Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, August 05, 1921, Page 6, Image 6
Ltiti DCjCj'. UlHAHrt, I'filUAI, rtUUUJl U, " -. ; " i ' i . . I 1 T . ' I TheOmah'aBee DaIL (MORNING) EVENING SUNUa THE BEE PUBLISHING COMPANY NE1.SON B. UPDIKE. Pubiiahcr. 14- I MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATES PRESS . Th Amoltua Fiml of whicb Th III) II I nuatm. It clilnt aoUUl la tb hm for publication of ill am dlaptuiit endittd to It or not olhtiulM orxlltnl In IMl pttm. od ilia th . loed m publlihnl hmin. AU nhu at buuioum of oat smm BEE TELEPHONES Print Bniwh lutiin At for AT lantic 1000 M i)4i taunt at Ptnuo WmiuA " 1 lal,l,t ,uw For Nlfht Callt After 10 p. m.l SdltoiUl DtptttDMOt ------- AT Untla 1011 ot Mi OFFICES OF THE BEE Mils Offlea: 17th and Parana , Cornell BlafM 15 Soott BL I Suutb Slda. 493B Boatb Ml Bt i Out-ol-Town Offlcaai it Htw Tork Cbleaia 1M Pint At. I Waahloitoa till O Bt Stager Bldi. I Parla. Fruaf. tlO Bat St. Ilonurt The Bee's Platform 1. Nw Union Patingr Station. 2. Continued improTement of th Ne bratka Highways, including tha pave ment of Main Thoroughfare leading into Omaha with a Brick Surface. 3. A short, low-rate Waterway from the Corn Belt tq the Atlantic Ocean. 4. Home Rule Charter for Omaha, with City Manager form of Government. ; Lesson in Des Moines' Plight. Whatever else of merit may be disclosed on careful examination of the street railway situa tion in Des Moines, one salient fact is unescap able. Fublio service must be paid for by the public. Whether the transportation problem of ' a city is solved in one or another of several pos sible ways, the cost of operation and a reasonable return on the necessary investment must be forthcoming. This is axiomatic, also elemental. We have no information which will justify an analysis of the causes for the plight of the Des Moines tramway company. Two points are noted, though. One is that the amount of funded, and floating debt, $7,500,000, is not too formid able a load for such a concern; the other is that at no place in the proceedings does the element of probable municipal ownership appear. Against these facts is to be set the other fact that the re ceipts of the concern did not suffice to meet its expenses. Such a condition of affairs indicates that somewhere exists something that is funda mentally wrong. A complication in Des Moines is the presence of bus lines, competing for the business. The right of the public to patronize the bus or the "jitney" is not in question. The effect of the competition, however, has been disastrous to the tramway company. Organized to care for traffic greatly exceeding the 105,000 fares daily collected, it has been compelled to divide a portion of that with a competi tor that only cares for 40,000. So far as these are concerned, the situation is unchanged, but the other 65,000 patrons find themselves without the service they are accustomed to and require for their convenience and comfort. Here is where competition becomes ruinous, the outcome suggesting the desirability of closely regulated monopoly. The lesson contained in this instance applies equally to all communities. Rates for service must be compensatory, but should rest on the actual cost of the service. This is ascertainable, for the value of the plant, together with cost of operation, affords a sure basis for calculating re turn. It is not a question of watered stock, of excessive bond issues, or the capitalization of earning capacity or future prospects within the life of the franchise. What amount of capital actually is employed in carrying on the business can be learned, as well as the operating cost. Then the public should be ready to pay sufficient for service to make reasonable return certain to the investors. Intraurban transportation problems have be come acute in America and some phases have been very exasperating. These will not be set tled until a complete, understanding is reached and the distrust that now prevails in the minds of the people as to the management has been dispelled. The situation is unfortunate for all, but more of frankness on part of owners is essential to the definite solution. Four New Warships. From the American point of view the de cision of Great Britain to build four battle cruisers in advance of the convening of the con ference of the powers to limit armament may teem to indicate a certain distrust of any inter national peace agreements. The League of Nations has failed to bring about any decrease in armament, and there are no doubt many statesmen who believe the Harding plan also will fail. At least all are determined that be fore the construction of warships is limited, they will have enough ships to protect them selves from each other. Impulse to criticise England for embarking on new naval building is checked by the recol lection that the same policy was carried through in the United States and in Japan. The very bill containing the authority for calling a con ference on disarmament included millions of dollars in appropriations for new vessels of war. Such is the distrust that exists in official minds. With less practicality and more ideal ism the people of these