Evening Star Newspaper, January 22, 1922, Page 42

- THE EVENING STAR, “With Sunday iMorning Edition. - 'WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY...... January 29, 1022 S RO T R PR THEODORE W. NOYES. .. .Editor The Evening Sta¥ Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 150 Nassau 8t. : First National Bank Buildin Office: 3 Regeat 8t., European London, Eagla: The Ereaing Ster, with the Sundey morning “wdition, is delivered by carriers within the clty at @0 cer r moath; daily only, 45 cents per y only, 20 cents per month. Or- dors may be sent by mail, or telephone Maly 5000. Collection e made by carriers at tbe end of each month. g Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia, Daily afid Sunday.. 1mo., 70¢ ly only. ; 1 mo., 50¢ Sunday only 0; 1 mo., 20c All Other States. Daily and Sune .1yr., $10. Daily only.. m ". sl An Agricultural Progrem. Chief purpose of the agricultural conference to be convened in Wash- ington tomorrow, according to an- nouncement from authoritative sources, is to stabilize the industry and work out a permanent program for agriculture. This is something the need of which has long been recog- nized, but the conference, called at the instance of President Harding, is the first attempt on a pational scale to bring about its accomplishment. It sudcess is to attend this effort, there must be understanding by all the people that the need of such a program is not wholly, or even pri- marily, that the farmer may be bene- fited. The industrial worker, the school teacher, the store clerk, are as much interested as is the farmer. Stability for agriculture means stabil- ity for industrial and commercial en- terprise; an assured food supply at a fairly even level of prices. a narrow- ing of the ups and downs of business activity and moderation of recurrent periods of unemployment. Agriculture is the greatest indus- try in America today, and is the great- est gamble. A main purpose of the conference will be to devise ways to minimize the gamble, to reduce the hazard et least to the limits. of ordi- nary business. When that is done the farmer will not have some years of excessive profit and others of loss. He ‘will get a fair return for his labor and on the capital he has invested, and feeling assured of just prosperity he will be a confident and steady buyer of the products of other industry. The paradox of bountiful crops yielding less return thdn meager ones will be done away with. The bearing of na- ture on farm production cannot be wholly controlled. but in a country so vast as this nature generally averages things fairly well, and when nature does get out of balance one year's surplus should be made to serve an- other vear's deficit without disaster to the farmer. Public confidence in-the conference is strengthened by assurance that it will not attempt to afford present re- lief to the farmer at the expense of the general public. There has been so much of that lately that the non- farming public would have little pa- tience with such an undertaking. But to any effort looking to prevention of conditions such as those from which agriculture now is suffering all the; people should be sympathetic and should lend support. A Deeds Record Building. At a meeting of the Washington Real Estate Board the other evening resolutions were adopted asking Con- gress to provide a suitable building for the office of recorder of deeds of the District. This matter should bhe Yressed vigorously, and the attention of the proper committees of Congress directed to the urgent need of estab- lshing the office’ and its invaluable records in a perfectly fireproof. con- venient structure that will afford ade- «quate facilities for the transaction of tusiness and be an insurance against irreparable loss. The conditions in the recorder’s of- fice are better now that the court- house has been remodeled. They are, however, still unsatisfactory. The quarters assigned to this branch of the District government are restricted, with no chance for expansion. The ‘working force is crowded, and the rec- ords themselves, though now stored in steel filing cases, are not as accessible as they should be in 2 modern reposi- tory. The work of the recorder’s office is constantly increasing. During the past thirty years this office has been not only self-sustaining, but has paid a substantial surplus into the Treasury. If this surplus were now capitalized it would go far toward the erection of a suitable building separated from the courthouse and especially designed for this work. It is needless to point out the im- mense value of the records kept in this office. Tpon them depend enor- mous fortunes in real estate titles. 'The loss of these records would be a calamity, and no expense should be " =pared to make them just as secure as it is physically them. possible to rendey —_—— CHile and Peru recognize Washing- ton, D. C., as the great conference city of the world. ‘Waterpower works fast when it gets into action, but is sometimes hard to harness. ! ! The World and Recovery. A writer for the London Saturday Review says: is only too evident that unless the world in general can recover its temper and agree to behave as 2 hu- man being and not like villains of the lodrama stage, there can be no real recovery of business.” But will it help to lecture the world in terms like these? It should be remembered that'the werld has had a violent fever, and been left in a debilitated, ‘almost an exhsusted, state. A patient in such a In too much of a sweat. We forget, or ignore, what we have passed through since the summer of 1914. The world: has hitherto never had such an experience. The destruction of life and treasure and the-disloca- tion and demoralization of affairs of avery kind have been appalling—in: Jegcribable, indeed. T In the very nature of things, re- covery will be slow. After such a seizure the world cannot reasonably be expected to spring to its feet and get into its stride right away. But it will recover both its temper end its strength, and go forward again in the old way. It is still a good place to live in, and will be made better by those who have learned much in the bitter school of war and have now a chance to apply their knowledge. The Teacher’s Task. Elementary school teachers, accord- ing to a speaker at the annual meeting 