Evening Star Newspaper, March 20, 1921, Page 1

Member of the Associated Press Associated Press is exclusively entitled to ) for republication of all news dispatches credited to it or mot “therwise cr>llted .o this paper and also the local news published nerein, WEATHER. Partly cloudy and warmer today; tomorrow, showers; southerly winds. wo hours ending 10 p.m. last night. Temperature for tweny Highest, 6. at 4 p.m. yesterday; lowest, 41, 6 a vesterday. Full report on page 13. No. 834—No. 28.084. PRESIDENT IS FIRM FOR WHITE DECREE AS PANAMA PLEADS Boundary Decision by Chief Justice Is “Unalterable Position” of U. S. I 1 | “PAINFUL, HUMILIATING,” SAYS PORRAS MESSAGE 1 Mr. Harding, in His Reply, Repeats | Expression of Friendship for Cen- tral American Republic. | | The decision of Chief Justice White in the Panama-Costa Rica boundary dispute “must be the unalterable po- sition” of the United States govern- ment, President . Harding declared Yyesterday in reply to a personal ap- peal from President Porras of Pan- ama. Although he expressed regret “that Panama should feel wounded by the White decision, described in Senor Porras’ message as inful and hu- miliating,” Mr. Harding declined to consider any other basis of settle- ment, and asserted that the recent State Department note insisting on enforcement of the decision had his hearty approval. The exchange between the two ex- ecutives, made public textually last night at the White House, was in the nature of an ad interim discus- sion while the State Department awaited Panama’'s reply to its note. Costa Rica already has accepted the White award, and some definite an- swer from Panama now is expected within a few days. Recalls November Visit. In making his appeal President Porras recalled the expressions of friendship for Panama given by Mr. Harding last November, during his visit there as President-elect, and voiced a hope that the Panaman peo- ple might not be disappointed in their faith in the new administration at Washington. To this President Harding replied by remewing his avowals of cordiality, but added that the exercise of friendly relations al- ways must be tempered by justice. The message from the Pamamanian president was received late Friday, .mccomplished wit and before replying Mr. Harding held| out the Afing df's shot nrunu- a long conference yesterday with Secretary ~Hughes .of the partment. It is understood t! wot only went over in detail the latest information regarding the situation between the two Central American republics, but also dis- cussed broad questions of policy in- volved in a final determined insist- ence on the position taken by this government. Panama Cablegram. The text of President Porras’ cable- graw follow “Demand from State Department that my government would accept White's decision is psinful and hu- millating. More 80, when two suc- cessive legislatures and all the municipalities In the republic have petitioned for the rejection of that decision on the ground that the arbitrator notoriously exceeded its Jjurisdiction, giving to Costa Rica more than her representative, Per- alta, asked from President Loubet, and also because it is against the provisions of Panama's constitution. “I appeal, therefore, directly to you, Mr. President, recalling your kind words with which you expressed your friendship and good wishes toward my country, when you honored us with your visit in November. 1 ad- dress myself to the magistrate who loves justice and equity, so that my | eountry's cause be better appreciated and that we may be classified | amongst the nations with self-con- | sciousness and dignity that feeis her- self deeply wounded With the State | Department’s demand. “I beg of you, Mr. President, to use your personal, political and adminis- trative influence, 80 that the bound-| ary dispute betwcen Payama and| Costa Rica may have a solution more | in accord with Justice and dignity | than the one which we are being asked to accept. We Panamanians are confident in your righteousness and we hope that that confidence will not be rewarded with disappointment.” | Following is President Harding's reply: “The communications from our State Department to the government of Panama and the government of Costa Rica have been sent with the full knowledge and hearty approval of the executive. “It would be exceedingly distressing | to me to believe that the government of | Panama had cause to feel wounded or | to assume, for any reason, the gov- ernment of the United States is in any way unmindful of our peculiarly | friendly relationship, with a recog- nized mutuality of interest. The | friendly expressions made in your presence informally last November ure repeated mow, and there is deep | concern for full justice in the exer- cise of our friendly relationship. “It must be apparent, however, that the decision of the Chief Justice of the United States, in an arbitra- tion submitted to him, and reached after exhaustive study and rendered in fullest devotion to justice, must be the unaiterable position of this gov- | crument.”’ FIXES ARMY AT 100,000. BERLIN, March 19.—The German army bill abolishing conscription and fixing the strepgth of the army at 100.000 men and of the navy at 15,000 en, passed the reichstag vesterday. - independent socialists and com- munists volted against the measure, [ they :?f’i.u | carrying INORWAY WANTS U. 3. Entered as second-class matter post_office Washington, D. C. Viviani Seeks to Impress U. S. With Germany’s Shameful Reparations Policy. BY RENE VIVIANT, Former Premier of France, Who In Coming to the United States on a Special Mission to President Hard ing. By Cable to The Star. PARIS, March 19.—Even a casual reading of the German newspapers, and especially the reports of de- bates in the parliament this week, shows most clearly that the whole German foreign and economic poli- cies are dominated by internal politics. There is an apparent ef- fort to escape party action in deal- ing with the situation which con- fronts Germany as a result of the allied occupation of the Rhineland. The irresponsibility is such as to malke one wonder what is to be ex- pected from a nation which signs today and retracts tomorrow. How are treaties possible when sin- cerity is utterly lacking? What is happening in Germany today is an unprecedented scandal, and America, despite her distance from the scene, should realize this fully. Traveling through Germany one sees on every hand what might be termed uncurbed activity. This is the activity which has caused Foreign Minister Simons to speak of an “unhealthy prosperity” for Germany. Germany hopes to escape some of the penalties of the war by ruin- ing the state and enriching the in- dividual. Thus, while all other countries have raised railroad fares, Germany maintains the old rates, and is creating an enormous deficit, made worse by fhe exces- sive transportation of petty army officers. Prosperity is growing in Ger- many, but the state declares itself bankrupt. In the face of this declaration, the allies are not per- mitted to examine either the na- tional budget or individual in- comes. The result is we are in danger of being balked. France Foreed te Pay. Meanwhile France, an innocent victim of the war, with so much of her finest regions annihilated, must pay all charges on her debts. And yet there are some people ap- parently foolish enough or wicked en(:lllh to call France imperialis- tic! So much for the politicians who are directing the ‘destinies of Ger- many. As for the German people, it is noticeable that the solemn entry of the allied soldiers Into flll Rhineland was @ terance of a protest. On the con- came their respects to the al- flitary authorities In those ‘words, which deserve seri- ous consideration: “We do not consider you as enemies, but as creditors,” ‘This- ‘measured language, which lled BLOODSHED LOOMS IN'SILESIA VOTING Armed Population May At- tack Soldiers—Polish Threat | » ®ecia! mission for_ the French to British Reported. | By the Associated Press. KATTOWITZ, Silesia. March 19.— Threats by the Poles that they will shoot British officers should they appear in Schoppinitz, tomorrow, the day of the Upper Sileslan plebiscite, have reached Col. Crichton, British control officer here. He previously had detailed two officers to visit the polling places in that district, and, upon learning of the threats, an- nounced he would watch the Schop- pinitz vicinity, where auti-German sentiment is reported to be most bit- ter. Eichenau, however, is an ex- ception, German voters not yet hav- ing entered the village. Fears are expressed that the pop- ulation, which is known to be armed, will attack the soldiers in these dis- tricts tomorrow. At Beuthen, Brit- ish soldiers, openly charged in the streets by the Poles with being pro- German, broke up the crowds. It is reported that British officials have confiscated a large quantity of arms and ammunition found in a hotel at Lomnitz. Rifle and machine gun fire was heard along the entire lower Polish border last night as the Poles cele- brated their anticipated victory. Heavy explosjons early this morning reported a continuation of the cele- brations with dynamite. There is a threatening situatign at | Rybnik, where a German automobile foreign newspaper cor- respondents was fired on today as it passed through a Polish settlement. —_— e T0 PAY §14,000,000 By the Associated Press. CHRISTIANIA, Norway, March 19.