Judge — February 21, 1925 — page 17: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

7, Norman Anthony An Epic An airplane under reasonably favorable conditions could probably make that distance between Nenana and Nome in a few hours. Maybe by the time this appears in print it will have done so, bringing enough diphtheria serum to Nome to last it a generation. But no dash by airplane, with all its perils, can ever provide the drama of that first trip by dog sled. That reached the propor- tions of a true epic and for a very concrete reason- man who conquered, not machinery. (To be sure there was Balto. But he embodied merely a canine projection of the strong will and stout heart of his master.) Go over in your mind those episodes of history that seem comparable in dramatic value with this epic of the snows—those Homeric fights under the walls of Troy David and Goliath, the first Marathon run, Leonidas ‘Thermopylae, Horatius at the Bridge, Arnold Winkel- ried, the Flight of the Tartars. Every one of them repre- sents a hand-to-hand conflict between man and man or man and Nature. In none does machine to share part of the glory or the tragedy. In the World War armies fought on the site of Troy with long range artillery and slaughtered as good men, and thousands more of them, as fought there 3,000 years ago. But who remembers that battle? Suppose David had had a machir or the Marathon runner a motorcycle, or Leonic French .75, or Winkelried a tank, or the Tartars Fords. Should we remember their exploits to-day? Hardly. That dog sled dash to Nome was a hand-to-hand fight with Nature every step of the agonizing way. It will live in history as long as men are more interested in men than in mechanics. it was y ent gun, Hurrah! Let's anticipate the rapidly approaching demise of the proposed Child Labor Amendment with a little ghoulish glee. Here's one sentimental plea to set up a bureaucracy in Washington that seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Apparently the American people have decided to call a halt on the bartering of their liberties for short-cuts to the millennium, which turn out to be gold bricks. To quote the learned and, of late, passionate Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler: The prompt and overwhelming defeat of the proposal to ratify the so-called Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is a new and heartening declaration of inde- pendence by the American people. It serves notice on the Congress at Washington that we shall be much obliged if that body will attend with more intelligence and more competence to the business that we have confided to it and leave us alone to manage our own private, local and State affairs. faswiate Editors, Williams Morris Houghton, W Eo » Edgar Fisher. Dramatic Editor, George Jean Nathan, The simple truth is that ct labor, is disappearing very ra abuses that still exist can be educ the jd labor, in so far a idly in the United moved in very short order by the ation of local public opinion and by pressing for action on rt of a small number of State Legislatures. nusly to propose that in order to deal with so simple a ation as this the ral form of Government must be aban- ned and national control over private and family life be insti- tuted to an amazing degree, was an affront to our intelligence as well as to our moral sense. If this indicates, as I believe it does, that the Am have had their volved in this d make some more ¢ an people rs opened to the fundamental principles in- ussion, then we are quite likely before long to nd striking progress of a not dissimilar kind ad grant, Prexy, that your faith is justified! Next! We wonder whether the Lord’s Day Alliance notes the handwriting on the wall. In addition to the Jones Bill now before Congress, which is designed to plunge the District of Columbia into Stygian gloom on Sundays, this organization is sponsoring a drastic bill in the New York Legislature to do the same thing to New York. It would forbid on Sunday all paid dramatic performances of every kind, both the spoken drama and the movies; it would forbid every sort of musical performance for which admission is charged, and every form of sport ditto. It would cut the garage man out of his Sunday repair trade. It would let the rich man play his golf, but forbid caddies to earn their fees and it would permit funerals to proceed, but without music, except as specially noted. Imagine Al Smith signing a bill like that! But New York won’ ways be lucky enough to have an Al Smith at Albany, and meanwhile it should not be forgotten that the Lord’s Day Alliance, like the Anti- Saloon League, is a national organization; its ultimate object is not state but national regulation of our Sunday habits. It d establishment in) Washington of some sort of beadle-in-chief like Roy Haynes who. despite our Al Smiths, shall send his minions hither and yon to rap our knuckles should we show any unseemly exuberance on Der Tag. For the fulfillment of | this dream, as we pointed out recently, it is using the same tics. employed so successfully by the AntiSaloon League. But the fate of the Child Labor Amendment en- courages the belief that it is going to get fooled. Amen! We who remain at home during the winter may not appreciate the service that such places as Miami and Palm Beach are doing us by draining off the Bryans, Hylans and other troublesome people. W.M. HW. comicbooks.com