80c| of the Washington Tuberculosis Asso- ciation, must be depended upon to give the children of America their-elemen- tary training in health. This is probably true, and it points anew to the key position which the grade school teachers occupy in the life of the nation. Malnutrition, from which so many children suffer, is not a matter of being born into a rich or poor family, researches show. Par- ents, through either ignorance or care- lessness, fall to comprehend child health problems. . It is left for the teachers, then, to do what they can to detect the under- nourished child, the child with too thin and spindling legs, whose shoulder blades stick out like wings, whose abdomens are algeady prolapsed. Then the teachers must apply what knowl- edge they have to correct the condi- tions. The “children’s year” in Washing: ton brought out the conditions of mal- nutrition existing among the school children here, in line with similar con- ditions revealed in many other large cities of the country. The solution of the problem will depend largely upon the spread of knowledge and the work of the elementary school teachers. While it may at first seem to be burdening already overworked teach- ers with more work, there can be lit- tle doubt of their enthusiasm and their readiness to take over an important task for the benefit of the youth of the land. Much is left to the public schools, . too much expected of them, perhaps, but they can do and are do- ing much beyond merely giving the children “book learning.” R RORCH. IS S0 I SRR b SR A0S S 0 B SR B ) B D L PR Pursuing Bootleggers. In a wild chase through the city strects yesterday between a police ad- tomobile and a bootlegger's car, the former was barely able to keep pace. The whisky runners had a high- powered machine. and had it not beer for traffic conditions would probably have escaped through greater speed. One of the occupants of the fugitive machine tried to escape by jumping out, but was caught. The other leaped from his machine when it was wrecked in collision and got away. If rum-running through the streets of ‘Washington is to become a practice the police should have a better equip- ment for pursuit. The bootleggers are using. the best machines avalilable. Their profits are said to be great enough to enable them to command the most efficient motors for their | trade, and they thus have a handicap | of speed if the enforcement forces are {not as well provided. i It is, of course, to be hoped that the city will not become a race course be- tween the bootleggers and the police. Such happenings as that of yesterday are highly dangerous. The two cars were rushed through the streets at racing spged, and it is the best of good fortune tyat they did not leave a trail of wreckige behind them. Neverthe- ! less. if there'is to be racing it should ! be to good effect, and the police should | be in a position to cope with the fleet- iut fugitives, whatever their offense. No winter is regarded as complete without a few coal strike predictions. Fortunately forecasts of this kind have proved less reHable than the weather bureau's cold-wave ennounce- ments. J s e It is to be regretted that nations who now find themselves deep in debt did not give closer heed to Ben Frank- lin’s splendid maxims concerning thrift. —_—————— The black hand, although extinct as an organization, has provided a con- venient name for the use of amateur bandits. No artistic sense can approve of fortifications as peace monuments in the Pacific. Stolen Savings. Some months ago & man out in the west lost the savings of a lifetime when thieves visited his house, and he told the police later that he had kept his cash in his house because he was afraid of banks. Something perhaps of the same thought may have caused a local man to keep his savings in a steel box in his home. A thief dis- covered it and now it is gone, probably beyond recovery. 1t is rather astonishing to find such cases nowadays, with the banking in- stitutions so fully safeguarded against failuredand loss, with so many possi- bilities for sound investment. It would seem that the banking and investment lessons had been sufficiently taught. Yet these cases arise from time to time of large sums taken from houses, the accumulations of years. ‘The $6,000 stolen from the Wash- ington self-banker, if properly placed in savings accounts or in sound securi- ties, would probably have amounted by this time to $8,000 or -perhaps $9,000 through accumulation of inter- est. Savings accounts at compound interest increase steadlly, and much more rapidly than the rate suggests. ‘When a loss of this kind occurs through theft, or, as sometimes hap- pens, through fire, the actual loss is state should be coddled, cozeried, en-|more than the face value of the money. couraged in every way. Sharp talk is out of place. Give the world a chance. Trest it as @ human being. Allow for = slew convalescence. With the proper treatment it will soon be sitting up and taking neurishment again. We gre all i too much of & hurry— In the first place the interest is iost, which, as stated, may amount to a very considerable accretion. In the second place the use of that money is lost to the community. It hag been wasted during long years of its ac- cumulation. Currency ‘and coin are not money economically if they are se- creted, put away in strong boxes/ any- where out of service. Money is maney, indeed, only when it is working, and it works only, when it is being spent or is at the service of users through loans. Every dollar of hoarded cash is ‘waste as long as it remains-idie. ‘The tragedy of these cases is that those who learn the lesson through theft or other misfortune do not, as e rule, find themselves again in .a posi- tion to take advantage of it. Their savings have accumulated through many years, add the loss comes when they have little expectation of making further accumulations. But others can take warning and take their own eav- ings, i they are hoarding them per- sonally, to the banks for deposit, or to some trustworthy agent for invest- ment in dependable securities. This misfortune that' befell a Washing- tonian the other day should be the cause of the starting of numerou: bank accounts. - Dangers From Trucks. Yesterday morning a heavy Army truck collided with a street car in this