Life — June 17, 1915 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

“ HYPHEN a fatiguing exercise and costly in life even when the Russians are short of ammunition, and when you have got a lot of Russians beaten there comes along a new swarm of them and it has all to be done over again. With all her deficiencies, Russia is still a considerable obstacle between any other European nations and world- Cae power, io AFTER four years of hearings and rumination the United States Circuit Court, sitting at Trenton, de- cided (on June 3rd) that the United States Steel Corporation is a lawful compound and need not be dissolved. The gist of the decision is that the Steel Trust does not unduly restrict competition nor unduly obstruct the course of trade, and therefore is not subject to the corrective powers of the Sherman Law. The court justified the Steel Corporation in the pur- chase of the Tennessee Coal & Iron Company (incidentally justifying Pres- ident Roosevelt's course in that mat- ter) and commended it for the up- right manner in which it has done business. For a big corporation to do business under the Sherman Law has been of late years a sort of egg-dance, and this decision certified that the Steel Trust has done its steps with the nicest skill and not so much as cracked an egg. The decision will be appealed, but that is a matter of course, since in so important « matter the sentiments of the highest court had better be recorded. Wall Street was pleased and stocks went up. Wall Street is a good deal more hopeful than it lately was of re- maining on the map. BULLITIONS of discourse issue from Mexico in consequence of the recent broad hint of President Wilson to the chieftains there to get together and pacify the land. Sefior Carranza’s friends report that General Villa is about finished, which may be true, but the Sefor is apt to be opti- mistic about the proximity of General Pancho's extinction, The broad hint, however, seems to be doing some good. Even Mexicans must realize that it is time that Mexico had a rest, but it will not be a real rest except as Uncle Sam insists upon it; and just how Uncle Sam is going to man- age to bring it about, and when brought maintain it, is a very inter- esting problem, One can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs; neither can you make a good one if the eggs are bad. Plenty of Mexican eggs have HYPHEN—WHO'S GOT THE HYPHEN?” been broken, but good eggs are very scarce in the Mexican basket. Defilers Even of War HEN General Sherman said war was hell he didn't know about modern German war methods, The General had a good command of lan- guage, and if he had known about Belgium, the Lusitania, the gas con- trivance and such things he could have expressed himself adequately. It was said of an English king by his con- temporaries: “Foul as it is, hell itself is defiled by the fouler presence of John.” So it may be said of war: Hellish as it was, the Germans have defiled it. The best that can be said for them is that a good part of the dreadfulness of contemporary war is due to the increased control of man over the powers of nature, The Germans have brought war up to the date of the mechanical millennium, That excuses the legitimate use of Zeppelins, acro- planes, submarines and all the new guns, but it does not excuse forty years of steady preparation to ter- rorize and plunder Europe, nor the breach of faith with Belgium and the dreadful dealings there with non- combatants, nor such horrors as the sinking of the Lusitania. The Germans have been more than efficient. They have been terribly cruel, terribly greedy, Millions of them must realize that the leadership to which they have submitted has made dreadful havoc with their reputation as a civilized people.