Evening Star Newspaper, April 29, 1923, Page 43

NATION ACTS TO END ACUTE SKILLED LABOR. SHORTAGE Employers Associations, Unions and U. S. Government Aid Schools to Train Apprentices. BY WILL P. KENNEDY. NE of the greatest needs of the today Is skilled artisans in the trades and trained operatives in indus- try. This has resulted from the fail- ure of trade craftsmen to train ap- prentices and a misguided notion of youth that white-collar job was preferable to one where he could fashion something with his hands. The need of apprentices, especially in the building trades, was recently emphasized by Herbert Hoover, Sec- retary of Commerce and member of the Fede Board for Vocational Fducation Organized coun cffort _is being to bear upon this great national prob- lem by trade associations, by co-op- erative efforts of employers' associa- tions with employes’ associations and Ly the federai government co-operat- ing with the states--all of which or- ganized effort is looking to educa fion in trade schools, trade training in part-time schools and trade and industrial elasses in evening schools. Need Ix Apparent. It is well recognized that there will in the future be nothing like the old-time type of apprenticeship— the old relations between master and learner. where the apprentice with his master. All this has been changed by modern manufacturing and_industrial conditions, but par- ticularly in the lust two years the need for apprentice training has been slaringly apparent, and the largest associations In the country have been Dutting thelr heads toge ging down into their pockets to cor- rect the skilled labor situation for the future The revival of public interest in prenticeship training has been em- phasized by the action of Wisconsin inenacting an apprenticeship law providing for the proper training of apprentices, and similar legislative proposals in a number of other states spicuously New Yor The concern of the emplovers t meet (he situation is shown espe- cially in the so-called building trades by the campaign for education car- ried alons by such organizations as fhe International Master Painters and Decorators” Association, the Mas ter Plumbers’ Association’ through its trade cxtension bureau. the N tional Builders' Exchanges all the country. The New York Building Congress and many others. Every great industry in the country ing a vital interest in this problem and seriously seeking a solution. Concerted Efforts. ances the made by concerted emplayers n effort and emploves ing. A shining example of thi Cleveland. Ohio. where 150 employed hrickma (pprentices are attend- ing a trade school four hours a week. Private been estah- lished by sociations in many in the west than in the « pting. plumb inz, carpent nz. plastering example, Tile Association is making a study of the training of apprentices for the tile-setting eraft. \ceording to latest figures reported by the chamber of commerce of Lo: \ngeles. there more than 200 en- rolled in the plasterers’ classes of ihe vocational education department . the city schools in Los Angel This course was organized under a plan _dev Ly members of the school b the vocational educa- “ion director. chamber of commerce officials and trade associations. Day ind night classes in the Los Angeles sehie offer courses in bricklaving. painting. plastering, plumbing. house wiring, carpentry, etc. g Probably no one organization repre- menting any one trade has been more roncerned or taken greater pains to meet the already existing shortage of CKilled labor than the Internatioal ainters’ Association. because there i< hardly anything made which does not have to be painted repeatedly to rolong its life. 3 i through its education committee, cently published & text book on paint- ing and decorating particularly for use in schools where ap- prentices are being trained. This wai dited by a Washington man, A. M. McGhan, for many years secretary of the assoclation, and who more than lany one man in this country has been preaching the gospel of industrial pre- haredness through the education of ap- prentices. He has toured the entire continent, visiting trade associations and schools to get them behind this campaign of trade education. Big Program Undertaken. Another comprehensive program has some ins being is in m schools have the employes cities—more st—for pa klay r the heen undertaken by the Natlonal Trade | the | Iixtension Bureau, representing Iimploying Plumbers’ Association. A ook has been published containing a hational apprenticeship program, which outlines courses of training taken from courses actually conducted in the David Rankin School, St. Louls; Val- paraiso University,” Indiana; the Trade School of Philadelphia and the 1:vening Trade School of Erie. Pa. This employing plumbers’ survey Congress Alive ngr More Prohibitory Laws With prohibition enforcement so disturbing the country that it prom- jses to be an outstanding. if not the dominating 1ssue, in the next presi- dentiazl campaign, we have a glaring fllustration of the growing fretful- ness of the people against “too many | jaws.” since law enforcement is the lhecessary complement of law making. Leaders in Congress both of re- \ublican and re beginning to ask whether this ituation is an illustration that either ‘ongre: has made too many laws hat irritate the people or that the .cople have hecome indifferent to fed- ral law. i To get away entirely from the pro- ibition question and fight between wet” and “dry” champions, we find his same question raised in the dis- ssion of such an apparently inof- Lnsive measure as the migratory ira bill. The republican floor leader the last House, Representative rank W. Mondell of Wyoming, in kscussing this legislation, sald: Free From Annoyance “That flag. Mr. Speaker, more than Iny other flag that ever floated, ex- .pt for the brief period of our great \sagreement. has had the loyal sup- ort of the people of this great ation, and it has had that support \rgely because under it we have been 1ee from those petty, miserable and axatious interferences and annoy- [ nces that elsewhere and under cen- ralized governments have made law- reakers and even anarchists of nien “ho wanted to be good citizens. We .ve, thank God. up to this good Lour in the main escaped the tyranny .7 petty officlals of a centralized gov- [ rnment interfering with the rights s dberties, and the everyday life brought | lived | her and dig- over | ¢ is tak- | associations co-aperat- masonry. | democratic persuasion | shows surprising fizures regarding the actual existing need for apprentice: in Massachusetts, 860: in Michigan, 900; in New Jersey, 1,388: in Colorado, 232] in New York, 2,849; in_Rhode Island, 167;: in Connecticut, 339; in Pennsylvania, 2204, and in the Dis trict of Columbia, 102—to give hop- skip-and-a-jump: illustrations. U. 8, Sees n Dozen. - While the trade associations are try. ing to work out their own salvation, the federal government has recognized this grave meface to Industrial pros- perity and the general welfare. With [this actual “need for appreptices brought into ihe spotlight by the ac- tion of the tride assoclations, the Fed- eral Board for Vocational iducation and the United States Bureau of Kdu- { cation, through co-operation with the states, are promoting trade courses for employed young people, not only in the { building trades, but in all other indus- | trial and commercial training. [ The action by the federal agencles {is not only to meet the Immediate needs, which the trade assoclatic.. ) are already working to meet, but to be | prepared for the gradual and orderly zrowth of trade and industrial activ ties. Not only is vocational work i | the schools beins enlarged, but trade teachers are being trained for this | school worl, as for example, in Massa- chusetts, where teacher training in in- dustrial education is conducted by the ate board. " Survey Shows Growth, { An examination of the enroliment in | classes reinbursed from federal trade | and industrial funds for the country |as a whole during a five-year period reveals the following grow ti: During 1918 there were enrolled in !Il'udr and industrial classes 11 34 pupils. During 1919 there were en- rolled in trade and industrial even- | Ing, part-time and all-day schools § 84,765 pupils, while in general con- tinuation schools there were enroli- «d 50.782, making a total enrollment 7 all types of classes reimbursed {irom trade and iadustrial funds of : 155.584. 1 420 there was an enroll- I ment of 7 pupils in trade and industrial schools and 98,082 in the | ®eneral continuation schools, or a total enrollment of 184,519 pupils. Tn 1:21 trade and industrial schools en- olled 97,843 pupils, while general continyation schools gave training to | 119.657° hoys and_girls, making the total enrollment in trade and i trial ools 217,500 pupils. ment reported or 1922 in | ed trade and industrial schools otal 131.877 and in the general con- { tinuation schools making a total enrollment in classes adminis- | tered and reimbursed by the trade and industrial service of 297.788 pu- : pils. These figures indicate continu- j cus growth of the work in all lines during the five-year period. although the effects of the world war are in | evidenc, Of course. it must that the feleral bur through the states, and so it is well to take a glance here and there at the trade and industrial education work done in the states 19,823 Enrolled. Massachusetts—During the year there: were reimbursed in part from federal funds evening schools in 22 cities, part-time schools in 27 ecities fand #11-day schools in 15 cities. [a total enrollment of 19.523 pupils { Reimbursement was also made to 42 cities for general continuation Jork. with 361 puiflls Michigan — Twelve ities offered g\snluu classes to an enrollment of 16,782, part-time trade extension courses were conducted 11 citle: {with an enrollment of 7.323 pupils: 16 cities ¢ ducted 21 all-day unit jtrade courses, with an enrollment of 1470; general continuation courses were offered in 6 cities, with an en- rollment of 615; and the " teacher training institution enrolled a total of 703 in resident and extension course: | Onio- { sehools, Le understood s are working in Twenty-one cities reported 26 with an enrollment of 3.146, extension part-time training to those who have withd n from all-day hools. An evening school program in related and shop subjects was con- ducted in 38 schools of 36 citles. Ohio_is carrying out an excellent program of foreman training, with the support of Ohlo manufacturers, as I one of the biggest avenues to the pro- motion of other types of industrial education. Ohio has also developed a large program in coal mining instruc- tion. with 250 miners enrolled in a course covering 40 weel® on mine gases. mine ventilation, timbering | and safety lamps. Ohio probably has | gone farther than any other state in [ part-time education through co- operation between the schools and the manufacturers. These are illustrations picked by | chances but practically all of the | state dustrial education work. Leaders the next Congress are going to broaden the federal co-operation and make possible a larger trade ap®ren- tice education by increasing the ap- propriation for this work, because while in their home districts they are having its importance brought forc- ibly to their aftention. to Discontent ;of the people locally—an interference | which by ‘its very character cannot well avoid being tyranical, a control whose source of authority is so far | removed from the people locally that | against it they feel hopeless, helpless and resentful.” | Representative Garrett of Ten- nessee. the democratic floor leader, | €losed his debate against the bill with the remark: Birds May Come Home. “I tell you now, particularly you gentlemen from my section, that it | we continue to pass legislation along these lines we will wake up some morning to find that even the mi- {gratory birds have come home to j roost.” { Representative Otis Wingo of Ar- kansas. another democratic leader, said: “Why, gentlemen, some people in this country—charm- ing, delightful people, wno make nice {social companions in the parlor—who, they had their way about it, would cense to kiss Your own wife, and they would do ‘it under the public- welfare clause. Why, gentlemen, pretty soon you are going to have federal agents regulating everything, and you had better catch the spirit of the gentleman from Wyoming (Mr. Mondell) and the gentieman from Tonnessee (Mr. Garrett) have caught. {The people of this country are get- ting exasperated with the horde of office holders. The federal agents that are running up and down this land interfering with every activity jof the honest, everyday ecitizen, are building up distrust, exasperation and resentment against' the federal gov- ernment where there ought to exist a feeling of patriotic obedience and respect. Inaction Stricken Out. The Senate had passed the migra- tory bird bill. bunt under such ap- peals from the leaders of both sides, i THE SUNDAY STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C, APRIL 29, 1923—PART 2. The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is & brief summary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended April 28: Unifed Stntes of America.