city, breaking the windows of the lat- ter, but, fortunately, by a narrow mar- gin, failing to do other damage. The collision occurred at an open crossing with no other traffic near. The street car had,right of way over the intersec- tion, and the motorman had reason to believe that the: truck driver would yield passage. Evidently the truck driver expected the car td halt for him, for he proceeded at a sharp pace in an effort to cross the track. The bump followed. This lugkily unimportant accident should be noted by all owners of trucks, who should instruct their drivers to proceed with greater care through the city streets. A large per- centage of accidents in Washington are due to the indifference and haste of truck motorists. These vehicles fig- ure in many of the fatalities. They are heavy and can withstand shocks. Their drivers take advantage of this fact to risk collisions, claiming right of way and securing it by virtue of their own power and stoutness. Other vehicles yield to them because in a col- lision they will be the more seriously damaged. In yesterday's case the driver was a soldier. During the war these ma- chines were run through the city streets with a shocking degree of recklessness. A private driver may be disciplined by docking his pay, or by dismissal. A soldier chauffeur fears no such penalty. But those who are responsible for the handlipg of govern- ment goods by truck in this city should take some steps to protect the public from the careclessness of the men in charge of their machines. ———————————— How the Clocks Run. An astronop-er at 'k Obscrvatory has discovered that clocks run faster at night than in the daytime. The error is very small, but an elaborate observing program confirms earlier conclusions that clocks do run faster then. This will be interesting news to all sufferers from insomnia, who have felt that clocks run very much slower at night than during the day. All those who have lain awake in the small hours, waiting for the dawn to come, will be inclined to doubt the-accuracy of the professor’'s observations. Just what bearing the discovery will have upon men and clocks is not known at this time. At first blush it would seem that the amount of good such a revelation can accomplish would be very small. Who-cares if clocks run faster at night, anyway? Yet who knows but what greater discoveries in science may hinge upon the apparently harmless discovery that clock wheels turn around a bit faster at night, and clock springs have a bit more*power during darkness? ————— e The arms conference has succeeded in making the whole world think harder than ever before about peace as a practical proposition, whith must in itself be regarded as a. distinct achievement. ¥ Milk is @ mild beverage, but never- theless an inspiration to a rather boisterous style of oratory before Con- gress. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Impossibility. “I'd like to loaf the time away,” Said Hezekiah Bings. “But everything you do or say Result, of some kind, brings. The careless pleasure that you planned Toward future gloom may range. The idle story may expand Into a falsehood strange. “I'd like to loaf away the time ‘Where perfume fills the air And hear the music lightly chime ‘Without a thought of care. 1'd like to live this life for fun. Like many other things I find it simply can’t be done,” Said Hezekiah Bings. Oratorical Achievement. “What do you consider the most in- fluential speech you ever made?” “The one I delivered day before yes- terday,” replied Senator Sorghum. “The .cook was threatening to leave, and by exerting my powers of elo- quence to the utmost I persuaded her to stay.” 3 . Jud Tunkins says some people are like ouija boards. They are entertain- ing et first, but you lose interest be: cause it's 8o hard to verify their state- ments. Overdoing It. A snowflake is a beauteous thing; A feather from an angel’s wing. A few are much to be admired. A superabundance makes us tired. ' Mutual Forbearance. ' - “Do you claim to know all about finance?”’ ' “No,” admitted Farmer Corntossel. “I'm free to confess some of us farm- ers who talk about finance don’t know any more about their subject than some of the financiers who talk about farming.” % “A conference,” said Uncle Eben, “nearly always brings up some sub- Ject dat's es big a conversation eon- sumer as relativity itself” * . - Politics at Home(Ready to Follow Any Road Which Leads Way to Peace ‘Women in Southern Politics. The announcemsént that a woman is se¢king election to the House from Arkansas cornes from Little Rock. She is Mrs. T. T. Colman. She was prominent in the movement for suf- frage for women, and is accustomed to public speaking. This follows hard upon the an- .;nouncement of the candidacy 6f Miss Belle Kearney for the Senate from Mississippi. - She, too, won her spurs, 80 to say, as a lecturer in the puffrage movement, and is described as a speaker, of fluency and charm. She has inaugurated her campaign, and will stump the state. i The south brought up the rear in the fight for suffrage. The old order vielded slowly and reluctantly through- out that section. Women in politics, either for the stump or for office, did not strike popular fancy. 5 But now that the ‘old order has dig- appeared, the women of the south are showing aggressive Interest in their new estate, and a determination to bear a full share of the public burden. They are participating in organization work, and offering for office. There is something intriguing in the candidacy of Miss Kearney. Two other announcements for the Missis- sippl senatorship are made—that of former, Representative Stevens, and that of former Senator Vardaman. Mr. Vardaman is very anxious to come back. He had but one term in the Sen- ate, and while serving that fell under the displeasure of President Wilson. He thus lost out, Mr. Wilson at the time possessing great power in all the democratic strongholds. | The appearance of a woman bearing Mississippi's commission in the cham- ber where Lamar and Walthall were for long a power would strikingly il- lustrate the new order in America and the opportunities it affords. And the Hon. Pat Harrison might be put to his trumps ,to hold the very prominent place he has taken and is now filling in the upper house of Congress. Cleveland and Wilson. Mr. Wilson's