something changed all his plans. He wrote Katharine a note saying he had left the factory and was going to New York. He Avould write, giving her his address there, and hoped to see her soon. Katharine wondered much at the sudden departure of Max, and one day went so far as to ask Emery Field, one of the bookkeepers, if he knew why. “Oh, lie’s a crank!” said Field contemptuously. “He got some fool notions that the boss wouldn’t stand — that’s all.” And she received no further information. But field.Jbeganto be very attentive, and told himself he had quite filled the place in the girl's ' regard which Max Feldner had held. - died, leaving her about $50,000. She wrote to Mpx, telling him of her good fortune. He answered “with a kind letter of congratulation; but he ' did not say much about himself except that he was-still looking for work. Meanwhile the persistent attentions of Field, his -kindness and sympathy, were not without effect. It was evident Katherine had begun to care for him, and Emery Field’s clmnees for winning the “heiress” looked extremely promising. In her last letter from Max he had told her he was leaving the address he had given her, he might even be obliged to leave New York, but he would write her. as soon as anything, was settled. Katherine had not been to New York in some time. It was only forty miles away, but she had been working very steadily, and had spent her short vacations elsewhere, so she gladly accepted the invitation of a girl friend " who had married, and gone to the big city to live. Vaguely she hoped she might see Max, but that was so highly lmpr.QbabJe, she quite dismissed the matter from her. mind- —— She fonnd her friend, Mrs. Hempstead, nicely settled in an uptown apartment, and several days went by In a yound of shopping and amusements. One morning, after answering -a whistle from the region of the dumbwaiter, Mrs. Hempstead came, back with the exclamation: “O Katharine! ( yon never saw such a janitor! He’s ■ a wonder!” “Oh I” said Katharine Indifferently, not being especially interested in janitors. -r, “Well if you’d had to put up with what we have, you’d say a long prayer to keep this one. He answers you like a gentleman, and he’s a marvel at doing anything from door locks to electric light wires. We used to have to wait days for eteetrlcillflar: rSSE locksmiths, and he comes right up,, and does it in no time. I’m Just sure from his manner that he hasn’t always been a janitor.”^ “Perhaps,” laughed Katharine. “They are qot generally born janitors.

They either achieve it or have it thrust upon them.” * That evening, in answer to a ring, Katharine opened the door. A young man in blue overalls stood before her. “Max Feldner!” she cried in utter amazement. It was his turn to be surprised, but he gathered himself together, and said quietly; **j’xU the.janitor. Mrs. Hempstead sent for me." —“But—but," stammered the girl, “iiuw.did yon happen to—“To do this? Well it didn’t ‘happen.’ I hunted for a Job, and I found this one. Can I see Mrs. Hempstead?” . “She is out.” —"p-don’t know-Just-what she wanti ed,” he said dubiously. ‘Til have to call again,” and he turned to go. “Walt!” she said. “Wait! I want to talk with you! I want to know—” “You forget—it Is not the janitor’s place to —to be making visits In the apartments.” “Place!” she flashed out indignantly. ,“Xlien may I maka, it-my to call on you?" “If you wish.” he answered wTOi the same quiet dignity* and the next ln'stant lie was gone. Katharine had to manage rather adroitly to find the janitor’s quarters without attracting^attention. The living room was almost bare of furniture, but there were a few books on the shelf, and the place was very clean and orderly. He came in and found her There.— “You were good to come,” he said. “I did not expect it.” "Why not?” she asked. “There has been a great change in our fortunes.” “Tell me," she asked, “why did you go away?” He did not answer. Indeed It was with much difficulty she drew it from him. “They have been sending for me,” he said. “The first time they offered me ten dollars a day, the next time it

Went So Far as Jo Ask One of the Bookkeepers.

