M’ADOO, IF OUT OF RACE, IS STILL PROGRESSIVE FACTOR
By MARK IUUJTAN
Washington. March I.—Within a
week now we shall bsgln to sm In
various statss ths presidential pri
maries In which McAdoo’s name will
be entered among others.
By ths outcome of these primaries
we ehall be able to tell Just how
McAdoo's standing befors ths voters
—as distinguished from the party
leaders—has been affected by the dis
closure that he was a lawyer for
Doheny and by the uncovering of
other facts relating to large fees re
ceived by him from rich men and
corporations for his services.
Pending this verdict from the peo
ple, It must be stated that from the
point of view of the party leaders,
little and big, the disposition to re
gard McAdoo's availability as seri
ously Impaired has tended to Increase
w ith each new Installment of publicity
given to McAdoo’s connections. Not
by any means all democratic leaders
have shared this experience. On the
contrary, a considerable body of the
leaders are as 6trong for McAdoo now
as ever.
Another Group
There la a formidable body of demo
cratic leaders who merely wanted to
pick the strongest possible candidate
who now regard McAdoo as no longer
available.
They think the campaign Is going
to center around the oil scandal.
Assuming that this Is to be the
main issue and psychological Inter
est of the campaign, it Is obvious that
the relation of McAdoo’s large retain
ers from various corporate and In
dividual business Interests Is a seri
ous Impairment.
That there is nothing Improper In
the services McAdoo has given his
clients for the fees he has received Is
universally admitted. Nevertheless,
under the conditions of the coming
campaign, as those conditions are be
ginning to crystallise, the mere fact
of such connections Is a serious hau
dicap.
McAdoo, when he left the public
•ervlce, could have chosen, on the one
I land, to be a big lawyer, or to look
forward to the possibility of being
president and keep himself equipped
for that office. But, as events show,
it was hazardous to attempt to do
both.
Unquestionably, If the progressives
of the country as a whole, regardless
of party—could put into the White
House precisely that man that most
fits their wishes and prejudices, they
would choose a man completely free
from any connection, direct or remote,
with big business.
Was Ideal Progressive.
it It should turn out that McAdoo
has been disqualified by the nature
of his legal practice It will be a blow
to the progressive cause in all sec
tions of the country. “For, omitting
this one detail, McAdoo was and is
ideally equipped for the purposes the
progressives had in mind. McAdoo
was and is a radical In both the con
structive and critical sense.
Before the recent reason for op
position to McAdoo arose the principal
argument against McAdoo was that
he might. If made president, do some
thing ‘‘radical’’ about the railroads.
And so, In all probability, he would.
But what McAdli would do about
the railroads was not and Is not
"radical" In the destructive sense In
which McAdoo's opponents have
sought to tie the word to him. It Is
possible to be “radical" In the con
structive sense, and that i» the sense
in which McAdoo certainly—and
creditably—is radical about the rail
roads.
Hudson Tube Work.
For example, when McAdoo wa» a
comparatively young man in New
York he observed that the only direct
means a resident of Manhattan Island
had for getting to the mainland of
the United States, was of the Hud
son river, and the only means a resi
dent of the mainland had for getting
to New York was by going on a boat.
The bridges over the Harlem river
at the far upper end of Manhattan
were the only means of exit from
New York to the rest of the world
except by boat.
McAdoo conceived, planned and car
ried out the first tunnel from New
York City to the mainland. So com
plete was his Identification with that
enterprise that the new Institution
was called for years the "McAdoo
tunnel," until McAdoe himself took
formal steps to have it called, both
officially and In the popular sense,
the Hudson tunnel, which Is the name
by which millions of travelers know
It today.
That is the sort of thing that en
titles McAdoo to be called "radical"
1n the constructive sense.
Knemies “Fainted” Him.
McAdoo’s opponents, until they had
the n«w and more effective way of
arguing against him, sought to dis
credit him with the public by dis
seminating the idea that he is a
“radical” In a sense In which that
word has coma to hava connotations
tha ordinary citizen does not like.
One Impression widely disseminated
is to the effect that as regards the
railroads'McAdoo la a government
r — ^
ABE MARTIN Domestic Troubles
(ftoiPOwSO
/WW/f.dPMl
pi!tOLl-£0(4
YKXOUR
ReeuLA/f
ptwie*
Jo4>
In th’ Busy Marts o’ Trade.