friends are remember- ing him, and he them. The sixty-fifth’ anniversary of his birth brought him many telegrams and letters of con- gratulation, and their senders received in return warm expressions of appre- clation of their assurances. < Mr. Wilson's communications are cropping out here and there. The re- ciplents are proud of them. They give a sort of distinction. In all of them appears an expression of confidence in the democracy's fu- ture. Mr. Wilson is certain that the party is coming back: that the country still has work for it to do, and that the party is in condition to do the work. ’ This correspondence suggests what took place in the case of Mr. Cleve- land after his defeat in 1888. His op- ponents, and particularly those in his own party, thought he was done for. Not so his friends, nor he himself. They had hopes: and him friends cheered him, and he thém. Returning to New York, Mr. Cleve- land took up the practice of law. Bat he did not permit his professional duties to obscure the political field. He kept his eye on that. He likewise kept in communication with his friends who" were active there. They wrote to him, and he to them. His pen” was busy right along. In this way Mr. Cleveland remained in touch with all the live wires of the democracy. There was probably not a state in the Union where some demo- crat of prominence and influence did not hold and cherish a letter from Mr. Cleveland of a hopeful character as respected the next presidential cam- paign.. At Chicago in 1892 Mr. Cleveland achieved an easy victory. He was in health, and eager for another try at the White House. But so complete was his mastery of the situation that it for any reason he had failed of the prize for himself he could have dic- tated its bestowal and thus established a “pull” with the winner. Massachusetts. Mr. Lodge is booked for some cam- paign this year. He will draw fire on several accounts. He is his party’s leader in the Sen- ate. For that reason he is a shining mark. The effect of his defeat would be national. The democracy every- where would point to it as indicative of coming national events. He was foremost in the fight on the treaty Mr. Wilson brought back from. Paris. In the Senate and out he was held responsible by the Wilsonites for the complications that resulted in the failure of the treaty. Mr. Lodge would not have the treaty without reserva- tions, and Mr. Wilson would not have it with those Mr. Lodge proposed and which the Senate adopted. He is now serving as a delegatesto the armament conference, and when the results of that tribunal are sub- | 1 i l ! {mited to the Senate by President Harding he will lead in the proceed- ings looking to their ratification. The prospects are favorable for a warm tussle, with Mr. Lodge prominently in the plcture while it lasts; and it may last several months. He will probably, therefore, go almost direct from this tussle to the stump asking for the judgment of his constituents on his courses . In November, 1920, Massachusetts gave the republican national ticket over four hundred thousand majority. She is normally republican, and has not once failed Mr. Lodge since he first offered for political honors. He had four terms as a member of -the House before entering the Senate, and has sat in the latter body continuously since March 4, 1893, nearly ‘twenty- nine years. It will be his sixth term he will enter upon if re-elected in No- ‘vember. Mr. Lodge is approaching his seven: ty-second birthday, and -looks as fit ‘physically as at any time.the past score of years.. i —_——— The motion picture has set a pace for itself in undertaking to keep,the film exhibits up to the high intellectual standards of its other departments. ———tee——————— No German citizen derived enough | Congress that the: pleasure from the war to make him feel at all cheerful about paying fgr it. BY THOMAS R. MARSHALL, Former Vice President of the . United States. LOOK with pleasure on the proposal to hold international meetings, annually or bién- niklly, to discuss the state of the world, to dlagnose its condi- tion, to prognosticate early symp- toms and to prescribe homeopathic doses of good will and mutual advice to’ forestall diseade. The most potent thing of all life is the influence of common counsel’ and ‘educations . The ills of mankind which have bled a world white in its efforts to scribed remedies productive of war and .for which have been pre- scribed remedies productive of war, have not been diagnosed similarly by the various specialists called in. Consequently, there have been copflicting remedies. One school oY gollunll doctors has been sure that the -peace of mankind is in danger because the individual is a fighting man. Its members belleve with Darwin in the survival of the fitt and to them Darwin's “fittest” means “strongest.” They gravely doubt whether it is possible to eradi- cate from the mind of man his desire for supremacy and his con- sequent willingness to obtain it regardless of its cost or its effect on others. Professing a desire for peace and probably bllieving that they possess such desire, they are well satisfied that peace may be obtained only by being prepared at every pointifo resist encroachment. The disclosure of history that preparation for pre- vention is an invitation to assault impresses them not at all. . * ¥ ¥ ¥ A second school is made up of political doctors, who believe that nafional pride, vainglory and self- esteem are’the three predisposing causes to war. They hold that it is impossible for a nation to re-* tain its self-respect without prov- ing its superiority upon the flelds of battle. Diagnosis frequently is bad and prognosis worse. 1 have, how- ever, knowa patients to recover in spite of faulty sclence. A family in our town was quarantined for scarlet fever. It was a full week before the doctor in charge learned that the rash was caused by the mother soaking a red rag in kero- sene oil, salting it well and bind- ing it around the child's throat. One ‘of the idols of Indiana democracy was Thomas A. Hen- dricks and there was mourning in”every democratic household in the state when it was announced that he had gangrene in a big toe. A, country doctor, who was an intimate friend of the governor's, hurried to Indianapolis. With a familiarity of long-time friendship and unfaitering devotion to the Eovernor's welfare, he asked to see the toe. “Gosh, Tom. you've got a ‘bile’ there.” he said. A boil it was, not gangrene, and in a couple of days Hendricks was back at his office. * k k¥ The value of international gath- erings is obvious. More than like- Iy 1 am unwilling to admit that there is any alien people as a class at all comparable with the Amer- ican. I wave my flag. I shout my shibboleths. 