Evening Star Newspaper, March 13, 1921, Page 33

‘ EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS ) SPECIAL ARTICLES = Part 2—22 Pages EDITORIAL SECTION WASHINGTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 13, The Sunday Star, 1921. Society News Plans for Sweeping Reorganization of Government Departments - Under Consideration by President Har BY WILL P. KENNEDY. HE Harding administration, in close con- ference with Senate and House )ehde‘rsv is earnestly working on three big, in- terlocking reforms to put the United States government on a sound, efficient, « economic basis: " (1) An efficient financial system, to be s eured by adoption of the national budget. (2) An eflicient organization, to be secured By the proposed reorganization of the depart- ments according to some systematic and logical plan. (3) An efficient personnel. to be secured along the lines recommended by the joint con- gressional commission on reclassification. * ¥ ¥ ¥ " These all bear an intimate relationship, each to the other. Reorganization is essential for the best working of the proposed budget sys- tem and reorganization will help reclassifica- tion by bringing into working relations under a distinct head groups engaged on related work : which are now scattered helter-skelter through- out myriad services. \ Considerable headway has been made on each of these three big tasks, and it is the hope of the Harding administration to put through the budget system at the coming extra session and to have reorganization and Teclassification systems pretty well worked out during the Sixty-seventh Congress. The determination of the administration to Jose no time on this business program was shown when it was the chief topic of discus sion at the first cabinet meeting on Tuesday, following a dimner conference with legislative leaders Monday night at the White House. On rdne-d-y the first executive meeting of the int congressional committee on reorganization was held. Simultaneously, Secretary Hoover, who had discussed with Mr. Harding plans for reorganization of the Department of Commerce before he accepted the post, allowed it to be known in a general way something of his pro- posed scheme of reorganization. *. %k X ¥ With the adoption of the federal budget system assured, present interest of the admin- * istration centers in the reorganization program. President Harding and his advisers have stated that it is very desirous for reorfanization to be effected from the standpoint of simplifying the government. The situation now is that there ‘are hundreds of services engaged in so many activities that it is practically impossible for the government itself, or Congress, to know what is being done. It is of the greatest ad- vantage to bring order out of chaos, to get legislative and administrative eficiency. ‘The administrative branch of the national government, with its hundred or more distinct wervices, has grown up like a rambling set of b ings on an estate; additions and sheds and structures have been added from time 10 time, each in response to some particular demand, but without reference to any carefully thought-out plan. ‘Phe resti"1¥ that we have at the present time several scores of services that In a very rough way are classified as de- partments, but to a very great extent are not properly classified, with a result that services ‘e not located whére they should be. There is overlapping, duplieation of organization, plant * and activities on a wide scale. Reorganization would simplify the work of Congress enormously, because now Congress it- welf has extreme difficulty in securing informa- tion necessary to properly perform its function of legislating and appropriating for the efficient working of these tog-many services. * % % ¥ Secondly—Reorganization is an essential fea- ture of the efficient working of the proposed budget system, the cabinet conference decided. It was emphasized that the theory of the bud- \@ot system is that the President shall come be- fore the Congress each year with a definite program of what he thinks the government should do—not only a financial program. but also a work program. With the budget bill passed. one chapter of the presidential budget should deal with a public health program. another with public works program, an educational program, etc. The administration advisers have pointed out that it is going to be extremely difficult for him to prepare such programs unless he himself can look to a single responsible officer for recommendations as to what should be done in each field of government activity. For this reason the administration program of reor- ganization contemplates bringing together those activities whose operations fall in the same field under a distinct and responsible head, whom the President can call in for authorita- tive advice and counsel regarding policies. The conferences already held seem to indi- cate that the reorganization of the administra- tive branch of the government may entail a reorganization of committees of Congress. It would seem logical that with the presidential budget having distinct chapters on public health, education, public works, maritime af- fairs, Congress would want to have specially qualified committees to study and report upon legislation proposed on these subjects * k % % Te give an example of how the services are now scattered and how it is proposed to regroup them: A survey shows that the inspection of meat costs $5,000,000, and the inspection falls to the bureau of animal industry, Department of Agriculture; the inspection of food products falls to the bureau of chemistry, Department of Agriculture; inspection of salmon pack falls to the bureau of fisheries, Department of Com- merce, and the collection of vital statistics, which is one of the most valuable tools of the public health service, falls to the bureau of the census, Department of Commerce. These agencies are so scattered that it is