Evening Star Newspaper, January 30, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Suuday Morning Edition. T WASHINGTON, D. 0. TUESDAY......January 30, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Buxiness Office. 11th St. and Pennsrivania Ave. New York Office: 150 Nassau 8t Chicago Ofice: Tower Bulldi: European Office : 16 Regent St., London, The Evening Star. with the Sunday morning dition, s delivered by carriers within the city #t 80 cents per month: daily only. 45 cents per month: Sunday only, 20 cents per month. Or- gers may be sent by mail or telephone Main 8300, " Cotisction s ‘made by carriers at the end of each montb. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Dafly and Sunda, Daily only Sunday only All Other States. Dafly and Sunday. Daily on $7.00; 1 mo., 60c $3.00; 1 mo.. 25c Member of the Associated Press, The Associated Press ix cxclnsively entitled #2 the ‘use for republication of sl naws dis patehes credited to it or not otherwise credited in this ‘paner and ala the local news pub- lished hereir All rights 3f publication of 3 ea herein arc alsn reverved _— To Urge the Shipping Bill. Commercial or| tions, under the leadership of the Chamber of Com merce of the United States. are to use L proper within their power to pe ministrati fore the niz m uade il ey 0st nsiruc for con- sideration since nd that in- b 3 ult if it is nermitted to lie over until the conven- ing of the new Congress next Decem- ber. The Chamber United State chant s Mareh 4 adjournm of the pieces of ted here i impertant ation vitally tive e pre the w caleu in of Commerce of the and its constituent hodies are not political organization: and there is no politics in their advo- cacy of the administr or are these organizations, as a stly interested in the opera- They take a broad, na- of the problem, as free om partisan prejudice as from self secking. They are looking to the fu- as well as to the present. Not do they sec a great fleet of mer- ships. built with the people's i immediate danger of de- tion to the point of worthless but they foresee a coming time when possession and operation of these ships under the American flag will be an absolute essential to na- tional prosperity. They know that sooner or something must be done, or an investment of billions of dollars will be utterly wiped out and American trade will be left to the not ail tender mercles of trade competi- And as practical business men hey want that something done now, when it can be done to best advantage and at least cost. If it was a case of creating an American merchant marine at the ex- pense of the taxpayers, the position of proponents of the bill would not be s0 stronz. Dut the fleet has already heen built and paid for by the people, and under the present. whoily unsatis- factory conditions constitutes a heavy drain on the Treasury. The pending bill proposes to lessen that drain and eventually to eliminate it, thereby con- verting into an asset what now is a enly chant 1noney later tors. | aistinctly the agressor, after inflict- response to the call for funds, result.| ing In full payment of the exeeulvel war indemnity so speedlly that Prussia I fection of the lungs and possibly death. was disconcerted and disappointed. |The fate of Mr. Watkins yesterday at Poincare’s words pointedly disclose | the wheel of his machine should serve the difference between the French re-|as a warning to all car users to avold action in 1870 and 1871 to the Prussian | this risk, which can be so easily avert- occupation and the German reaction |ed by a full opening of garage doors today to the French occupation. Then | when motors are started. the defeated nation, which had not ————— been aggressor In the war, pald 3 (o pmmpfifig Now the defeated nation, The World a Diamond. Base ball is finding new worlds to ing irreparable injury to the occupled | conauer. If the progress of the game land, is dodging payment, adopting | K°eps up men may speak of the earth cvery possible expedient to evade the not as a sphere, but as a diamond, and obligation imposed by a conference of with some extension of the radiophone heinonie we may hear the cheers of the Mar- In the Ruhr region today the dead-)tians as they look on through tele- lock continues. The German workers [ 5CODes at the American game. A mis- are idle, rail lines are stilled, mines | SIONA&TY writes that base ball has are unproductive, and the occupation | (&ught on at Tunis, and reports have has resulted in little or no result in [it that batters are swatting balls, and pecially in cold weather. To do so is to invite disaster, at least partlal af- : i ien's shipping payments in kind. The German nation has gone on strike. Some disorders have occurred, but not in such a man- ner as to threaten immediate military measures. How long can this continue? The French are under a heavy expense for the maintenance of the occupational forces. But the Germans are losing in far heavier degree in loss of wages and loss of materials. Of the two the | French have the better of the situa- tion. The German government is men- aced with destruction by reactions, for the policy adopted by Berlin is not {universally approved. despite the for national ! Behind the Frenc Iy ung | support. I Unless the v s is a virtual nimous sentiment in ar eastern situation de- { velops into a war-producing break be- tween the Turks and the Christian powers, the Franco-German blockade is likely eventually to result in a weakening on the part of the debtor nation. Poincare’s words give no sug- gestion of weakening on his side. ————— Washington an Unsafe City. A little more than eight weeks ago Washington concluded a “Safety week" that was supposed to have aroused the entire city to the dangers of traffic and the need of the greatest {care in the streets on the part of everybody, drivers, walkers, motor- men. Vivid demonstrations of the | consequences of carelessness were af- forded. A parade brought distinctly to the minds of all who beheld it the tragedies due to indifference to rules. The city was placarded from end to end with admonitions. The very side- walks and pavements were painted with reminders. The newspapers car- ried great displays of text and pictures giving in detail and in the broadest {aspects the lesson of safety. Probably every Washingtonian was during that week impressed deeply with thought of “safety first. I For a little while the lesson seemed to have been learned. Accidents were | rare during