J - - U k t W H J PI L'li mi . . . i. I ..Br 7fl V L.I PC J V I f P 3 n msmhk .fc s i v i m m i m 61 fi w it ii ii ii ii ii i i-a i -A w n& v' i i UUlni I -L3 M M A x J ri fci A fi S I II J VI U 1.1 1 1 .111 j I VJ I MI . WW I . . I I " y I i lTA A INII J 1 j tL,Ul 1 ivJJSJ j . AND EVENING CHRONICLE I -J"GREATER CHARLOTTE'S HOME NEWSPAPER" I SECTI0N i v CHARLOTTE, N. C, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 18, 1921. iviomento Week By La i Decisions To IB I I11S 4 I ! ; i O HOUSE-CLEANING IN 3. v i U RLOUL 1 rtlUMAKBUCK HIGH JUST 1 Sfi Is Rotten Press Stuff for Arbuckle, But it Will Not Hurt the Game. OWN CODE OF MORALS. 1 Tragedy is Not Expected to Put Damper on Parties of Wild Night Life. DISRESPECT" FOR LAW. Many Stars Have Displayed Their Utter Disrespect for Morals and Laws. : BY SAMUEL WHITE. j tnff C orrespondent of The Xews, ? Copyright. 1U21. hv Av ishinc Co. Los Angeles. Sept. 17. What is the inion of the Los Angeles 'film cot- :.y ' ct" the Arbuckle case? I In the characteristic language of that :;ony, craving always for newspaper notoriety, it is 'rotten press stuff for I vrbuckle" but won't "hurt the gams," i The "film colony," a very distinct 1 grouping of the Los Angeles popua- ;,on. having its headquarters at Holl- wood, is gradually returning to what it happily assumes to be normalcy aftsr I the 'typhoon kicked up by the tragic 1 titcome of the notorious Labor Day 3 'arty staged by Roscoe Arbuckle at i ;h-? Hotel St. Francis in San Francisco, i Vv'hen the big news of the Arbuckle I began to break in San Francisco, ! i.ews that threw open the columns of I the newspapers of the land to easy !n j vasion, there was a stampede in tho colony. Female members, from star i to extra girl, with ever ready photo- graphs and statements more flimsy than their costumes, led the rush to ' tell the world' what they did or didn t j cure to take anything he did seriouSiy ? All this was good press stuff until , the newspapers tired of it and closed , the gates of their columns to the oe .-iesinc army and then, personal equa ; tion ehmin ued, they began to study the - matter from their own outlook their ; jwn luruliar angle with the virtually . unanimous conclusion as stated that, while "rotten press stuff" for Arbuckle, it won't hurt the game, and that's the end of it. WILL CAUSE CHANGE. Will it change the way of life of the members of the film colony in HolH-- : .cood'.' Put a damper on their "parties?" I '.ring them to a greater repect for he laws of the land? In about tlv; -nine ratio that a storm, at sea makes :he salt waters fresh. Will the Arbuckle scandal result ?n Imusp-rlea nine- amnnir the studios Vj rind fling out as undesirable the no f ! rious offenders against the morals and ' f andards of conduct common to the i v --ople of the country? In about the i I .-tine measure as the revival of some f i j : rsonal opinion expressed by George "J ill concerning George Washington I v.-...i.;!d affect the value of the dollar bill 1 1 i V I'.isc it bears a likeness of Wasn- a. This is because the human elements th it enter into the private and pub'ic i . (A the actors for the screen are c. unchangeable as the sea, and that the motion picture actor is literally ou-f-a;vd and exploited upon his or he-: i nir- viihip. urxi as ions: as mat vauie holds good, the "business men" njw in control of the motion picture in dustry are not going to throw zha monkey wrench of a moral standard ", I into the machinery that is grinding ! i.ut profits that pour millions of dollars annually into their pockets, f I It is a fact that the film colony of f Hollywood, or more particularly that or 1 i it made up of actors lor the screen, !:ve under separate code of morals ar.ii conduct and are a law unto themselves. It is, broadly speaking, the mounting t several thousand beggars in motor (ars and setting them out under moo rule. There are exceptions, of course. ? ut their number is few among le-i-ton. THEIR STOCK ALIBI. The stock alibi when one ia cal.'t : 'o use by exposure of one flagrant violation of the moral code as affecti-t the lives of those of the film colony, i that the newspapers elevate sm.ie ottra girl. The Attorney General of Nevada h-.i read upon the official records th.it -j ry Pickford's- divorce was a shamn ; 1 conspiracy to make a mockery of ' laws of that State. The CharUe Chaplin-Mildred Harris divorce, as the ' vets leak out, was ordained by col'u n on the part of the principals sucn to show utter disrespect of the A few days ago a prisoner in a 1c d court happened to make the re-...-11 k that he was the husband of May Allison, one of the few young women u s of the film who could, with seem J confidence, make the boast that "h- had never been snared into ma-'i-hriony. Miss Allison confronted the - hsh prisoner, announced prourl.y had never seen him before in her hut at the same time coyly ad- ""1 to two marriages within the ! - two years one of them annulled. 