Evening Star Newspaper, January 19, 1923, Page 6

THY EVENING STAR,| Viith Surday Morning Edition. ———— WASHINGTON, D. C. FRIDAY.., January 19, 1023 THEODORE W. NOYES...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company B Office, 11¢h St. and Pennsylvania Ave. ew York Office; 150 Nassau 8t. Chicago Office: Tower Building Puropean Office : 16 Regent St., London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning ition, is dellvered by carriers within the city 80 cents per month: daily only, 45 cents per Sunday only, 20 cents per month. Or- ders may be sent by mail or telephone Maln B000. Collection is made by carriers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Taily and Sunday..1yr., $8.4 Daily only. 1vr.. $6.0 Sunday only. 1yr., $2.40; 1 m , T0¢ 20c All Other States. Dafly and Sunday..1yr., $10.00; 1 m D-ug only. 1yr., $7.00;1mo., Bunday oniy.lll. 1yrg §3.00] 1 mo., 25¢ Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Press is exclusively entitied o the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub- lished herein. All rights of publication of special dispatches herein are also reserved. — 85c 0c Passing of Aqueduct Bridge. Opening of the new bridge in Georgetown, the Key bridge it is to be called, according to a paragraph in the pending District appropriation bill, was accomplished the other day with- out ceremony, by simply removing the barriers at the entrances and permit- ting traffic to move across the river over the completed structure. Thus is accomplished an improvement long needed. This new bridge replaces in service an ancient structure, the Aqueduct bridge, which has for many vears been the only means of crossing the river from Georgetown directly. With the opening of the Key bridge the Aqueduct will probably pass out of existence. It is of doubtful stability, having been bolstered up from time to time by underwater patchings at the bases of the piers. The load it has borne has long since grown heavier than the original structure was de- signed to carry. It was veritably in the beginning an “aqueduct,” a means of carrying the canal across the Poto- mac to the terminal in Alexandria. ‘The wooden box through which the canal flowed was long a striking fea- ture of the local landscape. For years after the canal service was discon- tinued the old box dripped upon the viver farers passing underneath. Final- Iy the inlet of the water at the George- town end was cut off and the box was removed. After that the bridge passed into strictly vehicular use. Nearly thirty-five vears ago it came under suspicion as to its strength, and after every freshet it was viewed with concern by the public. On one occa- sion one of the piers at the Virginia side tilted so that the railings were buckled, and a diver sent down to in- vestigate reported that a log had lodged against the pier foundation in such a manner that the current had scored a great hole in the masonry. "This was filled and the pier made solid again, but from time to time other taults developed. Aqueduct bridge should have been put out of commission at least twenty- five years ago, but the process of planning and appropriation and con- struction has been so slow that not until now has the substitute modern structure been completed. Meanwhile the traffic has increased enormously, to @ volume that has been really far too great for the old bridge to carry. Much of it has gone further up river to the Chain bridge, and some of it has been deflected to the Highway bridge. Now that the Key bridge is in use it is likely that it will carry a much heavier daily average of traffic than the Aqueduct has ever borne. - This new bridge is an ornament to the capital, whereas the old Aqueduct has never been in any sense or degree attractive to the eye. There is an in- @lcation of great strength in the new structure that will completely put the public mind at rest. The bridge stands at e polnt of extreme stress of current at certaln stages of the river. An im- mense volume of ice passes down from the gorges above the District In the spring, and after heavy rainfalls in the watershed the flow at this point is trémendous. No fears need be felt now on the score of the stability of the bridge, and with the old Aqueduct re- moved the river will be cleared of an obstruction that, like the old Long bridge, replaced by the Highway, has been actually a menace. Bstimates as to the length of time it will take for builders to catch up with housing requirements are always subject to the possibility of a sudden and unforeseen increase of demand that will leave the situation about where it was. S SEEE - Pt iz possible that senators who dis- countenanced the league of nations ‘may presently be encouraged to claim that they kept us out of war. The French troops are trying the axperiment of utilizing bayonets as mining incldents. The Drug Evil. The death of Wallace Reid, the film actor, gives a renewed impetus to the public demand for e crusade against the drug traffic in this country. This young man, who had achieved a re- markable success in the movies and ‘was universally popular, fell a victim to the narcotic habit a couple of years ago while in a depressed state due to overwork. Finally the drugs ‘“got him."” He collapsed recently, and when later the news of his illness and its cause was given out, purposely by his family to aid in arousal of the forces fighting this great evil, the country was shocked by the accompanying of the extent to which this perpicious habit prevails among the ‘people of movieland. Those who suffer from the drug hablt are to be greatly pitled. They victims of a curse that is delib- fostered for profit by dealers believed, have an organized meking addicts in order to the volume this criminal of drug evil is evi being continually i sistently sought by enforcement offi- cers. Now &nd then one of the major dispensers of the stuff is caught, but usually the law lays its hand only on the small fry, the retail “dope dealers” who “serve” regular customers. As a rule these delivery agents are them- selves addicts who have been so