Richmond Palladium (Daily), Volume 44, Number 266, 22 August 1919 — Page 6

PAGE SIX

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM AND SUN-EELEGRAM, FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 1919.

THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM!

AND SUN-TELEGRAM

Published Every Evening Except Sunday, by Palladium Printing Co. FaAadtam Building, North Ninth and Sailor Streets. Entered at the Post Office at Richmond. Indiana, as Seeond Claat Mail Matter.

MEMBER OP TBB ASSOCIATED PRESS The Associated Press 1 exclusively entitled to the wee for republication of all ntwi dlcpatches credited to It of not otherwise credited In thU paper and also the local news published herein. All rihU ot republication of special dispatches herein are also reserved.

Why Not Fix Prices? "The belief is now almost universal among the peoples of the world that high prices are due to profiteering and that prosecution of the profiteers or the fixing of a few prices will drop us back on the pre-war level of prices overnight," says Homer Hoyt, formerly of the price section of the war trade board in the Nation's Business for September. "If congress starts to fix prices, it must fix thousands of prices. If it fixes retail prices, it must fix wholesale prices or else the retailer will be forced out of business. If, it fixes wholesale prices, it must fix costs, for the supreme court will not issue a writ of mandamus to compel a manufacturer to produce at a loss. If it fixes costs at a lower level, it must inevitably fix wages at a lower level, for wages are the ultimate basis of cost. Wages are the chief element in the expense of putting raw materials on the market, and wages are the chief factor in fabricating these raw materials into finished products. Thus the end of the gigantic price-fixing undertaking would be a lowering of wages. Lower prices brought by lower wages would be a fruitless trade."

Working at Full Speed Disabled soldiers and their families have been concerned about the time consumed in arranging for training with the federal board for vocational education. A knowledge of the procedure necessary for the board to legally place the man in training will do much to clear up this misunderstanding. The central case board is working at great pressure, as are the district boards. Almost 1000 cases are being reviewed by the central case board every day. These cases have been previously passed on by the district officers, but certain evidence must

be in the possession of this central board before the man's case may be approved. The official army discharge and the military or naval medical report are very essential. These documents are the proof that the disability was incurred' while in the service, or that it is in some way traceable to such service. Having established these facts, the board must determine that the man's disability is the cause of a vocational handicap that must be overcome through a course of training. The new vocation for which the man is to be trained must be examined, with the view to its suitability and the man must be steered away from overcrowded occupations. The process reads smoothly. But note the obstacles : discharge papers are missing and it takes time to get duplicates, medical certificates are lost, and more time is wasted in renewing them. Insufficient evidence on vital points must be completed. Time is consumed in supplying the facts which must be in the possession of the board before government money can be used for training. In some instances men must be brought to the district offices for personal interviews on examinations. Personal desires must be considered in the light of economic advantages. In other words, the reeducation of disabled soldiers, sailors and marines is a great big human problem, the man's future is at stake he must, if possible, attain independence as well as satisfaction ; the best interests of the community is in the balance, non-productive citizenship must be controlled. Thoroughness in investigation is the right

