Open Side Menu Search Icon

    Index Downloading...

    Golden Age, March 15, 1922

    Download: PDF — Golden Age, March 15, 1922

    Golden Age—1922

    Mar. 15, 1922, Vol. Ill, No. 65

    fSB Pui linked every other IKM week at 18 Concord Street, iQJjr Brooklyn, N, Y., U. S. J.

    Five Cents a Copy—51.00 a Year

    Canada and Foreign Countries, $l.aQ

    Volume 3 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15, 1522 Numbhb Bl

    CONTENTS of the GOLDEN AGE

    LABOR AND

    As to Being Promoted

    How to Get Promoted

    Obligations of Employers,...361

    ECONOMICS

    Good Men Cannot be Kept

    Down

    Labor Unit Defined

    Wasteful America

    SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL

    A StW in Boys

    Boys and Climbing....

    Boys and Ingenuity.....

    Boys and Gangs ..................357

    Boys and Crime

    The Big Brother Movement 359

    Cruelties to Boys .

    Friends of the Boys ------..-359

    A Boy Prodigy ...

    MANUFACTURING AND .MINING Chemistry of Iron.........,............ 372

    FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION

    Boys and Business______________359 Some Thoughts on Money 368

    POLITICAL—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN

    A'Boy Judge........................353 Forty-Five Years of

    Anarchy Deliberately „ Dis-grare

    ■m . laying t ho FidclUr

    Planned ............................361 Shivery in India

    AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY

    Mexican Lands

    SCIENCE AND INVENTION

    Modern Miracles ..

    ..................373

    HOME AND HEALTH

    Radium Eye-Glasses ____________368 Fm’diu.. tin- Baby .........

    Care of Chilurcn ................<'hihi"(n's Diseases

    Pure Air ..............................37ft A Valuable Homo Recipe....377

    TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY

    Boys and Wanderlust ........35(1 Conditions in England

    RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY

    Sweet Spices of the Bible....379

    Holy 1 UTfumed <111 ____________379

    Knowledge arid Ui,dersI 11i<l-ing Ibiuivalent to Wisdom 3*0 Wisdom and Foolishness....;;*0 Perfumed Garments ............3*1

    I’er finned Beds ....................381

    Package Religion Overboard 3*1 Scirnre I.' m! c ri i1 i j i i n g

    aieisru ...... ...... ...3*2

    Big Religion in Ausiraiia 3*'2 Studies in the Harp of God 363

    Published every other Wednesday at 18 Concord Sir-fii. Btwklyn. 8. V., . . . . U. S A. bv wmmwuttTTT. ITl'IMilNGS and MAIITIN CLAYTOS .1. wmilrtVOKTH .......Editor

    JIOBERT -> MARTIN .... Busfnecs ManaRcr WM F. HITfiJMJS......Svr'y and Treas.

    Copartner?? and jaeprietors. Address: 18 Cencort Slrtrt, Brooklyn. N. L . . . . V- S. A.

    FIVE CENTS a Corr— $1.00 A Yeah fohwi'jn offices : Rritish : 34 Craven Terrace, Luncasfor Gate. London W. 2; ('anatJitin : 270 Lbnidas St.

    Toron u>, Ontario: .4 nstauhf.Mun : 495 Collins St... Melbourne, Australia. Make remittances to The Golden Aga Emerwl »s second-class matter at Brooklyn, N. Y. uder the Act of March 3, 1879.

    OTic? Golden Age

    Volume III Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, March 15, 1922 Number 65

    A Study

    THESE animals are to be found everywhere.

    They are closely related to the human family, and are accustomed to live in houses, the same as human beings. A man in Chicago has announced that it costs $5,500 to rear a boy to the age of twelve years, so that a boy is a considerable investment. And, bless his heart, the boy is worth it! Who would not pay $5,600 for a perfectly good boy of twelve years of age ? And who would not pay $5,499.98 for one that is not perfectly good, but is pretty nearly perfectly good! And most boys are that. James Whitcomb Riley has said that “there is no such thing as a bad boy, but some of them are better than others”; and this expresses our sentiments exactly.

    Boys and Climbing

    HUMAN being looking at a boy cannot tell exactly what the boy will do next; but it is pretty safe to assert that if there is anything around that he can climb, it will not be long before he makes the attempt. The boy finds himself in a world that has all sorts of strange sights and experiences for the venturesome, and he cannot tell what possibilities await him unless he climbs and takes a look.

    Max Rochester, a Brooklyn lad, was coming in from a swim and thought that he ought to poke his head in between two timbers, so that he could see what was back of thejn. After some effort he got his head through between the timbers, but his ears made his head like an umbrella, intended by nature to go much more easily in one direction than the other. He could see all the sand and water that was behind the timbers; there was nothing else to see; but he could not get his head out. Policemen were summoned and greased his head and neck, and then tried to pull him out by the legs. The ears Still stuck out, and Max did not wish to have

    in Boys

    them scraped off. Finally the firemen had to come with axes and chop him out. They got him out just as the tide was rising to a place where it would soon have drowned Max, ears and all. Max was inquisitive. There was nothing wrong in what he did. He merely wanted to know; and, poor kid, he found out.

    Many a boy has lost his life climbing. A boy of nine, while playing “follow your master” narrowly escaped death, when he fell from the top of the retaining wall surrounding the excavation where the West Farms, New York, subway leaves the underground for the overhead structure, in the Bronx district. As it was, the lad’s skull was fractured. At the point where the boy fell there is but a short interval between trains, and had he fallen immediately in front of a train death would have been certain. A train was bearing down upon him at the time he fell, but the' motorman saw the boy fall, and stopped the train in time to pick him up, and have taken him to a hospital.

    John Martin, a schoolboy of thirteen, was less fortunate, and had a very sad death. In a playful struggle with some schoolmates a nickel was knocked out of his hands and fell through a subway grating to the shelf below. John’s companions helped him to pry up the grating. He jumped down and began to feel around for his nickle. In the darkness he plunged headlong from the shelf and his cries were drowned by the roar of the express train below, which in a moment mangled his body almost beyond recognition.

