Evening Star Newspaper, March 28, 1923, Page 6

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6 THE EVENING STAR. ‘With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. ‘WEDNESDAY. ... March 28, 1823 THEODORE W. NOYES Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Pennwylvania Ave. New York OMce: 150 Xaman St hieago OMece: Tower Bullding. ‘Europesn Office: 16 Regent St., London, England. The Erening Ktar, with the Sunlay morning edition, 1s delivered by carriers within the city at 0 cents per month; dally ouly, 45 cents per Touth; Rundas o tx per month, Or- ders may be sent Ly mail, or telephone Main 8000. Collection 15 made by carriers at the ead of each month, Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $5.40; 1 mo. Daily only 1 yr $5.00) 1 m, Sunday only 15r., $2.40; 1 mo. 3 All Other States. Dally and Sunday .1 yr., §10.00: 1 mo Datly onl 1y $7.003 1 mo, 602 Sunday only......1yr., $3.00; 1 m Member of the Associated Press. The Assoclated Pross is exclusively entltled o the use for republication of nil mews din- atches credited to {t or not otherwise credited n this paper und also the local news pub. istied hereln. All wghts of publication o crved Bring Profiteers to Book. It ought to he po ent laws to deal adequately with the sugar gamblers and profitecr erally in the neces; it 1s found that new sary they should be when Congress enacted prompt ©of partisan adv in sugar following a w tion in coal the Ameri in a state of mind bord canie, and u of affording then mood to start o ing expedition. Tt s a sign E that under provocution the re cent increases in sugar prices the people have little thought of turni: to their state governmer for reli It is to Washington, to Congress the President t states’ rights as a cher ‘but become ardent federalists in of srress. They see that the Zovenment has taken to itself greatly nciMsed powers to levy t on the people, and they demand to know why there {8 no corresponding potency to protect them. There already are on the federal statute books stringent laws to punish conspiracies in restraint of tra there is convincing moral ev however difficult it may be to obtain legal proof, that such conspiracies exist today. Wherever there is an ade- quate supply of a commedity and com- petition has free play it is impossible that there should be such spectacular price increases as have been witnessed in the case of sugar. The Department of Commerce gives assurances that there is an adequate supply of sugar. The price increases, therefore, consti- tute prima facie evidence either of a consplracy or other artificlal manipu- lation of prices. The government should use every resource at its com- mand to uncover the wrongdoing and punish the wrongdoers. No other course will satisfy the demands of the people or justify the billions of dol- Jars the government takes from them in taxes. ‘We hear much about the discontent which disloyal agitators are preaching throughout the country, and the powers of the government are being used to suppress their menacing propaganda. But they are only sow- ing seed in ground which the coal profiteers and sugar gamblers and others of that ilk prepared for them. If the government will bring these original offenders to book, the ground will be less fertile for the sprouting of discontent. ‘That those in authority real the necessity of prompt and decisive ac- tion is evidenced by the steps now being taken by the Department of Justice and other government agen- cles, the latest move being President Harding's direction to the Tariff Com- mission to inquire into the relation- ship between revenue imposts and the price of sugar. With these activities under way it ought to be possible to correct the worst of the profiteering ills, or to show by the time Congress convenes what further legislation is necessary to their correction® under pres- ir . and The President Helps. President Harding lends his aid in the sugar inquiry. He has said that he 19 determined to see that the American people shall not be gouged in the price they are called on to pay for sugar, end, with other things, he has ordered investigation by the Tariff Commis- slon to determine whether there is any relation between import duties on sugar and the increasing charges to consumers for that article of food. The President recognizes that an ab- normal price for sugar prevails. He believes that the tariff has little or nothing to do with this advance, and the chances are that he is right. The sense of the public is that the advance s due to skillful manipulation by speculators. The public believes that the price of sugar is being put up by the same speculative processes em- | ployed during the war, and which processes have been used in advancing the prices of other commodities. All power to the arm of the government! Tt is sald Prof. Einstein's new dis- covery cannot be expressed in human speech. His theory of relativity left ‘most of us speechless. Soviet authorities regard Secretary Hughes' pronouncement as a long step backward. It is; back to sanity and morality. Just & Little Bit Better. ‘Developments with respect to French occupation of the Ruhr do not indicate eny decided improvement in the situ- ation, but the fact that lately condl- tions haye not grown any worse is an encouraging symptom. And there are some.evidences of a slight betterment, at least in the French and German states of mind; a psychological im- provement which, properly nurtured and encouraged, might grow to really hopeful and beneficent proportions. Evidence of this state of mind bet- terment comes both from Paris and $elia. Premisr Polncare told '!'*' .| tire question of reparations to the in- | © | mission of business men, the commis- s 1 sig) ‘| Senator Couzens of Michigan recent. 