The Meridian Tribune (Meridian, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 1917 Page: 6 of 8
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THE MERIDIAN TRIBUTE
A CAGOR
DAY STORY
His Holiday
AL
Arthur
• *
Price
PTSHE Labor day procession was
1 coming down the street. The
■ first man in it was six feet
4 four inches tall, with a bear-
skin hat on his head that raised him
to seven feet. He was the drum ma-
jor of the band and was twirling his
big silver-headed staff and throwing
fit into the air with fine jugglery. Be-
hind him came the band. Then came
the different unions marching in line,
every man looking happy on this clear
'September day that he could lay aside
his hammer or his trowel or whatso-
ever tool best represented his trade
and step out to the inspiring strains
of martial music.
Among those who lined the side-
walk, occupied the steps of the build-
ings or climbed the lamp-posts along
the line of march was a certain Mrs.
O’Toole, who had recently come over
from Ireland. With her was her son
Daniel, six years old. The mother was
standing with the crowd on the curb,
but Danny was perched with leg on
each side of a horizontal piece of iron
under the lamp, straining his eyes to
eatch the first glimpse of sunlight that
would strike the brass horns of the
band.
The drum major passed, the band
passed, the grand marshal and his aids
"Which?" Cried Danny.
passed. Then came the carpenters’
union, the plumbers’ union and the ma-
sons’” union.
"Oh, Danny,” cried Mrs. O’Toole,
“there's your father!"
J Now, Danny O’Toole had known
ever since he was old enough to know
anything that his father had left him
and his mother in Ireland, when
Danny was a baby, to come to Amer-
fica. He was to send money home and
when he got enough together to send
for his wife and boy he would do so.
'For awhile letters had come from him,
then they had ceased. His wife had
come to America to look for' him.
D "Which?" cried Danny.
/ "The man on the far side, him with
the red head. Call him.”
A Danny, knowing only one'way to at-
tract his parent’s attention, shouted
“Redhead!” with all the power of his
little lungs. The man heard him and,
turning his head, saw a kid on a lamp-
post waving his hat at him. Then,
(lowering his eyes, he saw his wife
looking in his direction. Leaving the
tranks, he came across the street, el-
bbowed his way through the crowd to
[his wife, and she fell into his arms.
Meanwhile, Danny, seeing that he
was not getting his share on this fam-
iy reunion, dropped down on his fa-
ther with one leg on each shoulder.
His father pulled him down into his
arms.
“The child?” asked O’Toole.
“Yes. It’s Danny.”
Danny got a hug that made him cry
out, and, drawing off as far as he
could, he punched his hugger with his
little fist.
“Don’t you hurt me that way ag’in !"
he said, fiercely.
“Oh, Danny,” said Mrs. O’Toole,
Jaughing through her tears, “your fa-
ither’s so glad to see you.”
That ended the O’Toole family’s in-
terest in the Labor day procession.
-D’Toole went with his wife and boy
ito their rooms, where he explained
his long silence. He had been sud-
Idenly taken ill and attacked with loss
of memory. It had partially returned
to him and he had written his wife,
but she had already left Ireland for
America.
That was a number of years ago.
Since then Danny O’Toole has grown
to be a stalwart young fellow, has
(learned his trade and can swing a
sledgehammer with any man. And
when Labor day processions march
down the street between admiring
•crowds Danny is sure to be among
them. And he takes a great interest
in the day because it is the anniver-
sary of his first meeting with his fa-
then in America and of his family re-
union.
(Copyright, 1917, by the McClure Newspa-
per Syndicate.)
1
! J
Photo by George Alsop.
•ODAY we pay a tribute to the power behind the throne-
1 the man who sweats and delves and toils for everything
we own. He plots our channels, paves our streets, he
steers the ship of state, he holds within a giant's grasp great
engineering feats. He walks out to catastrophes with steady,
fearless eye. he looks on death a thousand times — he’s not
afraid to die He hears big speeches in his praise, he smiles
(and well he may) he Knows his power and what we Keep in
this, his holiday.
POVERTY RECOGNIZED
AS SOCIAL DISEASE
Leaders of Thought Say Its Dis-
appearance Will in Time Be
Effected by Adoption of
Wise Social Party.
Alfred W. Greeley in Pennsylvania
Grit.
It is not to die, or even to die of hun-
ger, that makes man wretched; many
men have died; .all men must die. . . .
But it is to live miserable we know not
why; to work sore and yet gain nothing;
to be heat-worn, weary, yet isolated, un-
related, girt in with cold, universal lais-
sez faire—Thomas Carlyle.
