Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 141, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1918 — Page 2

Arbitrate!

By BOOTH TARKINGTON

Of 71b* Ffeikmter

In wartime the strike is not the remedy for profiteering. Publicity and action by the government are the remedies for profiteering. Profiteering that brings on a strike is, in effect, not better than treason; but a strike may itself be an attempt to “profiteer” and therefore hot better in result than treason. Every sensible person, however, understands that workmen are entitled to as high wages as they can get Without interfering with the utmost possible efficiency of industry engag-. ed in the prosecution of the war. A etrike does interfere with such efficiency, and therefore means a larger casualty list and increased danger to the country. That is to say: if lam a war. industry workman on strike I am prolonging the w’ar and adding to the risk of America’s defeat in the war. This means that I cause death and wounds to a certain number of American boys who would Have come home safe and sound to tfieir mothers if I hadn’t gone on strike. That is the simple truth; and if I am impeding a war Industry by going on strike, I might Just as well have torn and tortured the bodies of those boys myself. The responsibility Is so terrible that no workman who understands it would take it, except to avoid a greater amount of torture and death at home through starvation wages. Arbitration will give him what he needs and w’hat he justifiably wants. The whole country understands that a workman cannot live today on the wages of ten years ago. Wages have got to advance, of course, as the price ‘of commodities advances; and the price of commodities advances, of course, as wages advance; though it is to the advantage of the workman to let the price of commodities begin to advance first. But his wages must take account of higher prices, and permit him not only life, liberty and the pursuit of Jiappiness, but allow him to save, as well. That is all that any man on this earth is entitled to whether he be garbage man or kaiser; and it is all that is worth getting; and the ideal of this country is that every man shall have it This is what we are fighting for; that no man shall take away this right from another man, that no man shall make another man his slave,’ as the Germans have made conquered labor their slave and as they would make slaves of us If they conquered us. Now such is the temper of our country that the responsibility for a strike which means more death, more crippling, more blinding, more shot away faces, for our young men, sons of workingmen and sons of capitalists, fighting side by side and comrades “over there,” as they will be over here when they come home —the responsibility for such a strike is an infinitely heavier and more dangerous thing than those who .rashly assume that responsibility can know, and no decent human being could be so selfish and so treacherous to his country as knowingly to bring about such a strike. And the temper of the country in these days is to know causes as well as results. Where the greediness of a profiteer has caused a strike, his money will not be envied him for he shall not have it, nor his liberty either. And it is unthinkable that American workmen, or workmen who are human beings, for that matter —it is unthinkable that they will strike, even for mere Justice, without having to the last utmost atom of their energy pressed for settlement by arbitration. The syndicate service, founded by Samuel Gompers and representing the point of view of the American Federation of Labor, reports an address by William Mosses, president of the Pattern Makers’ Union of Great Britain. Mr. Mosses was speaking in the Labor Temple in San Francisco. He said: "We were requested to abrogate our working rules and agreements .' • • to give up everything that tended to restrict output . . . Being convinced that this was necessary, unless we desired to see the entire world subjugated by German autocracy, we recommended that our unions submit to the request made by the government . . This meant that there was to be no stoppage of work during the war. It meant the acceptance of compulsory arbitration. . . . We have secured better results through arbitration than by resorting to the strike, which should be used as a last resort after all else has failed. If this is done, the strike weapon will rest in its scabbard.” And Mr. Mosses said another thing worth thinking about “Today labor in Great Britain is more prosperous than ever before In its history. . . . Our influence is greater than ever before and our workers are enjoying wealth beyond the dream of avarice.’ Not only is arbitration necessary, but it pays!

PASSING OF MR. JOHNSTON

By ISOBEL FIELD

< of the Vigilantes. The traditional Englishman, he of the eyeglass and the haw-haw manner, has been thrown into the discard. The last four years have changed our views on many things and today when we think of a Britisher it is not as we used to see him, in caricature, but as be is, a simple, likable, friendly and **a first-class fighting man."