    The courts have taken official notice of the fact that boys have a tendency to climb, and that railway and other structures should be so designed as to make climbing unattractive if not" impossible. Little David Fruchter climbed to the top girder of a bridge which crosses the New Haven railroad tracks at 149th street, in the Bronx, to

    ' reach a pigeon which he saw there. He did not ! reach the pigeon, but he did reach the high voltage wire which furnishes the driving power for : the trains; and when his hand touched the wire

    he was hurled to the floor of the bridge and his hand was so badly burned that it had to be '' amputated. The United States Circuit Court of Appeals has confirmed the decision of the lower court that the New Haven railroad must pay the boy $10,000 damages and his father $1,000 ' damages because it designed the structure in such a way as to lure boys to climb upon it. Corporations must take notice of the fact that . there are such things as boys.

    Boys and Wanderlust

    IT IS hard for a boy to be put into one place and to stay put. He is not sure but that there ' are advantages in some other location. He ‘ would like to see; he wishes to know; and his . curiosity makes him an explorer. However attractive it may be, the place where he is or where he has once been is never so interesting to him as the place where he has not been.

    . A six-year-old boy of Brooklyn takes the

    inedal in this respect. In three years he has been y “lost” forty-three times. His father is so accustomed to receiving notifications from the police of Philadelphia, Bridgeport, Plainfield, and other points up to a hundred miles from ; New York, that whenever the boy gets “lost” ■ he just waits for the usual notice. His father ; - understands exactly how the boy comes by his • wanderlust, but he is still puzzled to know’ how the youngster gets the money to make the trips.

    ’ Probably the youngster is too small to ride the

    j brake beams, or the roof, or even the platform

    i of a blind baggage; but a youngster of six can

    ’ squeeze between the backs of two seats, turned

    : - back to back, or into a closet which has inad-

    - - vertently been left unlocked.

    ’ ’ The editor of The Golden Age once knew a

    U boy, Frank McNair, of Nunda, N. Y., who visited

    ’ every state in the union and all the important

    :• cities, without paying a cent of railroad fare.

    C On one of his trips, in which he went to Calif or-

    U nia and return, he rode from Albuquerque to

    Gallup, New Mexico, in the boiler of a station-(■- • ary engine that was on a flat car. On the return trip he rode from Pasco Junction, Washington, g to Minneapolis, locked up in a tourist sleeper

    ? upper berth during the day, and riding the roof

    „ at night. Discovered by the train crew when about two hundred miles out of Minneapolis, the passengers aboard, many of whom were highly enjoying his trip of three nights and two days in their company, and who had been feeding him out of their lunch baskets, raised a purse and paid his fare into Minneapolis. The passengers were as bad as Frank, and he was not a half-bad boy. The only trouble with him was that he was killed in a train wreck before he was old enough to have any sense. He rode the blind baggage once too often.

    Sometimes the girls have wanderlust, too, and occasionally they have it with the boys. A girl in Asbury Park borrowed her father’s automobile and two boys of the neighborhood, and started out to see the world. They had no money with them, but they had a large box of candy. They got about a hundred miles away from home when the candy and gasoline gave out at the same time. They stepped into a garage to see what w’as wrong with their car; and the. garage owner telephoned to the girl’s father, who came and got them. Fathers are a very necessary nuisance in this world.

    Two girls of Bath Beach, Brooklyn, concluded to leave home because one of them had played “hookey” away from school the day before and was afraid that she would be detected and punished; and the other was afraid she would find the examinations too hard to pass.

    Two boy chums came to their rescue and gallantly offered to show them the world; at least, they would pilot them through the wilds of Manhattan and over to Jersey. This would be undertaking great risks; for the popular idea with myriads of New Yorkers is that but a little way beyond the Jersey ferries the natives are. dressed in breechcloths and spend most of their' time lighting with Indians and running away from wolves.

    When they got to the Jersey ferries, the girls decided that there would be no fun in encountering the Indians and wolves and white savages unless the boys went along to protect them; and so, Eve-like, they tempted the boys to accompany them. The boys yielded, but only after the good old-fashioned test of flipping a coin.

    Only one of the party had any money; this was Frances, and Frances manifested an. insatiable desire to spend the little all ($5.10) of the party’s means, upon eating as much as possible as soon as possible. Throughout a long day and night the little party trudged the roads of New

    Hugh IB, 1622

    Hersey, winding np the second morning at New Brunswick, 33 miles from New York. At this point Hungry Fanny, as she was now called, betrayed the party once more by eating up the last of her $5.10, and they left her to her fate., (When she got hungry again, she went to the police- station and told it all; and in a little while the boys and girls were all safely back home.

    Boys and Ingenuity

    OYS are not always doing foolish things.

    GOLDEN AGE

    Once in awhile one of them gets an idea that shames his elders. Such a boy was Russell V. Harkema of Seattle. Russell could not swim; and accordingly was at once placed in a most difficult position when, as he sat quietly fishing, he was startled by the screams of a woman and a girl floundering in deep water thirty feet off shore, and saw a man plunging in after them.

    Russell grabbed a piece of log, bestrode it, kicked his way out to the woman and the girl, and accomplished their rescue. A little girl helped him to return to shore with his burden by shoving out another piece of log to him. By the time he had the women ashore the man who had tried to rescue them had drowned. Russell did not seem to think that he had done anything out of the ordinary. He said, when inquired of

    as to how he came to do the thing which he did, that “it came natural”. The man who- could swim was drowned; the boy who could not swim saved two others besides himself.

    Boys and Gangs

    BOYS are like dogs; they travel in packs.

    Bad dogs lead good dogs into mischief, sometimes; but the good dog cannot help it that he likes to travel with the gang. New York used to have what was called the Gas House Gang, which at one time made as much trouble for the police of New York as any one factor in the city. Lively, mischievous boys made lively, mischievous young men; but what was funny in the boy ceased to be funny in the young man. A pup is in a hard way when he gets his growth. While he is a little shaver everything he does is cute,

    [but when he gets big everybody expects him to . act like an old dog ten times his age. It is the same way with a boy.

