THE 8EMLWEEKLY TRIBUNE. NORTH PLATTE. NEBRA8KA.
"BUSINESS MEN'S WAR" FOR GREAT
BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES
"BELGIUM OF TODAY"
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Most Efficient and Powerful Wen In Commerce and Industry Give
Services to the Government That' Could Not Be Purchased
What the National Council of Defense Is Doing for
This Country.
New York. This war 'may not liu n
trndc struggle, lut on the shoulders of
buHlncss men depends to a great ex
tent the successful prosecution of It.
Especially Ih this true In Great Brit
nln and the United Status. In Ger
many before the war the corporate
interests, such us the steamship lines,
banks and fuctorles, were closely
linked with the government Wi an ef
ficient race for world leadership. Tho
government aided them; quite 'natur
ally they aided the government when
war broke out.
With Great 'Britain and the United
States the situation Is somewhat dif
ferent. There was co-operation be
tween the government and big busi
ness, but not ho much the Intimate
Teutonic sort. But tho situation is
now changed nnd Instead of war being
pushed to a finish one way or the
other by tho government with little
aid outside of floating bond Issues,
the business men havo taken over do
talls lack of action op which might
be fatal.
Great Britain has several hundred
of the most efficient and powerful
business men in the country perform
ing Innumerable tasks to conduct the
war on a strictly business basis. The
number In this country Is larger, with
the list growing dally.
Tho service of none of these men,
whether they be English or American,
could bo purchased. Their earning
capacity Is virtually unlimited. Yet
nil of them have given without re
serve or qualification their time and
energy In aiding their country. It' Is
not an nlarmlst view to thlnk what
would havo happened to the cause of
the allies had not the business men
Hteppcd in and did what they have
dono nnd are doing.
8eeklng Results.
Not, of course, that the public
knows Just what either tho British
board or the national advisory coiil
mission of tho national defenso coun
cil fn this country has done. They
seek results, not publicity, and for
this reason it is possible only to havo
n faint Idea of their achievements. It
requires n strong imagination to visu
alize Just what thoy havo dono, but
their general results of cutting gov
ernmental red tape, purchasing sup
plies quickly and economically and
analyzing tho resources of the nation
with itho view to utilizing every bit of
power nro almost sufficient In them
selves. GOOD WORK WINS PROMOTION
ColoneltKean Goes to France John D.
Ryan 8ucceedB as Director of
Military Relief.
Washington. The splendid work of
Col. Jefferson Ilandolph Kenn, medical
corps U. 8. A., In organizing the bnso
hospitals of tho army and navy for tho
Red Cross, has brought him promotion.
Ho has been ordered to Franco to tnko
charge of tho 1R0 United States army
ambulanco sections on the French
front.
Colonel Kenn Is a great grandson of
Thomas Jefferson. Ho has been the
director general of military relief of
tho Red Cross since Juno 16, 1010,
when ho was detailed from his army
duties to make ready tho hospital sys-
John D. Ryan.
lem for the impending war. No nation
over before organized base hospitals
until it was at war and tho wounded
Jylng on tho ground needing attention
But so vigorous has been Colonel
.(can's work that tho country now has
42 army and 5 navy baso hospitals, 18
hospital units and 60 ambulanco com
pontes ready for service, before a sin
do rcclmcnt has reached tho trenches,
This organization has cost the Bed
Cross S2.40O.O0O.
Tho successor of1 Colonel Kenn as
director general of military relief Is
John D.,ltynii, president of the Alia
condn Copper compuuy.
Over In England public recognition
was given the business man by Bonnr
Law, member of the war council. In
the house pf commons. "The ministry
of munitions," he said. "Is a body of
business men more -competent, I be- '
ilavo, than that to be found In any In
dustrial undertaking In the country."
The clothing department of the
British war office has more than a
hundred men attached to It alone
men who were leaders In their par
ticular Held before the outbreak of
hostilities three years ago. Bonnr
Law at Ihe time of his address In
parliament stated that they could not
bo bought by any salary the house
of cotninmis could possibly give them.
These men who have volunteered
their services to the British govern
mcii ami who are virtually working
their bends off for It are the very men
who are directly responsible for Brit
ain's commercial supremacy.