1 boldly declare that my nation is the best nation on the face of the earth; that my people have more knowledge, more - good will, more charity, more en- terprise—in brief, that they are the leaders of mankind. 1 may be willing to admit that any in- dividual may be mistaken, but I confidently assert that American ideas and American aims, when molded together in the mass, are all-to the good. I proclaim myself for .peace and good will among * the nations of the earth, but I serve notice that peace and good will are to be had only on condi- tion that all others admit the su- perfority of my government. This is one of the causes that have led to conflicts in the past and it constitutes one of the danger signals for the future. Whether the cause is national or individual In its character is a moot question, Let us admit that it is both national and individual. Beneficent _influences will flow from the Washington conference only when we as individuals and as a nation come to understand that we are both superior and in- ferior. * ok ok k More harm has come to human- kind through the effort to edu- | i | cate individuals and nations out of their personal and racial charac- teristics than thpough all other sources combined. The effort to make other men do what you do, to think what you think, believe what you_believe hope for what you hope for, hi aralyized their natural tendencies, has set them at enmity with you, has rendered them discontented, and consequently has made them ready for war. It will be a great good thing if the Washington confer- ence shal] show to the world that that nation is the best nation ‘Which possésses national aims and ambitions without endeavoring to force other nations to adopt them. It will be a fine thing when the head shall discover that it is not a foot and when the foot shall at- tempt nelither to talk nor gulde. It is not to be expected that the barriers of race and religion will be broken down in a moment, that nations wil] at once become modest and unassuming and be willing to take their allotted places fn the economy of the world’s word, but it is not too early to ask the thoughtful indi- vidual, who s the unit of every national life, seriously 'to consider Whether the time has not come Wwhen he should forget racial and religious questions and should be Wwilling to pursue the way in life Which offers the largest success for himself and the greatest hope of Peace for humanity, * k * * 1 lay no claim myself to supe- rior kpowledge or higher purpose than the average American. I un- derstand how difficult it is to get rid of one diagnosis and trust to another. The history of the world convinced me that there could be no such thing as authority with- out power to enforce its decrees. T therefore believed that to pro- mote the peace of the world it was essential that back of the agree- ment to guarantee world peace there should be the power to en- force it if occasion ever arose. But maybe my dlagnosis was wrong. At any rate, I am not’in charge of a sick world. Those who have the patient in hand seem convinced that if there can be time to pause, time to think, time to reason, time to explain, time to observe what he eftect of war will be, amicable solution can be reached touching any trouble that may threaten in thé future: that, therefore, there is no need to hold in readiness the corhpelling arm of force. 1 do not apologize for the opinion that I entertained, but I most as- suredly advise the taking of the treatment which the doctors now offer. 1 hopefully pray that be- cause of the advance the. world around with reference to racial traits and characteristics there is arger charity of opinion now than at any other time in all his- tory. * ¥ % ¥ Who am T to say that ten years' constant talk as to the desirabil- ity of peace, constant warning against the horrors and devesta- tions of war, constant efforts of the, nations of the earth better to understand each other may not at the end of that time make war many times more abhorrent than it is even now? Who am 1 to de- clare that the movement toward the limitation of armament may not set going a constantly in- creasing public sentiment through- out the world that will be so strong in its onsweep as to over- whelm any government that might attempt to plunge the world in the Wwoes of armed conflict? In the midst of a political cam- paign I have an inherent right to be a democrat by voice and vate,. It 18 guaranteed by nature and by law that I may express my ‘sentiments as to the good of country and the better ways to romote the peace of the world, ut above this inherent right of mine rises my solemn duty as a lone American, my duty as a man who Tecognizes Brotherhood, who cannot but be convinced that some way, somehow, some. time, the real pathfinders, pioneers and conquer- ors of the world will be found among those who blaze their way through the forests of peace rath- er than among those who loot and pillage in the name of law and liberty. So here I stand, with no_apology. for the past, but with & firm resolve that whoever leads with the intent of leading me and mine to_the mountains of peace, I will follow. silent. but not sullen. (Conyright, 1922, by Thomas R. Marshall, Agricultural Attaches Wanted Now comes the agricultural at-|Holland, Norway and Sweden: in Paris tache, the newest agency in interna- tional relations, and urged as a most powerful aid in stabilizing the basic industry of the world, thus prevent- ing fndustrial depressions and peri- odic perfods of skyrocketing prices. Emphatic and direct recommenda- tion for agricultural attaches has been made to Congress in the report of the joint congressional commission on agricultural inquiry, headed by Representative Sydney Anderson of Minnesota, which advises: “Provision should be made by Con- gress for agricultural attaches in the principal foreign countries pro- ducing and consuming agricultural products.” This same recommendation is in- cluded .among the propositions urged By the Farm Bureau Federation at its last annual meeting. It is expected tosbe the subject of careful consideration at the national conference opening here this week at the call of President Harding. But the agricultural attache is not a novelty or innovation. Some of the nations which are direct com- petitors of the United States for sale of farm products in the world’s mar- kets are already représented by such specially trained agents. Denmark has five agricultural -attaches, one here in Washington, others in Can- ada, England, Riga and Berlin; Hol- land maintains agricultural attaches in_England, Brussels, Berlin and other markets for her agricultural products; Norway, Swedén and Czechoslovakia also maintain such agents; before the war Germany and Hungary had them in many countries. 