— The government has appointed a spe- cial committee to go to Washington to attempt a settlement of the Nor- wegian claim to $14,000,000 for ves- sels requisitioned during the war. The committee will be headed by former Minister of Justice Johan Bredel. A Christiania dispatch of February 16 sald the Norwegian minister in the United States had requested the State Department to submit the claims of the Norwegian ship owners to arbi- tration. , 1 he Sunday Star WASHINGTON, Al rights dispatches of publication of special herein are also reserved — D. C., SUNDA Y MORNING, MARCH 20, 1921 coincides with the facts, is a sharp contradiction of the attitude of certain lords of German finance and German industry. It should also make it clear to the world that there are people in Germany in favor of accepting treaty obliga- tions. Reminded of Defeat. Moreover, this fact was called to the attention of the reichstag the other day by Mr. Muller, the for- mer chancellor, who “revealed” to his compatriots the fact that they had been conquered. What a great gain it will be for the peace of the world when the day comes that Germany, with- out knuckling to any one, without | placing about her own neck the | rope with which she would have hanged us if she had been vic- torious, simply recognizes the elemental truth that she was de- feated in the war. The world should understand that we did not send troops tem- porarily to occupy the Rhine cities from pure lightness of heart. Nor did we seek the vain satisfaction of a military promenade, a prome- nade too easy to warrant being bragged about. Surely no one imagines that after a long war, in which France revealed her strength and courage before armed Germans, we would take any pleasure out of parading before unarmed Germans. Crediters Visiting Debtors. We are occupying the Rhine cities temporarily. We will not annex any territory. It is not our habit, after signing a treaty, to withdraw our signature. As the Duesseldorf workmen said, we are creditors paying a visit to our debtors paying the debtor refuses to come and visit us. Under military protection. we have established certain economic sanctions, the first of which was provided for in the treaty Ger- many signed. A tariff barrier has been erected on the Rhine, the Rhineland being cut off from all economic communication. Thus we are seeking to make certain eol- lections through a tax on coal or by the sale of the-coal itself. ‘We are sorry we were forced to compulsion, but for' many months Germany devastgted our territory, destroying at Jeast €00,- 000 houses. What this means to France can be realized from the fact that there are! but 85000 houses in all of Parid. Now Ger- many must pay, or at least must ‘degin paying. No honest man, taced with a voluntarily bankrupt creditor and forced to choose as to which one should suffer, ‘would hesitate to resort to the eompulsion provided for In the contract between them. (Wflnt. 1921.) VIVIANI SAILS FOR U. S. TO SPEAK FOR FRANCE | | i Former Premier Has Conference and Reception and Crowds Gather as He Leaves. HAVRE, March 19.—Rene Viviani, who is proceeding to Washington on ernment. was a passenger aboard the ‘steamer La. Lorraine, which sailed from here today. The former premier was accorded a reception at the city hall, where he spoke, laying stress on the point that he would endeavor to prove that France was not imperialistic, nor dreaming of annexation. The importance of M. Viviani's mission is becoming realized by the general public. He was received by President Millerand yesterday. and spent several hours in conference at the foreign office. A large crowd was at the Paris station to see him away, and the newspapers reflect the great impor- tance the French government attaches | to his visit to America. —_— GREAT VOLCANO ERUPTS FROM OLD HAWAVIAN PIT By the Associated Press, HILO, T. H, March 18.—The vol- cano of Kilauea is overflowing from the pit of Halemaumau. All of the! trails in the old crater bottom have been destroyed. Five flows are running north, south and west, and a fountain of lava, the | largest in the volcano's history, fs spouting high. surrounded by hun- | dreds of other fountains. The lava | lake rose eighty feet in eight hours. The main flow is running at the rate | of forty miles an hour. ‘The outburst is believed by scien- tsts to be due to an equinoctial change. Police guards are holding hundredu' of tourlsts and automobiles at a con- Slagrablo distance ‘foom e facns | because of the danger of a greater outburst. The eruption started Just as a group of the members of the | Chicago Athletic Club arrived here from San Francisco on the steamer Hawkeye State. —_— DESTROYER IS AGROUND. The destroyer Toucey went aground yesterday off St. Simions sound, near Brunswick - lightship, Georgia, the Navy Department announced last night. She was reported as resting easily and | leaders. | sheviki, and because of this leadership RUSSIA SEETHING, | LENIN STRIVES T0 STRIKE AT EUROPE Fathers Uprisings in Other Nations Before Home Con- ditions Grow Worse. BY ARNO DOSCH FLEUROT. By Cable to The Star and New York World. (Copyright. 