Evening Star Newspaper, February 4, 1923, Page 25

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL ARTICLES V}"ut 2-—24 Pages CANAL ZONE BENEFITS ARE DISAPPOINTING TO PANAMA | | Little Republic Claims Profitable Busi- ness Is Carried on by U. S. to Detri- ment of Her Citizens. BY BEN McKELWAY. HE Panama canal may be a money-making proposition—but. not for Panama. And the tiny Tepublic not only feels hurt, but fs downright alarmed over what she belleves to be Uncle Sam's de- termination to make the canal and tio Canal Zone a more lucrative in- vestment for the United States to the detriment of Panama's own growth and development. She has grave doubts as to whether former Presi- dent Roosevelt's declaration that the United States "have not the slight- est intention of establishing an in- dependent colony in the middle of the state of Panama” holds true to- day. Negotiations are now pending be- tween the Urited States and Panama looking toward a convention to re- | Place the so-called “Taft agreement,” cntered into December, 1904, to in- terpret certain portions of the canal treaty and determine the status of the Canal Zone. Just what changes the United States would sug- gest are not known. The State and ) War departments working on them now. and Col. J, Morrow, Gov- ernor of the Canal Zone, went back | to Panama a few days ago. after his second visit to Washington in con- nection with this question. ' Note to State Department. Panama. however, is very frank in her attitude concerning the present Policy of operating the Canal Zone and has red her views in a note to the te Department, a copy of which, made public in Panama by the foreign office, reached Washing- ton last week. Panama voices her fear in this note that the United States seeks modification of tie Taft agreement in order to make the canal a more flourishing business enter- prise than at present. H The frequently recurring difficul- ties between Canal Zone oflicials and the government of Panama originate n the fundamental fact, as explained in the Panama note. that “while the republic of Panama feels that the use, occupation and control of the Canal Zone were ceded for the spe- cific purpose of the building of t canal, and that the canal represented and still represents for the United States something of a higher charac- ter ghan an Investment of capital fnr' speculative purposes. some of the off-* efals who have been in charge of the administration of the canal seem to bs under the impression that what they have In hand is merely a busi- tand Colon, for whom such business { prosperit. tis juridieal l [small, barren islands in the Carribean |payment of $25,000,000 made ‘by the essary commodities to the most lux- urious articles; and also by the con- siderable amount of smuggling of articles purchased in the commis- sarles and post exchanges with the knowledge and complete disregard of the American authorities, who have refused on various occasions to make use of the remedies suggested by the Panamanian authorities.” eged Intringements. The note complains of other alleg~ od infringements on Panama’s rights, pointing out in one instance that the canal administration “maintains and operates In the zone moving plctures and other classes of public'amusement which were expected to be operated by residents of the cities of Panama would have meant a great deal of The Panama rallroad, it charged, “has Invaded the most varied fields of business,” operating, | it is claimed, “commissaries, livery stables, garages. baggage transpor- tation vithin the cities of Panama and Colon, dalries, poultry farms, butcheries, pack and refrigerating plants, soap factorles, laundries: plants for roasting and packing cof- fee, sausage and canned meat facto- ries, iron works, carpenter shops and cooperages, besides its main and colossal business of collecting rents from the lots which it possesses in the cities of Panama and Colon.” The note points out that the Canal one has never been sold, ceded or conveyed In fee simple by the repub- lic of Panama to the United States. The sum of $250,000 per vear paid by the United States to Panama is not meant as a consideration for the use of the zone, but compensates for the cession made by Panama of her rights to collect that amount from the Panama rallroad. Panama reminds the United States, somewhat bitterly, that “concessions which mean practically nothing to the United States are to the republic of Panama. on account of her size land the stage of her development, questions of life and death. We might recall, with no feeling of grudge. the fact that the United States {pald $25,000,000 to Denmark for three | sea, measuring only 138 square miles, while the Canal Zone and auxiliary waters have an area of 362 square miles. We might recall, also, the United States to Colombla, the nation which so decidely opposed the con- struction of the eanal, while Panama nees proposition which must pay, and which they will make pay \\'|lhouli regard or consideration for tae fin-, terests of the republic of Panama,! which made such great sacrifices! when she signed the treaty of No-! vember 18, 1903.” i The note hastens to state that the | stipulatioww of the Taft agreemeat,; whose principal provision is that noi forelgn goods, except those imported by the United States for the canall and Its emploves, can be imported to | the Canal Zone through Its terminal * ports without the payment of customs | duties to the *2public of Panama, “are | in conformit, with the theory of the | government o) Panama that the fiscal! jurisdiction of the Canal Zone, from | the international point of view—that, is to say, so far as imports and ex- ports are concerned—has not ceased | be vestcd in the republic of! Panama.” 