'lioria Swanson announces today that, ' i some unknown reason, she has been rt'-d by her husbind and is thorugh 'n matrimony for lif. Al Semnacher in mk-r of the Arbuck'o party and manuger of Virginia Kappe, victim ' that party, appears today in the " here seeking a divorce from a. ' i ' li' cause she. was too cold to him". 1 JJeverly Payne she whoso affair ' Prances X- Bushman was tne '- of one of the first sensational M-r-s that shed Lt?ht upon the pri-livc-s of the actors o.l tho screen, . tlio safe distanc3 of Portland, nurls bitter anathema against the C"; :j I !" morals and ways of life of mem-P'-r-, of the Hollvwood film colony. AIJISL'CKLE CASE TYPICAL 'A' bile Arbuckle ros to greater prom ' ' nee .-aid had a greater earning capa l'''y than many other members of the e, ,'"hi colony, n.s case is typical rather tho, exceptional tmong its members. '' f v years ao a porter in a barroom a few days ago. by reasons of 1 fat and a trick cf making laces and Uking funny falls, a star of the pictures HAPPENED TO I ji Miss Virginia Rappe. This informal (as the movie press agents say) photo of Virginia Rappe was taken a short time ago while she was appearing in a film comedy. It is in connection with her death following a wild party in "Fatty" Arbuckle's rooms in a San Francisco hotel that Arbuckle is now held on a charge of murder. SPIRIT OF THRIFT NOT NOTICEABLE Average American, House wife is a Spendthrift, Wide Probe Reveals. By RALPH BURTON. Staff Correspondent of The'TVcTs. Copyright,, 15)21, by 'cw .l'ublisthtns Co. Washington, Sept. 17. Is the aver age American housewife a spendthrift? Government agents, today are studying this perplexing question. Their duty is based on the fact that war's effects have stimulated greatly the progress of the co-operative move ment abroad, but although prices have gone high in the United States and despite lowered wages, are continuing to rise after some recession, so that living costs have proved a .problem for wage earners, efforts to promote co operative enterprises have not been very sucessful. A careful study of co operation in the United States, just completed for the University of Illi nois, gives the lack of a spirit of thrift among American housewives as among the principal causes for the failure of co-operative and rjace prejudice as another. The family man, whose income did not increase between 1914 and 191S. was, as the Department of Agricul ture points out in an analysis the price changes, in a. bad way. Everything hp needed and all the things his wife ajad children thought they ought to have became so costly that a new system of living had to be adopted. Millions probably reduced the amount of meat in their diet. There was a definite low ering Of the standard of living and a large number have not yet gone back to the old schedule. CIVIL WAR PARALLEL What happened during the war was only art intensified manifestation of wht hopn jmina- on for two or three decades, acording to some highly interesting figures just worked out in an investigation by Prof. Paul H. Doug las, of the University of Chicago, which showed that the purchasing power of -wages have decjined fairly steadily since the ninties. But the war, has been the great price change Anything whose wholesale price did not double during the war looked upon as cheap, and the Department of Agrip culture now reaches, independently, much the same conclusion that was reached by the. Federal Trade Commis sion during; the war namely, that the course of prices in the World war was much the same as that in the Civil war. If the parallel continues, we may expect never to return to the 1914 price level, but, since, in 1873, prices had gone back to about the IS 63 level, in 1926 we may have prices at about where they were in 1916. And this will be ' the next price level for the new normal condition. Economic pressure which reduces the standard of living is the great promot er of co-operation and even in the United States co-operatives increased in number and influence during the war. There is even now a national organ ization of co-operatives. But they are not very powerful yet, and apparently in the view of the University of Illi nois investigators, are not likely to be come so in the near future. CO-OPERATION DIFFICULT "Absence of a spirit of thrift among the common people" is blamed for the failure of co-operatves in the United .