Evening Star Newspaper, June 30, 1923, Page 6

G THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. WASHINGTON, D. C. . .June 30, 1928 THEODORE W. NOYES.. ‘The Evening Star Newspaper L‘;mp-n)' Business Office, 11th 8t. and Pennsylvania Ave. ew York Office: 150 Nunsau St Chicago Office: Tower Building. Buropean Office: 16 Regent St., Londen, Bagland. The Evening Star, with the Sundny mi edition, 18 delivered by carriers within the cits ) cents per month: daily onl tionth; Su ¥, 20 cents per month, Or- jers may be sent by mall, or telephione Mal 5000, " Collection fs wmade by carrie end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginin. Daily and Sunday.. Daily only Sunday only Daily and Sunday Daily only. Sunday only’ Member of the Associated Press, Thy Associated Press Is exclusively entitied to the use for republication of all news d T 1t o not otherwise cradit Taper and aiso the local nmewa pu lished berein. 1 «pecial dispatches borein are also reserved. Prohibition and Politics. The council of state superintendents and leaders of the Anti-Saloon League Lus been In session recently at Wester- ville, Ohio. It has been engaged chief- ¥ in the work of outlining plans for the fight which it is recognized gen- erally is to be conducted by the dr forces throlxhout the country for the maintenance of the prohibition law and for its enforcement. A report has come from that point which is of more than passing interest, and has a bear- ing upon the political aspect of the liquor issue. It appears that the lead- «rs of the league regard Willlam Jen- nings Bryan as no longer an asset. One reason is that Bryan's recent un- successful campaign for election as oderator of the Pre ian Church weakened his influence with the church forces, and further that his ut. terances on the subject of evolution ive aused additional friction. Furthermore, Bryan is so definitely a de that, it reported, the ague is afraid that will tag the dry organization anti-republican, while the fact is that the league poli- ticians are strongly in favor of fol lowing President Harding's enforce- ment policies and throwing off all al- legiance with the democrats. At the sanie time the executive com mittee of the league has decided not to request t conventions of the major political partics to adopt dry jatform planks. The league will con- tinue its policy of working for the nomination and election of candidates favorable to prohibition and the ef- fective enforcement of the law. Recently at French Lick Springs. ind.. evidences appeared that the democratic s decidedly averse to any m to hook up their party with the wet cause. Cic Smith of w York went there f¢ conference—under cover of a vacs ~—fresh from signing the enforcement law repea and quickly learned that his action was seriously em- barrassing to his party. A merely ttitude on the subject of enforcement will not suf- fice. The Anti-Saloon League may not seek the adoption of positive planks, hut so marked is the issue in the pub. lie mind on the subject of enforcement that the partles cannot avoid some ex- presstons upon it. Silence is certain to e construed as a “sign of wet,” as the farmer weather prophets used to say. There is every indication that the re- publican platform will contain a dis- tincl dry plank. The President has sounded a note in his Denver speech, and the party cannot well repudiate him in its deliverance a year hence, ely to desire to do so. is repudiated or cold- shouldered by the Anti-Saloon League he will doubtless continue as a cru- sader in the dry cause. He will un- doubtedly go to the next democratic convention to fight for the adoption of a plank as strong as any that the re- publicans can frame. He is too old and 100 sincere a fighter for prohibition to be swerved now from that cause by any slight that may be put upon him by an organization. —————— The lamb who has suffered in the crash of a bucket shop is only sec- ondarily interested in the court pro- cedures contemplating punishment. What he would like to see is some chance of getting his money back. ————————— President Rea, having had a long experience, candidly permits himself to think he knows more about running a railroad than the Railway Labor Board. nocrat is lead dispos 3 tion New High in Water Consumption. During the recent hot spell the daily consumption of water in Washington ran close to the carrying power of the single conduit from Great Falls and the capacity of the reservoirs and the filtration plant. On one day the water consumption was approximately seven- ty-six and one-half million galions, which was a larger amount than ever Defore consumed in Washington in one day. The statisticlan of the water system shows that in round figures it was e million and a half gallons more than the