Evening Star Newspaper, April 24, 1921, Page 33

" fore, that he will give the matter . Colombia just ratified by the Senate, . continental hauls already have divert- | EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIA - L ARTICLES Part 2—20 Pages WASHINGTON, NOTOLLSON U.S.SHIPS IN CANAL DEMANDED Revision of Tax -Fight Resumed in Congress for Free Passage Tl)rough Panama Waterway—Opponents BY N. 0. MESSENGER. EDITORIAL_ SECTION D. C, cantile transactions, to be paid by the last pur- chaser. Representative Mondell, the republican SUNDAY MORNING,, APRIL 24, 1921. Laws Is Hardest Problem Before Congress Majority of nations contained in it, to prevent that treaty coming up, even in amended form, for ratifi- Quote Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. HE Panama canal, in the lime- light since the opening of the new Congress, because of the consideration of the treaty with promises to continue in the foreground. The agitation for free passage of Ameri- ean vessels through the canal has begun again. The Senate committee on inter- oceanic canals is to meet soon at the call of Senator Borah of ldaho, its chairman, to consider this matter which 18 of vital importance to American shipping. ‘Three bills providing for free passage of the canal by American vessels al- ready have been introduced in the Sen- ate and referred to the committee. They were offered by Senator Borah, Senator Jones of Washington, chairman of the Senate commerce committee, and Sen- ator Poindexter of Washington. Of these bills, Senator Borah's provides for free passage of the canal by Ameri- ean coastwise vessels. The Jones and Poindexter bills, however, extend this privilege to all American vessels, whether they be engaged in coastwise trade or in foreign trade. In this| connection, however, it may be saidi that Chairman Borah has no objection to having the privilege extended to the | foreign-going American vessels, and would accept such an amendment to his bill. President Opposes Tolls. President Harding. in his speech ac- : eepting the presidential nomination last July, announced himself in favor of the principle of free passage of| American vessels through thc canal.! He followed this up with similar re- marks, in speeches during the cam- paign. It is to be expected, there- his support. In his address to Con-i gress at its opening, he announced! himself in thorough accord with the efforts being made to maintain and develop the American merchant ma-, rine. And the friends of “free tolls”! for American vessels—as the plan for free passage of the canal has been popularly but erroneously termed—in- sist that no step could be taken which would do more to promote the in- terests of American shipping today than the passage of the proposed law. A contest of no mean proportions looms up, however, over this proposal | to nass American veseels through the| canal free of charge. It may lead to| diplomatic exchanges, Great Britain| taking the stand that under the-Hay- Pauncefete treaty tlie United States has not the right to discriminate in favor of its own vessels. But pro-; ponents of the plan say that while! under that treaty the United sum\ promised equal treatment of the ves- gels of all nations, it did not mean that the United States, which built} and operates the canal, shall not have the right to extend special privileges to American shipping if it desires. But the enemies of the proposed| “free tolls” plan are not only in Eu- rope. They are here in the United Senator Lodge, the present republican leader and chairman of the foreign re- lations committee; former Senator Root of New York and many other republi- cans supported the President in his demand for repeal. On the other hand, Senator Underwood of Alabama, demo- cratic leader of the Senate today and at that time democratic leader of the House, attacked the repeal measure | vigorously. So did the late Champ { Clerk, then Speaker of the House, and other influential democrats. The repeal bill, after a prolonged debate, finally passed. The vote in the House was 247 to 160, and in the Senate, 50 to 35. The complexion of the Senate and House has changed very materially since then, however, and the proponents of the free tolls legislation insist they will have the necessary majority to change the law. Business of the Canal The Panama canal was opened to traffic informally in August, 1914. American vessels, both coastwise and foreign going, have been paying tolls, just as the vessels of other countries have ever since. ‘On July 20, 1920, President Wilson, conforming With !the provisions of the Panama canal act, issued proclamation formally an- nouncing the completion of the canal and declaring it open to commerce. ‘The business of the canal has shown a marked increase in the six years in which it has been in operation, not- withstanding the fact that the world ! war interfered greatly with the nor- EXT of the big problems for Congress to solve, now that the emergency tariff bill is on its way and the per- manent tariff law is to be taken up in its preliminary stage in the ways and means committee, is revision of the taxes. The solons have saved the hardest for the last, because passing tariff bills will be child’s play, com- pared with working out a solution of this sum. As to this problem, the celebrated Mr. Einstein's theory is almost comparable to first-grade arithmetic. Outside of the