11y | finance commitiee of the chamber of!and carriers, and throush them the 7| Geputies that to date the economic re- sults from the viewpoint of realization of guarantees had been of slight im- portance, and while still holding to the belief that “prolonged and stable” occupation would eventually produce the desired guarantees, he seemed to find encouragement in the fact that 'leading German industrialists had jmade several attempts to open direct negotiations with the French govern- ment. He had refused to deal direct- {1y with the industrialists, but in in- dicating a willingness to listen to their proposals if made through the German government he gave indications of something more than a passively re- ceptive mood. In Berlin, von Rescnburg, the Ger- man forcign minister, addressing the | foreign committee of the | wivocally Ger- cubmit the en relations declared ung s wilingness t | {vestigation of an international com- | ! slon to determine “at the earliest pos- | sible moment the extent to which | Germany already had fulfilled her obligations; her ability to meet them | in the future and the manner in which | they could be met” This done, and | the results accepted, he declared his | government's readiness to unde: to negotiate a foreign loan, the pro- | ceeds to be paid over to the allies on account of reparations. | "he toveign minister remained dis- { creetly silent on the mutter of com. | plete French withdrawal from the | Rubr as a prerequisite to negotiation: {and there is a generally aceepted be- | lief that Germany has abandoned the | impussible ermany will be | satistied, it . if France will Irefrain from using occupation as a | gotiations are unde! m require a considerable amount of optimism to read into these any prospect of an early settle- ment of the Ruhr problem, but it is pleasant to find some grounds for hope, even If we know in our hearts that optimism chiefly bolsters it. ! Railroad Efficiency. fssued a statement charging that an raflways had not in- | creased in eficiency in the last eight- ven years, and that they are now seek- ing to make savings primarily by re- ductions in wages. This allegation at- t attention, and was taken up at once in rallway man- al circles. Today comes to hand a brief in defense of the railways by Julius Kruttschnitt, chairman of the executive committee of the Southern Pacific Company, recognized as one of the leading practical railway officials of the country. itement given to the pr schnitt asserts that Senator Couzen sumption that the chief railwa has been reduced wages is mistaken. Out of a reduction of approximately $1,000,000,000 a year in labor cost of railway operation he claims that only $350,000,000 repre- wents decreased wages. The balance, he asserts, has been the result of ef- ficieney and economy of operation. He points cut that the railways in 1922 carried a traffic not greatly less than that of 1920. To do this, he says, “they employed an average of 1,645, 237 employes in 1922, as against 2,012, 600 in 1920." Commenting upon Senator Couzens' charges that in eighteen years there has been no improvement in locomo- tive performance, Mr. Kruttschnitt holds the statement to be erroneous. He says that during the past eighteen yvears the increase in power of each locomotive, plus the increase in the number of locomotives, produced an increase of 97 per cent in the aggre- gate power of freight locomotives, 80 that “with only 97 per cent increase in power they have moved 139 per cent more revenue ton miles.” Sena- tor Couzens had quoted from Henry Ford's suggestions for effecting econ- omy on railroads and elsewhere. Mr. Kruttschnitt says that Mr. Ford, “a novice in the business of running a railway,” arrives at conclusions which are at variance with the experience and judgment of those who spent their lives in the study of the subject. The railways are to be under dis- cussion increasingly from mnow on, and the public will be interested. Ex- anges of views between laymen and cxperts on the great question of man- ! ployment s THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTE)I\', D. C, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 1923. _—— daily mail of nearly 500,000 persons, re- quires above all a ready, open mind and a real, human heart. That Mr., Mooney possesses both qualifications there is no doubt. Postmaster General New is to be congratulated upon his decision to promote Mr. Mooney to the postmastership of the National Capi- tal. WASHINGTON BY FREDERIC There is a good deal of talk in Washington diplomatic circles over a letter broadcasted to the American press by Dr. Ante Tresich Pavichich, the Jugoslavian minister. He public- ly condemned a petition laid before the Senate on March 3 by Senator La Fuilette, entitled “A Plea for Jus- tice for Hungary and for Peace in |Burope” A petition signed by {American citizens of Magyar natlon- ality was ordcred printed as a Senate {document and thus became a state aper. The United States govern- {ment has always 4 strong attl- Born near Chevy Chase and cdu- | toward the private epistolary {tude cated in Washington, Mr. Bradiey be- lactivities of forelgn diploma v > a resi ity i President (] and deported Lo fame a nenldentiof (hejcity Ini1B83. At 0y v il voast Rottian sinlgter the age of seventeen he entercd the & oetbvaten) T service of the Washington Loan and | ry Lansing's Lusi- S ooy Ad s ralRl Bt the surprising Trust Company, and was rapidly pro b moted through the varfous offices to ment warning the position of vice president and real ‘l' o illle shixmi S = = @ in his “Digest o estate ofticer. He served two succes-|internationnl Lawe sy f it slve terms as president of the Board of Trade; was one of the founders of the Washington Real Estate Board ! min is here to correspond with the Secretary of State. He has no and served upon its executive commit- tee for many years, and vie authority to communicate his senti- chaitman of the committee on ta; ments to the people by publication, and any attempt to do s0 is contempt {of this government.” This observer is infornied that no form: reprimand tion and assessment of the citizens' Joint comumittee Investigating the fiscal relationship between the District of Columbia and the federal government, —————— Thomas Bradley. In the death of Thomas Bradley ‘Washington has lost a son whose place will with difficulty be filled. His life, demonstrative of what personal ubil- ity, aggressiveness and integrity can achieve, was lived in the service