    Finally the brilliant mind of E. H. Harriman ' found a way of breaking up the Gas House K? ’ "Gang. He organized the Boys’ Club of New York; the Gas House Gang were taken in as

    charter members; suitable quarters were provided; and straightway the boys have become the best behaved boys in the city. It is reported that the percentage of juvenile delinquency among these boys is now the least in the city and that seventy-seven percent of them attend either day or night high school. The boys now have their own commodious building at Tenth Street and Avenue A, and the annual membership^ originally 300, is now 7,000. It is calculated that 250,000 boys have passed through this club since it was started. Why does not the Association-of-Nations “statesmen” build boys’ buildings instead of battleships?

    The basic idea of the club is that if a boy is given healthful recreation he will not become dissipated. Hence the club is fitted with several complete gymnasiums, a dozen basket-ball courts, a fine swimming-pool, a wrestling and boxing room, and many other facilities for promoting athletics and education in all its branches. The club uses about three tons of soap in a year, a fact which speaks for itself. The club is designed to foster truthfulness and healthy ambition, as well as physical cleanliness.

    The same club maintains at Jamesport, Long Island, the William Carey Camp, containing fifty acres, with twenty-eight buildings. This

    camp takes care of 2,500 boys each summer, five regiments of five hundred each at two-week intervals. >

    Boys and Crime

    WE DO not like to write on the topic “Boys and Crime”. There are boys who do things they ought not to do; and for the safety of the community as a whole it is necessary that measures should be taken to restrain them until they learn to have a proper respect for the rights of others. But there is a vast amount of misinformation and, hypocrisy as to what constitutes a criminal.

    A man kills a fellow man; he is a murderer. A thousand men go out and kill a thousand -of their fellow men; they are heroes. A man takes something that belongs to another; he is a thief. •

    A nation takes the coal mines or other natural resources from another nation; it is patriotic. A man who lies about his fellow man is guilty, of slander. All the press of a country may engage in a shameless campaign of falsehood about an entire people; and who is there who dares say or intimate that their course is not perfectly right ? Let him say it in war-time and he goes to jail for his hardihood and presumption for telling the truth at an inopportune time.

    The so-called criminal records reveal the fact that the high peak of crime is at the age of • seventeen years. In Kings County, New York, in 1919, sixty percent of the cases before the courts were of boys below 21 years of age; and in 1920, in the same district, the percentage was seventy-five. This merely means that in most instances crime is a natural result of immaturity of mind. These boys have done wrong not so much through malice as through mischief, inability to distinguish properly between liberty and license.

    It is most unfortunate to have to send boys like that away to a professional school for criminal-making; for that is all that any prison is or can be. Among the Israelites there were no prisons; but there were cities to which a criminal might flee for safety, to shield him from death or attack at the hands of the friends of the one he had wronged.

    John S. Kennedy, President of the New York State Commission of Prisons, says that seventy percent of the juvenile delinquents, male and female, between the ages of 16 and 30, placed under probation, and having served out a term of surveillance, are never heard of again. And many of those that are heard of would never be heard of were it not for the fact that some police officer, knowing of the one mistake, and eager to make a recoud for himself, made too strenuous an effort to fasten upon the unfortunate some new crime for which he was in no way responsible. This percentage proves that most bad boys are not bad boys and most bad girls are not bad girls. They are merely undeveloped men and women.

    Mr. Kennedy in commenting on this subject says, in substance:

    “Every student of criminology has learned almost at the outset of his studies that the most important single factor found associated with chronic criminalism is the abnormal [undeveloped—Ed.] mental condition of the criminal himself. Well-authenticated facts are at hand to indicate that at least fifty percent of the inmates of prisons and reformatories exhibit mental abnormalties and are in need of much more specialized treatment than is afforded by the ordinary routine methods employed in the average penal institutions; that from twenty-seven to thirty percent of such inmates are feebleminded and possess only the intelligence of the average American child of twelve years or under. But the number of bad boys is steadily decreasing, and flakes records of all institutions in which our commission Ms® interested already show that the crop of 1921-1932 will be agreeably less. The chief reason for this is because effort along intelligent lines is now being made to discover what may be the mental disease, deterioration, or feeble-mindedness before they are sent to prison.”

    In similar vein, Willis Steele, writing iri file -v New York Herald, declares that there are fewet i bad boys now growing up in the country than-"-* has been the case at any time within twrenty ~ years past. This is largely attributable to the " official classing of alcohol with other narcotic^ -drugs, and its prohibition by law. " *

    It must not be thought that because a boy has '-been noisy or boisterous, or has done something- -out of the ordinary, or has even been locked Up, he is therefore a bad boy. Two boys in Brooklyn ~ were locked up on the charge of disorderly con-duct because they had made some hand-' grenades, each containing several ounces of , powder, and had had a lot of fun hurling these '. against ash-cans in a vacant lot. Probably it was all very wrong to batter up some old dis-carded ash-cans and scare all the people in the ■';s neighborhood by making a lot of noise; but we cannot see it.

    New York State has a law forbidding boys to be on the street after nine o ’clock at night unless. ; accompanied by adults. It is a good law and -I should be enforced. If boys get into mischief it is generally after that hour, when some crook or schemer may want them to hold the bag dr r in some way act as accomplice. Prisons and late hours on the street at night lead a boy into bad company. At night the boy’s place is by his own _ fireside, and it should be made so attractive to him that he will have more desire to be thera^ -than anywhere else in the world.

    A Boy Judge ~

    T? rank Laing, a level-headed lad of twelve.

    years of age, has been appointed a judge over the boys in eight schools in one of the wild-;. est districts of Chicago. He is the truant office!'^ for the district, and besides upholding th&i? ma’csty of the law will try to use his position ttfV assist the boys and girls of the district t4L respect the ordinances of the city. This plan-J was devised by a teacher in one of the schodls. ; Judge Laino will be assisted in his work byjt police of the same age, connected with the differ-gs

    ent schools.

    •i

    *“CH 15 1922 The qolden aqe 359

    The Big Brother Movement

    THE Big Brother Movement is almost wholly a personal one. Being a Big Brother merely consists in being an adult who makes a friend of some youngster needing advice and encouragement. Twice a week the Big Brother and his pal see each other, in their several homes. Often the boy whose parents are worse than none at all finds in the Big Brother the counsellor he needs.