the days immediately fol- lowing. Then they began to increase, and now, a little over eight weeks from the close of the campaign, the record stands at sixteen traffic deaths in this city, double the number of a corresponding period a year ago. Sixteen persons have lost their lives in the streets of the capital in eight { weeks! Two a week have been killed ! by motor cars or street cars! Other cities may take heavier toll in life, larger cities, more crowded, with nar- rower streets and heavier traffic. That lheI lighility. | is because there are more people and Congress has not failed to heed de- mands made upon it by special in- terests, notably in behalf of agricul- | ture. With this there is no quarrel. It was right and proper that aid should be given. But here is a case where demand is made not in behalf of spe- cial interests, but in the interest of the whole people, with the farmer included as an important sharer in the prospec- tive benefits. It is difficult, under the cirenmstances, to know how Congress could justify failure to bring the meas- rire to a vote. The present Congress has taken a great deal of proper credit to itself for the economles it has ef- fected. But the money it has saved by serimping will look like chicken feed in comparison with the losses which ‘will result if the ships of the merchant fleet are permitted to rot at their moor- ings. i ———————— Tutankhamen ruled nmearly 3,500 ( vears ago, and is scarcely less identi- fied with ancient history than several onarchs extant during the present century. —_———— Germans have defined a policy in the Ruhr which might be described as drastic inaction. 2 i To Stay Until Paid. i Premier Poincare yesterday in Paris frankly stated the French position in the Ruhr in terms that cannot be mis- mnderstood in this country, to which his words were specially addressed {hrough the American correspondents 1o whom he spoke, or in Germany, to wvhich indirectly he pointed his ob- wervations. He said that France does ot intend to stay in the Ruhr longer than is requiréd for the collection of the reparations payments, intimating that inasmuch as the Ruhr is from a military point of view unsatisfactory, {f the Germans become aggressive the French might retire from there in order to strike elsewhere. This is a plain notice that the French occupation of the Ruhr is remporary in the event that Germany Fields to pressure and pays. It is also rotice that France will remain until payment is made. The premier first put the matter negatively—"“We will yemain only until we are paid.” This means the same thing. But he went a Mt further and =aid: “We will do oxactly what the Germans did to us @fter the war of 1870; they remained untll the last cent was paid.” Then comes a mmtence that lies at the bot- ¢om of the whole matter: “I know it well, for they were in my father's Memorles of 1870 are vividly re- stored by these few words. Many of the elder Frenchmen of today recall the German occupation of e little more than fifty years ago, the swarming in of Prussian forces, the occupation of towns and villages, the quartering of troops 1n dwellings, the administration of the country by German military more vehicles. But it should be noted at this point that recently it was brought out that Washington's an- nual increase in the number of motor cars in use has been greatest in per- centage of all cities in this country. and that in proportion to population it is the most heavily motored city. ‘What conclusion is to be drawn? Ts it that Washington is the most care- less city In the United States, both in the matter of driving and in the mat- ter of walking? Or is it the most poor- 1y lighted city, so that drivers have the poorest chance to protect them- selves and pedestrians at night? Or is it that there are toco many motor vehicles in use? A view of the city's streets any week day suggests the answer to the last question. Machines are parked all day in long lines, miles in extent in the aggregate. They are driven down in the morning, parked for hours {and driven home in the afternoon. They are in motion simultaneously during the morning and afternoon hours. They congest the streets while active and while inactive. A survey of the streets at night leads to the conclusion that they are not sufficiently lighted. Save in the business district there is no such il- lumination that drivers can see pedes- trians until they are almost under the fenders of the machines. On stormy nights the driver is compelled to pro- ceed at even less than the regulation pace to be absolutely sure of safety. A safety council is at work studying this problem, seeking means of cor- recting the evils from which Washing- ton is so obviously suffering. More severe punishments for careless driv- ing, better security for pedestrians at croesings, better lighting for the bene- fit of all, perhaps some stringency in the granting of licenses, to lessen the number of cars that are not actually needed for practical uses—these reme. dies are to ba considered. Certainly something must be done to rescue Washington from this growing evil. e Regardless of climatic conditions there is little further hope of a mild winter in the Ruhr valley. Records of motor mishaps indicate the immediate need of another safety week. Open the Garage Doors! TYesterday @ Washington man was sphyxiated in his motor car by the fumes from his engine, which he had started in the garage with the doors closed. Missing for some time, he was found in such a condition that resusci- tation could not be effected by pul- motor. Carbon monoxide, which is & deadly gas and the more dangerous because ‘odorless and therefore undistinguish. dble, is a product of incomplete com- bustion. A motor engine, started when cold, does not fully consume the gaso- fanning, and bases being run in other parts of north Africa. The prophecy is made that there will be teams or leagues of Arabs, Jews. ¥rench and Itallans in that part of the world. Perhaps soon base ball diamonds will be laid out in the morn- ing and afternoon shadows of the pyramids, and these-ancient structures will be converted into grandstands. Base ball from a national game may become the international game, It is played throughout Canada, where colleges and cities have their team: It has become popular in Cuba. has taken foothold in all the over: Tt ress 1o enact the ad. | widelf heralded clamorous patriotism. | dominions of the United States. Wher- jever it has been