Evening Star Newspaper, February 1, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Moraing Editicn. WASHINGTON, D. C. THURSDAY....February 1, 1823 THEODORE W. NOYES...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office. 11(h St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 150 Nnssau St Chicago Offce: Tower Buflding, European Office : 18 Regent, 8t., London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday mern edition, s dellvered by carriors within the city at 'tlhm“ per month: daily oniy. 43 centsinen month: Sunday only. 20 cents per month. 4573 may e yent by mail or teilephone Main . Co n ‘e made by cartiers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $8.40: 1 mo., 70 Daily only. v 6.00; 1 mo., B¢ Sunday oniy. $2.40; 1 mo., 300 All Other States. Dally and Suaday..1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo., 88c 11y ‘only. oo 1 yr 157,001 1 mou, 60 Sunday only vr., $3.00; 170, 26c Member of the Associated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively entitied | 15 the use for republication of all news dis- ratches 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. e Our High Court of Fiscal Equity. The Joint Select Fiscal Relations Committee is to find what surplus, it any, the District has to its credit on the books of the Treasury. It is to calculate interest upon debts morally as well as legally due from nation to capltal community, or vice versa, and, as an essential preliminary to this calculation, the committee must, of course, find which party is morally indebted to the other, and in what amount. In order to help to deter- mine the net moral and legal indebted- ness of one party to the other, the committee is to examine the National Capital expenditures of both nation and capital community since 1874. The committee is thus to fix Dis- trict surplus; to compare National Capital expenditures by nation and| capital community, respectively, since 1874; to ascertain in the light of all the facts which party is morally (as well as legally) indebted to the other, tee answer specifically the Inquiry concerning an existing concrete Dis- trict surplus, ocenstituting s legal credit, whatever of - Incompleteness there may of mecessity be In the answer to any other question sub- mitted to it. 2 Debt Terms Accepted. Acceptance by the British cabinet of the terms informally advanced by the American” Debt-Funding Commis- tng | Sion opens the way for just and speedy settlement of this vexing prob- lem, which has hung like a cloud over international relations, both dip- lomatic and commercidl. The great world outery is for stability—stability in finances, stability in policies and stability in governments, But there can be no stability so long as the uncertainties attending billions of dol- lars of unadjusted indebtedness be- tween governments hang over finance ministrisas and render futile all their efforts to balance budgets and adopt taxation programs which will permit business to go ahead with some rea- sonable certainty as to the future. ‘The British government could not see its way to funding of the five billion dollars it owes the United States on the terms lald down by Con- gress, which called for 4% per cent interest and payment within twenty- five years. This law imposed & heavier annual burden than it was believed the British taxpayer could bear. But there never was any thought among the American people, and it may be assumed there was no such thought in Congress, that the terms specified in the act creating the Funding Com- mission should constitute the last word of this government as to debt settlement. In the judgment of the members of the American Funding Commis- slon, an interest rate of 3 per cent for ten years, 315 per cent thereafter and sixty-two years in which to retire the debt are fair and reasonable. The American people are willing to accept the commission's judgment as to the | fairness and reagonableness of the { terms. They do not believe that in proposing this modification of the terms laid down by Congress anything was “‘put over” on the American com- and to calculate equitable Interest upon the net moral (or legal) indebt- edness found due. The vital function of the committee is to determine the District's treasury | surplus, and, finding the met moral | (and legal) indebtedness of nation toi capital community, or vice versa, to| compare this finding with the Dis. | trict’s treasury surplus and to report | whether it increases or decreases or | leaves unchanged the District's treas. | ury surplus. | In other words, the committee is to | find whether the existing concrete’ District surplus represents e moral | (as well as legal) indebtedness of the ! United States to the District, The committes has, it s believed, on the evidence before it, { ertained | the existence and amount of the Dis-} trict's treasury surplus, constituting | on its face a legal indebtedness of the United States to the District. The committee is now working hard to ascertain whether study of the rela- | tive expenditure figures of nation and | capital since 1874 shows net equitable | credits, representing moral indebted- | nesses, which either inerease or de-; crease the District's existing legal cradit, in the shape of its treasury surplus. The law, recognizing that the issue s one of equitable: accounting, au- thorized the employment of expert accountants to search for these. poa- ble equitable credits. The committee has employed such accountants and they have examined thoroughly the expenditures and accounts since 1911, have found a treasury balance in favor of the District as of June 30, 1922, and | have suggested for consideration hy' the committee all National Capital ex- venditures by the United States as far back as 1878, which might by any possibility invelve equitable credits of | the United States. Earlier official accountants have ransacked the ex- penditure figures from 1874 to 1911 and have in official reports stated| fully every possible credit of the United States arising betwoen 1874 and 1911. Representatives of the capital com- | munity, official and unofficial, have submitted - for consideration by the committes = claims to millions of equitable credits in favor of the Dis- trict, arising from expenditures be- iween 1874 and the present time, and, through expert accountants and la vers, have vigorously backed these District claims in equity. The committee is earnestly