of the city he loved. It stands today as an inspiration to those who “carry on.” tanta not irregularity newspaper Americans not to |John E tt Moo adver: a- There passar King V founders rms Rens: of the nd M of W {0t the Jug: 1 minister, who is new matle caree: is in prospect * * been a spirited In a score of other fields b denced e J‘:::’ devotion to the community and bility to translate that devotion into conerete deeds of usefuln It is upon men of the “Tom'" Bradley that Wask any other community, is for its progress and deve men who combine practic with high vision and a sound appre- clation of civic responsibility. Tis life cannot but serve as an inspiration to others to follow along the raths he walked. S OV S — Good Times. In addition to all the of good times the Unite rvice reports an of employment during F January, and January was a mor when statistics relating to m and men out of work we tory. There was an upward showing in the figures for men In the building trades and in the industries that sup- ply building material. Increased de- & | mand for farm labor is already evidence, and, a 5 to the e of the employment service, it is feared that there may be a shortage in this | class of labor. The report tells not so much of good times coming as of times here. This secms to he a pe of plenty of work at good pay, | even in boom times there is always u small proportion of the people out of adjustment, and who have not sue ceeded in fitt scheme cf thi Dames, Hoes uverneur of or E i pment— I ability stamp hgton, depender etender of her ancestor’s fame, takes e for insi ting that after the battle of Tren- ton Monroe jilted Miss Nannie Brown, who is allege have nursed him back to health. Monroe's de- scendant produces a letter from him showing that he was nursed by an entirely different youns woman, named Christine Wynkoop, to whom ke offered his b 1 heart in valn, as she was already pledged to another. Mrs. Hoes hitterly refutes r ¢ ‘s imputation an “ohscure nt increase | i Julus of forelgn merce, threw himself n defense of Herbert gar squabble is typic alty Hoover in- tbordinates. The Secre- e has the reputation of :y domafn which Yet there proba Americ pubi ectionate d. s as Hoover on and women uch 2 themselves into the | X Continues Acute. eneral debate conce 'attitude which the progresst jers iuside of the republican will assume toward President Hard- ing and the latter's renomination con the chief source of edito throughout the country. {1t 15 accepted, of course, that with the party machinery In his hands, the President very easily can compel re- nomi jon. But th is an appar- tly growing curlos will make concessions to the oppos: {tion in order to present a united front to the democrats in the struggle of 1924, It must he remembered at the out- set, the Boston Transcript points out, ** y the perfec presidential primary law. actment {n five or six tates would put it within the power \f & militant republican, standing in (the tradition of Roosevelt, to contest the President’s renomination with any hops of success. Enough del ates from southern states, duly de- {livered, would go far toward en- abling a national convention of office- holders to compel the renomination of the President. No campaign ma- chinery, however, that even so astute a politician as Mr. Daugherty can d ise will avail to re-elect the admin ation in 1924 if its only political asset s the record to date of the late and unlamented republican Congress. The courageous and dispassionate facing of this ugly fact ought to bring to their political senses the re- publicans holding office if anything can.” Evidences are not lacking of a “secession” movement, suggests the Baltimore Sun (dem.). in analyzing the situation, “as may be inferred from the apparently sullen attitude republican leaders in Penn- An _independent republican the gubernatorial saddle, and her republican United States senators —_————— i This idea of impor the United States i The national slogan will no doubt be printed, “Tswat the fly,” and vigor- ously enforced by the federal horti- cultural board. —_——— It is to be hoped that when W: ington becomes an ocean port we wiil not have a rum fleet hovering in the offing. tinues scussio “0ld Posey seems determined to answer the cynical frontiersman’s seription of a “good Indian.” —————— SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON A Glorious Privilege. It's a mighty consolation, when this world's not going right, To know there's always one thing left { to keep out spirits bright; A certain privilege that every citizen | enjoys— { To speak up and express himself when anything annoys. He can put it in the paper; he can tell it on the street. But he gets it off his mind, which is a consolation sweet. ‘When he finds that he's the victim of some durk, dishonest trick It mollifies his feelings when he knows that he can kick. | | agement and efficiency of the people's transportation system ought to prove enlightening. ————————— Somebody has invented a motor that will, it is claimed, drive an auto- mobile from fifty-five to sixty-five miles on a gallon of gasoline. How far will it drive one on the stuff we are’using todav? —————————— The report that rural deputies in the French parliament are opposed to daylight-saving has a reminiscent sound. ————e——————— Federal horticulturists oppose even 3 per cent immigration when it comes to tsetse flies. —_————— Even if Holland should go “dry” it still would be very wet. A Good Choice. The selection of William M. Mooney, chief clerk of the Post Office Depart- ment, as postinaster of Washington, | to succeed Merritt O. Chance, resigned, will meet with the hearty approval of tHose interested in the postal affairs of the National Capital. Mr. Mooney will bring to the im- portant position as head of the local post office a broad fund of knowledge gained in the Post Office Department since 1895. The positions he has held there, notably those of disbursing clerk and chief clerk, have called upon his ability to handle men. It is significant that he has the good will of the employes of the depart- ment, with whom he has been in the necessary