—On April 23 Sec- r-(n:v Hughes made the following announce- ment: “With the view to hasten the reaching of a mutual understanding between the govern- ments of the United States and Mexico, two American commissioners and two Mexican commissioners will be appointed to meet for the purpose of exchanging Impressions and of reporting them to their respective author- ities.” The commissioners will meet in Mexico City. President Harding has selected Charles Beecher Warren of Detroit, formerly our ambassador to Japan. and John Barton Payne, formerl¥ Secre- tary of the Interior, and now chairman of the American Red Cross, as the American commis sioners. Optimists are sanguine that the meet- ing will make smooth the way for recognition by our government of the Mexican government. At the annual luncheon of the Associated Press at the Waldorf Astoria, New York, on April 24, President Harding made a very nota- ble speech. It was chiefly devoted to advocacy of adherence of our government to the pro- tocol establishing the International Court of Justice at the Hague. The President cited Successive republican national platforms, com- mencing with that of 1904, which declared for reference of all controversies between nations to an International Court of Justice. He con- sidered in detail the question of how far the International Court established under the aus- pices of the league of nations, but not a part thereof. is answerable to the aspirations ex- pressed in the republican platforms, and he discussed the famillar arguments objected against our participation in that court. He found the court to be answerable and that the objections fall. In his opinion. refusal of the republican party to support the proposal of our participation in the court now function- ing would amount to repudiation of party pledges. “I do not hold the question,” he said. “to be a menace to the political party. it is not to be cla a party question. but if any party repeatedly advacating a world court. is to be rended by the suggestion of an effort to perform in accordance with pledges. it needs a new appraisal of its assets.” On’ April 27 Secretary Hughes made a speach on the game subject. in complete accord with PresideM Harding, and stressing the argument that the existing Court of International Jus- tice is an independent judicial body in no sense a servant of the league. Bids will be opened on May 28 for purchase of the vessels of the government merchant fleet under conditions briefly set forth in my last summary Mrs. Henry P. Davison. in memory of her husband. who did so great a work during the war as chairman of the American Red Cross. as nlaced in trust a fund to be known as the Henry P. Davison scholarship fund. It is proposed that there shall always be three young men from Oxford University and three from Cambridge University (England, in resi- dence as students at Yale, Harvard and Prince- ton (three at each of those universities) whose expenses shall be paid from the fund. The grounds of selection will be the same as for the Rhodes scholarship. and the end proposed is that of fostering good will and mutual un- derstanding between the United States and Great Brituin. The length of residence for each student is to be one vear, and this year will be credited toward an Oxford or Cam- bridge degree as though it had been spent in Oxford or Cambridge. Yale. Harvard and Princeton have agreed to furnish free tuition. * ok % % The British Empire—De Valdra has an- nounced by proclamation that the “govern- ment of the republic” of Ireland (i. e.) “bel so-called government) is ready to nego- tiate an immediate cessation of hostilities” on the basis of $ix conditions stated. Moreover, an order has been issued to the rebel forces to (the should have led us to expect, the conditions are expressed in language about as 1impid as the waters of the Missouri, but & careful exam- ination of them seems to show that De Valera's pretensions have undergone no essential change. As T mee it, for the free state government to accept his conditions as a basis of negotiation. would be completely to stultify itself; once more all the fat would be in the fire. The free state government has insisted that sur- render of the rebelsiarms’ must be a pre-con- dition of negotiation; De Valera's proclama- tion s quite silent on that head. It seems safe to predict that De Valera's astonishing proposals will promptly be rejected. The Irish free state has applied for ad- mission to the league of nations. A bill proposing total prohibition in Great Britain under the severest penalties was de- feated in the commons on April 20, 236 to 14. amid a good deal of merriment. A British admiral unkindly observed that “The Amer- icans has always broken his state laws, but never federal laws until they introduced prohi- btion. Now he would break anything." On April 26, Prince Albert, Duke of York, was married to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon; voungest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore. * % k X France.—Gen. Weygand has been appointed French high commissioner and commander-in- chief in Syria. There has of late been a corm- siderable reinforcement of the Turkish forces along the Syrian border. The appointment of Gen. Weygand to the Syrian post is generally thought to be of great significance, since the French government evidently regards him as, next to Foch, the greatest French soldier in active service. 111 health has compelled the return from Africa to France of Marshall Lyautey. It is thought that the marshal now retires pre- manently from active service, having acquired und deserved a_reputation equal to that of any colonial soldier or administrator in the world's history—name you Pompey. or Agrippa of Albuquerque, or Clive, or the Lawrences, or whom you will. * % X % Ttaly.