(Continued on Page SU.) HOLLYWOOD .KSr.ANi)Al . END BADLY IS GREAT STRIDE FOR DEMOCRACY Consummation of Court of Justice Great Stride For ward for World. BY GEORGE X. BARNES, British Parliamentary Leader. Staff Correspondent of The 2Vevs. Special Wireless Dispwieh to The New Copyright, 12J, by Sews Publishing? Co London, Sept. 17 The second assem bly of the Ltague of Nations has for nearly a fortnight beei reviewing a world plagued with national and class egotism. The war gave these birth or expression, but peace has pandered to them and is being confounded by them. , Most 'of the new States since th peace - of Paris have been busily on gaged in removing their ' neighbor's landmarks, and insurgents in all . of the States have in turn been explosive with" exaggerated ideas of the impor tance of small things. Particularism, a cursf of the world, is none the less dangerous and detestable because mas querading under the guise of class in terest or race vanity. Meanwhile, there is war in Anatolia, wrongful occupation of Vilna, starva tion in Austria and Russia, squabbling about Albania, while unemployed laoor is in poverty everywhere. Verily th assembled delegates at Ge neva, in viewing these things, mignt be disposed to give a gesture of despair, expressive, of the reflection "what fools these mortals be?" Instead of doing that, however, they have calmly leviewed the field with courage and discretion and with an ex pression of good will toward those who. although not in the league, yet display endeavors for the world's better guid ance Nothing could "have been in better taste than the speech M. Leon Bour- S geois made when he addressed the as sembly on behalf of and as ah officer of the council. Anxiety, he said, had been expressed about the United States, but he Yiad felt no- such anxiety. Tne League, he said, respected national ideas and rejoiced to find the United States, although not with . them yet, striving for the realization of the same ideas. M. Bourgeois added to an already great reputation by his courageous lead and wise counsel. Dr. Nansen, of Norway, also made a great impression by his eloquent an peal fpr national credits with whicn to fight the Russian famine, an ap peal which unhappily e has since been prejudiced by the alleged intention of a Bolshevist quarrel with Rumania, which, if carried to war, would mean the raiding of the Bessarabian corn bns. - ginavasa Hastri, an eloquent Indian, who recently has come rapidly to th front in public life, raised a very im portant point in regard to the alleged intention of the South African Govern ment to interpose a color bar in the mandated territory formerly known as German Southwest Africa. This, i1 done, he said, would put Indians as well as Japanese and other Oriental in a worse condition than was occupied by them under the Germans. Mr. Has tri raised a very delicate question of jurisdiction about which more will be heard anon. WIDESPREAD INTEREST. When it came to the election of judges to the International Court of (Continued on Page Six.) Reparations Burden May Mean Vast Increase in In dustrial Power. WILL BUILD HER UP. Final Payments Will See the Country Occupying Impregnable Height.. By GEORGE BERMIARD. Editor-in-chief of Vossische Zeitung. Berlin (Copyright, 1921, by the United Press.) Berlin. Sept. 17. oermany has awak ened to the fact that, once having paid her reparations, she will stand upon an unconquerable height in the mat ter of industrial technique. The conquered Germany will then have reached the utmost possible in economic capabality. And all because the highly impossible has been de manded from Germany under pressure and under threats of penalties. The "young Germany" of todav is beginning gradually to comprehend the whole extent of the reparation problem. after an initial discouragement over the gigantic figures fal.sel considered outside as a lack of willingness to ful fill the terms the young blood in busi ness, industry and politics has aroused itself to a positive will. The last speeches of the chancellor reflect again this new spirit of courage. The young blood in Germany knows that fulfill ment of the Versailles treaty will bring many years of difficult won and :,v.i tation of life pleasure. But it realizes on the other hand, that tbo compulsion for reparation is equivai.en to a com pulsion lor rejuvenating and renewing itself. Is the outside world equally as aware of these f-.cts? The kernel of the iisniwii repara tions proVlem is not how will the Ger man race within be.v.- the heavy burden of the reparations obligations? Mow will it secure in paper marks the laxes and levies? From the discussions' of the al?jcs and ".heir . experts in the international conferences it would appear as though this relatively insignificant phase of tme affair concerning chiefly only the German people had been regarded by Germahv's creditors as of the first im portance. For it has always been a concern of the foreign statesmen whether Germany was raising taxes as high as those of the other states or whether the necessary economy was exercised in the Germa i budget. This is merely a repetition of the customs followed, after previous peaces, when everything ' was reckoned in smaller dimensions and when millions instead