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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1921)
; i3Tw3jjppswwS7" &: The Commoner ';.:-$$& 21, NO. rt 12' 'V' l r r Jobless on Auction Block , A Boston dispatch, dated Sept. 8, says: Human flesh, in the shape o jobless and dlssplrlted men, was nuctfonod off'' today on Boston Com mon. And a dog on the same auction block brought more than any of nine mon who, stripped to the waist, as was customary when slaves were bar tered for in the days before the Civil war, were offered for sale. In onn of the slrangost and most dramatic scenos over witnessed on the historic Common hungry, sheltorlesc and jobless men voluntarily , offered themselves 'for sale" in return for, a week's food and lodging. A huge throng of curious men and women packed tlu-msclves around the auction block the park bandstand and gazed with varying emotions as the auct'eneor recounted the his tories Jnd abilities of the mon ho was trying to sell." Tho auctioneer was Urbajn J. Ledoux, who called himself "Mr. Zero," grand high priest of the "shorn lambs of employment," who has es tablished a homo, eating place and employment agency for Boston's down-and-outors, and is at tempting to wake up Boston's "civic conscious ness." Ledoux led a barid 6f more than 150 of his "shorn lambs" to the common, and all partook of a ltmcheon given by a suburban country clul. A large crowd had gathered by the finish of the meaVand Ledoux and nine men wont to the band stand. He introduced his tattered proteges as "nine men, pillories of our. industrial system and forced to the auction block." Three of them, he said, were overseas vetorans. Jim Ferris, 20-year-old overseas veteran, was the first "slave" to go on tho block. A murmur swept through the crowd as "Mr. Zero" ordered him to strip to the waist, "He was turned around slowly and posed in every position to Bhow the play of his Bplendid muscles. . "You used this in the war; what will you do with it now? What price am I offered for this , man?" Ledoux shouted to the crowd. But the crowd was silent. , "Shall it go starving now that you have no further use for it?" taunted the auctioneer. j And still there was no bid. "Get down," he order Ferris. "They won't have you; perhaps they'll take your dog." Bidding went up to $20 for "Sergeant" Ferris's frightened little fox terrier which had served with him through the war, but when the time came to pay tho $20 bidder could not bo found. It appeared that $5 was the high est real bid. Tho bidder give Ferris $5 and told him to keep the dog. Only two of the nine men were taken and assured of a place to oat and sleep regularly for a week, at least. They were Joe Mitchell, a 39-year-old negro from the Virgin Islands, who feaid he had been out of work six months and averaged two meals a week, and "Willie Davis, a homeless 18-year-old boy "from the farm." The remaining seven, and many more like them, Ledoux said tonight, still are "for sale." BOARD OF TRADE TO END DEALS IN PUTS AND CALLS Trading in indemnities" "puts" and "calls" as they were 6nce and better known will ceasa on the Chicago Board of Trade Oct. 1. This was decided yesterday following adop tion by both houses of congress of the confer ence report upon the the Capper-Tincher bill regulating the grain exchanges of the countrv The passage of the bill, which only awaits the signature of President Harding, would have had the effect of doing away with the "indemni ties" anyway. The Board of Trade did not wait for the President to act, however. During the day the board of directors' posted for a referendum vote a proposition to eliminate trading in indemni ties entirely. While the membership has still to express itself on the proposal this is a mara matter of form and an affirmative verdict it garded as certain. In taking the action they did the Board of Trade directors went a step further than con gress. The Capper-Tincher bill did not fn - bid tracing in "indemnities." It did, Cvever" effectually prevent such trading by flxlnir a tav of 20 centra bushel upon such traS tSg tax was intended to be prohibitive and regard less of the action of the board of directors would have meant-the last of the old puts Thesaiso known as "bids"and "offers" were defended by tho Board of Trade originally as being an "insurance." Through them it had been possible for- dealers who felt they were, on tho wrong side of tho market to limit their losses. They also were dealt in by speculators and were one of the principal points upon which the grain exchange was assailed by its enemies. Chicago Tribune, Aug. 24. "LET BOOZE PAY WAR DEBT," SAY GERMAN DRYS (By George Seldes, in Chicago Tribune For eign News Service). Berlin. "Let booze help pay the reparations," has uecome the slogan of tho German prohibi tion organizations. Almost coincident with the announcement, advertised by all German brew eries in large display type, that fceace time beer containing 8 per cent alcohol was again being brewed, the German pussyfooters began an ac tive campaign for a dry Germany. Throughout Prussia and Bavaria doctors' testimony is being collected to show the salu tary effects upon Gorman health of the war time restrictions as to the use of alcoholic liquors. Statistics have been presented showing the 're duction in the number of cases of nervous dis orders growing out of the use of alcohol, in the city of Munich alone the number of such cases having been reduced from 285 in. 1911 to 43 cases in the year 1919, at the time all the war time restrictions were still in force. In Bavaria before the war approximately one eighth of all criminal drinking, whereas at pres ent the police report practically no cases arising from this cause. The most popular of the prohibitionists' argu ments, however, rest upon fifteen billion marks is spent every year in Germany for alcoholic drinks. This sum is almost one-third of the annual payments that Germany must make to the allies, and the German Society for the Fight of Alcoholism has just issued a proclamation to the German people appealing to them to refrain from the purchase of any alcoholic drinks," wine, beer, cognac, etc., and to divert the money that would