—A fortnight or so a congress of the “popular” or “Catholic” party at Turin, pass- ed a resolution accepting temporarily the pro- gram of Fascismo, but intimitating that Fas- cismo was but “a passing phase” of Italian politics. Thereupon Mussolini called on the Catholic party members of his government— a minister and three under-secretaries—ex- plicitly te state whether or no they stood wholehcartedly for his policies. Those gen- tlemen, avoiding a declaration, resigned. Mus- solini held un action on their resignations pending action to be taken by the parliamen- rv group of the Catholic party. Now what Mussolini wanted of the parlia- mentiary group was what the Turin congress halked on wmiving. namely, approval of his project of electoral “reform.” the main fea ture of which proposes to give the party gain- ing a plurality at general election three- fifthe of the seats in the chamber—a proposal at first blush bizarre enough. but which has a very great deal to recommend it upon a close examination of the present state of Italian politics. The parliamentiary group meeting on April 20. vaguely declared their “willingness to examine the necessity for elactoral_reform in the light of new condi- tions.” Characteristically declaring that he hadn't time for interpretation of “rather ob- <cure documents.” Mussolini now accepted the resignations of the four members of his governmeit The situation that has developed is a s ous one. Should the Catholic party repre- sentatives in the' chamber. or indeed any con- siderable number of them. join the opposition, no_doubt Mussolini would ask the king to order general elections. for the Catholic party holds the balance in the present chamber. in which, anomalously enough. the fascistl dele- gates are in a small minority. (due to the fact that the chamber was elected hefore the fas- deprive him of his majority, and to compel him to resort to general elections. But it may also have another result, not less apparent. namely, the disruption of the Catholic party. T cannot state what the proportions are; but a considerable portion of that party are in ac- cord with Mussolin's policies, while the re- mainder, of whom the party chief, Don Stur- 20 is one, hold socialist views, and there is even a vermfllion-dyed group of mo-called Christian communists, though, to be sure these gentlemen wear their sickle with a difference. No doubt new elections would produce a cham- ber, with a fascisti plurality, but hardly a majority; so that Mussolini couid not yet abate much of his masterfulness. * k %k %k Russia.—According to the Associated Press the all-Russian communist party congress in session recently resolved on: “Firm adherence to the dictatorship of the proletariat; a strict government monopoly of foreign trade; partly direction of the economic reconstruction of the country,’and approval of the export of grain.” Krasin tried in vain to persuade the party to adopt a policy of compromise with the cap- italist nations, and non-interference of Eov- ernment with' ecnomic matters. The Rus- sian communists, it seems, are not willing to pay thp price demanded by the capitalist gov- ernmejts for recognition of the Russian soviet government. ~ They look to the east as the most promising field for their activitles. “Our aim in the east.” said Zinoviev. “is to revolutionize, and our aim in the west is to be the advance guard of the laboring class.” The trial of Patriareh Tikhon has been post- poned indefinitely. Interpret that, who can. * % % % Turkey.—Fouad Bey, a member of the Turk- ish national assembly, formerly a member of the Turkish government and now a special representative in this country of the Angora government, was the guest of honor at a din- ner at the Hotel Astor, New York city, on April 20, by the Federated Chambers of Com- merce of the near east. He and Rear Admiral Colby M. Chester, U. 8. N., retired, spoke about the Chester concessions. The admiral, as quoted in the press, de- clared himself strongly in favor of abolition of the capltulations in Turkey and in approval of Turkey's claim to _the Mosul region. “To sav that the Turks are not competent to direct their own laws is a fallacy.” said he. He thinks it absurd that the capitulations should be Imposed on “a state like Turkey, that has done such magnificient work in the last year. driving out three foreign foes, in- cluding Great Britain.” There are a good many persons who will question the correctness of the reference to Great Britain. The Lausanne conference was resumed on April 23 Mr. Grew, United States minister to Switzerland, is our chief “official observer” at the renewed negotiation. He made an fm- portant statement to the conferees on the 27th to the effect that the Unied States does not admit that the sublime porte, when in 1914 it declared the capitulations abolished, did in fact, abolish them, our government maintain- ing the general principle, that a treay can- not lawfully be terminated by the declaration of only one of the parties thereto. He added. however. that our government vas willing *“to consider at the appropriat ime a revi- sion of its treaties with Turkey.” by which ha doubtless meant that our government would like the allied governments, be willing to ac- cept certain guarantees in lieu of the capitula- tions. To which Ismet replied in effect: “Away with quiddities—the capitulatory rights were unilateral grants, and therefore could lawfully be abolished by unilateral de. laration. But, call em unilateral, or bilateral, or multilateral. or what you please, they were, in fact, abolished in 1914, and that's all there is to it”" There are those who say that the Turks were dreadfully shocked by Mr. Me- Grews declaration, having satiefied themselves that our government had been secured their firm ally through ratification of the Chester concessions. and would certainly not balk on the capitulations. with | ’gi\"mp: general continuation or trade | are enlarging their trade and | there are | compel you to take out a federal 1i- | “suspend aggressive action. soon as may be. Monday.” April 30. As De Valera's | the enacting clause was stricken out | in the House by a narrow majority of | nineteen. But the House of Repre- | sentatives of the Sixty-sixth Congress | ed the Volstead bill over Presi- | Wilson's veto by a two-thirds | And the Volstead law has ac- centuated the irritations and resent- ments of the people more than any other law enacted by Congress From the debate on the migratory bird bill and the result in the House, | it looks as though some of the r(‘P-‘ resentatives of the people are learn- ing of these resentments and are | profiting by thm. | Must Be Popular. | The Rev. Washington Gladden. one of the great preachers of the last| generation, years ago wrote: ny law. though framed by angels, that the people did not want and would not enforce, would not be a| good law for the people. Legislation | on moral questions must follow and | not try to force public opinion. The whole prohibitory movement puts | physical force at the front and sends moral force to the rear. This Is a fatal error. The new congress will be warned by administration leaders to go slow | and profit by these comments not to pass too much legislation—because an irritated people will soon have a ichance to express their dissatis- faction A Senate Commiittee Line-Up Is Vital (Continued from First Page.) | to Senator Sterling of South Dakota. | now head of, the committe on civil | service. Senmator Ball of Delaware, 13l be in line for the civil service chairmanship if he desires it. But Senator Ball is chairman of the Dis- trict committee and has taken a keen interest in District affairs and may | retain that chalrmanship. s { Senator Smoot of Utah falls heir to the chalrmanship of the Senate finance committee, which handles all tarift and revenue measures. He will give Up the chairmanship of the public lands committee, which probably will g0 to Senator Lenroot of Wisconsin. Senator La Follette of Wisconsin ranks next to Mr. Smoot on the | fnance committee. And the Wiscon- sin senator has ideas in regard to {{he revenue laws as distinct’ from those of the administration as are the ideas of Senator Borah in regard to foreign relations. Four republican vacancies are to be found in the finance committee, due to the retire- ment of Senators McCumber, Calder, Sutherland and Frelinghuysen. There is one democratic vacancy, created by the loss of Senator Willlams of Mis- | sissippi. 5 : | Senator Hiram Johnson of Caii- jfornia is slated to be chairman of {the committee on territories and in- :sular possessions, a chairmanship | formerly held bv Postmaster General Harry S. New. Legislation dealing with the Philippines, Hawalii, etc., 18 handled by this committee. Senator Oddie of Nevada will become chalr- man of the mines and mining com- mittee. Immigrants to U. S. 30,000,000 in 90 Years The population of the United States from 1830 to 1920 increased from around 12,000,000 to 105,000,000, and of this Increase it is estimated that 30,000,000 was due to net immigration from foreign countries. Some writers maintain that during this period the rate of incredse of native Americans fell off materially, and argue that if the flow of foreign- ers into the country had been cit off at the time of the revolution the nat- ural growth of population would have been maintained and would have given a population substantially equal tu Lhe present. 5 to take effect but not later than previous pronunciementos ) of all other medicines should be stopped as of ¢ oo aation). GIVE PATIENT HARDING’S ti had achieved an effective political organi- The situation may so develop as to defeat Mussolini's hope of getting hi form project passed by the present chamber. to clectoral re- A REST, F WORLD CURE| How the Story of a Successful Ohio Phy: sician May Have Affected Policy of the President. BY MARK SULLIVAN. HERE is a story known to all| the older generation of the | Ohio community in which | President Harding was born | and brought up, & story which became | one of the legends of that neighbor-| hood and which has a bearing on the present state of the world and Hard- ing’s relation to the world, and in which those who seek the key to some | aspect of Harding’s personality and philosophy of life may find interest and material for understanding some of | ! bis policies, as well as some of his | sllences and restraints. - A good many years ago, in the Miami valley of @hio, there lived a| doctor who came to such a degree of fame and fortune as impressed all the youths of the community and put them upon inquiry as to the secret of his success. And the story, as it became known to Harding and all the other young men of the neighborhood. rested upon a definite and stmple principle of life and conduct. This doctor, as a young.man, had come to the Miami valley from Penn- sylvania. He arrived among strang- ers, without means or reputation or friends, or any definite asset except the diploma which gave him the right to treat patlents as soon as he could | find any patients to treat. After a trying period of waiting the oppor- tunity came which gave the young stranger his start. 1t happened that one of the leading men of the community was sick—a man_so well known that the state of his health and the problem of curing him were of concern to everybody in the neighborhood. He and his family in their anxiety had called in every doctor known to them, until all the medical resources within a radius of fifty miles had been exhausted. When under all this treatment the patient became no better his family turned. with a misgiving that was overcome by the desperateness of the case, to the voung stranger. The latter, upon studying the case, came to the conclu- sion that the patient had been “over- doctored” and “overdrugged.” Having his conviction, the young doctor pre- | red a mixture of water, vinegar, salt and pepper and gave it to the patient's family, with a prescription which in- cluded’ these injunctions: That the use entirely, that the patient should be given a teaspoonful of the new “medi- cine” every two hours when he was awake, but that under no circum- stances should the patient, when slee] ing, be waked up for medicine or for any other purpose whatever. ‘With reasonable promptness, the pa- tient, under the combined effects of freedom from drugs, rest and immunity from interruption to his sleep, improved gradually to the point of complete re covery and lived many years as a monu- ment to the skill of the young doctor. The latter, with this happy start and by the continued practice of the same, kind of common sense, not only became know to the whole Miami Valley, but but actually became a national figure. It was the case of a man who founded a career on faith in the beneficent qual- ity of the normal operations of nature. * %k ¥ . This story is not a fable, but the actual record of a man who,-before his death some years ago, was known by name and fame to the entire, country. The tale was famjllar to| Harding as a young man. as it was to | everybody else in that part of Ohio. In fact, this is one of the homely st ries which Harding occasionaliy re- peats on appropriate occasions. It might not be too much to assume that his personal familiarity with this history of a life was an_essential | part of the education of Harding’s formative years and is a part of that philosophy of his which aspires toward “normalcy” and has faith that. | with time and rest and freedom from | too much doctoring and tinkering, | normalcy will come. * %k ok ok One part of this recipe for the cure | of sick men, or a sick world, Harding will never practice. Tt would be re- | pugnant to his nature to prescribe, as | a responsible statesman, even