Monthly Archives: August 2010

“Old Bill” Suggests— A man driving an automobile in 1910 was roundly berated by two women because the machine, although driven slowly, frightened the staid horse attached to their buggy. “You have no business bringing those crazy machines around, scaring … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— Under a chill gray wind-swept sky, where gulls wheeled and dipped above white lines of thundering surf, two barefoot little boys stood on the hard-packed beach considering treasure trove. They had found a few yards of old … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— When Lincoln Steffens was investigating political graft in Philadelphia in 1903, he found that the “gang” had brazenly and publicly given away a street railway franchise so enormously valuable that a newspaper, merely as an altruistic gesture, … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— On Peary’s first polar expedition in 1891 an iceberg struck the rudder while he was steering and reversed the wheel so violently that the spokes broke his leg in two places, jamming and mangling it against the … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— Then Job answered and said: “Let me shoot the works and then you can go ahead and razz me some more. How long do you want to have me on the pan, anyway? You bust me all … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— In a German play, written by Gustav Freytag more than thirty years ago, Bolz humorously storms to his subeditor that, “There are so many things that happen, and so very many which don’t happen, that an honest … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— When polished and suave Lord Chesterfield, in 1774, recommended to his son grace of manners as the most essential quality for a man of the world, he attained a fame that makes his name still a synonym … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— If there were an exact number of jobs in the world the cure for unemployment would be a very simple problem in long division. Work hours needed, divided by workers, equal working day. Q. E. D. Instead … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— In economic theory, “token money” is assumed to be a promise to pay certain commodities of fixed value, usually gold, in return for the token. That is a trust, a fiduciary relationship, whether the pledge is given … Continue reading →

“Old Bill” Suggests— A disease of the public mind in every new democracy in history (and for the bulk of its urban population America is a democratic experience of less than half a century) has been the illusion that high-flown … Continue reading →