Evening Star Newspaper, August 20, 1922, Page 25

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS " EDITORIAL SECTION i SPECIAL Part 2—18 Pages SECRETARY HUGHES’ VISIT TO BRAZIL VITAL EVENT ARTICLES 3 Solidarity of American Republics and Leadership of United States Bound Up in His Journey. s e BY JOHN BARRETT, Former Director General of the Pi American Union. HE approaching visit of Secre- tary Hughes to Brazil carries a far-reaching significance. When he sails in a few days from New York for Rio de Janeiro he will go on a mission of much greater importance than the country realizes. The future of Pan-American friend- ship and commerce will be strongly influenced by it. It may determine whether the United States of America and the United States' of Brazil are always to stand shoulder to shoulder as friendly allles in maintaining the permanent solidarity of the western hemisphere for world peace and that kind of high civilization of which both republics ave powerful expo- nents. While the Secretary is going to Rio avowedly on a complimentary visit and to represent President Harding and the United States government and people at the opening of the exposition celebrating 100 years of Brazillan independence as a nation of the new world, he is actually an envoy of the new Pan-Amerlcanism, which means that kind of co-opera. tion among all the American repub. Jics that will be for the best inter- ests of every American republic, with no favoritism or ascendency for any one country. Brazil in Second Place. Today the United States of America 1s the most populous, prosperous and powerful of all the twenty-one Amer- jcan republics which constitute the Pan-American Union. Brazil is the second most populous American re public. Whether it is the second most prosperous and powerful western na- tion might be disputed by Argentina. It is not intended to argue that ques- tion here, but there is a far-reaching truth in the fact that with the United States and Brazil working Pan-American solidarity is danger. Without, however, a thorough derstanding between these two mighty Zovernments and peoples, the whole Pan-American structure might come tumbling down. In its ruins would be found the wreck of vast poten- tiality for world progress which ex- ists in the united force in world af- fairs of all the American countries and peoples working together with common sympathy and common pur- se. PO he American people today are so occupied with the disturbed condi- tions of society in our own country.; which has found destructive expres- sion in the coal and railway strike and are so interested. as far as inter- pational affairs are concerned. in the disturbed economic and political con- dition of Europe. that they do not at} this hour realize that the United States is facing a critical new era in its relations. both political and com- | mercial, with Latin America. i not in un- U. S. Leadership at Stake. The situation is so pregnant with} possibilities for good or bad that the, visit of Secretary Hughes to Brazil may be the deciding influence in favor ; or against the continued leadership of the United States in Pan‘Ameri-i can activities, accepted by all of its sister American republics. This does not mean a leadership of self-agsumed authority, but that kind which the other nations gladly applaud If that} responsibility s allotted to thel United States. because them- gelves want It to be so, and because | no other one of the American repub- } lies can accept it with the assured | approval of all the others. The United States must lead in Pan-American activities through, first, the choice of a majority of the other American | countries, and, second, through its in- herent qualities of -leadership. * Of such u wise policy Secretary | Hughes today stands as the chief ex- ponent of the President, supported by { the attitude of the American govern- ment and people. He is following in | the footsteps of one of his great prede- cessors, Elihu Root, whose visit to outh America in 1906 did more than any other Influence in long years to in- augurate a new era of Pan-American good understanding, solidarity and co- operation. Root's Great Achlevement. Root went to South America. backed by President Roosevelt, at a time when the Pan-American boat was rocking in the backwash of the Pan- ama storm, and it was a grave ques- . tlon whether the idea of the Pan-| American Union ghould continue or;} cease to be a powerful influence for the co-operation of all the nations and peoples of the western hemi- together | attendance at the opening of the third Pan-American conference at Rio de Janeiro in 1906, and by his heart-to- heart conferences and frank ex- changes of views with the statesmen of each republic, he accomplished more for the removal of distrust and to prepare the way for a big revival of Pan-American accord and Pan- American trade than had been done {by any man since Secretary Blaine presided over the first Pan-American conference at Washington in 1889-90. Blaine had started a new spirit of Pan-American co-operation that had had no other great advocate In the post of Secretary of State since the time of Henry Clay