of milliards were reckoned. HEART OF THE QUESTION In those days, the linancial problem played the chief role, while today that is subordinated to th'2 economic prob lem. And thi economic problem is the heart of the reparations question. This economic problem is thus: How can Germany nay in gold wha.L she owes in gold? Gold is here only a symbol in which all international currencies are expressed. Trade balances show a nation's debts to the Auslapd and the Ausland's debts to it in a trade way. Before the War, Germany's trade balance was considerable. The interest upon German capital invested outside, taken with the ctebit account of tne German foreign trade and shipping busi ness, made it possible not only tc draw necessary imports, but also to under take private' financings and to issue loans to foreign countries reaching mfo millions. The Versailles peace robbed Germany of its foreign peace and its com mercial fleet. Its balances rest now almost entirely upon figures resulting from exports and imports. It can obtain foreign securities only either through surrender of valuable holdings within or by obtaining them through a favor able difference between export and im port. CERMANY HAS NO CHOICE Since Germany's obligations to a con siderable extent are immediate, she has no choice. She must at once seek to mobilize a part of her possessions. She must , either sell or hypothecate her holdings to foreign countries, subse quently paying interest from later in ternal income and gradually amortiz- M At the moment, it cannot be judged whether satisfactory forms can be found which will offer security enough for the Ausland, for such considera tions require time. Hence, for the first payments Germany must sell from her internal holdings. But that can only remain temporary. For, should this "provisorium" be converted into a permanent condition, Germany would find itself one day "sold .out." On the same day, she would cease being abb? to pay anything, for the means of pro ducing goods would then have been taken from Germany. The concern that the matter should not go so far is not alone a German concern, but must also be the concern pf all those coun tries which expect to receive anything from Germany. The creditors of Germany must de mand that they be paid through Ger man work, not German holdings. Re gardless of whether these lands demand payment in cash or German goods, Germany will be able to obtain the necessary money only through the. sale of German goods abroad. If France demands ccld cash, then Europe, Asia or America must absorb sufficient German goods, so that Germany can purchase the necessary money to pay France. This is quite regardless of the method of taxation in the country or of how the government settles with the manufactures for their reparations deliveries. LEW TRADE BALANCE A part of this truth appears already to be known in the world, since the proposed export percentage on German exports, suggested in the last allied ultimatum, represented to a certain extent an attempt to confiscate in ad vance sums which Germany would ob tain outside and apply them immediate (Continued on Page Six.) Republicans Are Confident; The Democrats Are Hopeful First Important Bye-Election Will be Held Tuesday in New Mexico, JVhere Senator Bursum, Republican Appointee is Opposed by R. H. Hanna. Democrat. The first important bye-election since the overwhelming sweep of the country by the Republican party last Fall is to be held Tuesday in New Mexico, where Senator Holm O. Bursum, appointed last March as success.ir to Albert B. Fall, who entered the Harding Cabinet, is opposed by Richard H. Hanna, Democrat. The Democrats in New Mexico naturally have attacked the Administra tion and their line of attack gives an interesting foresight into the likely issues of the entire Congressional campaign next year. The Democrats claim to have been handicapped by a lack of funds to carry their campaign to the people. Senator Bursum is standing jjpon his own brief record in the Senate and on the Harding Administration. Herewith are presented the views of two well known New Mexico editors upon the issues and the probable outcome of the election in dispatches written the closing day of the active campaign, one supporting Senator Bursum and one opposing him. The former claims the election by a majority greater than was given to President Harding. The latter looks for a close decision. Condemnation Vote Asked by Democrats BY E. DONA JOHNSON. Editor Santa Fee New Mexican, )Ind.i Copyright, 1U21, by Xews Publishing Co. Santa Fe, Sept. 17. The issue in the Senatorial campaign, as between Holm O. Bursum, Republican candidate, and Richard H. Hanna, Democrat, is large ly that of whether or not the Western states and theeir industries have re ceived or have actual hope of receiving substantial recognition from Congress and the