introduced by Ameri an sailors, soldicrs or civilians it has | tuken hold on the fancy of the peopl {1t is a going game in Japan, and in | London there is a base ball league. | | “The” sport is surely spreading. i Miss Robertson. America’s second congresswoman session and return to her farm in Okla- homa. On this subject, as well as on other subjeets, she expresses herself with rare good sense. “Some of my friends,” she is quoted as saying, “have suggested that I ought to be able to get a good job, lobbying, say, and have an ex-member’s privilege to the floor. But not for me. No, sir-ee! I'm going home. I don't want any lame duck job.” She says that she is going back to her farm, which has suf- fered from neglect during her public service in Washington. Everybody with any experience in farming knows that the farm-owner's personal touch is needed for farm upkeep. When Miss Robertson returns to private life she will take with her the sincere good wishes of a host of friends—men and women. The sound common sense of the second congresswoman has found appreciation at the capital. 1 —_——— How deeply Ambassador Harvey is engrossed in his present duties is shown by the fact that he came home and went away again without saving or printing a word that might affect the reorganization plans of the demo- cratic party. ———————— It might be an encouragement to controversies if assurance could be given that none of the participants would revive that disconcerting re- mark, “There is nothing to discuss. —_—————— The recommendation by Public Printer Carter of fourteen days’ sick leave opens the question whether the grip germ, having located a congenial playground, will limit itself to a two- ‘week frolic. ——————— Thieves despoiled Egyptian tombs years ago. The old Egyptians are credited with having anticipated many modern inventions. Evidently they did not know much about burglar alarms. ————e—————— It would be hard for Col. Bryan, were he to revert to a currency discus- sion, to convince a large section of Europe that there is any real money except gold. —_—————— Bandits in this city have offered some claim to originality by using e street car instead of an automobile for get-away purposes. ———————— 0ld John Barleycorn has hardly the respectabllity to entitle him to claim protection under the cloak of diplo- matic immunity. ————— It is doubtless true that a great many people abroad are tired of fight- ing, but do not know how to quit. i SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. ‘War of the Future., Inventors say they'll find a way Ot scattering terror through a fos By sending shot to any spot g That they can reach by radio. No warrior bold need then behold ‘The carnage over mound and ditch. From miles away he'll start the fray By simply turning on & switch. ‘When cities burn and children turn " From lifeless mothers left behind, Far from the scene he'll rest serene— ‘Will not all this be most refined! Selling Himself, “A man has to be a good talker to be elected to office.” .’ “‘Yes,” replied Senator Sorghum. “In | addition to statesmanship you need salesmanship.” Jud Tunkins says.a man who spends t60 much time laughing at his troubles is liable to have to do & lot of explain. | ing to the bill collector. Musings of a Motor Cop. Hortense Magee a studio sought. The art director sald, “You've caught A sweet expression with much ease. It suits the role; so, hold it, please.” Hortense exclaimed, “For pity’s sake Don’t make me stand around and fake! Gimme my fiiv and lemme start. /Your stuff is neat, but it ain’t art!’ Retribation. ¥ “Did she marry Mr. Wildotes to re- form him?"” “No,” replied Miss Cayenne; punish him,” ¥ “o jdoes not 1 will leave Congress at the close of this i Uncle Sam to intervene in foreign{ings Surplus a Moral as Well As Legal Indebtedness| BY THEODORE W. NOYES, The new fiscal Jaw of 1922 indicates that moral as well as legul indebted- nesses aro to be satisfied in applying its provisions. The legal obligation demonstrated to exist in the matter of the District surplus is not weakened, but strength- | ened by equitable and moral consider- ations. The United States is morally as well as legally indebted as omnipo- tent guardian or trustee in relation to the assets and affairs of its impotent ward. Tax money was collected from local taxpayers solely for expenditures for local purposes, and to be applied on the District’s proportionate contribu- tion onlV, and it has not all been thus expended. Approximately $5.000,000 {of local taxpayers' money are in Uncle | Sam’s hands tq be expended ut some time in payment of the Districts share of cypital appropriations and for no other purpose. Thus Uncle Sam, trustee, having collected money from his ward for a specific purpose under the law, namely to pay his ward's share of certain ex- penditures which under the law were to be paid jointly by trustee and ward, failed for several years to spend part of his ward’s money in the manner prescribed by law. Uncle Sam, it ap- pears. has been in the babit of keep- { ing his ward's money In his left-hand | trousers’ pocket, where he deposits his jtrust funds, and’ his o hand trousers’ pocket, where his miscellaneous receipts. pta; of Uncle s ugkes that Unele inadvertantly, has put tux-surplus money in_ the wrong pocket, namely, in the “mis- cellaneou ipts” pocket, where it And on this assump- tion Uncle Sam is imagined as saying, when asked to pay out this accumu- lated fund of his ward’s mone. {his ward’'s benefit: “If I had any of my ward's money it would be in my left-hand pocket, and that pocket is empty. 