of the disabled man. A little forethought on the part of the discharged soldiers in securing beforehand the necessary evidence and a little patience on the part of the public will help in the accomplishment of the work. The Stupidity of Red Tape An ex-lieutenant, writing to that excellent new publication, the American Legion Weekly, reports an interesting grievance. He says: "I have in my possession a pay check for the month of February, 1919, calling for $227.99. The check also calls for the equivalent in francs, 1,242.55, and on the check is stamped the rate of exchange for that month, 5.45. In June I presented this check for payment at the post of finance offices, 104 Broad street, New York, and was offered $190 for it, due to the fluctuation in the value of the franc. I then took the matter up with Washington. Here is the answer I received : "'The Secretary of the Treasury, to whom the question of payment of these checks was referred, decided there was no authority under existing law authorizing disbursing officers to cash these checks at a rate of exchange different from that authorized by the treasury department for the month in which such checks are presented for redemption.' "In other words the government gives me a check for $227.99, charges this amount as paid out on its records, and when I present the check four months after for payment, decides to give me an amount equivalent to $37.99 less than its face value. Can you beat it?" We would say offhand that it would be hard to beat it, unless by some other evidence of stupidity in red tape administration of government departments. Why all the rigmarole in such matters? Whenever it seems desirable to do something promptly and fairly, it almost always appears that there are laws and rules to prevent it. The government expressed this soldier's pay in terms of francs as well as dollars, and now that the franc has become cheaper, the soldier must take the loss. Who gets the $37.99 ? Wanted: A Steady Hand The Brooklyn Eagle presents figures showing that the railroads of the country, far from being abundantly supplies with money, are in dire need of funds. It says: "An expert has taken occasion to inform the house interstate commerce committee that fiftysix of the railroads under federal control, including practically all of the New England lines, are not paying operating expenses ; that only twenty are earning the amount to be paid as rental, and that the rental deficit for this year will aggregate $600,000,000, which estimate is based upon the showing made for six months of 1919. The president of the Savings Bank Association of the: State of New York, says: " Tf congress proposes to build a foundation for American prosperity it must extend a steadying hand to the one great enterprise without which this country cannot go forward. If congress does not take courageous and constructive action now, the progress of a generation toward a regulated system of privately owned and operated railway transportation will be destroyed and the 66th congress will have forced government ownership under conditions and with results which the future alone can assay.' "What congress proposes to do is not known. What must be done is not involved in mystery. There is a limit to the time during which any business can be run at a loss. There is apparently no limit to the burdens the carriers are expected to bear, with or without complaint. They can be saved from going from bad to worse by an invasion into the domain of constructive as distinguished from destructive 'statesmanship.' It is belated, but better late than never."

Condensed Classics of Famous Authors

OUCH ! Washington Post. Maybe the ordinary traveler wouldn't know the difference if there should be a railroad strike.

Time For Action in Mexico

From the Kansas City Star. THE latest outrage against Americans In Mexico, the detention for ransom not of civilians, as In former cases, but of army officers, emphasizes both the inability of the Mexican government to perform the obligations of a government and the futility of the weak rind temporizing policy of this government toward that lawless country. Looking back upon the long record of murders, robberies and kidnapping of Americans in Mexico, a record extending now over many years, unrelieved by reparation or any action save the most formal protest by this country, it is not difficult to understand why the authors of these outrages feel that they can continue their operations, with ever growing boldness, without fear of being held to account. Mexicans of all factions, the so-called government at the capital which is a government alone by the recognition and sanction of the United States and the bandit gangs that control so much of the rest of Mexican territory, seem to have at Jeast one policy in common, which Is to show contempt to the United States government. They seem to have agreed that this country, its laws and citizens can be defied with both safety and profit. Any bandit leader who needs funds for his operations has only to raid an American company's plant or carry off American citizens, and the Carranza government when remonstrated with has only to profess that it is not government in the particular part of the country where the outrage was committed. It is useless to pretend that this condition ever will end while this government sits by and merely protests. Mexicans do not understand protests. They Interpret this

government's failure to act as evidence of its inability or fear to act They have carried on their depredations no long that they have come to believe that the United States government accepts them as matters of fact, as similar conditions are accepted by the state governments' of Mexico. Such government as these states have Is carried on by these processes, and the so-called revolutionists who live by them probably conceive that the American government can help itself no more than they. They will not believe differently until a demonstration of firmness at Washington convinces them that the United Slates has force at its command and is not afraid to use it. The time for such demonstration is due and overdue. This country can tolerate Mexican lawlessness no longer. There Is no government there that can 'be dealt with. There can be none until the United States makes it possible by bringing the fact unmistakably to the Mexican mind that the power and rights of this country and its citizens must be respected. When it is understood south of the Rio Grande that no government can stand that does not recognize this obligation such a government may receive the support of the decent elements in Mexico. But as long as any military dictator can set up business and get the recognition of the United States and use it as a patent to plead irresponsibility for crimes against international and all other law, there will be no other kind of government there. The United States government, by the weakness of its policy In the past, is partly responsible for this condition, and in view of it3 obligation to protect the live? and property of its citizens there, is now wholly responsible if It does not bring that condition to an end, at once and definitely.

