OUR AMERICAN LETTER

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XLV, Issue XLV, 23 November 1917, Page 1

OUR AMERICAN LETTER

"SOME" FARMTruly America is the land of tall things, and creation is being licked almost every day of the -calendar! Here is another proof of Uncle Sam's' proclivity for "going ahead." The most unique:form in the United States will be sown in wheat or lucerne this fall, it is announced from Denver, Colorado. This distinctive farm will be 45 miles long and 200 feet "wide, and will occupy the land which represents the right of way of the Denver' and Laramie railway, which was "junked" on September 1 by its owner. The " farm " will extend from Greeley, Colorado, to. Denver, arid will pass through, the -business sections of several small towns between the two. The railway, which lias never pud, was recently purchased at public auction by a dealer in defunct railway properties., The' rolling stock and tra-ck has been sold for : junk, and the right of way used® as a wheat or alfalfa field, unless the owner is restrained from " junking" the line by the' State Public Utilities Commission. • CHECKING SEDITION. .Renegade Irish and intriguing Teutons are still showing their heads in various parts of the United States. It is conclusively .evident that the \hand of the Kaiser is continuing to stir ,up furher trouble in Uncle Sam's domains-. These sons of Erin, who are always nursing some fancied grievance against Great Britain aud her Government, are easy prey as tools for the Kaiser's numerous representatives in America, ,and they are doing incalculable' harm by inciting opposition to the draft Jaw in the United States. They have shown their hand among the American -negro settlements, and have offered tempting inducements to the colored men to rise ixp in rebellion against the Washington- Administration.- The negroes have resented the bribery of the Teutons and their agents, and have placbd Uncle iSam oil their track. Daniel O'Connell, an Irish attorney of San Francisco, is again in the toils i'or having organised a small army of couspirators, consisting of Germans, Austrians, and disgruntled Irish, of the Pacific coast States, whose main object lias been to resist the draft operations, of raising America's new army for service in France. Indictments have been returned against O'Connell, Dr E. It. Hoffman, Rev. Louis Mengedoth, Herman B. Schmidt, David Smith, Louis Serbin, Carl Wacker, E". A. Benedict, Rev. Thomas Hawley. and Thomas Carey. A vigorous fight "was witnessed the San Francisco courts when their-bail was raised from 10,000dol to 25,000d01. Overt acts named in the indictment were the organisation of the "American Patriots,",' and the printing and circulation by O'Connell of a document headed "Legal Opinion anil Advice on the Conscription Law to American Pat-riots." The defendants are also alleged to have induced young men not to register, to refuse to submit to physical examination, to file false claims for exemption and to interfere generally with recruiting and enlistment. Professor Guj Broughton, of the University of California, and Carl Beals, a university stu dent, are among the indicted for refuiinj to submit to the operation of the Drat 'Act.

In some of the eastern cities resisted have, been sent to'gaol for terms varyinj from three to twelve months. It has beei discovered that 'doctors , have been em ployed to supply resisters -with " dope/' ii order to injure the eyesight, so as t escape the draft. In San Francisco alou over 1,000 refused to obey the order t present themselves before the draft tri bnnals, many hud registered twice, an hundreds had left town, and . were reporte to be "somewhere in America " i VY ashington authorities have announce their intention to stamp out all seditior and to imprison all draft. resisters, bu they admit it is frequently difficult t trace the dodgers from military duty. Lutheran churches of the United State appear to have been hotbeds, of seditio in more than one case. United State .Marshal Flynn. of Omaha. Nebraska, i'< ceived orders to take Rev. William G Ivrauleidis, pastor of the Lutheran Churc ' at Riverdale, Nebraska, to Fort Rile\ Kansas,.. for' internment during the wai • Jirauleidis had been in custody in tli Grand Island Gaol for several weeks o charges, of disloyal conduct. Efforts wei made by members of the Lutheran Churc to obtain his release, but the Governmei; decided to keep him under restraint. MILLIONAIRE AND CUPID *YERDIGJ The millionaire heartache which Honox May O'Brien, the "Wild Irish Rose," < County Clare, sustained when she w; jilted by John B. Manning, the aged Wa street broker, of New York, is as far fro: being soothed as ever. Last June tl value of lier heartache \yas reduced 1 225,000dol ; when a- Queen's County jui returned a verdict in Miss O'Brien's favi for this amount. Now Supreme Cbu Justice Cropsey : has further cut its vali down to' 125,0C0d01. It now looks as the fair Irish lass would have some, dii ctilty in collecting, even this amount, sin Martin > i. Littleton, counsel for Mannm announces that his client will " stai • pat," and will appeal the case rather th ' pay any such sum. This annouriceme •' came after a .series of conferences betwe J Miss O'Brien and her lawyer (Stephen » Baldwin 1. and between them and 1