various lands look to arrangements precluding the possibility of war and to the lightening of the cost of armaments. Of the plots and plans of statesmanship and diplomacy they know little, or they might have as little faith as Churchill himself. If, how ever, the conscience of the people is really awake, insisting not only on limitation of war like preparations but also on square dealing between nations such as will remove some of the causes of conflict, the statesmen will have to follow. "What's Your Hurry?" Henry W. Dunn, in his capacity as police su perintendent, presumably animated by a desire to facilitate automobile navigation of the city streets, has virtually destroyed the "safety zones" set up by his predecessor. He has noti fied the police that safety zones need not be ob served by auto drivers, except when street cars are standing to takje on or discharge passengers. Little difficulty will be encountered in fol lowing this order to its logical conclusion. A few years ago a law was passed, requiring au tomobiles to come to a stop when street cars were stopped. Such was the condition then on city streets that human life was constantly endangered, and frequently forfeited, because indifferent drivers persisted in thrusting their cars through the crowds that gathered to get on or were coming off street cars at the down town intersections. Even that law was hon ored more in breach than observance and Dean Ringer sought to solve the problem by estab lishing safety zones, through which an automo bile could not pass, but permitting them to pass outside without stopping when street cars were standing. Just as the public is getting thoroughly ac customed to this, Mr. Dunn adds another regu lation to complicate matters. One of the rea sons he sets up is the uneven wear on the pave ment. Whatever merit this may have, it is more than offset by the possible added danger to pedestrians or persons who patronize the tramway. What Omaha needs is simple, under standable traffic regulations, and these rigidly enforced. Mr. Dunn's latest contribution to the maze of rules is out In the interest of safety, no matter how much it may add to speed. Thorough Job of Cleaning Demanded. The request of the attorney general that a grand jury be called in Douglas county to make inquiry into certain stock promotion activities and the management of corporations that have failed will get a second from all hands. It con templates a job, however unsavory it may seem at the outset, that must be done. If done at all, it should be thorough. No peg should be left on which a doubt may hang. Mr. Davis, in his letter to Judge Troup, asking that the court take action as he requests, contains charges that deserve fullest considera tion. If the attorney general is warranted in the statements he makes, room should be made in the penitentiary for some individual now at large. Should full inquiry fail to develope that the acts of these men are of criminal nature, then they deserve the completest vindication. One way or the other a positive conclusion should be reached, to the end that a succession of ugly rumors and the "whispering campaign" of slander be silenced for good and all. One deplorable fact stands out in undeniable prominence. Money that was turned over by hopeful investors has disappeared; it is gone, at least so far as the stockholder is concerned. To quote from the attorney general's letter: Nebraska is now paying for the debauch of promotion on which it embarked in 1918 and 1919, and in which some of its most promi nent citizens prostituted their names for pieces of gold. But the tide has now turned. A sadder and ' wiser public now reach out stretched arms to the law for that vindication of justice which the courts alone provide. Whether the "blue sky" law was evaded or ignored, investors were duped. Responsibility rests somewhere, and it should be brought home to the culpable. A thorough investigation by a grand jury will do no harm, and it may do a great deal of good in Nebraska right now. Williams and the Reserve Board. The war between John Skelton Williams and the bankers did not end when a new comptroller of the treasury was named, but seems to have gathered force. Just now the row between Mr. Williams and the members of the Federal Re serve Board has reached a blaze, and somebody's reputation is likely, to be scorched. It will be a good thing for all hands if the matter is thor oughly examined and all the facts brought to public notice. When Mr. Williams was in office he made many charges against the banks of the country, particularly those of the west and southwest, and managed to keep himself in a controversy with the bankers all the time. Representative Mc Fadden of Pennsylvania sought to bring about Williams' removal from office, making a de termined fight in the house against him, but was unable to make headway against the unswerving support of President Wilson for his appointee. Clashes between the comptroller and the Reserve Board were frequent, both policies and practices being involved. Bankers were divided as to the merits of the running dispute, and business more or' less disturbed by its