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Show I This Week tj ARTHUR BK1SUAN12 If an Angel Came Building Jobs in Paris 150,000,000 to One Where Gold Slumbers More than thirty million Americans presumably will vote lu November. What definite Idea will they have iu mind as they vote?. They will all want better times and eiul of depression, business more active, ten millions Idle, employed, etc. How will ttiey want these things brought about? How will they expect the man, for whom they vote, to bring them about? How many of the thirty million voters could write 'out, say in one thousand words, what they think should be done? If the voters have no definite Idea ami 99 per cent of them have none, how much of a success is the thing we call "popular government"? Is it so much better to muddle along with "democratic institutions" than to mud-' mud-' die along, in the old way, under a monarchical system, with men trained to statesmanship, as a life job. avoiding avoid-ing the upset of a national election every four years, and a system that makes high offices, seuatorships, etc., rewards for partisan political service, with no reference to public service. Your conclusions would be discouraging discour-aging if you considered only the present pres-ent day. But governments, like individuals individ-uals and civilizations, must be built up over long periods. An angel from heaven, seeing for , the first time a baby learning to walk, stumbling and falling, might say: "Put it back iu bed and leave It there. You surely don't want to break its neck." The answer would be "It must learn to.. walk." And that is the answer to our government problems. Men must learn to govern themselves. It is a slow process, but there is no other way. Meanwhile the wonder is, not that we have a depression, but that we ever' have anything else. In connection with lack of employment employ-ment it may interest you to know that our government is spending two million mil-lion dollars on a new "American Chancery." The work however is being done in Paris, on the Place de la Concorde. Con-corde. The money will go to French workers, and to twenty French subcontractors sub-contractors who say they are delighted de-lighted because just now building is not active in Paris. The money contributed con-tributed by American taxpayers is spent 'that one of our American ambassadors am-bassadors whose jobs are usually a reward for political services or cash contributions, may be housed "more worthily." It is too bad that American stonemasons, stone-masons, bricklayers and carpenters . can't speak French. They might go abroad and g'et a job with their government. gov-ernment. If you travel much on railroads, it should comfort you to know that the chances against your being killed in an accident are one hundred and fifty million to one, very good odds. Extraordinary safety in railroad travel is due to two things, first, excellent ex-cellent roadbeds, excellent equipment, good management and second, faithful, faith-ful, sober railroad workers, engineers, switchmen, conductors, devoted to their task and to duty. John Walker of 106 North Johnson street, Big Springs, Texas, would like to, reply to Admiral Sims' statement that the Spanish War. lasted only 111 days. More than 200,000 engaged in It. Nearly all the men have pensions costing cost-ing now $119,000,000 a year. According Accord-ing to Admiral Sims, that is a disgrace. dis-grace. John Walker says he draws a pension pen-sion as a Spanish War veteran, he served in the Spanish-American War In 1S9S, the Philippine insurrection in 1899, all of 1900 and up to June 3, 1901, and calls that more than 114 days. Mr. Walker cannot undestand why Admiral Sims, retired, should get a good big pension, whereas he . is begrudged be-grudged very small pension. In the opinion of this writer all pensions, honorably acquired, are good for the country. They put cash where it Is needed, and that's as important as scattering rain where it is needed. It takes little imagination to realize the part that airplanes will play In war, when you read statistics of city populations. Seven cities contain more than 33,000,000 inhabitants. What marvellous targets for air pilots with gas bombs, and explosive bombs are offered by London, New . York, Tokio, Berlin, Chicago, Paris and Moscow. Premier Mussolini, talking to Italian Ital-ian lawyers, said lawyers made Roman Rom-an law, and that law made Rome great. He placed lawyers above poets and philosophers, but added that Fascism respects culture. "Fascism never has made philosophers drink hemlock," said he, referring to Socrates' ending long ago. . A man, only forty-seven years old, Dnce prominent in industry, is found dead in Chicago with a bullet in his bead. A farewell note said that he was "another victim of the depression." He had only 48 cents left. One of six letters, laid out on his dresser with the - forty-eight remaining cents was addressed ad-dressed to "authorities, coroner, or what have you." Some feel that they are ruined when they have only a million or two remaining. It depends on the point of view and the courage. (,1932. by King Feature! Syndicate, Inc.) |