Newspapers / Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.) / Sept. 21, 1913, edition 1 / Page 15
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THE SUNDAY CITIZEN, SEPTEMBER Li, 1913. SHALL CITYFUL OF Of hi ANNUALLY Records Show Total of Over 7,000 Mysterious Disap v ' fpearances Every Year. HQ TIM SULLIVAN IS FAIR EXAMPLE ante dally tttuAuM at each Is con verstive!y estimated at 100, making a total attendance of TIO.000 daily or 111,100,000 annually. Tfte average admission of I cent, yields an Income of 117,000 a day or 121,000,000 a year. At least five employes are re quired to run the smallest of these playhouses, and the average number may be safely set at eight making total of about 10,000 employes.. These earn approximately 120,000 per day about 17,000.000 for the year. And filch tide has by no means been reached. ' , . Gotham Schools to Begin Training School Girls to Become Housewives. NEW YORK, Sept. 10. That "Big Tm" Sullivan, known by sight to more than any other of the city's 4, 600,000 residents, could walk out of his house and disappear even for a short time wltnout leaving a trace of his whereabouts calls attention anew to the. fact that this is the easiest place on the continent In which to lose one's self. According to the re cords, and estimates of police au thorities, an average of about 20 per tons disappear mysteriously every day In the metropolis and no expla nation is ever forthcoming as to what becomes of them. In the course lot a year therefore the "lost" popu latlon of New York amounts to over 7.000, or enough to fill a good sized town. The largest single class of those who voluntarily disappear In the city's maelstrom la made up of men who desert their wives. . A very much smaller number of wives similarly , desert their , husband. Others, find this 'a onvienlent way of avoiding their creditors or escaping the natural results of acta of dishon esty or petty crime. A large portion both men and women, have dropped Into it. from some higher stratum of society, changing their names and thus losing their Identity en route. In a city where every family moves on an average of once in two years and a vast number change their resi dences every few months. It is natu rally easy to drop out of sight and the records show that an astonishing ly large number of persons do so ef fectually every year. f A world's record In road-making in probably involved In the paving of Fifth Avenue's eight busiest blocks from 84th Street to 4 2d Street in fifteen days. These eight blocks com prise 13,600 Square yards, requiring over . z.uvv ions or aspnait,. Desiaes other heavy materials. The old as phalt, laid in 1137, la considered to have worn bftter than any piece of road-making In engineering history. When ripped up it was found to have worn In some places from a thickness of two inches to a quarter of : an inch, and the quarter-Inch presented as smooth and unbroken a surface as new road. Repaying was restored to only because cheaper In the long run , than patching. 8o many .concrete foundations have been put on Fifth Aveune that the base of Ita pave ment is now from 9 Inches to 20 Inches thick and there Is the prospect of having to blast when necessary to mend gas or water leak, for as yet there has been found no better meth- . od of making such repairs than by gashing a fine pavement. A 'homecraft' , course has been In troduced Into one of New York's high schools for girls, which' is cal culated to qualify the young women to spend their husband's Incomes to the very best advantage. This course was suggested to the princi pal by the reflection that 15 per cent Of the pupils will marry and that ipecial training for . this vocation la most important. Accordingly, the graduate of this school will be able, not only to converse Intelligently on literature, ancient history and the 'newest developments in woman suf rage, to appreciate muslo and art, and 'be more or less familiar with French and German as might be ex pected, but also to cook a dinner, furnish her home comfortably, artis tically and economically, keep It free from germs, trim her oVn hats, make her own clothes, keep an account book that will come out straight at the end of the month, and play her part In social service. This strictly practical course includes domestic science, domestic artlbology, hygiene, applied physics, household chemistry, household arithmetic, physical train ing and the general management of a home. It ranges from millinery to the fundamentals of legal procedure and will fit the non-marrying 15 per cent to make their living as up-to-date housekeepers, fnr which the de mand is greater than the supply. , Buncoing the buncoes is an art that probably has reached Its high est development here. A man of boyish appearance registered at a ho tel a short time ago and Inserted want advertisements for a number of saleu managers for a large western con cern at alluring salaries and liberal