endeavor- ing to ascertain whether in this clash of opposing equitable claims of the past there develops any distinct equity in favor of either the United States or the District which will cither decrease or increase the con- crete legal credit of the District in the shape of its demonstrated treas- ury surplus. Construing the law of June 29, 1922, as intending that national expendi- tures at the capital since 1874 shall be considered only in their bearing upon the issue of equitable credits and moral indebtednesses, the committee has not heretofore considered, or even listed, national expenditures at the capital, recognized by the Congress making the appropriations as solely national, but only those National Cap- ital expenditures which were indicated by their accountants and legal ad- visers as containing the possibility of a claim of equitable credit by the TUnited States against the District. It is now suggested that under the literal wording of the law the committee must list and report all of these pure- 1y national expenditures, except those upon public buildings used for national government purposes, even though this listing is, in the opinion of the committee, superfluous, irrelevant and contusing in its bearing upon the issue of comparative equitable credits, upon which the committee is to submit its recommendation or report. It seems immaterial whether the committee lists or omits to list such national expenditures, including, for example, those upon the Washington Monument and the Grant and Lincoln memorials, since whether listed or un- listed they will not be considered for an instant by the committee or Con- gress in passing upon the issue of comparative equitable credits and moral indebtednesses. Waghington urges that the commit. ¢ mission. The membership of the commission has never failed to inspire confldence, both as to its abllity and its stalwart Americanism. If Congress will promptly amend the law to make conclusion of en agreement on this basis possible, the American people will give cordial ap- proval and will heave a great sigh of relief. The unwise Interview given out by Chancellor Baldwin upon his return to England has not prejudiced the people against a fair and reasona- ble settlement, and it is to be expected that Congress will refute the chan- cellor's criticisms of it by refusing to allow resentment to color its judgz- ment in what is, after all, a practical business question. Lausanne Crisis Is Eased. The sky is brighter at Lausanne and the menace of war between the Turks and the allied powers dimin- ishes. As the crisis was approached the_enormity of the crime of a break leading to hostilities was appreclated by both sides, clliatory endeavors of the American representative - observer, Ambassador Child, the apparently protagonists have been brought to at least the point of consideration and | |ottery tickets irreconcilable | means of raising funds. trict and the United States are miss- ing. This is not surprising. Thess papers and books, stored in the Treas- ury bullding, have been packed sway in various poods and corners, shifted from time to time as space has been required for edditional clerks. The present condition of the records of the Treasury, in common with those of other departments, would shock any business management. The same is true in other branches of the government. With every cublc foot of space required for the working force, the records are relegated to such places as can be spared with the least discommoding of the service. Some of them are in cellars, some in attics. Some are in wooden cases, others, thanks to occasional appro- priations for better facilities, in metal shelving. A great part of the stogk of flles is In badly lighted places, necessitating the use of artifictal illu- mination, : A couple of years ago the building occupied by the Department of Com- merce was damaged by fire. Many valuable census records were exposed to destruction. It was hoped that this would result in immediate action to provide the necessary facilities for per- manent safe record storage. But noth, ing was done. ‘The archives bullding was postponed on the ground of economy. It is the poorest economy to save money In this way. Eventually the building must be constructed, and the sooner it is undertaken the less it will cost. Every vear of delay not only adds to the risk, but to the expense. The pity is that this busineas principle is not applied by the government to its own needs. It considerations of Treasury conditions prevall, at least a formal start might be made on the construc- tion with & relatively small initial apprapriation. —————— Psychologiats who commend a brain test for motor drivers open up a line of possibilities that may prove inter- esting. Brain tests, sclentifically con- ducted, may be demanded for people in all kinds of positions {nvolving the safety and comfort of the public. ————————— The United States ambassador to England was safe In introducing o o'clock tea into the unaffected circles of American soclety, there belng at present no Harvey's Weekly published to emphasize the satirical aspect of the episode. —————————— Supervision of narcotic imports will not necessarily work hardship in cases of legitimate need. There {s doubtlessa supply of narcotics in this country sufficient to meet the needs of medi- cine and surgery for a number of years. ——— An economic conference such as Senator Borah proposes would be valuable if it could serve to remind Europe that the war is over and the period of reconstruction is supposed to be at hand. ————— The war being over and the hone moon being at an end, the former Em- peror of Germany should feel able to face the future without a sense of Thanks to the con. |uncertainty. ————— lottery as a A three-mile limit may have to be established for well as for cham. France proposes a there is prospect now for an adjust-ipagne. ment. Lord Curzon: yesterday remarked, as it was announced, that he had postponed his departure from Lau- sanne; that “any fool can make war, but statesmen must end it.” Folly lies at the root of this greatest of evils, and no matter how wise and patient and constructive the statesmanship employed in the peace settlements it cannot undo the terrible wrongs that have been inflicted, or cure the suf-, ferings or restore the losses. The war started in 1914 was an act of folly, greedy, avaricious, vengeful folly. More than four years of the