af- fected by the drugs that they have no sense of right and wrong, and no con- ception of the enormity of their of- fense. Recently in New York a large quan- tity of morphia was seized in the form of cubes packed in cans concealed in casks labeled “fish,” entering from a foreign port: This evidences the mag- nitude of the traffic, which is so profitable that it appears to be worth any risk on the part of the promoters to get the stuff into the country, or, if manufactured here illicitly, into the hands of the peddlers. The stiffest penalties are deserved upon conviction, especially of those who are at the head of this horrid trade, which is really a trade in life. These drugs are not merely injurious to health, but they are actually deadly. As in the case of Wallace Reid, they deplete the forces of the victim until death may come. A cure is difficult. Through the weakening of the will by the influence of the narcotic the suf- ferer has little or no capacity to help himself. Yet the drug habit is curable. It can be corrected and the sufferer brought back to normal health if the use has not gone too far. The trouble always is to find the victim and to per- suade him to submit to treatment. Concealment is an initial instinct on the part of the drug addict. The family of the California actor has, in the pub- licity given to the circumstances of his suffering, rendered a valuable service to the American people by stimulating interest in and a demand for a systematic warfare against this evil. The President and Congress. In the matter of a spring session of the Sixty-eighth Congress, the Presi- dent has the final word. Unless he calls, Congress cannot assemble. It he does call, it cannot refuse to as. semble. He possesses the authority, and is responsible for his use of it. There seems no warrant for the suggestion—emanating, of course, from the opposition—that the Presi- dent will play politics with the ques- tion; that If he sees republican advan- tage in a special session he will call one. Otherwise, not. The question is bigger than that, and as President Mr. Harding has proved to be as big as the biggest of the questions presented to him. Nor is it likely that the President will consider his personal comfort in the matter, and decide according to that. If he feels the need of a rest, his feelings may easily be understood and excused. Since entering the White House he has had to buckle to hard work continuously, and has performed a good deal of it. But he works with a will. He does not “soldier” on his job, but keeps at it early and late. This was one of Mr. Cleveland’s characteristics, and it explained in part the hold he established on the country, The charge that he made a drudge of himself did not injure him in the public estimation. On the con- trary, the people applauded his dili- gence, and his desire and determina- tion to go to the bottom of all meas- ures laid upon his table. Mr. McAdoo’s Smile. The Star of yesterday carried a pic- ture of former Secretary McAdoo in conference with three of his personal and political friends—Senators Glass of Virginia, Walsh of Massachusetts and Harrison of Mississippi. Messrs. Glass and Walsh are serious- minded men, who at all times take a serfous view of public questions. Mr. Harrison allows himself periods of re- laxation. As chief of scouts on the democratic side of the Senate cham- ber, he must in the line of duty chaff the opposition when occasions are tempting, and this gives to his address and face the suggestion of light. heartedness. Yesterday, however, as the picture showed, Mr. Harrison was quite as serious as Messrs. Glass and Walsh. It was a serious-appearing trio. It was Mr. McAdoo who relieved the situation. He wore a distinct smile. Now, as is asked, what did that smile signify? A bit of amusement that three of his friends were cocky about his prospects for next year this far in edvance of nomination time? Or a bit of appreciation that they were? But, anyhow, whatever the explana- tion, there were the four men seated together at a table, and the only smile worn was by the man under discus- sion all over the country in connec- tion with next year’s democratic nom- ination for President. It will prove to be a popular picture, and be widely circulated. ———t— ‘The “high cost of living” is now re- ferred to by the old-timer who tries to figure prices on a pre-war basis. In the modern readjustment it takes more money than formerly to pur- chase a commodity, but the money is easier to get. —————— It would be a relief to many minds to find at last that what is supposed to be a torture machine at the bottom of a Louisiana lake is after all only an abandoned fifvverette, ———— Soviet Russia is sufficlently strong in @ military way to be invited to bor- row trouble, even if she cannot bor- TrOW money. The Impending Jam. If a jJam at the close of this Con- gress occurs—one is threatened—in ‘which measures of importance to and desired by the country are caught, the matter will be difficult #f not impos- sible of satisfactory explanation. The Sixty-seventh Congress stands alone in respect ‘of time consumfed. It 1s now In its fourth session. The first sesslon—a special one— lasted for months, from early spring to late fall. From start to finish it was plagued with factionism. The out- put therefore was, upon the whole, disappointing in both quantity and [ ‘ THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. O, FRIDAY, one. Again factionism interfered, an the going was made heavy. The elec- tions took place within a few weeks after adjournment, and so judgment on the record was based largely on the heated debates that had marked the proceedings on Capitol Hill. The second special session was short, but served a good purpose, and, followed as it was by the canceling of the usual Christmas holiday recess, it contributed to the improving of the situation, Nevertheless, within less than two ‘months of final adjournment day, a jam impends, and the outlook is for the bequeathment of much important business to the next Congress, which will be crowded with business