and the declara- tion of the Monroe doctrine in 1823. ! Now, fourteen years after Root's memorable trip, another impetus fs required to push Pan-Americanism forward to a position of permanent strength that will last through the ilong years to come. Not that Pan- { Americanism has waned since the |days of Root, but that it has gradu- jally grown, with occasional setbacks, some of which are even strong In | their Influence today, until it requires {that added support which any big policy or principle demands when its opportunities and responsibilities have largely expanded. - i i Trials to Be Expected. Every great forward movement has {to go through trials and tribulations. {1t must experience vast difficulties be- cause it has a serious significance for |the welfare of nations and peoples. jLike all world movements of an |epoch-making and far-flung charac- jter, affecting the relations, standing, Policies and prosperity of groups of nations and peoples, Pan-Americanism must have Its vigorous critics and even outspoken enemies. Otherwise everybody would be suspicious of it, and it might fail or fall through its own niisunderstood good qualities. Secretary Hughes is in an excep- tional position of personal and offi- cial strength to promote wisely and urely the cause of Pan-Americanism. | No Secretary of State since Root has {enjoyed so completely the confidence and respect of all Latin American {governments and peoples. This has {had signal proof in the Influencé lie: jhas exerted for the settlement of the i controversy between Chile and Peru, iwhich, up to the time of the recept | Washington conference, was the chief menace to permanent Pan-American solidarity. Everytbing that he .has said or done since he became Secre- |tary of State has impressed Latin {America with his wisdom, falrness and genuine desire to do the right thing. Some Latin American states- men may not agree with all he has done and said, but they respect him and honor him. They recognize that he Is-a great international as well as national statesman, and that he would inever stoop to do a voluntary injus- ffice to any Latin Anerican countrs. Trusted Even in Mexico. Even in Mexico, despite thg_fact that the Mexican government and people may not be pleased with his delay In advising the immediate rec- ognition of their government by Pres- ident Harding, one hears from Mexico no influential reflection on his high purposes and his honesty of attitude. [In fact, there is probably no man in the United States today more anxious to recognize Mpxico than Secretary Hughes, but he must be convinced first that recognition will come about along lines that will mean the best go0d for both Mexico and the United States. Today there are only a few real disturbing influences in the Pan- American family, and vet there are dangers that must be recognized. The difficulties within the Pan-Amer- ican family are all capable of adjust- {ment under the wise guiding influence of Sccretary Hughes. They include the Mexican problem, the unsatisfac- tory situation in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, where Amer- fcan armed.forces are still present and will be removed as soon as Secre- tary Hughes is convinced that the best interests of those countries will be subserved; the crisis in Cuba, | where again he is doing everything in i his power, through the agency of Gen. Crowder, to strengthen the govern- ment and avold any kind of armed !intervention by the United States. | There are lesser 'problems to be ad- justed at Panama ‘and in- Central America, but they do not in any way seriously menace Pan-American ac- cord. Irritation Over Tariff. Of course, the proposed new tariff bill §s unpopular in Latin America, and may, if passed, seriously affect Pan-American_commerce, which is a sphere. By his speeches in every im- portant South American capital, his N (Continued on Third Page.) Decs e Bl - T - .Opportunity Sometimes Found For Initiative in U. S. Service In private business a man who shows iniative and who can single- handed put across some efficient or economic improvement on old methods gets prompt encourage- ment and recogaition and promotion. Too frequently this is not the case in the greatest busidess in the world today—Uncle Sam’'s workshop. There initiative is squelched and the indi- vidual employe is taught that he must stick to the old methods and practices and routine. Occasionally, however, there creeps in a more helpful and inspiring spirit of co-operation among officlals and of opportunity for individual em- ployes to make a showing and get recognition therefor. To cite an ex- ample: In northeast Oklahoma the Pawpaw Indians own lands - under. mines. These are under lease. The leases are all terminating within a year. The question came up as to what sort of lease should be given for the future. This was not a public land matter, but for the office of Indians affairs, which stands as guardian for the Indians because they are supposed to be incapable of attending to their own affairs. Yet it is a highly technical matter. On thg Indian reservation the superintendent has to take charge of everything, and it is one chance