T T IS beginning to be recognized
I that the great bulk of the burden
1 of poverty is as unnecessary and
preventable as smallpox or tuber-
culosis. Just as tuberculosis is a
physical disease, so poverty is a dis-
ease of the social organism. It is
probably the greatest burden humanity
staggers under and it exacts directly
and indirectly its toll from all mem-
bers of society. Why should there be
hungry mouths when the proper culti-
vation of even one state of the Union
would furnish sufficient food for our
whole population? Why should mil-
lions shiver underclothed every winter
when we are able to furnish textiles
for the whole world? Why should
there be grim periods of unemploy-
ment with vast natural resources yet
untouched? These and similar ques-
tions are beginning to demand an an-
swer that must be more than a smug,
hypocritical shouldering of the respon-
sibility upon Providence.
Poverty Never Essential.
I The conquest of poverty is now an
economic possibility. It is definitely
within reach if we are willing to pay
for it and formly desire its achieve-
ment. The campaign, many of its fea-
tures now in development, is mainly
one of social and economic betterments
for the correction of social injustice,
for the increase of the earning power
of labor and capital, not one but both
as a unit of efficient production; for
the prolongation of human life through
public sanitation and hygiene, together
with preventive medicine in a war on
preventable disease; for the salvage
of the deficient and defective classes
of society, and for the rectification of
underpayment and the prevention of
unemployment, understood as involun-
tary idleness of competent workmen.
Every factor of human betterment is
doing its part directly or indirectly,
in this war upon poverty.
Social Surplus a Necessity.
The success of this battle with pov-
erty is contingent upon the existence
of a social surplus, the basis of all so-
cial well-being. That is, as a nation
we must produce goods or services
much in excess of our immediate needs
of subsistence. And we are doing that
today upon a scale never before known
in the world. It has made us the rich-
est nation with wealth estimated at
something close to $250,000,000,000. It
is an intolerable condition that when
there is enough and more than ehough
to feed all that any should hunger,
save, perhaps, the chronicaliy criminal
and the unemployable of various anti-
social types.
: SELF HELPS for the
: NEW SOLDIER.
$ By a United States Army Officer
i
i
i
---------------------------------..-.--.....--.--
(Copyright, 1917, by the Wheeler Syndicate, Inc.)
THE PLATOON.
In the preceding articles on the
school of the company, the platoon
has purposely been left out of consid-
eration.and the attention confined to
the squad and company. The reason
was that the principles upon which
platoon movements are executed are
based on those of the squad and com-
pany; for the platoon, consisting of
from two to four squads, is simply
a company on a reduced scale, or a
squad on an enlarged scale, and is
handled, generally speaking, accord-
ingly. Moreover, when the new sol-
dier, after drill in the school of the
squad, is first placed in the school of
the company, he is taught the appli-
cation of his squad movements in com-
pany formation, and this supplies the
natural connection between squad and
company evolutions.
The platoon, as has been said before,
is to the company what the company
is to the battalion. In a war-strength
company there are four platoons, and
in either a peace or war strength bat-
talion there are four companies. It
is therefore apparent that such move-
ments as “Company right (left),”
which are for the purpose of throwing
a column of companies into line of the
battalion, are simulated with “Platoons
right (left),” by turning the platoons
on a fixed pivot into a line of the com-
pany.
As pointed out in connection with
“Company right (left),” the movement
is the same in principle as “Squad
right (left)”; but since a platoon con-
sists of two, three or four squads (we
shall assume hareafter that the pla-
toon is at the war strength of four
squads, or 32 men), in such points as
the rules vary between squad and com-
pany “right,” the platoon follows the
rules for the company.
The reason for the subdivision of the
company into four platoons, instead of
two, as formerly, is that modern battle
conditions have demonstrated that
from twenty to thirty rifles are as
many as can be effectively .controlled
by one leader. The platoon is there-
fore the fire unit, as we shall see when
we take up extended-order drill for the
company.
The platoons are commanded as fol-
lows: The platoon on the right of the
line, by the first lieutenant; the pla-
toon at the -left of the line, by the
second lieutenant; the platoon at
right center, by the first sergeant, and
the platoon at left center, by the ser-
geant next in rank.
Each platoon has a sergeant for
guide, and the file closers are distrib-
uted according to their posts behind
the line of the company. The musi-
cians march as file closers with the
first platoon.