of its own. While a jam impends, by industry and good mahagement from now on Congress ought to be able to avert in some measure its threatened destruc- tivene Three American Follies. President Harding hopes to have a look next spring at Alaska, The terri- tory interests him, and he wants to see development there quickened. Alaska was once known as “Seward’s folly.” Popular opinion at the time of purchase wgs that Russia had over- reached the New York statesman; that seven and a half million dollars was enormously too much for a frozen em- pire. That sum today considered in connection with Alaska's known re- sources and how they may be handled is a mere bagatelle. At the time the Louisiana territory was purchased Napoleon was thought to have overreached Jefferson. That territory was known as “Jefferson's folly.” What did we want of. what could we do with, an empire of swamp? The purchase price—fifteen million dollars—was regarded as hav- ing been thrown away. Look at that swamp today, and consider what it has become under the touch of Amer- ica’s magic wand. The Philippine’s were. “McKinley's folly.” What possessed him to take them over and pay Spain twenty mil- lion dollars as a balm? What good to anybody could possibly come of the transaction? In little more than' a score of years the archipelago under American rule has been transformed into one of the most promising coun- tries in that quarter of the globe, and the natives are impatient to take charge. And to us, while Wg remain in charge, it will continue an invalu- able oriental outpost. Jefferson, Seward and McKinley were firstclass realtors as well as first-class statesmen. —_————— American soldiers wooced and “'uni Jerman sweethearts. The advice | against foreign entanglements { practical politically, but mot matri- monially. —_—————— Americe’s coal problem relates mere- 1y to a matter of a few dollars mor or less in the price per ton; a simple matter compared to the European coal | problem. i —_———— The naval ratios among nations con- stitute a problem of relativity more important even than that announced by Dr, Einstein. —_———— Occasionally suggestio cure is accomplished by proving to a hysteria sufferer that he was not very sick in the first place. —_———— It every reform movement requires a week unto itself, we can have only fifty-two reforms a year, which might not be enough. —————————— One form of criticism of the Ver a mental sailles treaty presents the persistent objection that it tried to do too much. thorough. ———————— Among the situations the French have to face is that of an unemploy- ‘ment problem at Essen. | An order for coal in the Ruhr is nothing but a scrap of paper. SHOOTING STARS. I BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Tllogical Laugh. I wonder why it makes me laugh To see the comic picture chaff! T'm not by nature harsh, I trust, Yet when I see them, laugh I must— The people with misshapen feet, ‘With faces wry and incomplete As if a surgeon getting gay Had chopped and then thrown some away; ‘With turnip noses, unkempt hair And saucer eyes whose vacant stare Is matched by vacancy of mind ‘Where phrases wild are intertwined; ‘With monstrous figures, fat or lean, In which deformities are seen That make us dream in discontent Of Frankenstein's experiment, Producing so grotesque a man That e’en his maker turned and ran! Marked by affliction everywhere There strange sprites flutter through the air. I'know I ought to sympathize. 1 don’t. I gaze with glad surprise. I haven't told the worst by half— And yet they always make me laugh! Serving the Country. “Every man should be willing and anxious to serve his country.” .“True,” answered Senator Sorghum, wearily; “but why should so many in- sist on serving as postmaster?” Jud Tunkins says a party is now considered a success in his village if the dry agents are among. those ab- sent. Diplomacy. . The diplomat tofls day and night In confabs and conventions, Evolving phrases most polite To mask some rough intentions. Disarming Suspicion. “The dealer made you pay more than this picture is worth,” comment- ed the artist. “T know it,” answered Mr. Cumrox. “I'm selling him a piece of property, and I want to convey the impression that I am guileless and easy.” “When de heart ain’ back of a man’s ‘words,” said Uncle Eben, “he deserves | nesot THE WAYS OF WASHINGTON BY WILLIAM PICKETT HELM. Early last April a Washington man named Smith called up his regular coal. dealer, "I want you to deliver ten tons of | anthracite to my home ' sometime within the next week or ten days. Can you do it?” he asked. “Yes, we can do it. Lots of coal in the yard and we'll serd it up tomor- row, i you want it. But I don't think you do. Do you?” “Why not?" asked Mr. Smith. “Well,” said the dealer, “you know, of course, that the miners are out on strike. And you know that the mrice of coal is high.” . 's, what of it?” “Well,” the dealer went on, “I think that the strike will end before long and that the price is coming down. ‘Why not let us deliver about two tons now and wait awhile for the rest— say, a month or so, and get it cheaper when the strike is settled? “I don’t want to take the chance,” replied the customer. “Besides, T thipk your information is wrong. It looks to mo as If we were going to have a long strike. And 1 doubt if the price comes do “Just as you say,” the dealer re- plied. “We've been sorving you for a good many years, you know, and we just want fo save an old customer Ssome money.” Now this Smith happened to be the head of the Young Men's Christian Association and he was quick to rec- ognize the effort on the dealer’s part to do him a favor. Nevertheless, he wanted his coal. “Send the coal up, just the same, he ordered. And the next day the coal came up. Head of the Y. M. C. A. did T say Yes: also director of the United States geological survey, that branch of the government that knows more about coal than all the other branches put together. To be exact, George Otis Smith, A fow months late President Hard- ing selected Dr. Smith to serve on the new fact-finding coal commission and get at the bottom of coal troubles. The commission’s report is now fresh in the hands of Congress. Dr. Smith knew that there would be trouble in getting coal this winter.