progress. Since returning to the attack Mr. Williams has especially asserted that stock gambling and promotion enterprises were favored, while farm ers and stock raisers, particularly the cotton planters, were victimized by the control of the currency through the Federal Reserve banks. This matter is now fairly before the congres sional committee. It is no longer a question of the probity of members of the board or the abil ity and qualifications of the late comptroller of the currency. It is one of fact. The public is entitled to know if the great power of the government has been at any time used to aid purely speculative endeavors of bank ers. If the inquiry can bring out the truth on this point, it will be well worth while, and the squabble between Mr. Williams and the board members can be dismissed as a matter of little importance, save as it affects public interests.- Japan's idea that a nice way to set about dis armament would be to dismantle American mili tary and naval bases in the Pacific islands simply illustrates the point that each nation wants the other to make the sacrifice and that the other is unable to understand why its armament is considered a menace. Thousands of German workmen have pledged themselves never again to serve in war. This will be generally admitted to be a fine movement in Germany but it will not be loudly applauded if it spreads into the home land of others. If Mrs. Irene Buell of Ashland succeeds in gaining appointment as assistant attorney gen eral of the United States those few firecrackers that were set off out there will have raised her as high as if they had been bombs. Rent on 500 houses and apartments in Wash ington owned by the government is to be re duced 15 per cent, which may be taken as illustrating once more what a poor business man Uncle Sam is. A candy company ia New York has cut the price of everything from bonbons to gum drops right in two, but still this will not go far to ward lightening the cost of living.. Senator Penrose wants the tariff in force before snow flies what, are they going to tax the climate, too? Building Industry Depressed Loss to Society Because of the Inactivity in This Important Line. An early frost seems to have hit some of the promotion companies hereabouts. (From the New York Times.) Averages are fiction, and the truth is not in them. The roots of the present business de pression must be sought -in quarters where con ditions are below the average, and there is one which has escaped attention. Our industries are usually divided into five classes agricul ture, manufactures, transportation, mining, lum ber but there is a sixth which is even more depressed and which in its proportions rivals several of the usual divisions. Agriculture claims to be suffering most, and is the largest of all. But the trouble of agriculture is mostly a mat ter of prices and markets, and not of quantities 'or wealth. The farmers are worse off than al most any other class, but their suffering reduces the cost of living to their fellow citizens, and is a mainstay of our export trade. Within a year over a billion dollars' worth of farmers' produce has gone abroad, more than in any other year. There is no such alleviation of the depres sion in the sixth of our industries, construction. The Bulletin of the General Contractors' asso ciation has assembled corporation income tax returns to show that its gross income is about two billions. The United States Chamber of Commerce's committee on statistics, on a wider survey, claims that the construction industry has produced more than seventy-seven billions of the national wealth, not far from 25 per cent of the total. The construction workers and their families total eleven millions, and half of the new security issues, over two billions, are allocated to the construction field. Although it is not possible to concede precision for these es timates, authoritative though they are. the fig ures are worth attention because this industry is both one of the most depressed and the one which promises most hope of revival. Building is but one item in the construction industry, and a committee of the engineering council says that there is a half billion of wages lost through unemployment among 3,000,000 building workers. The loss of this consuming power is felt in all directions, and the unem ployed are a burden on the community. They have allowed themselves to be exploited by their own leaders, and have themselves been active in the most destructive of all wastes, that of re striction of production by combinations prej udicial alike to the general interests and to themselves. t Every house renter knows what the depression in the building industry means to him. Building stopped in the early stages of the war, and is only just now reviving. Every year a million men reach marriageable age and most of them need homes for two. It is mod erate to say that the country is short a million homes. That .is but one item in the estimate that the construction industry now needs twenty-five billions of dollars for work essential to the national comfort. The bill of particulars which makes up this huge sum includes a billion for