3 Rights Not Surrendered. : Panama points out that her juris- diction over foreign commerce in the Canal Zone was not ceded by the | canal treaty, which sought to give the United States all that was neces- eary for the construction, operation, malntenance, sanitation and protec- | tion of the canal—but nothing more. “In order to accomplish these pur- poses,” says the rote, “the United | Btates does not need, and, in fact,: never has needed, to convert the zone | into a colony or Into a national entity | capable of giving the death blow to the very nation that tore open its territory with a view to facilitate the building of a great waterway, which 1s so vital to the commerce of the world and for the strength of the United States as a great world power.” 0 received $10,000,000 for signing the canal treaty, which secured its con- struction, agreeing to grants and con- cessions that were real sacrifices for her." Profits te the U. §. Leaving aside the right or wrong in the matter, the United States has gone into business on a large and varied scale In Panama and Is mak- ing it pay. From the opening of the canal to July, 1922, the total revenues collected, including tolls and miscellaneous business profits, amounted to $58,795,225.05, as against an expense of operation and main- tenance of the canal during that pe- riod of $53,305,084.66, leaving a bal- | ance on the right side of the ledger of $4,890.143.39. During the last four fiscal yvears, however, revenues have exceeded expenditures by approxi- mately $10,000,000, or an average of $2,000,000 a year. The Canal Zone is paying the cost of operation, with- out allowance of interest charges on the capital of $275,179,298, which Is considered the commercial Investment in the canal. The greatest amount of tolls earned in any one month was in October of last year—a total of $1,- 255.508. Panama takes particular exception to the business operations of the Tnited States government in Panama. EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunflay Shar. WASHINGTON, D. C. , SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 4, 1923. President Harding’s Friends Reject Idea He Can Be Coued Out of Renomination BY N. O. MESSENGER. S propaganda active to try or bully President Harding out of a renomination? This questio ing to a number of republi as they listen to and read subtle that crop out from time to time sibility that he may not desire to stand for the presidency again. All of them are based on the idea of his possible personal disin- clination for a second term. It political application of Coue subconscious Some of friends recall that a somewhat similar con- dition existed at the time he was first talk- ed of as a possible aspirant for the nomina- A movement was started had the earmarks of an methods, they say. tion in 1920. Cincinnati which attempt to bulldoze him off the track. got nowhere; it was crude work, the only result of which was to stiffen him up and keep his friends at his back even in days when the prospects of his nomination seem- ed at a low ebb. President Harding's friends ar that he will not refuse renomi vear and are confident that it will be offer- ed him in a sincere spirit by his party, not perfunctorily. * k ok ok Certain cold, practical, politicaliy “hard- boiled” considerations, aside from sentimen- tal ones, supported the belief that he will be offered and accept the non his party. In the first place, i step aside, the politicians say throw down the bars for a ru field of radicals seeking the nomination. One school of thought among politicians of both parties contends that the country in 1924 will not be desirous of havi in the White House, either a democrat or a republican. It is recognized t a large field of potential candidates in both parties of that type. While doubting that Mr. Harding is re- actionary, and all the while poi record as showing that he cannot be ex- cluded from the category of progressives, nominate a candidat to frighten gressive. He will be n is occurr- can leaders suggestions of the pos- by others. looks like a Stands. * ¥ his close in It erate conservatism. . the solid ¢ e convinced nation next closing days of the tle down to think it Some of the democratic leaders in Con- gress are a little perturbed for fear they are not making headway