1 recollect collecting the money from my ward to pay my ward's share of National Capital ex- pense, and I recollect that 1 did not expend all of it for that purpose. It is ‘unfortunate for my ward, but I must have put my ward's money in my right-hand poc where it mingled inextricably with my own miscellaneous receipts money, and by virtue of that blunder title to the money perhaps passed from my ward {to me. I am sorry, but what can I o Other Excunes for Breach of Trast. Oth ive Uncle Sam, trus- tee, as = ward was careful to do all the necessary book- keeping to hold you to strict account in the matter of vour tax deficits and to compel repayment of my loans to You to meet these deficits, but when the tide of District balances turned and your money came to me as sur- pluses, instead of mine going to vou as loans to meet deficits, I have done no bookkeeping whatéver—I have kept no separate account of your surplus credits in my hands: 1 do not know what these credits should ag- gregate und 1 am not concerned to find out. Perhaps through my fault your ussets in my hands have been lost in the ocean of national Treas- ury resources. But I recognize nc responsibility for them whatsoever.” Those who would utterly repudiate Uncle Sam's obligation as trustee in respect to his ward's money are not ashamed to picture him as saying brazenly when questioned concern- ing his ward's surplus: “Your alleged surplus is non-existent. It is a myth. The money is not in my"left-hand pocket. You bhave lost it if I put it in any other pocket, for it has dis- appeared among my great belong- 1 have probably spent it as my own. Don't bother me any more about your imaginary surpius. don’t admit that it exists. Mention of it is odious to me." But why should we be concerned where Uncle Sam keeps or has de- posited our money, or what he has done or omitted to do in respect to the bookkecping connected, with ft? What difference should it ‘make to us if some agent of Uncle Sam has blundered in respect to the particular place in the Treasury where he has put our money and has labeled and deposited it “miscellaneous receipts instead of “District trust fund?” No Advantage to Be Taken of One's Own Wrong. What have we to do with our trus- tee's blunders, neglects or omissions? How can they weaken our claim to our own? Can Uncle Sam take ad- vantage of his own wrong? he puts ‘o m. It perhaps | ward's We know how the tax money was | authorized to be collected, from whom and for what purposes. Wo know how much was raised and how much was spent for that purpose. We Know the exact amount of that dif- ference constituting our tax surplus and we know that Uncle Sam has somewhere on his person that amount belonging to us. and to be spent legally and équitably as part of our share of District expenditures under the law of 1578 What more does a conscientious debtor need to know to bring quick payment? Contradictory Excuses. The man accused of breaking a borrowed kettle replied in legal form: (1) I did not borrow any Kettle: (2) It was broken when T borrowed it, and (3) it was unbroken when 1 _returned it. In like fashion, Uncle Sam is invited to say in re- sponse to the claim of the District tax surplus: (1) There is no surplus (2) 1 have kept no bookkeeping ac- counts and_cannot pay because I do not know the cyact amount of the surplus, and (3) 1 have lost the sur- plus, mixing it up with .my miscel- laneous receipts and spending it as my own and, like Skimpole, I am ir- responsible for anything to anybody. But the facts and conditions and relations suggested as usable by yn in his right- | for | | 1 Uncle Sam to relisve him from re- sponsibility in this connection, in- stead of being helpful to this end, increase and strengthen und empha size “his obligation and render re- pudiation of it by him inconceivable. Taking Candy From an fnf This repudiation would offend more grossly than a violatlon of ordinary business morality because it ddds to the offense a breach of trust, and this breach of trust will be the baser, more contemptible &nd more shameless, be- cause Uncle Sam, as trustee, has un- limited contrel of his ward's assets, and his ward is helpless to resist any swindle which his trustees may be tempted to perpetrate. Under the cir- cumstances, for the trustee to defraud the ward would be analogous to the taking of candy from an infant, or pock- eting the pennies from the eyelids of a | corpse. | In relation to his ward. the taxpay- {ing capita] community, Uncle Sam as jtrustee has absolute power. He is iprotected from loss or risk by pos- {session of all tho assets and securi- | ties of the nation-capital combina- tion. He controls absolutely every cent of the money contributed for capital maintenance by both parties. local and national. He has undivided and despotic power to fix the amount of local tax contributlon, to decide, by {what method of taxation it shall b [raised, to collect it and to spend it. jThe taxpaying capital community f an incidental contributor under com- pulsion, with no power or control jeven of its own tax money at any stage, and whose sole function in re- |spect’ to taxation and its financial (status is Yo pe on and to pay i Under these conditions the nation il benevolent despot should and will In Just. consiflerate and sympathetic to the last degree. Scrupulous fair- |ness should and will be observed in | exaction from the impotent local tax- payers, and no precaution to protect their equities and to prevent abuse of the nation’s despotic power will be viewed as excessive, The nation’s obligation in respect 20 the tax surplus is, under these con- ditions, a debt of honor. The obliga- tion of nation to capltal is not weak- ened but infinitely strengthened by the fact that the impotent msmul | cannot enforce it. Equitable Disposal of Surplus. Tbe legal and moral obligation thus demonstrated to exist is equitably satisfied only by the expenditure of the surplus on municipal needs accordance with the half-and-hal w, under which it was accumulated to meet the District's hulf of the expense of neglected municipal needs of the war time. which very neglects permitted and caused its accumula- | tion. Expenditure of the surplus un- | der any other ratio is inequitable. There are two alternatives in dis- posing of the District's surplus: 1. Apply it in aecordance with the half-and-half law, under which it was accummulated, to meet neglected mu- nicipal needs of the war time, which neglects permitted its accumulation. Preferably, apply it in & lump, dupli- cated under the half-and-half law, to some great and urgent permanent im- provement which requires for eco- nomical and speedy completion a much larger amount than can be spared from current revenues after providing for essential current main- tenance; like, for example, the in- crease of | 1 water PPl an urgent vital need. requiring million to meet it. Or use it to bring ou school buildings up to date in num- ber and equipment, another need de- manding millions ‘of immediate ex- penditure. Or apply the accumulated unexpended taxes to satls any ac- cumulated unmet needs. Note recent reports of the District Commissioners in which they show the extent to which current needs, both of main tenance and permanent improve- ments, have been neglected during the time in which this so-called surplus has been accumulating. The