Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 44, Number 239, 21 July 1919 — Page 6

PAGE SIX

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAM, MONDAY, JULY 21, 1919.

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-TELEGRAM Published Every Evening Except Sunday, bf Palladium Printing Co. Palladium Building. North Ninth and Bailor Street

Enured at the Post Office at Richmond. Indiana, aa - ond Class Mali Matter. HBKOEB OF TUB ASSOCLsbTKD FRKSS

Th Aasoct&taA Tru la avdnatvalv entitled to the

for republication of all news dlcpatoboa credited to U

not otherwise credited In this Da,Dr ana sjso u 10

we published herein. All rights of republication of eial dispatches herein are also reserved,

High Prices x A comprehensive survey of high prices in many spheres as well as a reason for some of them is presented by the Grand Rapids News in the following editorial: Economists employed by the war trade board have just completed one of the most comprehensive studies ever made of the living-cost question. They have tabulated the price-changes of 40,000 commodities in the United States during the six years from 1913 to 1919. This is what they found: The average prices of most of the 40,000 commodities have greatly advanced, the average rise being 102 per cent since 1915. While prices have increased 102 per cent in the United States, prices in Canada have gone up 107 per cent, in England 133 per cent, in France 200 per cent. And these prices are all in gold. Is it strange that there is world-wide unrest on account of the constantly advancing cost of living? In France the other day the miners of the north passed unanimously a resolution demanding the extreme penalty of the law for profiteering. A proposal was made in the chamber of deputies at Paris to extend the death penalty to profiteers. In Italy the people rose en masse to protest against the unreasonable advance in prices of all commodities, and especially foodstuffs. Within 48 hours the government took drastic action, and there was a reduction of 50 per cent in prices in general. In England agitation against price advances is nation-wide, being intensified by the recent announcement of an increase of 6 shillings per ton for coal. In the house of commons Mr. Bonar Law announced that the high prices prevailing for all commodities had been engaging the attention of the government and the cabinet and that proposals to alter conditions would soon be published. In Canada a parliamentary committee after thorough investigation has just reported its findings in the matter of price advances, which it found to have continued steadily after the sign

ing of the armistice. The committee hag recommended the establishment of a board of commerce, to be permanent in character and modeled after the railway commission. Canada is going to give pitiless publicity to profiteering. H. H. Stevens of Vancouver, a member of the committee, asked who was chief offender, replied that between the manufacture the middleman and the retailer, the latter is the least guilty. In his estimation, the manufacturer, taking advantage of war and world conditions, "has found in these conditions extraordinary opportunities of making large profits, and in some cases, but not generally, of making unreasonable and illicit profits." In this country, a few days ago, the federal trade board issued a report which tended to show

that the five big packing concerns in Chicago were in control of not only the food supply of this country, but were seeking control of foodstuffs everywhere. On top of that report comes the news that every agency of the department of justice in Chicago had been assigned the duty of investigating an alleged "$100,000,000 food combine," consisting of producers, canners and distributors of foodstuffs. It Is charged that peas, bcan3, tomatoes, asparagus, fruit and all other canned foodstuffs, including meats and milk, are controlled by this gigantic combination of capital, production and distribution. The system, it is charged, is perfect. The farmer's produce is purchased outright on anticipation, the canneries are financed, and the distributors are in control of the market. Oscar B. McGlasson, secretary of the McNeil & Higgins company, wholesale grocers of Chicago, throws a little further light on the operations of profiteers. He says speculators in foodstuffs are gouging the public They either attempt to buy the output of food products and hold it for an ad

vance In price, or they deal in future contracts before the food is produced. If they don't get the foodstuff control originally, they buy control of it through the canners. Controlling the canned goods output, they dictate to the wholesale

grocers. In other cases the wholesalers are com- j pelled to buy from the canners on contracts even ; before the food is produced. The canners quote !

their product to the wholesaler at a certain price. "If you do not buy now," they say, "the price will i be higher later on." The wholesaler often is!