| He knew it as long ago as last April, And he preached then the doctrine “Buy coal now.” He practiced what he preached, and if others had practiced it, too, there would not be today quite so many empty coal bins in V shington and its vicinit: But he was not the only man who sensed impending ¢ troubles The dealer who supplied Dr. Smith with coal also had a customer named Neill—Char I’. Neill. A day or so after Dr. Smith's coal was delivered | Mr, Neill telephoned the deg “Send up ten tons of c Mr. Neill requested. “All right, Mr. bu 2 11, if you want it; ‘And the dedier repeated what he had told Dr. Smith. ‘All very good, buf send up the coal just the same.’ President Harding, looking about for long-headed men td delve into the coal situation, also picked Mr. Neill to sit on the new commission. The_chairman of the commission is John Hays Hammond. Mr. Hammond also ordered his coal early in the sea- son. Those three members of the com- mission—the supreme court of the coal industry—suffered no hardship this winter for lack of coal. The writer is told that the other four members also ordered ecoal far enough ahead of cold weather to have their bins stocked, Now it may be that there is a moral in this story and it may be that there Isn't. Whether or not, it is worth remembering the next time you have a chance to get all the coal you nt. When_the commission met to or- ganize, it found that some of its mem- bers knew virtually nothing about the business of mining and market- ing coal. Their affairs had all been along other lin “We ought to learn the elerients of coal mining and marketing before we start our investigations,” said one of the number. “In a way, we are like doctors at- tending a sick patient. And no doctor should practice until he knows some- thing about medicine.” So they began to study coal. They started with a moving picture of coal minin That picture was taken by a government engineer, Mr. Leopold of the bureau of mines, and it was accurate. After that other government engi- neers coached them. Then the stu- dent-commissioners learned the no- menclature of coal. When they sat down with operators and miners not long afterward they stonisned their witnesses by their’ knowledge of the industry. — The union miners came befors the commission. We are underpald,” the miners com- platned We have been underpaid for years. “Is that so?” asked the commission. “We seem to remember that you have sald something about that before “It's true,” the miners said. “Very, very true. It's the cause of the present trouble.” “Well,” said the commission, look into it. The comm it did w copied and The rolls “we'll ion did look into it. What to order all the pay rolls sent in from the coal fields. re coming in now. They years. ~They cover the s every union miner in the d States. There are about 400,000 miners. When the commission through it will know how much money every man made during the past three year: “A_good many pay rolls,” one opera- tor dryly remarked. Quite so—Afifteen Memories of a “Spooky” Night Thrill After Nearly 40 Years Adequate rooming accommodations in Minnesota and North Dakota were almest as icult to obtain in 1886 as in W ingto: BC, n 2 according to win €. Branden-| burg, twice presi- | dent of the Wash- ington Board of Trade, member of the joint citi- zen's committee | on national repre- sentation for the District - and prominent lawyer. Mr.Branden- bure, in 1886, was travel- ing through Min- nesota and North Dakota st- ant director of the former tate's weather service, relates two experi- ences in oMtaining rooms which he| classes with the lucklest and most terrifying experiences In his life. The hero of this story was then only twenty vears old, and the “lucky” experience, he says, points out the value of rendering little acts of serv- ice to others. On his travels to establish additlonal weather bureaus at the many small | towns in the northern part of Min- | he found himself, after an all- day ride in the caboose of a strug- gling train, in a small community where he was unable to find the slightest semblance of a hotel. He wandered around tow inquiring a who, E. C. BRANDENBURG. as ass | ing until he was di- est saloon. He went to drop from fatigue, ed by the bartender 1 sleep on the pool table, and if he didn't like that to get out.” Mr. Brandenburg looked at the other occupants of the saloon and at some at the pool tables which were already occupled and was just about to take, in desperation, the only thing offered, when he was slapped on the back, and a hearty “How are you, Branden- burg?” turned him aroynd. He recognized a man he had met some years previously in St. Paul and whom he had entertained at linch on a brief visit to that ci Needless to say the lunch, given wiih no thought of return, gave him that pisht a comfortable bed In a private The th _most territying experience oc- curred, said Mr. Brandenburg. the same year in a small town in North Dakota. A peried of outlaw had broken out and many had_been hald up and d by roving bands. The only pla n town that he could find in which to sleep was a barren room over an undert shop. The place was “spooky” in the extreme. Soon after retiring, he heard sounds that in ated that some one w: climh- up the long sloping roof. which was directly under his window. Ter- rifled by the twin fears of ghgsts and robbers, Mr. Brandenburg \fi(l that he felt absolutely paralized. He finally mustered courage to call out, “Who's there?' No answer! Fi ly, after a peoriod of w » Which he said was the worst in he arose cau- tiously out of bed and approached the window, expecting to be attacked at any minute. There was no one there; but a piece of paper, blown gently by the breeze, was sliding over the roof, causing the noise which had almost scared him to death EDITORIAL DIGEST Bringing the Troops Home Was Only Possible Action. Inasmuch as the differences be- tween France and the United