Some woman has written us th'
follerln’ letter: "My husband Is gen
erosity Itself. He's a grand provider
an’ often leaves money layln’ around
where I kin And It so I won't have
t’ ask fer It. But we don't see much
of him. He's out early In th' morn
in’ an' gits In after me an' th’ chil
dren are In bed. He’s mighty gener
ous. but we'd like to’ have more of
his company." Ther’s a lot o’ gen
erous husbands like this one. They
think all wives want Is plenty o'
money an' clothes. They never think
they might need a little lally gaggtn'
an’ companionship. We'll bet this
woman would Vie twice as happy If her
an’ her husband fought an' made
up three or four times a week. Th'
husband that provides his wife with
ever’thing but companionship 'll bear
watchin’. He hain't up t’ no good.
But ws don’t hardly know what ad
vice to’ give t’ thle poor woman. She
might ask him fer a divorce some
time when he’s in a generous mood,
jest t’ try him out. It’s our guess
he'll gladly divorce her an’ give her
a snug sum on th’ side. An’ it’ll be
th’ kindest thing he’s done yet, an'
tli' best thing fer both o’ them. Tber's
lots o’ husbands like this bird. They're
like lots o' lodge members In godd
standln’—they keep ther dues paid,
but they never take any interest in
th’ work. My advice t’ this woman Is
t' git a divorce an’ put her alimony
safely away an’ be satisfied with 8
or 6 per cent, an’ turn a deaf eur
t’ promoters an’ adventurers, find
some light, congenial employment an’
wait for events. We recall that
Amandy J,ark had jest such a hus
band as this woman describes. Her
husband used t’ leave money on th'
mantleplece an' notes tellin' her t’
go downtown an' git anything she
wanted. One day she tried on a $500
sealskin saque jest fer fun, an' th'
clerk told her that Mr. I.ark had
bought one Jest like It last week fer
his wife. Then she smelled a mouse
an’ kicked up a fuss, an' her husband
Jumped at th' chance t’ divorce her.
He gave her a lot o' Liberty bonds,
th' ole home near th’ sawmill, a beau
tiful lavilier, an' a nifty sedan, an'
she could have married th' best feller
In town, but she picked a stranger.
We wuz talkin' t' her this mornin'
at th' Monarch Five an’ Ten, where
she has charge o' th’ golf balls an’
jackstones. an’ she remarked: "I nev
er knowed how grand It wuz t' be
single till T got t’ waitin’ on th' gen
eral public.”
(Copyright,
ownership man. This. McAdoo's
friends say, Is utterly untrue.
In January, 1918, just after the gov
ernment took over the railroads for
the period of the war and put them
under McAdoo’s management tem
porarily, there was a hearing on a
federal control bill before the senate
committee on Interstate commerce.
In the course of that hearing Sen
ator Watson of Indiana, asked this
question:
"Do you personally believe In gov
ernment ownership of railroads?" Mr
Adoo answered: "I do not, or I
haven't, at least, felt that It was
necessary to take the actual owner
ship of the railroads. . . .1 favor
some form of government regulation
and control of a far stronger, more
intelligent and effective character
than we have had heretofore.
New York Terminal Problem.
In an Informal utterance from Me
Adoo not long ago he said lie thinks
the owners of the railroads ought to
get a minimum return on their ln^
vestment of at least 5 1-2 per cent, or
something close to that, and that
above that figure the returns ought
to lie divided 50-50 between the securi
ty owners and the government. Tills
is similar to the present Esch-Oum
mlns act.
It Is true that there is one aspect
of the railroads that McAdoo obvious
ly lias on his mind which he thinks
ought to be bettered, and which, un
doubtedly, he would like to have a
chance to better. What he has in
mind Is to achieve more economical
management and better results, both
for shippers and railroad owners,
through certain reforms which he
thinks could be Instituted.
The best way to Illustrate what Mc
Adoo has In mind Is to give a single
example: The Pennsylvania railroad
owns a passenger terminal in the
heart of New’ York City. The Balti
more & Ohio has no such terminal.
For years preceding the time when
McAdoo had control of the tfiilroads
passengers who went to‘New York on
the Baltimore & Ohio had to get out
of the train on the New Jersey side
and go across by ferry.
When McAdoo had his wartime
control of all the railroads one of
his first actions was to decree that
the B. & O. trains to New York should
run over the tracks of the Penn
sylvania railroad, through the tunhel
owned by the Pennsylvania road and
into the station in New York City
owned by the Pennsylvania road. Mo
Adoo issued that order April 28,
1918.