vuuiicucu vis jjiuwuasc ab nit tauuu a ucuiauu and to sign contracts, which the canners take to the banks and put up as collateral. The canner goes to the farmer and buys the latter's fruits and vegetables before they are in the seed, or before they are ripened. He offers a good price, naturally, and the farmer is glad to accept it. Once in control of the foodstuffs, it is easy for the canner to fix the price of his output. That explains why today fruits and vegetables are higher than ever before, right here where they are grown. In the United States district court in Boston last week several offenders were sent to jail for conspiring illegally to maintain the price of fish. The department of labor statistics report, recently issued, showed that food prices were higher in Boston than in any one of 50 leading cities. As an instance, bananas sold in Boston for 46 cents a dozen, whereas the average for 49 other cities was 36 cents a dozen. Yet bananas are brought directly to Boston from the West Indies, the United Fruit company selling them at wholesale for about 20 cents a dozen. Bananas ought to sell in Boston for at most 35 cents a dozen, which would afford ample profit for all who handle them. Dr. J. R. Mohler, chief of the bureau of animal industry of the department of agriculture at Washington, tells us that more than one-third of all the swine in the world are raised in the United States. Still, hogs are selling for more at the Chicago stock yards than at any time in our history. Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas told a senate committee less than a week ago that there had been a sharp decline in the price of cattle in his state, yet the retail prices of meat in Washington had kept up to the high level and in some instances had been increased. New England print cloth manufacturers are selling common bleached muslin at such high prices to wholesalers and jobbers that they assure us this stuff, which used to retail at 5, 6, and 7, and at most at 10 cents, must be sold to the consumer at not less than 25 cents a yard. Speculators are to blame. The manufacturers do not like to sell to these speculators, but they are only human, and the legitimate dealer is forced to pay the abnormal prices offered by the outlaw

purchasers. Dr. Homer Hoyt, formerly of the University of Chicago, one of the leading specialists of the war trade board which made the investigation of rising prices, says : "We are now in the rarif ied atmosphere of the new price level and we cannot go back. We have almost twice as much money in circulation as before the war, hence we are receiving twice as much and spending twice a3 much. The average man enjoys the luxury of handling more bills. It seems as if all of us are more prosperous, but let us not be deceived. As

a matter of fact, our 1919 dollar will only pur

chase on the average half as many goods as the 1913 dollar. The 1919 dollar is worth only as

much as the 1915 half dollar. "We have not yet become accustomed to the

new price level. The adjustment will not be perfect until every one gets about twice the money income he received before the war. Thus we find laborers entitled to higher wages ; we see public utilities demanding higher fares ; we witness the raising of rents. All of this is a part of the process of adjustment to the new price level." All this he somewhat facetiously blamed on the kaiser, for "he started the war and the war started the inflation of prices." But that doesn't explain away the food profiteer, who, as indicated, undoubtedly exists everywhere. Prices are higher than they ought to be on account of speculation, manipulation, control. By some means, through the passage of the Kenyon bill, or otherwise, the government will have to take a hand and curb the profiteer. We do not like to be alarmists, but if the government does not take action there will be riots and the food profiteer will get what the miners of France threaten to the food und other commodity hogs over there.

Condensed Classics of Famous Authors

re-

TARKINGTON Booth Tarkington was born at Indianapolis. July J9. 1869. Indiana had not then become so firmly convinced aa she la now that the literary center of the United States lies withn her borders, ao that Booth eoufcht

nis education at Exter Academy and Princeton, with a dash of Purdue University In between, with a post-grad-uate course of a year In the Indiana Legislature. Showing- the pride of all citizens of his etate In their heritage, hla first book was "The Gentleman From Indiana," in 1889, followed by Monsieur Beaucalre," in 1900. The latter was dramatised In 1902, winning a high place on the stage under the skilful acting of Richard Mansfield, and setting the precedent for many of Tarkington's books, which have had the double audience of the printed page and the playhouse, as in the case of "Seventeen" during the last season.

Few writers have achieved greater success In the portrayal of boys than has Tarkington; a very large audience Is ever on the alert for any and every appearance of Penrod and his friends. The novels of Booth Tarkington show an increasing power; they have been of frequent appearance; perhaps "The Turmoil." 1915, atands out as the one of the most perfect human understanding which he has yet written. He has humor, he has a light and winning touch, and he knows America and Americans as do few of the people who are writing about them. As a novel of American business life "The Turmoil" holds first rank.

