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Show This Week by Arthur Brisbane If Prohibtion Went Italy's New Tunnel Charlie Boston Leaves Pity The Poor Parrot The President, according to Washington reports, agrees with Mr. Wickersham that all of the States should share in prohibition enforcement. Prohibition machinery machin-ery must be made stronger, with State and National government,: standing loyally behind it. On the other side . of the fence the war against prohibition continues. con-tinues. An organization of young "Crusaders," with headquarters in Cleveland, has vowed that prohibition prohi-bition shall go. There are many interesting names among the young Crusaders, not dismayed, evidently, by the sad fate or some Crusaders of old. Suppose, "just for the sake of supposing," that anti-prohibition should win and prohibition be eliminated. elim-inated. How would the bootleg crime army be absorbed? . At least fifty thousand determined deter-mined and desperate men are in that army. They have become hardened to quick shooting and accustomed ac-customed to very "easy money." What would they do if bootlegging, bootleg-ging, with its hundreds of millions of annual profit, vanished over night? Does any one t'llnk the army would peaceably disband, returning to dull hard work for small pay? Hardly. For tne first few years, when, if ever, prohibition takes wings, hire for your business and home extra watchmen. They will be needed. The Italians, their efficiency Increased In-creased by Mussolini, in spite of financial diffliculties, and unfair treatment by the war allies, have just finished a magnificent work. The tunnel through the Appenine Mountains, more than eleven miles long, is completed after ten years of constant work, 1,300 men employed employ-ed underground, 500 above ground and $60,000,000 expended. The road to Vienna and Berlin is made shorter, by twenty-two miles. And, much more important, impor-tant, the maximum elevation of railroad tracks is reduced from 2,002 to 1,046 feet, increasing speed, and freight-hauling possibilities. This American nation needs similar sim-ilar tunnels ln the Pacific Coast, notably through the mountains back of Seattle and Portland, and -Aich tunnels would pay enormous dividends, cutting transportation, sending east of the mountains, for irrigation, water that now goes to waste in the Pacific. In great public works, we are literally behind France, Italy, Germany, Ger-many, Britain, and considering how reat our wealth is compared with theirs, and our number of unemployed, unem-ployed, our backwardness is disgraceful. dis-graceful. They get things done. We talk, write, appoint commissions, delay and side-step. Perhaps some day when we get our whiskey question off the - national chest, we shall have time and energy for other things. The late Charlie Boston, N. Y. Chinese merchant, head of an important im-portant "tong" and doubtless in heaven at this moment, neglected no precautions. Two Chinese bands, accompanied him to the grave, to keep away evil spirits, and bits of paper were scattered scat-tered along the route, perhaps with prayers written on them, to frighten the evil spirits more thoroughly. thor-oughly. Two Chinese bands should have sufflceu. Rice, wine and chicken were placed in Mr. Boston's grave, with the body, that he might need nothing. noth-ing. A Presbyterian clergyman, Chinese, Chi-nese, read the Christian burial service. ser-vice. It was planned to have a Taoist priest go through a Chinese ceremony cere-mony to make sure, but no Taoist priest could be found. Behind the two Chinese bands marched an Italian band, which played sad dirges. Few arrive at the heavenly gates with such a good start. Pity the poor parrot, now in the limelight, because of his disease, psittacosis, which when human beings be-ings contract it, usually kills them. The number of deaths is small, compared with other death causes. But "psittacosis" is a long name and to be killed by germs from your own parrot Is humiliating. Many husbands, seeing their opportunity, op-portunity, have turned pet parrots over to the authorities to be disposed dis-posed of, mercifully, sacrificing many that never had psittacosis. Sad for parrots, but no great loss. After all, a parrot cannot say anything that you cannot say yourself, better, and its shrieking annoys neighbors. A Long Island company will run "seeing New York airplanes" charging passengers one cent a pound, $2 for the fat man, $1 for the thin girl. That will help aviation avia-tion and encourage temperate eating. eat-ing. From Portland to San Francisco, Air Mainl Pilot Ralph Virden flew at an average speed of 201 miles an hour, breaking records and climbing 12,000 feet up to get the desired "fast tail wind" to drive him along. |