with a construc- tive legislative and political policy, looking forward to the Presidential campaign. The republicans that the demo- standing by to take ad- mination of f he should he would sh into the charge is made by crats are mainly vantage of republican democrat in Congress is a foundation in fac ng a radical unity of purpose and hat there is to prevail. Some of nting to his * ok his friends insist he has a sustaining grace of conservatism which qualifies him as a safe chief executive. *® ok ok ok To many of the elder statesme publican party, the way things now it seems the democrats w But statistics reveal that a compara- tively emall Pércentage of the total revenu¢ from the canal operation comes from these business enter- prises, many of which are not only necessary for the comfort and con- venience of the population of the Canal Zone proper—which Is approxi- mately 23,671 men, women and chil- dren—but which are considered to be of advantage to the natives of Panama. The net transit revenue—revenue derived from tolls, taxes, fines, etc.— of the canal last vear was $3.466,574. The revenue on canal business op- eratons was $323.259. These business operations included furnishing electric light and power and water; public works in Panama and Colon; repairs to ships; sale of fuel ofl and gasoline: storehouse op- erations; maintenance of harbor ter- minals; the commissary system; maintenance of two hotels and em- ployes' restaurants; bullding con- struction and repairs; printing (by the Panama Canal Press); mainte- nance of a telephone system: rental of land and bulldings; maintenance of clubhouses; and the maintenance of the Panama Rallroad Steamship line and the Panama Canal rallroad, which conduct “business operations” sepa- rate from those above outlined. In many of these business ventures the government has lost money. The total, however, shows a profit. Lack of Unemployment Is Shown By Recent Inecr BY HARDEN COLFAX. eases in Wages carriage and wagon manufacturers, Claiming that through various in-] Workers in twenty-tigee industries |Makers of lumber millwork, iron and terpretations of the treaty Panama must continue to receive prices cur- Tent In 1903 for any kind of property which may be expropriated from her fitty or a hundred years hence, the note declares the time has arrived when the United States should state formally that it has taken over all the land and property necessary for the construction, operation, main- tenance, sanitation and protection o° {he canal. The construction of the canal rep- yesented no goose that would con= tinue to lay golden eggs for Panama. Admitting that “the republic has at- tained considerable welfare and prog- ress from 1303 to the present time, Panama adds that this is not solely due to the construction of the canal. Results Disappointing. “Panama rightly expected a much greater boom than has taken place in Rer territory,” the note complains, the so mudk vaunted millions were to circulate in Panama Tive only been a great illusion. The illfons that have been spent in the uilding of the canal have remained the United States, and only a negligi- le portion of them have remained in Panama. The reason is that the canal works have been conducted in such a fmanner that there has been no opportu- nity for Panamanian commerce and cap- jtal to derive any considerable benefits from the construction of the canal. Merchants haves seen their business anormously impaired by the extraor- Hinary development given to the ‘Panama railroad or canal commissa- yles, where the emploves of the canal | 4 san buy asylung from wie most nec-| throughout the United States have recelved wage advances within the past thirty days, according to advices to the Department of Labor, which statey that the upward trend of wages Is in full and rapld swing. The advances ranged from 1 per cent, in the case of hardware and furniture | workers, up to slightly more than 6% per cent for shirtmakers, and applied to more than 1,000,000 employes of the various industries. Further wage advances are antici- pated with the coming of spring and the opening of the busy season in bullding construction, automobile plants and agriculture, A survey of the employment service indicates that there are at this time barely sufficlent workers to meet present demand, and that within the next two months an acute shortage will develop, This contingency I8 expected to send wages much higher, especially in the skilled lines. Cigar and cigarette makers, em- ployes of shoe manufacturing plants, foundry and machine shop workers, skilled workers in the ol} fields, glass workers and employes of fertilizer factories top the list in recent in- creases. They come next to the shirt- makers, and their advances vary be- tween 4 and 5 per cent. Skilled work- ers in agricultural implement fac- torfes, clothing factories, woolen mills and chemical manufacturing plants come next with increases from 3 to 4 per sent. The remaining twelve Industrles granted increases of from 1 to 3 per cent. Six