    The Big Brothers have a camp near Tuxedo, Called Camp Nehahe. Among the boys there was one lad who had been caught breaking into a Candy store, another who had stolen some pigeons, and another who had been a pickpocket. The ex-pickpocket is now carrying a bank-roll of several thousand dollars weekly, and no question arises in the minds of his employers about trusting him implicitly. The boy merely t needed guidance and advice.

    ■ • In connection with the Big Brother Move-

    fe. ment, take the life history of James Terry

    r- (White, a cripple of sixteen with an ambition,

    j- (Although in most ways helpless he always * • thought he could organize a mail-order business; some one put him in touch with the Big Brother p. Movement. A busy man in New York had f written to Rowland Sheldon, Gen. Sec’y to the | Big Brothers, and said that he would like very

    i much to help, but that he had only a limited

    amount of time. A large part of the organiza-j tion is in fitting the right man to the right boy. & Here was what seemed like an ideal combination.

    James White lived out of town. The busy man **“ could at least find time to write him occasionally

    | and this he did. He encouraged the lad to under-

    £

    £■

    take his mail-order business, loaned him money, , bought him printing presses and gave him advice. The first year the little magazine order-. house made only a scant profit. Today, at twenty-one, White has one of the largest businesses of its kind in the country, making a profit of something like $2,000 a week.

    Cruelties- to Boys

    WHY anybody should want to abuse a boy is hard to understand, but many of the little fellows have some very hard experiences. In London a tradesman, for some unknown reason, put a split pea into the ear of a boy, necessitating a painful operation for its removal. The court allowed the boy £150 and his father £15 (damages.

    A case was brought to the attention of the Children’s Society where a ten-year-old lad was disrobed by his father and his stepmother and tied with ropes to the kitchen wall four days and three nights, meantime being fed on bread and water. While both fiends were out the boy cried for help, and a little girl came and fed him bread and milk; but the boy did not dare ask to be untied because of the worse fate that would befall him when the devils returned that had him in charge. Twelve hours later the parents quarreled, and the father freed the boy.

    On the outskirts of Detroit little Max Ernest was found whipped, beatep, and strangled to death by a woman whose furniture had been mortgaged to Max’s papa, and who wanted revenge and took it out on a helpless baby boy.

    Friends of the Boys

    IF BOYS have their enemies they have their friends, too. Almost any man can remember when he was a boy; and if he is half a man he will make use of his knowledge when a boy’s interests are at stake. Occasionally some of our magistrates do some very fine things for the boys.

    In New York a newsboy, Irving Sloan, was arrested charged with “making an unusual and improper noise to the inconvenience of pedestrians at Broadway and Thirty-fourth Street”, his offense being that he cried his wares. The magistrate, Judge McQuade, dismissed the case, declaring that newsboys are a public benefit instead of a nuisance, that the case was ridiculous, and that he did not wish any further cases of the kind brought before him.

    Two boys, four and six years old, at Buffalo, New York, were recently awarded $28,000 » A

    damages for the death of their mother; and $95,000 damages for the death of their father - ’ in a railroad wreck on the New York Central.

    At the time of his death the father was earning $30,000 per year.

    Henry Yoost, Jr., three years old, was awarded $20,000 against the Third Avenue Railway Company, for the loss of his left eye, sustained by hot steel being thrown into his face by a railboring machine.

    Boys and Business

    THE newsboy of today is the salesman of tomorrow; the office boy of today is the business manager of tomorrow. A newsboy is en-

    titled to all the respect due to any man in business for himself. He makes his own living, charges only a fair price for his wares, and asks no favors. He is one of the most picturesque features of city life. It is greatly to be deplored that his social environment is so wretched. Statistics show that more boys in this business have venereal diseases than in any other.

    The newsboy who keeps clean and honest is in a business which brings him in touch with the public and makes him a good judge of human nature. In a sense the newsboy of today fulfills the functions of the town crier of old, who went around ringing a bell and announcing the news of the day. Selling newspapers requires deft fingers and a nimble mind in calculating change and serving a half-dozen customers at Some of America’s greatest business men been newsboys in their youth.

    once, have

    have treat

    It is characteristically American to growing boys greet business callers and them with the indifferent civilities of youth, whereas in Europe men of settled habits and discretion are always chosen for that duty. Complaint has been made about the American office boy that he views all visitors with suspicion and subjects those who are strangers to him to a treatment calculated to wound their sensibilities and to make them have an unfavorable impression of the man within. Girls have more tact than

    boys, and are coining int® more general use^ur^ these positions.

    Placing homeless boys in the navy and armjJ' has been one of the conspicuous activities of the^ Children’s Aid Society, according to their an- f; nual report. In 1920 Superintendent Butches "J arranged for the enlistment of 2,221 boys. For ' most of these he became legal guardian in the Surrogate’s Court until they should become o£ ' age. ’ t

    A Boy Prodigy

    TIdwakd Rochie Habdy, Jr., of Columbia Uni* A versity, is twelve years of age and speaks twelve languages. He reads Babylonian tablets, -and plans shortly to take up Chinese, expecting . some day to be a missionary to China. He is an ' expert swimmer, keeps a keen eye on batting " averages, and knows something about boxing. He began school life at three and graduated from high school at eleven. His father and his ' mother are both college graduates, and his" father is a college professor.

    A few years ago a boy prodigy much in the public eye was William Boris Sidis,- first at Tufts College and then at Harvard University, ■ 3 who at the same age as young Hardy was also ‘ proficient in several languages and a very as* complished mathematician and logician. ; ‘

    As to Being Promoted

    WHEN a man has proven to his boss that he has an understudy that can take his place, the honest and efficient employer knows that here is a man whom he can promote without injury to the business, a man who is alive to the interests of the business, and who expects promotion. Everything argues in his behalf.

    When a man has proven to his boss that the boss cannot get along without him in the particular position which he then occupies, and that nobody else could possibly occupy that position as well as himself, at that moment that employe’s chances of promotion are forever gone. Everything argues against disturbing the business by promoting him.

    Every department head who is of any real benefit to the business has his work so organized that in case of an emergency every person in it could be moved a step forward. Every department head who is of any benefit to a business makes it his concern to aid any person in his department who expresses a wish to learn some branch of the business. It is his way up, and it is their way up. It is the legitimate concern of the head of every department to become oa-quainted with the ability, industry, adaptability, attendance, and accident records of every man under him.