But the two roads, now under pri
vate control, have continued the ar
rangement that McAdoo Instituted,
greatly to the convenience of the
traveling public.
Private Property Invasion.
Doubtless there are many things
to be said about this from a techni
cal point of view.
It is a fact that the Pennsylvania
railroad owns the station and tun
nel. It is a fact that to order the
Pennsylvania railroad to let the
B. & O. trains use its tracks and
station is invasion of private prop
erty by the government.
Nevertheless, the deeper economic
fact is that the station was there and
th» tunnel was there. That there
was room and time, for this station
and this tunnel to accommodate B.
k O. trains in addition to Pennsyl
vania trains is proved by the fact
that it has actually been done for
nearly six years.
This common use of terminals, en
forced by pressure from the govern
ment, is the type of thing which
apparently McAdoo has in mind when
lie shows zeal for a chance to make
the railroads more efficient. There
are said to be hundreds of similar
stations in which great economies
could be achieved and great benefits
conferred, both on railroad security
owners and on railroad shippers and
passengers, by similar action.
At recent hearings before the inter
state commerce commission it has
been shown that in the neighborhood
of New Tork a carload of freight Is
frequently carried over more than 100
miles of track in order to reach a
destination less thdn 10 miles away.
McAdoo’s mind will never let go
of his zeal to do something about
the railroads. Also, even if it should
turn out that McAdoo is now perma
nently disqualified for the democratic
nomination, he will not cease to be
a large figure in the party.
While some of the progressive dem
ocrats have decided that they had
tetter have some one else to make
the race, they are still devoted to
McAdoo personally. The other pro
gressive leaders and the other pro
gressive candidates for the nomlna
tion will co-operate with him.
The whole present effort of the
progressive democrats Is to keep that
iwlng of ths party Intact and to work
[harmoniously to get the nomination
for some progressive.
If the progressives succeed in con
trolling the nomination, and If the
democrats win the election, McAdoo
and his Ideas will have a consider
able part In the administration.
Essays Set to Art
by Clarence Day
"AT A VENTURE." by Chari** A Rea
nett. Harper A Brother*, publisher*.
Would you read an optimistic
speech on co-operation delivered at a
national convention of the burglars'
union?
Or would you be more interested In
the application of up-to-date advertis
ing methods to college courses In an
thropology?
If not. perhaps you would like to
take a peek into the future and
watch a strangely Instrumental or
chestra playing Sampel P.osenberg s
subway suite.
These queries are written to give an
idea of the delightfully capricious
mood which is uncovered in this book
of short essays by Mr. Bennett. But
they don't do the essays justice.
In the last year or so there may
have been a more whimsical, way
ward, inconstant and thoroughly en
joyable book of essays written. But
if there has been, It hasn't wandered
into our clutches.
Drawings by Clarence Day, Jr ,
catch the spirit of the book, and add
to its general attractiveness.
Neihardt’s “Easter”
Poem in Anthology '
THE BEST POEMS f*r Iff*. SELECTED
WITH AN 1 N'TRuDtlCTION, »■: Thomas
Moult. PuMIcbtd by Jonathan Cap*"
I^mdon
All lovers of poetry will cnj«- these
poems and find them filled with un
usual beauties.
It is a collection of what, in the
compiler's mind, were the best poems
published in English and American
periodicals during the la^t year.
“Easter,” by John G. Neihardt, wiil
hold special interest for our readers,
as this work of Nebraska’s poet laure
ate first appeared in The Omaha Bee
In April of last year.
LEAGUE MUST PLACE MANKIND ABOVE NATIONALISM
By H. G. AVELI.S,
(Author of "The Outline of History”)
London, March 8.—If the world had
suddenly become rational in Novem
•>er, 1918. I suppose there would have
been a conference of all the powers
of the world to atone for their com
mon aliis and restore their common
welfare.
But this world la some thousands
of years yet from rational collective
conduct. AVe have a treaty of vie
‘ors, a derni-league of nations, all the
postwar disorder, waste and misery
that still unfolds upon us. The league
is unsoundly planned. It stands on
■otton foundations. It Is poisoned by
he delusion that soverlgn statee are
eal. enduring, human things Instead
••f being arrangements entirely pro
> islonaj. largely hallucinatory; and It
does not represent more than a por
tion of mankind.