surplus {merely represents money that ought { to have been applied in the past as | the District’s proportionate contribu- tion toward meeting the needs to which_the attention and failing to be thus applied | lof young Paine it was a brave. NEW BOOKS AT -RANDOM ROADS OF ADVENTURE. By Ralph D. Paine. Houghton Miffiin Com- pany. The managing editor told young Paine that, so far as he could see, there was nothing the matter with him except an acute attack of dam- foolitis. What was he thinking about, anyway? Probably had given up thinking. Here he was holding down 360 a week—and earning it, too, once in a while And the Cubans never in the world would let him join one of their crazy expeditions. If they did, he wouldn't be allowed to send any news back. As for him, he refused—pos-i-tive-ly and ab-so- lute-ly—to stake any such asininc project. * % x * And young Paine said he guessed he'd better be getting along. * ok o A Now, this was something like twenty-seven years ago. The United States government was still holding to a punctilious neutrality in the business between Cuba and Spain. There, was, however, a tremendous personal sympathy in this country for the Cubans and substantial help from these unofficial sources was turning the Cuban cause into a reality. More than one filibustering expedition was arrying arms and comfort and cour- Age to Cuba. Now, if there was one thing in the world exactly calculated to fill the ey swell the heart buc- caneering exploit in support of any old cause. So Paine kept right on “getting along” till he finally did se- cure permission from the Cuban junta, operating from this country, to sail with tha next expedition In the meantime it occurred to Paine that it might be & good plan to William Randolph Hearst, spectacular new- comer to the yewspaper field. Yes, Hearst thought he might get news down that way. You never could tell. Then in casual and friiendly fashion he showed Paine a sword, beauti- ful and diamond-set, engrav To Maximo Gomez, commander-in-chief of the army of the Cuban republic. Viva Cuba libre’” “Very handsome,” said Paine. “Old Gomez will be tickled to death when he gets it.” “That's the idea. When he gets i replied the debonair Mr. Hearst. ‘ve been trying to find somebody foolish_enough to carry this elegan sword to Gomez These inscriptions would be devilish hard to explain to the Spanish army if you happened to | be caught, wouldn't they? want me to present this sword to Gomez with your compli ments?’ “If you don't mind. I swear I don't know what else to do with the confounded thing. Of course, if vou are nabbed at sea vou can probably chuck it overboard in time—— “And if 1 get surrounded on land, perhaps I can swallow it, Mr. Hearst. Never mind that. I'm’ the damn fool you've been looking for. Tuck the glittering weapon in mahogany case and I'll lug it along right now.” “And you 18-karat * % % x One recalls this little yarn merely in support of the dlagnosis of the manag- ing editor. = * x % Then one night a freight train rum- bled down the tip of Florida to a lone spot on the coast where the Thre Friends lay moored. This innocent look- ing towboat was to the Spanish army “the perfidious and accursed Tres Amigos,” more elusive than the Flying | Dutchman, which had been harried and | chased from Cape Maysi to the Yucatan “ommissioners have called ! channel, and for whose capture or de- struction the captain general of Cuba the | in the past it ought to be devoted now | had offered many thousand pesos. Cargo | to meet these accummulated unmet|and troops were speedily transferred | needs. ifrom train to towboat. The cargo was | Thie is the method of disposition | guns and ammunition. The treops were ; | | | 1 | Hanging beside the writer's desk is !a “Roosevelt” calendar, with quota- | tions of significant eayings of that {Breat man. The one exposed this |week fits the present circumstances land developments with an aptnes {that is striking: “A nation must do weil its duties within its' own borders, but must not make that an excuse for fafling to do thbse of its duties which lie without its own borders. : How should that message be inter- preted? America saved civilization from the marauding Hun. a duty “without its own borders” And for four vears after Armistice day America has maintained a watch upon the Rhine, as an indication that we were interested in the enforce- ment of the t of Versallles. 1 That was a duty ithout our own e Whe last the Amer- troops were withdrawn from Germany, they left, not as but as friends; fo it hae been as usual, that propinanity has had its ries no less renowned Tears marked the de ture | blessings followed the boys in khaki, {and brides, mothers, and even mothers- in-law came along. There was none to “strafe Amerik All that change of feeling was per- sonal, not political. and Is not at all likely to bring any conflict between Roosevelt's teaching as to which lie without our own bo and Washington's warning {“entangling alliances P There are du- ties even for {is the duty of humanit 1 kin. other than military W makes all world speakable for the sym declares th his paftern fought only haps! Th her liberty, land, Germany. for liberty But whil ment is thus arming in defense or for aggreseion, s the viewpoints dif- fer, there are the individuals starving and dying. Famine will spread over Germany, they claim, unless she re ceives from America 500,000 tons of food within the next two months Yet Germany was never devastated. We must not fight Germany’s battles, for her idcals are not ours. the newborn babe starve? ¥ 3 Secretary of State Hughes has ma frank statement he so-called Boyden speech | reparations commission, in whic ‘observer” seemed to be c {lis government Yo advi { Versallies treaty must b, |the German ‘reparations reduced. { This government has never author- ized any such entangling advice to the allies. We are keeping out of war as truly as we did in 1916—at least. That is this nation’s first duty {“within its own borders.’ E * nd and 1 for t cries | e to the that mmitting that the nodified and We have had t00 many wars of our jown. Small as they have all been. compared with the horrors of the Eu- ropean embroglio, yet they have left their marks upon our prosperity. | which some of our citizens do not iseem to comprehend. The war of 18 in addition to the direct costs of the fighting, has cost jthe government for pensfons § 1000,000, and we are still paving pen- {sions fo seventy-nine of its widow ‘The Mexican, Indian, civil and Span- ish wars cost in pensions or other compensation to veterans $450,000.