Another figure has gone, never to return: the dancing, bowing, frog-eat-ing Alphonse, the very opposite in every particular to the real Frenchman we have come to know, whose very name is the personification of valor. Guiseppe, he of the organ and monkey, with a stiletto in his belt and a plate of macaroni in the near distance, is displaced by a bold Alpini fighting in the clouds, or a dashing, gallant Bersegllere defending his country to the last drop of his blood. There is a personage nearer home that we must be prepared to lose, Mlstah Johnston, the Darktown coon. He is no more. Gradually there has appeared in his place a stern young American, trained and alert, musket in hand. There is no hyphen to his name. His forefathers were Africans, but he is loyal United States. When the colored troops marched down Fifth avenue for the last time before going to France, the, newspapers reported that they were given a “tumultuous ovation.” , As a matter of fact, there was little cheering. The dense .masses that lined the side-walls - and filled the windows and overhauging balconies looked on in growing wonder. Here and there a patter of gloved hands or a “bravo” was drowned in the beat of drums and the tramp of many feet. The sight of the long, long line of khaki-clad figures marching like clock-work; the strange grim faces that might have been cast in bronze- —eyes straight ahead, with not a side glance or a gleam of white teeth; company after company led by smart, soldierly colored officers, all on their way to the battlefront, was too awe-inspiring for noise. The crowds gave them the deeper homage of breathless surprised silence. They came to applaud Mlstah Johnston and beheld in his place a bold warrior who commanded their respect and admiration.

THE NEW LIFE

By ZOE ADKINS

of the Vigilantes. This is an Intermission: Time stands still, And we—as lost as children in a haze— To take from some heritage of other Hays Forgotten faith and unsuspected will; . We have gone back, like children, to our knees, -? And we have learned the sad and splendid pride Of those whose dearest gloriously died, Knowing our own face Death across the seas. Oh, after this-when Joy-bells ring out peace. And home our war-tired heroes coma again. Shall we not vow ourselves, when war shall cease. To a new life, and prove that not in vain We saw the Prussian sword drawn from its sheath And neutral lands—and children —fall beneath?

THE FASHION OF 1918

By ISOBEL FIELD.

of the Vigilantes. Her hat was plainly old fashioned, and the ribbon that adorned it had evidently been cleaned and pressed ’with a hot iron; her tailor-made suit, though well fitting, Was faded in color and cut in the mode of year before last; but she walked down Fifth avenue among the best-dressed women in the world with a swing of the skirts and a noble condescension of glance that attracted my attention. I watched her with interest, sauntering a little ahead and stopping at shop windows to study her as she passed. • Was she a great painter, authoress or poet puffed up with her well-deserv-ed fame? No, her face was not familiar, as, in these days of newspaper photography it would be were she of the elect. She was neither young nor strikingly beautiful, yet why the grand manner as of one above the common herd? ‘ • Suddenly she paused beside me to cast an indifferent glance at a dazzling array of diamonds in a shop window and then I discovered the secret of her proud bearing. What need had she of fine clothes or feathers in her hat? She was dressed in the height of the fashion of 1918. On the breast of her shabby jacket she wore a little service bar and on that bar were three blue stars r

EXPOSE EVERY ONE

By HARRY V. MARTIN

of the Vigilantes. While we are at it, reporting German spies to the federal government, why not go a little further and give your local food administrator the names of those grocers and butchers who are charging more for their goods than they should? By helping to force up the cost of living, already deucedly high, these petit larceny profiteers, although waving the American flag at every opportunity, are really helping the kaiser. Their safety lies.in the fact that they are too Insignificant to come under the notice of investigators employed by Unde Sam. Here is your opportunity, Mr.' or Mrs. or Miss Citizen. A chance to air that detective instinct that is within us all. A very good way of “doing your bit,” and one that is bound to be appreciated. It stands to reason that the food administrator in your town and county has his hands full taking care of the big things. Give him s lift by appointing yourself, this very instant, as one of his assistants to fer ret out the meanest men and women in all the world, the criminals who see in the war a chance to get rich quick at the expense of their owt countrymen.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. INI). '■