difficult for the President in presenting his budget, and Congress in handling it, to arrive at a definite policy—and so there is no definite policy. The new administration is considering uniting all these agencies concerning public health into a department of public health, and thus make it possible for the President and for Congress to agree upon a definite public health policy. Still further emphasizing the thought of the administration leaders that the proposed re- organization will effect a reorganization of committees of Congress—one of the important troubles with the existing system is that the committees do not work along functional lines; instead of a committee, or subcommittee on public health, there is the subcommittee on sun- dry civil. * % ¥ X The first canon or rule of reorganization, as counseled by the administration advisers, is to make all departments unifunctional. They are agreed that the problem should be consid- ered from the vieWpeint of regrouping all the services of the government in accordance with some general plan rather than from that of a particular class of services. The drive that has been made, to the knowledge of all members of Congress, for a department of public health, a department of public works and a department of education and science, are examples of the patchwork reorganization urged by special in- terests, as distinguished from the thorough and complete reorganization planned by the new ad- ministration—but which will include these les- ser consolldations of services as they best fit in with the general scheme. The policy of the Harding administration is to establish the advantages that are going to accrue to the government in distinction from those that will be conferred upon the persons outside of the government who are interested in the particular activity—and with this policy kept steadily in mind they feel certain the chances of success in securing adoption of re- organization legislation and a consequent re- form throughout the entire federal service will be iufinitely greater. i = Lk %k ¥ % To illustrate: There is now before Congress the Jones-Reavis bill, which provides for the creation of 2 department of public works. This bill was urged by the engineering interests of the country. It provides for the creation of such a department by transforming the present Department of the Interfor into a department of public works. To accomplish this the bill provides for the transfer of the non-engineering services of the Department of the Interior to other departments. Under it the bureau of ed- ucation would go to the Department of Labor. It calls for the attachment of the bureau of standards to the proposed department of public works. Stress has been laid at the conferences of administration advisers that in formulating this bill the engineering interests considered merely their own proposition and had no con- cern about other agencies of the govgrnment— the non-engineering services. As a matter of fact, both the bureau of ed- ucation and the bureau of standards, under the plan of reorganization contemplated by the ad- ministration leaders, would go into a depart- ment of education and science, while there is some little doubt whether there will be any Department of Labor. * % ¥k X To give a concrete illustration of how the services may be regrouped under the alternative schemes which are being prepared for President Harding and his advisers, take the proposed department of education and science. As was suggested by W. F. Willoughby, director of the Institute for Government Re- search, which has been working hand-in-hand with the government for four years, in an ad- dress before the American Council on Educa- tion, it is intended to bring together all of the services now scattered which have as their primary function the prosecution of research studies in the field of education and science. The data collected show that the federal gov- ernment is maintaining the following services of this character: (1) the bureau of education, (2) the federal board for vocational education, (3) the Library of Congress, (4) the bureau of standards, (5) the United States Naval Observatory, (6) the Smithsonian Institution,” with’ its subordinate agencies: (a) United States National Museum, (b) astrophysical observatory, (c) bureau of American ethnology, (d) regional bureau for the United States international catalogue of scientific literature, (e) international ex- changes, (f) the Natlonal Zoological Park; (7) the bureau of the census, (8) the National Bo- tanic Garden, (9) the national advisory commit- tee of aeronautics, (10) the commission of fine arts, (11) the United States geographic, board. 1n addition to the foregoing there are & num- ber of other official or semi-official bodies the bringing of which under the jurisdiction of a department of education and science, if such a department is created, will receive careful con- sideratior.. These are: The international bu- reau of weights and measures, the International Seismological Association, the International Geodetic Association for Measurement of the Earth, the International Latitude Observatory, Ukiah, Calif.; the International commission on annual tables of constants and other interna- tional organizations now under the general jurisdiction of the Department of State; the National Academy of Sciences, with its subordi- nate agency, the national research council, and the American Historical Assoclation, which re- ports to and whose annual report s published by the national government. It will be noted that in this proposed de- partment of education and sclence no mention is made of a large number of services of the government that are engaged in scientific work. For example—the scientific bureaus of the De- partment of Agriculture, the United States geological survey, the coast and geodetic sur- vey, the bureau of mines, and the llke. The idea is that the new department should