3 * * & That the agricultural attache has good right to a place on the world stage is shown by the fact that the average total international trade for all countries in agricultural products is In excess of six biilion dolla: which approximately one-fifth repre- sents agricultural exports from the United States. Of the total exports of all commoditiés in the United States approximately 50 per cent are agricultural. ‘Those gathered here for the na- tional conference on agriculture are prepared to emphasize that the pros- perity and welfare of the United States 1is largely dependent upon agricultural production and the pros- perity and purchasing power of th farmer; that the prosperity of agri- culture -depends 'largely upon the prices of agricultural products; tha prices depend largely upon supply and demand throughou world; that prices of agricultural ex- ports largely determine the prices of agricultural products consumed in |going tri the United States. ) The fleld of operations for American cultural taches uld agri at wol be the whole world, and it {s being urged upon re is an immediate de- mand for at least seven! of thess i H | t | coming more immin to-cover France, Belgium and Switzer- land; in Berlfn to cover Germany and Denmark, and possibly Holland: in ‘Warsaw to cover Poland and north Rus- sia; in Budapest to cover Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Austria; in Bucharest to cover the Balkan states; in Moscow or Odessa to cover southern Russia: in Rome to cover Italy and Egypt; in Ma- drid to cover Spain and the Barbary states; in Cape Town to cover south Africa; in Calcutta to cover India; in Peking or Shanghai to cover China: in ‘Vladivostok to cover Manchuria and Siberia: in Rio de Janeiro to cover.Bra- 2il; in Buenos Aires to cover Argentina, Uruguay and Paragua: in Sydney to cover Australia and New Zealand: in Mexico City, to cover Mexico. All of these countries either produce a sur- plus_of one or more crops in compe- tition with those of the United States, or are :;::;{‘r‘unfg countries ‘which o s farm U{“"}f"ls"“sid products of the Vhat wou the ML, agricultural at- First, stand as a_sentinel to warn the American producer on | matters affecting competition, on un- favorable economic conditions. on probable ylelds in the foreign coun- try that would endanger the markets for the American surplus; of Tew crops and new fields and new methods of production abroad. Second, be an advance agent, finding out the probable demands of other markets for American surplus, and aiding the American farmer in developing such markets. * % These attaches must be trained men, with the agricultural and the eco- nomic viewpoints, so that they will be able to make specialized, intel- ligent and helpfulireports. Immedi- ately needed are statistical data with respect to crop production, stocks on hand, imports, exports, supply and demand, surpluses and deficits, and keting of surplus American farm economic factors affecting the mar- products and their 'm and market prices. This information to be of most value must be timely, depend- able and unbiased in order that it may be used with confidence as a guide to production and marketing programs. Second in importance only to crop and market information for imme- diate use is information with respect to legislation affecting agriculture, such as taxation, credit, insurance, tariff, plant and animal quarantines, ure seed, fertilizers and systems of and ure. This is especially true of western Europe, which may be re- garded as a laboratory for e: J ri- mentation ? a nation-wide scale in dealing with problems which are be- nt in the United States. Practically every known method and form of taxation and tarift, credit and insuranc agement and- co-operation is under- American farmers, busi- ness men and legislators should have the benefit of European practical ex- perience. v Perhaps third in importance is a thorough. study and timely informa- tion and present and pros- pective competition in agricultural production in foreign countries. . Heard and Seen Did you ever have a piece of ma- chinery in which you took especial pride go wrong just at the very time ‘when you wanted it to:act its best? Most people have had that experi- ence. Usually it happens when guests Fifty Years Ago in The Star Comparatively little attention was paid to the collection of vital statis- tics in this country are around or when some particular|Value of Vital until after the civil person whom you wish to impress is S . war, when theneed looking on. Statistics. of more carefully There seems to be a perverse some- thing in a machine which makes it “act up” at such times. Probably the true explanation s that the thing gces wrong many other times, but it is not so noticeable as when other folks are around. Tha city postmaster, M. O. Chance, recently had a case in point. Under direction of the Post Office Depart- ment, he installed a certain number of automatic stamp-veuding machines around the city. Believing the machines to be a good thing, delivering to the patron the full value.of stamps for money put into. the apparatus, the postmaster was anxious they should work well before ofticials of the department. Out of all the machines just one broke down in performance. In the slot designed to take a five-cent plece it was discovered that the “buffalo nickel” tended to jam, being slightly thicker than the old style “nickel.” Now, where do you suppose