The platoons are numbered consecu-
tively from right to left, and these des-
ignations do not change. Since the
platoon is the fire unit,’its usefulness
is most apparent in extended order;
but it is also frequently employed in
marches, on the parade ground, or in
the armory. In parades through the
streets of a city a company front of
64 men would generally be impossible;
also, a company front of 32, or two
platoons, is frequently too wide. The
column of platoons formation, there-
fore, of a war strength company would
give a front 16 men wide, and this
would accommodate itself to streets
which were too narrow for the two-
platoon front.
Nevertheless, in garrison or ceremo-
nies, the strength of platoons may, if
desirable, exceed four squads. That is,
under such circumstances, the com-
pany might be divided into two pla-
toons of eight squads each.
Civilization has kept pace with in-
creased economic production. “Start-
ing from a rude social order wherein
bare and uncertain existence was the
most that man could wrest from na-
ture, society has attained an incred-
ible economic productivity by the de-
velopment of intellectual force and
manual dexterity, by the more efficient
arrangement of its own powers, and
most of all by the discovery and utili-
zation of natural energies. The dif-
fusion of comforts, the possibilities of
luxuries, the rise of arts and letters,
the spread of culture—in a word, the
development of civilization is the con-
sequence of increased economic pro-
duction.” And furthermore, we can
place no limit to the future rate of in-
crease in production clearly assign-
able. 1
The history of the United States
illustrates the working of this prin-
ciple which has ousted the gloomy,
pessimistic prophecy of Malthus. From
1850 to 1900 the population increased
226 per cent, while the production of
the eight great Cereals increased 409
per cent. And what is true of our agri-
cultural products is also true even to
a greater extent of iron and steel, tex-
tiles and other manufactures. Our per
capita wealth in 1850 was $307. It is
now supposed to be about $1,800 or
$2,000.
Workers’ Condition Bettered.
Together with this great increase in
national production and wealth, with
the creation of a great unprecedented
social surplus, has gone a wonderful
betterment in the condition of the
working classes. Wages have risen,
expenditures have increased for non-
physical satisfaction; the deposits in
savings banks have augmented; the
per capita consumption of wheat,
sugar and meat have grown; the death
rate has declined, and, taken alto-
gether, there has been a steady and
unprecedented improvement in the
condition of the workers.
But the creation of this huge social
surplus has not removed the challenge
of .want; it has not destroyed the.
menace of poverty. It has only made
a solution of a bitter problem possi-
ble. While there is no doubt that the
intensity of poverty is less today than
in the past, even in this country, yet
the challenge of poverty and its con-
sequent /misery still stands wolflike at
our threshold. In the words of Profes-
sor Hollander: “The root of the
problem lies deeper. Poverty, like cer-
tain of its primary causes, is a phase
of modern industry. The very forces
which increase, the national product
and enlarge the social surplus, if left
to . themselves, breed conditions of
want. -. . . Far from diminishing
with increased wealth production, the
misery resulting from such causes is,
in the face of social inaction, likely to
augment and intensify. Society may
grow richer, civilization may advance,
and yet poverty continue to gnaw can-
cer-like at its vitals.”
Our enormous national wealth with
its unprecedented social surplus, our
vast natural resources which we are
conserving in time, our national ideals
and aspirations for social, political and
industrial justice, are the factors
which, sooner or later, may give us the
unique distinction of being the world’s
first nation to abolish poverty.
PLATOON COMMANDS.
When the company is in line, to form
columns of platoons, the command is,
“Platoons right (left).” This is exe-
cuted by each platoon as in the school
of the company.
The right flank men in the front
rank of each platoon face to the right
in marching and mark time. The other
front rank men oblique to the right,
place themselves abreast of the pivot
men, and mark time. In the rear rank,
the third man from the right in each
platoon (followed in column by the
second and first) moves straight to the
front until in the rear of his front rank
man. Then all three face to the right
in marching and mark time. The re-
maining men of the rear rank move
straight to the front for four paces,
oblique to the right, place themselves
abreast of the third man, cover their
file leaders and mark time.
Before executing this movement with
platoons, the captain makes it a point
to see that the guides on the flank
toward which the movement is to turn
are covering—that is, are in a straight
row, so that the pivot men, whose po-
sitions are governed by those of the
guides, will also be in a straight row,
which will bring the platoons into a
precise column. This is effected by
previously announcing the guide to
that flank.
Following the command, “Platoons
right (left), MARCH,” the concluding
command is to the company as a
whole—“Forward, MARCH,” or “Com-
pany, HALT.”