farmers and a few interests demanding protective tariffs, it is probable that the rank and file of the peasantry and gentry in the country, including the residents of the twilight zone, the bourgeoise of the land, would have preferred to have taxes handled first. But, as President Harding pointed out, the buying power of the people is the thing to be looked out for, and the statesmen appeared to think that protecting home industries and products was the first *step to take to keep up the buy- ing power, so they put that best foot forward. The -congressmen held that if there is no buying power there will be similar lack of ability to pay—and the people must pay taxes, a lot of taxes, for several years to come. * % *k % How to lay the taxes is the question under consideration; how to impose them so as to produce the maximum return of money with the minimum of inconvenience to the people. The party in power in government and Congress has a double incentive; first, the patriotic mo- tive which_fair play would accord to them as lovers of their country and their fellow men, and second, the political motive to avoid doing anything which will bring down the wrath of the electorate on the devoted heads of the re- publicans in the congressional elections in the fall of 1922 and the presidential and congres- sional elections of 1924. leader in the House, tion. the floating debt. ury officials, who made ufactures would Uncle Sam, days of the claim, ing handled zanda for their plan. means is having tariff biil, is opposed to a sales tax, and is for funding the floating debt of the na- Representative Fess, chairman of the re- publican congressional campaign committee, is for a sales tax for one year, and favors paying * k% k Then there is Chairman Fordney of the ways and means committee, and properly classed as a leader of the republican party in the House, s for a tax on manufactures and wholesale ctions, payable at the source. the plan in vogue in Canada, a tax of 1 per cent. Mr. Fordney took the subject up with Treas- of the amount of taxes capable of being raised. It is calculated that a tax of 1 per cent on wholesale sales would bring in something like $1,000,000,000, and the same rate levied on man- produce The total of these two amounts would fall far short of providing the revenue demanded by but would help some. ticians think that possibly the man in the street would not feel the taxes so keenly as if they were levied on final sales. high protective tariffs the poli- ticians for a long time denied that under that system the consumer paid the tax, but when driven from their intrenchments behind that took comfort in the thought that the consumer didn’t know it when he did it. * k ok % Nobody in Congress knows whether the sales tax will go through or not, but legislation is be- in a way to give the proponents of the sales tax a good running start in propa- The idea is this: the Senate has passed the emergency tariff act, and while the House committee on ways and hearings on the permanent it is proposed that the Senate com- mittee on finance shall hold hearings on Senator Smoot’s bill for a sales tax. take the lead in the committee hearings, with cation. Propaganda is afoot to create a senti- ment among senators which will enable them to say to the President that he might as well abandon the plan which Secretary of State Hughes is expected to formulate to revise and modify the Versallles treaty so its ratification may be one way for this government to partici- pate in the after-war settlement in Europe. President Harding, in his address to Con- gress, hinted at the possible utilization of the Versailles treaty, saying: “The situation is so involved that our peace engagements cannot ignore the old world relationship and the settle- ments already effected, nor is it desirable to do so in preserving our own rights and contracting our future relationships.” “The wiser course,” he said, “would seem to be the acceptance of the confirmation of our rights and interests as already provided, and to engage under the existing treaty, assuming, of course, that this can be satisfactorily accom- plished by such explicit reservations and modi- fications as will secure our absolute freedom from inadvisable commitments and safeguard our essential interests.” * % % % 1t is known that Secretary of State Hughes is in agreement with the President on this declaration, and other members of the cabinet are also in line, notably Secretary Herbert Hoover. This knowledge has caused perturba- tion among the irreconcilables, who want the Versailles treaty to follow the league of nations to the scrap heap. They realize that they con- front a difficult situation, with the President and probably more than a majority of his cabi- net in accord on an opposite idea. They are, therefore, building a back-fire in the Senate, creating opposition which they hope will assume such proportions that they can quietly intimate to the President the unaccepta- bility of the plan to a goodly number of sena- tors, and dissuade the President from continu- ing urging it. He favors me rough estimates about $350,000,000. ‘The poli- In the good old After. He will himself | free passage of American vesselshave * * k% Now, it falls out that there are mal development of ocean-going com- merce. For instance, in the fiscal year June 30, 1915, 470 American vessels, 465 British and 153 