include those services that have this in common—that their prime function is the acquisition and dif- fusion of knowledge among mankind, and that they have no function of administering a body of substantive law. They are thus in no case parts of the governmental machinery for the administration of any body of law, like tke land office, administering the land laws; the patent office, the patent laws, etc. They ara research institutions, pure and simple. * ok k% Now for a hurried glance at how the uni- functional grouping as contemplated by the ad- ministration would apply to varlous existing departments and services: & The State Department would have nothing to do but attend to international affairs—both political and commercial. Most of our Inter- national affairs in normal times have to do with commercial questions. The reorganization con- templates turning over to the State Department the bureau of foreign and domestic commerce from the Department of Commerce. This should end a clash of jurisdiction and authority that has existed for many years. The department of national defense, to which President Harding is already pledged, with three distinct bureaus for the Army, Navy and aeronautics, would deal with matters of national defense and nothing else. Those who are drafting the reorganization schedule have been urged that the War and Navy de- partments should be'stripped of all non-mili- tary duties, such as public works, surveying the great lakes, operating the National Ob- servatory, trying to administer the parks and grounds in the National Capital, etc. The department of finance should have nothing to do but handle financial matters. It has been agreed that when the secretary of a department, like the Secretary of the Treasury, for example, has to concern him- self not merely with finance, but with public health, public bulldings, war risk insurance, supervising architect, coast guard and a num- ber of other matters that do not relate directly to his financial responsibilities, he cannot per- form his duties as general administrator as effectively as he could had he to concern him- self with only a single class of closely related duties. * ¥ ¥ ¥ The proposed department of public works would take over and administer those serv- ices whose prime function is of an engineer- ing and construction character, such as rivers and harbors improvements, now in the War Department; good roads, now in the Depart- ment of Agriculture; the reclamation service, and the Alaskan engineering commission, both now in the Department of the Interior; the supervising architect’s office, now in the Treas- ury Department, etc. -The department of public health would in- clude services having to do with protection and promotion of public health. The public health service already has a good deal of the “character of a department because it has a number of distinct services, such as the quarantine service, operation of a chain of hospitals and scientific research in the field of sanitation and hygiene. It would take over the agencies of the gov- ernment aiready established for inspection of meat and food products and for the collection of vital statistics. The Department of Commerce, in the re- organization scheme, will probably give way to a new department of merchant marine. Advisers of President Harding urge the State Department ought to take over all the work of the bureau of foreign and domestic commerce, because that is the only way in which it will ‘be possible to centralize au- thority over the field force in relation to international customs and diplomacy. It has been emphasized that that is the only service in the present Department of Commerce that has anything to do with com- merce, and so the department is something of a misnomer. Then there are 99 per cent of the agencies that have to do with commerce that are outside of the present Department of Commerce. * X X ¥ One fact that has strongly impressed those who are planning the reorganization of the government is the tremendous growth of in- dependent establishments. There is a strong feeling that these should be reduced to a min- imum. They do not have representation in the cabinet, and so are not brought under executive control in the same way as the War Department, for instance. So it is agreed that a large number of these independent establishments should be brought within their appropriate departments. For example: The national advisory commission on aero- nautics is a research institution, pure and ple, and ought to be brought into close rela- tion with the research agencies in the proposed department of education and science. By bringing these under common direction, the head of a department could give the neces- sary overhead control to do two things: (1) prevent duplication, and (2) sec that the in- vestigation work be done by that service best fitted v do it most efliciently. Thus, it is argued by Mr. Harding's ad- visers that if you get a system of unifunc- tional departments you automatically lay the basis for elimination of most, if not all, of the duplication that takes place in either plant, personnel or wark. As a glaring example of how the work is now scattered, those who are behind the re- organization reform point out that in mari- time surveys we now have three distinct agencies, Jocated in three distinct departments, for doing the same work—the coast and geo- detic survey (Department of Commerce), the lakes survey (War Department) and the hydrographic survey (Navy Department). They are all making marine surveys, pre- paring and distributing charts, what is known as coast pilots, sailing directions, etc. There is absolutely no reason why all could not be done by a single service—the coast and geo- detic survey—the reorganizers feel, and at a saving of many thousands of dollars a year. 2 * % % X Returning to the proposed substitution of a department of maritime affairs for the present Department of