Still there Is talk of at last brlng
iiyf In Russia and Germany. It will
he Interesting to*see how the people
who have got hold of It will set
about tinkering up the arrangement
with the Herman people and the Rus
sian soviet states.
Social Power Only.
In Britain and America there are
considerable organizations for the
glorification of the league of nations.
In Britain, in the countryside especial
ly, the league of nations has become
a social feature. No parliamentary
candidate can afford to Aglect It,
but It has no ideas worth speaking.
It Just glorifies. At the beginning,
a few of us made a desperate at
tempt to establish a research depart
ment In organization. We felt there
were a lot of things that had to be
known about the psychology of In
ternational co-operation. It Is, how
ever, impossible to get snythlng ef
fective done. Few of our colleagues
realized that there was anything that
could not he settled at once. Then
Wilson came to Europe. Upon the
wave of hts coming this present
league of nations, such as it la, a
ramshackle raft of political mlscon
ceptlona, achieved Its magnificent
launch.
Mental Slorenilnees.
Future generations will study Its
Incredible constitution In a desperate
attempt to realize the mental sloven
llnsa of our times.
Personally I am for the world con
ference to take It down and build
something better. What everyone
will consider mors practicable will be
to alter It a bit towards-the form of
a league of mankind against the na
tions that It ought to have been from
the beginning.
Now how are Germany and -the
union of soviet states coming Into the
league? Are they to oome In as boss
states, Uka tits British emplrs, with a
parcel of accessory faggot votes rep
resenting their dominions and posses
stons, or are they to come In on a
footing with Halt), the Hedjas and
Abyaatna?
Will they come In as equals of
Abyssinia? I do not think the pres
ent constitution of the league of na
tlona allown that they come In on eny
tolerable terms at all. That being so.
It follow* that any attempt to bring
In either or both of thedb great
masse* of people will Involve a ape
rial conference to reconstruct the
league.
Both Germany and Russia may
have some hold pmpnaal* to make.
In Britain we have bad little lmt
praise or angry exposure.
' Endless TnJIi In I’nlted States.
In America It haa been talked
about endlessly, but I do not know If
It haa been thought about at all. In
France there are signs of awakening
to the need of a reconstructed
league. The time la at hand when
the league might be made more serv
iceable to mankind.
One cardinal evil could be mini
mixed, the absurd pretence that any
thing with the legal status of a sove
i^lgn state 1* a nation, a people, a
thing with distinctive soul and In
dividuality entitled to full and equal
consideration In the counsele of man
kind.
It Is to this we owe the Intolerable
abaurdity that while auch highly In
dividualized people aa the Scotch and
\\ elsh have no voice ae auch In the
world’s affairs, a trumped up state
like the Hedjaz votes and speaks on
in equality with Holland and Den
mark. While one group of black bar
barians Is solemnly welcomed as
Abyssinia the far better educated Zu
lu Basuto peoples tjiust be represent
ed by a tenth of the coattails of Lord
Cecil.
If nations end races are all to be
represented, then India le full of
them. If sovereign Independence lei
the standard, then India has no right
ful place at Geneva
Purpose for Mankind.
If we recognize fully that tha
league we need Is to servs the pur
pose not of nations but of mankind,
then we shall cease to be embarrassed
by political oddities. ,
Should the league of nations to
put upon a population basis? This
would give undesirably heavy voting
povyer” to the quasi representatives of
great barbaric. Illiterate populations.
But supposing voting power were
given in proportion to the number of
literates in the population, nr to the
nutnlier of university students. Then
we should at least get sonic sort of
approximation of relative intelligence-.
Suppose that, subject to this defini
tlon of voting power, every state sent
Just as few or just as many repre
s»ntatlves to the assembly, appointed
them or selected them, distributed its
votes among them, as It thought fit.
Suppose the council were appointed,
not hv nations, but indifferently in
vota of assembly. Then at Geneva we
would be getting toward something
like representation of the civilization
of the world.
We would have a body with au
tborlty behind it capable of handling
something more than petty arbitra
tions.
it is amazing how unable people
seem to be to realize the danger of an
asaembly dominated by the idea of
competitive nationailam. the urgent
necessity of getting away from that
idea For suppose Mr MacDonald
is successful In getting In Russia ami
Germany; suppose the league begins
to handle such larger questions as
disarmament. Euroi>ean currency and
tariffs.