close touch called for by the positions named. As chief clerk of the great department he has successfully filled a somewhat difficult office. His “open door” policy, combined with his ready sympathy with the problems of the employes of the department, has made him a justly popular official. As postmaster of Washington Mr. Mooney will find that these qualities will stand him in good stead. The suc- «cessful bandling of 3,000 postal clerks So when coal gets dearer and they raise the price of beef, We merely have our say, and it's a wonderful relief. It soothes the disappointment and ameliorates the pain, And kind of settles matters till they boost the price again. Of all the benefits which come to na- tions civilized, This mental safety valve should be most cherishingly prized, For trouble would be simmering and boiling pretty quick 1t the great good-natured public didn’t have the right to kick. no longer take unconditional orders nor are in a position to transmit them. Why shouldn’t Mr. Pinchot himseif have aspirations, and why should he allow a practical Ohio politician, like the Attorney General, to come into his state and take possession of it? Men have stepped from the guberna- torial chair into the White House be- fore this and beaten more brilliant and _popular aspirants than Mr. Harding." The outstanding ‘question, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (ind.) sees it, is “whether the progressives will submit. The situation in a measure resembles that when Mr, Taft was a candidate for a second term, except that Mr. Taft issued no uitimatum; he merely used the machine to steam- roll his opponents. The progressives. under Theodore Roosevelt, revolted in convention and after the conven- tion. What will the republican pro- gressive bloc do under the Harding flat? Will they tamely submit to sub- jection and discipline? Will Senator La Follette kiss the hand that strikes him? Will Senators Johnson, Borah, Brookhart and Shipstead bow sub- missively to the President and the machine bosses? Is ghere not a sem- blance of Roosevelt spirit and courage left in the grand old party?’ Never- thless the “announcement at this time is good politics,” the Clncinnati Commerclal-Tribune (rep.) says, be- IN A FEW WORDS The capacity for intellectual devel- opment is hereditary and the aver- age man is incapable of developing glentany n.rfl)elr gle l:“!l finished the rst year of high school. —PROF. EDWARD CONKLIN. 1 welcome the effort to bar the nude from the Paris stage. I am quite willing that they re-establish nght:a tthmhx‘sh. gl course, they are a bit old-fashioned. —MLLE. MISTINGUETT. When you attempt to tear down things to help the man on the street and the woman in the gingham ap- ron, you generally embark om a -l course that results in disaster to 'thoua very people first. | An Unmanageable Intellect, T'm feeling right ashamed about ‘The way my mind will act; I've been unable to make out The reagon quite exact. I know that life's a serious thing, And that it isn't right To sit this way a-wondering HO‘W soon the fish will bite. I ought to be a-figuring on The last and the next war, And finding where the things have gone ‘That folks pay taxes for. I ought to talk of destiny, And yet, both day and night, The pressing question seems to be How soon the fish will bite. —— e ———— A cotemporary says: “Ngon, a ‘West African fruit, may be imported into this country. It is pronounced palatable.’ But for this enlighten- ment we never in the world could have figured out how to pronounce the thing.—Cincinnati Enquirer. —_—————— T P YD MACHOLD. In the wilds of central Africa they| Americans are too interested in are now hunting lions with automo- | toppling chairs,’ moving tables and biles, probably because pedestrians|other material phenomena and not I message of spiritualism. are g0 scarce—Kalamazoo Gazette, | "> S{i ARTHCR CONAN DOYLE. While T advocate that women give up basket ball, boxing and rifle shooting, I don't recommend that they return to tatting and embroid- r;y—umn are the occupations of =DF. ARTHUR HOLMES, —_—— The woman pays. A Seattle man was sentenced to stay at home for three weeks—Little Rock Arkansas olontal | - might now be EDITORIAL DIGEST | Interest in Progressive Attitude | whether he’ OBSERVATIONS WILLIAM WILE idolize him. They formed an associa- tion to perpetuate thelr service under him. Recently Hoover was in New York to attend thelr annual reunion. A little bird whispers that the Com= merce’s Secretary slamming attack on radicallsm in “American Individualism" did much to rile the La Follette party into impugning Hoover's connection with sugar affuirs. * Archbistiop Edward J. Hanna of San Francisco, reported to be on the verge of appointment as a cardinal, was for- mally charged at the Vatican with “modernism” in 1907. The accusations were later disproved and dropped, but sufficed at the time to prevent the bril- lant prelate’s contirmation as coadfutor rehbishop of San Francizeo, Pope Pius ppointed Hanna auxiliy bishop at e Golden later he kb ator John * x % hop Hanna in his sixty s educated in | und th i and wi Germany Ambassador Jules Jusscrand is said msibility for this one hington School Teacher (to el of tots) of Arc Eag ume res W Bigit-year-old Miss—I do. » mother o She Was Warren (i ingly tuto the 1 | Harry M. Daugherty | nouneed that ding drawn will- t when| ago i sidered in the ring?