that machine was located? In the lobby of the apartment hotel in which reside the Postmaster Gen- eral, and the first and third assistant postmasters general, of course. * * ¥ Uncle is nothing obliging. When depositors in United States postal savings recently protested the scmewHhat messy way of taking finger prints of depgsitors, officials began to search around for a cleaner method. : Under the old system the patron was obliged to press the index finger tips on a pad smeared with printer's ink and then roll the fingers on a i8lip of paper. Now, printers ink Is 1 good ink, as a]l the world knows. It |18 hard to get off the hands, too. {_Even ' perfumed gasoline and a sponge failed to get it off, and ladies who came wearing nice white gloves/ didn’t like it a bit. But over at the city post officc they are using now a system of taking finger prints that is believed by offi- cials to be the very latest word in the The depositor merely finger on a plece of paper. Natural perspiration on the finger leaves its mark. Then a sort of lamp- black is dusted over the impression with a small camel's hair brush. In a second the dust catches in the in visible ridges, whorls and “island: and there is the finger print. as pl 48 cap be. An atomizer containing it fixing solution is then sprayed at the print and the office has it for all time. Sam it not * & 1 wonder if in any place in W ington there are as many manh covers, gas mains, water connections and other iron pieces on the sidewalks as along 17th street between F street and Pennsylvania avenue. Walking down past the Mills building toward the office occupied by the United States bureau of efli- ciency, one steps upon scores of iron covers of all sizes and shapes. There are round ones and square ones, large rcund ones and large square ones, with here and there an oblong cover to_add variety. Nzpoleon, it has been said, got into the habit of counting windows as he rode down the main street of a con- quered town, and if he missed any he had to go back and count all over again. Any neryous person who got into the habit of stepping on all those iron | covers along 17th street would never | get to his destination if he missed the | count. CHARLES E. TRACEWELL. 1-| | A Broader American Policy. FRANKFURT.—The Washington conference has brought America back into the community of peoples, ac- in cording to a writer furter Zeitung, who “If we want to analyze objectively the importance of the Pacific agree- {ment obtained in consequence of the Washington conference and sum- marize the results we should say it has brought America back into the | community of peoples. The countries which were struggling for the su- premacy in the Pacific have joined together in one common idea. There is a guarantee of peace for a long time to come on this distaft ocean. The agreement is certainly a wise act, but it is only the beginning. It only concerns the islands of the Pa- cific, but does not touch on the great differences of the Asiatic continent or the Chinese and Siberian prob- lems. Yet it is a manifestation of good will which cannot remain_ with- fout influencing things. The Wash- ington conference is not yet at the end of its work, but it will not be able to satisfy the wishes of every China is discontented and dis- sioned because her sufferings have not been appeased and because this conference of diplomatists pre- ferred to maintain the status quo in the interests of the great and the powerful. The Chinese people con- sidered themselves sacrificed as at Versailles. They forget that ideas lare worth more than facts. The Pa- { citic agreement did not satisfy China, but the idea which engendered it will have influence on Chinese affairs. One of the chief aims of the. confer- ence was to obtain peace in the F'a- cific; the agreement is the foundation . _Japan might also be dissatis- She has made sacrifices and concessions, ang instead of being able to lean on the alliance with England, as formerly, she is now placed be- tween the two Anglo-Saxon powers. But Japan, who is not wanting in far-sighted men. will realize that moderation is preferable to competi- tion. At any rate, by joining the agreement she has declared herselt ready to follow in these steps. The Anglo-Japanese alliance no longer exists to' divide America and, Eng- land. The United States and the British Empire can now maintain a friendly understanding. This is in- deed a decisive turning to the his- torical evolution of the world's his- to the Frank- l Ty, “imerlcfl is oply realizing very slowly,” concludes-the writer, “what ha¢ to be done to re-establish the world’s economic_situation, but it is} already a great vlessing that she was | willing to sit at the conference table to deliberate with c¢ther peoples on, the subject. Thus the conclusion of the Pacific agreement is not only in- teresting for ' those .powers which have interests on this ocean, but also for Europe, and Germany, which is styuggling under terrible burdens, must-be glad of it.” - 2 PARIS.—Although the franc is low, the money of many countries 6f Eu- rope Is much lower, and the foreign students at Paris are in great diffi- culties, reports the correspondent of the London Observer. France has al- ways endeavored to attract the for- eign stydent since the days when Abelas 'drew men by his teaching. At this moment it is the Rumanians, who e always been numerous at Parib, who are particularly hit. The let which used to be worth about a Foreign Studepts and the Franc. kept records relating to births and deaths and such matters was gener- ally felt and effgrts were made to improve municipal records in this re- gard. In The Star of January 17, 1872, is the following: “Among the bills pending in legislature which should be pa previous to adjournment Is one w provides for the registration of births and deaths. The important subject of vital statistics has received too lit- tle attention throughout the cour try. It is of importance that corre details of the population should b ascertained and registered in ever city in the Unlon. Private interes and public policy are both material affected by the correctness or inc rectness of such statistics. Take the single question of the increase of population, a sure indication of tional or 'local prosperity. W' there is but a small increase it indication