additional classes of employes— Job printing shops, carpet makers, steel plants and slaughtering and meut packing establishments—were granted wage increases of less than 1 per cent. Although quiescent at the present time, the department’s machinery for the settlement of labor disputes is ex- pected to be called upon within the next few months to smooth out many controversies between workers and employers, Organized labor is ex- pected to present new demands for much higher wage scales with the opening of the rush season in the spring, basing the demands on quick- 1y rising living costs. In the oplnion of officials here, the next few monthy probably will bring & materially larger number of strikes than the past year. Amore ‘the possibllities lies a na- tionwide strike of the building trades. The shortage of workers is greater in thesc trades than in any others, and & movement is now reported to be on foot to present higher wage demands throughout the country. More and better business is reported by virtually ever actlvity. In some Hnes the units are so actlvely en- ®aged that therp Ilittle time for reports and as a result the figures are late or incomplete when they reach here. Among the busiest of Americun industries are the railroads which announce that “loading of rev- enue freight for this time of the year Is running far ahead of the cor- responding period in previous year: ‘eclipsing by about 8 per cent the rec ord year of 1920. The rallroads, apparently, did better in Decembef than they expected, if the average of earnings reports re- ceived by the Interstate Commerce Commlssion this weeck, represents a fair index. Outstanding among big earnings was the net income of the Pennsylvania raliroad, which reported $6,028,000 for the month. as compared with $457,000 for December, 1921. toward a clean-up of get-away March 4, without leaving any loose ends which would force an extraordinary session of the sixty-eighth Congress. Army appropriation bill is the only regular n in the re- are drifting ill probably “ASTS By William supply bill which has Note—In publishing this ar- ticle by the brilliant editor of the Emporla Gazette, The Star does not necessarily indorse the views he expresses. But Mr. White brings to the discussion of cur- rent events a fertile mind and an entertaining style, and a discrim- inating public ‘will place its own valuation upon the opinion he advances. MOST fnteresting and unusual book, “Rome and the World ! Today.” written by Herbert ! Hadley, former Governor of Missourl, a most interesting and un- vsual man, reminds Americans that writing and politics frequently make successful combination careers ip the lives of our public men. Mr. Hadley a dozen or fifteen years ago was the most promising young man in public {life. He was elected Governor of Mis- souri in 1908, after a brilliant record as attorney general, and in 1912 was one of the seven American governors who launched the Roosevelt boom for President. In the republican nation- al convention Hadley was the Roose- velt floor leader, and by his courtesy. chivalry and fine address drew ap- plause from his opponents time and again in the midst of a bitter contest. Indeed, it Roosevelt had consented to support the nominee of the conven- | tion with the roll of the convention {tainted with what he regarded as fraud, Gov. Hadley surely could have been the nominee of the convention for Vice President. In the high tide {of his power he was stricken with | bad heaith and exiled to the desert. For ten years he has lived in the high, dry west. At the moment he is a banker and college professor in Boulder, Col., the seat of Colorado's | state university. His years of enforced exile he has devoted to study of the life of the Romans and the finstitutions of the republic-empire. The character of Caius Octavius, Caesar's great ne- phew, kndwn to fame as Caesar Au- | gustus, around whose career Mr. | Hadley has written his story of the ginnings of the empire, under the fllumination of Hadley's narrative becomes a monumental figure. Mr. Hadley's work has the distinc- tion of being reasonable. He inter- prets facts from the background of & public man. The motives of men in publlie life, a life In which the code ia as old as clvilization, are not always understood by men of the clolster, who have often assembled facts more falthfully than they could interpret the facts. So we have some justificatiop for Henry Ford's theory that “history is bunk.”, But when a statesman turns his story in he brings to his work what Mr. Hadléy brings to the “Story of Augustus'— an understanding heart. Hence, the reasonableness of “Rome and the World Today.” It Is a most engag- ing book, not so monumental as Beveridge's “Life of Marshall,” but vital. Mr. Hadley makes Rome live agaln. He draws whatever parallels may be consistently drawn between the shadowy line between radical and pro- iis supporters and charged to be a radical The democratic platform is ex- pected to be outspoken in its radica so that the democratic