in 10,000 that ‘he ‘would be also an expert on lead and zinc mining. So the commissioner of Indian affairs, Charles H. Burk the matter up with Secretary Fall-of the Interior Department, and Dr. H. Foster Bain, director of the bureau ¢ mines, was called into conference. which lie valuable lead’ and’ slne’) As & reswWdt, Matthew Van Siclen, Society News : The Sunday St WASHINGTON, D. O, SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 20, 1922. NO ONE WINS IN COAL STRIKE; BUT PUBLIC MUST PAY LOSSES BY WILL P. KENNEDY, EADS I win; tails you los That moss-grown, sure-thing, flip-thte-coin bunco has been out- done in the coal strike and its #lemen'. lobody wins; everybody loses, especially the public. As a matter of fact, the strike has not been . settled at all. The contending parties are merely agreeable to a truce. Then they will start al] over again, after a breathing spell. If thére ny advantage at all coming out of the coal strike it must be found in thig lesson—the absolute, utter futility of ever ex- pecting any good result in industrial rela tions to be achieved through such an uneco- nomic procedure as a strike, or forceful revolg in kny industry on which other importapt in-' dustries and the public generally are de- pendent. The waste and cost resulting must be pald by some one—ultimately the consumer. * ok k ok Let us ®ake the figures on production fur- nished by the geological survey, the figures on number of men on strike furnished by the Labor Department, and the suggested fair - price (mouth of smine) for coal suggested by Secretary Hoover and see what we see. - Who won—was it the miners? Their position in efforts to reach a settle- ment was pendent on this proposition, that there would not be any basic wage scale made in any other district until a basic wage had been made in what had formerly been known as the central competitive field—that is, the states of Illinols, Indlana, Ohio and western Pennsylvania. The.agreement for settlement of the strike includes any individual operator in any dis- trict who cares to sign an agreement. This seems to destroy the basic point for which John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers of America, has persistently fought since the strike started, and which has largely been respopsible for the continuance of the strike. The operators lying outside the cen- tral competitive field have repeatedly asked, since the strike began, for separate agree- ments. The present settlement, after approximately twenty weeks of strife, not only grants dis- trict settlements for which the operftors have always asked, but grants settlements to indi- vidual operators. * % Kk ok In other words, had President Lewis agreed to district settlements previous to this time the country would not today be puffering from want of coal, as the outlying districts and even those lying within the central competi- tive fleld, which had asked for separate agree- ments, could have been producing coal. The original demand of the miners was for the retention of the existing basic wage as affecting contract work, but that the day * laborer's wage should He adjust®d on a six- hour day and five-day week, instead of an eightshour day and six-day week. That means that the same wage would be received for thirty hours as for forty-elght, or It would be about 35 per cent.incregse in pay. But thbé iinérs dilin't get that—thes took the old wage, just as it I Figuring 610,000 men on strike, according to the Department of Labor, who would have recelved the basic pay of $7.50°a day (although the miner usually makes considerably more), and that they have been idle since April 1— four months and a half—at full-time work they would have earned $4,675,000 a day, or a total of mofe than $615,625,000. But suppose, to get down to the minimum, that they would have been idle half the time. The records for years show that normally the miners work 180 to 200 days in a year—or only about half the time. Had they worked only half the time during the strike period they would have earned a minimum of $308,000,000. So that's what the mjners have lost, as the balance sheet stands today. * % k % Who won—was it the operators? The normal production is approximately 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 tons of coal a week. The non-union fields have been producing during the strike period less than one-half of this amount, leaving 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 tons a week lost production. Taking the price of $2.50 a ton, which prevailed at the mines be- fore the strike, as a basis of computation of what the price probably would have been if no strike had intervened, instead of the $3.50 a ton suggested as a fair price by Secretary Hoover, this means $15,000,000 a week, or, for the approximately twenty weeks of the strike, a grand total of $300,000,000. These figures give some idea of what the mine owners lost. * % % X Now, that is what the ledder shows as of today on what the miners are out of pocket and what the mine owners are out of pocket. But, mark you, both of these interests have a chance largely to recoup. The soft-coal miner usually works 