Si d7

PROMINENT WOMEN TAKE PART IN 4 t NATIONAL DEFENSE CONFERENCE

THE TURMOIL BY BOOTH TARKINGTON1 Condensation by Clarence W. Barron

Travels of Two Words

From the Indianapolis Star. REFERING to one of the many political problems of the country, the Springfield Republican remarks In a profoundly seilous editorial, "Sooner or later America will have to determine where she is at." From the staid old Republican, with Its proud record of highbrowlsm and its reputation for the use of faultless English, this is really shocking. For the phrase, "Where she is at" is a rude colloquialism and a middle western one at that, and middle western speech Is commonly regarded with critical distrust by down East guardians of the American language. The term in question is really an exotic in the middle West, having, according to rhetorical tradition, been brought In from the South by early settlers. Middle Western English, more especially Indiana English, as the Star has often remarked, is of a high standard, for although its "dialect" bag obtained considerable pub Jlclty, it Is really less noticeable and less prevalent than "Yankee dialect of the "Bigelow Papers" type in New England. But "Where It Is at" is a phrase, it must be admitted that is" freo.uent'y'heard, though bo far as can

be recaljed It has not appeared on an Indiana editorial page without Quotation marks. Can its use by the Republican possibly mean that this excellent and respected paper is carelessly forgetting its role as a model? The travels of another word, indigenous, it is sad to say, to this region to Indiana itself, perhaps are interesting to watchful readers of newspapers. This is "like" used in the sense of "as Jf." "Ho looks like he is in a hurry." "It seems like it can't be," Illustrate the usage. This very common misuse of the word has excited the Jeers of Eastern purists, but Its frequent appearance recently In New York and other Eastern papers. Indicates two things that purists of the editorial and proofreading staff are on their vacations and that Indiana men are members of the writing force. For it is a peculiarity of the Indiana man, even though he be a college graduate and has had the benefit of newspaper training, that when he once shows a preference for "like" Instead of "as If he refuses to abandon It except through the use of Tio lent measures. Judging by present indications Indiana men are numerous on the New York press. The word is a sure sign. It may break Into Che Republican yet.

The Sheridan building was the biggest skyscraper, the Sheridan Trust Company, the biggest bank, and Sheridan, himself, the biggest builder and broker, and truster and buster undef the smoke of a dirty and wonderful midland city that piled tower on tower and spread Itself out over the plain of a fair country. Bibbs Sheridan was his "odd one"; the family failure. He grew up only lengthwise, and at 22 was the dry scaffolding of a man. Six months in his father's Pump Works made necessary two years in a sanitarium. He returned to the "new house" on the outskirts of the city in time for the house-warming party. To thl9 cama Mary Vertrees, whose family next door maintained the highest air of respectability upon a vanishing fortune. She came under home promptings that led her to da2le with her wit and beauty both Sheridan and James Sheridan, Jr. When young Jim had proposed, Mrs. Roscoe Sheridan, his eister-in-law, offered to help Mary in return for help in an afTair of her own. Mary saw that in bartering, Bhe was to be bartered with. Her soul rebelled and she declined to marry young Jim Sheridan. He never got the letter. Sheridan demanded of Bibbs if ho would quit dreaming of poetry and follow with Roscoe and Jim to make the business and the city bigger. Bibbs could not understand why anybody wanted to make things bigger. "Damnation!" roared Sheridan. "Did you ever hear the word 'Prosperity!' You ninny! Did you ever hear the word 'Ambition!' Did you ever hear the word 'Progress!' Look at Jim, just completing two more big warehouses at the Pump Works in half the time the contractors wanted. Jim took the contract himself, found a fellow with a new cement process and we begin using them next week. Now. I'm goin' to make a man of you. By God, I am!" And Bibbs was given two months to get his mental attitude right for the Pump Works. Miss Vertrees' note went to the senior Sheridan, as that afternoon one of the new warehouse walls collapsed sending the inventor and James Sheridan, Jr., to their eternity. Bibbs had to manage the funeral and ride from the cemetery with Mary