Administration. The Democrats are asking for a vote of condemnation and protest n the ground that Republican tariff legisla tion proposes to close the safety valve or foreign outlet for Western raw ma terials, enabling the Eastern manufac turer to manipulate the price of wool in order to reduce import duties. The Democrats are telling the voters that New Mexicos great cattle, wool and copper industries will face stagnation and disacter because the door to for eign markets will be closed. They point to the statement of leading New Mexi co bankers that the livestock loan pool plan is unworkable and that New Mexican- stock men are receiving no actual aid from it and quote the denuncia tion by Western Senators of the wool schedules in the tariff bill as vicious. The revenue bill and the repeal of the excess profits tax are attacked as leg islation to untax the wealth of the East and to overlook' the West. Mr. Hanna and Senator A. A, Jones, Democrat, in speeches this week have denounced the alleged political and economic crime to the West as due to stand-pat Republicans and much capi tal is being made of the charge that (Continued on Page Six.) Seven Days In By JESSIE HENDERSON. Staff Correspondent of The Xews. Copyright, 1021, by Sma Publishing i ih'fl-rv ;iVhr7fnr a horde a city. You can't even put itching pow peeled these dark nights foi a hoide o. & ,g bacfc for ft joke norsewomen pxu.i ; e- Jh!Lr Sf ?.i"d ?n from his hiding place in the Biltmora or tne riicz; wnom mcj win ""'b shrieking, round the corner to a se cluded spot near, perhaps, the Metro politan Museum or the Grand Central, and whom they will relentlessly tar. feather and horsewhip. . 1 1 ....... - ' r 4 -' 1 r'f WhCl nthTT maJ L h- finds that, by swimming 163 miles in Fellow who declSes to offe his ha, something over 63 hours (the hours Sin suhwav seat to a ladv passenger distributed however over six days) at Tust whThe mil be is a mysSyut" an average speed of two miles an hour, whoevlrhe bS let him fit ?he one can take off six pounds. Anyone sound of furious hoofs and rustling welcome to the recipe, silken robes Ellis Island officials also are losing ' Mrs. Elizabeth Tyler is very clear 1 weight daily in their efforts to make on the silken robes part. The masks Stefania tell where she put Carolina, are silken, too, - though whether th3 The 18-year-old Carolina arrived at tne tar feathers and rods' are carried in Island after the month s quota of immi vanity cases or in those stunning new grants from Poland had been admitted, peacock feather wrist-bags, she did not Hence Carolina was booked for depor say Mrs Tyler is the "first lady" of tation. But Stefania, who has spent the' Ku Klux Klan. She arrived in most of her 22 years in this country, this city right after the officials had thought different. So on visiting day, rebuffed some men Ku Kluxers who Stefania changed clothes with Carolina, suggested forming a chapter here. Re- and Carolina slipped away to parts un buffs, however, fail to dishearten Mrs. known. Stefania, threatened with de Tyler. No sooner had she arrived from portation in Carolina's place, has gone Atlanta than she announced that 700 on a hunger strike so effectually that letters of inquiry had reached her New she is too weak to be deported. The York hotel in two days "95 per cent .officials are at their wits' end of them, from women." Indeed, it ap- : Meanwhile, Tale Seldin thought he'd pears that "New York women are flock- have to go back to Miscow because ing to join the Klan." Before long, the rents were too high in New York for a shops ought to blossom with pearl-han- shoe-lace vendor. But he stumbled into died whips, jewel studded and daintily a roofless cellar in the Bronx. The suited to a lady's grasp. 'other day he confessed that for a year Masculine Klu Kluxers have to get he has lived in this hole, unroofed ex along with cotton robes. But Southern cept for a few planks on rainy nights, gallantry to the Sex has dictated silk and now he is such a fresh-air enthus en robes for lady "Night Riders." And iast that he would not dwell in a steam this silken costume, as Mrs. Tyler pret- ( heated flat if you paid the rent for. tily points out, "is not hair so areaarui as has been pictured." THE HAND THAT ROCKS. "Women, it must be admitted, are beginning to realize that the hand which rocks the cradle can rock quite a number of things when it gets go ing. It rocked the ballot box thi3 week, for instance, and the town saw all the primary candidates for mayor wheedling and lauding the Republic m women, who, as it happened, held the balance of power. The fact that thcy.counts to investigate it, adding that the threw the balance m. Curran s favor ; is talk about a crime wave is a propaganda a tribute to their innate domesticity; , f th t the. insurance companies. for. on the eve of the primary, Mr Curran told the