States, as a result of the Ruhr venture, could not be reconciled there was nothing for this country to do but to bring the troops back home editors agree. “All the entente powers, as well as the German government,” the Rich- mond News-Leader holds, “expressed the belief that the presence of the American troops on the Rhino re duced the friction due to the occ- cupancy and had & general salutary effect. Now that complications may arise it is proper that America with- draw.” The action also was com- pelled, the New York Herald is con- vinced, despite the fact that “there is mothing in international relations that could be more distressing to the American people than to find them- selves at odds with France on any question. America cannot under- stand the unwillingness of France to accept the advice of or to welcome the judgment of the United States on | the far-reaching questions confront- | ing her” Expediency, however, is| the only reason given for the wm.-l drawal, the New York Times points out In criticizing the action at this articular moment, and it feels that there is something sardonic in the fact that it is the Army transport St. Mihiel which is to bring back our soldiers. Our first independens and successful battle in France Is thus linked up With our final and unex- plained withdrawal.” \ The Philadelphia Public Ledger re- fuses to Indorse this opinlon, agree- ing that the action “opens a breach between France and America,” but insisting that “Iit has been coming a long time. France has repulsed her best friend, America. She is estranged from her comrade, Great Britain. She has put aside the re- straining hands of all the world to gamble her future, and it may be the future of Europe, on the turn of the The general soclalist | O that may vet swallow them up. Peace then may be possible.” In bringing the troops home the President admits that “the Senate outplayed” him, the orfolk Ledger-Dispatch feels, but in addition, “France has been given by the United States the same sort of warning that Great Britain gave her when the British delegation departed from Paris. This country is in sym- pathy with a reasonable, even a rea- sonably revengeful France; but it is not in sympathy with a France that seeks to bring about, for national, partisan, factional or individualistic reasons, the destruction of another people—even though that other peo- ple may be the Germans. Of course, our troops are coming home.” It ‘is the opinion of the Brooklyn | Eagle, however, that “the withdrawal brings to a dramatic climax a long series of puzzling moves on the part of the Harding administration. It is clear that the administration, if it has a policy, is employing the’ worst possible method of putting it in_ ef- fect. The course it has pursued in the last fortnight, and continues to pursue, cannot fail to exasperate the country and add to the confusion of Europe, where every day seems to b bringing a new catastrophe nearer. There can be no question that the President’s _‘“action was wise,” the Lafayette Journal Courler, holds, as well as:“the part ot prudence, com- mon sense and honest - peace-time policy so far as America is concerned. a matter of fact, while we were trying in all possible ways to avoid getting entangled in European poli- tics, the presence of our troops, bri- gaded with French units, on German territory, constituted in itself an ac- tual hazardous entanglement. It is this_snarl out of which President Harding prudently and properly with- draws our government by issuing the order to Gen. Allen to ‘come home, There likewise s a belief, voiced by the Springfield Union, however, that much of this apprehensién is unnec- essary because “there was little rea- son to think that our -little army would have gotten into difficulties if it had been allowed to remain, but the original reasons for its remaining lapsed some time ago and reasons for its immediate return plainly ap=- peared.” The recall “severs another of the visible ties, which have bound us to our late associates against the ‘im- perial German government,’ ” the New leans Times Plelyuncnwlnu out. France in Germany | BY ARCHIBALD HOPKINS. Some men n public life and some newspapers are criticizing France for having sent troops.into Garmany. There are two considerations which make these criticisms open to ques- tion and objection. The first.is that the French gov- ernment knows the situation in all |its bearings and possible outcome much more fully than they can, and is dealing with it after long and patient waiting and careful delibera- tion which no one else has given it. Furthermore, that France Is admit- tedly within her rights under the treaty. The second is that those who are 80 ready to condemn France fail to take the step imperatively necessary in order to form a fair judgment, and that is, to put themselves in the place of the French people. In order to understand their attitude we must in the first place look back a little. In 1870 in order to consolidate and make prestige for the newly formed German empire, as well as to extend its boundaries, Bismarck deliberately provoked and brought on war with France, which, after a brief campaign, ended with the Germans in Parls and the French unable to resist any terms which the unscrupulous and greedy conquerors chose to impose. Those terms comprised the loss of [the two provinces of Alsace and Lor- raine and the payment to Germany {Of & billion dollars. Neither of these penalties was justifiable after defeat in an unprovoked and defensive war, and the exaction of the money was nothing less than highway robbery and the amount should be adied to the reparations demanded from Ger- many. There was no basis for it in any 1aw of peace or war. Germany had not been invaded or laid waste- L was simply “stand and. deliver! Your money or your life”! And Ger- many, now se sensitive and indignant at having a French army on her soil, kept her troops in Paris until the e “‘nz paid. What right has she, Now that the tables are to expect different treatment ot the hands of France, and who, If Bramey has n{mc!udr-d that that