worst fighting the world has ever known, with the most appalling losses and destruction, resulted. A peace conference was held, at which states- men wrestled with the problems pre- sented, not in the broadest spirit of reconstruction, but with selfish ends in view, and in consequence the world remains in a state of turmoil, with jealousies and thwarted asplrations und hatreds seeking expression in terms of more war. At Lausanne the problem presented to the statesmen is dificult, in itself, in the adjustment of two radicdlly antagonistic viewpoints, complicated by religious differences. Selfish com- mercial interests enter into the equa- tion. Fear of Russia affects the judg- ment of the powers' representatives. It is gratifying that the good offices of the American representative, who sits at the conference without vote, have been effective thus far to prevent a breach. ———————— Threats of Turkish retaliation in Smyrna convey the hopeful intima- tion that there is enough of Smyrna left to be considered in such a cen- nection. ——————— ‘Washington has been called the mo- torist's paradise, but the police will see that it is nothing of the kind for the reckless variety. More Risk for the Records. Refusal of the House conferees to agree to the amendment of the Senate providing for the erection of an archives building, followed by the ac- ceptance of this decision by the Sen- ate, means that for at least another year the government must store its invaluable records of a permanent character in conditions that threaten their destruction. If the item of $1,000,000 for -the construction of metal stacks in the court of the Pension building is al- lowed—and this is still under discus- sion in conference—some relief can be had from the present dangerous congestion of the department build- ings through the storage of old files in them. But even this construction will not solve the problem of the proper caring for the permanent records of value. - Recently the fact has been noted that certain old Treasury. files relat- ing to the account between the | | § ————— Opinions differ as to whether the German militarists are waiting to re- organize Russia or the Russian reds are waiting to reorganize Germany. S R— Soviet Russia Is sald to have a high- ly disciplined standing army. is one of the things sovietism was originally designed to avoid. —————— ‘Whether there is any conference or not, Senator Borah has at least suc- ceeded in getting his ideas before the public. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. As the Year Rolls On. It's now about a month or so Since this old year was new. 8o short a time has dimmed the glow, Its polish brought to view. Resolved to handle it with care, ‘We uttered words of cheer. Now it rolls down time's thoroughfare Like any other year. It bumps along the same old road That needs repairing still, And carries many a joyous load And many a gorrowing thrill. The paint's alreay rubbed and scratched. The engine has a knock; A tire was waiting to be patched Before- it ran a block. ‘The same old problems must be met As with a former year. The same ald mishap brings regret I recklessly you steer. It's hard—although it must be so— To realize it's true. It's only & short while ago That this old year was new. replied -Senator Sorghum; “he married a great many women, but he shaped his government so that he did not have to depend on their votes.” * Jud Tunkins says a loafer wouldn't be so annoying if he'd be satisfied to loat without putting on airs about it. Men and Nations. No doubt you've noticed once or twice, ‘When skies were far from sunny, It's bard to make folks take advice ‘When what they want is money. In the Wrong. Town. “Did you see much of Washing- ton?"” A “No,” replied Uncle Bill Bottletop; “somebody misled me and made me put in most of the day in the Botanic Garden looking for the United States mint,” “De man dat takes his'own trouble teo serious,” sald Uncle Eben, “loses triends ‘cause he ain’ got time to sympathize wifde other feller,” Paying Bogus School Debts of the Last Century With Money Sorely Needed for the Schools of Today. BY THEODORE W. NOYES. Uncle Sam particularly in 1918 and 1919 resurrected-alleged ancient d of the District, incurred between 1374 and 1378, and compelled payment or rolmbursement to the United States of all or one-half of these allegqd debts, without interest, aggregating between one and two millions of dol- lars. Misconstruing the law of 1922, in- terest on these bogus debts of the last century ts now' demanded from the taxpayers of today. ‘The equities and counterclaims of the District which are to be.cansid- ered by Congress in passing upon these resurrected debts may be sum- marized follows: Ne Resurrection of Buried Debts. Any claim of the United States against the District for advances be- tween 1874 and 1878 would, in view of the undertaking of the United States in 1874 to contribute propor- tionately in payment of District of | Columbia expenses and the fixing of that proportion in 1878 at one-half, be only for the surplys over one-halt of the amount thus advanced by the United States. Irrespective of the conditions un- der which it was crested, such a claim, If It survived the bankruptcy settlement of 1878, survived as an or- dinary debt of the District, to be met like other expenses of the District and paid as such under the half-and- half provision of the orgauic act. If through neglect of the nation's agenta such a claim was not collected n full prior to 1878 1t could only be collected after that date on the half- and-half principle as an expense un- fer the organic act. Since 1878 the ation has been under obligations to (&Y one-half of the interest and sink- ng fund on all District's debts, including this debt; and if the nation collects at all in 1918-19 or in 1922-23 it can equitably collect from the Dis- trict only one-half of this debt, or it must contribyte one-half to the pay- ment of the debt, which amounts to the same thing. ~® The act of 1878 w bankruptey (so treatad Dintri, cing outside of the spe- ous of the ® of past debits Such of these debits ave been separated from the gen- (eral accounts thus cloxed and collected {hirty-Gve or forty years later from ct taxpayers, should in equit: be repald in full. S Grows Inequities in School Kxactions, Let us unalyze in detail the prin- ciples underiying as a sample some | {one of these reimbursements. The re- | payment by