was twelve, and the next fifteen. Now they understand I will not work there at any price.” “Why?” she asked wonderingly. “I will not —if you must knowmake those devilish shells to murder men with! To murder those of my fatherland —my* mother’s people! I will not help war in any shape. It is the devH’s work!” “O Max ! Max!” she cried. “You are splendid!” •“T «m nfr- loagt,. honest—at peace Rimnfiy —■“—-—----- She let him know tfiat she wlshed I to kelp him with her money, but he refused. Then she came to him with , an offer from Mr. Hempstead in his | line of work. Mrs. Hempstead de- | plored the loss of the janitor, but,, she j became reconciled when she found : Katharine was looking for an apartj ment of her own, and was going to I marry the foreman of the big works, who was not likely to be again a janitor.

PUT END TO THE ARGUMENT

Claim of Revenue Officer Settled ATI Doubt as to Who Was Entitled _ to-the Meteorite. One of cur best-known astronomers was talking about the difficulties and intricacies that astronomy presents to the popular mind. “For instance,” be said, smiling, “there is the story of the meteorite that fell on an Essex farm a year ago. It was a valuable meteorite, and the landlord claimed it at once. v “ ‘All minerals and raetal.B -0n thq_ land belong^to the,’ he said. That’s in the lease.’ “But the tenant demurred. ‘This meteorite,’ he said, ‘wasn’t on the farm, you must remember, when the | lease was drawn up.’ . r “This was eertafnly a poSer ; hut the | landlord was equal to the occasion, for ihe promptly retorted: ‘Well, then, I claim it as flying game.’ “But the tenant was ready for him. ‘lt’s got neither wings nor feathers,’ he said. ‘Therefore, as a ground game, it is mine l .’ "How long they would have continued their argumeut I cannot say, for at the moment a revenue officer came up and proceeded to take possession of the meteorite. ‘Because,’ said he. ‘it is an article introduced into this, ebuntry without paymeht Of duty.’ ” London Tit-Bits. / .

Scientists have discovered that a valuable dye of khaki color can be obtained from the wood of the Argentine earob tree. ."T? ;~ ’ f i

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INP.

KNOW UTILE CARE

BHANTY BOATMEjN" CERTAINLY LIVE A HAPPY LIFE. Will Sometimes Work, Though Pleasure Is the Real Business of Existence——Not Bothered About Rent or Taxes. If a man were privileged to choose his own manner of living, sorting over the whole collection of life’s various - forms,- ©f---existence, E »hd choosing the one he liked best, no matter what anybody or everybody said, it is likely that in all that strange collection he could find nothing more charming than the life of the shanty boatman, remark* the Indianapolis News. The shanty boatman lives anywhere, according tohis Inclination and the season. Be lives, anyway, according to his - desires. It sets you dreaming of all the faraway places to think of him. He moors his little house on the cool northern streams In the sumjnet, and drifts down the warm blue southern rivers during the winter. He is not averse to a bit of work now and then, enough to keep him In coffee and bacon, but he can choose his work as he goes, and leave it when he grows tired of it. Work is his avocation, and, as an avocation, work is not. an unpleasant thing. His real business is living, smoking, fishing, drifting. He pays neither rent nor taxes. He owns only a bit of an old shack, somehow made watertight and balanced so that

It will float. It is even 'possible, you must understand, for him to enter Into the life of city men, entering into it, however, with no sense of necessity or restraint. „ . A shanty boatman was not so long ago a resident of this very town. With a proper sense of the fitness of things he tied his boat to a fence. In line with the houses on the shore and even painted a number over the front door, It was a jolly looking little home, with the smoke coming out of the pipe in the roof and lamplight shining from the edge of the curtains, and, for all we know, he may have a regular job and have taken to city life very contentedly for a while. The advantage he had over the rest of us, of course, was that to get away to the faraway places, he had only to untie his boat and drift, accepting now and then a bit of "BT ttft-from « friendly craft; The thing that is likely Tq bother us, however, in choosing this sort of existence, is the question as to whether we. should really be a shanty boat-, man, or just pretend to be one. Stevenson was a sort of shanty boatman. At least, he did drift about through the country in a boat, and lived very contentedly and lazllyon the way. But Stevenson has written a book about his wanderings, and he was not really a shanty boatman at all. It is just the difference you may say, between art and vagrancy. Vagrancy has an idle jannnd, and art is a tempting thing. The very point In being a shanty boatman, however, Is in not having to try to be anything else, and, perhaps the best thing about it is the fact that it is so far removed from art as to be very nearly real.