each of the war years for the railways, rather more than for housing. Public utilities need several billions for construction. The hydro-electric development of the country stopped when the government lands were withdrawn from use, and billions will flow into it when the industry is opened to construction. Applications for two billions are now before the federal power commission. The country's need for these things is almost as real as the needs of the unemployed for wages. Sooner or later these needs will come together, and good times are then due. They are hardly due before because the construction industry is the one which employs the margin of work and capital which makes the difference between good and bad times. Times are never good when the country is just living along, meeting only its daily needs. Hope revives with the revival of the forward-looking construction industry. That explains the much used and abused word "constructive" in praise of policies for livening our politics and economics. This is the direc tion in which potential bank credits can best be used. Diversion of them to sustaining prices of investments in existing industries lends cheer to the security markets, but does nothing toward the consumtion of materials or enlargement of the wage fund. Constructive credits for the construction industry contains more cheer than a stock market boom. Consuls, New Style The little address which Secretary Hughes made last week to a group of beginners in the consular service is a reminder of good old days better forgotten. He congratulated them on having won their appointments by merit 1 Did no old-fashioned spoilsman turn in his grave? The secretary also dwelt upon their duties to be, above all, accurate in their official reports, to be courteous to all with whom they had so cial or business contact, and to avoid when abroad a flamboyant, boastful or bombastic at titude. These must seem hard sayings for those bred in the old school. They used proudly to main tain that we had the "best consular service on earth," at a time when it was in reality steeped in politics and top-heavy with incompetence. If a consul had then been told that he was not sent abroad in order to swagger for his country, he would have thought the foundations of the government were, quaking. And the idea of his having anything to do with "merit" would have been a big joke to him. He and his senator would have gone off and had a good laugh over it. The new type of consul has arrived, and all concerned are the better for it. The reform is not purely a product of political virtue. It has been forced upon the United States by compe tition with other nations. We have been, as the man with a crooked reputation said about his reformation, "straightened" by circumstances. Our consular service could not begin to hold its own with others, in benefiting commerce, unless it was purified and toned up, as it now has been to a gratifying degree. New York Times. Great Change in Hotel Plans. The advocacy at the hotel men's convention in Chicago of "a return to the American plan" is a development of equal interest to proprie tors and patrons. . . . Perhaps American hotel keepers will some day try the French and Italian plan of making the pension rate for meals so low and the cooking so good as to "keep guests in the hotel." The method works well in Europe and ought to work well here. New York World. We Descended From Cats. John M. Tyler, professor emeritus of bio logy of Amherst college, has been looking into our beginnings and he thinks that in appearance and structure the cats were much better justi fied than the apes in aspiring to bipedic pre eminence, and that on form they should have won the future and made certain the ultimate holding of all meetings of art and learning on the back fence. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Says She Can't Shimmy. Japan thinks she will be delighted to come to President Harding's party, but first wants to know which of the modern dances will be al lowed; because she simply knows that some of them make her look too foolish. Chicago Eve ning Post. "Carry On." It Is in a time like this that the man with the grit calls the order to advance and leads the way. The triflers and the weaklings lounge in the loafing places and cuss the government. Houston Post. Gay City 150 Miles Long. How many years will it be before the whole Jersey coast, from Cape May to the Atlantic Highlands becomes one continuous city? New York Herald How to Keep Well By OR. W. A. EVANS Question concerning byglon. sanita tion and prevention of diaeaae, sub mitted to Dr. Evan by readera of Th Bee, will be anewored personally, subject to proper limitation, where a atamped, addreaaed envelop i n closed. Dr. Evan will not malt dlatnoal or proscribe for Individual diteaaea. Address letter In car of . Th Be. Copyright. 