Being in columns of platoons, to
change direction, the command is, “Col-
umn right (left), MARCH.” At the
preparatory command, the leader of
the first platoon turns to the right on
a moving pivot;, then its leader com-
mands, “Forward, MARCH,” at the
completion of the turn. Rear platoons
march squarely up to the turning point
of the leading platoon and turn at the
command of their leaders.
When a company is in a column of
squads, and it is desired to form a
line of platoons, the command “Pla-
toons, column right (left)” is given.
e This is executed by each platoon as
already described for me company.
The leading squad of each platoon exe-
cutes a right turn, and four parallel
columns of squads advance in line of
platoons. .
When the company is in line, to form
line of platoons, the command may be
either, “Squads right (left), platoons,
column right (left), MARCH,” or “Pla-
toons right (left), by squads, MARCH.”
The first command is explained by ref-
erence to the preceding paragraph,
while the second is executed by each
platoon separately as “Right (left) by
squads” in the school of the company.
Being in column of platoons, to form
the company line on the right or left,
the command is as follows: “On right
(left) into line, MARCH.” . . . “Com-
pany, HALT!" At the preparatory
command, the leader of the first pla-
toon gives “right turn.” At “March,”
the platoon turns .to the right on a
moving pivot. The command “Halt”
is given when the leading platoon has
advanced the desired distance. At the
“Halt” its leader commands “Right
dress.” The other platoons march ex-
actly as though they were squads when
this order is given to the company in
column of squads. ’
“Platoons, right (left) front into
line” is executed as described by
squads in the school of the company.
The dress for “Platoons, right front
into line,” would be on the left squad
of the left platoon.
EXTENDED ORDER.
The purpose of the close order drill
through which we have just been put
with the company is threefold : In the
first place, it confers the benefits cited
at the beginning of this series, namely,
discipline and uniformity of movement.
In the second place, by pleasing the
eye with the movements, it not only
teaches with concrete example the
fundamentals of military precision, but
contributes an important moral ele-
ment known as esprit de corps. A
company which is in the height of
drilling or marching together has a
vastly better spirit than one which,
however well trained as individuals,
has been assembled but a short time.
The third benefit is a practical or me-
chanical expression of the second. This
is “teamwork.”
Teamwork is so important to troops
in combat that the infantry drill regu-
lations select this athletic term in pref-
erence to . the whole military glossary
to explain the combination of ele-
ments required by a unit for success-
ful action. Teamwork is indispensable,
and teamwork can only be learned, to
begin ‘with, in close order, just as
teamwork with a football squad can be
properly learned only by signal prac-
tice. But well-developed teamwork is
the more indispensable with deployed-
units because the comparatively wide
fronts increase the difficulties of con-
trol. This brings us to the considera-
tion of extended order.
Because of the increased difficulties
of control, noncommissioned, officers
are given great latitude in the execu-
tion of extended order work. We have
already seen, in the article devoted to
the corporal, how that individual’s im-
portance increased the moment the
squad was deployed in line of skirmish-
ers. The success of the whole, in fact,
in the word of the regulations, “de-
pends largely upon how well each sub-
ordinate co-ordinates his work with the
general plan.”
In further illumination of this state-
ment, officers and men are instructed
that “it is far better to do any intelli-
gent thing consistent with the aggres-
sive execution of the general plan
than to search hesitatingly for the
Ideal. This is the true rule of conduct
for subordinates—who are required to
act upon their own 'initiative.”
But subordinates are immediately
warned that independence must not be-
come license. The subordinate officer
should at all times have the general
plan of action in mind and cause his
own acts to conform thereto. The test
is for him to ask himself whether he
is reasonably sure that his superior
in the given circumstances would issue
the identical order. If the order he
receives is obviously based upon an
incorrect view of the situation, is im-
possible of execution, or has become
impracticable because of changes
which have occurred since its promul-
gation, the subordinate is compelled to
use his own judgment and take the re-
sponsibility upon himself, if he is un-
able first to communicate the situa-
tion to his superiors.
These instructions are directed to
officers primarily, but they are rela-
tively true of the responsibility which,
devolves upon the squad or platoon
leader, and for.this reason have their
places in the consideration of the com-
pany when deployed in line of skir-
mishers.
Are We Living Too Fast?
Life in the great centers of the Unit-
ed States has gained such impetus
that it makes few pauses in its rush
toward its own destruction. It hur-
ries us along in its current of excite-
ment, battering us against jagged
rocks that jut across it from all an-
gles, poisoning us, polluting our blood
with emotions that eat up red corpus-
cles, and draining our sensibilities of
their natural responsiveness.
