Evening Star Newspaper, July 23, 1922, Page 23

. EDITORIAL SECTI EDITORIAL PAGE . NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL ARTICLES Part 2—20 Pages MAKING NATIONAL SURVEY OF THE COAL SITUATION United States Chamber of Commerce i BY WILL P. KRENNEDY. MERICAN industries are in a most precarious situation re- garding their coal supply, be- cause the coal in storage is down to the very sweeping of the bins, and the lowest it has ever been since records were kept by the geo- logical survey. f the union mirers do not go back to work before August 1, and the rail- roads do not furnish adequate trans- portation facilities, the industries throughout this country, except in a few fsolated cases, will be crippled, according to those who have for months becn concentrating their at- tention on the fuel probiem. This points to the very grave prob- ability that some government agency will be called upon to ration conl where it Is most needed. When that day comes the Chamber of Commerce of the United States hopes to be able 1o assist the federal agency in having definite knowledze as to where there is the most dire need. The national chamber is now having local commit- tees of leading business men make murveys in every industrizl commun- ity to show what the real need is. Back of Hoover Plan. In these days of worried waiting the organized business men of the country are urged by Julius H. Barnes, president of the Chamber of Commerce of the United Stat to realize the individual responsibility of the industrial consumers to pre- arket-—which means extortionate prices—and to back up Secretary Hoover's plan. in co-opera- tion with producers, wholesalers and retailers. This suggesiion by Secre- tary Hoover to the public utilities, railroads and metallurgical industries was that they each appoint a buyers’ committee authorized to secure and distribute such coal as is needed by the operating plants in the respective industries. While these are the thres largest group users of coal, Mr. Barnes points out in a letter sent to 1.400 organiza- vent a runaway n tions, about §00 of which are local chambers of commerce having a mem- bership, including all kinds of in- dustries, and about 600 trade asso- tions, either state or national. in thelr scope. such as the National Shoe Manufacturers or the National Manu- facturers’ Association, there are many <other industrial and individual con- sumers whose needs must receive con- sideration. Owing to the varied char- acter and the widely scattered loca- ests can best be served by their local chambers of commerce and trade or- ganizations. he says, With whom they are associated or with whom they can make contact. Fuel Committee Urged. In view of the possibility of the strike continuing until coal supplies have become exhausted—which is cal- culated to be about August 1—Mr. Barnes urged that the situation should be anticipated. In the absence of other machinery. he has advised all the underlying business organizations of the national chamber, each to ap- polnt a fuel committee to survey the conditions relative to the stocks on hand and needs in each community. or ndustry; and further, that this infor- mation be compiled so that in the event it is found necessary for a sys- tem of federal rationing the data may be readily available. The national re- mources production department of the natfonal chamber. of which W. DuB. Brookings is manager, and particu- Jarly the coal bureau, of which Maj. Clarence T. Starr is chief, are keeping #n close touch with the general situa- tion regarding prospective industrial coal famine and through these com- o Thers is being set up a new fea- ture of the federal budget system this year—to prevent deficiency bills, mnd as a medium for economies and actual savings. EBrig. Gen. Herbert M Lord, the new director of the bud- got, has ordered it put in operation, with the hearty support of President Harding. This consists of setting up 1n each department a general reserve, as distinguished from the budget re- serve from appropriated funds last year. While this budget reserve last year resulted in the saving of mil- ltons of dollars, it.is to be discon- tinued, because the budget author- Sties believe that after the experience of the past year, which was really an experimental one for the budget sys- tem, patriotic government servants who sre charged with the adminis- tration of government funds will, by their faithful performance, in view B course unnecessary. g Fewer Deficiency Estimates. deficiency and supplemental esti- mates - amounting to were submitted to Congress. were unavoidakie, because of war- time conditious, but as the war re- cedes there should be constantly less occaslon for deficiency estimates. Congress chafes under these condi- tions and Chairman Madden of thé warned the - administrative officers qhat they must stay strictly within $he specified appropriations for the fscal year, President Hard. tion of these consumers their inter- ©f existing circumstances, make such i House appropriations committee has [ Preparing to Assist Government if Rationing Is Necessary. munity committees with the local needs. 1 Now, just what is the situation, as shown by government statistics .ndl the investigations of men who know | the coal business and the industrial load? Below the Danger Mark. Tn 1920, the stock pile of industrial | coal in this country got down to 20.