The united American : a magazine of good citizenchip., September 01, 1924, Page 19, Image 19

SEPTEMBER, 1924
19
THE UNITED AMERICAN
A Tale from “the West” When It was Wild and Woolly
HE WESTERNER of a generation
ago is not the Westerner of today,
T
and it is therefore amusing to recall
some of the stories told of the old type.
One from an ancient number of the Com­
mercial Advertiser incidentally bears on
the custom of “tipping,” which has not
changed much in a half a century. The
article goes on to relate:
Those who had not “tipped” the
waiters received but tardy attention. It
chanced that one of this class, a big,
broad-shouldered fellow, with huge
whiskers, a régulai- basso profundo voice,
rough clothing, and a head of hair like a
buffalo’s frontlet, swaggered in, and,
with a free and independent air, took an
unoccupied seat at the dinner table.
It chanced that there figured upon the
bill of fare that day roast bear meat,
which was served as a sort of rarity, and
just as the newcomer sat down some was
ordered by a party of three gentlemen
opposite, who were promptly served.
“Say, waiter,” said the newcomer,
“bring me some er that b’ar meat.”
"Yessir,” said the white-jacketed at­
tendant, who left, but gave no further
heed to the order.
I The Western man sat quietly in his
place for five minutes, the chair on
either side of him having been imme­
diately turned up lest, some guest
equally objectionable to the head waiter
might get in at that point. After sitting
five minutes he grabbed hold of a waiter
who was passing behind him.
“Say, have you any b’ar meat for
dinner?”
‘Yes, sir.”
“Well, bring me some, and quick, too,
for I’m hungrier’n a hound.”
Away went the waiter, but he didn’t
return, and the color began to mount
into the face of the backwoodsman. He
•gave a third order, which was treated
with the same sublime contempt.
Patience could go no further; he seized
hold of the heavy dining plates that were
laid on either side of him and dashed
one after the other down violently upon
the table with a crash that smashed
them into pieces, brought the head
waiter and two or three others to him
in an instant, and started some of his
immediate neighbors to their feet in
[alarm.
“Look hyar,” said the cause of this
alarm, seizing the head waiter by the
arm, “kin I git waited on in this hyar
hotel and hev what I kin pay for?”
“Certainly, sir, yes, sir,” said the head
waiter, squirming ineffectually in the
grasp of the big left hand of the
Westerner that held him in an iron grip.
“Well, then, do you see that?” slap­
ping down a ten-dollar gold piece with
his right hand, and then throwing back
the upper part of his coat, from one
inside pocket of which protruded a re­
volver and from the other the' handle
of a huge bowie knife, “that’s my money
and here’s my weapons; ef you
Bon’t have a plate o’ that b’ar meat here
in two minutes I’ll rub some of you out.”
industrial councils. The development
and progress of intelligent citizenship,
will help materially in removing the.
stigma of lawlessness: political and in­
dustrial “hi-jacking,” from that broad
expanse we know as the West.
The citizen of foreign birth has been
a factor in building the industrial and
agricultural West. Let him take a part
in the political reconstruction that is
necessary to make the great West a
synonym for justice, where honor occu­
pies the high seat in all councils and
where all ipen stand equal when they
measure up in citizenship, regardless
of their faith, race or nationality.
Then, theWEST shall have come to
its own and the tale of “the Wild and
Woolly West” will be ended.
Released from his grasp the head
waiter retired and in a moment more
a plate of the desired delicacy was
placed before him.
“Anything else, sir?” said the now
obsequious waiter.
“Yes, take that,” pointing to the gold
eagle that still remained on the table,
“and bring two bottles of champagne
and four glasses.”
When the wine came, one of the
bottles and three glasses were passed
across the table to the three gentlemen
opposite.
“Gentlemen, I apologize for interrupt­
ing your dinner, but I had to do suthin’
to get waited on by these infernal
niggers. Won’t you take a drink with
me?”
It was thought best to humor him.
The old time “Westerner” has long
since crossed the river Stix and his
weapons are of no use to him, unless
he took the pagan road, via the rainbow
bridge, into the gun-t.oters and sword­
fencers Valhalla. The wildness of the
west, such as nature had wrought it,
has ceased to exist, save on the pages
that relate the tale of the conquest of
this glorious empire of summer and
beautiful sunsets. But much of the
early Westerner’s “rough stuff” in poli­
tics, in business, in law-enforcement and
in secret societies is still being practiced
by a certain type of “woolly” Westerner.
In many respects the early Westerner
was a saint compared with the latter
brood, for he always met his foe out
in the open. It was a man’s game of
physical prowess. There was no skulk­
ing in dark places with the face and
the figure hidden behind a mask. The
latter is a farcical adaptation of the
modern Westerner who lacks the
courage and the honorable manhood of
his antecedents. The game of “getting”
a man honestly, out in the open, a re­
ligion and rule of the early West, has
been displaced and a new code has been
adopted, in which stool-pigeons, sneaks
and liars play important roles. This
code justifies tricking an honest man
into seeming wrongdoing so that an ad­
versary of power and influence can
“get” him. It “justifies” the planting
of “evidence” on the premises of an
innocent man. Raids are conducted for
spite. The “law” is eventually used to
fasten appearance of guilt on the man
who happens to cross the path of the
modern bully in power. And the system
flourishes because the people are in­
variably too busy to give such matters
serious attention.
The spirit of justice, whose finger
print is visible all over the West, is
making slow progress against this
modern rough-stuff which is still a factor
in keeping down the immigration into
the West of that higher type of citizens
which eventually will come to power
and forever banish the cheating, lying,
falsifying trickster who sits in the high
seats in fraternal, social, political and
THE VENOMOUS SPIRIT.
In discussing historic strikes John
Mitchell once said to a Pittsburg re­
porter:
“Ari unjust strike never won yet. Too
many strikes were lost because too many
were begun hastily, in a venomous and
half-blind spirit.
“You know the spirit I mean? For
example— •
“A workman, decending a ladder, looks
up and says warningly:
‘Hold on there, Pete. Don’t get on
the ladder till I’m safe down. Can’t
you see how old and cracked she is?’
‘Ah, rats!’ said Pete, as he got on.
‘It would serve the boss right if he had
to buy a new one.’ ”
xMiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiifiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim
|
VALUABLE GLASSES
There is a real but often unsus-
| pected value in certain things you
I
buy.
The Honor and Integrity of the
| firm from whom you purchase your
f Eye Glasses is worth many times
| more than the price paid for the
g glasses.
|
Your surety of Satisfactory
i Service depends entirely upon this
| real but unpaid for value.
| For your next pair of glasses see
I
|
|
1
|
g
|
=
g
. |
g
I
| D. CHAMBERS & SONS
|
VISION SPECIALISTS
167 Broadway
Portland, Ore. |
TilllllllllllllllllllllllllHlllllIIIIllIllilillllIllllliinrrillilllHliliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitliiiiiuiL^
<HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII{||||llllll|||||||!lllll||||||||||||||||||||||||ll|||||||||||||||U
CLASSIFIED
Professions—Business
________ ATTORNEYS__________
g
NELS JACOBSON
806 N. W. Bank Bldg. Main 4416 =
DAVID E. LOFGREN
1030 Ch. of Com. Bldg. Brd’wy 0462 f
uumiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHi.c
The place to trade
|
STAPLES
The Jeweler
266 Morrison Street
1