the taxpayers of 1918-19, {or the payment on interest by the | { taxpayers of 1922-23 of an advance | { for public school purposes in the last | { century, especially offends every consid- | eration of equity. (See report of Board : of Trade committee on finance, 1512, pages 12 to 14). Let us consider the reimbursement | by the appropriations act of 1919 of | an indebtednesa alleged to arise un der the act of April 13, 1874, which ap. propriates $97,740.80 for school ex- Denses of the District from Septem- ber 1, 1873, to March 1, 1574, and di- rects the District government to levy and collect the tax for reimbursement of the amount. The District government, thus di- rected o make reimbursement, was on April 18, 1874, the District'’s ter- ritorial government, which was abol- ished two mont , June 20, 1874. This indebtedness came to the receiv- ers (the District Commissioners rep- resenting the United States under the temporary form of gevernment) like any other Diatrict debt. It could have been paid on the half-and-half basis or merged in the general set- tiement and adjustment of 1878, jalong with school advances and other municipal advances in the period be- tween 1874 and 1878, or paM in full by the United States to itself. all of the District's fiscal concerns being {under its absolute control. It has been and is contended that *he report doss not show that this alleged school debt was either paid or forgiven and it was and is claim- ~d_that it could be resurrected In perfect preservation and could be equitably exacted in full frem the taxpayers of 1918-19, and interest upon it from the taxpayers of today. Today's reconsideration and re-ex amination of this and the other re-im- bursements on their merits differs from that previously made by Con- gress (in 1919 and earlier) In that the ew element of equity is introduced into our calculations, since by the terms of the law our present problem is to ascertain who is morally In- debted one to the other. The refunding of school items of advance is especially obnoxious to equity for this reason: Obnoxious to Equity. The receivers of the bankrupt Dis- | trict, the ®o-called District Commis- sioners under the temporary com- mission government between 1874 and 1878, urged Congress vehemently tol appropriate liberally ~for ourrent maintenance of the Distriet school. and also to put provision for their future maintenance on the half-and- | half basis. They pointed out that| the United States since 1794 had con- tributed in cash and loans for sup- port of schools only $253,688.51, while in the six vears preceding 1877 the District had spent on_schools over two million dollars. In 1877, they s: “We trust Congress will give its careful consideration to this impor- tant subject and estabiish a liberal system of annual appropriations in ald of the District for the support of schools. The ebligation to do so is strengthened by the fact that since 1704 Congress has contributed, by loan and otherwise, in money, only £253,588.51 to the support of the pub- lic schools in the District of Colum- bin, while during the six years alone me 30, 1877, there was ex- pended account 'of the public | nehools in municipal | District an average of 319705170, or an aggregate of paregi 1910.23 contribution for the “In ylew of these facts the request of the trustees for the payment by the United States of one-haif the annual expenses of the schools is not unrea- sonable. ¢ ¢ ¢ Schoels in Last Cemtury. ‘The Commissioners in thelr report to Congress for 1878 (pages 12 and 13) state “We Invite the careful attention of the President and of Congr to the condition of the public schools of this District, as exhibited in the report of the board of trustees and of the health officer. While the number of pupils is augmenting yearly at th rate of 8 per cent, there is no perma: nent provision for a corresponding in- crease of school room, and the cutrent resources of the District are overbur- dened to gupply the means necessary for the dipport of the schools. much 8o, that we feel constrained to 1imit our estimate on'this account for the year ending 30th June, 1879, to a sum’ considerably less than is esti- ated by the school board. In this Cconnection we beg leave to quote here a statement of facts presented in a memorial of representative citizens of the District to Congress at its last {on: ‘OMclal reports show that, while the rate of taxation in this District for the support of public schools is nearly double that in most of the large citles of the Union, the means of education are wholly inadequate to the wants of our poplation We have expended for this ebject, in the last six years, mearly = $2,400.000. ® ¢ o While the territories and most of the states of the Union have re- celved from Congress munificent grants of the public lands in aid of education, not an acre has been -anted ta the District of Columbla, g. 1.1!011" capital, and the appro- priaijons of rn-n-l br ngress for this object are insignificant. “This injustice to the District bogus Seems the greater when we consider the fact that one-third of our school revenue ls devoted to the education of aolored children, invited here from surrounding states by recent action of Congress, and whose parents, as a rule, r‘ no taxes, and that 30 per <ant of the white puplils in our schools are the children of persons connected With the publia service, and who, for the mast pa mere sojourners and non-taxp: :' ‘Thug, while the tes furnish 60 per cent of the bene- ficlaries of our schools, they throw the entire burden of thelr support on the 40 per cent of tax-paying citi- g e concur fully in this statement. Nathing comparatively has been done by Congress for tha cause of educa- tion, and our schools have no en- dowment fund either of land or money. Of the 354 schoolrooms now used, 117, or about one-third, are rented at an annual cost of about $30,000, and, as reported by the health cer,’ these rented rooms are. for the most part, wholly unsuited for the purpose, and menacing to the health of the pupils. The great want of our achools at present is additional and sultable school accommodations. For the supply of this Imperativi need they must look to Congress alone, for with the oppressive debt which now burdens the taxpayers of the District, and the present over- whelming demand on its revenues for strest and sewer improvements, this want can be met in no other way." U. 8. Recognizes Schoel