-) 000,000 tons. The geological survey | has emphasized repeatedly that when | the pile.gets as low as that there is very likely to be a panic. This 20.- 000,000 tons all over the United States represents not any reserve supply but a mere sweeping of the bins. Today the supply is considerably below this 20,000,000 tons—and bins have been swept cleaner than ever before. Add to this the fact that the pro- duction from mines that have been working in unorganized flelds and some few unionized fields, is insuffi- cient to meet consumption demands by an actual shortage of 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 tons a week. The normal production of bitumin- ous coal has been, aeproximately, 500.000.000 tons a vear since 1313. Of this not more than 10 ger et is used in households. The prodwstion of an- tracite, or “hard,” caal, fer home con- sumption. is normasly $0,000.000 tons year, and of this 70 per cent is used in the homes, which 70 per cent just about balances the 10 per cent of bitu- minous coal used in the homes. Based on an even distribution of coal throughout the country, it is fig- ured that tho existing supply will be exhausted by August 1. Even it all the union mines go back operating, as President Harding requests, it will be fifteen to twenty days before there can be a full distribution. This esti- mate is based on the time it will probably take to get the mines into full working order after a long period of iglenesa. The potential production of bitundnous coal is estimated at 750,000,080 tons a year. Indsatrial Situation Serious. If operations are not resumed be- fore August 1, there is almost certain to be a serious industrial depression during the first two weeks of August. We are now considering the indus- trial coal situation, because while.the individyal householder is worried about his winter supply of fuel, the industrial situation is much more menacing, since the shutting down pf industries all over the country would throw men and women by the thou- sands out of work. As regards the price of industrial coal—the consumers have the price regulation in their own hands. If they do not become panicky and bid against ecach other for the supply, thus driving the prices up, they can told them at normal, government officials and the experts of the United States Chamber of Commerce empha- size. Anthracite Mining Dificalt. Relief for the domestic consumer of anthracite coal Is a serious problem and seems further removed. The phys- ical situation is different. A man must know how to.mine coal before he can work in the anthracite field. If he put unskilled men in the mines an operator would have to establish a hospital at its mouth to care for the casualties. 2 In the bituminous fleld five experi- enced men cantake care of twenty “rooms"—two men to work the under- cutting machine, a man experienced with dynamite to be “shooter” and two trained men to direct the work and see that the “top” is safe. All else needed is broad backs and men who know how to shovel the coal into cars. So that inexperienced men can get the needed production in the bituminous flelds, but would only kill themselves in the anthracite fields. Reserves Now Are Being Set Up ‘| To Do Away With Deficiencies ficlency habit became so strong that Congress enacted the “anti-deficiency act.” President Harding In laying down his fiscal policy to the business or- ganization of the federal establish- ments said: “I cannot overstate the importance of this policy, and re- sponsible officials will be held strictly to account for its observance.” For Emergency Needs Only. It is proposed.that in each govern- ment department.a. portion of each appropriation is to be set.aside at the beginning of the fiscal year as a “general reserve” against which no obligations can be set up except by the specific authority of the depart- ment’s head. The department is then restricted to the balance remaining, the reserve being drawn upon only for unforeseen contingencies. Brig. Gen. Lord emphasizes that the new departmerital reserves “this year will be very helpful, not only a preventive of deficlency bills, During the fiscal year just closed {but as a medium for economies and actual savings. Department heads, $661,251,409 ) under such a plan, he explains, will Many | have under. their. personal control throughout the year funds which are not mortgaged by actual obligations or approved department. projects, and will have available funds with which to meet unanticipated demands. The director of the budget will later call upon the departmenis ‘for reports, showing the amount of reserves set ment in Uncle Sam's workshop for effi- cient economy, President Harding. He points out that the work of the co-ordinating boards, WASHINGTON, D.. 0., SUNDAY MORNING, JULY. 23, 1922, AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE AROUSED TO PERIL OF RULE BY CLASSES BY N. 0. MESSENGER. T has fallen to the lot of the present writer in the last ten days to.effect. contact with railroad, financial and in- dustrial interests in New York; New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and, of greater importance, to keep in still closer touch with what might be termed “public opinion"—which is