Engineers In Service.
They are the ones who bridged and
bored and tunneled the earth from
China to Peru; who created great
railway systems, who control "great
combines, and who havo amazed men
accustomed to government routine by
the way In which they have ousted
the old, slow, easy-going methods.
None of these men was especially
desirous of being known ; they did not
care to emblazon their names before
the public. Perhaps but few of the
British, aside from those In shipping
circles, know Andrew Weir, who Is
now surveyor-general of supply at
the British war olllce. Yet he was
one of the foremost shipbuilders on
tho Clyde before the war and Is now
saving tho British nation Sri.OOO.OOO u
week by efllclent methods.
The new financial secretary to tho
chancellor of the exchequer Is Sir
Samuel Ilardman Lever. He was never
a member of the house of parliament
and for this reason there were many
groans when ho was named for this
-pos'ltlon. He, too, hns saved the gov
ernment millions of dollars. Shipping
Is controlled by Sir Joseph Maclay, a
formidable business man on the Clyde,
who was called Into service and who
has since made remarkable headway
with a dllllcult proposition.
Sir Eric Geddes made possible the
transporting of troops from one sec
tor of the western front to another,
yet politics has always been distaste
ful to him and he hitherto confined
himself strictly to the big Job of run
ning the Northeastern railway.
Cowdray In War.
A mighty Job faces Lord Cowdray,
head of the Air hoard, and has faced
him since, he took olllce. . He Is bet
tor known under the name of Pearson,
being the head of the oil linn of that
nnmo that successfully battled with
the Standard Oil company. Lord
Cowdray himself personally directed
many of the marvelous engineering
feats the llrm has carried through In
Mexico and Canada. Ono of his part
ners, Sir Ernest William Molr, is in
charge of tho Inventions department
of the ministry of munitions. Sir
Ernest was resident engineer of the
tunnels under the Hudson river In
New York, hut this Is simply one of a
long list of achievements.
Lord llhondda, new food controller.
Is a commercial man of front rank In
England. He was once In politics,
nut later quit, and wnen lie was
called to his present post he was head
of a great colliery alliance employing
20,000 men, and ho also found time to
be a director In not less than -10 com
panics.
Lord Rothermero, who has charge
of the army clothing department,
president and founder of tho Anglo
Newfoundland Development company
which developed tho resources of that
colony to a marvelous extent. Sir
Alfred Mond, who commandeers
hotels, tills public parks and erects
buildings needed by the government
overnight, ifiado millions as a manu
fncturer of chemicals.
This list Is necessarily Incomplete
It does not narrate in detail .the ox
plolts of the men mentioned. It gives,
however, some Idea of tho Caliber o
men who havo enlisted to aid the Brit
Ish government. Their aid has been
Invaluable; their success to bo mens
ured more than by savings of tens of
millions. Their savings, It might be
said, are real and not Imaginative.
Following England.
What these men have done In Eng
land and their results will best be
told after the wa.' is over and men
carefully analyze Just what they hnv
done Is being done In America to a
remarkably slmljnr degree,
Never before were men with such
earning capacities and with such
keen ability to organize and dlrec
an garnered ror uie same purpose,
When it Is considered that such men
as Howard Collin, one of tho great
est engineers In t'u country; Julius
Itosenwald, a mercantile power
particular acumen; Thomas Edison,
the electrical wizard; Daniel Wll
lard. transportation expert, and oth
ers, nro nil working toward a single
goal -tho success of the United States
In tho war it Is truly remarkable.
Tho entire personnel of the ad
visory commission of the national
council of defense ureathes power. It
Allegorlcally portrayed by Air.-. Reg
inald C. Vnnderbllt nnd little AIIsh An
ita Yoakum Fosdlck at a spectacle
given for the benefit of the Bed Cross
Newport. It. I.
naturally would with men like Theo
dore N. Vail, head of the Bell Tele
phone system; Wallace D. Simmons,
head of the largest hardware company
the United States, and others on
the list, all actively engaged In the
council's work. There are men who
re on the committees who leave im
portant work to go to Washington
and unravel knotty questions on trans
portation, food and kindred subjects.