APPEALS TO EUROPEAN EYES

Picturesque Island of Zanzibar Has a Charm Possessed by Few Other Places In Africa. The little island of Zanzibar is one of the most picturesque places in Africa—one of the few places of the dark continent that is picturesque at all. That is because it is an old, historic island, with traces of vanished peoples, accretions of old customs, memorials of forgotten events. The greater part of Africa is primitive, nature in a state of nature, and nature is magnificent, beautiful aweinspiring, terrifying, but rarely picturesque. The latter is a characterization of the works of man, which comes to them with time. The frame is what makes the picture, and it is only man who builds frames. The narrow streets of Zanzibar, the massive carven doorways, the stern old houses, the timeworn markets, the crooked, mysterious alleyways, -the riot of color and the babel of tongues, the still heat that throws over it all an illusion of vagueness like a play, seen on the stage, make a picture that will remain fresh in the memory for years. The island is set like a fluted emerald in a green sea, with a still blue sky burning changeless overhead. In the past Zanzibar was the home of all the wonder and cruelty of the East, settled and harried by the Arab and Moslem traders from Egypt and Turkey. Today it is a British protectorate, with a figurehead sultan, who spends much of his time and money in European travel.

FIRST NAVAL TRAINING POST

Was Established at Boston, Largely Through Efforts of" Commodore Bainbridge. The first naval school in the United States was established at the old Boston navy yard more than a century ago, the founder being Commodore Bainbridge, who is known as the “Father of American Naval Construction,” and who was born in Princeton, N_ J. Bainbridge was captured by ’the French in 1798, during the naval conflicts between that country and the United States, and in „ 1802 he was held a prisoner for nine months by the Tripolitan pirates. He fought gallantly in the last war between America and England, and after its conclusion Induced the Washington authorities to open a training school for officers at Boston. In 1840, some years after the death of the founder of American naval education, a naval school was opened in the old naval asylum in Philadelphia, and .here for a few years the midshipmen of the republic were instructed in the arts of warfare on the sea. The plan was so successful that it was decided to open a permanent jiaval academy. Annapolis, Md., was chosen as the site of the school and there the present United States Naval academy was formally opened.

Slow Growth of Languages.

So long as government was conducted exclusively by a throne and aristocracy, the ruling class was constrained to speak one language, that of the court and of polite society. All cultivated people in the land were educated in the same literary tongue, which was naturally used in official transactions. The uneducated classes talked their own dialects and cared little what their rulers spoke. They have not always objected even when these men affected a foreign culture. Frederick the Great thought himself a French litterateur and spelled his name like a Frenchman. But when popular elections were introduced, and still more when primary schools became universal, the question of language assumed a far greater importance, A. Lawrence Towel! writes in the Independent, New York. Then the patter of race was brought to the forefront.

Sand Dunes In Gascony.

One of the most interesting and remarkable of the many regions for the observation of sand dunes lies between Bordeaux and Bayonne, In Gascony. The sea here throws every year upon the beach, along a line of 100 miles in length, some 5,008,000 cubic yards of sand. The prevailing westerly winds continue picking up the surface particles from the westward slope, where they are again deposited, and the entire ridge by this means alone moves gradually inward? In the course of years there has thus been formed a complex system of dunes, all approximately parallel with the coast and with one another and of all altitudes up to 250 feet. These are marching rteadily inward at a rate of from three to six feet a year, whole villages havjig sometimes been torn down to prevent burial and rebuilt at a distance.

The Call to Action.

The test of life Is action. The reason why some fall where and when others succeeds Is because some go forward to new and untried experiments In the art of living, while others —those who do not succeed —stay inside their customary lifnits. In these prophetic days there have been some startling revelations. Men and women who have never done anything, and did not suppose they could do anything that was not habitual and commonplace, have been startled into activity and surprised into successful enterprise. When all die world was in motion they were compelled to move, and when their one talent was demanded they threw it into the common trea» ary, and lo! it became two.