amount drawn off in any other day of thé June sizzard, five million gallons greater than on any day in 1918 and 1919, nine millions greater than on any day in 1920, three and a half mlillions greater than on any day in 1921 and eight millions greater than on any day in 1922. It is not said that the seventy-six and odd million gallons drawn on the record day In June, 1923, was in ex- cess of the capacity of the plant which supplies Washington with water,. but it is belleved that this was the case, and that if such a supply had been called for during two or three days in succession, or if heavy demands had been made for water by the fire de- partment, it would have been nece sary to enforce economies in water such as Washington has never known. ‘There can be no guarantee against the recurrence of the kind of weather which lately oppressed Washington, and at any time the demand for water may exceed the supply. Steadily for more than a quarter of a century the demand for water has been gaining on the capacity of the Editor 45 cents per rights of publication of | | Mr. Hilles thinks it i __THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, SATURDAY, JUNE' 30, 1923 e e ———— e conduit and reservolrs, and the many dangers of the situation have been pointed to by District officials, by vari- ous engineers who have inquired into the matter and by the civic hodles of the capital. At various times it has ‘been necessary to command economies by citizens in the use of water, even though they pay for the water they use. Public fountains have been shut off and restrictions have been placed upon the use of water for lawne and flower beds. ‘The danger of exceeding the capac- ity of the water plant or of some in- terruption of the flow through the single old conduit which serves us Is still present, and will be with us untit the second conduit now building is completed and the storage capacity of the reservoirs is increased. It was a great victory in getting the appro- priation for setting under way the work of bullding the new conduit and reservoirs, and it was a victory that was won with great exertion and after many delays and disappolntments. Washington has played in good for- tune in that no accident has happened to the long condult from Great Falls, which has been working for consider- ably more than half a century, and which for many years has been operat. ing s0 near capacity that it could not be unwatered for inspection. Taking Ford Seriously. That the political managers of the two old parties arve taking Henry “urd’s presidential boom seriously is increasingly manifest. In the past month several prominent men in both the democratic and republican parties h movement in behalf of Mr. Ford must not be whistled down the wind. The latest utterance upon the subject comes from Charles D. Hilles, repub- lican mnational committeeman from New York, and prominent in the in- ner councils of the republican national management, in a vein of admonition revealing that he entertains real ap- prehension of gthe Ford boom getting out of hand and swamping all other cundidates, recognized and possible. L statement given to the press v Mr. Hilles employs terms of vitriolic comment upon Mr. Ford's fit. ness for the high office to which he as- pires. Mr. Hilles designates him as a mere bag of gold who knows nothing about anything except to muke auto- mobiles, and then the commentator “branches out from that” to say @ number of unpleasant things about the subject of his roasting statement. Mr. Hilles realizes the source of Mr. Ford's strength with the everyday masses, who do not o deeply into the vesponsibilities of the office of Chief { Executive of the United States or |analyze Mr. Ford's capacity as shown { by his utterances and his rec So i often one hears the trite statemeng, | “Well. Ford hax made a mighty suc ssful business man. and T dont see why he would not make a good Presi- dent.” time that the voters should be brought up with a round turn to take these elements into consideration before they lend them- elves to the movement to make Henry Ford President, which is being con- ducted by skilled political manipula- { tors, accerding to all the surface signs and outcroppings. The Chicago Trib- {une takes another tack in combating the Ford boom: it scoffs and jeers at him and tries to make him ridiculou Both plans may have thelr merits in seeking to disparage him before the {voters. In the meantime Mr. Ford is getting an extensive line of publicity. ! A Secref ‘Worth a Fortune. The old saying that women cannot | keep secrets has been often refuted. | but never more emphatically than by o case that has just come to light in New York through a settlement in the surrogate's court of the estate of the widow of William B. Smith, valued