to say, the view- point of people of the workaday world. The first reaction of this association is the con- viction that therailway and coal strikes, -now indubitably corelated, foreshadow pos- sibilities of the most momentous crisis which the American people have faced since the civil war. Another thought is that in Wash- ington the imminency and portentousness of the crisis is not fully appraised by the public, certainly not in lay circles. * % % It is quite evident that the government— using that term as expressive of the power and effectiveness of federal authority—has almost reached the limit of its cflorts under constitutional and statutory limitations. The President of the United States and his cabi- net have nearly exhausted every means with- in their employ, under their oaths of office and the law of the land, to reconcile the dif- ferences between employer and employe—do not let us say as between capital and labor— for assuredly this country is reaching a stage when demagoguism must be discarded and stern facts will demand consideration. As the case stands today, defiance is the watchword between railway management and operatives; between coal mine operators and miners. Governmental authority, viewed as impotent of action under existing law, is whistled down the wind. Govern- mental suggestion, neutral and friendly to both sides, is rejected because it does not fit in with the aims and desires of either party to the controversy in what they be- lieve to be essential of principle as contend- ed for by them. This state of affairs was disclosed in the failure of the several conferences which President Harding arranged at Washington between the warring interests. It was em- phasized at the midnight conference between railway exccutives and prominent senators last Thursday night. Defiance of public, in- terest, of governmental interference, and re- liance upon a policy of resistance on the one side and wearing. down on the other was exhibited. * ¥ X% X In the meantime, the very cxistence of the public is being menaced. Distress in future months as surely faces the public as that the sun will rise. T‘agedy super- imposed upon discomfiture menaces. Un- employment, hunger, cold, darkness are spelled by the cards as they fall. It is no gipsy fortune telling, either, but a certainty. At the White House last Friday Senator Kellogg of Minnesota, acquainted with con- 1s very gratifying to ditions \in the . northwest, said that if the mines should start at once they could not fuel that section adequately. And nobody can tell when they will start. Railroad managers declare that the puhlic is but little inconvenienced by the strike thus far, and that the roads will maintain service. The press dispatches from many sections of the country tell of the discontinuance of trains by scores in numbers. Steel furnaces and other large industries are banking the fires under their boilers—even municipalities are threatened with shutting down of public utilities. The striking operatives in coal production and transportation seem to have means and resources. There is little talk of distress, suggesting success of the wearing-down pro- cess. It is the public that bids fair to be worn down in the long run. % %k Xk ¥ The government’s present authority seems to rest in the sole function of preserving order. Its power, every one is assured by the President of the United States and the Secretary of War, will be exerted to the full upon occasion, and of that there can be no doubt. But, it is pointed out, the exertion of au- thority to preserve order does not mean the digging of coal or the operation of trains in interstate commerce. It takes men for that. And men are showing daily disinclination to lend themselves to the task under conditions of which they complain—whether justly or unjustly. Government's admonition, invitation, or whatever it may be called, to the men to go to work appears to be resolving into the query, “L can summon spirits from the vasty deep, but will they come?” * k x * All of which, by way of preface, leads to the subject pertinent, what can the American public do by way of amending the laws relat- ing to interstate commerce and the produc- tion of essentials to industry and human ex- istence to prevent the arising of such an- other crisis as now threatens the nation? The suggestion has recently been made to the legislative branch—that is to say, to men influential in that quarter of .national authority—for the extension of the govern- mental authority now ‘exercised over rail- road transportation to include other vital public utilities, ,such as_the prodyttion of - coal P . It is said that the suggestion met with objection by the lawmakers. on Capitol Hib. They immediately foresaw all kinds of clashes with organized labor. Governmental operation and ownership of the mines, popu- larly believed to be agreeable to labor, and, indced, its goal, would be one thing; govern- mental regulation quite another. * ¥ X But, to revert to result of observations in recent days and sounding of public opinion outside of the circles of the two parties in- * volved in these strikes, it can be proffered as the opinion that public sentiment is now aroused upon this subject to a pitch never before attained, and that when the people recover from the catastrophe