of all other na- tions passed through the canal, while in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920, 1129 American vessels, 753 British and 596 of all other nations made the | transit. Tolls and other revgnues of the canal in 1915 were $4.343,383, and in 1920 $5,935,871. The canal in its i present state, according to the report |- of the governor of the canal, repre- sents a capital expenditure by the United States of $366,650,000. This is exclusive of expenditures for military and naval defense. The proposed exemption of Ameri- can vessels from the payment of tolls through the Panama canal is only one step in the campaign which senators and representatives, enthusiastic over the developmept of a great and per- manent Ameritan meTchant marine, are undertaking. But it is considered a very important step. International Question Raised. There seems to be little doubt, how- ever, if this legislation goes through, that it will add another international question to be taken up and deter- mined by the new administration. ' The arguments, pro and con, on the politicians of an acute nature on authorship fn the plans proposed important. THOMAS R. IAI.IIAI-I- Former Vice W&l e Thtted WATCHED the Senate of the United States in action for eight long years. Notwithstand- ing the numeroys jokes which I have sought in a good-humored way and without any malice to crack at its expense, I can tru aay, coming down to & sober statemant of facts, that it is a high-grade body of intelligent and patriotic Americans. It is not a criticism to state that its members are moved; like all other been made many times. When the matter was last discussed in Con- gress. it was the coastwise vessels States. The great transcontinental railroads fought the proposal for an| Interoceanic canal, tooth and toenail, from the inception of the plan. They | were active jn the last fight against| “free tolls” for American vessels. The ! present high freight rates on trans-\ ed much traffic to the Panama canal, which ordinarily would have been carried by the railroads. according to | the railroad executives. If the water route is given the further advantage of free passage through the canal, it is expected that the traffic will bej greatly increased, with a consequent; falling off in the amount of freigh! carried across the continent by the raflroads. Advantage of Free Passage. Just what does it mean to American merchantmen to receive this privilege of free passage of the canal? First, it means that they will not have to pay $1.20 & net ton as tolls. It is easy to see that this will be a considerable ad- | vantage to American carriers when competition with thos€ of other nations; that it will be a very decided advantage in their competition for the intercoastal | trade with the railroads. The question of “free tolls” for Ameri- can vessels has had a stormy career. In the original law enacted by Con- gress for the maintenance and operation | of the Panama canal, American vessels engaged in the coastwise trade were exempted from the payment of tolls through the canal. This was put through in the last year of the Taft edministration and finally was approved by President Taft. The campaign for political supremacy and the election of a President followed soon afterward. The platforms of all of the contending parties, republican, democratic ahd pro- gresstve, particularly declared in favor of the “free tolls” principle. Yet Presi- dent Wilson, who was elected as a result of the campaign, had been in the White House only a year when he appeared before Congress and delivered a brief and decidedly cryptic message in whieh that had been exempted, thoygh the law left it to the discretion of the President to decide whether the ex- emption should be extended to cover foreign-going vessels. It was peint- ed out that no foreign vessels are permitted to engage in the co wise trade of the United States. and it was contended for that reason no foreign nation should Taise an ob- jection to the exemption of Ameriean coastwise vessels from the payment of tolls. But foreign natioms did. Great Britain proposed to arbitrate the question. But, as Senator Under- wood said while majority leader of the House in 1914, “the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Sims), the author of the repeal bill asked by President Wilson) proposes to su render all our rights without a figh Article 3 of the Hay-Pauncefote treaty between the United Statesand Great Britain relating to the Panama canal and its neutralization says, in part: “The canal shall be, free and open to the vessels of commerce and of war of all nations observing these rules on terms of entire equality, so that there shall be no discrimination against uch nation, or fts citi- human beings, not only by their own peculiar mental make-up and educa~- tion, but also by the environment dt their home lives. Much criticism is indulged in over the patent fact that when local in- terests come in contact with princi® . ples it is local interests that survive. In such & eenflict only the utmost fortitude will enable the very best of men to stand by principle, regardiess of the effect their conduct may have upon their personal popularity and- immediate political prospects. Most men are human and it is quite easy for the man with no re- sponsibility upon his shoulders to say that he would not have done as the legislator he