The Lowest Office.

Grant Whistlar brings this one to town: -—— er day, “I gotta git off tomorroh.” “Get off tomorrow'?” “Yessah.” “But I can’t spare you very well. “I gotta go. It’s lodge businesk." “That new lodge you joined?” “Yessah.” “Why are you so badly needed at “Ah am de sublime king." “Sublime king?” “Yessah.” “You have been a member of that lodge only two weeks and you tell me you are sublime king already?” “Yessah.” “How does that come?” “You see, sah, in ouah lodge de sublime king am de lowes’ office what dey is.” —Youngstown Telegram.

War’s Convictions.

What has happened is that out of the blackest, most Infernal experience through which, as far as we know, the race has ever passed there has seemed to come literally to millions of men a redeeming conviction, a healing and transfiguring assurance, that brotherhood is not a delusion; that life has a meaning; that resolution and courage and discipline and simple faith in fellowmen and loyalty to ideals are now, as they have always been, with: in that meaning; that these things are, as they will be forever, within man’s heritage, to be displayed In war until the better way is found. —E. T. Devine.

According to Rules of the Sea.

A sailor -who had landed after a long voyage, and haying been paid off, called a cab, threw his luggage inside, and jumped oq top himself. “Beg pardon, - sir,” said the astonished cabman, “but you should get inside and put your boxes on top.” “Steer the craft ahead, sonny. Passengers always go on deck and. luggage in the hold,” was the reply from the top.—London Tit-Bits.

Danger in Artificial Eyes.

Explosion of fheir Artificial eyes Is a risk patched up war?vietimS' should hardly expect. As the ball is made up of many grades; .colors and thicknesses of glass, proper annealing is difficult, and it Is found .that one eye in a thousand flies to pieces even on the factory shelves.

RAT MANKIND’S GREAT ENEMY

Rodent's Extermination Would 8* •# Inestimable Benefit to the Wholo Human Race, 1 The bubonic plague of today is identical with the black death cf the middle ages. Primarily a disease of rodents, caused by a short dumb-bell shaped microscopic vegetable, tire pest hnniliia, it occnrs in man in three , "forms, the- pneumonic, which has a death rate of almost 100 per cent; the septicaemle, which is nearly as fatal, and the bubonic, in which §ven with the most modern methods of treatment the mortality i« -about per cent.! It is a disease of commerce* spreading around the globe in the body of the ship-borne rat. It is estimated that every case of human plague costs the municipality in whLch It occurs at least $7,500. This does not take into account the enormous loss due to disastrous quarantines and the eommerdlsease so frequently produces. The disease Is now treated with a serum discovered through the geblus of Yersin. This is used in much the same way as is diphtheria anti-toxin. Plague is transferred from the sick rodent to the well man by fleas. The sick rat has enormous numbers of plague bacilli In Its blood. The blood Is taken by the flea, which, leaving the sick rat, seeks refuge and sustenance on the body of a human beiag, to whom It transfers the infection. Since plague Is a disease of rodents and since it Is carried from sick rodents to well men by rodent fleas, safety from the disease lies In the exclusion of rodents, not only exclusion from the habitation of man but also from the ports and cities of the world. Those who dwell in rat-proof surroundings take no plague. Not only should man dwell in rat-proof surroundings, but he should also live in rat-free surroundings. The day is past when the rodent served a useful purpose as the unpaid city scavenger. Rats will not come where there is no food for them. Municipal cleanliness may be regarded as a partial insurance against plague. The prayer that no plague come nigh our dwelling is best answered, however, by rat-proofing the habitations of man. Modern sanitary science has evolved a simple and efficient weapon against the pestilence which walketh In darkness and striketh at noonday, and the United States public health service has put this knowledge Into practical operation and thus speedily eradicated plague, wherever it has appeared in the United States.