1921.) KOVNO, March 19.—A revolutionary movement is afoot in Russia which gives the impression that it has pro- gressed too far for the bolsheviki to stamp, it out. Digcontent against the commissar dictators is prevalent, and within the last fortnight, in numerous cases throughout the interior of Rus- sia, the extraordinary commission— the bolshevik terrorist organization— has been unable to inspire terror. Instead, the extraordinary commis- sion, the terrorists themselves, have been seiied and the revolting peas- ants, or workmen, who hold them re- fuse to deliver them up. Trotsky has issued two wide appeals for the ireleaso of those commissars who have been arrested by workmen, but outside of the centers of population |he has been unable to force compli- ance. Away from the railroad the peasant organizations defy the com- missars. Revolt But Beginning. From what information is available here, which is close to Russia, the revolt is barely beginning, and little has happened so far in the interior except away from the railroads. There are reports that Pskoff and the surrounding country are in revolt. The country people throughout White Russia know something is going on, but, except where they are in direct contact with the revolutionists, they are easily led to believe it is a czarist movement. Lenin’s denunciation of the mensheviki as agents l’or the en- tente is half believed. The real revolt is in the heart of Russia, not in Petrograd, Moscow and the surrounding territories. The rev- olution is ted &y workmen who went back to the villages when the fac- tories were closed and became local They are violently anti-bol- the commissars had them arrested. That there have been relations this winter between these discontented villages and the red army was a grow- ing fact which Trotsky discovered three months ago, when he began to demobilize the red army in the north and to form winter camp in the Ukraine. That portion of the red army around Petrograd is small and disaffected. The red army has fallen into open conspiracy against the government. It has been a source of constant dis- cussion in the red army for the past two months whether, when. the time for the revolt should come, and they knew it was coming, they should join it. Trotsky's task has been to de- moblize the dissatisfied mob and at the same time to disarm it, which he I has succeeded largely in doing. Informants all agree that Russia | has reached a state of chronic disaf- fection, which means that the revolu- tion will not end. Bolshevik agents abroad have been instructed to report to Moscow what lis the best moment to prepare for communist uprisings in western Eu- rope between now and next May. The communists hope to make a final des- perate effort to communize Europe before they face the coming summer m Russia and the growing discontent. BLACK AGAIN ARRESTED. MIAMI, Fla, March 19.—Harry S. Black, New York multimillionaire, who was released here Thursday, after a hearing before United States Commissioner J. M. Graham on a in no danger. The weather was good. A tug and the coast guard cutter Yamacrew have gone to her assistance from Charleston. charge of transporting liquor in his private Pullman car, was rearrested tonight at West Palm Beach on or- ders from Gov. Hardee and is being, brought back to Miami, 3 | Cadets’ Dress Jacket Banned in War Times J‘ i Restored by Denby | Special Dispateh to The Star, | ANNAPOLIS, Md., March 19.— ‘ The midshipman's dress jacket, [ the natty little garnient which comes down as far as the sm: of the back of the wearer and which is adormed in fromt with three parallel rows of brass uttons, will again be worn by the “pets of Uncle Sam,” be- ginning with the opening of the aeademy year the first of mext October, During the war it was east side with everything which was merely a matter of adorn- ment, and had mo practieal value, but an order of Secretary of the Navy Dembx received at the Nivel Aendemy today pro- vides tor itsfgeturn. APPEALS TO HEARTS OF D. C. RESIDENTS Commissioner Rudolph Begs Citizens to Aid Those in Helpless Poverty. Commissionér Cuno H. Rudolph, acting in his capacity as president of the Associated Charities, last night issued the following appeal: "On Sunday, March 6, as president of the Associated Charities, I told the people of Washington through the columns of The Star about the junusual needs of the Associated Charities; that to meet these needs we were issuing a special appeal for 10,000 contributing members, in order ito avoid a threatened deficit of | $20,000. Purpose 