party's candidate for President, no matter how much he may protest to the contrary, will inevitably be identified by the platform upon which he These considerations lead to the building of a growing sentiment among republican leaders to let the democrats “gang their ain gait” in their march toward radicalism, while the G. O. P., refraining from an atti- tude of re-actionaryism. shall stand for mod- Who knows, after all, which policy will be victorious, and wheth- er the country is radical or just progress: or moderately conservative? is likely to be furnished by the judgment of izenry and cautious business and industrial interests of the country, in the the spellbinders, from agitator to orator, have spent their breath and the people set- omission and commission. Also, they realize that there is not the among the democratic leaders are seeking to iron out this situation and see if it is not possible to build up a policy for the party upon a more solid foundation than that of profiting by their opponents’ errors In Congress, affairs seem to be tending !late days of the republic and the be- | e who will straddle called progressive by sm, and that will be taken up this week. De- ficiency bill, covering odds and ends of ap- propriations will come along later but is ex- pected to pass without difficulty. It is the prevailing opinion that the ship subsidy bill is in its last gasps and will expire without further efforts at resuscitation being made. * ¥ ¥ % Early this week, possibly Tuesday, Presi- dent Harding will go before a joint meeting of the House and Senate and present the * %k mitted to probability gress. The answer in its own unqualified next campaign, when over. mistakes and sins of ~ Who favor More than one recognizes that there t for this criticism. tion would endeavor that ought agreeing in the more thoughtiul ble. * * legislation and a clear The not passed the Senate EE IT.” Allen W hite. the problems of Rome under Augus- tus and the problems of America under Harding. It is not an alarm- ing book, but most flluminatin book for mature people, but only to read. For Mr. Hadley writes simply and directly, and if he is often elo- quent, he fs never rhetorical. And grinning through the foot notes is humor. Probably the book, which must surely be considered by any one who would know Rome In her glory, is as valuable a contribution to life as Mr. Hadley could have made in a dozen years as a politiclan—even as a statesman. Indeed, in thirty vears in politics, Senator Lodge has done nothing better than the books he wrote before he went into politics, and his career in Congress will not be remembered so long as the books he has written while he has been in Congress. Lowell, who wsa one of our greatest literary statesmen, shines more brilliantly as a poet than as an ambassador. Howells was American consul at Venice and an Ohio country editor, hence a rural politician, before he was a literary man. But politics made him wise be- fore literature gave him fame. Haw- thorne's political Job gave him more leisure. It lent him insight and sharpened his pencil for him. Given a politiclan who does not take poli- tics too serfously, and, if he can write at all, his political tralning will help him—but not if he is soured. No disgruntled politician can write. Only if he has joy In his job can he get the julce of under- standing from it. For, after all, “the days that make us happy make us wise.* Mr. Hadley in this book re- flects the man who in politics took his fun where he found it and, while voting straight, was never above smiling a twisted smile at the paes- Ing procession. A Long, Hard Way. ANSAS has made prohibition pro- hibit, but only after a forty years' struggle. In that struggle, prohibition won not so much by putting people in jall as by putting them in a frame of {mind. This frame of mind which en- veloped only the minority who fiinched under the economic waste of the sa- loon now Includes a vast majority. The frame of mind has become public senti- ment. It functions sutomatically. It is more terrible than jails. It is inex- orable. But it Is only a Kansas frame of mind. Witness the sad case of Hepresenta- tive Manary of the Kansas legislature. His story is this: He got publicly and noislly drunk in a political hotel. A hundred such drunks make spectacles of themselves at state capitals in the coun- try and nothing comes of it. But some- thing happens in Kansas. Namely, an arrest by an humble motor cop and a night in jail, with a police court fine in the morning. 