HARDY II. Thomas Hardy, probably the most searching; and profound novelist of our own time, was born June 2, 1840, in Dorsetshire, England. In his youth he read much and cherished the dream of becoming- a poet, but he

studied and practised architecture as assistant to a London architect, winning: a prize for design. The fine proportion and solidity of structure In his novels were probably somewhat due to his architectural training. For five years he assiduously practised writing poetry, but when ha was 27, he turned definitely to fiction. His first story was accepted two years later, but upon the advice of George Meredith, he decided not to publish it. His first novel, "Desperate Remedies," appeared In 1871. During the next 25 years, he published 14 novels and two volumes of short stories. "Under the Greenwood Tree" (1872) he "never surpassed In happy and delicate perfection of art." In this and his next novel, "A Pair of Blue Eyes" (1873), begins to show Itself that strain of deep Irony which is so potent throughout Hardy's writings. "Far from the Madding5 Crowd" 1874) was his first popular success. In it " is revealed Hardy's superb power of depleting nature as symbolic background for his characters, an organic part of the action of his story. This was the earliest of what he called his novels of character and environment, which included "The Return of the Native." "Tess of the D'Urbervilles." his masterpiece, and

Jude the Obscure. Not until he was Thomas Hardy, born 1S40. 55 years old was his first volume of verse published and he was 64 when the first part of his stupendous epic poem, "The Dynasts," startled the literary world.

mm, i

"FAR FROM THE MAOBENG CROWD" BY THOMAS HARDY Condensation by Alfred S. ClarJ.

Before Bathsheba Everdene came to Weatherbury as mistress of the manor house, time seemed to have forgotten the village. The smock-clad shepherds in the thatch-roofed cottages might have been, as far as appearances went, their own ancestors of four centuries before. Little happenings seemed tremendous. The pulling down of a hovel was a stirring evnt; the transformation of a well into a pump shook weatherbury like a revolution. The stir of the great world without, its romance and passion and tragedy these came to Weatherbury with Bathsheba. There was a new arrival to be discussed, a great-boned, ruddyfaced shepherd, Gabriel Oak, who beat out a fire that menaced the whealricks, and remained to work for Bathsheba. Fanny Robin, a servant disappeared, lured by a soldier's red coat. These were things to agitate the heads of the rustics who gathered at nightfall in the old malthous to drink and moralize. Their heads would have wagged even more had they known that Gabriel Oak, only a few weeks before, had been his own master, and had vainly urged Bathsheba, then a penniless maiden, to marry him. Things that had seemed commonplace enough had abruptly reversed their places in the world. A man had died in Weatherbury; a dog had driven to death a flock of sheep. These were but the Inevitable tragedies of life, and yet the one had suddenly made Bathsheba an heiress; the other had driven Gabriel out upon the highways to seek work. Cly.nce or fate had kindled a fire, Gabriel had saved the wheat, and the two lives that had been flung so far apart were brought near again. The pain of seeing another win her whom he loved would be intense but Gabriel preferred even this to life where he could not see her. Bathsheba was young, beautiful, wealthy, but rarer than these was her high spirit. "She was the stuff of which great men's mothers are made. She was indespensable to high generation, hated at tea parties, feared in shops and loved at crises." The spirit, however, was to flame more brightly later, after her impetuosity had plunged her into the crises that was to prove her worth. In all Weatherbury, one man alone was heedless to her charm. This was William Boldwood, "the nearest approach to aristocracy that this remote quarter of the parish could boast of." She resented being ignored, and, in a moment of thoughtlessness, sent him a valentine that fanned into flame passions that Boldwood had hidden from the world. At the shearing supper held in the great barn, Gabriel could see that