Inequities. In view of these facts the Commis- sloners thus urged the permauent payment of one-half of the annual expenses of the schools by the United States, and meanwhile relief appro- priations for the maintenance of a system for which the District re- sources (in view of other needs) were inadequate. Congress for the nation confessed judgment on this complaint. It In effect admitted that it had falled to meet the national obligation toward the schools of the nation's It appropriated outright as well as by loan to participate in meet- ing the current expenses of the schools before 1878, and in that year assumed obligation under the organic act and the “permanent” government to meet every year one-half of the school expenses. This advance of $97,740.50, reim- bursed in full in 1919, formed part of the United States' quarter-million school contribution “by loan and otherwise” between 1784 and 1877 which the Commissioners compare 80 dis; ingly with the $2,386, ame pur- of ‘the Distriet taxpayers In aix years, 1871 to 1877. In 15718 the United States admitted that it ought to have pald one-half of these ex- s in the past and agreed to pay alf of such expenses for the The inadequate national con- tribution prior to 1878 for schools t off agalnst the many times heavier contribution of the District taxpayers in the readjustment and setilemen! in bankruptcy of 157S. The effect of the 1918-19 relm- bursement in full of this last cen- tury item was to pick out one item of government sehcol loan in this meager national contribution of a ter million for schosis botween 1794 and and, ignoring com- pletely its repayment many times over under the principles of adjust- ment In the gettlement of 1878, to confisoate, .on the pretext of reim- bursement of the advance, nearly $100,000 of the tax money raised by the taxpavers of 1915-19 solely for the schoois and other municipal ex- penditures of that year. At that time, s today, the Commissioners and the board of education and the.| whole of organized Washington were pleading for more equitable support of the teachers and schools of that day, and pleading in part in vain on account of existing financial-consid- erations and embarrassments. Con- gress in 1918-19 thus took $100,000 of the Dfstrict tax money (which meant 4200,000 if applied {n maintenance of the public sehools of 1918-19) and applied it to an aticlent. resurrected bogus debt and depleted in that amount the District's inadequate fund for current school maintenance, of which Congress was trustee Viol of Law Equity. Tn 1915 when the relmbursement of expenditures on schools, etc., of the last century was made, the needs of then existing District schools was conspiewous and urgent. The money from which these reimbursements were made had been coliected by the i Commissioners from the District tax- pavers melcly by authority of a law authorising them to coilect from tax- payers half the amount of estimates approved by Congress. The estimates submitted by the made no provision of payment for al- leged ancient indebtedness of District taxpayers of the last century. To pay in 1918-19 for Washington's sohool expenses of the seventies of the last century was to confiscate money raised to meet the urgent cur- rent needs of 1919, including the vital need of improvements relating to publio schools of 1315-19. To compel the District taxpayers of 1918-19 to spend hundreds of thousands of dol- lars on the Washington schools of thirty-five years ago—a debt which if owed by anybody was owed by the taxpayegs of 1874-78, a_debt which was not paid by those who may have owed it, either because of the blun- ders, omissions or neglects of national officials for whom the District was not responsible, or because the debt was merged in the bankruptcy settle- ment of 1878 and forgiven—is to violate grossly all the equities, is to} defy the sound principle at the foundation of the statute of limita- tions. and Is to cut down the money available for urgently necessary im- provement of conditions in the Dis- trict’s 1918-19 schools. The taxpayers of 1918-19 wero thus compelled to pay in full a thirty-five- year-old debt of taxpayers of the last century who, if they had been re- quired to ‘pay in 1875, would have paid only half, and who were released from payment of any part of it by the settlement of 1578 which canceled Both debits and credits of the District, and which released the United States from more indebtedness in the ag- gregate than the District, far more if equitable debits and credits are taken into the calculation. A debt which was enly halt owed, or met owed at all, by the taxpayers 1878 was thus collected in full from the taxpayers of 1915 Rad not profited by it, who h ot Been respons for it personal- 17 er even threugh their predeces- sers, since it was conflscated by agents of the United States; and wha meeded not confiscated money but millions more to meet the fiocumulgted uchool meeds of 1918-19, Every cent extorted from 1918.19 tax- Bayers for the nehools of 1574-78 cut dewn the monmey available te meet the extensive and urgent school needs -l'(.l:l day. &Toss imjustice of compelli; reimbursement of this ancient school lean {n 1918-19 would be duplicated if interest under the act of June 29, 1933, were collected on this confise cated l!lxl from the taxpayers of 1923-35, 'whe mre straining every Rerve and overy resource to solve their ewn immediate urgent school :umlel-. and te be-lr the heavy bur- of moeting neglected and accum- ulated school millons. But today's recomsideration and new u--.ku'th- of these reimburse of equity fs introduced awd by the terms of the law the problem is to ascertnin who is morally Indebed to the other. Correction of n respect to the scheols s In eftect pramised by the law "The eollection of interest from the taxpayers of today on this ancient al- schoel debt of the period of 475 is tmoomcotvi Ounly gross vielation of equity permitted the re- {mburaement of the principal ! and 1919, Interest cammot equitably Be collected wpon any alleged debt of which the principal itsclf does not eenstitute a meral indebtedness. Do met today extert {nterest, but en the contrary restore to the Dis. tylet the principal eof this amclent school debt. Commissioners |5 The North Window BY LEILA MECHLIN, Willlam Lyon Phelps, the well known literary critic, In a recently published article has said that if he were put under oath to nama the greatest living