OCR Text |
Show EiLID AFRAID OE ) DAMEDSIM Britons Do Not Want Their Children to Pick Up Popular Expressions LONDON, Jan. 22. England is ap-1 prchensivo lest the vocabularies of its youth become corrupted through incursions in-cursions of American slang. Trans-Atlantic tourists In England note with interest the frequency with which resort is made to "Yankco talk" by British song and play-wrlter.s seeking to enliven their productions. Bands and orchestras throughout the country, when playing popular music, play American selections almost exclusively. exclu-sively. American songs monopolize the English music hall and musical comedy stage. j It is the sub-title of the American moving picture film which, it is feared, constitutes the most menacing threat I to vaunted English purity of speech, f "The child at the pictures is picking up a new langungo from the slangy, American films," says a critic in a1 contribution to the London Daily News I headed "The Vulgar Tongue." j "I visited two picture theaters today for tho express purpose of collecting , slang phrases and of noticing the effect ef-fect of the new language on the child as well as on tho adult. What tho villain vil-lain said to the hero when the latter started to argue with him was 'Cut out that dope.' and a hundred piping voices repeated the injunction. The comic man announced his marriage to the Belle of Lumbertown by saying 'I'm hitched ' "Of course, the American child can comprehend these things much better than the British child, who is quite unfamiliar un-familiar with such phrases. Imagine a child going home to mother, and asking the meaning of 'fly cop.' We may admire ad-mire tho tersness of the phrf.se 'Forget 'For-get It' but does the sub-title 'The Bun's gone daffy' convey anything to a theater thea-ter full of cocknpys? "In another plcturo a man trafficked secretly with Indians, exchanging bottles bot-tles of 'fire water' for beaver skins was sub-titled 'The Bootlegger.' ' GHH SHIPSMAY BE SOLD Head of Steel Shipyards Ready-to Ready-to Buy U. S. Vessels and Can ' Make Money WASHINGTON, Feb. 7. Government Govern-ment owned ships built during the war should bo and can bo sold to private operators for prices covering the cost, overhead and total investment, C. W. Morae, head of the two steel shipyards one in Connecticut and the other In Virginia, told the senate commerce committee today, citing the fact that he had bought tenty-four of them for $220 and ?225 a' ton, and was offering to take 100 more at similar quotations. The sharp contrast between his ideas and the proposals put forward by the heads of other shipping concerns con-cerns at the committee's hearings resulted re-sulted in a lengthy examination, during dur-ing which Mr. Morse presented figures f showing remarkable profits his vessels ves-sels are now making under present ocean freight rates. I Big Traffic Pays For Ships "We estimate that we got back from forty to fifty per cent of the total cost; of the ship to us during the first ycar," he explained. He instanced a contract which he took to carry 600.000 tons ofi coal to Paris, the earning on which would amount to ninety dollars per year per ship ton assigned to the work. "And when it became difficult to get deliveries of the coal," he added, "we diverted three of the boats to the Buenos Aires trade and did a little better." The ships he has purchased from the board, he explained, were those built in his yards for the government, the contract price being $155 a ton, while the selling price to him included some costs of fitting, interest and other charges. All are running as tramp cargo boats now. Scoff at English Proposal Morse scoffed at suggestions that English yards were building vessels ror $120 a ton and lower. "I've had a proposal from an English En-glish source since January 20 to build ten vessels at $185 a ton,"" he declared. The present high prices on ocean freight, he said, would continue for a year at least and thus would guarantee guaran-tee buyers a profitable initial return. Virtual reduction in the selling price of government built steel ships was announced tonight by Chairman Payne of the shipping board. Starting with a depreciation charge of ten per cent tho first year, the rate will decrease one per cent a year for five years and continuo thereafter at a fixed rate of five per cent a year. Applied Ap-plied to the tonnage price of $220 now asked, this arrangement would in effect ef-fect reduce the price in tho sixth year to $163 a ton. Commenting on the action of the board, Chairman Payne said that it was thought the plan would greatly stimulate purchase of the vessels. He did not think that prespectivc purchasers purchas-ers would delay in order to take advantage ad-vantage of the depreciation figure pointing out shipowners expect to earn more than ten per cent on a ship In a year. oo |