ENTRE NOUS

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 913, 11 January 1918, Page 11

ENTRE NOUS

THEY make no bones aboivb tarringand. feathering I.W.W. mischiefmakers in the Land of: the Almighty Dollar.' In a town eailled Tulsa in •Oklahoma as recently as November last, seventeen members of the Indus--fcrial Workers of. the World were taken from policemen, flogged with "a.cat-o'-.nine-tails, and tarred and feathered by a band of sixty ' •black-fobed and iiooded "Knights of Liberty." With -fche warning "Never return to Tulsa," the I.W.W.'s were started through the '- brush away from the town, followed by .a fusillade of shots. The policemen . in charge of the prisoners were forced to drive the motor cars to a rendezvous in a ravine near the city, and watch the work of the "Knights," none of whom was recognised because •of the disguises. When the party arrived at the ravine the Industrial Workers were ordered to strip to the waist. A- circle of motor cars was -drawn about a tree, and in the glare of the headlights man after man was -tied up and lashed, on the back until the blood rah. Hot tar then was applied 1 and handfuils of feathers thrown into the tar. After the beating and tarring the half-naked men ' were •driven into: the brush, and.nothing has "been seen of them since. During the flight the streets of Tulsa were placarded with printed signs bearing this •warning: •"Notice to I.W.W.'s : "Don't let the sun set oh you in Tulsa. VIGILANCE COMMITTEE." * * * * When the residence of J. Edgar Pew, Vice-President of the Carter Oil Company ,was blown up at Tulsa on October 29; by a nitro-glycerine bomb, city, Slate, and Federal officials asserted that it was the result of .an I.W.W. plot to terrorise the oil industry of which Tulsa is a centre. The xeign of terror, it was said, was scheduled to begin on November. 1. But Tulsa took the law into its , own iiands and checked the I.W.W. campaign of crime. * * * . * How largely -the high cost of living . is due to the profiteering which is .going on among ship-owning companies, the following facts will show. Twenty years ago, owing to the competition among shipowners, cargo was being, shipped in steamers from New' "York to' New Zealand at 10s per ton, which is equal to 3d per foot. To-day" -the ruling rate by sailing vessels is one dollar per foot which, at the current rate of exchange, works, out at about 4s 4d per foot. Insurance formerly was . from one-half to threequarters per cent. ■, but is now up to . from 7 to 8 per cent. No wonder that the shipping companies are making •colossal profits and. that - the- cost of living to-the people at large, who are the consumers of sea-borne goods, ieeps on soaring. * * . . '* * Many of the leaders of the Russian "Peace" Party have assumed Russian ••aJliases. For instance, Lenin's . true name is Zederblum, and among his •colleagues and co-workers are men who liave abandoned these names:—Feldmann, Helfandt, Erstenburg, Spielblaum, Bronstein, Rosenfeld, Goldanari, Zederbaum, Himmer, Krach-

maim, and Hollander. The list is sufficient to demonstrate dearly enough who are the peacemakers in Russia, and what kind of a peace they are likely to make. a ■ •* * * He was on week-end leave- from Trentham and was lavishing his 5s 6d a. day in piuneely style on . the pert damsel he was escorting. They had been to the pictures, for a tram-ride, and were now going to suck liquid refreshment through a long straw at the Crystal Bar or some such soft drinkery. Here they ran in to another soldier, to whom the former introduced his-donah.' "Sergeant—-riiy -.sister! "he said in his most gallant style. "Oh, . yes," observed the sergeant, "I know; she was mine once." . . Chinese chauffeurs are quite the latest craze in fashionable and most "superiah" Boston. Evidently John is just as - successfuil as a. "shover" as he is at growing big-hearted cabbagee. At least that is the, practical opinion of a wealthy Boston dame when asked if she found her new Chinese chauffeur satisfactory. "Indeed,- T do!" was her ready reply, "He's perfectly fine. To> begin with, his yellow complexion is such that at the end of a long, dusty trip, he doesn't show airy spots, and when I am out in the limousine I always have his pig-tail stuck through a little hole in the window and I use it. as a sort of bell-rope to tell him where to stop." ""