Aiost of the big railroad men In the
country are doing what they can to
Id ; the big tlnanciers are joining In,
so n'ro the miinuracturers. Aitnougn
they have accomplished wonders since
their organization a few months ago.
If we could but ascertain the real ex
tent of their efforts, of which only a
few leak out now and then, It would
deserve properly to be classed above
twentieth century miracles.
Merging the Railroads.
It Is rather much of an old story
now to tell of the merging of all tho
railroads In the United States Into one
continental system, doing away with
competition for the sake of maximum
national, efficiency In transportation.
But It Illustrates to what extent the
business men have gone and how
willing they nre to use their power
to aid the government.
llallroads have not been alone in
their sacrlllces; mnny lines of busi
ness have dono something similar.
Every move of this kind on the part
of the business Interests lias shown
the more clearly how vital their aid
Is und how much less the govern-
men could do without It, proving
It Is a business man's war.
In this connection, Grosvenor B.
Clarkson, secretary of the council of
national defense and of the advisory
commission, said :
Modem war means that battles
are won not alone ny ngnting men
hut by lighting Industries. War hns
ceased to he a profession In which
military men nloue are called. On
tho contrary, It enlists the specialists
of every Industry and every science
from tho firing line clear back to the
first line of defense.
in the words of Howard Coflln,
who started the movement for mobil
izing the Industrial forces of Amer
ica, 'twentieth century conflict de
mands that the blood of the" soldier
must he mingled with from three to
live parts of tho sweat of the man In
tho mills, mines and factories of tin;
nation In arms.' "
This sentiment of Mr. Clarkson
crystallzes the thought as to the
great change In conducting warfare.
It applies equally as well In both
Great Britain and tlte United Stntes
and, perhnps the other allies, but
British nnd American business men,
more than those of France, Itnly anil
Russia, are prosecuting the war, be
cause upon them lies the task for
financing the struggle. Englnnd
helped her allies financially during
the early days of the war, and now
tho United States has taken over the
Job for virtually tho entire world.
They not only glvo money, but save
It without being parsimonious, for,
had It not been for their united sup
port both governments Brltlhli and
American would have been hundreds
of millions of dollnrs worse off.
The Injection of business men as
directors of the war Is novel, but It
has achieved results that could not
have been obtained under tho older
form of thluuH.
PLAN TO IMPROVE HIGHWAYS
Ohio Township Alms to Make Roads
More Pleasant to Travel Over In
Heat of Summer.
"Coupled with a strong good-roads
sentiment In nn Ohio township," says
I nrm and Fireside, "Is a plan to lino
the roads of the township with trees.
The principal reason advanced by the
I committee which has charge of tho
project Is to make tho roads more
pleasant to travel In tho heat of suni-
( mer.
"In nddltlon, the trees will In n mens
lire help to keep the surrounding
ground moist by preventing rapid evap
oration, thus keeping down tho dust.
They will shelter travelers during
storms, check tho erosion of ditches
on hills, beautify adjacent property,
nnd add to the general attractiveness
of land values of the community.
"Those who start such work are not
likely to live long enough to see their
plans fully completed nnd to enjoy the
shnde. This fact lends u pathetic touch
to tho project ns well as Indicating a
sincere and unselfish desire to be of
public service."
SURFACES FOR HILLY ROADS
Slipping and Skidding on Smooth, Hard
Covering Is an Ever-Present
Dread Among Farmers.
Slipping on hilly ronds Is one of the
unfortunate results which horses must
suffer as a result of covering the ronds
with hard surfaces, while the possibili
ty of skidding on these slopes Is an
ever-present dread among motorists.
A special form of paving brick, culled
"hillside bricks," Is made for use on
grades exceeding one foot rise In 20
feet horizontal distance. These bricks
have grooves cut across their tops to
hold the shoes of the horses and the
tires of the cars, and have been re
ceived with much favor by road build
ers. Recently the same object hns
been attained with bituminous ronds
built on hills, by leaving them with a
Proving That All Flirtations Are Not Wrong
WASHINGTON. Two women young enough to have birthdays were con
fabbing In a car. One held a lace-swaddled infant. The other placed
her heavier youngster on the sent beside her, and turning to her computilon,
left the buby to look out for Itself. And
the baby did. It started a flirtation
which proved, of course, tlint the baby
was a girl.