Safeguarding American War-Workers

Great Britain, Early in Conflict, Learned the Importance of Maintaining Former Labor Standards

(From Women of the National Council of Defense.) IN VIEW of the urgent necessity for prompt increase in the volume of production of nearly every article required the conduct of the ilance is demanded of all those in any way associated with industry lest the safeguards with which the people of this country hqye sought to protect labor should be unwisely and unnecessarily broken down.” This sentence sounds the keynote of the industrial policy of the two great divisions of the United States army—today placing numberless contracts of fabulous size and value — the ordnance department and the quartermaster’s department. In “General Orders No. 13,” from which tills sentence is quoted, issued "not long ago by the ordnance department and later adopted by the quartermaster general, are set forth in some detail the principles of this policy, and in no uncertain words the reason for its existence. “It is a fair assumption,” it goes on to say, “that for the most part these safeguards are the mechanisms of efficiency. Industrial history proves that reasonable hours, fair working conditions, and a proper wage scale are essential to high production.” Enlightened patriotism, in other words, demands not that the workers shall work long hours at top speed for the least possible wages, but that for the sake of output they shall make a steady reasonable expenditure of strength for a reasonable length of time under proper conditions. We have long heard these things demanded for the good of workers, but now a new partnership has been formed. Efficiency and humanity go hand in hand.From the time of our entrance into the war, the importance of conserving labor standards has been emphasized and re-emphasized by important officials in the government. The president himself, in welcoming at the White House the British labor commission which visited this country last spring, said that “nothing would be more deplorable” than “to set aside even temporarily the laws which have safeguarded the standards of labor and of life,” when we are fighting in,a cause which “means the lifting of the standards of life.” Secretary Baker, as chairman of the council of defense in April of last year, stated in a letter addressed to the governors of the states a resolution passed by the council, “That the council of national defense urge upon the legislatures of the states, as well as all administrative agencies charged with the enforcement of labor and health laws, the great duty of maintaining the existing safeguards as to the health and welfare of workers, and that no departure from such present standards in state laws or state rulings affecting labor should be taken without the declaration of the council of natlonal defense that such a departure Is essential for the effective pursuit of the national defense.” The council has since strong-, ly reaffirmed this stand, and the woman's committee Of the council has taken, as its official standards for the employment of women, the standards

TREE MAN HAS NEGLECTED

For Some Reason, the Mulberry Was Never Given the Attention of Which It la Deserving. 7 —— Pliny says: “Of all the cultivated trees, the mulberry is the last that buds, which it never does until the cold weather is past, and it is therefore called the wisest of trees. But, when it begins to put forth buds, it dispatches the business in one night, and that with so much force that their breaking

issued' by the ordnance department as part of General Orders No. 13. The departments of women in industry of the woman’s committee throughout the country are doing and will do all in their power to put this Indorsement into practical effect, with the co-opera-tion of the? department of women in industry of the woman’s committee at Washington. What are these standards, and why are standards for working women of such prime importance to the nation at this time? Proper conditions of woman’s labor have always been of peculiar importance to the state. In peace times the United States Supreme court held that, for the sake of future generations, it was constitutional to limit the working hours of women to eight hours a day. Today in wartime limitation of hours it is important for an additional reason. Modern warfare is not fought in the trenches alone. The army at the front is helpless if the second line 04 defense, the army in factories, is not able to keep up production of supplies. In emphasizing the necessity of rigid enforcement of existing legal standards, and urging that “even where the law permits a nine or ten-hour day, effort should be made to restrict the work of women to eight hours,” the ordnance department has in mind primarily the output of munitions. In urging the prohibition of night work, they state that “English investigators have found that nlght«work for women involves proportionately larger costs for supervision and protection.” The human cost of night work has long been known to ■ social investigators. A world war has brought out its pecuniary extravagance. The Saturday half holiday—“an absolute essential for women under all conditions” —adequate meal and rest periods, and one day’s rest in seven, also find place in this government list of industrial standards. Even with the best will in the world, and despitethe most ardent spirit of sacrifice, human beings cannot do continuous work without losing their efficiency. The English workers, who tolled such long hours at the beginning of the war, did so willingly for the sake of their soldiers. In the words of J. H. Thomas, member of the British labor commission to this country: “We got reports of our lads being mowed down, unable to defend themselves, simply like rabbits In a hole, being mowed down all for want of munitions. You can quite understand that public sentiment was that we had to give them some protection, and our men arid our women were working 14, 16, 19 and all manner of hours, 120 hours a week, not so much because they were compelled, don’t get that into your heads, but because the very circumstances, the moral Influence of doing something for these gallant lads to give them a chance compelled us all to forget hours and everything else. “Now, as the war went on the sickness rtturns showed an alarming increase. /The general health of the peo-