| Men asking that who | often have been told by the Attorney neral how he had to dragoon Mr. Harding into running for the Senate in 1914. Marion's favorite son had been defeated for the governorship of Ohio in 1910. He was disconsolate and In & mood to quit politics for- ever and aye. Daugherty disagrced was persui that Harding ssibrilities w no - cidenc ning in Florida, doing, and t | sued him After | mating a tour de for | Harding out of Lis n made him see that he © | | be nomninated but elected 23 a fow months iater, are question is he was ramifications d its mors 2 ame togethe far-flung just or A | ness men | score or of { wospel of servic Mikado's real i (€ 1 | or lea dowr @ ve it. a g | o of floating {may be accomplished. It is indeed |an admirable setting of fleld fc tion, everything in the open and a i but fierea, in prosp in the opinion of the New Times-Picayune (dem.), be- iency would counsel the anti-Harding senators to who is to n the next general ion, personal ambitions and fac- tional considerations may control and demand a vigorous waging of the intra-party warfare from now on. The goal in th would he the party co ol 2 presidential nomination in 1928 The Wichita Eagle (ind.) points out that tis a long way fo the national convention of 192. ‘That_ the will be act opposition to his candida. by the progressive wing of the republican party Mr. Harding undoubtedly real- izes. Mr. Harding can yield to pro- gressive pressure. If his reactionary < will let him alone, Mr. Hard- ¥ of the party by winning over the progressive wing to the presidential stundard before the national conven- tion." There will be many {ssues to be faced, the Milwaukee Journal (ind.) is convinced, and “the President and Mr. Daugherty must know it. The President is to make a speaking tour. If he can confine himself to such ques ns as making taxes lower, enforc ing laws—which is only a matter of not being anarchists—and not adopt- ing bolshevism, it ought to be a pleasant tour. It will be noticed that such a program provides for taking away the bad tastes left in people’s mouths by the recent Congress. What it did and failed to do is not an * cue’ If people are feeling comfort- able and good-natured this summer, the scheme is plausible enough. But | sometimes the real issues have to be !faced. The dodging and hoping for something to turn up cannot go on forever.” ~ Fvervthing depends, the Omaha World-Herald (dem.) points out, on the “two years ahead. The temper of the time is restle: and re- bellious. That temper will show itself in the next Congress, in which the ir surgent or anti-administration repub- ans will be much stronger than in the last. They will be under the leadership of meu like La Follette and Borah, who are out to get the President’s goat, and who are.notori- ously reckless of how much damage they do in striving for their ends. And they will be backed up by the dominant midwestern sentiment that piled up_such surprising majorities against Mr. Harding's policies only last fall. These midwestern states will furnish a formidable block of delegates to the natlonal conventfon, and these delegates will be instruct- ed in primaries in which the peopls record their choice for President.” It is likely that “we shall be forced to witness the washing of the family's dirty linen,” argues that Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette (ind.), “but the soon- er it is over the better for the party and the President. Factional bitter- ness may result for a time, but there is nothing In the heavens or on the earth or under the sea like the co- hesive power of public patronage and public plunder—and time is a healer.” | i i i l | | | Says Statues in Parks Should Be Works of Art ‘To the Editor of The S! The proposed transfer of statues| from one pedestal to another seems to me undesirable. The Washington and Jackson statues should be labeled “Primitive Ameri- can Art” and placed in the National Museum, Compared with the superb memorial to Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, in Thomas Circle, the statues erected to the memory of the two illustrious, Presidents are poor specimens, and Jook as though some of Nature's jour- neymen had tackled art. The one erect- ed to Gen. Jackson, in particular, re- sembles neither man nor horse,’ nor anything that ever inhabited this planet. The American people are anxious to make Washington the most beautiful city in the world, and will begrudge no_ expenditure to accomplish that {end, and I think they particularly de- ire that the monuments that are placed in its magnificent parks should be works of art of a high order. ¥ ho B HOLDEN, B N | malefactors Politics at Large BY N. 0. MESSENGER Prompt realization by the admin- istration of the political dynamite latent in the gamble in sugar now threatened, as well as the outrage upon the public, is shown in the prompt steps being taken by the De- partment of Justice and the Depart- ment of Commerce to investigate the seeming combination of speculative interests by which the advance in the price has been made in the face of economic conditlons which should preclude higher cost of sugar. The republican national committee, too, has taken cognizance of the charges made by the democrats that the new tariff law contributes to the advance in the prices and vigorously refutes the assertion. Politic ns say that the democrats were in a fair way to make valuable political capital out of a boom sugar ts to the consuming publ especially If it could be laid to re. publican leglslation, administration or neglect to adopt remedial meas- ures. The Department of Commerc: had shown by statistics that there is uo actual or prospective shortage in the supply of gugar, leaving an in- dignant public to put the blame for ligher prices somewhere else. The democratic managers were quick in seeking to attach it to the republican tariff law and republican administra- tiofA—or maladministration, for that was more than hinted in some of the demoeratic pubfcations. * kX ¥ % ‘The politiclans think, however, tha the political flurry will blow over 3s soon as the investigators find the leged conspirac out of which the advance in prices is charged to have grown. If a clear case Is proven, found and brought to Justice, the incident may react to the credit of the administration. k0 democratic managers, howeve will 6 to charge a part of the to the tariff bill and say t the charge only can be refu d by a sharp drop {n the price of sugar to the pre-protection flgures. ok ok ok ‘There are conflicting reports in re- publican inner circles over the possi- bility of Vice President Coolidge not being on the ticket with President Harding in 1924. From one influen- tial group comes the rather positive statement that another running mate will be In the team, and from another well informed source come sta nts that Mr. Coolldge will stick