at about $3,000,000. She made her son the principal beneficiary, and estab- lished a life trust of $600.000 for her granddaughter. The latter entered & claim for half the estate, based upon an agreement between her and her uncle, the heir, to the effect that if she kept the secret of his marriage to an opera singer he would spiit even with her on his mother’s death. When the lnld lady died, and the will was filed, the granddaughter was allotted her fixed share, and then presented her claim to half. Evidently her agree- ment was in such form that the court could not ignore it, and now she has been admitted to the ownership of $1,500,000, which is a fair price for so important a secret. This case should be widely pro- claimed. Women have too long suf- fered under the implication of being “'sieves.” They are no more garrulous than men. The temptation to tell in- teresting things is no more strongly felt by one sex than the other. Some of the worst gossips in the world ar men. To be sure, there is not alway a money inducement for secret-keep- ing as in this case. Probably anybody would maintain silence for a million and a half, however delectable the morsel of news. The citizen of a foreign country who has to take a bale of paper currency to buy a sausage or a cabbage natu- rally laughs sarcastically when he hears talk about the high cost of living in the T. S. A. Occasionally a college president creates a difficult situation by declin- ing to follow the well marked path of learning and dabbling in intellectual side lines. Not only ghould the bridge between the producer and consumer he made shorter, but the tolitakers should be more carefully supervised. Uncle Sam’s Dry Ally. Great Britain's position in regard to the ships which bring liquor into the United States is gravely complicated by certain conditions in the insular colonies that make it impossible for the government at London to stand rigidly against the enforcement of the American law. One of these is the looseness with which clearance papers are issued in the British West -Indies and Bahamas. Another factor is that bootleggers or their agents in America have been buying sailing craft in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Burope © admonished their fellows that the ! for their trafic end having them temporarily placed on the British reg. ister. Again stands the fact that there has been an undeniable and heavy direct trafiic in liquor from British ports to the United States. All these things demonstrate that ships flying the British flag and plying from British ports are engaged in smuggling liquor into the United States against the law, which provides for the séizure and confiscation of all craft which ere thus employed. The government at London is up against the embarrassing fact that the Amer- lcan law, which it must recognize, makes no discrimination against small ships In favor of large, against single cargo craft and general cargo liners. Steps, it is stated, have been taken to prevent the issue of bogus clearance papers in the West Indles and Ba- hamas, and to scrutinize all manifests, There is no mention in the dispatches of contemplated means to check the granting of British registry to sailing ships bought in Europe for the boot- legging traffic. But it is indicated in the cable reports that Great Britain now realizes that in order to maintain its position In favor of the entry of Britlsh liners into American ports with liquor on board for return voyage con-. sumption it must at least do something to check the dliicit traffic between its ports and the United States under its flag. In short, the British government is in a difficult position of having to aid the United Stutes in the prevention of the liquor traMc If it would main- tain the right of its mercantile marine to enter American ports with liquor stores designed solely for ship use —————— Maine calmly insists on being classi- fled as a prohibition state, in spite of the insistence of wet skeptics that there cannot be any such thing. Eva- slons of the law are individual demon- strations, and do not define a public polley. —_—————————— The Ringling circus is going to build an arena to cost seven and a half mil- lion dollars. Whatever doubts may be expressed about America’s love of art there is no doubt that we love enter- tainment and are willing to pay for it. ——————— The chairman of the republican na- flonal committee creates no great sur- prise by admitting women to confer- ence. If he had tried to keep them out it would be something to talk about ————————— The public has the right and the ability to protect itself from profiteer- ing, but owing to the human inclina- tion to ship responsibilities, not the necessary patience and industry. B Paris does not hesitate to remind | the Rubr that it 1s getting the reputa- tion in France of being one of the most inhospitable places on earth. | - —————— e After the courteous yet emphatic warnings they have had, foreign ships will doubtlesis make it a point of polite- |ness to avold carrying lquids that Iwm call for search. { ————— After having had governments worse than none at all, China makes a step toward improvement by trying none at all. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON A Fiji Arbitration. | Two ¥1ji men loved a Fiji maid { Each tinkled a light guitar. ]Bu( she didn't care for the serenade, | she was coy, as most maidens are. So they talked together, those Fiji men, And agreed that the maid was sweet; They said it once, and they said it again— She was sweet enough to eat! They “roasted” her for her fickle smile, Till weary of dull despair, They gathered some wood and in an- cient style They roasted the girl for fair. And when they had finished the strange repast They wandered along the beach, ‘With each other they now agreed at last And the lady agreed with each. The Fiji elders declared “They set An example to all the state. In an obstinate case, they serenely met And endeavored to arbitrate.”™ The Pre.-Eminent Pup, { Europe this summer. | | | WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS ' BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE President Harding’s proposal of a selt-perpetuating bench of world court judges, divorced and detached from the league of nations, is som what paralleled by a projected Sen- ate reservation. The latter providi for election of judges by the foreign diplomatic corps stationed at The Hague. This consists of virtually every nation in the world, regardlei of whether it belongs to the league or not. The proponents of the reser- vation assert it amputates the world court from the league even more ef- fectually than the Harding plan. The latter, after all, contemplates per. petuation of the hench by “creatnres’” of the league, while The Hague diplo- mats directly represent their govern- ments, large and small. and would vote as a corps altogether indepen- dent of the Geneva organization’ segregation of member nations into first and second class states. * ok K % Albert D. Lasker, just retired from two years of trouble and turmoil at the Shipping Board, is going Into the newspaper business gooner or later. His immediate plans call for a vaca- tion trip to Furope on the maiden voyage of the Leviathan, afterward for a rest at his home near Chicago. then a couple of vears of Intensive rehabilitation of his neglected ad- vertising business, and finally a plunge Into metropolitan fjournalism o< n nublisher. Just where he will dig fn has not yet been determined. News- paper owning ix reslly Lasker's flrst love. He was a_ boy editor and boy publisher in Galveston at the pre- coclous age of fifteen, and never ceased to hanker for return to the journalistic game. TLasker still is on the sunny side of fifty. He is several times a milllonaire, and has an amaz- ing varfety of business interests, but is far from feeling that his energies are occupled. *oxoxox The southwestern corner «* [daho, which President Harding crossed this weel, s almost as thoroughly iden- tifled with Mormonism as the ad- jacent state of TUtah. Five whole countles are practically dominated by the co-religlonists of Reed Smoot and William H. King. in both an economic and political sense. They are. like Ttah, also important sukar- beat preducing reglons, and don't Iike “BIll" Borah because the Idaho Demosthenes opposed the Fordney- McCumber tariff rates on sugar. The co-operative marketing idea has strong adherents In that section, which explains the President’s choice of Tdaho as a forum for discussion of the profect on which American agri- culturists are concentrating deep at- tention nowadays. * ok ok K Albert B. Fall, formerly Secretary of the Interfor. is among the innu- merable host of American visitors to In London the other day Mr. Fall gave a striking interview on the controversy which has arisen over seizure of liquor on foreign ships in American ports. He predicted that a treaty arrangement with Great Britaln and other Eur pean powers is “tha only way out, because “it is evident that the Ameri- can liquor polley fs simply forelgn reprisals” Fall expressed confidence that “some amendment to the Volstead act will ultimately be inviting | adopted, whereby ths sale of 1 wines and beer will be permitted. * k¥ There's no let-up in the exodus of distinguished Americans European- bound in quest of up-to-date impres- slons “over there.” The latest recrult to join the exploration forces 1s Theodore E. Burton of Ohlo, who knows his old world well from many trips In former days to study rivers @nd harbors