Vertrees, but neither spoke. "He's not insane," said Mary to her mother. "He looks dreadfully ill, but has pleasant eyes." Later Bibbs and Mary met as he was passing her gate. He apologized: "I I hate frozen flsh myself, and that three miles was too long for you to put up with one. I've never been able to speak quickly, because if I

tried I'd stammer. My brother Roscoe whipped me once for stepping on hia slate pencil. It took me so long to tell him it was an accident, he finished before I did." Instantly, Mary saw his nature and suffering. They walked on and she invited him into the church to hear some Handel music. It meant, sho said, one thing above all others to her courage. Thereafter Bibbs went often to the home of Mary Vertrees. "You see," he confided to her, "It is all so simple. I am to feed long strips of zinc into steel Jaws that bite it Into little circles, 68 a minute. I used to flinch and the workmen laughed." "It shn'n't hurt you," exclaimed Mary. "All day long, I'll send my thoughts to you; and you must remember that a friend stands beside you." Bibbs fed the old zinc-eater, discovered its musical rhythm, and sang his poetry in resonance therewith. At night Biggs scribbled: "Manual labor Is best. Vour heart can sing and your mind can breathe while your hands are working. What a turbulance Is love! And lovers are blind. But friendship walks gently and with open eyes." Trouble grew in the Sheridan household. Roscoe took to drink; then quit. He had enough a few thousand a year. He had been so busy he had nearly lost his wife. "A woman has to have something in life besides a business man. Now we are going to Japan." Sheridan sent for Bibbs, his only hope, offered him v!ce-pre6ldencieB, salaries and shares; but Bibbs preferred happiness and nine dollars a week. "What's the use," he Bald, "of being Just bigger, dirtier and noisier?" That evening Bibbs and Mary read Maeterlinck together and ho told her:

"Tomorrow, I'm one of the hands of the Pump Works and going to stay one, unless I am thrown out and de

cide to Btudy plumbing." "Why not give Bibbs a chance to live?" said the family doctor. "There Is something finer In Bibbs, than his physical body. You're halt mad with a consuming fury against the very self of law. But you want tn beat the law! So AJax defied the lightning I" "Yes I And, by God, X will!" cried Sheridan. "Ajax was a Jackass. If he'd been half a man he'd V got away with It; hitched It up and made It work for him like a black steer. Ill have my way with that stubborn fool, Bibbs." But Bibbs still said, "No." Sunday afternoon Bibbs was work

ing over a poem. He might venture it upon an editor and perhaps Then paper and pencil dropped as he stood up paralysed. Through his half-open door he heard Mrs. Roscoe Sheridan confiding to Mother Sheridan: "The Vertrees' house has been sold on foreclosure; they are allowed to live there a little longer." "Mr. Vertrees has been trying to get a 'position.'" "They have been doing their own cooking." "Those people were so hard up that Miss Vertrees started after Bibbs before they knew whether he was Insane or not" 4"She had to get him." "If he'd stop to think, he'd know he wasn't the kind of a man any girl would be apt to fall In love with." Elbbs quickly burned papers and notebooks, descended and told his father: "I'll take the Job you offered me," and went straight to Mary Vertress and said: "Will you marry me?" Mary drew it all out of Bibbs; then sank down kneeling, tears overwhelming her. "I can't make it plain," said Bibbs, "I never dreamed I could do anything for you! I knew you never thought of me except generously to give." "We were poor, and I think I did mean to marry your brother. But something stopped me from such a sacrillge. I posted the letter, but he never got It." "You kept me alive and I've hurt you like this," said Bibbs. "Could you forgive me, Mary?" "Oh, a thousand times! But there's nothing to forigve and you mustn't come to see me any more," she cried in a passion of tears. "Never, never, never!" He returned In time to tell his sls-ter-ln-law in the presence of the family: "I proved what you said of me, and disproved what von said nf Misn