criticises did. He who s0 states is a bad logician and a worse psychologist. The utmost that any man truthfully can say is that he thinks he would not have 50 acted. I think that had I been in the Garden of Eden I would not have eaten the apple—but I don't know. I never maw Eve, and for aught I really know she might have induced me to eat it. Let us be fair with our senators and representatives. In our disagreements with them let us be- come absolutely certain that their action was inspired by base or ulterior motives before we say so. * * ¥ ¥ Reparanona Representative i Japan Remmln‘ Hmel During the eight years I pre- sided over the Senate, I observed ‘what seemed to me to be a peculiar state of mind on the part of the public which found expression in the Congress. I can best define it as a .national mental tendency to be doing something in a legislative way, rather than to do something. On we have enacted into 8 statute the thing we immediately desire done. we straightway forget all about it. We keep the promise to the ear, to break it to the hope. We assume that all that is re- quired is the enactment of the statute, thet it will enforce itself, be urged the repeal of that part of the law permitting the free passage of the canal by American coastwise vessels. Imposition of Tolls. President Wilson said in submitting &is request to Congress to repeal the “free tolls” provision: “Y ask this of you in support of the foreign policy of the administration. I shall not know how to deal with other ‘or if it does not little is the differ- t is there for any ene who may desire to make use of it, There s this advantage i for- “getting it: We can start upon the doing of something else, parhaps turn around and reverse our astion o8 well as ourselves and do exactly. the opposite without Inviting the charge of Inconsistenoy becausa of of opinion among the republican statesmen and the result that they can be directed to focus attention on the sales tax -proposition. The differences ways and means committee is to take the Sen- * % % % This is being done very adroitly and without any brass-band accompaniments. It is not de- question of procedure. : Of course, the pride of primarily on the welfare of the country, while the political consideration is secondary—but The most exigent phase of the difference of ' opinion relates to whether a sales tax shall be imposed; a small tax on the turnover of mer- this very f 1o baneds the{Hiouss: form feats which professors of engtomy would say were impos- sible, such keeping both ears to the ground at the same time in order beétter to hear the discordant voices coming from home and to determine which group or faction out there is not the louder but the more numerous and powertul. Such conduct s not a mark of dis- honesty; it is just the hall-mark of mortality. LR I 2 ‘May I instance how changing con- ditions at home change mental atti- tudes in Washington? In the spring of 1920 the debates in the Senate raged around the inflation of our currency and the attendant high cost of living. Statesmen had not then and have not yet been able to dis- finguish hetween the high cost of living and the cost of high living, to ’ differentiate between the industrial democrat and the industrious demo- crat. Something was wrong, so they ‘were informed and believed, and the country was looking to them as the skilled mechanics to fix ft. So every view was expressed as to how the currency might be deflated and the cost of living lowered. The Congress adjourned; the Fed- eral Reserve Board instituted a process of deflation; the bottom of things dropped out; the democratic party went to its crucifixion; the Congresareconvened—andstraight- way its members began to con- sider means to enhance prices in order to save groups of people from bankruptey, if indeed not from starvation. * ¥ ¥ ¥ S 1 was reminded of the explana- tion a young doctor in Indiana gave me touching his first case. Find- ing his patient with a pulse of 160, he gave him a heart-depressant and ran it down to 40; this being too low, he gave him a heart stimulant and ran it up to 120; thep he ran it back to 60 and up again to 100; finally wheri he had gotten it to 80 he left, confident that if the patient could hold it there he would recover. Legislative remedy takes too long, and is too dangerous a proc- ess to get the economic pulse right. Constant interference with nature's laws and a reckless dis- regard of common honesty will keep our business life all the while on the move between ohill and fever, We may not be willing to admit it, but God made some laws which, however seriously the Con- gress may interfere with their ‘workings, it cannet repeal, After much trouble, the Congress can punish a scoundrel, but it cannst make an honest man of him, It can temporarily Interfere with the law of supply and demand or with the principle of competition, hut it cannot permenently dispose ef them, L ate committe's hearings as a basis of informa- tion when it gets down to the work of framing a tax bill, as that measure must originate in * % k% Indications are plain that a campaign is un- der way in the Senate, participated in by the group which all along has been irreconcilable to the Versailles treaty as well as to the league sired to create a situation showing the admin- istration and an important group of senators to be at loggertieads over the forelsn policy, for