for a | beneficent purpose, the sort of thing which doctors quite properly use un- der the name of “placebos,” or “bread pills,” to satisfy the expectation of neurasthenic patients to be given some sort of medicine. Without mak- ing the faintest attempt at even an outline of a complete portrait of Harding, it can be sald that one of the most obvious of his qualities is a simplicity which includes both the unwillingness and the Inability to “fake.” When Harding was conducting his campaign for the presidency from his home in Marion it was his custom each morning to call in his helpers and go over the accumulation of things to be attended to during that day, the demands from here, there and everywhere, that he do or say this, that or the other. Some of those things were complex and bothersome —bothersome to a degree which re- duced some of Harding’s less placid, more nervous, helpers to something like the apprehension of despair. Harding used habitually to end those morning sessions with a sigh, which recognized the complexities involved in contradictory clamors from differ- ent leaders and different sections of but always with the “Well, we won't cheat ‘em, " The present writer hap- pens to know that it was this phrase, and the quality in Harding which it reflected, that converted to his sup- port a powerful person who had s rious misgivings about some -other aspects of Harding's personality and his position on public affairs, * K ok % Harding will never give the world any bread pills. There is not enough artfulness in him to prescribe any combination of vinegar and water and lead the public to think it will do what he knows it will not. The ex- tent to which Harding will ever imi- tate that Miami Valley doctor will be limited to basing his course on the theory that ‘the world is being “over- doctored,” and, for himself, going on the assumption that the best service he can do for the world is to refrain from adding anything more to the mass of drugs, panaceas and cure- alls. Harding will never “fake” the pub- lic_about anything. The furthest he will ever go toward lack of complete frankness is that he may not tell. the public how fully he relies on time to change the public’s mood akswt some- | thjs reliance of Harding's on | when It is difficult to see how that delic - ject of the Chester conces e ed. when the conferees come to deal with ar- ticle ninety-four. of the draft treaty which re- lates to concessions. ons can be avoid- thing. Harding relies a good deal on time. " Occasionally one suspects that he has among his mottoes that which says: “Time and I can win against any other two.” If Harding were al- ways to tell the public, on the occa- sicns when he is relying on the pas- sage of time to bring about a change in the public mood, some of the less patient among the public might feel that in this partnership between time and. Harding the junior partner throws rather too much work on the senfor one. But.”on the other hand, time and his complete confidence that time, coupled with silence on his part, will work changes in the public mood— other than this Harding will never give the public a picture of him other than he is. He will never try to as- sume a personality.which is not natu- rally his own. One of the things most frequently said in criticism of Harding, or as an expression of vexa- tion with him, is that he “ought to take a club to the Senate.”” But that is just what Harding will never do. He would not if he could, and he could not if he would. Men do not change their personalities at the age of fifty-six. Harding will go through to the end on his natural tempera- ment of tolerance, patience and reli- ance on time. By that he will stand or fall. * ok ok ok Harding will not even practice art to the perfectly proper extent of see- ing to it that the public gets an ac- curate impression of his personality and his ideas. That is what is meant it fs said occasionally that Harding should have a “publicity manager.” It is almost universal with men placed as Harding is to avail themselves of every legitimate device for seeing to it that their ideas and the true picture of their per- sonality get across to the public as they actually are. In the absence of such entirely legitimate devices as this and such completely proper care for making an accurate Impression on the public mind—when this sort of thing is left to haphazard acci- dent—it_ frequently follows that the public gets blurred and inaccurate impressions of public men, much to the disadvantage of the latter. But Harding s unwilling to practice even so much art as would be involved in glving thought to—as the expression is—*getting his personality across the footlights.” * ik x ok It is a fact that the public mood on any issue frequently changes. We have had & recent example of it in a case of the highest importance. Last December, when it became known that the French were considering go- ing Into the Ruhr, the practically universal reaction of public opinion in America was in the nature of se- vere disapproval. The demand was widespread that Harding and Hughes should do something to stop it. There was, indeed, a pretty trying period of three or four weeks for these two men. They were well aware of the state of public opinion throughout the country, and the clamor that they should, in the loose_common phrase, "do something.” But they were equally well aware that they could not prevent the action of the French. That action took place, and inside of six_weeks afterward the clear state of public opinfon in America was one of ‘overwhelming approval of what the French had done. Men less sure- footed than Hughes and Harding, men of less reliance on the course of refraining from attempting the im- possible, men less confident that time will approve what is best—such men, if they had been in the position of Hughes and Harding when they were under fire last Christmas, might have attempted something that would have had unhappy results. * * kX Of course, it is possible for Hard- ing, in going upon the theory that “the world is being overdoctored,” to fall into precisely the error which he seeks to avoid. It is p ible for this phrase itself, and reliance upon the "leor{ it implies, to become a cure-all of just the sort that Harding U. S. PARCEL POST HELPS DEVELOP, TRADE ABROAD System Increasing in Use and Statiétice on Value of Matter Exported Would Raise Trade Balance. BY BEN McKELWAY. HE United States parcel post system, which enables the farmer's hen to lay her eggs unbroken on the door step of the city man, and allows the city man to reciprocate by sending the farmer's hen everything she needs from an alarm clock to an incubator, is taking such 2 prominent part in developing this country's foreign trade that the Depart- ment of Commerce is anxious to obtain figures on it In dollars and cents, b lieving a favorable trade balance of the United States will be boosted ma- terlally thereby. Use of the parcel post in forelgn trade has grown by leaps and bounds In the past, and its future fs| bright. But while the Post Office De- partment keeps tab on the amount sent through the mails in pounds and ounces, nothing is known definitely of the value of goods sent abroad every year through the parcel post. This value runs high up in the millions of dollars. Post office officials estimate that 12.