Republican women that municipal government is just like house cleaning. As a matter of fact, if running a city were half so hard as house cleaning, women would long ago have been handed the job. Meanwhile, the Smiths can't speak to the Auerbachs. Why they should want To spetk to each other after the .Jr"L L Qiri 0hnt oflnh ntir is a question. But even if they thimt ud brand new impertinences, they are barred by the court from hollering them across the vestibule at 240 River side Drive, or up the speaking tube. Mrs. .T. Bradlee Smith complained about what Mrs. Louis Auerbach said, and Mrs. Auerbach told magistrate what what Mrs. Smith said, so, after seeing both of them with a remark about "ladies of culture and refinement," the magistrate made them promise never again to "interfere or communicate" with each other. If it had happened anywhere except in a, fashionable New lis Least Spectacular Election In History BY CARL C. MAGEK. Editor Albuquerque Journal, Republican, Copyright, 121, by Xews Publishing Co. Albuquerque, N. M., Sept. 17. The Senatorial election has been the least spectacular in the history of the State. Senator Bursum has made a tour of the State by automobile asking for an en dorsement of t,he Harding Administra tion's record by the voters of New Mex ico and preaching the doctrine of ser vice to the people. His Democratic op ponent, Judge Richard H. Hanna, has made only recently an active campaign, having announced at the time of his nomination his financial inability to do otherwise. He has made only a compar atively few speeches. The passage of the agricultural relief bill by Congress, which favorably af fects our principal industry, livestock raising, together with the favorable mi pression here of the record to date of the Harding Administration has dis concerted the Democrats and has de prived -them of enthusiasm. Except for certain Republican disaffection, the Bursum election would be by an unpre cedented majority. Senator Bursum's progressive atti tude and his break with some old asso ciates, augmented by those personal dis affections which come through years of political activity, have resulted in an independent Republican ticket support ed bv some prominent reactionaries and personal enemies. It is headed by a weak candidate and will poll only a modest vote. Except in Spanish-speak ing counties, the independents will poll no vote of consequence. Interest is being aroused over eleven consitutional (Continued on Page Six.) Li'l OF N' York York apartment house, the quarrel would have snubbed itself out without official interposition. But that's what comes ot living m without being sent up for a couple, of weeks. A man found that out to his sorrow, the other day HINTS TO WOULD-BE THINS An entirely new method of weight reducing has been discovered by Miss Milla Gade, the Danish swimming cham pion. Miss Gade, who recently swam j him. Seldin, for example, escapes any dis pute with a landlord such Mrs. Nancy Steinacke had. The landlord accused her of robbing his cash box in order to ' pay her rent, which after all looks like a case of paying him in his own coin. CLEVER PROPAGANDA The rise in the rate of burglar in surance is what worries Mayor Hylan. He has ordered his Commissioner of ac If that is the case, the burglar insur ance companies have gone about their propaganda in fairly subtle style. Take the crime news of this week: fur theives got ten thousand dollars worth of loot from a shop, within one block of a police station, the arrest of five men cleared up a '"subway bandit" gang tery which included six hold-ups and three stolen motor cars; many victims of burglars have asked permission to wear masks when they identify sus pected criminals, because the criminals are so numerous that the victims fear their vengeance- If that be propaganda, make the most of it. But still and all, crime wave or no, the starched ruffle banished these many seasons is upon us again in all its crisp glory. The Spanish hat has arrived, topped by a Spanish comb thrust in at the proper angle. And the gold anklet set with diamonds and worn beneath the filmiest silk stocking has twinkled on the Avenue, TWO BKMHIS Ahead, Within the Span of Seven Days, Lies the In Industrial Rubicon. STRIKES THREATENED. Coal Miners and Railroad Unions Will Attempt to Form an Alliance. By HARDEN COLFAX Staff Correspondent of The Xews. Copyright. 