expense allowances a cash deposit of ten dollars being required to cover cost of samples. There were many nibbles and not a few bit hard and were caught before there .called one representing himself as a deputy from the sheriffs office in police headquarters. He lost no time In showing his knowledge of the young man's game and frightening him into giving up the ill-gotten ten spots, the first sharper not stopping to reflect,, apparently, that the sheriffs office Is not located at police headquarters. Now the police are holding the bun coed buncoer and are endeavoring to locate the alleged deputy aherlff. The rapid and tremenduous growth of the "movie" erase and tie busi ness operations that foster and thrive upon It appears little short of mar velous when reduced to figures. In ?ftw Tum my thwrure' iimie thatu 1,800 moving picture shows. t Jtfe.av-i PliAYS OF STAGE LIFE. (By Minnie Maddern Fl.ke.) Since the age of three I have been engaged actively In theatre work, and I have yet to see the lit of the theatre presented truthfully in a play; at least, its life as I have known It. The actors and actresses la plays are, for the most part, strange, unrecog nizable creatures conventional pup pets of a disingenuous Intention. The dramatists who' whittle them out know that there Is nothing represen tative in them. So do the producers who place them on view. They must laugh in their sleeves at the ease with which these threadbare speci mens from the old bag of tricks de ceive the public that ought by now to be sophisticated sufficiently to rec ognise their real character. But it is not this aspect of the mat ter that is Its worst. Usually dramat ic authors In plays of this description befoul their own nests. , They do not hesitate to draw large revenues from works that traduce and disgrace the allied actor's calling upon whose ser vice they must depend. Dramatto authors and theatrical producers have been willing to reap pecuniary har vests from plays that vilify the stage, projecting Its people as wantons or worse, and giving it a fictitious at mosphere of vulgar Immorality! This has always seemed to me a low and dastardly thing to do. . There can be little question that it is base for au thors and producers to seize upon and exploit for money the occasional unsavory features of certain spots in the theatre and place them before the publio as representative of theater life in general. Doubtless there are unsavory things connected with the stage in a sporadic way, but many of us who have passed our lives In the theater have never come In contact with them. In '"What the People Want" Mr.-Arwld Bennett has approached more nearly a picture of theatre life as we know it than any other play-writer; but the real play of the theater and of . Its actual people is yet to be written. On the other hand, the most dis tinguished of 'English dramatists has recently given us a play that depicts the vulgarest attributes of a certain department of theatrical entertain ment It la regrettable that this writ er did not employ the' better ma terial at hand of which he had ample knowledge. He has had a long ex perience of the theater, both as actor and writer; he has won a high place In the estimation both of the public and of his own profession; and he has made a fortune through the me dium of the stAge. A play from his pen dealing with the -real life of Its followers would have come as from one having authority. Instead, he chose to compose a play that reveals an alleged phase of life with which we actors are utterly unfamiliar He shows us only a group of hopelessly vulgar, stupid, silly, impossible per sons living a ridiculous existence. It is all quite strange to us of4he real theater. And one has a strong feel ing, in witnessing this play, that, strange as It Is, the author has striven successfully to make It even 'more re pulsive and obnoxious than even the slightest excuse of basic fact would warrant. The theater is not sustained by Its weak elements. In all times it has been pillared by solid men and women. PENSIONS GROW "BANANAS AND DIPIXTMAOY". Figures show that the world is Just awakening to the value of the banana as food. If the present de velopment continues the acreage de voted to banana growing must rapid ly IncreaseL Thl can be easily done, for the areas suitable have as yet only been touched. Improved refrig eration and quick steam service will continue to widen the area in which the product can be marketed, and be sides its present use as a fruit it will bo used as It now is in the tropics, where it Is boiled green as a vegeta ble and manufactured into a confec tion known as banana figs. The de velopment of the banana flour tndus try also promises to open a market for the product of areas too distant to profit by the demand for fresh fruit, Just as the perfection of the manufacture of copra, the dried meat of the cocoanut, aha opened up a new Industry reaching to the farthest