- 000; and so world war- veterans.. that we are spending now considerably more than {$1,000.000 & day for their hospitaliza- tion and rehabilitation, although, to their friends, there appears great neglact in many cases. According to Col. Clifford, assistant secretary of the United States Treas- ury. more than half a billion dolars cash will be required within the next vear for the current care of disabled That was | nemies, | said, | than | There | But shall | of the status of | large is the number of | i | i 1 Picked Blaine Over Conkling To Hurt of the Latter’s Vanity The value of a pleasing and attrac- tive personality was early in life im- pressed upon James William, Husted, now serving his cighth year in Con- gress from the twenty-fifth New York district, and he is daily re- minded of the in- cident as he en- ters the House chamber, - All his lite Rep- resentative Hust- ed has had bred right into him the value of little .things, because besides being a lawyer, his bust- ness and the busi- ness of his family James W. Husted, for seventy-five years has been making pins; many thousands have to be turned out before there i# one cent of profit. He is president of a pin company at Winsted, Conn., and has been for more than a decade. This concern and one other, in. Detroit, Mich., are the only concerns in the country exclusively devoted to pin manufacture, Representative Husted says there is no other business in the world done on suoh & narrow margin of profit, nd his long experience in daing such lose” business has trained him to watch closely the “littlé things.’ When he was about nine years old immio” Husted came to Washing- ton with_his father. ‘That was dur- ing the Hayes sdministration, when Whitsm A. Wheeler of New York was 'Vice President. He recalls vi clever Wheeler aroysed the boy'sam bitions by painting a vivid word pios ture of how he would some day come to Congress. But st ing out most clearly in his recollections of that trip to the Caritol is his meeting with the tw strong men and rivals in the Hou in those days—Roscoe Conkling of New York and James G. Blaine of Maine. His father sent in cards to both of these representatives, and they came out at the same time, Conkling tak- ing & seat at the left of the door and Blaine sitting at the right. Here i8 his story of the incident: ‘After looking me over, Mr. Conk- ling _sald: ‘Young man, if you are anything like your father you must be a pretty good judge of human na- ture. Now, take a good look at that gentleman over there _(indlcating Mr. Blaine) and then take a good look at me. size us both up, and then tell us which you like best.’ “I looked at Conkling and saw a very austere man, forbidding in ol pearance. Then I looked at Blaine and saw_him magnetio, benevolent, loving. Impulsively I ran to Blaine and he grabbed ‘me in his arms and lifted me into his lap. I well remem- ber that Conkling did not seem very well pleased with the result of his experiment.” Representative Husted in mental retrospection sees Conkling as a great orator, a man of much ability, but excessively vain, even in little thing: Tha growing rivalry between Conk- ling and Blaine, and the fact that Blaine later dictated New York pat- ronage, which resulted in Conkling and his colleague, Platt, resigning from the Senate in protest, have fixed that hw W nl;u fltrd" met them indelil . Husted's memory. o up” his ‘-‘H‘fl'mni <l Shneg S ifie nearly half 8 which the law, equity, a trustee's!a handful of excited Cubans, making | {honor and ordinary business honesty demand. No Repudiation, Even Partial. | Spend the surplus on the indi- | cated muni¢ipal needs, with the gov- ernment contributing 40 per cent of the total contribution, fn accordance with the new ratio of sixty-forty in- stead of fiity per cent, in accordance with the half-and-half law. which was | in_operation when it was collected, | { which gave the authority to colleet | | it, and under whose terms it was col- lected. To apply it in this way would make the sixty-forty ratio retroac- tive, applying it to money raised be- fore it was enacted and under the terms of a different law. Of course, in equity, and in sccordance with } customary _business fair play the accounts ‘of the half-and-half period | should be balanced and closed on the half-and-half principle, and the sixty- forty ratio should be postponed in application certainly until the date of its enactment; and there may be items fn respect to which its appli- cation should, in equity, be even further postponed. The Hodgson testimony before the | House appropriations committee this | session and the questions and discus- sion connected with it develop the argument that when appropriations were made on the fifty-fifty basis, which resulted in reimbursements ' later, when the sixty-forty ratio prevailed, these reimbursements should be made on the fifty-fifty and mot sixty-forty basis. This contention is analogous to what we contend in respect to_sur- plus_of taxes collected under half- and-half law, but to be expended or reimbursed under sixty-forty ratio. Expenditures of surplus, coliected un- der operation of fifty-fifty law, can only, in equty, be made in accord- ance with that law. though in the meanwhile the ratio has been changed to sixty-forty. many gestures and swift passes to show | what they were going to do to the hated | Spaniard once they had arrived. Among them was Ralph Paine, bearing the sword of Gomez. Besides, quite on his own account, he had festooned himself with a motley of arms which, when he walked, made him sound, so he says, {like a portable blacksmith shop. But. he was drunkenly happy—a bold bucca- neer. in intent, and, plea: fate! might be one in fact. And the filibustering_expedition was off for Cuba. Capt. “Dynamite John- ny"" O'Brien _had for many years, by way of the Three Friends, been minis- tering to the hot and turbulent countries of that reglon. He believed that they should be free, so. in practical fashion. he was merely acting up to that belief. In this case he had agreed to deliver this boatload of men and arms at a cer- tain point on the Cuban coast. And “Dynamite Johnny” was on his way. Likewise, Ralph Paine, bearing the sword of Gomez, and bursting with hopes of big adventure. Sailing across to Cuba was not the easy thing it sounds. ' For there, somewhere. were ships of the Spanish