THE ALLIANCE HERALD, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1922.
TWO
Obr Mtanrr Hrralb
TUESDAY AND FRIDAY
BURR PRINTING CO, Owners
Entered at tht poatoffiet at Alliance,
J?K, for transportation through the
aa second class matter.
GEORGE L. BURR. Jr. Editor
SDW1N M. BURR Business Mgr.
Official nnmtaner ot City of
Alliance: official newspaper of Box
Statt Count.
Owned and published by The Burr
Printing Company, George L Burr,
9r, Premident; Edwin M. Burr, Vice
rraaident.
THROUGH JAUNDICED EYES.
The Dance of Death," a second at
tack on the modern dance by the Rev.
Mearl C Smith, was slated aa a sub
ject for editorial comment in the Tues
day Herald this week, but fortunately
r Uierwine, the Sidney Telegram,
with it outburst of spleen against the
Alliance Elks vaudeville show, seemed
to be the leading candidate for correc
tion and castigation. Thereupon the
discussion of Mr. Smith's latest tlia
j Box Butte county and Nebrafka are
concerned, there is less of this sort of
thing right now than in any year
which has gone before. Mr. Smith,
with his jaundiced views, may not have
investigated this point, Just as he de
pended on his "authorities" for othet
statements in his indictment. He will,
if he makes a personal investigation
of conditions in Alliance, admit that
this city has never been better mor
ally.
And so it Is safe to assume that
other charges in the indictment will
prove to be made of the same thin air
as the professional seducer charge, so
far as they relate to Alliance. In this
city dance i close at a reasonable hour.
Business men, members of Mr. Smith's
nnd other -churches, working men and
clerks, stenographers, housewives and
ctudents attend them. Were these
people dancing every night in the
week until the early hours of the
morning, there might be' some justi
fication for the charge that health and
vigor are disappearing like dew before
the morning sun. Does Mr. Smith
know how many dances there are in
Alliance during the average week?
Does he know at what hours these
dances close? It is apparent that he
knows little or nothing of the dance
stack of Bibles a foot high. Good
taste and common sense should have
suggested to Mr. Smith, in compiling
his talk, that this one point should be
omitted. But apparently Mr. Smith
wanted only the most sensational
charces. and cared little aa to the
foundation for them.
This comment is considerably longer
than the importance of the sermon
series warrants, but tne Herald be-
I
tribe was placed on the "time" hook ne condemns. He got this idea from
for future consideration, lhe Herald
allows itself the luxury of bursting
but one bubble in each issue, although
human natnre is weak and temptation
sometimes overcomes. Temptation, be
it remarked, was strong in this In
stance. However, the knowledge thai
Mr. Smith was making little or m
headway in his crusade to re-establish
the narrow prejudices of a past gen
the books which tell of the terrible
conditions in New York and Chicago.
They don't fit Alliance any more than
the old custom of the suttee.
W. H. Coleman, school superintend
ent at Crawford, is listed with the au
thorities to prove that dancing is
harmful mentally. Mr. Coleman's
figures may be accurate, but the old
saying concerning statistics is just as
ration, and that plenty of others were applicable here as it is anywhere.
lighting upon his defenseless neck, Figures prove anything and nothing,
beak end down, as it were, allowed us f may te that of the 30 per cent
to live up to our rule. 0f the students classified as dancers,
The second in the Rev. Meail C. 43 per cent failed to pass; and of the
Smith's series of three sermons against 70 per cent of non-dancers, there were
the dance appears in its proper order. oniy 20 per cent who fell by the way
As a rule, the charge that this amuse- side. These figures have an imposing
tnent is a wholesale factory for the ROund, but even though they be abso
tnanufacture of prostitutes comes I lutcly accurate, there is no proof that
sJong in the mhldlo of the books on those who failed did so because of
the subject, although a few daring dancjn(r. If dancing made these sinful
'writers reserve it for the final appeal, students fail, what vices brought about
Mr. Smith, however, makes it the sec-1 the failure of the non-dancers?