Islands of the Pacific. The increased production of the banana In its natural state and the diversification of Its uses promise to introduce a new and hitherto neglect ed factor in our food Bupply. If the present development continues,' It will raise the Caribbean region from its dependence on foreign markets for food to one of the regions from which an Important part of the world's food-supply will be drawn. The wheat-fields of the Dakota and Manitoba will meet as one of their competitors in feeding the world, tha banana plantations of the American Mediterranean An Immedi ate consequence of the development of the direct trade with Europe now just beginning to threaten the Su premacy of the United States In some of the Central American markets. People buy, their goods, other things being equal, in the countries where their own products find their beet sale. If Improved transportation fa cilities for the banana trade developed between the Caribbean and European ports. It Is but natural that European manufactured goods will be carried on the return voyage. One of the moBt Important, and from our past experience, let us remember, on of the most delicate problems with which our men of state have to deal, Is the diplomacy of the Caribbean. Chester Lloyd James, In the August rumber of The North American Review. New Jersey man weighing 200 pmrndr nlvwlr dying ef periletent-a-taclt pt hiccough. ALTHOUGH IIS ARE DYING FAST List of Pensioners Decreases Each Year, But Amount Continues to Grow. SHERWOOD LAW IS CAUSE OF INCREASE $180,000,000 to Be Used In 1913 and $185,000,000 In 1914. WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 Although it is estimated that 10 of Uncle Sam's pensioners die every day1, or approx imately .30.800 every yeai there la a strong probability that the pension appropriation for the coming fiscal year beginning on July I. 1914, will be larger thm the amount appro priated for pensions tlRj present year. The pension bill this year carried about 2180.000,000 not including 1 1 &. 000,000 item In the general deficien cy bill which was passed In the clos ing hours ot the last congress. Death keeps thinning the lists of names ou the pension roll each-year, but some how or other the amount of money that the government has to expend keeps on getting larger, and experts are ot the' belief that the pension list will not show an appreciable de crease In the amount of money paid out for several yeaxs to come. Much ot the present increase Is due to the act of May, 191J, which provided, roughly speaking, a dollar a day for veterans of the Crvtl war. This is the state of affairs that the government Is confronted with fifty years after the dose ot the Civil war. There is a possibility that next year may prove the high water mark In pension appropriations, provided, of course, that congress does not enact some new legislation which will In crease, the size of the average pen sion paid out. $180,500,000 This Year. The last fiscal year the pension budget was 1164,500,000. This year It was $180,500,000. Next year It may reach the grand total of $185, 000,000. During the fiscal year of 1912, when the appropriation was $164,1)00,000, the Sherwood law, that Is the act of 1912. had not begun to operate. Hence the effects of the Sherwood law were not fully felt until the present year. It Is quite probable that the estimates for the present fiscal year '-"nay de velop the fact that the legislators quite underestimated the cost" of the Sherwood law and a fuller flnanlcal Idea of the effects of the law will te had the coming; fiscal year. The net decrease to the roll last year was $1,804. The number of pen sioners dropped account of death and other causes was 65,115, but there were added to the roll 23,311 new claims. "Claims"' is the technical term applied by the experts to new pensioners who have successfully met the requirements of the govern ment to be placed on the roll and draw an annual benefit from the United States treasury. For some reason or other the leas es to. the pension roll by death in re cent, year have shown but little dif ference, although theoretically, deaths of veterans on account of their ad vancing age would seem to lead to the conclusion that the loss by death would show big Increase from year to year. JThe average annual value off pen sions during the last fiscal year was $176.15 as against an annual aver age the year before of $173.56, but the average annual value of pensions paid to survivors of the Civil war is estimated 'to be 197.09. The Sher wood law increased this annual aver age about, $72 a year. The total number of civil war vet erans who expetced Increases in their pensions by reason of the enactment of the Sherwood law was estimated to be 430,000. As yet it is Impossible to tell whether all of these will benefit through the law, because all the claims have not been adjiufltacted and pension officials can not tell how many of these claims will