which now seems impending, they will take measures calculated to stiffen the courage of legisla- tors and to send to places of legislative au- thority men who will enact laws for the benefit of the mass of the population and prevent such disasters in the future. g It is predicted by thoughtful observers with whom the writer has come in contact that after the present experience the voters will be impelled to move for state and nation wide regulation of essentials of life and pros- perity. It is reconized that governmental boards, now endowed with what might be termed only suggestive and recommendatory Functions, should be equipped with the means of carrying them out. Fair play would suggest that the author- ity be applicable to both employers and em- ployes. Heavy fines and penalties, going to the resources of the recalcitrant party to the dispute—the one failing to carry out the dic- tum of the governmental authority—would be an effective way, it is suggested, of pro- viding an instrumentality with teeth. . * k¥ k All that is for the future; what about the present, the immediate and the still darker and colder hours that shadow the future? Labor, in a statement last week, com- plained that the government had been re- miss in not taking avail of the process of conference and conciliation between the wapring factions. Was that complaint well founded in the light of the record furnished by President Harding's repeated efforts to get the two sides to agree in conferences which he an his cabinet had brought about? In the statement there was much talk of the alleged intention of the government to resort to force. It must be borne in mind that the government's only suggestion of force was to preserve order and not to coerce men into going to work who did not want to work un- der conditions presented. The average man must consider the case as presented by the record and draw conclusions therefrom. * k.k k. The whole proposition is rapidly present- ing itself in a form to appeal to the voters for future action—what is to be done in the present-crisis has yet to be suggested. The question is narrowing dawn to this: Whether a minority of the population, whether representative of the employing or the employed classes, can obtain a strangle- hold upon the nation at large and threaten its very life. That xl‘w people are alive to this possibility is becoming more apparent every day, as the present struggle draws close to tragic and disastrous stages. The question soon will be, it is predicted by thoughtful men in many walks of life with whom the writer has recently talked, whether any minority class or faction shall be superior to the massed population and electorate? % hard to bring back horse cars and service to conditions that were mnor- mal a quarter of a century ago. rent of the times. - It would be just as | country. publio lotteries s to return the civil |commission was created. LESS POLITICS IN TARIFF; LESS TARIFF IN POLITICS Some Growing Signs That Day Is Ap- proaching When This End May Be Accomplisheéd. BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. "\HE federal government, under the Constitution, has control over the interstate commerce and the foreign commerce of the United States. Thirty-five years ago Congress, with the approval of | the President, created the Interstate Commerce Commission to deal with interstate commarce, particularly with transportation and the rates charged. The powers of the commisgion have been very greatly enlarged and in- creased by supplémentary acts of Congress and by the transportation act of 1920, Congress set up another tribunal to aid in the solution of transportation problems, the Railroad Labor Board. The power of the In-| terstate Commerce Commission over railroad rates is practically supreme. It acts in a judicial capacity. ‘Tari Controlling Facto: What has Congress done, however, with regard to foreign commerce? Admittedly, the foreign commerce of the country, so _far as imports are concerned, is controlled to very large extent by the customs duties. For years, Congress has undertaken to| write these duties in the so-called | tarift laws, which it has enacted. It 18 engaged at the present moment in | this pastime. Administrations and | political parties have risen and fallen with the tarifft making of the past— more often they have fallen—and this because Congress, as a body, is not at all fitted to the task. Years ago | a distinguished soldier, who was a| candidate for the Presidency, de- clared the tariff a “local issue” A local issue it has always been, as handled by Congress, and will con- tinue to be until it is taken out of | the hands of Congress. 