Then, just as the interest* involved
become greater so much more nation
alist will the spirit of the delegates and
representative* become. League path
ertngs under tiie present constitution
will certainly become .the battle
ground of great nationalist Interests
The dear little smaller states will
be drawn into groups and alliances j
about the greater etates. They will ]
not lie aide to help themselves. Their
votes will be cowed, bullied and]
bribed.
So long as members go to Geneva
to represent not mankind, but nation
al government*, they will go there in
diplomatic, bargaining, competitive
spirit.
There will develop a pro-French r
pro-British group, an anti-French >■
anti-British group: alliances and ar,
tagonisms of another great war tn«:
early work themselves out That *li
nations In Europe and und»r Europ
can lnfUienco may meet in OetJev.r
will in Itself be no more guarantee
of peace than was the meeting of the
United States congress before the
election of President Lincoln a guar
antee of peace in America.
It is a matter of supreme impo:
Lance to the world that before it s
too late this body which we now call
the league of nations should be dena
tlonajiied, put upon a eosmopoiitr
basis
lOspTriiht. l#?4 )
Local Lafs are worth money. Th
appear each week on the screen in
On in I: a motion picture theaters. Pec-;
your jokes to the I oca 1 Laf Editor.
The Omaha Bee.
—-——-——————
I mm f • nrn 1*7 y arr. SCOTT fitzgerald.
fi/if* htt% ft Ivf AM f% M/ /ivll Authpr of "The Beautiful and Damned." "Thia Side of Par..
iriaRing itlonogamy w otr *«- j*«
k_•. _ . ._ _j
One* past the age of 30 all civilised
person* realise that many of our In
stitution* are no more than con
spiracies of silence.
When the clergyman assumes for
the sake of hie eermon that there 4s
a great body of men and women who
“ICVe a moral life'* he does not mean,
if he ie a man of any Intelligence,
ipet every week and every year this
b*dy Is composed of the same people.
If* means rather that on any given
dgts more people are ‘engaged In
Keeping the rule* thart are engaged In
breaking them. And he also means
t 1st these people who are at the
ifoment engaged In being virtuous will
combine against the people who are
outraging the morals of the time.
The libertine site In the Jury bpx
and votes against the divorce case
defendant as heartily a* does the
pilar of the church. Three days
Inter, the pillar of the church may
elope with the sexton's wife and BOO
unfaithful husbands read the news
aloud at breakfast in shocked and
horrified tones.
So in discussing the question as to
whether we human beings ars really
capable of a happy monogamy, I
don’t want to start from tha angle
that four-fifths of us are approxi
mately Illy white and the other fifth a
rather dingy shade of gray. 1 assume
that at present there are a large
majority of couples on this continent
who are true to each other and a
minority who are at present tangled
up In some fascinating but entirely
illegal affklr.
Advantage* and Disadvantages.
We believe, from our racial exper
ience, that monogamy la the simplest
solution of the mating Instinct. It
tends to ktep people out of meesea
and leee time la required to keep
up a legal home than to aupport a
chorus girl. There are disadvantages
—marriage Is often dull for at least
one of the partlee concerned and the
very security of the bond tends, not
infrequently, to make an unconscious
bully of th# man or a shrew of the
woman. But on tha whol# the ad
vantages outweigh the disadvantages,
and the only trouble la—that It Isn’t
really monogamy because one party
ia so frequently not true to th* other.
Th* truth Is that monogamy la not
(not yet at least) th* aimpl* natural
way of human life. But w* ere of
flelally pledged to It a* tha only pos
sibl* system In th* western world and
at present It Is kept working by a
serlea of half artificial props—othei
wise It may collapse and we may drift,
quite naturally, into an age of tur
moil and confusion.
Two llappy Radicals.
I know a man named Harry, a girl
named Georirlanno (these, strange to
gay, are their reaL.aamea, who mar
ried In those happy radical daya be
fore the war when experiment was
In the air. The understanding was
that, when the first flush was over,
Harry and Georglanna were to be free
to ramble. They were exceptionally
well mated, exceptionally congenial,
and the fascination endured well Into
the foruth year of their marriage.
Then they made two discoveries—
that they were still In love wllh each
other, and that they wera no longer
completely unaware of the other men
and women in the world. Just as
they mad* these discoveries circum
stances threw them suddenly Into gay
est New Tork. Harry, through tha
nature of Ills occupation, cam* Into al
most dally contact with dozens of
charming and foot-looee young women,
and Georglanna began to receive tha
attentions of half a dozen charming
and footloose young men.