ond in his series of sermons, and there- To be frank, this sort of evidence is
by not only conforms to the precedent exceedingly unreliable. By the same
set by the leading anti-dance reform- process of so-called reasoning, it could
ra, but saves himself from a possible De shown, for example, that boys and
uunioi ongmaiuy. oome u me v.ci-ipris who eat cabbage regularly are
gy, we understand, have a feeling that! either mentally superior or inferior to
it is almost unethical to be original, the non-cabbage eaters. It could be
r to stray even slightly from thelarfiruedanc proved, if Mr. Smith's
beaten path. point is regarded as proved that the
The Herald has no quarrel with the boys who wear white starched collars
Rev. Mr. Smith. It concedes that he are better or worse students than those
is undoubtedly actuated by religious I who wear soft collars; or that silk
seal. But the gentleman must not be I hosiery and rolled stockings have a
allowed to defame and villify a large! definite effect on the grades. Again
number of people in this city without 1 figures from one small town are
challenee of obvious misstatement and I not conclusive evidence, nor do
distortion of fact. Ithey prove anything. Undoubtedly
We have, in a previous article, sug-1 '.he dance appeals to the lighter-mind
rested to Mr. Smith that in arguing
from books written by others, it were
well to see to it that the books are
up-to-date. It may be further sug
2d and frothy students more than it
does to the bookworm type. But it is
the rankest kind of logic to infer that
because the frivolous students like
gested that books should be selected I dancing immensely, therefore all who
which bear some slight relation to the like dancing are immensely frivolous,
matter under discussion. Mr. Smith
will concede that a book dealing with
the sins of the geisha girls, or the
degenerate Polynesian dances, would
not be pertinent in attacking the
dance in Alliance. What he docs not
perceive, apparently, is that attacks
on the dance as found on the old Bar
bary coast in San Francisco, in broth-
Reformers make untrustworthy au
thorities. One of them will tell us that
G5 or 70 per cent of the inmates of
brothels came to this plight through
'.he dance. Another will say with
?iual positiveness aid apparent sin
rerity that CO per cent of the ruined
girls say their downfall is due to the
unregulated movie. Another will say-
els elsewhere, in low dives in Chicago that spooning in the parks ruin3 over
and New York not only bear no rela
' tion to the .dance as it is found in Al
liance, but that he insults the intelli
frence of his hearers when he peddles
this filth and seeks to give the im-
G0 per cent of the girls who are eter
nally wt every year. Joyriding in
automobiles ruins another 50 per cent.
Love of candy, ice cream, silk clothes
and other luxuries must rain at least
pression that there are to be found in 161 per cent, not to mention the 57 per
Alliance similar evils. May be the rev- cent who are ruined through the
erend eentleman reiJly thinks that! Demon Rum. Isn't it reasonable to
the statements he has quoted are uni-1 suppose, in the face of all these
versal in their application, and if so claims, that there might be a dozen
we shall give him due credit for sin-1 contributing causes, not the least of
cerity, but there will go down some! which might be unhappy home life,
black marks for a regrettable deficien- the struggle for existence, and Per
cy in judgment. I haps who knows ? the narrow mind
-Mr. Smith should realize, before heled views of preachers and fathers to
gets his foot in it too far, that Alliance ward amusements that are really inno-
is not Chicago or New York. No one
will dispute that there have been in
tho.se cities unregulated public dances
that have resulted much as his au
thorities say. Mr. Smith does not say
that efforts have been made to clean
up these places, just as red-light dis
tricts have been cleaned up, and that
this evil is diminishing. Maybe the
books neglected to state this. Appar
ently he has an idea that all dances
are infested with procurers, seeking
whom they may ruin
Such statements as this: "One thing
that makes the dance langerous for
young gills is that vile men and pro
fessional seducers of girls attend
dances for the purpose of procuring
men; despite the fact that in the past
the band has put in a good many days
for which pay was promised and never
received, and in the face of the diffi
culty of getting and holding players in
the trying days when no money is com
ing in, John P. Mann has made a good
start toward a band. H's got a fine
bunch of players together, and there
has been regular practice. They are
going ahead in the hope that they can
ieves that In justice to the dancers of rnake P'ace for themselves after they
the city, who include among their num
ber representatives of all churches
all professions and nearly every class
of our citizenship, practically all'of the
statements made by Mr. Smith should
be challenged and refuted.' We do not
hail the dance as the greatest blesrung
that mankind possesses, but what few
faults this amusement possesses, as it
found in this city, cannot be remedied
by such distortion, such unwarranted
inferences and such illogical conclu
sions as distinguish the attacks made
on the subject. It has been the en
deavor to examine all the charges
made by the Alliance pastor, and to
leny that he has proved his case
against the dance as it is found in his
home city and as it i3 participated in
by members of his own church.