Boldwood's suit was prospering. He !

was madly in love. She no longer j discouraged him. Neither Bathsheba!

nor Boldwood were thinking then of a song she had sung earlier in the evening, when "the shearers reclined against each other as at suppers in the early ages of the world." Yet afterwards how often were they to recall with a shudder the words that Bathsheba had so lightly sung: For his bride a soldier sought her, And a winning tongue had he: On the banks of Allan Water None was as gay as she. That very night the soldier came into her life, came as she walked about the farm to see that all was secure. Her skirt was caught as she trod fearfully through a growth of high firs; she heard the mutter of a man's voice. A dark lantern revealed a spur entangled in her skirt, a young and slender man clad in brilliant brass and scarlet. It flashed like a gleam of romance in gray days, that scarlet coat that was afterwards to be remembered as so sinister a portent. The man was Sergeant Troy, a lighthearted scoundrel whose ready flattery sounded sweeter in Bathsheba's ears than the stemmering longing of Gabriel or Boldwood. He courted her romantically, wooing her with his sword. She stood a few days later, in a hollow of ferns, and about her flashed his whirling, edged weapon, in slashing so close to her that she could hear its sharp hiss as it carved out in the air her lissome figure. And when he turned to leave her, he stooped swiftly and kissed her on the lips. Gabriel tried to warn Bathsheba, but she scorned his reproaches. So he bore silently with his grief and he did not tell her that Troy had beguiled little Fanny Robin away from Weatherbury. Boldwood, whose heart never before had beat faster at a woman's approach, could not control his anger. He shouted maledictions upon the man who had robbed him of all that made life joyous. His madness precipitated that which he most dreaded, Bathsheba's marriage to Troy. The hasty marriage led swiftly to sorrow. Troy celebrated the wedding by a revel in the barn where he and all the jovial rustics were soon hopelessly befuddled. Gabriel dared not drink with them. The creeping things

SOLVING THE BALKAN PROBLEM

Memories of Old Days In This Paper Ten Years Ago Today

George R. Wendling gave his noted address "The Man of Galilee," at the Richmond Chautauqua. The poster for the fall festival, made by Maude Kaufman Eggemeyer, was used in the Richmond newspapers.

Masonic Calendar

Friday, August 22 King Solomon's Chapter No. 4, R. A. M. Called meeting. Work in Master degree. Light refreshments. ,

Figures indicate main points Involved in solving the Balkan tangle. 1 The American solution of the Balkan tangle, which is now being considered by the peace conference, would create a new buffer state in Thrace, along the eastern frontier of Greece to a point midway between Kavala and Dedeagatch, in what is now Bulgarian Thrace. 2 Bulgaria would be assured a corridor to the sea. French and British authorities who have been on the ground assert that this is the only feasible thing to do, for if Bulgaria were to lose her outlet on tidewater he would go to war on the first opportunity. 1 3 In case the Americans refuse the mandatory for Constantinople and the straits, it is considered likely that the territory would be given to Greece, as none of the great powers trusts the others to have this enormously strategic position.