If ever a marriage seemed bound
for tha rocks this one did. We gave
them six months—a year at the out
side. It was too bnd, we felt, because
fundamentally they loved each other,
but circumstances bad undoubtedly
doomed them—as a atter of fact, they
are now In process of living happily
together forever after.
Relentless I/ogle of Jealousy.
Did they deride that the beet way
to hold each other wee to let falth
tulneae be entirely voluntary? They
did not. Did they come to an ar
rangement by which neither waa to
pry Into the other'* life? They did
not. On tho contrary they tortured
each other Into a state of wild, un
reasoning Jealousy—and this solved
the problem neatly In loea than •
week.
Despite the sentlmentnltsta, Jeal
ousy I* the greatest proof of and prop
to love. Harry and Qeorglanna, with
the relentless loglo of Jealousy—poor,
abused, old Jealousy—forced eonces
slons out of each other. They de
cided that the only sensible course
was to remain always together.
Harry never goes to see a woman
alone nor does Qeorglanna ever re
ceive a man when Harry Is not there.
Women over 60 and men over 80 are
excepted.
Harry doe* not say:
"You mind my taking Clara to the
theater? What nonsense! Why, her
husband la one of iny best friends.”
Nor doe* Qeorglanna protest:
"Are you tnad because I aat out
with Augustus? What nonsense!
Why, Augustus hasn’t got three hairs
on top of his hsail.”
• Who Will Hear Watching.
They know that the wives of best
friends stid the men with less than
three halts on their head* are the
most dangerous of all. Anyone can
protect bla or her household against
Apollo and Venus—It le the club
footed man and the woman with hon
est freckles who will bear watching.
If Harry goes away on a trip Geor
glanna goea with him. They go to
no mixed parties unless both of them
are able to go—and If there is any
Jealousy In the air neither of them
straya out of the other’s sight.
At I write this It aounda like a self
enforced slavery—a double pair of
apron-strings—but In the case of Har
ry and Georglanna, two highly strung
and extremely attractive young peo
ple, It had the Ineatlmable advantage
of working admirably. I think they
ara the happteet couple I know.
The experience of the race (that
stupid old man who every once in a
while gets a few truths through his
head) has found certain things violent
ly unfavorable to a contented monog
amy. Two of the most obvious things
are a great disparity In age and a
surrounding atmosphere of excessive
alcoholic stimulation — two factors
which occur chiefly among the well
to-do classes. ,
Tlie Coventional "Petting” Party
But there ere several essentials to
successful monogamy that are nut
talked about In the women's maga
zines. A genius may some day arise
who will find a way of presenting
physlologlent farts to youth without
shocking youth's sensibilities into an
Infuriated disgust. The long list of
current "sex books," while they mtiy
have a certain value to married peo
pie, have absolutely no effect on the
young except to arouse pruriency and
sometimes to kill the sense of ro
inance. It la the toss of a coin which
is the worst—knowledge so acquired
or Ignorance Itaelf. And yet ahould
auch knowledge be acquired liefore
marriage rather than after? If ao,
how?
It la only recently that the "petting
party" Has become almost a* con
ventional a term as “afternoon recep
tion" among the upper and middle
classes, hut In some more primitive
communities a sustained physical
courtship has preceded marriage
Such a courtship Is the natural not
the vicious, the rrunantlo not the
sordid, the ultra-ancient not the ultra
modern preparation for married life.
I have heard otherwise Intelligent
people apeak of "petting parlies" as
If they wera accidental and Immoral
phenomena In ao entirely non physl
cal jvorld Instead of an Introduction
to life, Intended h.v nature to amellor
ulo Ills change fielween the married
und the unmarried slate. We have
given them a new tug, lied them up
In some curious way with cocktails,
opium, "The Hhlek." and sheer per
versity but they have always existed
and, U la to be hoped, always will.
On* of th* favorlt* question* of th*
recent controversy was:
"What kind of wlf* will th* girl
inak* who has had numerous petting
parties before marriage?'’
The answer Is that nobody knows
what kind of wits sny girl will make.