condition. He sails on July 14 and will tour Great Britaln, France, Germany, Denmark and Hol- land. The annual conference of the Inter-parllamentary union at The Hague 1s the immediate occasion of the former senator's trip. Burton looks forward keenly to a visit with Stanley Baldwin, the new British prime minister. They Lecame well acquainted in Washington last win- ter during the debt funding parley. at which Burton was the spokesman of the House of Representatives. * % ok ¥ Interesting new developments in domestic prohibition enforcement are In prospect at Detroit—one of the wettest areas in the country. Earl J. Davls, United States attorney for southern Michigan, plans to stamp out “blind-plgs” “speak-easys” and other camouflaged =aloons by pro- ceeding legally against the owners of the property on which such nulsances are maintained. Not only in Detroit, but in all the big citles, so-called drug stores are conducted, the main business of which is notoriously the retailing of hard liquor, either on prescriptions or without them. Own- ers of property have discovered that fabulous rénts can be commanded for leases. especlally in working-class neighborhoods. Mr. Davis thinks that if landlords can be shown to demand and to be receiving abnormally high rentals, as compared to adjacent roperty not used for Arink-purvey- ng, “collusion” can be established within the meaning of the prohibi- tion statutes. In such cases offend- ing propertv owners can be prose- cuted not only for conspiracy to vio- late federal Jaws, but also for fllicit collusion. The experiment fs bound to be watched with country-wide fn- terest. New York city s full of cor- ner “drug stores” which pay sky-high rentals * x o x Dr. Sidney L. Gulick, who s prop- agandizing {n Tokio for a Japanese- American joint high commlission, Is the missionary son of missionary par- ents and was born in the Marshall Islands in mid-Pacific. They were German then and are Japanese man- dated territory now. A Dartmouth College graduate, Gulick has been actlve in the foreign misslonary fleld for nearly forty vears, having begun Japan. For six years professor of theology in 3 at the Imperial University in Kyoto." A dozen ho on oriental racial, religious and political themes Lave come from Dr. Gulick's pen. One of them is entitied “The White Peril in the Far East His sym- pathies are enthusiastically pro-Jap- anese *ox o * “Col” Matt Tighe, dean of State Department correspondents, depre- cates the idea of war with Great Britain over ship liquor. “Ireland’s on England’s side this time,” ob- served Matt yesterday. “and that'll make a difference.” (Copyright, 1928.) EDITORIAL DIGEST . Politics Flavors Comment on Presi- dent’s World Court Plan. Edltors positively refuse to agree on the effect of President Harding's world court address. Political opind ion, for the most part, seems to dom- inate the analysis, aithough the pros and cons of the league of nations of necessity enter into the argument. There also s a general disposition to question whether the President’s lat- est proposal is practicable. In this connection the Baltimore Sun (democratic) says: “The only way to find out is to inquire. On the whole, Mr. Harding, though he may have washed his hands of the decision— by putting It up to the Senate— puts his party assoclates in some- thing of a quandary. He has made the issue. Can they safely ignore it, or can they defy it?” The fact that the “President has dared to challenge the judgment of public men prominent in his own party” s worth noting In the opinion of the Minneapolis Tribune (inde- pendent), as is the fact “that in these differences has held his ground consistently.” But his latest pro- “would wreck” the world court, as the Newark News (inde- pendent) sees it, and it insists “some of his party leaders have brandished a club at him and he has bowed him- Self to the ground before them. For such a self-perpetuating, closed cor- poration of international judges as e proposes, inimical to the genius of the court as it exists, inconsiderate of the small powers and a menace to itself, enthusiasm is impossible. Shall ‘we not sa: Better no court at all than such an obsolete, big power star chamber as he advocates. With this speech vanishes any bellef that in- ternational co-operation for peace and justice will ever be secured out | of the republican party under fts present leadership. The party is big- “No man can expect to be treated | ger than peace and the ‘old guard’ is like a household pet,” said Mr. Meek- ton. “But your wife evidently thinks a lot of you. Bhe's telling everybody you are a good husband.” . “Yes. She has to admit it. I got up from a sick bed last night to go out and look for a dog doctor.” Jud Tunkins says a man who com- plains that he