1s to Save Homes. “While several hundred people have !responded to this appeal—angd to all such we owe a word of very distinct thanks—we are far from reaching the goal, either in money or in num- bers. It would seem as if there must be 10,000 persons in Washington suf- ficiently interested in the Associated Charities as a family welfare agency, whose chief business it is to keep homes from being broken up on ac- count of poverty and neglect, to make this work their own by contributing to its support. “Qur people have given generously to every call from abroad, both dur- ing the war and since. I would be the last one to keep back a dollar from any of these world-wide causes. our prosperity at home it is hard for us to realize that there are folks in our midst who live constantly on the poverty line and who, when sick- ness or disaster or unemployment or other emergency comes, are plunged below that line and must look to the rest of us for assistance. ‘Wil Be Future Citizens, “These folks are odr fellow citi- | zens. They are at our doors. Their children are in oyr schools .and will be among the future citizens of Washington. Unless these children are protected from neglect, they, too, are likely to pass their days as near the poverty line as’ their parents, or, worse still, in our public institu- tions, a charge upon the District's treasury. “This tonians, is an ‘appeal to Washing- by Washingtonians, for Washingtonians. If you are not al- ready numbered among the 10,000 needed, won't you stand and be counted by sending a contribution in such amount as you feel able to give to the joint finance committee of the Associated Charities and Citizens’' Re- lief Association at 923 K street north- west?” { But 1 cannot help thinking that ing You LooK LIKE g ONE THAT ¢ HAS SEEX \\\ SERVICE {1 WILL REQUIRE ABOUT 17 BILLIONS | INTHIRTY MONTHS Secretary Weeks Tells Pitts- burgh Business Men Big Task Confronts America. By the Associated Press. PITTSBURGH, Pa, March 19.— dollars must be provided by the fed- eral government within the expenses and refunding operations, Secretary Weeks of the War Depart- re the Commerce. ge “This,” the Secretary said, “is an infinitely greater task than was ever undertaken by any nation in the world in time of peace, and there is no one, skilled in financial opera- tions though he may be, who does not view the prospect- with more or less alarm. ‘With this situation facing us, it is the height of folly to undertake new commitments it they can be avoided, and I assume that no one will dissent from that proposition.” Discusses Economies. The War Secretary discussed econ- | omy in government operations, re- organization of federal activities in ‘Washington, taxation and the tariff. He urged repeal of the excess profits tax, declaring that in a period of falling prices it was not an effective tax, as probably would be shown when the returns for this year were published. He said there were in- numerable instances where concerns which made large profits In 1919, paying a tax on these profits, lost so much during 1920 that on the 1st of January, 1921, their resources were less t January, 1919. Turning to the tariff, Mr. Weeks, said the country had reached a point where it must make a radical change in its tariff system. New problems associated with rates of exchange, growing out of the war, made the tariff a more complicated question than usual, he said, adding that it would seem to him that the amount of revenue which should be produced from importation would be between five and six hundred millions of dol- | lars a year. “Whatever may be finally deter- mined,” the Secretary continued, “it would seem to me the duties im- posd should be based on the normal rate of exchange and that the Secre- tary of the Treasury should have the power to change the rate of duty to correspond to any material change ¢in the rate -of exchange. under conditions like the present, no tariff rate could .be imposed which would protect this country against some nations without placing an un- bearable burden on those countries where the rates of exchange are nearly normal. Must Cor er Markets. “Our first purpose in the past and | now has been to provide for our own needs in revenue and protection, but in framing a new tariff law we must give some consideration, it for no other than the most selfish rea- sons, to our markets. To impose a greater duty than the ordinary dif- ference in the cost of production would mean desroying the possibility of . European markets, especially where the rate of exchange is such that they cannot purchase from us except under’the greatest stress.” Taking up reorganization of gov- ernment departments, the Secretary asserted that during the recent enor- mous expansion of government