unless he es Irritated at the rumors and signifies his prefer- enca for retlrement. olidge should become re- nd tell the politiclans good- i conceded on all hands that candidate of pronounced progres- sive affilfations will be sought for presidential nomination. Gifford Pinchot of Pennsylvania Is mentioned as a possibility. Sena- tor Johuson of California, if he wouid take it, would be in high favor, it is said; but the Californian is believed ve higher aspirations, come 1% rising young man from the mid- t would be considered a good nd the republicans who think lidge may retire are now said he casting about for a likely candi- * % . cr: pointment of his friend, Huston Thomp- son, to the senatorial vacancy in that state. Democrats known to be In Mr. Wilson's confidence and favor have em- phasized several times recently the statement, as readers of this column nay recall, that Mr. Wilson would found very much in evidence in tiwe councils of his party from now on and increasingly as the presidential cam- paign takes form. In the instance at hand the former President knows what he wants and is not backward in ask ing for it. He is regarded as percei ing an opportunity to place in the Sen. ate a man who thinks as he does on v public questions and upon whom he can depend to voice in the Senate his own_views and opinions. Mr. Wilson lost several good friends se at the same time that he finds one thorn still sticking in the flesh in the person of Senator Reed of Mis- sourf. who remains in the Senate. It r. Thompson is appointed Mr. Wilson ill feel reason to congratulate himself that he has a doughty champion to pit against Senator Reed, R o Whaever the new appointee from Colorado turns out to be, he will be a democrat and his vote will be available to the minority to make possible com binations with the radical republican bloo to bedevil the republican majority and upon desirable occasions possibly turn that majority into a minority, All kinds of combinations possible of being effected are being figured out, and it ap- pears certain that the republicans will tread no primrose path of dalliance in the next Senate. No election for sen- ator will be held until the regular elec- tion in 1924 and in the meantime the democratic-radical bloc. will have had time “to got in its deadly work. Regular . republicans. ciatm that the menace of this radical tepublican and democratic combination ss being over- plaved to a large extent. They assert that a great dcal of the legislation which the radicals and progressives clamor for {s acceptable to the regulars, on the score of its being progressive. ‘They go on to point out that some of the acutely radical propositions threat- ened to be offered will be found objec- tionable to conservative democrats who will not vote for them, and 1f combina. tions are necessary to defeat what their jdeas hold to be laws hurtful to the nation they will vote their judgment ;vgn lh({)ugf; it should run with the udgment of conservative republicans, and abandon the radical bloe. ~ - can * ok ok % It is contended that the real effec- tiveness of the much discussed demo- cratic-radical bloc will be found to apply to the reorganization of the Senate, which means leadership and committee assignments. It is admit- ted that the ultra-progressives and the radicals will be in position, with the aid of democrats, to upset the caucus committee designations and force upon important committees the presence of their own men, if they show that they have democratic votes in leash to reverse the recommenda- tions of the majority faction when the Senate is called upon to confirm them. The regular republicans resent ef- forts to put them In the attitude of a tyrannical majority, intent upon action inimical to the country’s wel- fare. They expect, it {s said, to be in friendly conference w#h the progressives and the radicals and will seek to avoid an open clash with any faction of the party. * k ok ¥ ‘Wonder is occasioned at times as to what the most bitter of the party fac- tions could expect to gain by contribut- ing to the possible wreck of ublcan hopes in 1924, Where Woulflt leave the members of that faction? IEEE There {8 “no rest for the weary.” President Harding, when he comes back, will have to start right in get- ting ready for the talks to the people on his swing around the circle this summer and fall. The first thing will be to hold endless conferences with numberless “advisers,” men who think that their own ideas of policy and platform should be put to the front in the political addresses the President {8 expected to make. Out of all these suggestions the President will have to select those which stand the acld test of his own | had any other alternative judgment. But he has shown him- self not to be arbitrary in judgment or obllnlo‘n and &o will at least lend a patient ear ‘will be offered him, in | a-going by his letter to the Gov- | | ernor of Colorado recommending the ap- and ‘supporters in retiring democratic | { political emanations and | .pg, | i i | | i i | prevailed as CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS Notwithstanding the imminent shortage of lumber in the United States, we continue heavy exports of it to distant countries. That indicates that when our own supply is wholly ex- hausted, twenty years from now, it is not going to be easy to find new sup- plies elsewhere. We are shipping lum- ber to China and Japan, Africa and the United Kingdom. Half of the oak which is shipped goes to the United Kingdom. Wo send soft wood to Peru, Honduras, Palestine and Syria, and millions of feet of Douglas fir to China, British South Africa and Can- ada. The Phillppine Islands will soon be supplying us with wood for cigar boxes, to take the place of Spanish cedar. A fturniture dealer, in a moment of frankness, confesses that there is no longer any genuine Mexican mahog- any used in the United States for making furniture: what is used as a substitute is really Californla red- wood, called in the trade “California mahogan: It takes finish quite like that of mahogany, but is not o hard, * ¥ % The news columns tell of a sk raver, August C. Habicht of Was ington, who has engraved upon the head of an ordinary pin a plcture complete of the National Capitol, and upon another pinhead a fine portrait of President Harding, with his name clear and perfect. He has also in- vented a method of reproducing the pinhead pictures. ch an achievement is clever. But ince It is made with a powerful mi- | croscope and its beauty can be seen only through a microscope, the nat- ural question arises: “Is it worth the long hours of patient worl and eye- strain?” 