forth may be evidently heard.” In alluding to the black mulberry, Pliny observes that there is no other tree that has been so neglected by the wit of man, either in grafting or giving it names. Oddly enough, this observation holds good to the present day, for our nurserymen still offer for sale the black,* or common, mulberry, and we are not aware of any varieties worthy of a varietal name, or even any variation from the wild type. We do not think this can be said of any other cultivated fruit. —Exchange.

ple was going down. * Holidays you must remember were abandoned and the strain was beginning to be felt. The government set up a committee composed of employers, trade union representatives and government officials, an Impartial tribunal. They I came to the unanimous decision that! long hours and Sunday labor were dis-1 astrous, not only to the health of thei men and women, but to the efficiency! of the service and they were unanimous in condemning long hours. Andi we say without hesitation, having regard to that experience, that it is uneconomical, ft is unwise and it is bad, management to work men or women, abnormally long hours because it does< not pay in the end.” Proper regulation of hours alone,, however, will not solve the problem. The ordriance department knows that it will not help production to limit hours if the men and women who work these hours are not secured in th®' fundamental necessities of life —if they are hungry, poorly clothed and improperly housed. Therefore, it is urged that, standards of wages “already established in. the industry and' in the locality should not be lowered,”' “that minimum wage rates bear a constant relation to Increases in the cost of living,” and that, in the case of replacement of men by women, there should be equal pay for equal work. In justice to our soldiers at the front, the standards of the jobs they have left behind must not be lowered by these new recruits, who will, in increasing numbers, take their'places in the industrial army. British official estimates state that since the war began, some 1,400,000 women have directly replaced men, and some 600,000 are employed directly on munitions. The replacement of men by women has, comparatively, not been extensive In the United States as yet. But day by day we hear of new occupations entered, and old ones extended. Women are the reserve labor power of the nation, and, if the war goes on, will inevitably be called into Industry in greater and greater numbers. Increasing demands will be made upon them, unwise sacrifices will without doubt be demanded, short-sighted attempts will be made to break down labor laws. But because. In the light of England’s experience, and of our own best industrial practice, we know that exhausted workers mean decreased production—arid because in the case of women workers, they mean, too, a deterioration of the race, the people of the country must be cn guard with that “vigilance” demanded by Its chief of ordnance “lest the safeguards with which the people of our country have sought to protect labor should be unwisely and unnecessarily broken down.”

Beyond All Doubt.

First Tramp—And are you very tired, Bill? Second Tramp—Tired! Gee whlas, pard. I’m so tired that I could sleep peacefully in a bathtub.

On the Skirmish Line.

At Camp Grant several kitchen police had considerable sport with a rookie who was assisting In the peeling of potatoes for noon mess, when they persuaded the chef to ask this chap to go over to a neighboring barracks and borrow from the mess sergeant several yards of skirmish line on which to dry some dish cloths just washed out. He returned with a neatly wrapped parcel containing some white thread.