It remains to be proved that any of
these accusations are justified by con
ditions in Alliance. Testimony as to
New York, Chicago, Kamchatka 01
Polynesia is incompetent, irrelevant
and does not pertain to the case on
trial. If Mr. Smith can attack the
lance in Alliance with competent evi
lence, now is the time to do it If
he doesn't, in all probability he will
find himself in the position of the col
ored boy who yelled for assistance to
et go of a wildcat.
"Reptiles are not found in the arctic
region," announces the Indianapolis
News. And the scarcity of polar bears
is one of the idiosyncrasies of the
tropics.
Presumably, there are not marines
nough for each country bank to have
one. v
If the marine on the mail cars keep
on shooting in this wild, free manner,
train robbing will lose much of its old
time charm.
A historian says that women ruled
the world 2,500 years before the birth
of Christ They also have ruled it
1,921 years since.
have demonstrated their worth. The
band has done its own financing to
date. Two benefit concerts have been
staged. The first one wan only an in
different success from a financial point ,
of view, and the last one, on Monday I
of this week, was a flat failure, with'
an audience of scarcely a hundred.
The Herald doesn't think for a min
ute that John P. Mann is a second
Sousa or that there are a bunch of !
players under him who are qualified
to go on a European tour. But these
men gave a creditable performance a
couple of weeks ago and showed con
siderable improvement by last Mon
day. If the public will get behind
them, John Mann will have a darned
good band ready to entertain us with
summer concerts. We want one, of
course, and the only way to get a band
is to support it until it gets on its feet
financially.
There'll be another benefit concert
some of these days, and it's up to all
of us to show whether we're really
public-spirited, or whether we're just
bluffing about it
Sometimes the suit for breach of
promise is the only promise connected
with that attempt to marry.
ARE WE PUBLIC SPIRITED?
Alliance citizens are prone to tell
the world that this is a progressive
and public-spirited community. There
must be something to it, for we havt
heard the statement made often by
visiting orators who have had les
than an hour to discover this mighty-
truth. But now and then something
happens which makes us stop and
wonder just how much foundation
there is for this belief. Is Alliance
public-spirited, or are there only a
few live wires who accomplish enough
work to account for the reputation
that has gradually spread all over
Nebraska ?
The last instance that has caused
this doubt to arise is the series of ben
efit concerts by the Alliance band.
There isn't a business man or an or
dinary citizen but will say frankly that
a good band is a fine asset for any
town. Most of us will admit, if w-e
tell the truth, that there is just enough
of the achool boy and the circus fever
in our constitution to make an out
door band concert enjoyable on the
warm summer nights. Men who art
interested in drawing crowds to the
city for the business that will ensue
will say frankly that a good brass band
is an attraction not to be sniffed at,
even when compared with horse race3.
In fact, there is not only a general re
alization that a band is a good thing,
but a desire to have one in Alliance.
But and here's the rub there is no
organization that is willing to step out
and sponsor the financial end of it
A day or two of work, and there would
be a sufficient fund pledged to enable
the Alliance band to get needed music
and whiD themselves into shape. It's
no soft snap to organize a band with
out public support. The expense if
pretty high. Even with fair pay for
all engagements, it's a losing game for
the players. The band players put in
much more time" than they draw pay
to cover.