1t is not useful. Because it is microscopic it 8 not “a thing of beauty, and a joy forever” This {s not said to detract from the skill of Mr. Habicht, but in abstract consideration, which a Spaniard might express in “Qui bono?’ If reproduced by electrotyping, 80 that the engrav- ings could sell for a small price, would they add to the useful or the beautiful in the world? How? Perhaps they are in the class of curiosities referred to by Pope: Pretty in amber to abserve the forms Of halr, or strasw, or dirts, or grubs or worms; The things, we know, a peither rieh nor But wonder how the mischief they got there £ ok % ok The industrial situation in Amerlca never has been better for the skilled mechanic. A survey by the Department of Labor shows that in January 4,848 establishments emploved 1,881,109 hands and in February the same establish- ments had on the pay rolls 1,924,372, One week's pay roll of those firms in Jan- uary was $46,265,468, and in February $48,618,824. Wages never were maintained for any | prolonged period at the scale now pre- vailing. Henry Ford, who has just bought vast coal lands and s paying s 20 per cent higher than are paid y_other coal mining region, pre ts that in a few years the law wi fix minimum wages at $10 a day. But wages do not measure prosperity unless cost of living remains normal, jand how is the cost of living to be kept down if wages—which constitute over 90 per cent of the values of everything sold—are to remain high? Either wages will come down or whatever wages are used to buy, by the worker, will go up. The most unsatisfactory measure of values is mon It is not money that creates value. It {s labor—and only labor. Doubt that? Look at the wage in Russla—in Germany—m any Euro- pean country. And look in those same countries at the starvation. Money measures value? What meas- ures money but its purchasing power? Continued employment and honest pro- duction by labor is the only thing which speils real prosperity. So It is of mighty little consequence whether Ford's prophecy of $10 a day as the minimum wa comes true or not but it is of very great importance that employment and production continue uninterrupted. | Now that archeclogists have resurs rected Tutankhamen, will somebody page Tomboy Matoaka? There i3 doubt whether she fs buried in England, where died in 1616 A.D., or whether her body was transported to America, {but all Virginia and everybody who smokes or chews tobacco are interested in finding the burial place, that the body may be reverently removed to a shrine in Virginia. J Matouka was 2 most lovable girl, a princess of the family of Chief Pow- hatan, and she was popular among young and old, for, though a princese, she was not stuck-up. No boy could shoot raifghtcr arrow, nor catch more 1 more swiftly. She did not usc rouge, but her cheeks were the rosicst of vamps of her tribe She did reall flirt, but she fell love h a palefa In fact, she wa a friendly toward all'the pale faces and when her gruff old daddy was goIng to cut off the head of a named Smith—one too many S then, as now—she outdid Freedom Kosciusko's fall, for she shrieked an her shriek was not only “hesrd rou the world” like a New England sho! but it comes thundering dow | Ladies in t )of modern society ;able to trace their tomb is lost. Tt shal shall be honored in her Old She, who taught the palefaces of how to ralse tobacco, incense smoke ascend fr 4 of her eternal resting place. All honor to Princess Matcaka—nicknamed Poca hontas. the Indian word for tomboy: the best, cleverest and sweetest gir scout that ever graced Virginia! * k2 % If 909 men out of 1,000 wers tola that the wife of the president of tha sovlet government of Russia i3 abou: to visit the United States they woul be surprised at the thought that Mme Lenin would leave Russla while he husband is reported to be dying. B ithe wife of the Pre of Ru is not Mme. Lenin; she is Mm Ka lini: a mple Russian peasant,” she is described. She i3 th | years old and Is_devoted to t i | Cross service. She fs coming sole! |in the interest of the Red Cross wo |in_Russia. |, Lenin {s premier, not president | Presidents do not cut any more lin some European countries | kings do in others. It fs the p | who really heads the governmen | shapes its policies. | * * ¥ % Mrs. Harding s to have her wis | for an old-fashioned garden upcn the {White House grounds—hollyhocks. morning glordes, forget-me-nots, sn dragons, asters, foxgloves and daistes— all the good homely flowers, and nons of hothouse extra-cultivation. | _But she will be disappointed. Tt | Will not be true to tradition uniess. |Just as the tender shoots are begin- |ning to shoot, some neighbor's hens ‘gel in and scratch it all to bits. |Laddie Boy might try his paws | that job, but he is a piker beside long-necked Shanghai or - Piymout Rock hen with a brood of chicks Then there is Piggy, the pet squirre!; | he likes bulbs. 