    Some concerns use the three-position system. Each man must know his own duties, and those of the two positions above him. But if he does not desire promotion this is not required, but' his subordinates will be promoted past him.

    It is the concern of every executive of a large business to see that the department heads of the business are trained to take up other duties if an emergency arises calling for their use. Au executive who tries to keep all the details of

    his business in his own mind, and to trust no

    it

    one, has a peanut mind and will always have a peanut business. A subordinate who strives to keep his job safe for himself by keeping the details of his work secret should never be promoted; and if already in an important position he should be changed to a place where he can be of less harm to the business.

    A department head’s value to a business can be well determined by the smoothness with which his department runs when he is sick. If it runs well he is probably a capable man. If nobody knows how to do anything in his absence, and if his desk is jammed with unfinished work, the status of which no one but himself knows, he is a liability to his employers, not an asset.

    One, of the best times to find out what is in subordinates is to give them a temporary promotion when the man above is sick or is absent for some other reason. It is a great encouragement to the man thus honored and is much better for the business. It is very discouraging for a department head, who already has much to do,

    to have to take up the work of some other department head who is ill or absent.

    i How to Get Promoted

    r. rpiIE man who aspires to promotion because

    J- of his desire to rule over his fellow men is ’ a' detriment to society and one of the greatest i. - drawbacks to the brotherly interest of man in his fellow man. The men whose memories are z most loved are those men who have tried to S, serve others rather than to rule them. “The Son ‘ of man came not to be ministered unto [to be . served], but to minister [serve |.” Yet it is quite proper for a man to have a healthy ambition f to make the most of his opportunities.

    fs Many officials hold their positions in the world > entirely by bluff. Not infrequently they do not understand well the duties of the work assigned 8L to them, but are able to maintain a hold upon ' superior men and constantly rise above them, £ and by their efforts, because they happen to be $ ready of speech and pleasant of manner in the [y place where it counts.

    I1 How is a subordinate working under such a man to get promoted? How is he to depend on ||f ' promotion, when, as is estimated, not fifty perE cent of the officials in the country can be trusted to deal fairly in the promotion of the men below I..' them?

    The answer is difficult, but there is a way. The employe should always set before his mind the fact that the business is his business and its interests his interests; he should know that improvement is the order of the day, and he should use his brains to see how the work in his department could be improved. And when he has a suggestion that he thinks is worthy of adoption he should contrive to get that suggestion directly into the hands of his employer and to let is be known from whom it comes. This is liable to make trouble with his immediate superior; but it is not so liable to do so after the second, or third, or fourth suggestion has been made, because his value is appreciated higher up and the subordinate official does not dare discharge him. .

    The reason why the suggestions should at first be confined to the things in one’s own department is so that the employer will not get the idea that "here is somebody who thinks that he knows more about how to run my business than I do myself’.

    There are always plenty of improvements to

    be made. The way to do is to question everything that is done, at least to one’s self. Is this form or process necessary? Am I sure that it -V.

    is necessary? What use is made of it? Am I "v

    sure that use is of sufficient importance to justi- ’ ' fy its continuance? Can it be made simpler? .s Can it be combined with something else ?_ Can ■ •• f

    it be done quicker? Can anything be omitted

    from it? Should there be additions made to it? .A* Is the order of work here the right order? Could

    the routine be changed to advantage? The ques- q tions one may ask himself are endless. *

    One who is aspiring for promotion should realize that no promotion can come without the . assumption of added responsibility, and he should be willing to assume such responsibilities ' when they come his way. .

    In choosing a department in which to work, if choice is possible, or in choosing a business, r it should be remembered that changes in per- -q sonnel are bound to come sooner or later and iyS that the larger the business the more likely the ' .

    change is to come soon.

    Obligations of Employers

    NOTHING is more sure in the business world to wreck the usefulness of an ambitious

    man than to prove to him that there is no op-

    portunity for promotion in the position to which

    he has been assigned. If such an employe strives for years for promotion, and his efforts are unrecognized, he is liable to become bitter and a disorganizer among the men, and a candidate for early unemployment.

    Not every faithful employe has the gift of leadership, and some of them will not have promotion when it is offered to them; but it is generally true that an increase of wages without a posssibility of some other kind of advancement acts only as a temporary palliative, and that when the employe finds he can get no farther he becomes lazy and refuses to use his powers of imagination and administration for the welfare of the business.

    The policy should be followed of promoting men from within’the force. Going outside for men destroys the confidence of the men in the sincerity of their employers, and a shakeup frequently follows which changes and disorganizes the business from top to bottom, not always to its benefit.

    While a man must have a good measure of self-esteem in order to make a good executive, yet too much is worse than too little. It makes an executive proud, and supercilious, a domineering aristocrat and braggart; and no subordinate can have any respect or love for such a man but will almost unconsciously yield only such half-hearted service as is inspired by fear.

    Trustworthiness should be an employer’s first consideration in the promotion of a man; and it not infrequently happens that the employer is less trustworthy than many of the men under him, because it often happens that his promotions rest not upon the things upon which they should rest but upon family ties, sect, denomination, membership in some secret order, politics, or pressure from outside source.

    Promotions which have as their only basis the fact that a man has been with a company a given number of years are unsatisfactory to

    employer and employe alike. It is conceivable* that a man might be with a company for a lifetime and know little and care less about its-general interests. .

    Care and thought must be given to the effect ■ upon the workers beneath in case one of their' fellow employes is promoted over them. This not ■ infrequently leads to jealousies and dissensions; but if the man promoted is the right sort of man, the trouble is much less likely to happen.

    It is not wise to let any man know in advance that he is to be promoted. It takes the edge off his ambition and tends to make him less alert • to watch in every direction for ways in which he can benefit the business.

    Good Men Cannot Be Kept Down

    A COLLEGE graduate in Boston was unable to secure employment in the usual way, so he put on his college cap and gown and started selling papers on the street. This effective method of advertising attracted the attention of business men, and in a short time he had his choice of several good positions.