180 to 200 days in a year. He loafs about 180 days in the year. With the settlement made and the country suffering for lack of coal it Is certain he will be kept busy all the rest of the year. So that the approx- - imately 135 days the miners have been out on strike have been merely a vacation out of the annual 180 loafing days, and at the end of the year he probably will have worked as many days as he would had there Been no strike. And he will probably be better off in the end, because the miner had to suffer some deprivations during the strike which he would not otherwise have forced upon himself. The bituminous mine operator can recoup because there will be a strong market demand for his product, and special efforts wil| be made by the Interstate Commerce Commission to see that he gets ample transportation, and the mines will be working steadily, instead of intermittently, thus reducing operating costs. The anthracite mine owner and miner have less chance to recoup, because anthracite mining s nét so overdeveloped and over- manned and, consequently, there are not normally so many days of idleness. * X X X Who won—was it the consumer? Before the strike soft coal was selling at about $2.50, mouth of mine. Since the strike it has been bringing at least $3.50 (the Hoover price). There's a dollar a ton, with about 4,000,000 tons a week mined, which in twenty weeks counts up to $80,000,000. But it is generally believed by those who know the coal business that the strike settle- ment makes. it practically impossible to drive the price of coal back to the $2.50 that ruled at the mouth of the mine before the strike. The best that is hoped for is to get the price held to the fair price suggested by Secretary Hoover—$3.50. The fear is even entertained that, unjess some measures are taken to pre- vent profiteering, it may be run up to $5 and $6 at the mine, which wéuld be more than doubling the price before the strike. But. even if the price is held to $3.50 it means an increased cost to the public, as a result of the strike, of $1 on every ton of the 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 tons a week which will be produced when the mines are in full oper- ation. With a strike cost to the public up to date estimated at $80,000,000, those who know the coal business and who stick to conservative figures estimate that it will contimue to cost the people of the country at least $12,000,000 to $15,000,000 a week for the remainder of the coal year. With the coal year having thirty weeks yvet to run, this will make a total of close to $500,000,000. * ¥ ¥k % You and T and every individual household- er—just as every individual industry—know something of the worry the strike has caused the people of the country who were caught with their bins empty. In certain sections of the country this worry will continue, and con- siderable hardship and suffering are inevitable, because it will be impossible to supply suffi- cient transportation to meet the demands. The mines have been idle during the greater part of the lake-shipping period. There is no possibility of giving sufficient rail transpor- tation adequately to meet the need, so a great part of the northwest cannot be supplied in sufficlent quantity, and there will be a shortage and suffering, no matter what is done. * ¥ ¥ ¥ So we get back to the question: Who lost and who won the mine strike? If the miners work as many days and earn as much money as if there had been no strike they are not heavy losers. But they asked for wage increases and didn't get them and made other demands which were not granted, so they haven't much to show in the way of winnings. The operators will have to fight to recover some of the markets they have lost to mon- union operators, but, from now on, they will operate full time and probably get a higher price for their coal, so they are not great sufferers as result of the strike, even if they cannot be counted winners. So it would seem that the public, as usual, is the #vat. A half-billion dollars is the esti- mate of the bill it will have to pay, even'if profiteering is prevented. If profiteering Is permitted, it will have to pay “all the traffic will bear.” - But profiteers and would-be profiteers had better be on their guard. The public has about reached the end of its patience, and if coal goes to an unreasonable pricé next winter things are golng te happen to the coal in- dustry that will‘maice the passing sttiké stem, In comparison, like 3 pleasant memory. assistant chief mining enginesr, was loaned to act as expert adviser. Mr. Van . Sicklen is a Columbia graduate amd was in Mexico with the Towne interests. He had himself been & mince manager and operator across the line in Missouri. Then he threw up his job and went to help Uncle Sam whip the kaiser. He was called into the bureau of mines to help out the war minerals relief commission in examining mines in connection with claims for relief and then drifted into the regular work of the bureau: Having had actual experience in operating a mine, he made an exami- nation and report and laid out a plan of development just the same as he would for the Guggenheims