1923, V. Collins.) Truth as to Death of Nicholas First Revealed in Intimate Letter of Son BY THE MARQUISE DE FONTENOY. All doubts which have hitherto to the nature of the sudden death of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia on son and guccessor, Alexander 1I, to his morganatic widow, the late Princess Yourfevska, who died last year at Nice, where she made her principal home, and whose volumi- nous correspondence is now about to be published in Paris by M. Markoff. For very many years he was her confidential secretary, and who at her death was found to be the prin- cipal executor of the residue of her once enormous estate, with authori- zation to make public her corre- spondence—or, rather, I should say, of ‘tho letters which she received from her husband, not only during their brief married life, but also throughout the many vears which she spent with him openly as his favor- ite, up to the time when the death of Empress Marle, enabled him to legitimatize, after a fashion, his re. lations with her by means of a le handed marriage. It is known that both IIT_and Nicholas II, moved heaven and earth to obtain possession of these letters of Alexander II to the princess—letters in which he ex- pressed himself with the utmost freedow. She rejected all offers of cash made for their surrender, in spite of her greed for money and her notorious avarice, and It is known that several attempts were made by secret police agents from Petrograd to recover the letters by means of carefully organized bur- glaries, both of her villa at Nice and of her home in Paris on the Avenue Kleber. Alexander * x ok % Among the revelations contained In these letters was an admission by the czar who liberated the serfs that his father, Emperor Nicholas I, unwilling to kill himself, and to thus fmperil his soul, compelled his chief physiclan to administer to him a dose of poison, which was almost mme- diately fatal. Known as the proud- est monarch of the old world in hts time, and having for over thirty years exercised an almost despotic sway and all-dominating _influence over the whole of Europe, the orush- ing defeat of his armies in the Cri- mea by the coalition of Great Britain, France, Italy and Turkey, and espe- clally the fall of his stronghold of Sebastopol, which had been, up to that time, considered absolutely im- pregnable, broke his pride and his spirit to’ such an extent that he no longer wished to Hve. His autocracy had been of suck a character and his tyranny over his subjects so relentless that none of them dared to disobey his bidding. Consequently, when he ordered his physician to administer to him a mortal doss of poison, the poor man, after overwhelming 'him with en- treaties to be spared the fulfiliment of such a command, finally yielded, and on the following morning. made a free confession to Alexander II of the true cause of his father's death. * % ok X Nor. was the physician ever called upon to answer for what was, after all, dn the strict eyes of the law, not only murder, but high treason. Alex- ander II knew his father too well to doubt that the unfortunate medico than to obey, and, so, instead of being pun- ished as a regicide, the physician ‘was generousl. nsioned on the un- the advice which - gene: y "lu < closed, and was sent off to live in retirement. For Alexander did not | relish having befors his eves all the time the poisoner of his father. being {more softhearted than his uncle, r I, who €id not hesitate to 0 those great nobles actually concerned in the smothering | and stranguiation of his father, tho almost wholly crazy Emperor Paul lan a ion to which_Alexander I's next brother, Grand Duke Co | stantine Paulovitch, was likewisa | That both of these sons of | were stricken with remorse in aft | years for their complicity in the vic | lent death of thelr father, was show |in a number of ways. Thus, wh Alexander 1 was proclaimed, in 1825, {to have died childless, Grand Duke | Constantine, although czarovitch and acknowledged heir to the throne. waived his rights to the crown in favor of his younger brother, olas I, who, on account of his |had been entirely free of any re- !fpm}slbfllt}' in the murder of Emperor Pau As for Alexander 1, it is a matter of legend, tradition und popular be lief that he_did not really die, as alleged at Taganrog, in December. 1825, “crushed,” as he declared, ‘“br neath the terriblo burden” of his rown, but that he survived unt.l 1870, as a mysterious and profoundly venerated hermit of the name of Fomich near the remote Siberian town of Tomsk, treated with pro found deference ‘by all the membe of the imperial family, and who is £aid to have been mnone other than Alexander 1, doing penance for his share in the' murder of his father. * %ok % The removal of this veil of mys- tery, which has heretofore rested for near three score years and ten over the death of Nicholas I, thus reveal- ing tha only case in history of an anointed of the Lord ordering his own assassination, s only one of many insights into the annals of the nineteenth century, which are to ba found in the Impending publication of the leiters whicn Afexard r il addressed to the late Princess Yourievska. Alexander II made no secret in these letters of his pronounced per- sonal dislike for Queen Victoria, who reciprocated his sentiments in this respect in the fullest measure, treat- ing him with the barest civility when he” visited England on the two occa- sions after the marriage of his only daughter, Marie, to the old queen's sailor son, Alfred, Duke of Edin- burgh and of Coburg. He simp! abhorred Lord Beaconsfleld, denoun ing him as “the wickedest enemy of Russia,” and he was equally en bittered against old Prince Bismarc whom he described as “Insatiable’; In fact, he insisted that he could only in all England one thorough mely, Willlam E. Glad- stone, rand Old Man” who would have preferred to see the Rus- sians in possession of Constantinople rather than to permit the continued resence there of that sultan whom e denounced &3 “Abdul the Damned.” * o ok ke It remalns to be seen who will benefit by the very large sum of money that should be derived from the publication in French, English, German and Russian of these amasz- ing letters of Alexander II, to the one-time Princess Catherine Dol- gorouka. For she lett two daughters, rincess Olga, married ta Count George Merenberg (brother of that Countess Torby who is the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Michaelovitch of Russia), and Princess Catherine, mar- ried t6 Prince Sergius Obolenski, who last vear was giving concerts with his wife in London, for the of & livelihood, owing to the.ay of her now dead mother. There is also a grandson of the late princess, the twenty-three-year-old boy of her only son, the late Prince George Fourievakl,

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