1t there exists any doubt as to the truth of this assertion, a casual read- ing of the pending tariff bill, and the| criticisms which have been shouted | from: the housetops by the democrats | opposing the bill—and some republicans | —should be sufficient to convince the most skeptical. The tariff rates are dictated by the parties interested in getting as much “protection” as they can for thelr own industries, which in the last analysis means money in their own pockets. This is true of manu- facturers and agricultural organizations afike.. The interests of the consuming public are lost sight of in the general scramble. ; Lemons, for Imstamce. Is there any more reason why tariff rates should be in this way than rail- road rates should be so made? Is there any more reason why Congress should fix ‘the customs duties on lemons than powers of the tariff commissi n order to bring about this flaxibility. The so-called “elasticity” provisions of the bill, as reported to the Senate, give the President authority to pro- claim new tariff rates 1o meet chang- ing conditions, after there has been an investigation. Obviously the Presi- dent cannot make such investigations. It is proposed now to amend the p: visions so as to link up the tariff commission with the administration of the act. If this be done, then the tariff commission becomes a virile agency of the government—as the Interstate Commerce Commission. For the tarifft commission will then be called upon to make adjustment of dutles, just as the Interstate Com- merce Commission is called upon to make adjustment of rates for trans- portation. The tariff commission should be able to do this in a fair and scientific manner. For Stability of Business. It the proposal is carried out, then the tariff stands a good chance of be- ing taken out of politics at lust. Legi- timate business, seeking only a fair profit. should be satisfied. The plan should bring about a stability of busi- ness that is impossible under the system that brings about a complete revision of the tariff almost every thme & new administration is elected. er since March 4, 1921, when Mr. Harding entered the White House, the businss of the country has been wait- ing to se what the new tariff law woul beand it still waiting. American producers and importers would be able to present their cases to an impartial tribunal—the tarim commission—when they believed the rates were too high or two low, as the case might be. With these “elasticity” provisions and a capable tariff commission, 1t would be possible for the country 1o Proceed for many vears with out the business upheaval necessitated evei few years by a rewriting of the entire tariff law. In the past the differences between the republicans and the democrats over the tariff have been far greater than they are today. The republicans contamid for & protective tariff and the democrats for a tariff for revemue only. which nevertheless grants a measure of protection. The democrats are not free traders by any means té- day. So even a return to power of the’ democrats would not necessarily mean another upheaval of the entire tariff, if the tariff were really “taken out of politics” and placed in the hands of a strong tariff commission, acting under the President. Advice Generally Igmored. it ‘should fix the rates charged for the transportation of a carload ,of lemons from California to New York? Yet that is what’ Congress does, although it has delegated to the Interstate Com- Much publicity has been given re- cently to an amendment to the tariff bill proposed by Senator Frelinghuy- sen of New Jersey, by which he in- merce Commission the fixing of the|sists the tariff may be written “sci- transportation charges throughout the | entifically” and on a basis of conver- sion costs. But the Frelinghuysen Six years ago the United States tariff | amendment. while it increases the size It was a|of the tariff commission to ten mem- tardy recognition of the popular de-|bers and provides a million dollars mand that something be done to change | for it to make investigations, gives established under an executive order to make the work of the budget bu- reau more effective, has empha- sized the great need to consider the gov- ernment business as a whole rather than as an uncorrelated organization of loose parts, These co-ordinating boards have afforded a broader vision for the ad- ministrative officers to get the full pic- ture of their part in the entire federal organization. _Lack of Co-Ordination. One of the most productive causes of waste in the transaction of the routine business of the government has been the entire absence of any co-ordinating authority. This demanded the setting up of co-ordinating machinery which was effected by executive order creating aEifr. Forielght monthe it has a_chief co-ordinator and subsequent § e bifors 1he Bintis. s executive orders establishing under Bim | ;g thero a beneficiary of. the tariff, various co-ordinating agencles to deal| o,y ing of some special schedule in Note—1n publishing this ar- | ticle by the brilliant editor of | the Emporia Gazette, The Star | does not necessarily indorse the views he expresses. - But Mr. White brings to the discus- sion_of current events a fer- tile ‘mind and an entertaining style. and a discriminaing pub- lic will place its own valuation upon the opinions he advances. OR more than a year the repub- licans have been revising the “AS I SEE IT.” By William Allen W hite. ernment’s routine business. commends & little of it. It is fike the These co-ordinating agencies will CON-) ., 1to's egg. Parts of it afe good. tinue to operate through this fiscal Year [}, yn4isted to the bishop at breakfast and more effectively than during the |, . a5ked to have a substitute, but, year just closed, Budget Director Lord | o 'S0 B 0 "0y rotten. - belleves. 