have been so spent to purposes that will enable Germany to meet her reparations obliga tions. ' PROHIBITION IN ENGLAND The people of the. United States of America, at least some of them, may think they are suf fering under prohibition more than the inhabi tants of any other nation. They ought to go to London. While no such high and dry prohibition of alcoholic beverages exists as America has, yet Englishmen are howling just as lustily as we over "the loss of their liberties." "During the last two years," complains the London Express, "fetter after fetter has been added to the war-forged chains on freedom in the country. The ordinary citizen is groaning under the unjustifiable restriction imposed on him by the bureaucrats and faddists." Here are some of the interferences with nri vate rights complained of: No person insured under the insurance act i3 free to choose his own doctor. Any one may be arrested or searched on suspicion without a warrant. "ubu on . You must not buy or sell matches after 3 You must not buy or sell ice cream after 8 p. m. You must not buy a box of chocolates after o J) HI kLT? Wl de,cides t0 g0 t0 Paris to buy a hat finds herself plunged into a laborious tur mo 1 of passports, photographs" and vises all of the war eXa ShUld bee ed JySrJM tt.day- The sale " 2SS Clubs must shut at a certain hour althm, they do not sell intoxicating liquor altUoush The language used by Col. Gretton tiio tw day in introducing a private Sn bH 1 ? the House of Commqns sounds very much Ilk? an echo from the United States llke The argument for shorter hoUrq fnv u selling," he said, "has been heavily" dfa-m 5?i by the latest reports, which demotistrate ?l rapid drinking in a short time haTlrLll at new form of drunkenness." ?. Produced a Lands, buildings and foods are still i.iij.h to requisition, ports may be closed aid theJex-- port of goods prohibited, and all this not bv an-act of legislation, but by the arbitrary de cree of a minister. - "The average citizen," cries one paper, "ha lost his constitutional safeguards. The flat of a minister is sufficient to deprive him of his liberty and his possessions. 'No taxation with out representation' is as dead as a door nail" So we see that, tight as things are in Amer ica, they might be tighter. Chicago Herald Examiner. SHOULD LANDIS BE. CONDEMNED? The American Bar Association by resolution has condemned Judge Landlsfor "engaging in private employment" while holding the posi tion of federal judge! The Bar Association has thus accepted and1 declared the conventional view of judicial ethics. Action "unworthy the office of judge, de rogatory to the dignity of tho bench, under mining public confidence" and meeting "un qualified condemnation" these are strong words. What are the facts? Judge Landis has, in his years on the bench, built up a remarkable reputation as an arbiter. Those who have appeared In his court, and the general public, have come to believe entirely in his honesty, his impartiality, his intelligence andvhis vigor. On account of his reputation he was asked by semi-public v interests, the man agers of professional, baseball in America, to extend his function as judge to baseball affairs. For this he was paid. ' Later he was asked by those concerned in the building-trade disagreements to extend his function again to the affairs of the buiidmg " trades. For this he was not. paid. But it is important to note that the two .cases are in their most important respects identical. - Confusion and crookedness were apparent in baseball. Confusion and "crookedness were ap parent in the building trades. "In both the need was for an arbiter who possessed public con fidence. In both Judge Landis? was selected, and for the one reason 'he did. have the public con fidence. - . . If It be an offense for a -federal judge to es tablish such a reputation that in times of con fusion the people turn instinctively to him for for counsel, Judge Landis has offended not otherwise. Judge Landis' action . was uncon ventional. But an unconventional thing may be entirely justifiable by circumstances. In ignor ing the circumstances and hastily condemning on a general principle the American Bar Asso ciation can hardly be said to have endeared its judgment to the country. Meanwhile Judge Landis seems to be straight ening out the situation in $he-.btiilding trades. If he finally succeeds, . any professional "con demnation" of him will have to be extraordin arily eloquent to get a hearing in Chicago. Chicago Herald and Examiner. Senator Smoot says he would simplify the levying and collection of national revenues by limiting taxation to a half dozen, lines. Any body who claims to be. able to simplify tho methods of levying -and collecting national taxes has an excellent claim for instant attention. But when it develops that the first item is a reduc tion of income taxes of the very rich and tho second is a renaming of the discarded sales taxes which consumers are to pay, one may justi fy passing up the reading of the others. The price of a seat on the Chicago board of trade is showing a decided tendency to take to tho same toboggan slide that the price of wheat u,sed. Of course, the fact-.that the farmers nre organizing to market their own grain has noth ing to do with this; it is just another of those "voluntary acts on the part of large business enterprises to bear their share of- the burden of readjustment" that we read so much about. The tariff bill that the Senate committee Is considering is expected to add 400 millions a year to the revenues of the nation. That's all right, but we could better understand how many hours a day wo jnust put In earning the tax ; money if it were also made plaiff how many mil lions it will add to the revenues of the steel trust and the dye trust and all the. rest of tho trusts. Business men are complaining because tlie farmer;. now thrft he lias sold'hls 1920 wheat ,crop, does not call off his buyers' strike, One .Nebraska farmer says that tine answor may m 'found in the fact 'that while 'fre got less than ;ualf wliat nvheat brought In war times, the im plement manufacturers are selling binders for "jlvo.dollarsmore.. " V. -K . tfceUMtaUfttarffl.