1921, by Dr. W. A. Evan. ANIMALS AND TUBERCULOSIS. Such progress Is being made In the control of human tuberculosis that there are those who think they can see the end of the fight. There are communities which can show a reduction of 60 per cent in the death rate from consumption sinco 1907. Perhaps the time has come for those who have succeeded so well with human' consumption to help out in the eradication of the disease in lower animals. There are three fairly well fixed types of the tubercle bacilli. One causes most of the consumption in human beings; the other is respon sible for consumption in cows, In hogs, and in children, and the third for consumption in birds. The human tubercle bacillus is re sponsible for most of the human tuberculosis, but does not cause tuberculosis ordinarily in other animals. The ovian tubercle bacillus is re sponsible for tuberculosis in birds, but does not cause tuberculosis in man or other mammals. Dr. E. C. Schroeder of the Depart ment of Agriculture thinks the bo vine bacillus Is the most important of the three. It causes all the tuberculosis in cows and in hogs and most of that in children. The hog gets all its tuberculosis from cows. The bacillus lives and multiplies in the hog, but it cannot bo transmitted to other animals. While the hog Is Infected by cows, it cannot Infect cows. If Dr. Schroeder is correct, we have taken more precautions to pre vent humans from being Infected from eating pork from tuberculous hogs than we need to have done. According to his view, the only importance of tuberculosis in hogs lies In demonstration of the preva lence of tuberculosis in dairy cows and in the economic waste it oc casions. About 60 per cent of the gland tuberculosis, 70 per cent of the ab dominal tuberculosis, and 25 per cent of the general tuberculosis in children is due to bovine tubercle bacilli. This bacillus multiplies in the human body; but it is not con veyed from infected children to other children, nor to hogs nor cows, says Schroeder. Practlcelly every case of tuber culosis in human subjects due to bovine tubercle bacilli must be charged to ultimate contact, in most cases through the Ingestion of dairy products between persons and tu berculous! cattle. The exact relation between the tuberculosis of childhood and that of adult life has not been settled. About tlio tiniin Trade. Omaha,' Aug. 1. To the Kdltor of The iWv: The action of the Na tional Grain Dealers' association at Cincinnati is the natural outcome of an effort on tho part of inexperi enced men to destroy a system of marketing grain that Is tho result of evolution through a period of over 75 years. The American sys tem is recognized throughout the world to be the best, the most eco nomical, in existence anywhere. Other peoples are copying in part, or wholly, the system evolved In the United States. The best minds in the country are coining to look at the effort now being made to de stroy tho present ctllclent marketing system as an effort on the part of certain persons to Introduce meas ures that are revolutionary (as dis tinguished from evolutionary) and whose basic principles are antago nistic to the theories of business and government that have placed the United States in its present position as the first in the world in point of wealth and independence. Experienced men in other lines of business are rejoiced to see the National Grain Dealers' association pick up the gauntlet thrown down, and prepare to defend their busi ness methods before the whole world. It is pointed out that the It may be that we will gain enough from controlling tuberculosis in chil dren to make it worth while for us to help out with bovine tuberculosis. Aside from that, why not help out because the farmer needs help? So large a proportion of his cows are tuberculous that he makes milk and butter at a disadvantage, and the loss from tuberculosis In hogs is enormous. More Exercise, Less Food. Mrs. H. V. H. writes: "Our boy, 11, Is 4 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 107 pounds. He seems to have too much blood. When he exercises the least bit in the hot weather he gets purple in the face and also gets a headache. "1. What should he weigh? "2. What should he eat? "3. Is there any treatment be sides .dieting that would benefit him? "4. Would the climate of Mon tana bo dangerous to him this sum mer?" REPLY. 1. A boy of that height and age should weigh 75 pounds. He is both tall for his age and considerably overweight. 2. He should eat less food, par ticularly bread, potatoes, and starchy and sweet foods in general. 3. Probably he needs no treat ment, except dieting. 4. No. If he will go there, drive hard, and eat less he may get down his weight. methods of the grain men in all de partments of the trade must bo clean and square or they would not readily defend their positions in such an open and public manner. Their former attitude of silence has been misconstrued into an acknow ledgment that something in the trude needed to be covered up, whereas the truth is that until re cently the trade failed to recognize the extent to which the injurious propaganda lias permeated tho country. The farmers have been lesors to an extent that is almost vnbeliovable, and agitators have in dustriously kept them brooding over those losses till many of them have heretofore failed to realize that these losses are paralleled in al most every other line of business and that the causes do not lie in the grain marketing