    Another college graduate desired to secure a* place with a certain chemical company, but could find no opening. After much persuasion he finally obtained permission of the superintendent to work as an office boy without wages.1 After a few weeks he attracted the attention of one of the firm, who wondered why a six-foot man was doing the work of a small boy. He was very soon in a well-paid position with the company and at last reports was in charge of the^T; Paris office, the general manager of their foreign-sales force. -

    Another young man, unable to secure employ* ment of any kind, started down an avenue calling at each home and offering to scrub the family dog at 50 cents per scrub. He has built up a permanent business and is said to be enjoying his work immensely.

    Labor Unit Defined By H. N. Branch, Strafford, Mo.

    FOB half a century I have been an ardent student of social economy and have investigated the most eminent authorities, ancient and modern. Early in my investigations I discovered the fact that our social perplexities are all due to a vicious fiscal system that robs the many for the benefit of the few.

    Like Colwell, Jevons, Allison, Del Mar, and many others, I fully realized the crying necessity for a standard or dictionary that would? correctly define each and every commercial factor or unit and thus eliminate all confusion andj, controversy from the world’s marts. Establish* ed facts are not subject to controversy. ■' .

    ' I failed to realize that nature had instituted an immutable law of standards and a specific standard for each and every class of social units or factors known to man. 1 started from a false premise and failed .to recognize nature’s only standard for correctly defining any and all commercial units. If we don’t know our destinat ion and the proper way thereto, we are not likely to arrive.

    Twenty-five years ago I quit the political arena because I refused longer to discuss publicly a subject of whose character and parts I was sublimely ignorant. I arrived in February, 1916. -

    I have been charged with boasting and peddling Karl Marx’s ideas under my own mental trade-mark. I plead, “Not guilty”.

    WhenWestinghouse informed Vanderbilt and other rail-magnates that air-brakes would prove a great boon to transportation and to humanity in life-saving, he was not boasting in stating a demonstrated fact; but he was turned down good and hard. When McCormick asserted that the binder would revolutionize small grain husbandry, he was not boasting; but he was turned down, and for years the public refused to acknowledge his great service. When that great boon to surgery, the formula for nitrous oxide gas, was made public it was refused and its author died, and even his name was forgotten before his great service was recognized. When I assert that the discovery of the standard of social values is the exact equivalent of all other discoveries, past, present, and future, T am not theorizing nor boasting. I state a great and dominant truth fully demonstrated and Verified to my intelligence. I know exactly what I’m talking about.

    Marx and Engels issued the great postulate that the worker is entitled to “production cost”, his entire product or its equivalent in other products in exchange, but the failure to demonstrate to the worker a method or rule by which he could correctly define and verify “production cost” left him stranded.

    Farm organizations demand of Congress a tariff on foreign products that will equalize “production cost” here. For farm organizations and Congress to discuss units of “production cost” or units of labor value when they cannot correctly define the character and nature of those units, do not know what they are talking about, is the climax of asinine stupidity.

    863 --Jt

    The fact is the “production cost” or labor -ji value of a given product is exactly the same the world over, and the currency that does not > recognize that plain fact is the child either of I,' ignorance or of knavery. After materials are ‘ assembled the “production cost” or labor value j of the Brooklyn Bridge will be exactly the same if erected in Australia, Egypt, or India as it is here. Units of labor energy are absolutely ■ stable in character and never vary in service or <:• value or use. ■

    A labor unit is any part of labor energy and ’ may be correctly defined by its results, units, * = or products, just as we correctly define units ■ of steam, heat, light, electricity, blood, and other energies by their visible and tangible units or products. The product or value is the exact '; equivalent of the energy employed in its production. • : .

    Duration is the only standard that recognizes . time units as its factors. The human mind can entertain hut one subject at a time. In all past ; aeons people have paid for time with little re- ' gard to the volume of service rendered.

    If I buy a cord of wood the personality of the chopper and time employed in chopping do not concern me in the least. I am buying fuel, - i and not investing in time and personal equations. They are incorporated in products and ' there are no indices for defining them. If Miss Robinson will demonstrate to me a method that v will correctly define time and personal equa- " tions of products, I will take off my hat to her i and remain “unkivered” till she gets by. I am . hungering for correct information on the ques- ’ tion raised. When Miss Robinson buys a pair of shoes she examines material and mechanism in detail, has no other index; and time and the personal equation are not even thought of. <

    If one man cuts two cords of wood while an- yi other cuts but one, the men should be paid for ~‘ actual service rendered by each without regard . to time. ~

    Labor energies of brain and brawn are always compounded in products. The simplest as well as the most complex labors of men and ani- ■' mals are always directed by brain neurons. A ■ crazy dog would be no good in a field trial. '

    Standards are natural agents over which men • 7 and nations have no jurisdiction. Man may, discover and employ a standard, but he cannot -A create one. Space, gravity, duration, altitude, -land, steam, electricity, nutrition, etc. etc,, are ,

    - ’ S64

    J* natural agents and standards, each correctly

    defining any and all units of its own kind or 7 class. Space or capacity defines all capacity or । space units from cubic inches to the universe.

    An army standard defines and includes all army units from the private to the commander-in-chief.

    The products of labor energies of brain and ■ • brawn include and define all commercial units from toothpicks to the sum total of all social . enterprises. Labor energy is the world’s only

    ; actual or real capital, the modern Atlas that

    carries the world of commerce on his back. A „ standard is the sum total of all units of its kind

    ■ or class, the culminating or greatest unit of its

    - kind or class. That is the law of standards.

    - The sum total of labor energies is equal to and includes “production cost” of all social factors , _ and is the only possible standard for defining

    : “production cost” or social values.

    f A surveyor or bridge contractor can take a

    blue-print of details and determine the exact “production cost” or labor value of a bridge of . defined character; but when he tries to define _ that cost with terms (currency) that have no

    stable meaning he is up against it, and his bid is a gamble.

    We learn by comparison. We test and verify the unknown by comparison to the known of

    Bbooxlyw, M.

    like character. With a defined unit of any kind to serve as a standard for comparison we can exactly determine its relative status to any other unit of the same character. With a three-inch longimetry unit for comparison we can deter- * mine the exact length value of any other longim- * etry unit. We define space, steam, gravity, ' 1 labor, and other values in like manner.

    Strictly speaking, there is no such thing as raw material. Organized matter is the product ,-t of natural energies. A mature tree is a finished i product.