Fate Inevitable.

Harry Sfiunk, an Ohio product, w r ho has long been prominent in minstrel and vaudeville circles, is fond of employing his leisure moments in hunting out characters-and gaining odd sidelights on human nature. At a carnival in a southern towrn two colored boys stood near the edge of a crowd that had assembled to w-atch a high diver' —- As the daring athlete slowly mounted a tall pole to a tiny platform 60 feet in the air, a brass band- on the ground played “chills-and-fever” music. When the diver left his perch, plunged head downward Into a small tank on the ground, and “scooped” out onto the ground like a flash, the music broEe into a lively strain. The colored-hoysheld thetr-Tireatb until the dare-devil feat had been accomplished,then_one said to the other, as they turned to go: ♦‘Some, ilroe-dat ban’ am gonna play, and dat man ain’t a gona heah it.”

Man's Few Wants.

“Man wants but- little- here below.” He wants his meals cooked just right, and composed of the particular things he likes to eat. He Wants his clothes ' kept in perfect order, and the buttons sewed on. He wants to get up when he gets ready, an<l then he wants to swear because he misses his car-to the office. He wants to be cross when he comes home and not have It mentioned. He wants to leave his coat and hat and shoes just where he happens to take them off when he comes in. He wants his slippers right in a certain place where he can find them without effort. He wants to pat the ashes from his cigar in the most convenient place while he smokes. He wants to yawn and go to bed when his wife wants him to go out with her and make a call. He wants everything as he wants It, and he wants no talk about It. —Judge.

New Year Custom in China.

The Chinese have a custom of celebrating the ardent of New Year’s, -either by paying off old debts, or, if they are creditors and the debtor is unable to pay, then By cancelling the debt. Thus the new year begins with a clean pinto. Communities are all alike in many respects and the problem of our city is the problem of a thousand 9thers. We have too many unpaid accounts on our books. Why not profit by the Chinese idea and have a payrup week the country over, when the slate shall be wiped clean and the new year started free of debt?—Argonaut.

New Method for Removing Rust.

For removing rust from iron or steel, Pascal Marino of London has patented a .method in which the. metal Is made the cathode In a phosphoric acid electrolyte. It is claimed that this add, unlike others, dissolves away the rust without attacking the solid metal and also tends to prevent subsequent rusting. The electrolyte may be a 10 per cent oif phosphoric acid in water or a 10 per ceqt solution of sodium phosphate with 10 per cent of the acid added. '