- 000,000 pounds of American goods will be sent through the parcel post to Mex- ico, Cuba, the West Indies, Central and South America, before the close of the present fiscal vear. This cstimate is based on figures now available, on past performances of the parcel post and what is known of the increase now be- ing brought about by continued and ex tensive use of the system. Last year the parcel post carried 31,000,000 pounds of American articles to every corner of the earth. In the years to come, Latin America will show an increasingly large proportion of the total. Conventions With Many The United States now has treaties, or conventions, with eleven countries in Latin America. These conventions have been ratified and are in actual use. The | pan-American parcel post convention, which was .signed in Buenos Aires in 1921, provides that all countries in Latin America may become signatory to this convention, and it is expected that within a short time the convention will cover every country in Central and South America. This agreement per- mits the shipments of packages up to twenty-two pounds in weight at the rate of 12 cents a pound, with extra charges for transshipping through an interven- ing country. The articles which may be sent are virtually unlimited, although each country may prohibit undesired commodities.” Argentina, for instance, has a violent disiike of brass knucks and stilettos, and will have none of them. Countries. Ady: Merchants in the United States are ntages in System. rectly in the hands of a consumer in a foreign land. with the assurance from governmental agencies that they will be delivered speedily, inexpen- sively and in & convenient form. The parcel post system has been described as the “advance agent trade.” Tt is being used extensively { by the merchant in the distribution of samples, for through the use of the parcel post the manufacturer can send his sample—sometimes a more con- !vincing =alesman than the human specimen—d foreign customer-to-be. Some instances show that a large trade in specialties is carried on ex- clusively through the parcel post. Razor blades for Mexico afford an ex- ample of the extensive use of the i parcel post and incidentally illustrate the need for tabulating the value of taking advantage of a system which | allows them to place their wares di-| of foreign|American countries. cctly to the door of his | goods eprrled through the mails from the United States. A Depart- ment of Commercd official recently quoted figures on exports in special tles, but declared he was unable to glve anything definite on razor blades for he had no idea how many had Dbeen sent through the parcel post The Department of Gommerce and the Post Office Department are now work Ing together to arrange a_systematic check on the value of mail exports Agreement With Cuba. One of the peculiar instances of the need exlisting for conventions similir to the ones now existing between th« United States and the majority of Latin American countries is shown in the present antiquated agreement he tween this country and Cuba. The manufacturer in the United Statec cannot send a package to Cuba which weighs more than four pounds ®ix ounces. Although Cuba lies within easy flying distance of the United States, and while the United Stat has built up a tremendous trade wili her in commodities most casily car ried through the mails, an arrange ment ‘which would. raife the weigi limit on goods exchanged between th« two countries through the parcel pos is hopelessly deadlocked. The explu nation lies in a provision in the tariff laws which. prohibits imports of cigars. cigarettes and cheroots intc the United States in packages lesc than 3.000. The clause is, of course put there as a protection for the cigur and cigarette manufacturers in the United who would howl wiih dismay if Cuba began sending neat little packages of smokables into t United States through the parcel pos Cuba Unwilling to Listen. Every time a manufacturer in United States comes to the Post Office Department and- asks why, in the name of common sense, he must send a pair of shoes in two packages to u big-footed customer in Cuba, when these shoes, by raising the weight limit, might just as easily go throug} the mails in one package, the Post Office Department sighs sympathet ically and refers the saddened manu facturer to the men who make the tarift laws. For Cuba, knowing t advantage of the parcel post American manufacturers, turns a dea! and heedless ear to the overtures of the Post Office Department for agreement—until the tarift laws ar» revised again, Cuba remains the only country on the globe which refuses to co-operate with the United S in raising the weight limit and other- wise expediting the delivery of par- cel post mail. And Cuba’s position is justified, in the opinion of many, br cause of the virtual embargo against sending her chief product through the mails into this countrs Specialize on Latin America. While the parcel post system covers the world, the United States Post Of fice Department is joining hands with other far-sighted agencies and con centrating on improving the mail and parcel post services with the Latir Latin Amerlca is the natural field for the United States in developing its trade, and the parce! post is an important factor in this de- Velopment. Postal conferences held }in the past have done much towarc menting relations between the Americas. The desire at these confer- ences has been to scrve the public in- | terest, and the conferees have there fore been able to work in close amity The postal officials of all lands re- gard themselves as public servants and their methods, their attitude anc the results of their labors all work for a broader spirit of friendship an¢ co-operation. cannot at all conditions say being . overdoc from. You times and under all that “the world is tored” and let it go at that. are times and conditions when the World needs doctors who use Strong medicines, and deep-cutting surgeons The presence of some such bold doc- tor in 1914 might have prevented the war. It was audacious and much- needed surgery on the part of Wilson that took America into the war, and to that extent worked a cure earlier than otherwise would have come. Now, the present may or may not be the sort of time and condition that calls for strong medicine and cour- ageous surgery. But the fact is that, for good or for ill, two of the points of highest leverage in the world are now occupied by men who are going on the theory that the world has been overdoctored; that what is needed for healing is tlme and the curative effects of letting things take their course to their natural ends. these men is Harding: the other is Bonar Law. It has been the policy of both of them, once the French deter- mined on their Ruhr action, to let events take their course; to refrain from talking or advising. The Ruhr action, once it had been taken, be came a contest of moral and econon endurance between France and Ger- many; so, whatever is the outcome of that tug-of-war of morale, the Ruhr situation must go on without inter- ference from outside. * k X X It is ‘apparent that the American government will never take any initiative toward ending the situation in the Ruhr. Not only will America not take any initiative on its own part; it will not yield to any solici- tation to intervene which comes from only one of the parties involved in the controversy. The present tension be- tween France and Germany is a new phase of that series of events which started with the opening of the war. It is a phase in which two nations have tense relations with each other. For an .outsider to take any steps upon the solicitation of one of the contestants would be to bring us the i1l will of the other for a generation to come. When the northern and southern parts of the United States were in the tenseness of civil war Great Britain yialded to the tempta- tion to take steps which were inter- preted by the north as favorable to the south. That action on the part of Great Britain led to a hostility against her from the American public that lasted for nearly a generation. The lesson of this is too fresh in the American mind to permit us to make the same mistake in relation to the present tenseness between France and Germany or between France and Great Britain. The situation between these two nations must work out to jts natural end. America will not intervene except upon an invitation in which both parties join or as part of some broader settlement of world affairs. shrink * ok Kk x As regards Great Britain's relation to the Ruhr situation and her rela. tion to France it is a fact that this situation, by virtue of the policy of the new prime minister, Bonar Law, is working out wholesomely. When France made its final determination to go into the Ruhr the British gov- ernment stepped aside, and ever since has refrained from tendering advice and from any other sort of action. As a result, the hostllity between Great Britain and France, which ever since the war has been one of the World's sorest spots, i8 now subsiding toward calmness and cure. Bonar Law is of the Harding temperament There | One of | and the Harding philosophy. He is | the sort of doctor who, as to events he can not prevent, lets them take their course. The contrast betweer | Bonar Law and his predecessor, Lloyc George, is the cause of the gradually approaching betterment of relation: etween Great Britain d France he tension between those countries | was largely due to the fact that Lioy George had the sort of temperamoent that is his. Lloyd George could never |let a sianation rest. It was his con |stant talking and advising that irri- |tated the French and provoked | reprisals. Lloyd George had the tem- perament that could not see a situs I tion without wanting to do something | about it. * % % It would be unfair and misleading |to say these things about Loy | George without admitting the contri- bution he made toward winning tiie war. But those quick, volatile quall- ties that made him useful in meeting |and surmounting crisis after crisic | while the war lasted were precisels |the qualities that made him less |avallable as a leader in the period |after the war ended. His contribu- il[ons to activity were immense. But | to stability he could contribute noth- ing. Lloyd George once sald of himselt during the war that it_was his busi- ness to keep the ship afloat, regardless of direction. and that any char against him of inconsistency or insta- bility were minor compared to his great service of some how preventi the ship from sinking. In the eff to keep it afloat he regarded it as legitimate to stay on the bridge all the time himself and to take advén- tage of any and every wind that blew But these qualities, and the regol- lection of his performance during the war, disturbed the confidence of the world in him and impaired his use- fulness in a time when the world needed and longed for. not action, but rest. One of the wisest of living statesmen remarked the other day that the greatest landmark since the war ended, the definite turning point of the world toward peace and sta- bility, was marked by the passing of Lloyd George and by the substitution for him of a man of calmer tempera- ment and less hectic activity in the person of Bonar Law. Standard Envelopes. Public Printer. Proposes Central- izing of Orders. Along with the centralization of paper purchases and storage in the government printing office- should come similar supervision over the procurement of envelopes. This has been recommended to Congress by George H. Carter, the public printer. In compliance with an almost ob- solete provision of law, for many years envelopes used by the depart- ments and other establishrpents of the government have been purchased un- der contracts awarded by the Post OF fice Department. The specifications and estimates for these envelopes are drawn by an interdepartmental com- mittee of government clerks who otherwise have little or nothing to do with paper specifications and prac- tically no knowiedge of the require- menis of this office for envelopes suit- able for printing purposes. The resuit has been that frequently envelopes are unfit for the work of the office, o do not match paper bought efther un- der the schedule of the government printing office or of the general sup- ply committee.