is the only o get what is admittedly or, shall say her nay? ¥ dun * ok ox % After more than forty years of un- easy peace between the two countries, Germany, grown rich, populous and arrogant, with the most formidable and powérful of modern war ma- chinery at her back, deliberately launched another war of unprovoked aggression and conquest, for which she had long been preparing, deter- mined to wipe France off the map as a first-class power and to become herself the dictator of Europe. When lit became evident that she Intended j to’overrun Belgium In order the more swiftly to accomplish her nefarious purpose, and she was reminded of the treaty, to which she was a party, which stood squarely in the way, ehe thrust it scornfully aside as a mere scrap of paper. In the face of which act she now has the brazen assurance to assert that France, proceeding as every one knows strictly within the provieions of the treaty of Versallles in taking the steps It expressly au- thorizes, to enforce it, is violating i\, and that consequently she is no longer bound by it The German invasion this time was no ordinary warfare. It was waged with a systematic cruelty and delib- erate, sweeping, wanton destruction, the burning of villages, cutting down of orchards and breaking up of roads, clearly intended to leave France im- poverished and helpless under the heel of the conqueror, never again to hold up her head in’the family of nations. For four long years of bloody agony, devastation and death, gallant imperishable France, with Great Brit- ain beside her, held back the German hordes until our government, con- vinced at last that “they were not all fighting for the same thing,” allowed us, long champing on the bit, to take the field and our brave boys turned the tide and saved the day. * %k ok * . ! Now, let us try to put ourselves in France's place after this second es- cape from a ruthless, implacable enemy still living on her borders; try to realize what she went through and suffered during the war and the vears of walting since for the least ovidence of any desire or purpose to fulfill tho treaty. On the contrary, (Germany is manifesting—and has been from the first—an unmistakable de- sire and purpose to evade and disre- gard it. She has sent most of her funds to Dutch, Swiss and Scandi- navian banks, which are stuffed with | them. She is purposely, by means of a depreciated currency, throwing herself into bankruptey, in order to get rid of all indebtedness and start afresh on @ prosperous economic career. This, competent, careful, Im- partial observers say, is true, and her actual economic status today, with no devastation in the land, is Infinitely superlor to that of France, ravaged as she has been, with an army of crip- ples to care for and sorely burdened With a debt which she can meet only by collecting what is due her. Let us try to realize all this and ask ourselves candidly whether if we Stood in France's shoes we would have waited, well knowing that Ger- many listens to no demand, however rightful, not backed by force, as long as she has before acting. I trow not ‘After France had made all her prep- arations to move we intimated, wheth- or directly or indirectly seems not to be known, that if She would still further delay we would try to ar- range a commission to settle the amount of reparations she was to re- Ceive, but that was accompanied by no assurance that any conalusion the commission might reach would be enforced, without which it would have had little weight with Germany. Many men in Congress are saying that public oplnion in this country is opposed to what France has done, and the sudden withdrawal of our troops is unfortunately taken by the Ger- mans and elsewhere as an unfriendly gesture by our government toward France and an indorsement of the German attitude. * kK K I have talked with a number of leading citizens here and with many Army and Navy officers, every one of whom believed France had done what she had a right to do, and ought to have done, and I have been informed by persons present that two large gatherings of spectators at different movies, when the French troops marching into Germany were thrown on the screen, burst into spontaneous, unanimous and prolonged applause, and there can be no doubt that these demonstrations répresented a wide- spread, extensive, hearty American sentiment. What Germany can be made to pay ought to be fixed at the utmost limit of her capabllity without crippling her power to produce, and leaving her a sufficient margin for reasonable self support. It would be well for France and Germany, indeed for all other countries in its stabilizing ef- fect, to have a definite amount and periods of payment fixed and agreed upon. Until then what can France do but attempt, to the best of her ability in the only Wway open to her, to secure d_enforce her undoubted rights (Uptil such agreement, will suffice to Wi i CAPITAL KEYNOTES ‘The conundrum, “When is a child?” which is troubling Congress in con- nection with a proposed -amend- ment to the Constitution, is not con- fined to America. In Germany the reichstag has. recently adopted a law substituting training schools' in place of prisons for delinquents under fourteen years of age. Hitherto the criminal age limit has been twelve years. In some respects the jurisdic- tion of juvenile courts there cxtends to the age of eighteen vears, and in exceptional cases even to more ad- vanced age. If psychology were an exact science, which it is far from being, the true test of juvenile re- sponsibility would be the age,” as found by psychological tests, but then most adults are foun: have passed the “mental ag teen years. so the juvenile courts might handle most cases with full propriety. { * k * * Congress is fnterested mainly from) the standpoint of a child-labor law and amendment to the Constitution which will give joint jurisdiction to federal and state authorities in reg- ulating child labor. That has to do with physical and mental develop- ment, and may well he differentiated from all questions of criminal re- sponsibility. While