Commerce, it is considered advisable that all serv- ices having to do with maritime affairs ought to be brought together under a common direc- tion. Some of them are: The bureau of navi- gation, steamboat inspéction, lighthouse serv- ice, life-saving service, which is now a part of the coast guard, and the Emergency Fleet Corporation. The Shipping Board as distinct from the Emergency Fleet Corporation ought to remain an indepegdent organization, they feel, because its duties are quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial in character, the same as the Interstate Commerce Commission. The Department of Commerce now has most of the maritime services and should have them all, in which case the question arises whether it would not br more proper to designate it the department of maritime affairs. * ¥ % ¥ To carry out the unifunctional scheme means an increase in the number of govern- ding and His Advisers ment departments. One of the great effec would be to get rid of those departments not unifunctional, such as the Department of the Interior. Some of the departments that are being considercd are: National defense, foreign service, finance, maritime affairs, public health, public works, education and science, justice, post office and agriculture. Labor is an “optional” department, , many of President Harding's advisers arguing that there is reaily no meed for it. There is alzo a drive being made for a department of public welfare, but the reorganization drifters are inclined to avoid a clash over questions of paternalistic policy. The question of war risk insurance is one that is receiving especial study. The bureau of war risk insurance is now performing a number of functions and dividing work with other services such as the public health serv- ice and the federal board for vocational edu- cation. One matter being stressed is that the insurance work ought to be carefully segre- gated from the other soldier relief activities, as it is a purely business and financial job rather than humanitarian. We have now three services dealing with the care of government employes who have become invalided for any reason, involving pension or retirement. They are: (1) The Pension Office, and under that the retirement service for civilian government employes; (2) the bureau of war risk insurance, and (3) the United States employes' compensation commission. The pension office is administering a system for the adjudication of claims and the cur- rent work of paying pensions to old soldiers and sailors. The retirement division is pay- ing pensions to civil employes who become too old or are physically disqualified. The United States compensation commission Is paying pensions and allowances to civil em- ployes injured in the performance of their duties. The bureau of war risk insurance is making payments of various kinds to soldiers and sailors of the world war. The charactér of work to be done by these three services is the same in all cases—involving nearly the same problems in work and administration. It is argued that if they were brought together—= not consolidated, but brought under the sa control or into co-operation—they might make common use of the same force of field agents or other classes of personnel and thus effect a very great economy, instead of acting iu- dependently. * % % % One pof the important parts of reorganiza- tion, as provided for in the budget bill, is the creation of an independent office of controller general, taking over the work of the presen controller of the Treasury and the six auditors. ‘The administration—as an administration— is giving most careful consideration to tit scheme of reorganization and when a joinl j agreement is reached on what can be donhe the various cabinet members will recommend the changes as applying to their respective jurisdictions. The result 'will be that when the joint congressional committee makes its report and recommendations it will be pre- sented with the statement that not only is this what the committee of Congress thinks should be done, but that it also has the earn- est support of the administrative officers. In that way more prompt action can be had on putting through the reorganization program in its entirety, without being disarranged by factional contests in either branch of Congress. It is felt that it would be very unwise for the administration to wait for the joint con- gressional committee to formulate a scheme but that the cabinet members should make up their own minds from within on what ought to be done and work in closest harmony with the congressional committee on reorgunization New Administration Has Gotten Off |Island of Yap, Now in the Limelight, to a Good Start in Public’s Esteem BY N. 0. MESSENGER. |8cores they have been meeting him— it is part of their game tactfully | with a smile which seems to say, OR more than a week, now, the are free in prophecies that he will |to engineer them out as soon as| “Must you g0 S0 soon?" new administration has been Mmake much the type of President as|maybe. William McKinley. functioning and the public had opportunity to register re- sctior through the lens of critical observation of its acts. the public pronouncement could with |loved character. One sensing different in @ way from that well be- Also, that he will and if the He has a cordiality | you find interview yourself This is the way they do it: You enter and find a group or an build up a personal following as de- | individual talking to the President.|pression frolm him first that he was gently But while you were talking with the President you received the im- voted as Roosevelt's, although he is‘The secretary knows what it's about, glad to meet you, and that the busi- is_ prolonged | ness you had in hand was at the urged | moment the most important he had justice only feel that the judgment |Not so—shall it be said?