She went for the mnn of her choice
with a directness that caught the as
tonished Interest of every passenger
in the car except her mother, who
was too busy talking to notice tho ro
mance going on behind her back. The
man sat below the buby with a vacant
seat between. He was a shabby man
with mud on his shoes and un all-over
look of being out of a Job. He accepted the young person's ndvnnces with a
futile that seemed shy of asserting Itself Shakespeare forgot to say that bad
luck as well as a guilty conscience makes cowards of us all and when she
had tugged at the maternal hand until she could slide ncross the vacant spaco
and snuggle up to him the man shrank away. The baby snuggled closer and
crowed jubilation.
A prosperous citizen ncross leaned over to cluck confidentially to Juliet
nnd to congratulate Romeo on bis conquest. Perhaps the prosperous one
recognized that there must be something worth While In the hidden depths of
n man never mind the muddy snoes wno couia attract tne commence oi u.
baby, still wise with the inscrutable knowledge It had brought into the world
with it. For when the mother, suddenly conscious of her offspring, gasped
to find Its white embroideries fraternizing with tramp humanity awl whisked
It to her lap, tho citizen took the vacated seat and said some kindly trifle.
Romeo, doubtless encouraged by the victorious fact that be had Just fig
ured up as u lady killer, and feeling, mnybe, that the man who spoke tho
kindly words must have a kindly heart to back them, made apologetic refer
ence to having walked from tidewater Virginia looking for work.
That was all there was to it, except that as one passenger got out she
wondered if if:
Tho mnn who wanted work nnd the man who looked as if he could give
It hud been brought together purposely.
And If It had been intended thut u little child should lead them.
PARSON RECRUITS FIVE
AT A GERMAN PICNIC
Superior. .Minn Uev. A. M.
Ilarkness, Superior's "Fighting
Parson." attended it German pic
nic at Fergus Falls, Minn. Ac
cording to recruiting olllcers he
Induced five recruits for the reg
ular army.
Boasts 45 Languages.
Cleveland, O. Cleveland often has
been referred to as the "mulling pot"
because of so many foreigners here.
A tabulation of school census reports
shows that 4.1 languages nre spokeu
In this city.
Speaker Receives Belated University Degree
4 .
CHAMP Clnrk, for a plain, homespun Amerlcnn, has a terrific lot of alpha
betical disarrangements after his name. For one thing, he Is nn LL. D.
three times, und LL. D. raised to the third power certainly presupposes n large
amount of knowledge. One of these
degrees reached him only n few days
ngo, nearly half n century after he had
been fired from Kentucky university.
It enmo about in this way: Two
men Jumped on the young Beuuchump
Clark when he was In his senior year
and were giving him considerable of a
pounding. Clnrk wus mad and in his
rage endeavored to puncture one of his
nssullunts with a shot from nn old
fushloned pepper-pot pistol. This
scrap resulted in Clnrk going before
the fnculty, which was evenly divided for and against expelling the boy. The
president of the university was absent, and the man acting in his place had a.
eon at the school who would be in line for honors if Clark, who wus nearly top-
man, should be fired.
Well, Clnrk was tired; but when the president of the university returned
he revoked the order, but Clark was sore then and had left for good, ne went
to Bethany college, and did the junior und senior years In one. When ho
graduated he hndaan nveruge of 09.08 per cent, and the missing two-tenths-of
1 per cent came about because he contracted indigestion enting corned
beef nnd cabbage at ono dinner in midterm. This little Illness set him buck
just enough to put him two-tenths to the bad on one of the monthly exams-
Kentucky university, however, falling to give the speaker a diploma at
the time he should have had it, increased the degree and sent it to him at
the Inst commencement.
Rough Surface on Hilly Road.
rough surface. Tills method of con
struction was developed by the Mas
sachusetts state highway commission.
According to Engineering News, the
roadbed is covered with broken stone
from two to three Indies in size, which
is rolled until the bed is three inches,
thick. This bed then bus hot asphalt
applied to it by a pressure distributor
at the rate of two and three-fourths
to three gallons per square yard. This
asphalt fills the spaces between the
stones, but tho latter are so largo that
their tops project somewhat above the
asphalt binder antl thus nfford a foot
hold in any but icy wenther.