    Governments issue certificates of credit \in different denominations to gold diggers for 7 labor performed, and these certificates are good -at face demands for other products. Why not i give certificates good at face value in other pro- ' ducts to potato diggers, coal diggers, and all , other workers, denominating the volume of serv- • ’ v ice rendered and demanded in exchange as de- ?-fined by the labor units denominated by the cer- -tificates? Such a currency will require no “Legal '« Tender Act”, will stabilize exchanges by correctly defining “production cost” or labor cost or value, eliminate bond issues and interest, do ’>•; away with social unrest, and restore natural re- L sources to the unrestricted service of humanity. . i

    ■ Anarchy Deliberately

    IN NO. 52, page 747, of The Golden Age, reference is made to a certain resolution ofC ferred to the New York County Committee of

    the American Legion, in support of law and ‘ order, which was rejected by that body.

    ■■■■ When the origin of the American Legion is

    ri considered, no surprise need be felt at any such

    ' attitude in respect to lawlessness on the part

    /)f these men. Apparently they were organized f by the Invisible Government and chartered by

    the Federal Government. According to the peti-I; tion of the Private Soldiers and Sailors Legion

    L of America, the American Legion was organized

    ’ - by Big Business for the very purpose of oppos-§ ing certain phases of Constitutional law and

    £ ■ order. The petition speaks for itself, and speaks I- loudly. The attitude of the American Legion

    towards freedom of speech and organized labor, and its insolent opposition to the release of Mr. £ Debs, tend to show that the Money Power father-

    tt. ed the organization. Through its officers the

    Planned By L. D. Barnes _

    rank and file of these boys have been organized 1 ■ to abridge the Constitutional rights of the . masses. If necessary to the plans of greed these boys may be used to shoot dpwn th^ir daddies, / ; their brothers, and their cousins in the time of ; trouble that the money sharks are forcing on ’ the people; that is, if their plans carry. The belief is gaining ground that the American- ' Legion is measurably under papal-empire con- ■ trol, with whatever that irpplies. • /

    The petition referred to is attached; and ~ doubtless, as the only truthteller extant, The Golden Age will wish to pass it on to its large s family of intelligent readers and to as many of -the boys as possible. * ;

    Mr. Michaelson, of Illinois, has offered a resolution in Congress for the investigation of these charges. ' i.

    [The petition of the Private Soldiers and Sailors Legion, Marvin Gates Sperry, National Chairman, asking for the revocation of the

    Mauch IB, 1922

    GOLDEN AGE

    charter of the American Legion on the ground that it is an anarchistic organization, is published in the Congressional Record of August 15, 1921, and reads as follows:

    On September 16,1919, the Congress, by special enactment, granted a charter to a group of men and their successors empowering them to of veterans of the World War American Legion.

    By reason of the possession

    organize an association under the name of the

    of this special charter,

    and because the organizers had been furnished by interests^ which have never been revealed with practically unlimited funds, the American Legion has come to be considered by the general public as an organization voicing the spirit and aspiration of all former service men. ' Ever since its organization the men in control of the American Legion have wrongfully assumed to represent the great body of veterans of the World War in matters of legislation, of public policy, and in many questions in which those leaders are personally interested, but about which the body of veterans as a whole care nothing. These leaders have become so overbearing and insolent in their assumptions that they are now, and for some time have been, presuming to give voice to the opinions of all former service men—those who do not belong to the American Legion as well as those who do. Their conduct in this regard has gone to such lengths that we feel that it has become incumbent on us to acquaint you, as the chartering power, with the actual facts.

    The real situation is this: A group of silk-stockinged officers met in France and determined on the formation of an association of veterans. Shortly thereafter, at a time when the Army was rapidly returning to the United States, a committee of hand-picked, self-constituted former officers, carrying out the line of action which had been determined on at the preliminary meeting in France, opened offices in New York and procured from unknown sources some hundreds of thousands of dollars, to be used in futherance of their ends. This committee prepared the constitution and by-laws for the proposed organization, which was to be known as the American Legion, and arranged for a meeting in St. Louis, at which the constitution and by-laws were to be adopted and the American Legion launched. The same New York committee supervised the selection of delegates to the St. Louis meeting by calling on the draft boards throughout the United States to hold meetings of former service men at which the delegates were to be selected. In each instance these meetings were restricted in their choice of delegates to officer's of the rank specified by the New York committee.

    By the terms of the charter of the American Legion and its constitution and by-laws its officers were Belected by the organizers, and the successors of these officers are still chosen by the same self-constituted interests on a self-perpetuating basis.

    We charge: •

    1. That the organizers and present officers of the American Legion organized it with tainted money, for the purpose of giving the men who placed themselves in its control an opportunity of misrepresenting the wishes and desires of former service men wherever such wishes and desires clashed with those of the unknown men who had furnished the money, and who are the real power behind the Legion.

    2. That the present officers of the American Legion have no authority to speak for the rank and file of veterans, either within or without the Legion.

    3. That the present officers of the Legion are receiving and paying out to themselves vast sums of money in ■ salaries and expenses, ostensibly because of the services they are rendering to former service men, when, in truth, their services and activities are not in the interest of the veterans but of the hidden group of men who furnished the secret funds for its organization. '

    4. That notwithstanding a clear and unequivocal provision in the law granting the American Legion its charter to the effect that a financial statement must be annually filed with Congress, no such statement has ever yet been filed. ’

    5. That in carrying out the orders of the unknown interests who furnished the funds for its organization the present officers of the American Legion have instigated and incited lawlessness in numerous instances. An examination of the facts in the cases of Arthur Clark-, Carpenteria, Calif.; Frederick Keis, Jr., Cincinnati ; Kate O’Hara, Minot, N. Dak.; former Senator J. Ralph Burton and Prof. Wilson, at Ellinwood Kans.— to mention only a few of these instances—will convince all fair-minded men that the perpetrators of these outrages should not be permitted to hide their offenses behind a Federal charter.

    6. That the leaders of the American Legion have pursued the settled, uniform policy of interfering with, and dictating to public schools and colleges, churches, : newspapers, public meetings, political assemblies, officers charged with the preservation of the public peace' and all persons and all activities which in any way threatened to endanger the interests of the secret financial backers of the Legion, and they still pursue this policy under the cloak of the Federal charter and without any authorization from the body of their members.