Costs had just presented his client with his hill for services rendered in a compensation case. It was a- nice Christmas box, and the. poor client fairly staggered as he glanced down the enormous 'list of charges enumerated in items, and when at last he arrived at the sum total he gushed: — "Merciful heavens, man, your bill is outrageous ! You are taking, four-fifths of my damages! I never heard of such extortion!" "I furnished," said Costs, in cold, professional tones, -''the eloquence, and the legal learning for your case." "Yes, but I," said the

client, ruefully thinking of his. injuries, -"I,furnished the case itself:" "Bosh," 3 sneered Costs. ."'Anybody, can fall down a coal-hole.'' a • * * . : That the spirit of Florence Nightingale still lives has been proved a thou-sand-fold in this war. Only recently a. number of war nurses were. decorated for heroic conduct, some actually under fire. One instance -is that of a nurse who, hearing that a soldier was so badly injured that he could not be moved to be .'carried in on an ■] ordinary stretcher, went out to attend to him. She stayed beside him three hours un!til the stretcher bearers came back with a special stretcher, and when she quietly fainted - away it was found she

had sustained a bad wound during her vigil- * • * . * * A propos of these decorations for nurses, great disgust was expressed in Blighty- when it was suddenly discovered that a great difference has been made between the recognition of the nurses' and the soldiers' heroism. The sisters are accorded official rank, and are rated as lieutenant, captain, and even colonel. While they have to upheld all the etiquette and obligations, yet in the bestowal of decorations their rank is not recognised. So correspondents are pertinently asking in the English press why "nursing sisters are given the Military Medal instead of the officers' equivalent, the Military Gross as their rank entitled? *.»**► Here's a feather in the cap of the dear creatures. An Anzac, writing from a hospital in Kent, states: "The. canteen'"has now been taken over by women, and it is something like a canteen. You can get all * sorts of hot dishes and hot drinks, and on cold, wet, and windy nights they axe most acceptable. To show what a success these women have achieved on the monetary side, in one day they took £26 more than did the men." He goes on to' say that, despite the price of food, "it is surprising what a lot one can get for so little," «. » Br "What will now become of the Australian soldiers at the Front? Will they be left to fight it out unreinforced to; the end of Armageddon or will the British military aivtihorities give the men a holiday in celebration of Australia's rejection of conscription? This, states Melbourne "Table Tailk," is a nut for the new Prime Minister of Australia to crack. Of course, he may .elect to leave it unattacked and turn his attention to the cracking of the nut of rabid anti-eon-soriptionists by attempting to force

the twice-rejected policy-on the counfrr- , But m order to do this .he will need to liave an army at the back of 7 him, and, according to the correct and audited military figures, there is no army in Australia now. ".*'. '-' '■* V* ;"-.•■'';• * ' A couple of weeks ago ; the Free ■ -bANCE drew attention to a report, that the rum ration of the New Zealanders on -the \Vestern Front had been stopped. A propos of this, the other day we were shown an extract from a soldier's letter which seems- to indicate that rum rations have not been fe tabooed altogether on the "Western Frontr— at all events not up ttf the date' of the letter. The letter in question, was written from "Somewhere in France" on the 30th October, and received m Wellington on the 18th December.- The extract reads : —"Have just received my rum ration (and it is jolily decent); warms, a fellow up these cold nights." • - \ ' -'■ , • a * ''*■"":■**•■'.• : . .:■ . Insurance:" "Say, Bizzy, you always ■" seem to have a- good-looking typiste. Where do you find them?" Bank:' Usually m the rear office arranging their hair." . . * * :- ' *''.•■. At a certain up-country wedding ;' last week* the happy pair l were about to leave on the honeymoon trip—the motor car being quite" ready at the. door—when the younger brother of the bride struck his glass with a knife, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, as the young couple are about to leave us, I' will cut my remarks short. I invite each and all of you to take up your glasses, rise to your feet, and—see if one of you has. not been sitting on hit new hat!" * .* r