1021, by News Publishing Co. Washington, Sept. 17. Ahead,. within the span of seven days, lies the industrial Rubicon. The in dustries of the country, coal and transportation, are inarching toward it. Strikes threaten both. Two and one-half million men are Involved. Whether the country will continue go forward in its reviving prosperity or receive, a setback comparable to the slowing down in England, if the miners strike, is to be determined largely by labor leaders at Chicago and Indianapolis. An alliance between the railroad workers workers of America and the coal miners, somewhat similar to the offensive and defensive agreement of the triple alliance of miners, railwaymen and transport workers in England an alliance whose bonds snapped at the test, however is among the possibilities. For years union officials of advanc ed, thought have dreamed of such a partnership here. It appears within their grasp the coining week. While the railroad employes' leaders meet at Chicago to canvass and ad vance the strike vote, "the miners meet in Indianapolis to show the program for the next two years and to elect officers to lead them during that per iod. In the "one case it seems almost certain that John L. Lewis, the present union head, will lead the miners again and that he will stand fast and firm on a platform declaring against reduc tions in the wartime wages now in effect. It is likely that the miners will vote for the workers to strike in pro test against reduction overtime pay. It is a fact not generally known ta the public that, between the miners and ' the railworkers, there exist the deep est kinds of " sympathy. Both have much in common. Both come in close contact through their work. In the past, here and there, rail workers have shown many times their fellow feeling for striking miners- Instances are on record where this feeling was translat ed into unwillingness on the part of union labor, working on railroads, to handle the product of non-union mines in time of strike. CANNOT FORSEE ACTION No one can tell what fifteen hundred or more men, meeting in convention to discuss their grievances and shape wage demands, will do. That will be the sit uation at Indianapolis next Saturday when the United Mine Workers of Am. erica open their bi ennial convention. There is almost certain to be much dis cussion of the present part-time working week in many fields but two days out of the week the scanty earnings of the miners even at present high prices, and action to increase these earnings. True the small earnings are due to the general lack of demand for coal and not to the wage scale, for if every man ha'd a full day's work, the pay envelope would be sufficient. But that situation will be dwarfed by the reality of the fact that, at the present time, with the exception of certain fav ored localities, miners are receiving min imum pay. Inject into that situation a projected railroad strike and the match may be applied to the powder. Any one of twen ty radical leaders at Indianapolis is ready to propose an alliance with the railroad workers to link fortunes and win or lose together. By such an alli ance, the miners would have all to gain and little to lose. For, if the rail workers go out on strike, the miners can't work anyhow. The coal mines work from hand to mouth, idleness or activity being determined primarily by the car supply. And, as a rail strike means no cars, the mines would stand idle. The whole situation in the coal in dustry is beset with . trouble. In West Virginia and Illinois thcra hav-3 been disorders and marching men, with griev ances, real or fancied, to remedy. In Washington, the unions are fighting for what they term a chance to live. In Kansas, radical leaders have upset the industry time after time within the past 12 months by strikes and inter ruptions to work. In union fields com petitive to non-union areas operators have sought - unsuccessfully to bring about wage cuts. DRAW UP WAGE DEMANDS And capping the climax comes now the formultion of wage demands for the next two years. Also for the first time the anthracite and bituminous workers frame these dsmandrj to po into effect on the same date March 31, 1922. Here t of ore the anthracite agreemerts have expired on dates different from the expiration of the bituminous mens' con tracts. . An anthracite strike saw the bituminous men at work; a bituminious strike saw the anthracite miners busy. This time a strike would affect both cf mines also is com ing up, in more vigorous fashion than before at the Indianapolis meeting. The miners want the Government take over the industry, to nationalize it. They have evn verted to their belief many men of influence and power who have seen the mounting prices of coal and failed to find a check. Some of their advocates are in the United States' Congress. In fact, the present Senate committee investigating the situation in West Virginia is reported to be consid ering a recommendation tha the Gov ernment take over the nonunion fields in that State. The union miners are for such action whole-heartedly. They are looking for ward to wholesale Indictments of their men In West Virginia as tne result of the grand jury's investigation of the March on Mingo. They would welcome. another deal. (Continued on Page Six.) V

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