8o far the situation is not seriously abnormal. It might develop in any state, commission. in both houses indicates that there is every plan for funding the British debt as sub- him by the American funding Quiet sounding of sentiment of its being ratified by the Con- Even if it should be talked to death, however, the President will not call an extra session to take it up. Congress, it is pointed out, in creating the American funding commission, reserved hands full and complete powers over the foreign debts, thereby assuming responsibility for all future pro- ceedings in connection with them. President Harding with the plan submitted by the funding com- mission, the creature of the Congress, and it now devolves upon the Congress to accept the report of its own agency or leave the debt settlement to be a disturbing element in the relations between Great Britain and the United States for the next year or more. is entirely content *E* & It is felt by senators and representatives prompt acceptance of the plan for funding the British debt that its ratifica- furnish a striking object lesson to France and Germany, as indeed to the world, of the possibility of two great nations amity and in a business-like way upon a financial problem which contains in- herent possibilities of irritation and trou- Financiers say that the closing up of the British debt question on a definite contract will go far toward stabilizing business and financial relations of Great Britain and the United States. The only which could be urged against the plan is that it involves the sacrifice by this coun- try of a certain amount of interest, in dol- lars and cents. benefits will accrue which will far outweigh present sacrifice. possible objection, it is thought, It is argued that ultimate statesman of a majority party merely for being drunk and dressed up is not a common occurrence. Generally influence stops it. But In Kansas public opinion stepped In. No one dared to use his influence. Respect for the law has been deeply ingrained in the Kansas heart. It held back influence that might have helped the offender. So he pald his fine and the newspapers printed the story. Hell hounds, you will say. No, they dared not face public sentiment and withhold the story. That afternoon impeachment papers | were belng drawn. Mr. Manary would have been dismissed from the legislature. Public sentiment again. Representative Manary had grown up on that public sentiment. He knew that no political power could duck it. He knew that he was done for in Kansas politics. So he went to his room and shot himself to death. It was not remorse, not getting drunk that drove him to suicide. It was the realization that being a pub- lic man and getting drunk, the senti- ment of his friends and nelghbors made it impossible to go forward in his career. He preferred death to shame. Now, this sentiment would not be found in Albany, nor in Boston, nor In Trenton. Probably Pennsylvania would not put the scarlet letter on a legislator for getting drunk. Yet untll public sentiment does con- demn the public man who gets drunk prohibition never will prohibit. It is to this Kansas degree of ruthlessness that the matter must come or we must abandon prohibition. This is a hard sentence. But there can be no parole. Public men will not change their ways until the public changes its attitude toward public men. Boot- leggers in Congress will thrive until the people back home stop it. Not with law, but with sentiment which will drag a man out of his job when he offends that sentiment. Only by looking at the distance which Kansas has covered in forty years can we see where we are going as a natfon. These lines are not writ- ten to boast of Kansas, heaven forbid, but point a moral and adorn a pitiful tale. Who Ate the Goldfl MERICAN soldiers read with sat- . Isfaction that a jar of beef 4,000 years old has been found falrly intact In the tomb of an Egyptian king. The persistence of “corned willy” through all the centuries indicates to the boys that you can't force it even upon the spirits of the dead. What the boys want to know is what became of the “goldfish?” Sure- ly the souls that went marching on 4,000 years ago had queer taste if they left the “corned willy” and ate the goldfish. Free Speech. CASE In point In the 'struggle for liberty Is the pardon for the Irish anarchist In New York who distributed circulars demanding the overthrow of the American govern- ment. He violated the law.” In his pardon Gov. Smith ignores and practi- cally annuls the law, so far as New York s concerned. During the term of Gov. Smith the state will have no law punishing “criminal syndicalism.” The governor is also trying to secure the repeal of the so-called Lusk law, BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. HEN it is realized that there * pave been intro- duced {n tho present Con- gress—Senate and House together—seventy-one proposals to amend the Constitution of the United States, there is little wonder that defenders of that august and honor- able document desire to seo the brakes put on. Tn this list of seventy-one proposals for amendments—twenty Introduced in the Senate and fifty-one in the House—thers are twenty-five sub- Jects dealt with, roughly speaking. The subjects run all the way from glving Congréss the right to regulate child labor to a proposal .to permit the manufacture and sale of light wines and beer, the prohibition amendment notwithstanding. Not unnaturally the proponents of these amendments all see virtue