of the night and the huddled sheep had warned him of a nearlng storm, and in the fields the high ricks of wheat and barley lay uncovered. The moon vanished and the wind subsided; on far horizons baleful fires fluttered. The flashes grew bright as he worked to protect the grain. Then Bathsheba was with him

and their laboring forms were out-',

lined in black by the green snakes of fire that darted venomously earthward. As she trembled in fright, Gabriel felt her arm tremble in his great, sheltering hand. She was another man's wife; she did not love him; but there was solace in the strange ways of fate that had brought her nearer to him than when her heart was free. Tragedy came when Fanny Robin crept back home to die. Her body, with that of her child, was brought back to the house where she had worked. Standing by the coffin, Bathsheba learned that Troy had never loved her as he had this girl who had borne death and shame for him. He fled from Weatherbury and word was brought to Bathsheba that he had been swept out to sea and drowned. The seasons rolled on and sorrow gave to Bathsheba's face a seriousness that added to her charm. Boldwood dreamed again and he was made happy by a promise, although six years must pass before Its fulfilment. To celebrate his joy, he planned a Christmas-eve party, more than a year after Troy had disappeared. And it was on this night that Troy chose to reappear, striding like ( a spectre among the merry-makers. As he advanced upon her, Bathsheba stood like a stricken thing, half-convinced that delusion had enthralled her. But there was nothing ghostly in the rough command that he shouted at her, nor in the brutal grip that he took upon her arm. Then only did she stir, but she could not speak. A strangled scream was heard, then a deafening roar. Some eyes were on Troy, pitching forward never to rise again; others upon Boldwood, standing with a smoking gun in his hands. Not until next August, long after it was known that Boldwood was to be imprisoned for life, was Bathsheba able to walk as far as the village street. Fate had been hard to her. Of three men who had loved her, one had been killed by another who would never see daylight again. And now word had come to her that Gabriel honest, sturdy Gabriel whom she had found the one man in the world who did not fall her in her ned, was leaving her. She sought him in his humble cottage and he confessed that he was going because people were coupling his name with hers. "Such a thing as that is absurd too soon to think of by far!" she cried. When he agreed with her that it was "too absurd," she insisted that she had not said that, but "to soon." Even then minutes clicked away before Gabriel could realize that what he so long sought was to be his. Their lives in calm and storm, had been so close that, after the wedding, the wedding, the rustics marveled at his easy way of speaking of "my wife." They agreed that he did not say the words as chillingly as might a man who had been married twenty years, but that improvement would come later. Gabriel laughed aloud at that, and Bathsheba smiled, for Bathsheba did not laugh so readily as had been her wont when she first came among the simple folk of changeless Weatherbury. Copyrlgrht. 1919. bu the Post Publishing Company (The Boston Post). Copyright In the United Kingdom, the Dominions, its Colonies and dependencies, under the copyright act. by the Post Publishing- Company, Boston, Mass., U. S. A. All rights reserved. (Published by special arrangement with the MeClure Newspaper Syndicate. All rights reserved). "The Deemster," by Hall Calne, as condensed by Miss Caroline Ticknor, will be printed tomorrow.

Mayor James Couzens, of Detroit, is perhaps the richest mayor in the country, with 2,180 shares of automobile stock valued at $29,250,Ct)0.

THE GEORGE MATTHEW ADAMS DAILY TALK BLIND ALLEYS In a big world it is impossible that there should not be wastethat there should not be loss of much power. Soon or later, at sometime or other, we all run Into a blind alley. It may be a blind alley of thought, of work, or of friendship. And the credit comes in getting out of the blind alley and not getting into one again. For blind alleys shut out the sun, divorce yoa from contact with the healthy and inspiring things, and leave you mere groper in the dark. Look out for the blind alleys! Many people wander into blind alleys of their own accord, whereas others are lead into them. But It's the quickness of realization that you are where you ought not to be, and the speed with which you get out, that is bound to count. How are you going to know whether you are to a blind alley or not? By the fact that you are getting nowhere. For the blind alleys are the useless places. They are the ruts the nowheres of our everydays. If you feel that things are clogging Inside of you if you feel that the determination and the snap to put things through, one thing after another, are missing the chances are that you are being lead into blind alleys that are going to pull your power away from you and leave you weak and lost. Stay out of blind alleys. Select the road with a plainly marked sign pointing you exactry to your destination. Stick to the thing at hand. Follow out the big plans. Never mind the side shows. Laugh at the Interrupters. Eliminate the blind alleys and you will always be free and strong.