or the Towne interests or some other big mining corporation. On this basis the commissioner of Indian affairs and the Secretary of the Interior made new leases, which, it is be- lieved, will lead to the best possible working of these mines. Under the old leases made twenty years ago, when nothing much was) known about the value of these lands, the Indians got 5 per cent, and under the system of subleases the man actually operating the mine pald 1714 to 20 per cent. Under the new system of lease the Indian gets 10 per cent, double the amount he form- erly recelved, and the company that takes the first lease on the whole group of propérties is bound down to very definite requirements, and if he * subleases is allowed to charge only 12% per cent. It is figured that this 2% per cent average compen- ates for work by the first lessee, which makes it unnecessary for the department to put in & considerable force of checkers, weighers, etc. Its advantage for the Indian is not to have his lease traded- upon, with subleasers paying 17% to 20 per cent as against 12} per cent, because if @ man pays high royalty he will only ‘work the high-grade ore and the mine will l1ast only a sport time. The new" leases, instead of holding down the 1éngth of the mine, increases the work done and in varlous way! works out & better economic means for all parties interested. More co-operation of this sort would forestall what reorganization legis- lagion hopes to achieve. Use -of Cocaine Alarming French French medical opinion is seriously alarmed at the spread of the cocaine traMc in France, according to the Parls correspondent-of the London Times. Speaking before the Academie de Medecine, Dr. Courtois-Sufit and Dr. Rene De Roux testified to the ex- tent to which the dangerous mania for the paradis artificiel has taken bold of certain sections of the popu- 1ation, and urged that the strongest measures of repression must be taken against both traffickers in the drug fwnd its victims. . 1t is said that the trafflc s, for the most part, confined to certain circles of men and women of loase morals, but there- is immiinent peril of its crossing the frontier of society and bringing desolation into French fam- fly lfe. L ‘getting a new one. Note—In publishing this ar- ticle by the brilllant 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 discriminating pub- lic will place its own valuation upon the opinions he advances. WO is company and three is a crowd. In American politics this maxim is the beginning of wisdom. When there is a third party it will be the first party. The talk about a new third party is merely a passing excitement among the seers, soothsavers and star gaz- ers. The folks have no considerable interest in the talk. They are party minded. At the moment they are get- ting mad at the republicans because of the tariff and the bonus and the ship subsidy and the folks are divided in their anger, some on one side and some on the other of each issue. Perhaps so long as anger and no con- viction is stirring popular emotions, a jump from the frying pan of one party into the fire of the other will satisfy them. The great majority is imbued with a new and deep conviction that the political and economical system de- fended by both parties is dead wrong and should be wiped out. Until that conviction comes, a new party will be merely an excited group of negligi- ble protesters exercising its lungs. The exercise is grand. It affords both profit and pleasure to the popu- lace and is improving for those who take it. Even the progressive party of ten years ago did not take a large bite out of the cosmos. It .stood for amendments to the social order. The bull moosers wanted to redistribute the gross earnings of business through high taxes and give a larger part of the gross to labor than it had been receiving. The gift was to come through the workingmen's compensation laws and better work- ing conditions, low tariffs, mothers® and workers' pensions, short hours, minimum wages and all sorts of tin- Kering adjustments upon the indus- trial, social and political machinery of the country. But there was no talk of scrapping the machine and When the new party comes, it will be a real scrap- er. R And what music will rend the air when the big fight comes! Recalling the caterwauling and agonizing of the conmservatives when the bull moosers assailed the citadel of in- trenched privilege -ten years ago, ‘with nothing more dangerous than seidlits powders, one gasps to think what will happen when the real guns begin:to fire. It ig just as well a ways to remember that ten years ago Theodore Roosevelt was abused as a rabid, red radical for asking for an elght-hour +day anti workingmen’s compensation laws. The garbage can of invective' was turned over to figd language dirty and poisonous o:l’oufl: to heave at him. He was “AS I SEE IT.” By William Allen W hite. called a *“socialist,” ‘anarchist,” a ‘“protagonist,” and the various union league clubs in their rather childish anger literally covered him with all the “fond spots” that their “infancy knew.” It is one of the sad ironies of his story that his traducers were denfed the word “bolshevist” to hurl at him. It would have com- forted them and given him great joy. And all because he wanted to make certain minor and needed adjust- ments in the machinery of industry— which now are made and working—ad- justments which in a small measure give men more nearly what they earn and make them earn rhore nearly what they get. But even then, the third party was a long way off. And it probably was nearer than it is today. an The sugar duty has been ad- vanced by the Senate 30 cents higher than it 4. And then to make escape easy, arsenic was put on the free list. The republicans certainly are after the labor vote!