party reasons. period of readjustment. . We now well into the middle ot | latter period. There are in Amer- ica today many men not unlike & man I knew following the pamie of '77. He was out of work, his family was on thh wverge of star- vation. I landed him a job at & low wage; when I tendered it to him, he hesitated and then de- clined, with the explanation that he believed he would not accept any position until he found out ‘what the Congress was going to do about the currency question. The real law that coatrols our country is not statutory. It is the common sense and self-centrol of our people. Unless we bring these to the solution of our problems, the period of readjustment will bé long drawn out. I know enough Army men to un@erstand their phrase, “passing the back,” and it today expresses much of the pub- lic mind. Every one admits that we must get down to a lower level, but nearly every one thinks it is the duty of the other fellow to get down first. I do' not: deny the many deplorable conditions of business .life. I can well under- stand how the fruit raiser or-the truck grower is having a hard time of it. They place their trou- bles on the railroads, but if either were in the city and buying from the retailer he would be surprised at the portion of the price paid for his product that had gone to the carriers. * % x% One day in Phoenix, Aris. I paid 35 cents for a paper of pina. Upon timidly suggesting that Itheught the price a bit high I was informed that the cost of transportation made the price neceasary, Last night I engaged in conversation ‘with a retail dry goods man and a cotton dealer, and out of the talk I ascertained that the cotton which goes into a yard of gingham costs 2 cents, while the manufacturer is selling it at 10%, and the retaller is asking 39 cents in his announce- ments of reductions, The other day I met a maker of shoes whe told me of a perfeetly ®o0d shoa he had made ta retafl at §8. His dealors compiained that they eould not sell them, and asked him to take them baeck, He db- manded specifio infermation as te ‘what customers wers saying whs ‘wrong with the sheez, Ons dealep telegraphed back; “Hhees all sight now, Have raised their prios to $13, Geing like hot eakes, Dupli- cate my order and rush.” He sent ‘We have almost wesm Neither is it considered desirable, for per- sonal reasons, for republican senators to be dis- closed as at feud, in the very outset of the new lease of republican party, with the President (Copyright, 1921, by The Washington Star.) How National Tendency to “Pass the Buck” Holds Back the Resumption of Prosperlty %‘e::amon honesty, common sense mmon restraint of my soun- tryman. It does .nol, seem to me quite right to readjust in a period of ‘gemeral reddjustment either by EreuPs or by businesses; it seems to me as though the “Duck” should be thrown out of the window, and that eur sense of fair dealing sheuld be called into play to the end that when we settle down to a neymal condition of peace and Droaperity we all shall settle to- gother. - * * % x “No one during the war stood off and refused to do his duty until Some other man had first done his. ‘War-time patriotlsm 18 a hollow mockery if it cannot be carried into the hours of peace. The man whe wears out the knmees of his trousers getting religion in the wintertime and the seat of his trousers back-sliding in the sum- mertime is not much of an orna- ment to the church. The man who balieves that democracy is only for war-time purposes is a poor democrat. The real test of demoe- racy is this: ‘When loss must be sostained, whether in peace or war; are we willing to sustain ours ‘without waiting for ethers to sus- tain theirs? Let us net now mar the record of the great war. must get back te “normalcy.” Let him whe makes, him whe distrib- utes and him whe buys take at onoe the inevitable boek-value loss, Let the seif-control of our people and the golden rule—which 1s the only sure foundation of a people’s government, and the only Xnown principle in lfe which en- ables men to live together in con- tentment and prosperity—supplant legislative schemes in the solution of our great internal preblems. Let's have dene with the “passing of -‘the buck." We can reach mu- tually satisfactory conditions in this way. It will be highly worth while, for thus demecracy, having justified itselt by common serv- ice and ‘sacrifice, will inevitably ap- peal te all peeples less fortunate than eurselves as the surest and best form ef government te guar- antes te man his Ged-given right te Tife, Tiberty and the pursuit of Ghappiness. s (Cugrsight, 1021, by Thames B. Mamdall.) “WILL PROBE ELLIS ISLAND Charges That Weman Died There ¥rem Expesure Btarts Inquiry. Investigation pf charges of Gov. We ®| big job well done. Society News ARMY STAFF SERVICE ENTITLED TO REWARD BY E. F. P. CUSHMAN, ] HE recently published list of | Army promotions will cause | much comment, both in the | rank .and file of the Army | itself and among the many thousands now in civil life who, during their war service, came into contact with the personalities involved. There are ! two standpoints from which this mat- ter of reward for service must be viewed. Primarily, promotion must be considered as a reward for serv- ice rendered by those promoted, and secondarily, it must be considered as an incentive to future service by those of lower rank. The present situation, shorn