    7. That from the day of its organization the attitude of the officers of the American Legion toward labor, and especially toward organized labor, has been so virulent and hostile as to justify the inference that the secret funds secretly furnished for its organization were contributed for the express purpose of opposing the welfare of all men who work for wages, under the . specious guise of patriotism. ' - t

    We have no quarrel with our buddies who were induced by false pretenses to join the Legion. Our criticism is directed solely against the men who have mia-

    represented and exploited not only the rank and file of the American Legion, but ourselves and all other veterans as well; and we respectfully petition 'the Congress, in the interest of all former service men, to appoint a committee to examine into this matter, with the view of repealing the charter of the American Legion, bo that it may cease to cloak the scandalous and disgraceful conduct of a small coterie of self-constituted, self-perpetuating officials.—Ed.]

    At the Kansas City Convention of the American Legion, held in November, it was demonstrated that these fellows have no regard for established law but are a law unto themselves. That assembly was reported to have been a drunken carousal, all respect for law and order being trampled upon. It is stated that they took their jugs and bottles to the chief of police, and asked that official to keep them in custody until called for. This he did!

    Thus is demonstrated the weakness of the

    Conditions in England By t. a. h. Clark

    THE condition which impressed me most forcibly during my recent visit to England was that of unemployment, a condition which is of colossal importance and one which, unless prompt measures are taken for its alleviation, appears to be pregnant with possibilities of trouble in the perhaps not very distant future. It is apparent to a visitor that England is comparable with a much over-cultivated garden, which unless foreign fertilizer, in the form of commerce, is abundantly supplied, becomes at last incapable of nurturing its dense population. A thinning-out process and the cultivation of other fields through a scheme of emigration seem absolutely necessary. Unemployed are in evidence almost everywhere, in some districts more than in others. They can be seen with dejected mien, “hanging around” the labor exchanges and street corners. Varied are the efforts put forth to extract from the social soil sufficient nourishment to attend to daily needs. Some hawk small articles from door to door; others “sing” in the streets, casting wistful glances at the windows; others form into bands of musicians, forcing upon a bored public every variety of melody at unseasonable hours; while still others engage in the nocturnal profession ’of burglary. “Unemployables” are not wanting —those who prefer to drag along on the “dole” and to prop up the counters of “public houses”,

    Brooklyn, Ni

    public protectors in the face of a scourge. Thus j is demonstrated the anarchous tendency of the " times and we may easily surmise what will be the nature of the occurrences when the “four winds” are loosed and the resulting whirlwind.-/ of anarchy begins to increase in strength and rapidity.

    Of the disregard of the Kansas City Convention of the Legion for the prohibition amendment to the Constitution— the highest law of the land—the Joplin Tribune said:

    “Of the distinguished visitors who attended the American Legion convention, none was received with more royal acclamations than John Barleycorn.

    “With bonded labels like chevrons on his glassy shoulders, neck erect and his cock hat tipped jauntily fol immediately removal, Gen. John stalked through the downtown streets amid the cheers of hundreds of legion-aires.”

    falling further and further into the abyss of dejection and hopelessness.

    The housing problem still remains critical. At the same time that many families find themselves obliged to drag out an unsatisfactory existence in one or two rooms, a large number of houses stand empty—“For Sale” but not “For Rent”, their owners hoping to realize on them at a handsome profit. The building of new dwelling houses is negligible; and, although the building-material “ring” has allowed prices to drop slightly, it is unlikely that any marked activity will be noted until further progress is made in that direction. In the meantime, through the selfish greed of the “ring” private buildihg operations are suspended and the crying need of the people for increased housing accommodations remains disregarded. Most of the building of dwelling houses in the recent years has been carried out by the minicipal governments; and, although these constructions have been mostly designed as dwellings for the workers, their excessive cost places their rentals beyond the reach of that class.

    In the best residential districts of the West End of London there are large numbers of houses for sale. The owners, formerly belonging to the wealthy classes, but whose incomes have been depleted on account of Income Tax demands, find themselves obliged to reduce ex

    penses and move into smaller and less expensive abodes, or into hotels. Household staffs are being reduced, and butlers and other not absolutely essential servants dispensed with.

    Land is rapidly changing hands in England, and a new class of landowner is coming into evidence. “Small holders” are increasing. Many of the great estates are being divided up and portions disposed of; and ancestral halls are passing into the hands of war millionaires. Occasionally a duke or an earl announces that Jie is in financial -straits and that he will be forced to dispose of a portion of his estates.

    Hospitals are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Many of their former patrons have been obliged to cut. down charity expenditure, and it is said- that many of the newly rich do not fully appreciate their responsibilities in this regard.

    The recent prolonged drought in many districts has wrought considerable havoc. It has been necessary, in- some counties, to carry water long distances in order to supply the needs of cattle. Wells have gone dry, and rivers have decreased in content. It has even been said that, unless conditions show an early improvement, certain localities may become uninhabitable. It is estimated that for the past year there has been .a shortage in rainfall of about 12 inches. In some parts the lack of moisture has brought about the contraction of the soil to such an extent that the foundations of buildings have had to be reinforced or rebuilt. Prospects for agriculturists and cattle raisers for the coming season are unpromising.

    England is beginning to share the fate of America in the form of domination by “combines”. Milk is 8d per quart, as compared with pre-war price of 4d; while as regards its quality and the methods of distribution employed, these, compared with conditions of the industry in New York, are nothing short of a disgrace. One of the most enterprising London dailies, The Daily Express, has been making a campaign .for some time, to bring about better conditions in the milk supply business.

    Prices of necessities, with the exception of house rent, traveling, and coal, have fallen very considerably, and are in many cases back to prewar rates. A medium quality suit of men’s clothes can be bought for $20.00, while a good pair of shoes cost $4.00. Christmas fare—with the exception of turkeys, the price of which was

    “boosted” by heartless speculators from 28c. to $1.00 per pound—was reasonable, which enabled

    the average family to provide a more liberal

    table at the festive season than in the preced-

    ing post-war years. Internal trade, especially at the great sales of women’s goods, 'is brisk, in view of the prevailing low prices.

    …