acti- vities no attention had been paid to Rhe proper distribution of those activities among the departments, with the result that there was an expensive and inefficient hodge- Something 1fe seventeen billions of next thirty months to meet its running mept declared tonight in an address L Pittsburgh Chamber of n they were on the 1st D!. Otherwise, | o AT Mary Jane Deserts Buster Brown for Pershing’s Nephew Special Dispateh to The Star. NEW YORK. Jane Outea Rie Felton Outcault, origi- nator of the Buster Brown cartoons, and known to milllons of people throughout the world as “Mary Jane” of thowe o toons, was secretly married at “the Little Church Around tje to € University of Chicago captain of the foot bal When America entered he left college and e the Ordnance Departm wan comminsioned and overseas in May 1918, and saw service at O Mihicl and the Argonne Forest ax field officy After the armi tached to h wtaff for mine monthx. tice he was at- He re- ceived the croix de guerre from the Frenck and the Belgian | | | { order of the crown. the former being conferred upom him by | | Marshal Petain the latter by King Albert himself. DRYS NOW PROPOSE ‘NO BEER' T0 BLOCK RULING OF PALMER' “If It Is to Be Prescnbed in Any Quantity There Will Be None,” Say Chiefs. i V The sign once displayed in the din- ing room of a North Carolina hotel announcing that to prevent guests taking fruit from the table there would be no fruit about expresses the view of dry leaders in Congress with respect to the new ruling as to medicinal beer. “If beer is to he prescribed in any quantity for everybody who is ailing, there will be no beer.,” was the up- shot of opinions by House prohibi- tionists. Several members, including some who worked for enactment of the Volstead law and who believe now thét it ought to be tightehed up, de- olared today that former Attorney General Palmer rightly construed the | | i i could be prescribed for a sick man. But they added that they were await- ing with deep concern publication of prohibition department regulations prescribing the manner and amount of beer dispensation. No Beer Provision. While the Volstead act limits the amount of whisky that may be pre- scribed, there is no provision deal- ing with beer. Prohibition leaders think it may be necessary to fix that by statute. . Predictions are made by several pro- ibition members that the future policy of Congress will depend upon department regulation and a beer try- out. They see no likelihood of any early change in the law by which a physician may prescribe not more than a pint of whisky in any ten-day period. But, going back to pre-pro- hibition days, dry leaders recalled that the sick man’s beer supply was rather liberal, certainly as compared with modern possibilities. It used to be prescribed by the case, and three bottles a day often was regarded.by | physicians recommending it as a { moderate dose. | | | League to Remew Fight. In connection with the publication of the Department of Justice ruling it has developed that the Anti-Saloon League will renew its fight before Congress to eliminate from the Vol- stead law the provision relating to sale of liquor by prescription, and | that its guns will be opened against beer. Meanwhile the scramble con- tinues for places on the House judi- ciary committee, which may settle the beer issue definitely and attempt to tighten up all the loose joints in the Volstead law. There are eight vacan- cies, to be equally distributed be- tween republicans and democrats. If all the seats were given to wets the committee still would be dry, but re- publican leaders asserted that the party, iy making up committee as- signments, would take no backward step on the question of prohibition. Drys High Among New Men. Chairman Volstead expressed the view yesterday that the membership !wuuld be made up without regard to | the beer development. A recent check- | up, it was said, showed that of more | than one hundred new members elect- led to the House the prohibition per- centage ran exceedingly high. It is known, however, that a number of members Tépresenting districts op- posed to Drohibftion and who are earnestly advocating a more liberal policy With respect to use of light wines and beer, especially for the sick, are seeking places on Mr. Volstead's committee, in the hope that they might be able to liberalize the law. If they cannot do much along that U 1S 1‘ Reach Agreements Without \LONG DELAYS FEARED | Commissioner lact in holding that beer, like liquor, | subsidiary companies, howt ed the values, based on 1916 m‘:-. 923,868.42 and $678,700.70. 