Despite the fact that there is no
assurance of support from the business
Until the next war scientists and en
gineers will devote themselves to
peace. There's unselfishness for you.
If poison gas is barred from civil
ized warfare something should be done
to bar poison propaganda.
Explorer Stefansson says the win
ters in the arctic are but little worse
than those in Montana. How could
they be? .
In addition to abolishing poison gas
in international clashes it might be
well to oust it from political campaigns.
A perfect day is experienced mostly
by those who work nights.
Leather is now so cheap that even
the cheaper grades of cattle are found
in it
Washington's
Spirit Guides
This Bank
Washington achieved undying fame and
the gratitude of his country by his adherence
to those principles of liberty and freedom for
which our Constitution stands.
The Alliance National Bank is a sincere
admirer of his princples and a firm believer
in the fact that the welfare of the people is
the welfare of the nation; that the interests
of the people, are the interests of the nation
the city the community.
In this spirit we offer our services to
the people of Alliance.
Alliance NationalSBank
Reduction In Price
of the Dependable
BEATRICE
We are pleased to announce a very substantial re
duction in the price of this wonderful Cream Separator.
No. 43-A guaranteed capacity 550-600 lbs ..$73.00
No. 48-A guaranteed capacity 750-800 lbs. $83.00
The BEATRICE is positively the most economical
machine to buy. It will pay for itself several times
over during the many years of its satisfactory service.
ALLIANCE CREAMERY CO.
cent, but in which fanatical eyes see
nothing but disgrace, death and eter
nal damnation.
Because some weak boys and girls,
men and women, without proper moral
training and lacking in stamina, at
tribute their downfall to the dance,
is not adequate proof that every other
dancer runs the same risk, nor is it
acceptable logic to argue that if there
were no lance, these weak brothers
and sisters would never get started
on the primrose path. Isn't it at least
possible, Mr. Smith, that the morally
weak would still find opportunity to
go wrong if dancing were prohibited!
The charge that comes from Dad
Elliott, the great Y. M. C. A. leader,
innocent girls and bringing them to I that the aftermath of every university
moral ruin," are absolutely unjustified I dance is a flocking to the vice resorts,
by the facts in Alliance, and Mr. Smith I is an outrageous calumny, a nasty in-
thould be politely but firmly invited I suit to fully half the students in our
to Drove his case so far a3 Alliance is I colleges, evangelist luiiott or our
concerned, or else explain that he is I Mr. Smith, would not dare to make it
misrepresenting the facts to an Alii
anc audience. Shoot Roger, or give
up the fowling piece.
Aa a matter of fact, there-were hun
dred of thousands of prostitutes in
before an audience of college men and
women. Alliance parents whose boys
and girls attend the university know
that this statement is absolute tommy
rot. Recall the boys from Alliance,
the country before the era of modern I and see if you can believe it, even If a
Jaw daarcs, aad M far as AillaB I thousand eranseusts took oata to itoa
Imperial Theatre
2 DAYS Feb. 28, March 1
Matinee and Night
Xt2liiiili"'
L.W,-'
Mil
mm
1
1
'A. TALE OF LOVE
AND LOVERS IN A NEW
ART FORM COMBINING
DRAMA . PAINTING.
" POETR5T AND MUSIC.
Has ta.k-cn America- Jbf Storn
H ProcUimodL in Eighth AtL . . ..
FiciuniaiioE emooayins tne stow a trie
motis itav 6F the same title with i
elected Orchestra of Symphony Placers.,
co tixosderi&A down the ices bocaoso It is so hujna.rsl
II t 1 w r&oStor TrxxiUr., t
p 6reitcat' 'Pocticle ever seen on incf'e4
C03-Owing to cost Jenfftli of production incL ironbocuLdL contracts
VtyDraEi&Kmw1Ubestara ttfeatiua fostckss theitre prices.'
PRJCBSjr Adm. 22 and 50c & W. T.
)Nl'N1',,','''i
v.