fleet, waiting to pounce upon the unspeakable Tres Amigos. Every shape on the horizon stood a menace. Every smudge in the distance called for a wide berth. So, the Three Friends—advancing, dodging, hid- ing and finally escaping—found itself one night fronting upon the dark coast of Cuba. Toward the harbor mouth it made its wav—and a Spanish ship rose out of the blackness to meet it. The Three Friends took to its heel speak, and the enemy ship raced behind it. It was then that Mike Walsh fired the contraption that he called a gun. Not much of a gun. but enough to lodga a_perfectly good charge of piracy for firing upon the ship of a friendly nation. And st that moment piracy did seem more appropriate for old Hawkins and Dampler and the rest than for a per- fectly decent fellow like Ralph Paine, Just then this country declired war and the clear case of piracy sank to its legitimate level of minor thirg: * ok ¥ However, there was the war. That was a reality. And Ralph Paine be- gan to take notice again. It was a busy season. Not so picturesque the filibustering, but prodigiously ac- tive and fruitful in its own way. * & k x The Spanish-American war was no more than cleaned up than the Boxer uprising sent Paine “hell bent” for China. An amazing experience, which the young adventurer hands over in groat shape. ‘Then a long pull of peace. And Paine gave upj newspaper work and took to writing on his own account. ‘He talks plaintively—it sounds gl‘.ln. tive to us—about “getting older” and *more respectable.” " In proof he men- tions farming and a family—wife, ohildren “twins,” as if twins are bet- tér proof than singles. And one be- ns to feel low in his mind about alph Paine. * X k% 1914, 1917. War—the great war— and Paine was off again. Off to get into the game of tho fleets on the British coast. Out of this came later “The Fighting Flects"—the real stuff, Paine stuff. Who said he was getting older? Who said he was get- ting respectable? Not even a family ‘with twins could at this juncture have made Ralph Paine respectable. The old malady, the beautiful old damfool- itis, was running in his veins—and may it continue to surge through him for & thousand years. “Roads of Adven- ture” {s a gorgeous book. One can only touch it here. Every adventure is a joy. Every robust and lusty ex- erience is another breath of life. ad it, to the end that you also may not grow older, that you also may not come to be more respectable. * ok kX The sword of Gomez? Oh, hé left that with Mike Walsh, who vowed to to Cuba If he had to walk every the way.”~ ° 16 M - he ! veterans of the world war, and it takes a billion annually to pay the interest on liberty bonds and other |indebtedness of * the government, wholly due to our doing our i both “within and without the nation's borders, in connection with the world war. Some of that biilion a year is due to be reimbursed to us { by the allies for the interest on our loans to them—providing mawkish imentalists do not succeed in fin. ing a way to cancel Europe's obliga- tion and saddling that interest and | principal entirely upon-American tax- payers. These statistics are gathered from a speech by Col. Clifford this week before the Chamber of Commerce. And these facts suggest that Col, Roosevelt, who advised us, as above stated, not .to let our duties within our borders become an excuse for failing to see those which lic outside our borders, would ‘be the first to reverse that counsel and caution us not only against entangling military alliances, but also against letting our Writes of Intrigue in To the Editor of The Star. Can you give me space to reply to the letter of my courteous critic, Mr. Pay son, in veur issue of the 25th instant He is correct in saying the empire had not at the time referred to been formed; I should have sald it was in process of fncubation in the fertile brain of Bismarck.. He. well aware of the long-existing jealousies' and antago- nisms among the German states, and that the only way to gain their consent to become part of an empire, with Prussia at, its head, was to bring on a successful war in which they should all take part, and, knowing that France was unprepared, sclected her as the victim, and brought forward a Hohhen- zollern prince as a candidate for the Spanish throne, being certain that France would never consent to have rulers of that house on both her frontiers. Exception Is Sited. The facts as stated from Ridpath are doubtless correct with one exception and one omission. The exception is that the highest Freneh authorities deny that the guarantee asked for by the French government through its am- bassador, to the effect that no Hohhen- zollern should ever become a candidate for the Spanish throne, was delivered to King William fn 2 manner in the slight- est degree discourteous or insulting. That story was manufactured for Ger- man consumption. The omission is, that there is no men- tion of the fact that the dispatch which the king sent to Bismarck for trans- mission to Paris, which, while decided in substance, was conciiiatory in tone, admitting of further negotiation, was Wholly changed by him and purposely given a character which no self-respect- fhg government could accept. Of this he_subsequently boasted. Thereupon France, though unprepared and averse to war, did what Bismarck had forced her to do, and declared what she regarded as a defensive war, hold- ing her troops within her own bounda- ries. Germany was the invader. -Fac- similo copies of the two dispatches re- ferred to can be seen in French histo- ries. Tells of German Diplomacy. In the life and letters of Waltef H. Page by Hendrick (volume 1. page 402), referring to =ome of the German diplo- matic methods during the war. it was aid: **Tn properly estimating these ma- neuvers it must be borne in mind that German diplomacy always work- ed underground, and that it ap- proached its negotjations in a way that would make the other side ap- poar as taking the initiative. This was a phase of Germun diplomatic technique ‘gm ‘which every European & fe t, | There's democrac: CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS. | zeal toward “outside duties” eat yp {our consciousness of kome within ou borders still more pressing. The mere money eest. incalculably wreat ad It is, is meglizible in the light of the cost in blood of our killed. wound {ed and broken in coustitution | * * % The Woman's Univer: which has acquired a 40- quarters > chusetts. aver purposes to erect