Littleton. It has been learned: that the i reason-that Miss O'Brien is anxious to get 1 the matter settled, quickly is because she has secured- a properly vised passport to ' Ireland, and she wislied to ■ leave as 1 speedily as possible for Skibbereen, where 1 she will be among friends who love her. AMERICA'S HIGHEST-SALARIED MEN. ; -Judge; E. - H. Gary, of New York, the ' steel genius of the American nation in his role as chairman of the United States Steel Corporation, lias just paid a visit .tothe...Pacific coast States. He is the ' largest-salaried man who ever visited the Californian .metropolis/for.' it has always been the New York gossip that he receives 150,000d0l a year. \ Mr I'raok A; Vanderlip," president of the' National City Bank; 'Mi- Theodore P. Shonts, head of the street : railway, system,. both. of . New York, are said to be the two next highest-salaried men in America, each getting l(X),000dol a year. - Then come 14 or 15 other bigsalaried men in the .United States, including.. Judge Robert S., Lovett, chairman of the Union Pacificßoard; with 50,000d0l ; President E. P. Ripley, of 'the jSante Fe Railway, with 60,000dol; ; and President William Sprpule, of the Southern Pacific Railway, with 48,000d01. It was the late Mr J. Pierpont Morgan who picked out Judge GaTy for his chairman when he organised the, Steel Trust". In his famous /negotiation to that' end, Morgan* through - Gary, asked.-Andrew Carnegie what he would sell out his-interests in' steel plants for. Carnegie asked 300,000,000d01, thinking that it would not be accepted, as he had some time before offered to sell out to Mr'' Henry. C. Prick for £20,000,000. . As the story runs, Carnegie was flabbergasted when Gary, m his quiet inayj replied: "VVe will., accept your price." Mr Gary has never denied the truth of the following anecdote :—When : he and Morgan met Carnegie a year or two later in Loiiuoii, after the Steel Trust had already shown it was a big . success, " I think I ought to Have charged you another 100,000,000d0l for my steel plants, -Mr Morgan, in view of your steel combine's tremendous success," said Air Carnegie, with, a merry , twinkle in liis eye. : "We 11,.1 would have paid it," replied Mr > Morgan, Mr Carnegie's twinkle on the instant turned to a look of great > regret. ' " . ?...-" A NEAT REVENGE. ■ 1 The i famous Belgian cartoonist Louis ■ Raemaekers visited the United States re--1 cently, and the enterprising Hearst snapped > him up eagerly, employing him at a high " salary, to produce "snappy" cartoons for > the various Heai'st journals. But the alii-. - anee did not last long—for obvious rea--1 sons. The Belgian would not draw to 1 orders. The circumstance is thus referred to in a pro-German organ—the v 'New I Yorker Volks Zeiturig,' to wit—which is , not inclined to be satirical at the expense t of siich a valiant defender of German war 3 policy as W.R.H. has proved to be: As is well known, W. R% Heai'st has s acquired in - Raemaekers an artist who, i on account of' liis violent aiiti-German s cartoons, enjoys a great and partly welli- earned reputation. Now, Raemaekers's conception of the war by no means fits ta into the Hearstian papers, which are ') considered by the war party to be strongly pro-German; wherefore Hearst e is associated with the- company of Soil cialists, pacifists, and traitors. The e other day the artist, tied up by conh tracts, -revenged himself on his "boss" it by directing his drawings directly against Hearst's conceptions, thus insulting Hearst in. his own newspapers. •a This he did by supplying the front page )f of the 'Sunday American' with a cartoon; is drawn in Raemaekers's happiest vein, reII presenting Heaiist as a well-poisoner i en Just lovely, wasn't it? ' j® HOW SUFFRAGE HAS WORKED IN , CALIFORNIA. That woman; suffrage has been eminently , successful in California has been provet I by the replies to a referendum organise< i-ecently by the Political Science Commit g tee. of that State.- It was found that th women have not only filled satisfactpril; ce positions as school superintendents, ta: collectors, justices of the peace, • cit; II clerics, and similar offices, although up t the present no woman candidate ha come forward for State or Federal office p 1 but- they have been appointed to Stat .Y" boards and commissions, as electoral ofi " r cers, etc. Tlier-e is a unanimity of opinio