Good Evening BY ROY K. MOULTON

FATHER

How his bosom swells with pride, . . ii .i

How he signs in aeep renei. How he feels a happy thrill TViat 4a 'mnst hnvnnd belief.

How he laughs and shakes in glee, How he almost chokes with joy. When the nurse comes down the hall

And she whispers, 'its a Doy.

How he scowls and shakes his fist.

How he raves and paws tne air, How he mutters to himself Awful exclamations there. How his mind is full of doubt. And his hrain is in a whirl.

When the nurse comes to his side

And she whispers, It s a girl. How he clutches at the wall And he gasps to get a breath, How he reels as if to fall. And his face turns white as death. How he groans in his despair. And the nurse adroitly grins. As she meets him on the stair And announces,' "They are twins."

you' and the chaplain pointed to a Mobile soldier 'and he can get at you' and he pointed to a soldier from Washington 'and he can get at you and he pointed to a soldier from Paint Rock. "The Paint Rock soldier gave a grunt. " 'Why. boss,' he protested, 'the old cuss might as well be loose.' "

The children were telling a visitor what they 6tudied at school. "I," said the eldest, "get reading, spelling and definitions." "And what do you get, my little man" said the visitor, addressing the litlest one, who had listened in a bored way while the others recited their lists. "Oh, I dets readin, spellln' and spankin. "

APPOINTED COUNSEL FOR U. S. RAILWAYS

CARELESS CUSS Editor Will you please tell me what day July 4th, 1834, fell on, I have forgot what day. Mercyville (Iowa) "Banner." WHY WE SHOULD HATE TO HUNT FOR A JANITOR Mrs. minsky he works for you. This man she is his brotherlnlaw. From janitor's letter of recommendation. RESURRECTING SHAKE Dear Roy Harry Jones, an organizer of the Amalgamated Street and Electric Car Workers union, in speaking to the actors and actresses on strike, said: "As one motorman to his fellow union laborers, let me remind you to follow Shakespeare's advicestick!" This must have been one of the plays by Shakespeare written by Bacon to put tho avon bard in Dutch. Dixie Hines. NOTHING LIGHT FINGERED HERE Theft of a Brick Pavement Charged Heading in Evening Paper, contributed by J. Q. B.

Dinner Stories

Two weary tramps met after a lengthy separation, and sat down to compare experiences. "Have yer been to the front?" asked one; "ain't seen yer about lately." "I've been laid up with the influenzy." "Influenzy? What's that?" "Well, I don't know how I can exactly explain it, but it takes all the fight out of yer. Yer feels sort of tired like. Don't seem to want to do anything only He down and sleep." "Why, I've had that disease for the last twenty years!' ' exclaimed the first speaker; "but this is the first time I've ever heard its name." Bishop Flipper said in Atlanta: "A colored chaplain was addressing a squad of colored men back of Bar-le-Duc. ' " 'Boys,' he said, 'Satan is powerful, but he Is not omnipotent. He is bound with chains, yet he can get at

E. Marvin Underwood. E. Marvin Underwood has been appointed general counsel for the U. S. railroad administration by Director vicneral Hines. Underwood, who succeeds John Barton Payne, was formerly assistant attorney general. Payne becomes chairman of the U. S. ship"-- 1

BLANKET SALES CHECKED.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22. War department distributing centers through which surplus war materials are Bold, were instructed Thursday to discontinue the sale of army blanket. It was explained that the distribution was not as wide as had been hoped

for. and that to accord to all an equal

opportunity to purcnase tne blankets.

a new aisinouuon system would be

worked out.

WINCHESTER MAN IS

REPORTED WOUNDED

, fc Mlca ov union Street. Winchester, Ind has been reported in the United State. ,.i.t

ly wounded, ' W "VB "een Sever