can’t believe what he reads is to blame for picking the wrong kind of reading. Aerial Complications. ‘When mighty airships fill the sky Until in shoals they dimit— How will we manage when we trp To fix the twelve-mile limit? Professional Jealousy. “Do you regard motion pictures as educational?” “Yes,” replied Mr. Stormington Barnes, “to some extent. A successful star has to learn a lot of arithmetic in order tb count up his salary, Theory and Practice. “Doctors say & man ought to live a hundred and fifty years.” “Yes. But they can't convince the life insurance companies.” Wear and Tear. “For how long do you guarantee this watch?" “It depends,” replied the jeweler, ‘on whether you live in a daylight- saving neighborhood and have to wear it out resetting it.” “When e man keeps talkin' "bout hisselt,” sald Uncle Eben; “he gits to be about as companignable as & fiddle player wif only one tune.™ the party.” This is very much the view of the Springfield Republican (independent), which holds 'a self-perpetuating court would always be exposed to attack. Is It conceivable that the American people would ever tolerate & supreme court of justice whose membership was renewed by the bal- lots of the judges themselves? The world court has come to a sorry pass if it must be thus constituted in order to appease the country that claims to be the most democratic in the family of nations. “However, the President is confl- dent as to the consequences,” in the opinion of the Philadelphia Bulletin (independent republican), “and much credit is to be given to his intimate knowledge of the situation. The sin- cerity and earnestness of his desire to unite In this world movement for adjudication of International conse- quences cannot be questioned. The essential thing is that the United States join hands with other natlons. He would be willlng to sign the pro. tocol as it stands If necessary to ac- complish that object. And he seems to believe that "other governments holding the same faith as to the es. sentlal in view, will be willing to waive much, If necessary, in order to achleve it. And, in truth, the Pres- ident's suggestions do not affect the plan of the court in any vital part of its purpose and mission.” The Waterbury Republican (re- publican) holds that “the republican majority In the Senate can accept Mr. Harding as the leader of the party, or it can repudiate him. But they cannot repudiate him on the ground that he has been dictatorfal. 1If his assoclates reject his court proposal next December it will be because they wish America to be a hermit na. tlon.” To this the New York Evening World (Independent democratic) adds that the President “has proved the continued earnestness and sincerity of his wish to sea the United States participate in the court. One way or another the United States should go into the court. President Harding is right about this and we are glad he sticks to it. But it is pretty painful hearing him figure how to get Hiram Johnson in too.” While there can be no question, as the Hoboken Ob- server (independent) analyzes the situation, that the President “wants to harmonize the opposing elements in the Senate and arouse a favorable public sentiment In favor of partict pating in the world court, it will have to be a pronounced favorable senti- ment to sway the radical senators Wwho regard the court as a permanent part of the league organization. The “facts do not warrant the President’s declaration that American membership in the league of nations is as dead slavery,” Insists the Brooklyn Eagle (independent demo- cratic), which argues the President is now endeavoring to show a way out to “John T. Adams and the dle-hard menators. They have warned him and pleaded with him fn vain. But they will prevent his nomination if they can. Mr. Harding's sincerity and earnestness are beyond question. But his proffer of peace is hopelessly futile. The President will have to go on with the flght or quit cold and turn the republican party over to Adams, Munsey and Johnson." The New York Tribune (republican) also insists the league Is “not dead” and argues “the court needs no such de- fense. We can join the court and stay out of the league to the end of time, and onl{ people afrald of their shadows require this assurance. But the effort of the President is gen- erous and sound and he deserves the support of every open-minded cit- 1zen. IN A FEW WORDS. Some crities think that calling a few hard names does for a thing. That elevating their noses elevates thelir points of view. —RUPERT HUGHES. A nation’s strength s tested not by numbers but by the proportion of people of ability which it contains. —DR. GEORGE B. CUTTEN (Colgate). In a thoroughly civilized world men should get their amusement or & great part of it in the earning of thelr bread. —REV. A. W. FLETCHER. 