"But," they .continue, "won't she
be Inclined to hav* petting parties
after ah*'s martiedT"
In on* sense she will. The girl who
la a vstersn of many petting parties
was probably amorously Inclined fiom
birth. She’ll be mor* prone to af
fair* after marriage than the girl who
didn't want any paiilea. But why
blame It on th* poor ItlaaT It I* a ques
tlon of temperament. Th* alarmist
believe* not In ratis* and effect but
that one effect produces tb* other.
It may even be true that petting
parties tend to lessen a roving tend
ency after marriage. A girl who
knows befor* she marries that there
Is more than one man In the world
but that all men know very much the
same names for love I* perhaps less
liable after^marrlage to cruise here
and there seeking a lover more ro
mantic than her husband. She has
discovered already that variety Is not
half as various as It aounds. But If
petting parties had been eo named In
191* we would have been assured that
they caused the war.
Here I* a more worthy scapegoat—
tha one-child family. Because of our
breathless economic struggle. It has
become almost an American Instltu
tlon. Women with on# child are
somehow more restless, more miser
able, more "nervous" anil more de
termined to pay any price for the at
tention of men, than women with aev
eral children or no children at all. The
child often becomes a pest and a bore
and a continual subject for heated
discussion at the dinner table. Knr
some reason parents do not mind los
ing both temper and dignity before
one child. They will hesitate In the
presence of two.
Now T have discussed a n ttnber of
things that war against a true and
enduring marriage, rather than offer
Ing remedies for making every hom<
a paradise In 13 lessons. Believing
as I do that all questions worth solv
ing are entirely Insoluble, It Is the
only angle from which I can sincerely
npproaeh tha subject. On the con
atructlss aids I can only say that I
liellevs In early marriage, easy di
vorce and several children.
A11 In nil nothing cun tarnish the
cheerful fact that n sincerely happy
marriage under exclusive monogamy
one marriage In five, In ten- some
times one In a hundred—Is the most
completely satisfactory state of being
In tills somewhat depressing world.
(Copyright. 1124:)
1
[WHEN IS A DRUG STORE? :: By 0. 0. McIntyre]
The drug More used to be a place
to loaf and have a prescription Ailed
Today you can And almost anything
In a drug store but a prescription
counter. And there la no place at
nil to loaf. Drug stores havs grown
too reaplsndent for the average man.
The pharmacist today must knot*
;.s much about slicing a chicken and*
making a salad dressing as he does
about pounding pills. The way to
And a New York drug store la to
look up what looks lika a department
store except It has sn slectrio sign
■‘Drugs'" out front.
The only pises you can And n red
amt green light that heralded the
apothecary' shop of JO yeare ago la
on a tugboat In ths Nstv York har
bor.
It la hard to relinquish the old
fashioned medicine shop. Even the
pungent odor had a pleasant tang.
It offered a breath of mystery. The
druggist was a hero. He seemed
somewhat of a master of necrnmance
as lie took down bottles with strange
I.atln labels and mixed their contents
with Ills mortar and pestle.
The night hell that once called him
to duty to save aome midnight suf
ferer Is gone. The drug store re
mains open all night and midnight
medicine loses much of Its potency.
There wss something of a mental
stimulus for ths patient In the Idea
that ths pharmacist had to get out
of tied to mix the concoction espc
dally for him.
Shrinking anil Retiring.
These days you never know your
druggist. lie Is hidden nw*y In some
remote balcony. Its talks to the
i lerk through the peepholes. In the
old days the dngiglst was quits n
figure. He passed the collection plate
in church and marched In Pythian
parades.
If you step Into the drug store
and ask to see the proprietor ypu
lenrn tl»«t lie has an office downtown
where he dlrerte a chain of stores
and. Instead, you ere presented to
the ‘'manager.*'
It ts all progress and the modern
drug store Is tietter than the one that
lias gone. Htijl with many of us
there Is too much progress The laiy
man Is landing there Is no place to
while away the dragging houra
Amid the burly materialism of New
York we ate too prone to forget the
simpler graces that make for heart's
ease. It la true we are living In an
age of grandeur and wonder, but this
triumphal regency of Industrial cm
chncy lias nothing to do with the
spirit.
The art of making many blades of
glass grow where one formerly grew
Is aiming to many of ns. We are
being standardised right down to the
lest wlep and comfort vanishes.