1f they accomplish nothing| " yeariy the wool schedules ~are more than to develop among the Various |, gner ‘than the infamous schedule establishments of the government that|.pw gpich Taft denounced as ind fealty and loyalty to the government a8 eopgiple. Every few days some con- a whole, which is so necessary and aunce-smnken republican senator which has seemed so rare where the |ui .. i his placs and produces an routine business of the government 18, ., ggaingt the miserable tariff. concerned, their existence and continued | g gney jts sponsor in the House of operation will be amply justified. TheY |p., ecentatives, has retired . from are teaching the business officlals 0], ice and Semator McCumber has think " habitually and involuntarily inYy o retired from politics. The best terms of the United States rather thal | yo¢ gjther sponsor has sald ‘for th in terms of departmerits, bureaus and|,, ;y 7 divisions. Untll such a spirit worse than the McKinley tariff, the through the entire federal establishment Ly o105 ¢avite or the Payne-Aldrich we ‘will never: reach the high standard{,, ;e = sy5 what happened after of governmental eficlency for Which W | oo one of these tariff bills was. en- are alming. . acted is tragic history in'the republi- can party. i Made an Inspection | Tt mre oot e er e oOf European SOi‘.S tariff idea in the republican : will pass it. The voters are nst it; they have registerad wrath in the bureau of jnéarly every primary since the bl Department of [was introduced. Members of. Con- with the larger functions of the gov- thich his constituents are interested, ‘Dr. C. F. Marbut of solls, United - State: o = The - party Jlead- that its schedules are no| Agriculture, has recently returned from an extended trip to a number of Euro- pean -countries, where he had been in|Blg busin sesrch of scientific information on the nature of soils and collecting soll sam- ples- —+ : Dr. Marbut's mission was to get soil samples and compare them in groups ‘with those recognized in our own coun- iry,, thus. interesting farmers n the gress fear the bill. rship has no enthusiasm for the.blll. and little bpsiness are clearly against the bill. Nowhpre may one find a reasonable motive for ts passage.-- But because for .sixty. .years the republican party has been & protective ‘tariff party tradition will force the bill through Congress. And tradition is only the tail light who sit in° Washington and control the republican party should be co- |erced by a ghost into biting their own heads off. These Fiabby Times. GO Eimer Dover haa resigned from the Treasury Department; Elmer Dover, Sennator Mark Hanna's pri- vate secretary twenty-seven Yyears ago, who_was appointed last year to restore normalcy to the pie foundry in Washington. His resignation came because he could not get jobs for the hungry in the bureau of internal revenue. The Secretary of the Treasury, being a busy man, had no uke for the hungry; the collector of internal revenue had made other ar- rangements. And the famine remain- | ed unbroken; hunger raged among the faithtul, It was as though & real he-republi- can. had not beem elected President two years ago. For all the boys are getting out of it, they might have nominat Hoover at Chicago, or the New Republic, or the good, the trus and the beautiful. Democfats are holding on to fat and desirable jobs under the civil service as though we had McAdoo and the leagué of na- wtul; yet it s about what the Deople wanted. After all, outside of the fractional percentage of party 'workers, no one cares Who has the appointive offices under government 1 the work-is reasonably well done, and. it is Jess likely to be reasonably well done with political sppointees than with men glued to their job with the civil service. = Nelther class is perfect, but the people. are largely for the civil serv- ice.' And ®o ‘the people 7ule. Poli- ticlans think:that they win elections. Yot, really, all they get out of win- ning {s & new hat and an ocgasional tendollar bill. Government goes on just the.same. Roosevelt lost in 1912, But the Roosevelt majority dofinated -the Wilsan administration and controlled legislation for half dozen years. It makes small differ- ence ‘whe is in office; through one device or: another public sentiment Elmer Dover may be imported. But|the old system by which special inter- the clock does not turn back for‘a |ests obtained privileges at the expense pame. Normalcy means normal con-|of the public. But jealous of its per- ditions of teday, and not normal con- rogatives, Congress gave the commis- ditions of Mark Hanna's happy days.|sion power only to investigate and re- We have fallen upon soft and flabby (Port to the President. the ways and times. where men pule and sicken -at | means committee of the House and the jobbery which once they swallowed |finance committee of the Senate on the With gusto. And so Elmer Dover goes | operation, administration and effects of “outward with the tide.” the cuatoms laws and their relation to : the federal revenues. It has not met A Negro Goif Club. the dremnlm.ll umh( mel tarift be taken - out of politics, that “log rolling” meth- AT Westfield. N. J., a negro golf club | 4y of fixing customs duties be aban- has been established and a mine-|goneq, under which one semator or a hole course laid out. A negro colony i ooy’ of genators supports a high rate there seems to warrant the Eolff.r guty on one article in order