that "the women axe more conscientious than men, jnore careful of details, more faithful, and as a general rule they do not dabble in petty politics, as men do." On questions _ of moral reform the women's organisations—notably that fine organisation the Women's Board—have carried on powerful, educational campaigns, and have stimulated a teeih interest in the issuee submjtte'd to the popular votel : Though not' a great many women take -part..publicly in platform work, those who do aj*e capital tallieTS, and generally make convincing : ■speeches based on personal experience. ■ Women axe much more interested in political and social issues than they were in pre-suffrage days._ The report makes these exhilarating admissions':— ■ The effect .of suffrage on the home has been to make .women more respected iri their families and better teachers of their children. Men's interest in public matters has increased, because they are-not willing to be less intelligent "than the. women 'of the family. . . . The general attitude towards suffrage from all over .the State is one of approvaJ, . and the opinion) is universal that-, if the question of suffrage of women were to be voted on again, in California;, it would be. carried overwhelmingly. A NOTAUTiE CONVERT. Miss Kate Douglas Wigging the famous authoress, and one of Maine's best-known , daughters, has left the ranks of the " antis," and joined the forces that' are agitating for an amendment of the Federal Constitution for "granting full political privileges to all adult women. In announcing her decision she wrote: "The entire; new conditions that confront the women of to-day, the added activities and responsibilities that will inevitably fall to her lot—these arguments have convinced me that even if the vote should prove a burden to me personally, it is my plain duty to stand for equal suffrage." , r -MAYORALTY OF NEW / YORK. The election for the mayoralty of New York during the next four years has after all developed into a bitter partisan contest between "Tammany" (the standard of which is borne by Judge Hylan) and the present holder of the office, Mr J. F. Mitchell, who represents a fusion of Republican and Democratic interests that stand for clean, honest civic government. Air Mitchell has administered the affairs of New York City since the' death of _ Mayor Gaynor three and a-half years ago, and has shown himself to be a tactful, | energetic, and strong man. The way in . which he handled the civic functions , during the visits of the various missions in 1 August and September earned' for hiir general praise, and was in marked con--3 'trast to the exhibition the Mayor oi I Chicago made of himself. This fact is 7 largely responsible for the solid backing g behind Mayor -Mitchell, including as! ]1 e does' the endorsement of famous men like r Colonel Roosevelt, Governor Whitman Mr J. Pierpont Morgan, and ex-Senatoi B Elilm Root.- " Tammany"■ is importing the school question into the campaign, anc making the Gary plan, which has beer .-introduced into the Bronx district despite s ' fierce opposition, the basis of attack g They allege that the Gary system, is ar ■■ingenious device to keep the poor poorei by making industrial serfs of them foi j. the term of their natural lives; .in othei ■ words, that its products can never ris< higher in the social scale than to be over seers, without ever participating in th< „ huge profits made by the great corpora tions and industrial trusts of to-day. A: first, it was given out that W. R. Hearst ° of California, was the real pea under thi Democratic thimble: but though he wa nominated in regular form on th Democratic ticket, and had substantia "j backing, he promptly pulled out, thu giving the lie direct to the party wire pullers who asserted that "Boss' r Murphy, of Tammany, had been playin: a double game. There are other an lv minor "tickets" in the field, the straigh 2d out Republicans running ex-Senator Ber 5d nett, who is a past-master .in the art c it- political wire-pulling, a great platfori lie speaker,' artd has behind him all the dii ly gruntled , elements- of the City; and tli ax disaffected Irish-Americans putting fo tv ward Mr O'Leary, an ambitious lawy< to who has pronounced Sinn Fein sympathie ias So'that in what is to be a tliree-cornere :e. fight Hylan, \polling a solid, compac ite Democratic vote, may step in between tl ffi- other pair. The election takes place i on November.