The new drug store te a marvel of
y'X |t n#*i’ . ^
£kuyM**iy t
g| no £
%| f»*4« $
^W-~--- ie
W'flAPoO
imo«a*4
| Twru. havcN
if Fi«eo
{ viP IH A wry
iluK. V
Itoyvillr took to liiin thrlr rut flnsrr* and amamhrd tor* and hr
a|i|>iird hi* Ihrruprutlral knowlrdgr.
efficiency. Yon can go there for a
dime's worth of nux vomica and come
away with a crate of applee. a dog
collar, a lawn mower, a tennis racket,
the latest novel, a ticket to the thea
ter, a pair of carpet slippers, a set
of 0rop earrings and the game of Mah
Jong.
Instead of the drug store being a
place w here one may find an occasion
nl hour of ralm one finds it a place
of vast complicated mechanism. There
are aisles blooming with almost every
thing In the world—save drugs. Why,
they've removed the spittoons. Isn't
that priceless?
Those (lend Olil Days.
It U possible tha Victorian era was
Insipid, but we have a vague nostalgia
for It. We long for the Sunday Aft
ernoon buggy ride Instead of the mad
motor drive if the day. We would
like to sec a show where the villain
stilt pursues her Instead of the com
plicated talk and puerile cynicism of
a cycle play.
We would tike to ail out on the
front porch In the cool of the eve
ning and watch the neighbor* go by
. 1
Instead of being Jammed into a stuf
fy cafe hearing shrieking Jaas and
watching vaaelined cake-eatera Jelly
rolling with cigarette smoking flap
pers.
<>, yes. thsre are many things we
would Ilka to do that were a part
of tha Victorian era. But our lament
ts in vain. The modem drug store
Is the shrieking symbol of the fact!
that times have changed.
We would like sometimes to f!eej
all this organised grandeur. We
would like to get beck to the little
home town where supper ts not din '
tier and where at dusk the medley of
meat hammers gava promise of tasty
10-cent round steaks.
Afterward In shirt sleeves to stroll
through ths peaceful streets to the
public square and then back to the
drug atore and Its group of friendly
loafers. The druggist was our ft ••ml
lie trusted u* for our cigars and nos i
trums.
There was no privacy about the
prescription ftxse. We might sit tie
hind It and chat whtla he mixed his
enigmatical tinctures. It we got a cm
cier in the eye we went to him. He re
moved it without charge. Boyville
took to him their stone bruise*, their
cut fingers and mashed toes and lie
applied hte therapeutical knowledge,
bound up the injured parts—perhaps
gave them a licorice drop to boot—
and sent them scampering on their
way rejoicing.
He appeared to be everybody a
friend. The village; doctor came,
moved back of the prescription case
and took his evening toddy and drove
off again to answer the call of the
sick. The drug store vvas a friendly
club.
It ts Indeed disheartening to see the
polishing process that has come to
tt. If we reduce the world to the
terms of dollars, of course we get
dollars, but money cannot buy re
freshment of the spirit.
The drug store, along with the Kar
ber shop, has outgrown that peace
ful halo of complaisance that every
man needs to dust the soul of life 9
irritations.
It is not my purpose to sniff at
the modem drug store. It is a mar
velous step forward materially—but
the spirituality of its prototype has
vanished. Wild tempo has became
fortissimo in a .tangling age.
The grandiloquence Is suffocating.
Handsome floorwalkers now pilot
you through magnificent labyrinths
when all you wanted to buy. perhaps,
wt»s a nickel's worth of moth balls
You feel you are cheating the firm
and so you probably buy a *10 bot
tle of perfume and a doaen orange*.
Kxolution of Kive-Ont S«U.
lire soda fountain in the o!«t day*
was a glorified villaire pump. We
bought a 5 rent soda and sat at
the counter in a comfortable chair
for an hour discussing the light top
ics of the day with the druggist or
hie boy.
Now at the drug etore soda foun
tain you must stand up, pay 15 cents
for a glass of soda and watch «
worldly young man try to keep his
looks out of his eyes.
The old fashioned druggist never
decorated his windows# save with *
red bottle in one and a green bottle
In the other. Nbw the successful
drug store must have a doren win
dows and offer everything from a
beautiful lady demonstrator reveal
Ing the merits of a mole remover to
an urban counterfeit of Nlagv.n
Vails in full gush.
Aside from soiling a'most eve
thing a man or woman wants, the
modern drug store offer* a free show
lo sidewalk pedes;> in*. It sit.oil
that druggists are keen minded men
and know how to keep pu.w with the
times, but their gain is our lo*»
We would like to go hark to tb*
g.xxi old drug store
tvcrrrtsht. i»n.|