911,831, allowance was $13,255, FIVE CENTS. VALUE WAY BE AGREED ON "T0 RUSH MERGER Utilities Board Anxious to Court Litigation. UNDER PRESENT P ,’ . Oyster . ‘Studies Scheme to Aid Public as Well as Companies. Althong® thc Puoce Utilities Com- mission in the Potomac power case won the first round of its court bat- tle to establish the legality of its utility valuations, there is a possi- bility it may consider opening the door to the reaching of valuation agreements with the street railway companies out of court with the view of speeding a merger of the capital's traction system. Commissioner James F. Oyster is understood to be considering the pos- sibility of compromises which would end the prospect of several years more of valuation litigation, and lay the basis for a merger which would work out to the best interests of the public and the companies. He appreciates that there are vagt differences between the commission |and the companies—differences in | property ratings and principles un- | derlying the ratings which may never | be susceptible to adjustment by vol- untary agreement. Valuations Might Stand. He also has taken cognizance of the fact that the commission, once having established valuations in ae- cordance with the provisions of the utilities law, may not have authority to change them, even though it would favor negotiating with the companies for a compromise settlement. The Commissioner, in fact, has not reached a decision as to whether he would consider valuation concessions by the commission justifiable undér any conditions, but he is of the opin~ ion that, since the demand for a mer- | ger has now become so acute, an {i quiry to determine the possibllity of | a valuation settlement would not Be out of place. It is not unlikely that he will dis~ cuss with his colleagues this week the desirability of ascertaining from the traction company heads whethér - they would favor modifying thefr valuation positions in order to hasten a merger which both companies have declared for. Werk Begun Seven Years Age. Practically seven years have. elapsed, it was pointed out last night, since the work of valuing the prop- erties of the local public service cor- porations for rate-making purposes began. It is agreed generally that two or three years more may elapse before the ratings are established finally by court review. So far. the Potomac Electric Pow- er case is the only one that has been reviewed by the District Supreme Court. The decision upheld the com- mission’s valuation. The &ase has been appealed and will be heard final- ly by the United States Supreme Court, from which a decision cannot be expected under the most favorable conditions before the end of the year. In the case of the Potomac com- pany the commission’s finding of falr value as of July 1, 1914, the date of the valuation, was $10,250,000. The company’s claim of fair value as of 1916 was $23,235,387, the difference be- tween this figure and the commis- sion’s finding being represented largely by intangible values which the utilities board refused to allow. Wide Variations in Ameounts. There were also wide variations bes tween the amounts set down by thi commission for the Washington Rall way and Electric Company and its subsidiary properties and the vai: uations claimed by those concerns. For the W. R. & E., as of July 1, 1914, the commission allowed $11,- 305,000. The company In its estimates, which were based on 1916 prioss, claims $235,053,714.50. For the City and Suburban and Georgetown and Tenleytown systems the commission ratings, respect vely, were $2,755,000 and $470,000. M should have been, respectively, $3,. Differences between the commisy’ sion and the Capital Traction O.-’ pany were not as great as in the . case of the other companies, and yet they produced a gulf which coull not be bridged at the time, although an agreement was reached covering certain cost of reproduction items. This company, in line with the pur- poses of the commission, based its estimates on- 1914 values, so that itg < findings are comparable with those of the commission. It claimed, for * fair value as of July 1, 1914, $20,- whereas the commission’ Dispute Over $5,000,000 Item. line they at least hope, it is said, to keep it from becoming more drastic. ERAMER HUNTING SOLUTION. Hope of Ale at Soda Fountain May Be Banished. Visions of stepping up to the near- est soda fountain and getting that nice cool bottle of ale which former Attorney General Palmer threw into the realm of possibility will be ban- 1y by one itéem of $5,150,000, which the company claimed, but the commissiofn refused to allow, although former Commissioner Gardiner dissented the commission’s ruling. The cl is based on.the purchase in 1895- the Rock Creek company Wnow tha Capital Traction Company) of the ‘Washington and Georgetown com- pany, which it paid for in the of the Rock Creek:¢ -’-’u’ at par The discrepancy is explained largeé~' (Contlnued on Page 2, Column 7.) 1