•As anticipated, Judge , Hyfan was elected. A RIFT WITHIN" THE LUTE. , the President wrote a letter on the eve of the suffrage referendum in the State of Maine strongly counselling tha electors .to support the reform, it was turned down by\ a 2 to 1-majority. How far the picketing of the White House tactics influenced the result it is difficult to. say, ■ but it may be taken for granted that conservative. Maine is dead against militancy in any. shape or form; As an outcome;of this set-back Mr-D. F. Malone lias resigned the lucrative post of Collector of Customs at, New York; as a protest against the shilly-shally policy of the President in declining, to assist the women in gaining what is known as the Anthony amendment to the ponstitution. In handing. in 'his resignation to the President. Mr Malone wrote': .' . '. ■ - Last autumn,, as the representative c of. your Administration, I went into the woman suffrage: States-to urge your reelection. The ; most difficult argument to meet among the seven million wranen oters. was. the failure of the Democratic pa^'ty,:-throughout four years of power, ■to pass the Federal suffrage amendment looking toward the enfranchisement of all the women of the country. Throughout those States, and particularly. in California, which ultimately decided the election by the votes of women, the women voters were ilrged to support you, even though Judge Hughes had already declared for the Federal suffrage amendment, because you ' and .your party, , through liberal leadership, were more likely nationally to enfranchise the rest-of the women of I the country than were your opponents. : | And if the women of-the West voted to re-elect you-I promised them I would spend all ;ny energy, at any sacrifice to myself,. to. get the present Democratic Administration: to pass the Federal suf- • frage amendment. But the present: policy bf the Administration, -in permitting splendid . American , women ,to be sent to jail in Washington—not for • carrying offensive banners nor for picketing, but on the ■. technical , charge of obstructing traffic—is ' a , denial even of their constitutional ■■■• •right?:,to; petition for and demand the . passage ,of the Federal suffrage amendment. It. therefore now becomes my profound obligation actively to keep my •promise to the women of the West. • • ._ Mr- Malone, who will resume the practice of his profession as a lawyer, will throw himself heart and soul into the fight . for political .equality, and is certain to command a large . following, especially of those who admire a "man who has the courage : of- his convictions to prefer principle to ; place. - New York passes judgment, in. November, on the suffrage question, and as: 500,000 adherents to the cause have : been gained since the Presidential .Election it is a sure thing that > . the women-will win this time. [This pre- v ; diction has been verified.—lid. E.S.I ODDMENTS. A Washington official who has been the reports made by ' German diplomatic representatives . to tiheir Government , before the, declaration of war j furnishes, a funny ;extract from one of -■ • them : " The; Americans are very rough. It you call one of tbem a liar he 'does * not argue the matter after -the manner • .of a German ; gentleman, but brutally kr.ocks you down. , .I.Tie Americans have • abfcolutely no kultur." Cliadie-Ohaplin, comedian, found vindication with the British Embassy in Washington for the indictment as a slacker bi ought-by. Lord Nortlicliffe in one of his London, publications. Chaplin declared he is ready for. the trenches when called. " There, are various ways for one to do one's fliare," the Embassy stated. "Cer- A tainly the man who subscribes liberally io War Loans and the "Red Gross should not : be said to be a slacker." Chaplin has done botli, and his contributions have gone - well into six figures. In New York two veterans of. the Mexi-, can Wax, both over 90 years old, hav3 : ; a , "presented themselves for enlistment in the United States army! ~ .i , ■■■?■