of its details, is this: At the time of the declaration of war with Germany we possessed a small Army, officered, for the most part, by graduates of West Point, admittedly the greatest mili- tary school fin the world. Around this nucleus of highly trained men, and by spreading its elements of in- | struction and training over a vast area, we built up an immense mili- tary machine, calling to its service men from every walk of life, and officering it from that vast reservoir that makes America a great nation. | of intelligent and self-reliant youth This Army made its magnificent record. Some organizations had | greater opportunities for distinction than others; some enjoyed greater ad- vantages of training and experience than others; but, in their essential | i elements of spirit, of devotion, of | ! courage and of potential service, they were alike. The war being over, and won, we have dispersed this great| fighting machine; and remains to us| the ‘Regular Army, started. Among the officers of this iArmy are the men whose technical | | | | | knowledge—active, in some cases, in direct command of the elements of combat; in other cases active vicar- . | iousiy through thousands of men in- Army, efficient and effective. Without Claim of Reward. It would be an insult to the spirit of the Regular Army fo imagine that these men either expect or claim ahy reward for what to them was a price- less opportunity of service. They played their part, as all men worthy the name. played theirs in those days of test—and that it was a great part and groatly played, only thode ani- mated by factional jealousy or per- sonal * animosity will deny. That spirit, proved by long years of un- Lpecticular Befvice in times of peace and written large upon the history of every war in which we have ever jengaged as a nation, was the great force that directed and made effec- tive the sublime spirit of service that rose in this country in 1917, and that won the war.. And now, with our great machine of war dissembled, and with our minds turned to and absorbed by the tremendous problems of reconstruc- ition and re-established peace, we | nave largely forgotten our elghteen { months of supreme effort. It is nat- i ural; we suffered no such agonizing lstructed and trained—made a great and ineffaceable wounds as did-other i nations; we are a volatile people, | anyawy; and we have a lot of work to do. |l Tne Regular Army, like the rest of us, has gone quietly back te the job. Men who have handled colossal { responsibilities, whose success oOr failure involved thousands and thou- sands of lives, or millions of treas- ure, or’ the vital alternatives of col- lapse or victory, have gone back to the small details of ordinary peace- time Army routine with perfect cheerfulness, and with no thought of particular reward or distinction—but | with the pleasant consciousness of a Major generals have become colonels, brigadier gen- erals have become majors; men wWho have commanded divisions in battle find themselves in command of regi- ments—and it is all in the day's work. In the small regular estab- lishment there are enly a few places of distinction as possible rewards of service, and mamy men who me.fll‘ , them, and every ene knows it. The ideals of the regular urvlu} hold as their vital element the spirit of self-effacing service, and that xpirit is manifested today in the quiet laying aside of distinction, as | Selected by the President Minister to Rumania Kendall of fowa that Mrs. Lucia Leo, wife of ¥rank Leo of Des Maines, died as a result of exposure and neg- lect to which she was subjected at tx IE‘- Island fmmigration station or srrival peceatly from Eu- rope fu te be made by Secretary Davis and Commisioner Geneml of Immi- it was anmeunced | hope with which we ! Recent Promotions Considered as Marks of Distinction for Sm_ne and as Incentive for Others. it was manifested yesterday service that won the There are exceptions to but they are very rare and very conspicuous. It is as the bestowal of the few distinctions available that the present list of promotions is con- sidered. in the distinction. this rule, Two Comsiderati te Govern. In their disfosal two considera- tions must be dealt with—firse® the value of the services rewarded, and, second, the effect of such reward on service yet to be rendered. No man, however able and industrious, may in a peace-time army for the rewards of ability and industry usual in other professions. He can never make himself rich by his profession of soldier, and his sphere of influs ence in that profession is a very limited one. His ideal must be, and is, primarily one of service. But he should be allowed rationally to hope that the few promotions available will go to those who, by ability and accomplishment, have merited them. 1 persopal favoritism or political in= fluence throws those all too few dis~ tinetions to men who have mot merited them, or to men whose serv- ice I8 inferior in accomplishment, the effect upon the morale of a corps of officers is incalculably bad. They think, and with reason, that there is little sense in giving long years of devotion to a service the meager rewards of which may be com- mandeered by inferfor accomplish- ment armed With personal or po- litical pull. - Such a conviction s devastating to the morale of any service; its ideals are lowered or de- stroyed, and men of ability and am- | bition