® “The Fleeting Villain.” RS. Margaret Deland’s newest novel, “The Vehement Flame,” is a good book. The younger critics who have a chronic homesick- ness of the pig sty don't think so. To them the book seems pale because its adultery is dismissed in fifteen lines. But none the less, “The Ve- hement Flame" is a readable book; the old fashioned kind that may be read of an evening before all the old people wthout making father fidget. And yet even this book, with all its good old-fashioned qualities—its tears, its budding and blasted ro- mance. its death-bed scene and its two old married lovers—lacks a vil- lain. The adulterous husband is its hero; the erotic wife slowly burning alive with selfishness is no villain- €ss. The young woman who bears the hero a son out of wedlock never inspires a hiss, and the young girl in love with the married man is the story’s heroine. And yet, because of its treatment, this novel is old fash- ioned and dear. It harks back to the time when right and wrong and God and everything had a place in our fictional literature. Now there 1s. no “God east of “Winesburg, Ohio,” and no right and wrong in any human action. Novel writing is largely a matter of psy- choanalysis, somewhat a matter of pulling people apart, putting them together again, running them with a steel spring instead of with the di- vine impulse that moves us all so contrarily, so marvelously, so my! teriously. Your fictionist foday is an exalted chicken picker.who pulls off our feathers, removes our innards and then cooks us up into palatable food, but not a live chicken by any manner or means. Rather, under the machinations of our modern story writers, we come out something rich and strange, but without conscience, without aspiration, without illusion, without vision. Mrs. Deland’s book is a good, old-fashioned book—even if the villian has departed from it— because in the ‘end the men and we- men of her tale are revealed, not as things but spirits walking through the world with faith in some divinity, hope of some happiness higher than pleasure, and charity for all thefir weak and perverse brethren—even for the poor Pharisees! A British statesman, speaking at the Institute of Politics ot Williams College in Massachusetts, quoted Ad- ‘miral Mahon's aphorism, “The prov- dnce of force is to give moral ideals @ chance to take root.” But sup- isons the roots! Huggers.” OW the primaries of the middle ‘west dispelled the illusion that the country wants light wines and beers. The supporters of the Volstead act haye lost no important campaign. The country west of the Alleghenies is back of the eighteenth amendment with enthusiasm and in- telligent purpose. The people beyond the Atlantic seaboard accept prohl- bition as an economic issue and they are not fooled with the demand for 1ight wines and beer. The light wine and beer saloon would be the same old saloon—a place where an un- healthy appetite is created in order to sell more goods. And when the light wine and beer saloon created an old soak he would go after hard liquor and the bootlegger's stand, where the old soak would find his booze, would be in or around or under the-light wine and beer saloon. All this is an old story out west. But it is a radiant dream ih the east. The ad-) vocates of light wines and beer come naively out of the wood like WLittle Red Riding Hood, accept the Rum Flend in grandmother's bed and bonnet without examining his teeth. So, when the west,laughs a merry haw, haw at the Invitition to adopt the old fraud in its granny's laces, the east walls at the fanaticism of its wild and woolly playmate and hugs its delusions. Of all the funny phantoms that have come down the pike for ‘the betuzzietent of the gul- lible, this dream of light wines and beer is ‘the flmsiest and least. sub- stantial. If the Volstead act cannot be repealed, it catinot be modified when modification means repeal. A man is making a movis of Mars. Let the radio sharps tune into the song that the morning stars sang to- gether, for incidental music, “Why ‘We Néver Die CCORDING _ to the ‘govérnment | mortality.statistics, Kensans live a year or two longer than other Americans. The reason is plain. We are never bored. Always something 18 going on and we like the show. It} it's not a cyclone, it's overproduc- tion, or a drouth, or an uprising, or an industrial court, or a lady with'a hatchet, or Ed Howe, or-the hot winds, or the world'’s biggest wheat crop, or something else worth watch- ing. Kansansthave the box seats of the world's theater and