Waste of physical energy is scarcely
worse than waste of --mental forces.
Life ceases to be enjoyable that mo-
ment in which we leave off wondering
at it, when it no longer surprises us;
when it no longer has unexplored vis-
tas, unexpected romances and adven-
tures, when our jaded palates are cal-
loused beyond the possibility of antici-
pation,—Exchange.
What Came From Reading
a Pinkham Adver-
tisement. .
Paterson, N. J. — "I thank you for
the Lydia E. Pinkham remedies as they
have made me well
and healthy. Some-
time ago I felt so
run down, had pains
in my back and side,
was very irregular,
tired, nervous, had
such b ad dreams,
did not feel like eat-
ing and had short
breath. I read your
advertisement in
the newspapers and
decided to try a bottle of Lydia E. Pink-
ham’s Vegetable Compound. It worked
from the first bottle, so I took a second
and a third, also a bottle of Lydia E.
Pinkham’s Blood Purifier, and now I am
just as well as any other woman. I ad-
vise every woman, single or married,
who is troubled with any of the afore-
said ailments, to try your wonderful
Vegetable Compound and Blood Purifier
and I am sure they will help her to get
rid of her troubles as they did me." —
Mrs. ELSIE J. Van der SANDE, 36 No.
York St., Paterson, N. J.
Write the Lydia E. Pinkham Medicine
Co., (confidential) Lynn, Mass, if you
need special advice.
GREEN MOUNTAIN
ASTHMA
TREATMENT
Standard remedy for fifty
years and result of manyyears
experience in treatment’ ol
throat and lung diseases by
Dr. J. H. Guild.
Free Sample and Practical
Treatise on Asthma, its cause,
A treatment, etc., sent upon re'
D quest. 25c. & $1.00 at druggists
J. H. GUILD CO., Rupert, Vt
WINTERSMITHS
Y (MILTONIC
Sold for 47 years. For Malaria,Chills
and Fever. Also a Fine General
Strengthening Tonic. e°co?u^?£ *"
gas nrrsgn Watson E. Coleman,Wash-
PATENTS Wat REroren 8no Bem re Ufa.
Described.
"What is a practical joke?”
“A fool’s attempt to make a fool out
of the other fellow.”
NO MALARIA—NO CHILLS.
"Plantation” Chili Tonic is guaranteed
to drive away Chills and Fever pr your
money refunded. Price 50c.—Adv.
Compliments of the Day.
Soldiers have to do their own mend
ing, when it is done at all, and it ap-
pears—although few persons would
have guessed it—that the thoughtful
war office supplies .them with outfits
for that purpose. Otherwise, this joke
from the Journal of the American Med-
ical association would be impossible:
Everything was ready for kit inspec-
tion; the recruits stood lined up ready
for the officer, and the officer had his
bad temper all complete. He marched
up and down the line, grimly eying
each man’s bundle of needles and soft
soap, and then he singled out Private
MacTootle as the man who was to re-
eive his attentions.
“Toothbrush?” he roared.
“Yes, sir.”
“Razor?”
“Yes,' sir.”
“Hold-all?”- Tlm
“Yes, sir.”
“Hm ! You’re all right, apparently,”
growled the officer. Then he barked,
“Housewife?”
“Oh, very well, thank you," said the
recruit, amiably; “how’s yours?”
Lost His Protection.
A Kansas City man, who is very ac-
tive in the affairs of his lodge, was
passing the week end at Excelsior
Springs, a near-by minera. water re-
scrt. He confided to a friend that he
would like to scrape an acquaintance
with a striking-looking woman they
were both admiring.
“Why don’t you try?” asked, the
friend.
“Couldn’t think of flirting with her,”
came the horrified reply. “Her hus-
band and I are brother lodge mem-
bers.”
The next week end the friend again
went to the springs..On one of the
prominent promenades _he soon saw
the lodge member and the striking-
looking woman they had admired,
walking arm in arm, and apparently
much taken up with each other. At
the first chance he asked his friend
for an explanation.
“Thought her husband was a lodge
brother of yours,” he said.
"Oh, that’s all right,” was the an-
swer. “I looked him up on the books,
and he hadn’t paid his dues!”—Every-
body’s Magazine.
"No bowl is too
big when it holds
Post .
Toasties
— 03006)
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Dunlap, Levi A. The Meridian Tribune (Meridian, Tex.), Vol. 23, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, August 31, 1917, newspaper, August 31, 1917; Meridian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1630296/m1/6/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Meridian Public Library.