Vertrees. I asked her to marry me and she refused." Bibbs went with his father and sat in the porch of the temple with the money-changers; worked and talked of nothing but work. He delved into the ways of the citv and its political Influence, and began to buy Intertractlon shares where the Vertrees' fortune had vanished. Soon the Vertrees were able to pay the butcher, hire a cook, and follow

tne DroKer'B advice to keep the balance of their stock. Sheridan boasted that his plan for Bibbs was working out all right. Still there was something wrong and the doctor and Sherldan agreed that it might be a good thing if Miss Vertrees would permit Bibbs to see her sometimes. "I had to make Bibbs go my way," Sheridan explained to Miss Vertrees, "but there Isn't anything in it to him. He gave up everything he wanted and took the job he never would Just for you. There's only one girl he could feel sorry for. Can't you let him come back?" When Mary resnonded? "I oan-fi Wo

was only sorry for me," the truth was , out. "Don't don't " she cried. "You mustn't "

"I won't tell him. I won't tell anybody anything," said Sheridan. On a crowded downtown thoroughfare Mary saw Ghprirlnn t th ri.i, r

, his life, spring before a moving trolleycar and With tha whnli tnmm nf hi.

big body shunt Bibbs from impending dangsr. The crowd had shrieked warnings, but Bibbs had looked the wrong way. High up in the Sheridan Building, Bibbs sat down, shaking and sore. He realized that his father held his own life of no account compared to that of his son. Bibbs perceived what he had never perceived before the shadowing of something enormous. Indomitable, lawless, irresistible and blindly noble. He looked out Into the vast foggy heart of the smoke. Dlzxy traceries were rising dimly against it, chattering with steel on steel and screochlng In steam while tiny figures of men walked on threads in the dull sky. Bigness was being served and there was only Turmoil. But what for the mighty question came to Bibbs with a new despair. The roar of the city beat upon Bibbs' ear until he began to distinguish a pulsation; the Voice of the god, Bigness. "Come and work for all men! By your youth and your hope. I summon you! By your age and your despair! By your love of borne and woman and children! You shall be blind slaves. For reward you shall gase only upon my ugliness." Then, the voice cams as some muslo struggling to be bnrn at the TnmiArt

j "It Is man who makes me ugly by his

wumaip 01 me. u man would let me serve him I should be beautiful." From the vague contortions of the smoke and fog, Bibbs soulptured a gigantic figure with feet pedestalled upon the great buildings and shoulders disappearing in the clouds, a colossus of steel, wholly blackened with soot. Re thought up over the clouds unseen from below the giant labored with his hands la the clean sunshine; and Bibbs imaged what he made there perhaps for a fellowship of the children of the chlklren that were children now a noble and Joyous city, unbelievably white. The telephone fiercely summoned .bjb.. A etartltogly beautiful voice

Jh0 1

Mrs. E.' H. Harriman (left) and Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip. Women of national prominence took an active part in the recent conference on peace time work of the community councils of national defense, which was held at the home of Mrs. Frank A. Vanderlip at Scarborough-on-Hudson. Among the women present, besides Mrs. Vanderlip, was the widow of the lato E. H. Harriman, railway matmate. The accompanyingpicture was taken while the conference was in progress.

THE GEORGE MATTHEW ADAMS DAILY TALK THINGS THAT WILL, MAKE YOU BIGGER Start your day with a definite plan and carry ft through. Say little each day and do more. Smile outside and radiate smiles, no matter how you mar xl Inside. Keep your mind clear and your heart clean. Be generous to a fault. It may sometimes hurt, but It wtn never h&rmu Time given to the help and happiness of others Is never wasted. Never learn to love money. Put your confidences into your own heart. Then lock them up and throw the key away. Learn to, listen. Never divide your attention. If a thing Is Important enough for a part ot your thought, it Is Important enough for alL When you concentrate, burn a hole into the thing at hand. Be brief. Never steal time from another. Never hurt another's feelings. Be considerate. Keep calm. Go slow, but keep going. Keep criticizing yourself. Take kindly suggestions, kindly. Never be afraid to carry a right thing through. Always be strong. Abolish idleness from your lite. Use every minute. Keep thinking, planning, building. You have ability which no one else In the world has. Use It to the highest end you know. Bury every regret. Work and live In the now. Fear no man. You are as big as you do no bigger. Eliminate worry. Go to sleep In peace, with happy thoughts. Do at least one single helpful act every day that will mean special planning on your part And then soon such acts wQl corns) about without planning. Have an inward reverence for your body and keep It healthy. Live each day as though it were to be the last.