—robust as|forward, displacing the other, who |under consideration. Which is a very is favorable. The administratoin i the glad hand of approval is being ! tion. extended it, certainly in Washing- ten, and, according to gomments, in the country at large. The psychology of the situation seems to be favorable to the admin- istration. *x 3 8 The psychoiogy shows the country apparently divines that the new “gov- ~ernment,” if that word can be used as a synonym for the administration, is a working outfit, intent upon busi- | Y¥led there in times of p:‘;’“’ho’;:f:" 88, En d th ist A = < i mesw | In Magiand sus pisiatsy coo: [icateremest 6f | throwiie ‘apen fio stitutes the government, centered in the premier, it has been said. In America. it is preferable to refer to the President, with-his cabinet, as forming the government, with Con- gress, when it is in session and un- der domination of the party in pow- or, & constituent part. * President Harding. in the estima- tion of public men. who have dis- cussed the incident, made his first . happy stroke when, on the day of his insuguration and before leaving the Capitol, he appeared in person with his cabinet nominations, pre- sented them to the Senate and had them confirmed ofthand. It was an act peculiarly agreeable to the Sen- Ste and established at once an of- ficlal fellowship between the Senate and the executive superimposed upon the comradeship which already exi ed by reason of his service in that body. Onme member of the eabinet, the Secretary of ths Treasury, showed his thiret for work by being sworn into office the same afterncon he was con- firmed by the Senate. " ss s ' Publie men who have come fn eon- season, parted. gations, States. Roosevelt's, but making up in press | knew it. but a faithful fulfiller. grounds and a part of the mansion was instantly observable and com- mented upon by every one. The place has been thronged all day every day by plain American citizens who seem- ed to take unusual delight merely in setting foot crowd of Easter tourists, usual at this flocked to the mansion and spent hours in_the east room and the corridors thrown open for their in- spection, or stood around the grounds watching the great and the near- great as they approached and de- The White House offices, of course, were packed as individuals and dele- upon all sorts of missions bent, hastened in to seek an audience President of the United Except in the case of cabinet officers and leaders constituting the high command in Congress, this hear- obtained by appointment, through consultation with Secretary George B. Christian, jr., who is prob- ably the busiest unit in the entire new administration, when it comes to mul- tifariousness of things he has to keep in his head. He and Rudolph Forster engineer tact with President Harding—and by the visitors Into the “pregence,” and- with the sin- | takes the hint and retires. starting out “on the right fool” and | Cerity for exuberance of demonstra- | Same token, unless you speak briefly Not that T. R. was insincere, by | nd to the point you find some one any means; if he didn’t like you, you, else treading on your heels and an eager hand reaching out beyond you Men who have been in touch with|for the Presidents. the President for a week say that he|8ensibly you respond to an undertow bids falr to be a cautious promiser,|Which carries you toward the door, where another official 11ifts you along So. almost In- fine art, as will be a@mitted. * % x ¥ President Harding held his first cabinet meeting Tuesday, lasting al- most three hours, It was afterward described as a meeting of “happy and resolute men"—those very words. Elaborated, the cription went on 42 —|[to tell of what was talked about By the * k% % Constant visitors to the White House| May Go Back to France during the past week are sensible of a return of the atmosphere which pre- in the premises. The As American Ambassador MYRON T. HERRICK, Fermer Govermor of Ohlo h"““ office, but the best judgment fs that Faris o Prostiee o %¢| this_will disappear with the tactful and the determination which was reached. Each member of the cab- inet described the burning questions of administration which confronted him in his department and told of his plans for settling them. There was the War Department, for in- stance, where, as Secretary Weeks explained, there were innumerable important questions growing out of the aftermath of the war. which he proposed to tackle at once. Vice President Coolidge sat in this meet- ing, thereby instituting a precedent. * * x x There has been considerable discus. sion of the practical benefits of the Vice President attending cabinet meetings. The innovatlon is only on trial thus far. The principal benefit which.is expected to be derived from the plan is to constitute the Vice President practically a liaison officer between the cabinet and the Senate. The Vice President could tell the President and the cabinet the state of feeling in the Senate upon any admin- istration measure pending in that body. He can also give the senators accurate and first-hand impressions of the way the President and the ad- ministration feel about legislation and the importance which they place upon it. Some senators fear that jealousy may be aroused by the added impor- tance thus lent to the Vice President’ (Continued on Third Page.) Inhabited by 7,000 Care-Free Malays BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. HAT is the new administra- tion going to do about the Island of Yap? That tiny Forizon as a serious difficulty between the United States and the league of nations, not to mention Japan. The Wilson administration protested with no little vigor against allowing Japan to settle down in this island, a cable center, and a link in the cable con- considerably aroused. * %k % ¥ The situation is ticklish. During the spot in the far reaches of | discussion of the disposition of the the Pacific ocean is looming on the |German islands in the Pacific, when the peace treaty of Versailles was up for consideration, Wilson