Amgrican in 1933 it would be John Binger Sargent. This is extraordinary praise, as it will be nated that Mr. Phelps did not say the greatest living American artiat. In other words, te hls. mind, Sargest outranks poets, novelists, musicians and statesmen. Some will wonder why. Indeed, we aek ourselves, why this supreme rating? That Sargent is a great portrait painter all are aware, but how great probably only a few know. By the will of the late Mr Wertheimer of London, eight por- traits by Sargent hava iately, on the death of the testator's widow, come into the pot on of the Natlonal Gallery of London, and by the united press ‘of England the value of the bequest has with cne voice been pro- claimed. In any exhibition of e temporary work held in any capital city of the world the incluslon of a painting by Sargent is not only wel- comed, but constitutes distinetion. Mr. Sargent s one of the few cotem- porary painters who have been in- vited to paint_ their own portraits for the Itallan_ Natfonal collection in |Florence. What is more, the best of Mr Sargent's portraits can be hung with the portraits of the great Eng- lish school of the elghteenth century and hold their own without fear of comparison. For years the output of his studio was on an extremely high level. * & ok ¥ Mrs. Wharton, in her latest novel. which is being published serially (in Scribner's’ Magazine), calls attention to the fact that the old salons “were !like bad plays written around a few stars.” Sargent was one of these stars and he would be still if he had not ceased painting portraits and it His portraits had not become ro val- uable that they are difficult and ex- pensive to borraw. Those whose memory goes b ten or twenty vears will recall the place that Sar- gent's portraits held and the impres- sion they made, hanging, as they did then_ invarlably, in the place of honor. journey to see his triple portrait of hres you: shwomen — “The Sisters,” when it was first shown in the Pennsylvania Academy in Phila- delphia, or his great portrait of “The Doctors,” pain for Johns Hopkins University, when shown here in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. For years the output of Mr. Sargent's studio muet have been enormous. for with- out resort to printed lists one can summon visually a long line of dis- tinguished works by this great artist as they were seen from time to time, either in the original or through re- production. The Sargent exhibition held in the Museum of Fine Arts. Bosion, was a distinct sensation. Everybody went to see it; nothing was so much talked about the season in which it was held. Inciuded in this the portrait of the lat which later on for a time was loan to the Corcoran Gallery of Art and therefore fairly famillar to Wash- ingtoniaps. It Is said that Mr. Hay, being In Boston at the time the exhi- bition was held, came face to face ith two youny women on the street and heare one iy, with asping sur- Drise, as thoush 4 ghost pa ed in her pathway: appears “Why, there is Mr. Sargent's portrait!” S0 any one of us would feel If by chance we met on Massachysetts avenus a iiving personality known to us throug Rembrandt's, Titian's or Velasques's interpretation. It is this ability to present upon canvas, through the me- dium of 'paint, ltving personalities that has given John Singer Sargent supremes rank among the portrait ainters of -today. A ] But Mr. Sargent has stopped paint- ing portraits, and more's the pity unless, perchance, his brush has lost its cunning, and this we doubt. Dur- ing the war, when a speoial reliet fund was belng raised in England. Mr. Sargent contributed a blank nvas to be sold at auction to the highest bidder. with the understand- ing that he would paint thereon a portrait of any one whom the pu chaser might select. This canvas was sold for $50 000 to Sir High Lane, who was later lost on the Lusitania, and with the rest of his collection became Gallery director. s now in the United Thereon, in fulfillment of his pledge, Mr. Sargent painted a por- trait of ex-President. then President, Woodrow Wilson. This was after he kad issued his mandate that he would paint no more portraits. A man who could obtain $50,000 for a portrait which might be painted in a fort- night. and who gives up portrait painting, may well be reckoned great. Perhaps this alone might sufficiently explain Mr. Phelps’ high rating. But {Mr. Sargent in his disregard of money not an exception to the rule among rtists; the best prize their art more than dollars. L Why did Mr. Sargent give up por- trait painting? Because it had be- ecome mere slavery. At least this 1s our guess. Probably no one who is not a painter or closely associated with painters realizes the tremendous strain under which a painter of por- traits labors. ile must please i client and his client's family friends. He must paint not whom he pleases. but, unless he chooses to give offense. those who would employ him. He must work constantly in the pr: of others. He must, having a a high rlnl\ cle of renown, beware lest he slip chared, passes out of the artist's pos- session. It may be exhibited where the owner wills and it may be criti- cized by whomsoever sees it. Thel is @ story to the effect that an irate husband once told Mr. S8argent that the portrait he had painted of his wife was not a good likeness, to which Mr. Sargent replied that it would not matter a hundred years hence whether it was a good portrait of the gentleman's wife or not, but that it would matter very much, then and later, if It were not a good work of art. This probably did not mean that Mr. Sargent was indifferent to pleasing his sitters or making like- nesses, but that he had reached the ilimit of frritation at petty fault-find- e * ok ok It is this, in all protability, which induced Mr. Sargent to renounce por- trait painting and to give himazelf instead to the painting ef landscapes and flgures—outdoor plotures in water color and In oils—in which Ris art might have free play and from which he might seoure in the execution the maximum Having at- ety ito ds perhaps th e did 1 in all of s a desire to play a different part from that to which in life we have been assigned. Twenty years ago Davld Warfeld was promised by Be- laseo that some day he would let him play Shylock. The greatest trage- dians on the stage have confessed to longing at times for comedy, and vice versa. greatest ortrait of (Dae deliverataly chesen for the past