voice caused him to tremble violently. "Yes, Bibbs, I was near the accident. They said you hadn't been hurt, but 1 wanted to know." "Mary would you would you have minded?" There was a long pause and a soft "Yes." "Then, why, oh, why, won't you let me see you? I've been like a man chained in a cave." "But, Bibbs dear, you don't understand why." "Mary," he called, even ore tremulous than before, "you can't mean It was because you care. If you meant that you would let me see you. wouldn't you?" And now the voice wai so low he couldn't be sure it spoke at all, and the words were, "Yes, Blbbe dear." But the voice was not In the instrument. It was so gentle and bo light, so almost nothing. It seemed ot be made of air and to fall from heaven. Slowly and Incredulously he turned and looked up and glory fell upon his shining eyss, Mary stood upon the threshold. Copyright, 1919, by Post Publishing Co. (The Boston Post). Printed by pei mls.Un f ani trfanffAmont with 1 1 a.rn p f

"Kenllworth," by 8lr Walter Scott, as condensad by the Rev. Dr. R. Perry Bush, will be printed tomorrow.

Memories of Old Days In This Paper Ten Years Ago Today

The attorneys of the city defeated the newspaper men in a baseball game. A severe epidemic of tonsilitls was prevalent in the city.

Rush-Fayette Folks Hold Reunion in Indianapolii INDIANAPOLIS. Ind., July 21 Th twenty-first annual reunion of th Rush-Fayette County Association, an organisation of former residents ol the two counties now residing In Indianapolis, wasa held yesterday at BrookBlde Park. More than 250 persons attended the affair. A basket dinner was served at noon. A large number of visitors from Bush and Fayette Counties were present. David W. McKee of CkmnenrrfDe, delivered an address devoted to renv inlsconces of life in the two counties during the early days of Indiana history, a number of musical numbers were rendered, including a cornet solo by Mrs. Carl Elliott of the Unl. versalist Church choir. Community singing closed the program. E. M. Mcintosh was elected president of the association for the next year. Other officers elected Include W. W. Olbbs, vice president for Hay ette Ootmty; Henry M. Lall. Tic president for Itush County: Theodore Sand-strom. vice president for Starlon . County; Marion Overhelser, treasurer, and William B. Jeffrey, secretary. Mr. Jeffrey has served as secretary of the organization for several years. Ira Hlnchman was the retiring- president of the association.

ADMIRAL TO HEAD CABINET

A new car belonging to Dr. Harold was badly damaged when a spark from a lighted match got into the gasoline tank which he was filling.

Sheriff Linus Meredith was forced to walk with a cane because of a severe blow which he received from a foul ball at the lawyers-newspaper men baseball game.

Masonic Calendar

Monday, July 11 -Webb lodge No. H. F. and A. M. Called meeting. Work In Master Mason degree beginning at 6: SO. Clarence W. Foreman, W. M. Tuesday , July 83 Richmond lodge 196," F. and A, M. Called meeting. Work In entered apprentice degree, bjKlBV'lg at 6:30. N. J. Iaas, W. M.

MAD3ID. July 21 Admiral Angelo Mlranda. Minister of Marine In the Maura Ministry, which resigned last week, has been requested by King Alfonso to form a conservative Cabinet, recruiting It from among men friendly to former Premier Dato. BLIND MAN "8EE8" QAMI

(By AssoatatesV'freM) INDIANAPOLIS, JtffcT Jl. One of the most enthusiasts Lifts, among tea thousand or mors tatt packed Washington park recently Jfeee Indianapolis and LouIvlll-battle for second place in the- 'American Association was William. Brad en Williams, a blind man who sells papers at one of the down town corners. Williams said he enjoyed the game as much as any one) with two or four eyes, and asserted he could tell where the ball was hit and who catches It by the sound ft mares.

BRITISH GTRIIOt SETTLED LONDON. July 21 The strlk of engineers, signal men and other n morees on the Northeastern Railway System, which beran lat Wu.

j uay waca settled today after negotla,tions between the company and, the . Mi I I ii .t,. '.. J