upon an emi of its site great tower of motherhood. Upon the tep of thas {tower is to be a herolc~statue typi fying mother love—a woman bearing a lamp, symbolic of maternal care and solicitude, . Blessed be its tower and its statue Some indications of medern society point toward a tendency to forget {hat, as Lincoln said of his own hum ble ‘mother. o might all manhood {¥ay of theirs: “All that I am now, c it 1o e owe to my anz mother on a 1 | * % % % Too many mothers have scemed feady { to abdicate their thrones and let ti | movies take their places in inflyen It is wholesome to hark back to bet- ter days and saner tendencies, | “Aunt Allce” Robertson, member of | Congress from Oklahoma, tells us: %! “Girls, and to a lesser degree, boy {are not given prober home disciplin | There is not enough he serioy tdaughter-mother rela hips of | few years ago his safary of the pays income K | though he is yet less } But it remains f Polish Jew to a congressional committes on immigration by just singing | them until several representatives er | thusiastically pledged that they woulc | some way to set aside immigra on laws so that Seymour Rechtzei | the bov, could not only be admitt {to America permanently, but that h { admission would carry 'with it als | his mother, brother and sister. | The chil@. had been taken into { committec Wearing on a revised i migration bill, and he sang in Yiddish Itaiian and English. Tk The fat h el r a-nine melt I Russian, ! boy’'s voice is phenomenal |of the singer is Rabbi Rechtzelt, 1of a Hebre kindergarten and ! phanage in New York This Incident illustrates the w iness of the inflexible quota law Polish quota had been exhausted, | when the father cabled for the re {of his family to come th could no get passports vised. The singing of | the genius will overcome the crueit: of the law in separat but how about broken have no pen sesame” of genius tn break down the barriers? here.ar Istrong advocates of immigration re striction who yet would count fam lies as units, rather than individual =0 as never to separate husband an { wife or mother and children. Le little future Caruso plead their ¢ * x milies which | Oh, my, what a pickle |in, when Lady Bountiful offers him & | magnificenty roval palace in which t | house his Vice Presidents. and it is o much finer than the White House | where the Ptesident lives “over t {shop,” or adjoining it! Mrs Hende lson offers her great stone palac worth half a million, absolutely wit out any. conditions to the offer, ex icept that it shall stand as a me {morial to her late husband, Senat John B. Henderson, and thejr son & $ Py i But how can a Vice President live in such a castle on his paltry salars {of $10.000 a vear, with coal at presen {prtces and H. C. L. refusing to 1 back o normaley? When he there he must be more than a i boarder at a downtown hotel, as for {mer Vice Presidents Sometimes ha been even have boarded wi having to pay a cent, because of | prestige their presence gave the hote with a v | wherein the official prestige of tr {man next highest in rank to the chief executive, was eufficient to rubbe Received payi 2 i cally on the board bill for his whols {family! And now to change all tha |Ben Franklin thrift to the magni {cence of the Henderson palace, an |leave the President still worrying along in a house saved from the con flagration of the 1812 war, calls fo: { caution. True, it is luxuriously furnishee all that. Maybe there is an ele {tric sweeper-and hot water and ele | tric lights and «.great heating plan But who will tend the furnace an sweep the snow off the walks? Vice President Coolidge ain’t sayin' a word but he looks as though he were do a lot o' thinkin'. I move that his sal ary be doubled and a cook paid for fout of any funds not otherwisc ap- propriated. - Franco-Prussian War. foreign office had long been famiiliar The bringing on of the Franco German war of 1570 was a conspicu ous example of this cunning and ur scrupulous technique, which has de ceived many people down to the pres ent time. Perhaps 1 may add a further word to my former letter in regard to Ger many’s ability to pay for her incale lable and wanton damage to France Our professional pacifists, with an active pro-German chorus., who are intentionally preaghing the scrapping of our Navy and the disbanding of the Army, tell us that the economic ad- vance by leaps and bounds of anv country following their teaching wilk be immediate. May Repudiate Germanm Money. If that be true Germany must now be on the top wake of prosperity with overflowing coffers. As is welk known, there was no devastation on her soil. Since the armistice she has had no navy to support, and her arm: has been a trifling expense compar with the one she formerly supporte; Sho is said to have no forelgn debt to pay interest on. her mines and fac tories have been running full ti her people everywhere have been at work, and all tourists and observers say general business seems active. She has, besides, been relisved of th heavy burden of carrying an extrava- gant ostentatious imperial establish- ment with numerous family connec- tions and sycophautic parasites. In spite of these prosperity producing conditions infinitely more favorabls than those in stricken, devastated France, from whom never a whimper has been heard, she has steadily, ever nce she signed the treaty, shuffied and whined and pleaded inability to pay, showing a purpose, if possible, 5 evade it altogether. She {s apparently preparing also to repudiate the enor- mous paper debt she has created. Some Belleve Germany. ’ The pity of it {s that some people in, England and hers seem to belleve what Germany says and are beginning to talk of greedy and militaristic France. In all the years since the treaty was signed, Germany has made no practical straightfoward, definita proposal looking to a settlement. France is perfectly right in takin drastic action to bring her to terms, and whether France succeeds to the full measure of her desires and de- serts or not, what she is doing will bring about some termination of the long period of uncertainty and pense from which the whole world is suffering. Sustaining view is a recent expression of opinion entitled to carry the greatest weight from both military and eonomic point of view, by Gen. Dawes, late director the budget. If only Gen. Bliss’ coun- sel had been followed and peace made in Berlin, the present troubles would never have arisen. - e "l ARCHIBALD HOPRING, ~ .