fn their particular proposals. But If all should be adopted the amendments to the Constitution would constitute a document us large as the original document, or larger perhaps. On the other hand, it would be a great hardship if anything should happen which would prevent the adoption of any further amendments to the fundamental law of the coun- try—the Constitution. Changing con- ditions, it has been found, warrant changes In the Constitution. But in Congress and out of it two schools of thought are constanty contending—the one to make the amendment of the Constitution easier und the other to clamp down an iron lid on amendments Proposed to Change Methods. Many of the amendments now pend- ing in Congress propose changes In the method of making amendments. One of them, offered by Senator Wadsworth, has recently been the subject of a hearing by a subcommit- tee of the Senate judiciary commit- tea. The Wadsworth proposal indi- rectly seeks to limit the facility with which amendments may be made. But it also makes provision for a from the action of state legislatures on constitutional amendments. This is a propesal that has considerable backing. Senator Ashurst of Arizona, ad- dressing the Senate last week on the subject of amending the Constitution. directed attention to the fact that there 18 a total of 7,403 members of the state legislatures and that the total membership of Congress is 531 He sald that two-thirds of the Con- Bress can act to submit an amend- ment to the Constitution to state leg- tures and that a majority of the membership of the state leglslatures is all that is required to ratify an amendment—though, of course, three- fourths of the states must agree to an amendment before it becomes part of the Constitution. His point was that, instead of leaving the matter of amending the fundamental law of the land to the will of the people, it has been lodged In the hands of some 4,500 men, elected to represent the people, to be sure, but subject to the pressure of powerful and well organ- ized groups. Thera are many persons who today insist that if the questions of woman sucrage and of prohibition had been referred to the people of the various states those amendments would never have been ratified; that the state legislatures were driven Into favor- ible setion, Amendments Long Pending. Nineteen amendments have been added to the Constitution since it 'wu adopted. The first ten of these amendments were proposed by the First Congress in 1789 and were rati- fied. It had been the understanding when the Constitution was adopted that these amendments would be pro- posed, and therefore they almost stand as part of the original Con- stitution. Two other amendments were pro- posed by the same Congress, and they are still pending before the states for ratification—merely a matter of 134 years since they were proposed. But there is no power in Congress to recall a proposed amendment to the Constitution once it has been or- dered submitted to the states, and there is no time limit fixed by the Constitution in which amendments must be ratified or rejected after they have been submitted. This is an evil to which the attention of Congress has been directed a number of times. Senator Brandeges of Connecticut was the author of an amendment pro- posing that all amendments must be ratified by the states within sixty Saving of 51 Million Announced by Weeks administration the force of civillan jemployes of the War Department in the District of Columbia has been reduced more than one-half and the total civilian strength of the War De- ipartment in the District and else- where is less today than it was before the world war, according to a state- ment just issued by Secretary Weeks. The annual eaving effected by these reductions amounts, he says, to more than $51,000,000. According to the statement, the force In the District, when the armis- tice was signed, was 37.406; the pre- war strength was 2,911; in March, 1921, it was 9,548, and it is now 4,609, During the same period, including the fleld force outside of the District, the total force was reduced from 90,106 to 47,387. The pre-war strength of civilian mmployes of the War Department, wherever employed, was 45.911; so that the total December 31, 1922, was only 1476 in excess of the pre-war strength. two new services were developed. These two services, air and chemlcal warfare have today a total of 4,007 employes (alr, 3,331; chemical war- Though to arrest a well known local (Condnued on Third Page.) fare, 676). referendum to the people of the states | Since the beginning of the present| During the war, however, | SUBMIT 71 PROPOSALS TO AMEND CONSTITUTION Members of Congress Meet With Opposi- tion in Efforts to Add to Historic Document. years after thelr submission to tie states. But so far no action has bern taken on this proposal. But to get back to these proposed amendments of long standing. There are two others, making four in all | which today are pending before the | states, one submitted in 1810 and the other