of something wrong. complete registration would enable lawmakers to see the cause which produced it at once and to apply a remedy promptly, if it should be a matter which can be remedied by law. New York city has waked up to the importance of this subject but re- cently, and attempted to remedy the deficiency in her methods of regis- tration. One of the results of her system, not vet perfect, was to bring to light in last vear's statistics facts which demand serious consideratiof It has shown that the number « deaths in the city in 1871 was 26.9 while the number of births was onl: 23,052, an excess of deaths over births of not less than 3,900; whereas the difference ought, if the state of so- tha ci. were healthy and normal, to have been at least as great the other way. But this is not all. Of those 2 births not less than 2,265 of the children were dead. ‘This increases the dcaths actually 1o 0 and it diminishes the births to 20,784, siowing a balance against the population of 8.426. Already this exhibit. has led to an inquiry which wiil possi- bly result in a reform in social et and in the modes of living and conduct- ing business, for all these are involved in the matter of a decrease in births and an increase of deaths. To go into all the details of the benefits to it from a correct registration of vital sta- tistics here and throughout tae country would take more space than we can devote to the matter, but thinking men will be able to pursue the subject through its various ramifications from: the few hints here thrown out. - * x Grave fears were expressed in various parts of the country fifty years ago lest the safeguardsagai Movement for crime were breakin: down through the f: Jury Reform o of the fury svs tem and the failure of courts to minster punishments. In The January 17. 1872, is the followin “New York has twelve murderers | the Tombs who hope to escape furthc punishrzent, and other assassins walki the streets Who have paid no penalte for their crimes. all owing to the al surdity of choosing for jurymen in caj tal cases mien who are too ignora: read the newspapers or too ftupid 1c form an opinion. It is not surprising therefore, that the press of that city shouid almost unanimously comme:: the important bill introduced into the legislature by Mr. Judd a few day since. If it passes men of intelligenc: and education will no longer be excluds« from juries. The simple requisite pre scribed is that the juror shouid declar his ability to render an impartial ver dict upon the evidence submitted, en tirely irrespective of any previous im pression he may have formed on_ th: subject. The clause providing that boui. the pecple and the &ccused should bc entitled to thirty peremptory challenge is_thought to be suffic against “any undue ad taken of the proposed law DIGEST OF FOREIGN PRESS franc, has fallen to ten centimes, an: in consequence the most humble Ru- maniay student cannot spend less than 6,000 lef a month. This i8 per- fectly prohibitive in most cases, already some students have quitted Paris to return to the German uni- versities. The Rumanian goverament came to the assistance of the Stu- and exchunged for them 600 loi ) francs each month. Recentls, ver, this subvention was stopped on grounds of econumy. There W dismay. There were prote It Rumanian government has tinally de cided to resume the system of sub- sidies, and the Rumanian students are again happy. It is said that the Czechoslovakian government has voted a million francs to the Paris University for the endowment of a chair of Slav histor. English Water Famine. LONDON.—OWing to the extraordi- nary persistence of the drought, Lou- don and a large part of England are faced with no distant prospect of a water famine, declares a writer in the London Observer. The great heat of the summer of 1921 has b eclipsed by the whole year's dryn in the southeastern haif of the couun try the dry weather has now contin- ued for nearly seventeen months, he says. Other westerly districts have also had an exceptionally dry year. “Rain has fallen so seldom that it has evaporated after each successive fall,” continues the writer, “and wells are’ now lower, and more of them completely dry, than in the height of the hot weather last summer. Under a December sky brooks and rivers have less than the normal flow at the driest season. Still graver than the present unseasonable inconvenience the outlook for the coming year. Even if heavy and persistent rains were immediately to set in, the deeper water-bearing strata upon which we depend for most domestic and com- mercial purposes could not be re- plenished until the very end of the winter. Every fresh week of deficient rainfall threatens to involve us in a second vear of drought, beside which all the inconveniences of last sumi- mer would be trifling. - “The flow of the Thames in Oc- tober—normally the wettest month— was not very much more than a quar- ter of the average. The drying up of four more miles of the Ken in Wiltshire, since the middle of No- vember, is an even more significant fact than the previous disappearanc of the river from the first sixteen miles of its course. Unlike the in- habitants of some towns and many country districts, Londoners have as yet experienced little or no incon- venience from the failing supply, but unless it soon rains both hard and long. this immunity will not continue, and severe restrictions cf the hours of supply, and probably the prohibi- tion of the use of water for manw less important purposes, will be in- evitable if relief does not come. “Lord Desborough, at a recent Lon- don meeting. observed with perfect ‘n Itruth that if rain does not come soon certain districts of England will pos- £ibly become uninhabitable. Farms and entire villages in many hill and marsh regions were lust summer sup- plied with a minimum ration of water at the cost of many daily hours of labor spent in hauling. If the dis- tance from which water must be hauled became much greater, farm stock and human Inhabitants alike would have to flee from the arid scene. Land would go temporarily out of cultivation, further reducine the food supplies, always diminished by drought; and when farmers and laborera had once left poor outlying K the ‘present state of agri- L:I'l‘t'n.d < 1t s ’f.r from certain that they. would ga:back again.”