can always see the figures, issues, events, causes and-cataclysms waiting in the wings for the cue from fate. - For things start in Kansay that finish in history. AMERICAN PEOPLE TIRED OF HOLDING STRIKE BAG Nation-Wide Demand That Public’; . Rights to Fuel and Transportation Shall Be BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. HE American people are fed up on coal .strikes and raflroad strikes. They are fed up, too, on the manipulation of the market and excessive prices for coal, which 18 a necessity. They are look- ing to the President and to Congress to find 'a way out—to prevent a re- currence of such industrial warfare as the last few months have seen and to protect them against profiteering in public necessities such as fuel. Some of them are anxious to smash the unions—labor. Others are anx- ious to smash the operators and rail- road executives. But both factions unite on one thing, relief from exist- | ing conditions. The President, in his address to Con- gress Friday on the strike situation, recognized the need of (undlmenull! changes in the laws to prevent re- currence of tle-ups of fuel and trans- portation. He asked for no action at this ‘time, however, on the ground that hasty legislation might be worse than none. The President did ask, on the other hand, for temporary legis- Iation to protect the public against coal profiteers. ' Remedy of Deubtful Value. Government ownership and opera- tion—nationalization, as it is some- times called—is suggested as a rem- edy. But it is very doubtful that it would be a remedy, and the chances are it might be worse than the exist- ing disease. It the government should take over and operate the railroads and the mines, it would be for the purpose of doing away with strikes that tie up transportation and prevent the people | from getting the fuel they need to warm themselves and run their in- dustries. It would be for the purpose of preventing exorbitant charges for fuel. The prices of transportation are already regulated by the govern- ment through the Interstate Com- merce Commission. Would that be| the result? In the first place, the miners and the railroad workers go on strike be- cause they are not satisfied with the wages they receive or the conditions under which. they work—or both. It is not unbelievable that the workmen might be dissatisfied with the wages they Teceive and the working condi- tions under government owpgrship and operation. What ‘then? " Either the government would hate to yield to their demands—or they would strike. . No one has suggested, so far, that merely because the government was operating the roads, the unions would waive all right to strike. And a strike against the government; would be little short of rebellion. Right to Quit Work. Every man has a right to quit work, if he desires, in this country. Any- thing less would be virtual slavery. But he has no right to prevent other men trom working—he has no right to con- spire to tle up the transportation sys- | tem and the mines of the country, uponi which the lives of the people depend. What government ownership and operation of the roads and mines would give—or rather what it is; hoped it would give—is the settle- | ment of labor controversies and lhei fixing of prices of fuel at reasonable rates. The prices of transportation already are fixed by government agencies. In other words, what it is hoped government ownership and operation would bring about is control of the labor situation and the prices of coal. This control could be exercised by the government Without putting the American people into debt for a sum so large that it would dwarf even the war debt. For if the government takes the roads and the mines, it would pay for them. It has been roundly estimated that the value of the railroad properties is $20.000,000,- 000. The coal properties would run into many billions, too. The gov- ernment has no funds except those it obtalns from the taxpayers. The taxpayers, therefore, would have to settle this bill sooner or later. Wage-Fixing Board Provided. The ‘government already’ has set up a body to fix wages for the rail- road workers—the Railroad Labor Board. But there is nothing in the law which compels acceptance of its decisions. Public opinfon is the power relied upon to enforce the de- cistons. But public opinjon has not functioned to that extent in connec- tion with the railroad shopmen’s case. The Labor Board handed down its decision and the men went on strike | tion—must be determined also by | be written overnight. Protected. —and have been on strike for nearly two months. The railroad executives have not yet “struck” against a decision of the Labor Board, but they have sought to evade decisions. It might be more dificult for them to strike than for the unions. But still, they might. Railroad owners have been more amenable to the force of public opin- fon since the enactment of the interstate commerce and transporta-’ tion acts, which provide a commiss slon to pass upon their rates, theirf issues of securitles, etc. So the machinery for dealing with wages—the fundamental difference in most employer and labor contro- versies—has been set