be allowed and how many rejected. From the progress thus far made disposing of these applications for increases, it is predicted that nearly all of these old soldiers will receive an increase. This means somewhere in the neighborhood of 400,000 ultimately will get $72 a year mora than they have already been receiving. Of course, many of they already are drawing the addi tional $72 a yean The Sherwood law iprovides a grad uated scale of pensions for pensioners acocrding to their age, and It la neces sary for the pension officials to have some proof of a man's age before they admit him to the class of pen sioners defined by certain age limits. This has given rise to a serious dif ficulty. Many boys enlisted In the Union army during the civil war, giv ing fictitious ages. In a great manv cases, boys of 15 and 16 who could shoulder a musket gave their ages as 18 or 21. When an application for a pension is made, many veterans pro duce their enlistment papers as proof of their, age, but the Tension officials "'" auempt to prove their exact age by investigating the records to determine the date of their birth. Some difficulty ihas (been experlenc ed wit hthe Sherwood law on account of the Inability of the government to ascertain when a pensioner dies. Un der the law, postmasters are prohib ited from delivering pension checks when they know that the pensioner Is dead, and besides, pension checks have to be indorsed by two citizens of the community where the pensioner re sides. Despite this precaution, pension officials kndw that payment are should have been, stunned, fer. death Kemiwoirl ami Taxes Old Kenilworth, England, is just five miles from Coventry. . Coventry is a place made historic, when a village, by Lady Godiva's ride. This beautiful aristocratic woman, on a milk white horse, rode through the streets in a perfectly nude condition, her only protection being her luxuriant hair, which fell loo'sely over her. She did this on a wager, "as- a ransom for the villagers, who had become tax-ridden well nigh to extermination. Only one person in the village dared to peep. He was struck bliid by a resentful Providence, and history put a tag upon him as "Peeping Tom" of Coventry. Lady Godiva has been immortalized by brush and pen. But the greatest honor was done her by the. villagers themselves, who made the anniversary of her act a day of public rejoicing, and kept up its observance for nearly a thousand years. The world has moved forward from those feudal times, but the matter of taxes is one which is still constantly before us. . The tend ency toward higher taxation is marked decidedly marked. Few cities, if any, are lowering their tax rate, or decreasing their public debt. Kenllvvorlh Has No Cily Taxes It has all city conveniences, without city taxes.- Being a sepa rate municipality, it is not within city jurisdiction. The State, and County tax is all you pay and this, amounts to only 90 cents on the hundred dollars. While on the subject of separate municipality, it is in order to v emphasize another advantage of living in Kenilworth : you have a part in the affairs of the. young municipality more interesting than that of a mere voter. This say-so. inspires municipal pride, and a home pride keener than one generally experiences in becoming a resident of a ready-made city. " Now, Listen to Me! You can buy a high, level, woodland lot, overlooking the Swan- , nanoa river, the Vanderbilt estate, and the French Broad Valley, at $700 to $1,000. The same lot in othe localities, with the public improvements, would cost you $25 or $30 a front foot. This difference would buy yourself an automobile. Not a "benzine box," but a beautiful 5-passenger touring car, brand new. The difference in taxes would keep you in gasoline. Now put that proposition J: Up to Your Wife present, or prospective, and ask her which she had rather have: A "house and lot"' in town, or a beautiful home and an automobile in Kenilworth. Now, a person who would follow a wagon all day to see the rear wheels catch up with the front ones, could easily guess h her answer. Then Get Busy-and Remember That the lot you buy in Kenilworth has all public improvements: Asheville city water, sewers, telephones, electric lights and Asheville ' and Biltmore deliveries. That Kenilworth's Location, right between Asheville and Bilt more, within sound of the city automobiles and street cars, makes-it -convenient to everything. 1 It's beautiful drives make the scenic thoroughfare between Ash ville and Biltmore, and keep you in touch with the moving throng. Be sure to look over Kenilworth, after you have seen everything else around Asheville. For plats, terms, and further information, call at office on grounds, or phone 2115, or address dl Develop ment C Asfiieville, N. C. J i
Asheville Citizen (Asheville, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Sept. 21, 1913, edition 1
15
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