One of Duties of the Government Is to Fit Its People to Earn a Living

By REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE HUDDLESTON

It is the highest duty of governments to concern themselves with the education which will fit their people for citizenship. Such education no less includes the ability to earn a livelihood than* the knowledge of letters which gives the individual a larger outlook on life. Man s first necesgityis for bread. That he must-have.- It is a mockery to take up tire child’s time with a training whqjj.l leaves him at its end unable to earn a living. A minimum of necessaries of food, clothing and shelter is essenr tial to peace, good order, and the public welfare. Every interest of public health, economics and spirituality is botfad up with the well-being of the humblest member of society. Education needs to be practical and for a certain and definite purJ‘ose._ College men are often scoffed at as being unfitted for any useful vocation, as having been taught a smattering of many things with a thorough knowledge of nothing. Education as a whole is less popular with the masses because of the general impression that it is based on faulty principles. There is much ground for this criticism. Too close have we adhered to the idea that education is designed to make “a scholar and a gentleman'’’ instead of a useful man. Too closely have we followed the old ideal of seeking by our schools to duplicate the type of the English country squire, an amiable, accomplished, brave and high-mjnded parasite on society. I have often feared that certain sections of America have followed the.old ideals in education more closely even than the people of the Old World. We have been more conservative even than they. Too much, are our boys encouraged to enter the professions. More brains is frequently required in business and industry than in professional life, and the rewards are greater. Frequently a high-class and useful mechanic is spoiled in the making of an indifferent physician or lawyer. Ridicule is sometimes heaped on professional men that they are more poorly paid than a good mechanic; but this is not a matter for sneers nor even for comment, for often the mechanic is the more useful citizen, and frequently expends more talent and energy in his work than the professional man in his calling. Everfour trade schools are devoted too much to teaching theory instead of practice and to fitting men for superintendence and the higher branches of industry. The vocational education that I contend for is that which fits the youth of the land to make its way in the world, that teaches horse sense and good judgment as applied to the business of earning a living. Such training should produce better mechanics, better-kept homes, better farmers and more fruitful- it the workingman, will increase. Ms output and must be secured in a larger wage and shorter hours of labor for a day’s work. By it the yield of the farm will be enhanced so that the cost of 1i v ingw il lberedu ce d, farm incomes multiplied and reflected in better farm dwellings, more of the comforts of life, rural life made more attractive, and the farming population increased.

Railroad Securities Not Tempting to Investors Under Present Conditions

There seems to be a popular impression that there is an inexhaustible reservoir of private funds available to the railroads upon demand for whatever purposes they may have in mind, and that the function of the public is simply to regulate their use. Unfortunately for all interests, this is not the fact. A railroad is not like a camel. It cannot live upon its own humps nor sustain itself from within. It needs a constant supply of fresh sustenance from without in order to reach its normal growth and perform its ? normal functions. Investments in railway securities are made by bankers and individuals on exactly the same basis they are made in other securities, and if railway offerings fail to measure up in competition with other offerings, they lose - just that degree of popularity. The investor...mixst..ha.tempted, •either by profit-or by stability of income-.-- Ho finds neither of-these.assured to his satisfaction in the railroad business under existing conditions. . — —-It-is.Jtrue that there is some financing from time to time, but it is fi n will inevitably he more^J impaired. ! In other industries melon-cutting is again in fashion, and any number of industrial concerns are earning 40 or 50 per cent, or even more, on their common stock. It is true that the railroads have just had the most prosperous year in their history, but the net earnings, after deducting taxes, hire of equipment and rentals, is only about six per cent upon the value'of the property devoted to public use.

War Price a Nation Pays for Luxuries That the Modem Civilization Demands

Without any foreign trade, the United States would need only a little navy; without a navy, the United States could-not long have any foreign trade. The people of the United States could all live on little farms if they wished, and have no commerce and no navy; but i| they want luxuries and fine clothes, beautiful homes, electric lights, and all the rest, they must have a commerce; -and they must have a navy to protect the commerce from the sea highwaymen. ' It may be that luxuries of all kinds are an evil; lam inclined to believe they are. It may be that the savage of Samoa is happier than the millionaire of New York. I think he is. It may be that all our artificial civilization is a mistake and that we were in a happier state when we lived nearer the simple things of nature; and that is my jfbrsonal belief. But the people of the United States do not wish to live like the Samoan savage; theywant all the luxuries they can get, and the women want them more eagerly than the men do. This firings into effect the fourteenth commandment, that you must pay for-what you get. ■■ j Now the only way thus far found in history of the world to pay for luxuries is tb live in big cities, maintain a complicated social system, lead an artificial existence and prosecute an aggressive foreign commence. - These am just the activities that bring on wars, and* necessitate tl» maintenance of navies. The bottom cause of war is the competitive pursuit of luxury.

By FRANK TRUMBULL

Chairman Railway Executive*’ Advi*ory Committee

By REAR ADMIRAL BRADLEY A. FISKE

Former Head Naval War College

of .Alabama