to ob- course. . The item that this course 15|, :; o similar high rate of duty o A laid out will cause a million BIEEles | coper avticle tyionan t izzle across th try. Car- Sleont e Prestdent Harding's Proposal. toonists will make funny pictures of it. Vaudeville artists will do sketches| President Harding, in his address to about it. Sbmething exquisitely funny | Congress December 6 last, strongly seems to excite the white race when jurged that a way be found “to make it sees the colored race doing things | for Jlexibility and. elasticity” of the ‘which are ordinary parts of the day's' tariff, so that rates may be adjusted work and play to the white people. {to meet unusual and changing con. It is as though the elephant should |ditions that cannot be accurately an drive an auto or a horse play the|ticipated. The Senate finance com- piano. mittee, following out the sugsestions The reason for this risibility of the |of the President, has written into the white man at the black man’s human |pending tariff bill three sections scek- activities is obvious and it is no credit {nfg to carry out this recommendation to the white man. He thinks it is|of the President. And in these sec- funny to see the black man doing |tions lies the real opportumity of things that normal human beings do, | “taking the tariff out of politics.” because, the white man does not think [~ At the time the President made his of his -skinned fellow-traveler on |address to Congress, he said that it the planet as a human companion.|would be necessary to extend the The white man considers any colored man—black, brown, red, yellow or maroon—as an animal. The an- thropological conceit of the white man is ponderous, unbelievable, vastly -amusing to the gods.’ ‘Why should not the black man play golf if his economio status gives him leisure for golf?- Why should he not have & motor car and a oountry house| ,)ough the American Red Cross it ho can afford it? Why gigle 8t| ., 10y withdrawing its reliet or- the normal, activities of men whose ganizations from Europe July 1, it skin differs from our own? Bome-|,,, gutnorized the continuance of the thing of the same psychologlcal rea~ | oy iyjties of the American Junior Red son is being the fteat that we middle- | cyosy 1n Europe for an indefinite class people make merry over the| . . fact that the worker in the mines or shops or furnaces wears a silk shitt or fents a house with & bath or rides| ;yance of relief work, and should “to work in a car. Why shouldn’t he? Is he an elephant doing stunts? Is he a horse playing the’' piano? What's |ths joke if he develops the same de- sires and aspirations that we do? And who in God’s name are we, any- way? - This fact should be clearly under- stood in connection with the discon- at ‘the same time give authority and meaning ‘to the appezl of the junior organization for subscriptions to the national children's fund. The -essential purpose underlying the. foreign - program of the Junior American Red Cross was pot merely that-of relief; important as that was, SIEE SN the commission little or no more pow- er than it has today in the matter of fixing rates—which is none at all. Tt leaves the commission merely in an advisory capacity, with autherity 1o make investigations. During the framing of the present tariff bill, the tariff commission has beep called upon frequently for information. it has been asked to rewrite various classifications, it has been asked for advice—but its advice has been ignor- ed far more than it has been followed Yet this advice was based upon sci- entific and thorough study of the costs of production at home and abroad of the articles In question. The advice was ignored, not because the members of Congress knew more about the matter than the tariff com- mission, but because influential con- stituents—manufacturers or produc- ers, as the case might be—insisted that their advice be taken instead. The flexibility and elasticity pro- ions of the bill have been attacked in some quarters on the ground that they conflict with the provision of the Constitution which says that all rev- enue measures shall originate in the House. But it ix not believed that (his objection will hold water. In the first place, Congress writes the tariff law, fixes the rates or places articles on the frec list. Further, it writes a definite formula under 1hich the agency handling the changes in the rates shall act. Junioi' Red Cross to Continue It_s Invaluable Work in Europe ultimately do- for themselves and for others what the Junior American Red Cross has been doing for them. It undertook to creats for impoverished, spiritless, underdeveloped. childhood of the wlr-rlvl_‘ed sections of Eu- rope an opportunity for health, play, education and happiness, which most of them had never known. Some twenty fureign countries have started junfor Red Cross organi- zations. The .Junior American Red Cross i co-operating with the na- tional Red Cross societies and with the League of Red Cross Socleties in developing these junior organizations. In doing this, however, there is con- stantly being kept in mind the educa- tiona) value of such work for our American children. To come into actual m-um.m ‘:lgl th;':wdrw .of these many as o] s won- dertul vision to the children of the United States and made real to themy