get out of it, and their places are mnot adequately filled. In the light of these facts. the bestowal of i promotions at this time puts a heavy responsibility on those making' the decisions. The army, bearing, as it idoes, the germ of our war-time ef- | ficieney, must attract to its service {able men. and able men will not jenter or remain in a service whose ’revurds are the sport of personal or political favor. Stam d Line Duty. In awarding these promotions for war-time service there comes up, i% evitably. the old problem of the rela- tive value of the work of the Staff | and of the line. In an army, as in all organizations for accomplishment. there must be the men who plan and the men who put those plans into ac- ition; must be the administra- tive and the executive elements. They are essentially interdependent. And modern warfare, with its enormous complication of machinery, has not, only made it beyond the power of any one man to function in both elements at the same time, but has made the two services more than ever dependent upon each other. No man, however great a leader of men in battle, can accomplish results if the organiza- tion behind him fails to function. if supplies do not come up. or if reserves jand reinforcements fail—nor can a very genius of leadership and cour- age prevail if the vrinciples of strat- ogy back of his orders are faulty or based on misinformation. It is unquestionably true that the ability and devotion of the men work- ing twenty hours a day in office back of the lines are as essential to victory as the ability and devotion of the men whe, under the menace of death and mutilation, earry the army forward at the front. If one or the other failk the result is the same: Defeat. . The man who risks his life in batt must always have our hearts’ acclaim, {but in the cool matter of just reward it 1s contribution to the accomplish- ment of résult—i. e, service—that must be considered, apart from admi- ration of courage. It is a rather glo- rious fact that soldiers of all grades prefer active fleld service to seryice on the staff, and in considering serv- ice, courage—the essential of an army —is taken as a matter of course. . To decide the comparative value of different men's service in the line, or of different men’s service in the staff is a simple matter; but to decide the relative value of service in the line with service in the staff is very diff- cult. Such decisions must be made, however, and made with deliberate fairness—especially at this time when war service is involved, and when the justice of the decisions made is more than ever essential as having a vital effect upon the spirit of the service— that spirit that in the future may called upon, as it has been called upon in the past, to safeguard the greatness and prestige of this coune try. U. S. FIRM WITH PANAMA, Will Znsist on White Award in Fixing Costa Rica Boundary. The repty of the United States gove ernment to the recent protest of Pap- ama against accepting the White award as the basis of settling her baund‘lry dispute with Costa Rica has been completed and will be dispatched at once. Its text is withheld. The American position, bowever, is known to be unchanged in its Insistence that the White award be accepted h defining the boundary. ‘The present note is one of a series arising from the armed conflict sev- eral weeks ago between Costa Rica and Panama, resulting from dissatis- faction by Panama with the White award as affecting territory on the PETER A. JAY, Pacific slope. The hostilities were Whe has been nominated by President | checked as one of the first acts of Harding l-.'! tile- .:-t of minister to{the Harding administration, although Rumania. He is at preseat minister to Salvador, and his premotiom has Panams has not formally consented A one Te to agres: ot e *»¢] duigh the boundary. gwation ‘Husband, yesterdzy at the Department of Labor. The Seésatary and commissioner are now-in New York and, it i» under- stood, will make s full inquiry into ocondftions at the station. Gow. Kendall's charges were made in ‘letterw Senator Xasnyon and Dewoll of Jows, and twe gD’ the Istter wrped on-the fioor, Hogwe that the immigra- . tion uommittn conduct an investiga- tion. our prior accomplishment, Suvface indications of soclal and econemio life are the things which peally attrgot our attention and It is for 1 their rectification that we insiste ently demand sotion et the haudd of the Congress. matters of even greater delicacy and nearer consequence if you do not grant it to me in ungrudging measure.” This was on March 5, 1914. What the “other maiters” were to which the President referred was never made pub- Be. A bill to repeal the free tolls for American vessels was brought ' in and put through the House and Sen- ate, though not without strong opposi- tion. Party lines were disregarded to a considerable extent in the contest. ‘We are passing through a great economic crisis, such as invariably follows every great war and every period of inflation and wild spec- ulation. It used to be sald that it was enly thves genoratiens from shivt steswaw to phirt sleoves; however that may be, & period of thrift and prosperity has always Bnpn falnwrd hy o perind of ex- < T. NAGATA, Who left for Japan om the Mara. He is on his way Persia of like passions as euwweives, I ‘: found that they mny destve to LE b n by [ venience. To this ciids