methods, but In the world situation regarding credits, taxation, armaments and other kindred subjects. The business world is distinctly glad to see the action taken at Cin cinnati. It establishes their former confidence in the cleanness of the business methods in this most im portant department of the world's affairs. There is no other Una of business that is now so openly com petitive as the handling of grain. Every other line coal, lumber, ce ment, farm machinery, groceries, dry goods, and practically all man ufactured products have, In one or another department of their distri bution, some restrictions made by dealers all but grain. The pres ent attack on grain dealers seems tc be purely political. The farmers have many votes. Politicians are trying to corral the farmer vote to keep demagogues in office at the expense of the most economical marketing system the world ever knew. If it were not for the un interrupted working of our modern methods, grain prices would be dis tinctly lower than now and greater iluctuations would occur in the course of the year than occur now. J. II. WKIGHT. U . BUSINESS IS GOOD THANK YOU It Was Mauling Her Husband. New Tork society woman now in jans is saia to nave shot seven lions In Africa. She probably be came expert through handling social lions. Pittsburgh Gazette-Times. LV. Nicholas Oil Company 1 xrst Tt- a-mhirinrv JL1 ;UMl f f-y piano in (he world, vnur choice will DG 3t fiana provided you are in earnest' in your" examination and com parison of all he fine instruments on (he markef. Highest priced highest? praised Lowest Prices On Renewed Pianos Hallet & Davit, Rosewood. .$115 Kohler & Chase, Mahogany,. 140 Hobart M. Cable, Mahogany, . 225 Cable & Son, Walnut 195 Hale Sc. Co., Rosewood 65 Steger, Walnut 235 Smith & Barnes, Mahogany, 275 Nettow, Walnut 215 Harvard, Ebony 160 Everett, Ebony . 140 Buh & Lane, Walnut 295 Camp & Co., Walnut 235 Kimball, Oak 310 Kranich & Bach, Walnut . . 225 Brand New Player Pianos $395. $3.50 Per Week Pay for Same. 1513 Douglas St. The Ail and Music Store Why! President arding lira Jlakes 11 Joe ne "No more pitiable spectacle of complete legislative subserviency, of legislative truck ling, of legislative crawling upon the belly at the feet of a master and licking the boots of authority" has ever been seen by Senator Reed, of Missouri, so he says, than is pre sented by the Republican Senate majority. However much the people may approve Pres ident Harding's decision to assume more and more of active1 leadership, the Democrats in Congress, reports one of the newspaper correspondents, have made up their mind that he is not to be allowed to "get away with it," at least until they have shown up Republican inconsistency. Both Senators and Congressmen have denounced recent attempts at what they call "personal rule." President Harding's career as leader of his party really began with his address to the Senate which prevented the passage of the bonus bill, notes the Boston Transcript, (Rep.). In thus assuming active direction of the most important business before Congress, we read in the Brooklyn Eagle (Dem.), "He was but following Theodore Roosevelt and Wood row Wilson, who long ago discovered that the conception of the Presidency until recent ly held by Mr. Harding tends toward the paralysis of governmental business." When Mr. Harding took the place of Mr. Wilson on March 4th, writes the Washington corre spondent of the Seattle Times (Ind.), "there were people who believed he was a political jellyfish." But,. we read, "he has astonished the skeptics and delighted his friends by his bold ness and initiative first, in what he has done to insure a world conference on disarmament, and, secondly, in single-handedly tackling the bonus hornet's nest." "Let him take the helm!" cries the Boston Herald, one of the many Republican papers delighted to see the president taking the lead in the work of legislation. The leading article in THE LITERARY DIGEST this week, August 6th, describes with a world of detail the President's action in assuming the leadership of his party, pre senting, as it does, public opinion from all sections of the country as represented by editorials in leading newspapers. Other news-features in this number of THE DIGEST of interest and importance are: Railroad Aid Without New Taxes New Hope for the Disabled Veteran Lasker As a Lid-Lifter An Anglo-Yanko-Japanese Triangle Coming: The "Trollibus" Detection of False Handwriting George Washington in England Millions Starving in Lenine's Paradise of Atheism More Nurses Vs. Better Nursing Best of the Current Poetry Numerous Illustrations The Insurance Companies Present Their Side Illinois's Indicted Governor The New Menace to Sea Power France and England Fighting Into Harmony Austria's Republic "Carries On" Golf By Machinery Hindu Ancestry of Uncle Remus A German Slam At Our Literature The Necessity of Pistol-Toting Smuts,The"New Man" Out of Africa Topics of the Day Including Humorous Cartoons August 6th Number on Sale To-day News-dealers 10c $4.00 a Year FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY (Publishers of the Famous NEW Standard Dictionary). NEW YORK i