the boy and girl of fifteen may he held as adults in responsibility for wrong doing, they have not'at that age matured their physical development, and may he injured by overwork. On the other hand, moral resnonsibility depends more upon education and mental de- elopment, due to training and en- vironment, than it does upon years. There can be no hard and fast rule that will be fair to all. Dean Wil- lam Draper Lewis of the Universi of Pennsrlvania astonished the con gressional committee and the.other experts on child labor by advising that the amendment to the Constitu- tion and the laws should not fix any general age limit, but leave to the court the diseretion of applving its own The Monroe doctrine was promul- * % X * While, at this writing, there is no probability that the Capper rural credit bill will meet serious opposi- tion in the Senate, it is pointed out. in the course of debate. especially b Senator mons of North Carolina. | that the measure affords no aid in| crop production. It enables the farmer, after he has harvested his crop. to store it in warehouses and borrow money with the warehouse receints as security. It establishes credit corporations with some of nowers and functions of commercial ban but they cannnt loan excent on warehouse security. no matter how valuable the other security mav be which the farmers may offer. The nurnose of the measure. as explained by the author of the bill. is not to aid in erop production, but in the or- derly and more or less independent selling of the crons produced, instead of having to rush them to unfavor- able markets because obliged to meet bills due There is no measure pending to finance eron production. for there an- nears no nossible security which anv bank could accept from the farmer who lacks means to bring his crop to the harvest. It is the practice. espe- cially in the south, for local mer- chants to stake farmers . on .the strength of their personal knowledge of ‘the character of the farmer, and to take a mortgage on growing crops. but that is not contemplated in any federal lezislation. As has been repeatedly stated, both in and out of Congress, the mere ex- tension of means for farmers increas- inz thelr loans is not the ultimate solution of the food production preb- lem. Profits, not loans, must be the final question, and the only kev to nrofits lies in co-operation in mar- | keting, so that the farm may be linked' more closely 1with the con- sumer, and parasitical middlemen eliminated. Until that is achieved all credit measures, as well as all talk of curtailing production, are but artificlal makeshifts. Unless it can be achieved, farming will go deeper and deeper into the “slough of de- spond. Who will find a way to put that truth into practical opera- tion, and save not only farming, but the ‘high cost of llving? Tt is the greatest opportunity for statesman- ship that has come to this generation. * ¥ ¥ X Senator Smoot lifts a load off of the consciences of all who are re- sponsible for the safekeeping of gov- | ernment records when he gives as- | surance that the erection of an ar- chives building will be pushed to im- mediate action. The design i already completed, and the building | will be as large as the Congressional ' j There 1 BY PAUL V. COLLINS. Library, having a facade long. It will be fireproof and bur- glar-proof. In the meanwhile the, steel racks which will eventually be put in_the archives building wiil be delivered as fast as made, to the Pen- sion bullding, whose great empty court will become a_temporary ar- chives storehouse. This will relleve the pressure for space in the various department buildings. The nation has been extremely favored in ne having had serious losses of histori cal records, but it has not beea wholly exempt, and no insurence company would consider the fire risk a safe one. 2 block n Ry The reflections upon the embassies made by representatives who are zealous in the enforcement of liquor laws are most unfortunate in thei generalizations. It certainly han never been intimated that the respon- 4 sible heads of any of the legations or embassies have had any knowledge of trafficking in diplomatic wines or liquors. All such drinks are per- mitted to legations, under the laws of diplomacy, and if any subordinate has ever been guilty of violating din- lomatic privil all the goverr ment need do would be to call the at- tention of the ambassador to the per- sona non grata, and. without more ado, the one accused would eit] demonstrate innoc accu sation or be sent h is no disposition on the istration to cast any aspers the personnel of any legatic it is rerretted that such unsupl and undefined indications have spoken in Congress. One commenting on the situatior that “if the i severe restrictions upon sies may retaliate ir liouor,as diploma which ie immidne from seizu It is very certain that sies will never be embarr that way, for the embassi have no disposition in any embarrass the enforcement of Ame can laws. Such an unthinkable dis Dosition would be the worst kind of diplomacy. There is all the freed and immunity th b wants. It is likely that our sleut will be pretty busy 1 bootles i annoy for eign’ diplomats, over whom they ha not the slightest jurisdiction * ok x *% = to teach Faltimore Unive etter The District Commissioners have squelched they refuse beautiful. In of commerce, goes us gne “handsome is a a course has been one psychology of to temperament - cc is to be restricted to the swecter s¢ and that not fai n. The cher is Prof. Ira cott, whicl tes that he is & man. \What car a man know about controliing the temperament of women terous! Great Scott! Thi erybody _knows that tempe its mark upon the face. Lver thought makes its crease in the and after the crease gets deen inwardly it breaks out through the skin and makes creases between the eves. crowfeet ar drooping lips. We don’t have to & to college to learn that if we h beautiful thoughts, saveet, lovely ex pression will set in upon our faces and day by day we shall grow prot tier and prettier. Anger streaks ridges, puckers noses and disfigu