few years to give the greater portion ef his time to ainting landscapes. To be sure, dur- ng that period he has designed and ted mural decoratiens for th Boston Museum of Fino Arts an Public Library, and most recently for Harvard University, but none of these registers the full measure of his power. Yot Mr. Phelps s right, Glancing doewn the line of those who are great, there {s none in the ranks of American life- todey unless it be ane gtatesman, Bl,lh!l‘ Root) whe towers so high as John' Singer Sar- gent. CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS. Maybe this Is the reason why the District of Columbia is refused ad- miasion Into the union of free and oting stats A ballot box was in- stituted to give the ocltisens an op- portunity to vota upon the National Liveral Alllance’s question of repeal- ing the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution, and the vote, go far as tabulated, indicates that about 75 to 1 voters want the right to drink wine and beer. That is such & pro- pertion as to indidate that if the District were given the franchise, it might vote, some day, to suspend the Constitution and substitute the arti- cles of the confederation, or might even repeal the Declaration of Inde- pendence and amend the Ten Com- mandments. It is so very reactionary that there Is some question as to whether public sentiment demands that Adam give back the apple to Eve and all return to the Garden of BEden. A ratio of 75 to 1 is what might be termed a “landslide,” ex- cept that it is attributed to the fact that in nearly all churches the whole scheme was condemned in advance. as uncalled for, unreliable and un- patriotic, and congregations weye ad- vised not to vote or recognize the Liberal Alllance at all. The few “dry" votes which alipped into the ballot evidently came from folks who had not waited for the regular sermon before taking thelr naps. They “snored.” As a test of public sen ment, the whole scheme is a joke. * x k% A young lady in Cuba tried to call to her mother who was In Cleveland, Ohio, and so she called loud and clear, but the mother chanced to be not listening and did not hear her daughter. Another lady, away up in Alaska, did hear that call. Think of all the stretch interven- ing between the Cuban starting point and the Alaskan lady whe heard! The voice came across the water to Florida, it sounded over the Allegheny moun- tain heights and across the Great Plains It was worth taking a long |clear up to the Canadian Rockles and | on and on, over the Rockies, into the enow-mantled peaks and valleys of Alaska—3,500 miles. The wonder of wireless radlo is too inarvelous! We can- not comprehend it, and even our grow- ing familiarity with its achievements cannot lessen the wonder. The din of industry, the cry of the wolves and {bears upon tke mountains cannet drown it. Abeve the roars of the tem- pests of the Arctic came the sweet, musical voice of the singer under the tropic sun of Cuba. Doubt that miracles have been performed? “All these things ;nu. d?:? do, and greater than these shall * ok ow % In the month following Safety week In Washington, exactly twice as many victims were killed in traffic accidents as in the corresponding month of last year. The number of motor vehicles had increased 37 per cent in that year; hence if the fatalities had grown onty 37 per cent it would have suggested that Safety week had falled. But when they grow 100 per cent it shows more than fallure of Safety week: it demon- strates that there is something wrong In the enforcement of traMic rules or that the rules are inadequate. The police blama the leniency of th courts in not imposing more jail s tences, regardless of the soclal stan ing of ‘the culprit. Forfeiture of Ariver's license is one of the most drastic pun- ishments, and an effort is to be made to et from Congress specific authority for such forfeiture, since the power to take away such lcenses has been questioned. * ok k% One cause of trouble iies in the incon- Washington BY FREDERIC Mrs. Miles Poindexter, who has been precipitated iInto the news this week, is of Indian blood, like Sena- tor Curtls of Kansas, whose ancestry is Kaw, and Senator Owen of Okla- homa, who is of Cherokee origin. One of Mrs. Poindexter's progenitors {was of the Cayuse tribe, which now inhabits the Umatilla reservation in northeastern Oregon. The fact of her Indian extraction became a matter of public record in Washington a vear er two ago, when one of Senator Poindexter's sons applied for a land allotment in the Umatilla reserva. tlon on the ground that his mother was of Cayuse strain. The Cavuses are among the noblest of our noble tribesmen. They have bred a famous weatern pony which bears their name, The Indian from whom Mra. Poindex- ter claims descent was a Hudson bay faotor in ancient days. * ¥ ¥ % Lord Riddell, the publicity wizsard of the British delegation at the arma- ment conference, has just sent an amusing cablegram to a Washington acquaintance. The latter wrote a flattering review of Lord Riddell's book, “Things That Matter,” and sent it to the London newspaper magnate, who spilled the beans so astutely for John Bull in Washington last winter. Riddell's message read: “Thanks for kindly mention. When garter ar. rives, will send you the buckle.” The reference is to the Order of the Gar- ter, the premier deceration bestowed by kings of England. It is given only to personages of the blood royal and conspicuoualy meritorious serv- ants of the crown. Ever since the historic occasion when the garter was bestowed by its founder, Edward I, upon a lovely woman from whose knee it slipped, the motto of the or- der has been ‘“‘Honi soit qui mal y pense.” Lord Riddell's ascent to the garter probably was checked by the downfall of his comrade, David Lloyd George. * kK K In a certain important office in ‘Washington is a man named Gordon. He had occasion the other day to speak with Boston over the long-dis- tance telephone. The connection was duly established. “This {s Gordon!" he shouted. “Borden?" came from the Beantown end of the line. “No, Gor- don, Gorden!" Washington yelled back. “Oh. Morgan!" rejoined Bos- ton. *“No, Gordon, I tell you!" re- monstrated the Washingtonian, “Gor- don, like Gordon gin." That did it. “Oh, I've got you Mow.” sald B: “It's you, Gordon. Weil, shoo! * k% ¥ Senator Borah contributes an arti- cle entitled “Can We Help Europe? to the current pumber of the Adve- cate of