VALUE OF IMPROVED ROADS
Value of Farm Increased by Getting
Crops to Market Rapidly and
Cheaply as Possible.
Tho value of good roads is becom
ing more and more recognized in tho
United States every day. Wlso men
nolnt to tho fact that tap-lino railroad
spurs cannot bo constructed In the
country for less than $75,000 a mile,
nud that the cost of these must be paid
by tho commodity transported over
them.
Tho good roads do not cost so much
nnd nre just ns efficient. Everything
that makes it ensler to get crops to
tno market raises tbe value of farm
lands by making them more profitable
to tho farmer.
Lesson in Poor Widow's Gift to the Red Cross
THE Intense nnd widespread Interest in the work of soliciting funds for the
Red Cross, nmong nil classes, is thus impressively described by Mrs. Alary
Kotherlne Ilnnsbrough In the Tampa Tribune: "I rend in the morning paper
of Morgan's gift of n million dollars to
the Red Cross fund In New York city
nud I compared it to a gift made In
Tampa to the Woman's Red Cross com
mittee of which I wns chairman.
"Wo were working the very poor
est district of Tampa, where the strug
gle for existence is n raw tragedy,
where the contributions, willingly
made from the necessities of life, were
nickels and dimes. In an ill-kept cot
tage, bare of furniture nnd every sem
blance of comfort, I found a woman
and three children. Her shoulders were bent with labor, her hands were
hardened with toll, her hair streaked with the gray of sorrow and poverty,,
but her eyes were still alight with human sympathy. I talked to her a bit
about my mission nnd the soldier boys we were sending away from the
America they loved so well. Her eyes filled with tears and she asked
wistfully :
'"Would you let me give you two cents? It Is all I have and I would
like to feel that I have helped some soldier even such n little bit.'
"Suddenly I was carried back 1000 years to a temple In Jerusnlem. I saw
the millionaires making their gifts and the widow casting In her mite nnd
heard the voice of tho Master: 'She hath cast in more than they all.'
''The two cents may not buy comfort for u wounded soldier but the lnllu
ence of its loving bestowal should touch every heart."
Leads In Road Improvement.
Tho Automobile club of Southern
California, with Its 10,203 members,
which claims to be tho largest organ
ization of tho kind in the world, de
clares that Callfornln is lending nil
states in highway development.
Rural Attitude Changed.
Tho use of the automobile by farm
ers has completely changed the rural
attltudo toward motoring, nnd tens of
thousands of men are making direct
profits by catering to the passing mo
torist.
Prominent Women Furnish Hospital Equipment:
fRS. WOODROW WILSON, wife of the president, and Allss nelen Wood-
row Bones, a cousin of the president, have turned over to the Amerlcnn.
Red Cross four dozen pairs of pajamus and an equal number of sheets and
pillowcases which they have made
with their own hnnds.
Tills "bit" of personal service by
the wife of the president Is an illustra
tion of tho work which women of the
cabinet and others prominent in official
life nre doing as an Inspiration and ex
ample to thousands of others.
Several women of the cabinet, be
sides giving sons to the service, also
have taken the lead In organizing
groups of women to sew on baso hos
pital equipment. Mrs. Thomas R. Alur-
shnll has organlzeo tho wives, daughters und sisters of senators; Airs. Champ
Clark has been active in congressional circles; Mrs. William G. McAdoo has
organized woinej employed in the treasury department; Airs. Franklin K.
Lane, assisted vy the wives of bureau chiefs, has been leading woman em
ployees of the Interior department in conducting sewing circles nnd first-aid
classes at the Home club.
Ellpt Wndsworth of tho war council of the society, In forwarding the gar
ments mnde at tho Whito House, said: "The American Red Cross sends this
special shipment at tho request of Mrs. Wilson to evidence her active und
most pructlcnl Interest In tho work of mercy and relief carried on by the Red
Cross societies. Wo trust that the shipment will reach you safely, as it
carries with It such cordial good wishes from the Immediate family of the,
president of tht United Stntes"