faces, even to the fourth and fi generations. Be kind and you will b beautiful. how to be the schoo! £ Maryland clieves that me does,” an d to teaeh the control one leave ugly brain nough 3 * ok x The Monroe Doctrine was promu gated December 1s23.. Its hus dredth anniversary, mext Decembr will be commemorated by the coinage of a special fifty-cent silver piect heen no other principle o international law which has ever had so great effect upon world politic as has this doctrine, although it has never been backed by legisiative en- actment. It is nothing but a declara- tion from this government that it is to be our policy that no further en croachments upon this hemisphere by any Furopean or Asiatic power will be tolerated The fact that the doc trine is backed by the most power ful nation upon the glohe is all that gives it force of international law Gradually it is coming to be accepted with a grateful spirit by the smaller nations of our hemisphere, but ar first they were inclined to 'be a hit jealous, lest we domineer over them like a dog in_the manger The Mr roe doctrine does not arrogate to United States any overlordship over the other nations, but. on the contrary., he Monroe doctrine is their greatest afoguard of independence The cen- tennial coin will hecome of historica nterest There will be only 300,000 coined - Seek Better Films Purpose of Committee Ts Told in Letter of Secretary. To the Editor of The Star: ! our editorial of December 31| chich reads, in part, as follows: ““The very best way in the world | to Kill oft bad photoplays 1s to freeze | them out of existence. The next best | way 1s to give such liberal patronage | to the good that purveyors of the bad | will find them more profitable than | the bad and naturally will change their stock in trade. It is pretty well established that evil cannot be legls- lated out of the world. The most po- tent influence in any reform is that of the individual himself, and it is in recognition of this fact that the Na- tional Committee for Better Films is now endeavoring to operate’” meets our hearty approval, and we appre- clate your reference to the work' of this organization in support of the better films movement. “May we, however, have space in your columns to make clear our re- lation to the producers? You say: “Nelither organization (the national committee nor the Natfonal Board of Review, with which it is afiliated) is official in a governmental sense, but both appear to be approved, if mot promoted, by photoplay producers.” It is true that the National Board of Review receives the major part of its {ncome from fees exncted from the producers for the submisston of their product. It is a definite charge levied upon them for reviewing which they must meet—just as they have to meet the charges of the several state boards of censors—in order to have their pictures passed upon, irrespec- tive of the action. The National Board of Review i8 not legal, but, through the co-operation of city officials, who Charges Propaganda. Takes Issue With F. W. Over Move by French. To the Editor of The Star: It is surprising that a paper of the conservatism of The Star should print such an article as that by Fred- erle Willlam Wile fn its issue of tha 15th instant He tells us that through the influ- ence and at the suggestion of som wonderful and mysterious, but undi closed, European statesman now in the United States the administration 1s constdering making a direct appeal to the French people over the heads of the Poincare government as & means of averting an international conflagration over reparations and tha occupation of the Ruhr. In the first place, we are not parties to the treaty of Versailles, under which the French justify their occu- pation of the Ruhr. In the second place, Poincare is ex« ecuting the will of the French people, § as indicated by the almost unani- mous vote of confidence his action has recetved from the chamber of deps utles. In the third place, this action of the French is none of our business, and the probability is that if we wera 50 stupld and impolitic as to do such a thing as suggested we would be very properly and bluntly told to mind our own business, And in the fourth place, the recent action of the French is undoubtedly detrimental and & menace to the busie ness interests of England and her commercial supremacy; and wishing for sundry reasons not to break finally with the French at this time she is again at the old game of trying by propaganda to get Uncle Sam ta pull her chestnuts out of the fire and to put upon him the consequences that would result from such an abs surd act as is intimated by Wile. Wila refuse to permit the exhibition of pic- tures not passed by the national board, it Is necessary for virtually all producers to submit their products. “The majority of the industry recog- nize the great value to the industry of the services of the National Board and National Committee for Better Films and, hence, are glad to co- overate. Neither organization, how- ever, is in_any sense a part of the industry. Their volunteer reviewers d executive members serve without mpensation, and the funds derived from review oharges and the sale of lists and literature and, in the case of the national committes, member= ship dues are used only for office ex- penses and the extension of fnfor- mational services. - “We belleve that the above facts interest The dramatis personae in this littla farce is too evident to decelve the most gullible. The mysterious statess man is undoubtedly British. The mos tifs of the performance are the busis ness interests and commerce of Great Britain, and the victim of the plot i intended to be Uncle Sam. A. S. LANIER. —_— the status of the National Committes for Better Films, functioning as it does In co-operation with the Nation= al Board of Review. Not every one, of course, will share our judgment regarding certain motion pictures, but 1t s the Judgment of committees—nog merely of one or two individuals— and it is ‘without fear or favor. “ALICE BELTON EVANS. “Secretary the National Committce fox Batler Filma/' '