in 1861. The two amendments proposed by Congress in 1879 still hanking fire, ‘50 to speak, deal with enumeration of the people and rep- resentation In the House and with the compensation of members of Bress. The amendment proposed | Eress in 1810 provides that citizen of the United States sh cept any title of nobility or he or without the consent of Congress accept and retain any gift, compensa- tion or office from any emperor, king or forelgn power, he shall cease to be a citizen of the United States. The fourth of these pronosed amendments submitted by Congress March 2, 186 on the verge of the civil cides in effect that no shall be made to the Constitutior which would give Congress the powe to abolish or interfero with do- mestic institu n in any states, including slavery. When the “back-salary gral” Congress In 1873 created an uproar the Ohio state senate, just eighty- four years after its submission by Congress, undertook to ratify the sec- ond amendment, which provided that no law varying the compensation of enators and representatives should take effect until after an election of representativ hall have interver Cou- by Con- if any any of Submission Deemed Likely. There are gress a few ments wh mitted to th time. 1In fact, cation that a penc con today titutional in am be es {n due course o tere is strong indi- d-labor amendment #h Congress, if not 1t the next. The put through osing that t d so that in- House the jolnt resolution Constitution be 7 come of securities issued by states and munici ties could be taxed by the federal government and federal securities could be taxed by the states. This fs in line with the rec- ommendations of the President Secretary Mellon to do away with t rapldly increasing tax-free securitie igsued by states and their subdivi sions. Tt is not likely to pass the Senate in the short time before close of Congress, Another proposed amendment ¢ the Constitution which finds con: able favor would do away with clectoral colleze and let the peopls vote directly for President and Vice | President, though still keeping the same number of electoral votes per state. This same amendment would bring about the meeting of a newly elected Congress in January after its election and the inauguration of a newly elected President In the same month. a and the Amendments Proposed. The following 1s a list of the s jects dealt with In the amendments {to the Constitution which have bec offered by senators and representa- tives during the present Congress Method of amending Constltution apportionment of representatives, empowering the President to veto items in appropriation bills without vetoing the entire bill, single six-year terms for President, requiring a popu- lar vote before declaration of war glving Congress the right to fix ter: of office of judges of the inferior courts of the United States, author- izing taxation of income of state municipal and federal securities; giv- ing to the citizens of the District of Columbla representation in Congress and the right to vote for presidentia electors, election of President by di- rect vote, use of money In elections child labor, time for convening of Congress and inauguration of Presi dent and abolishment of electoral college, authorizing Congress to tax salaries of public officlals, providing for initiative and referendum on con- stitutional amendments and laws prohibiting polysamy, filling vacan- cles in the membership of the House, elections to federal office, defining treason, four-year term for members of the House, to permit light wines and beer, giving Congress power to regulate expenditures for elections, to prohibit levy by Congress of in- come and other direct taxes, to cre- ate a tarift court, to regulate pro- duction and commerce of coal, oil and gas; conscription of citizens, money and industries for war. Charges President Violated Budget Law A violation of the budget law by President Harding, through his fallure to recommend to Congress the means of wiping out the prospective deficit in government finances this year, was charged in the House yesterday by Rep- resentative Garner of Texas, ranking democrat on the ways and means com- mittee. Mr. Garner was opposing an amend- ment to the Liberty Loan acts, under which the sinking fund could be used in retiring government securities other than Liberty bonds and Victory notes. He charged that the purpose was to use the sinking fund in the daily opera- tions of the government 8o that the anticipated deficit of §270,000,000 for this fiscal year might not show on &he Treasury books. “The republ from the President dow Garner, “wants to show to the American people that there is no deficit, but if ithe sinking fund fs used to retire 1$300,000,000 in liberty bonds in May. |as the present law requires, the defi- cit will be there." Mr. Garner also charged that the administration in its efforts to make the books balance had been selling capital assets of the government, such as railroad securities, and use- ing the momyj~.er current expensos. |