Peace, the official organ of the American Peace Soclety. The Ida- hoan proclaima that he has “an open mind" on_the subject of just how we can help Europe. He says “Europe owes us $11,000,000. Some people seem to be exercised over the cancellation of this debt. I am far ‘more exercised over Europe's in- ability to pay. -1 haven't any fear abe opeB. . of the spicuousness of trafMic policemen, eo that they do not catch the sttention of drivers always, for they are not sta- tioned at ail corners, evem In the con- gested region, and drivers are often not aware that a traffic officer exists at a particular corner untit perhaps the car has falled to stop and the warning trill of the police whistle tells the unwary driver that maybe he has committed the unpardonable sin of crossing in the face of an unnoticed pignal. To say that he must assume the presence of controliing officers at all corners is nonsense, since they are no more frequent than at one in six intersections, and in crowd streets the driver has plenty on his mind without guessing at non-existent obstacles to his freedom. The sema- phores should be bigger, brighter of color and be at all corners on congested streets. Ninety-nine per cent of drivers are as anxious to avold accidents as the most careful pedestrian. It takes more caution to control and gulde a three to five ton engine through the crowds of similar monsters, trackiess and perhaps less carefully handled, than it does to run a loco- motive upon its track. The bane of the streets is the young, reckless drivers of delivery wagons, whirling thelr engines around corners and rac- ing over crossings. With a population considerably less than haif a million, we are kill- ing a human victim every other day, besides maiming many daily, and the slaughter is increasing. From 60 to 100 traffic arrests are made daily. What next? * ¥ ¥ X Compare automobile driving with aviation! It is ideal safety to fly. The pllots of the Post OfMce Depart- ment flew 2,000,000 miles during 1922, without a fatality. How far do all the automoblles of Washington agsregate in miles per death? How far per maiming? There are about 86,000 automoblles in Washington. Not sll travel daily—perhaps not more than a quarter of them—but {1t the whole number average five miles a day, that amounts to less than 500,060 miles, and they would re- quire two days to 1,000,000 miles, or four days to aggregate the mileage of a year’s run of the Post Office aviators. The sutomoblles, in that nce, kill two innocent bystand- while the airplanes kill nobody It is safer in the clouds than in the city streets. * ¥ %k The distressing information comes that there are more children em- ployed in the factorles and mines of America now than ever before, ac- cording . to & Teport of the children's bureau of the Department of Labor, just issued. There are upwards of a million under fifteen years of age, of whom there are 387,063 less than four- teen years. The ruling of the Supreme Court makes it impossible for Con gress to control the evil without a constitutional amendment. What with child labor, the narcot: evil and bootlegging, the manhood of America is certainly in a bad way re- garding regeneration from the cond! tion of degeneracy which caused one fourth of the drafted men of less than thirty years of age to be rejected as physically yrfit for the Army. The problems of how to build up America physically, even before facing the problems_ of intellect and moral one of the gravest that any nation has ever had to face. The narcotic evil s incredibly monatrous, and must be grappled with even more vigor than alcoholism ever called out. Observations ‘WILLIAM WILE. debt. But no child living will see its payment if the question of reparations is permitted to go from bad to worse until another war takes place. I am not overfond of conferences, but there are times when they are heipful. This seems to be one of those times.” * x ¥ i Frost, American consul at Marseille, has sent the American Consular Bulletin, the sprightly monthly newspaper of the United States Consular Association, a photo- graph of a curious oath sworn by Stephen Cathalan, consul at Marsellle in 1807. It swears “on the holy evangelist of Almighty God that the mustard and vinegar specified on the bill of lading which I have shipped in the American ship Franklin of New London, bound for New York, are by order and for the sole account and risk of Thomas Jefferson, Esquire, President of the Unlted States of America, being for his own use, and that no citizen or subject of any of the belligerent powers has any share or concern in the same, either directly or indirectly.” Thus even the archpriest of democracy was ac- customed, Consul Frost observes, to “titillate the presidential palate at Washington with the wonderful con- diments for which the Marsellle region is still famous.” L Col. Forbes' imminent retirement from the Veterans' Bureau, now cir- cumstantially foreshadowed, rivets at- tentlon on the government depart- ment which is considered the political spoilsman’s happlest hunting ground. Relatively few of the bureau's 30,000 employes are under eivil service rules. That makes their places rich pickings for the patronage peddlers. The bureau also has valuable contracting plums to award for hospltallzation and other purposes. Between the politiclans who want jobs for con- stituents and contracts for influential backers, the lot of the director i3 not a happy one. Whoever is called upon to conduct the bureau is condemned in advance to vicissitudes innumerable. * K K % Americans who visit Berlin now- adays have thrust upon them a so- called newspaper, entitled *The Berlin Dally American,” owned and edited by Germans and printed in bad English. Its subtitle is “A Bridge Across the Ocean” The journal principal oecupation at the moment, judging from a recent copy sent to this observer, ia to induce American tourists to “come across” with sub- acriptions for “starving” Germans. An editorial in the delectable sheet, published under the Imperious cap- tion of “America's Duty!" notifles “the people of America that they have no shade of a shadow of & right to turn their backs upon the boundless sea of misery and despalr for which they are rightly held to a large and weighty share of responsibility.” The referencge is to the Germans' favorite claim that they would have won tho war but for “Dollark their pet pame for the United States. Wesley |