made a verbal reservation re- garding the Island of Yap. There was nothing set down in black and white, | not Jjoined the however, regarding this reservation. ernment of this country has been K The Japanese have been inclined to ignore any such understanding and the British apparently are following suit. Frem the point of view strategy, it has been a Source of re- |in some respects. gret in some quarters that the Ger- man islands, in addition to Yap, were | €xport. former President | disposed of so cavalierly at the peate | bition holds sway on the island. This Particularly in view of {the fact that the United States has league of nations. | included, it is conference. These islands, Yap nections between the United States and the far east. It is believed that| American Lawyer Is Made President Harding and his Secretary of State, Mr. Hughes, will take as firm a stand in the matter as their| _. predecessors. Yap, which is the westernmost of the Western Caroline lslands, is situ- ated about 500 miles southwest of Guam and 800 miles east of the Island of Mindanao of the Philippine group. Before the war it belonged, with a lot of other islands, to the German empire. Under a secret treaty between the allied nations, before the United States entered the war, the German islands in the Pacific were to be divided between Japan, Australia and New Zealand. LR The United States was no factor in this agreement, and protested vigor- ously that none of the secret treaties made prior to the entrance of this country into the world conflict w: to be held in effect, when the United States turned the scales in favor of the allies. So this treaty between Great Britain and Japan was not en- forced per se. But the same results were obtained by the other parties interested through the issue of man- dates under the league of nations. Japan has been given the mandates over the former German islands in equator. States and its possessions, the Philip- pines, not to ‘mention the east, with Its great trade possibilities, the gov- %, s . e i citisen R. NEWTON CRANE, the Pacific north of the equator, and | The first American to become a king’s Great Britain's colonies thg mandates | counsel. At first it was thought that over the islands to the south of the | Judak P Benjamin, ‘Swho was Jefler- As these islands form a|grut, but it was found that Benjamin's kind of screen between the United | parenis were English and that he had been bors in _British possemsions. tion ths Therefore Mr. Crane has the umique|2 Wireless station there. distinction of beisx both an American a K. G the United States Japan, center. * kX ¥ if more its existence. picturesque, nine square miles. groves of bamboo, areca paims. Spain. 7,000. JLadrone islands. and that this interest has not been abrogated merely because the other nations have formed themselves into a league. Apparently, the {ssue brings into controversy with the league itself, not to mention which actually has physical possession of the Island of Yap. The United States is not asking possession of the island, it is asking its inter- nationalization as a cable and radio But to get back to Yap itself: fore this issue arose it is doubtful than a few hundreds of Americans knew of the existence of |€Ssary. this island, or, at least, remembered The island covering some seventy- |ticular piece of money—weighing per- It is covered with cocoanut and The Germans bought the island, along with others, from It has a population of about |sired to have the roads in the island Before the war Yap was the administrative center for the west-|of compelling the natives to put in , was the|ern Carolines, the Pelew and the |the work on the roads, they devised & Its owners, the Germans, had made plans to locate |stone pleces of currency. They were |roads were soon repaired. prevented when Australian captured the island in October, 1914. Yap, as it exists today, is a stran conglomeration of the old and the mew. For instance, its inhabitants of naval| have not yet passed the stone age They use €tone money and copra is almost the only On the other hand, probi- was introduced by the Germans. Ao- other practice which may be con- | sidered ultra-modern is the treat< ment f children. They belong to the community. They frequently are argued, may be used as submarine e : bases in the event of war between|ooorbicd or exchanged. and they i throw off control by their parenis the United States and any other navall .4 v oy age. There are clubs Connsel 16 Britiah King | Power. or as bases for other forms of | composed of bachelors, to which $ attack upon the Philippines and{women are not admitted. The people Guam. lead an easy life, since food, drink The American point of view is that|and clothes all grow on trees and the United States had not a little in-|any one can secure them. terest in these islands; that the in-! iy terest was that of one of the allied| Yap has sometimes been called the and associated nations in the war,|country of stone money. A single coin, if it is a valuable one, weighs hundreds of pounds. The large money of the islands consists’of huge disks resembling millstones. They are made of limestone and come from Babelthuap, 400 miles to the south of Yap. One of these disks, four feet in diameter, may be considered to be worth 10,000 cocoanuts. The small money of the islands is made of shells, which the natives carry strung on fiber. The cocoanut is the common standard of exchange Be.- | for external trade. _ In one way the large stone money is an advantage. Banks are not nec- A rich Yap is not even forced to house all his money in his dwell: rocky, |ing. He lets it be known that a par- haps half a ton—is owned by him. No one steals it. The people set great store by this unusua® form of wealith, however, and when the Germans de- repaired and could find no easy way plan for taxing some of these lime- Then th The name ¥ or U means (Continued on Third Page.) -« troops - P