up for the rall- roads. As yet, there has been no commission established to deal with the coal Industry. But the belief is growing that such a commission is coming, and coming soon. See No Other Remedy. Conservative members of the Sen- ate, who have shuddered at the idea of the government's fixing prices of commodities, say frankly now that they have reached the conclusion the only way out of the difficult coal sit- uation is to treat coal just as trans- portation has been treated as a pub- lic utility. This means price fixing. But they are insistent that if the prices of transportation and fuel are to be fixed by impartial tribunals, then the wages—constituting the greatest element of cost in produc- impartial tribunals. other solution.” Legislation to bring about this gov- ernmental control to prevent the tie- up of transportation and fuel cannot It must be handled with the greatest care, so as to safeguard the interests of the pub- lic, the workers and the owners of the properties. It is not expected They see no i it will be attempted at the present session of Congress. When it is un- dertaken, it will be fought tooth and nail by the unions and by the coal operators. The railroads, already being regulated as to their charges for transportation not unnaturally may be expected to approve any plan that will give them protection from strikes, which tie up their lines and fx their labor charges. There is a growing feeling in this country that these labor disputes on road and in mine must be settled, and settled finally, through an impartial tribunal, just as disputes between individuals are settled in the courts, and by force. Two schools of thought already have developed, and probably many more, in regard to dealing with the railroad and mine workers. One school would have the law impose financial penalties, fines and the like. if an attempt were made by a union to interfere with interstate trans- portation and the operation of the mines. The other would go further and provide jail sentence¢ for men who conspired to interfere with these public utilities. as well as fines The publie—the American people as a whole—today is very impatient at “the-public-be-damned” attitude when it is assumed either by capital or labor. Tt is ghe growth of this public spirit that is tending to force Con- gress to legislate in regard to this matter. The legislation may not come this session, or even the next. But it will come, senators predict For Inquiry Commission. Senator Borah of Idaho, chairman of the committee on education and labor, has offered a resolution providing for a searching investigation to deter- mine whether the coal industry shall be subject to government regulation. He has not been able to get this reso- lution out of committee yet The excuse has been put forward that nothing should be done at this time that might “rock the boat"—prevent adjustment of the coal strike. But . when the coal strike is at an end, a showdown is expected. The President, addressing Congress, also urged the appointment of an im- partial commission, with full author- ity to investigate every phase of the coal industry and to make recommen- dations regarding legislation. Kansas has been a pioneer state. The establishment of its industrial court to settle industrial contro- versies Is one of the most radical in- novations the state has ever under- taken. President Harding, in his mes- sage to Congress at its opening, De- cember 6, 1921, proposed the estab- lishment of judicial tribunals to deal with industrial cases, Size of Senate an Argum ent - Against Creating New States Arcostook county, Me., where they grow potatoes and have professed prohibition ever since the days of Neal Dow, wants to sever its connec- tion with the “state of Maine” and be a state all by itself, writes Alan H. Temple in Commerce and Finance. It includes an area of 6,408 square miles, which is abouj one-third ' of Maine's territory; and since 1900 it has gained 30 per cent in population and 300 per cent in wgalth, which in- creases are far above those of the state as a whole. One cf the pretexts upon which separation is sought is that Augusts, the state capital, is 5o far ‘away from Aroostook county. But a desire for separation and the The people of the northern penin- sula of Michigan have more than once demanded the rights of separate statehood for “North Michigan." When the republic of Texas en- tered the Union it reserved the right to divide itself into five states, and there was at one time an effort to make two states out’of Idaho Just as two were made out of the old * territory of Dakota. * No doubt there are many googd reasons why some of our larger states should be divided, but there is one controlling reason why no . such division should be made. It js that if we create more states we shall have more senators. The honors of statehood is not peculiar to | United States Senate is almost un- this Maine county. There have been attempts to make & separate state out of New Yorks golutely clogged if eity. manageably large as it is, - And it is to be feared that the wheels of legislation would be ab- the number of senators was increased. S