1 am opposed to American office- holders going to Europe and coming back and -shooting off their bazoos about how Europe should be run. —SENATOR ASHURST (Arizona). ‘We English could not believe before the war that Germany was as stupldly bad as she told us she was, and now we cannot belleve that France is as stupidity had as Poincare tells us she is. ~—JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES. The most exalted function of the politiclan is to teach the people what government is best for them. —LLOYD GEORGE. Germany is a very remarkable c - try, but she has one great defect, that of underestimating her enemlies. She always looks upon them as much ‘weaker or much more stupld than they really are. —RAYMOND RECOULY. ‘We do not need more government— we need more cultare. W do ‘not need more_law—we need more religion. ~—VICE PRESIDENT COOLIDGE. I am afrald progress in Ameri has gone beyond civilization. Amers ica will riever be civilized in the real sense unless she decentralizes. She is not a world to herself, but part of & whole. —MARGOT ASQUITH. I am redoing the Bible and reduc- ing it to 120,000 words for those r.opln who fight shy of it beca t is the Bible, but who like a good story as well as anybody else. HENDRICK VAN LOON. In her desire to bring about the separation of the Rhineland France aliows nothing for race. The Rhine- lander is not a Prussian and does not love Prussia. If any one can make him love' Prussia, it will be France. —J. L. GARVIN. The Library Table BY THE BOOKLOVER ‘There is perha)s no country in the world on which is centered so much general interest as Russ: Probably more questions are raised about it, and as yet most of them' remain un- answered. More books, magazines, pamphlets and newspaper articles, I suppose, have Russia for thelr sub- Ject than any other country; but most of them are under suspicion of being propaganda, or at least of being col ored according as the source s rad- ical or reactionary. If not that, then the author is suapected of being ill or misinformed. In view of this mass of specia] pleading and of ignorance or worse, it is a rellef to find such a book as ' “Autocracy and Revolution in Ru: by Baron Sergius A. Korff, professor of political sclence in the School of Foreign Service of George- town Univers! and recently elected professor of eastern European history at Columbia University. Baron Korft is the same time a Russian who was In Petrograd at the time of the revolution, a trained historian and political scientist with a grasp of world history and political move- ments, and a thoroughgoing liberal without being a radical. In this briet volume of lectures before col- lege audiences he gives satisfactory answers to a number of important questions. * K ok % ‘With his broad and {ntimate knowl- edge of Russlan history, and political and soclal Institutions, and his ability to compare them with the historical development of other countries, Baron Korff traces the recent history of Russia and draws parallels with the breakdown of autocracy elsewhere, particularly in France. He attributes the downfall of Russian autocracy, which had for some time been In & process of decay, to contact with the more liberal systems of the west; to the progressive !mpoverishment of the nobility and its struggle with the bureaucracy, and the hatred for both classes on the part of the people; to the emancipation of the serfs and thelr dissatisfaction with their con- ditfon of landlessnese. and to the jolt glven to the autocracy by the defeat suffered at the hands of Japan. The exhibition of incompetence and de- moralization revealed in that war, combined with ruthlessness on the part of the “political police” In peace time and the Russification of non- Russian races in the empire, caused S0 much unrest among the people as to compel some slight democratic concessions. “The granting of a con- stitution in 1805, says Baron Korfr, “was the death-knell of the regime. He attributes the violence of the revo- lution when it finally came to the facts that it was artificlally held back for a decade and that the great war brought with it more terrible forces of demoralization and destruction. He thinks the revolution might have been avolded had autocracy itself dis- appeared; that is, had the old regime honestly accepted in 1905 its own end and sincerely permitted the develop- ment of a parliamentary system. *x xx From Baron Korff's chapter on the Russian peasant I was particularly glad to learn more of the Russian village commune or mir, which the bolehevists have claimed formed the natural basis for the communistic system. He shows that the mir was really a part of former serfdom, that it had been a foremost weapon in the hands of the autocracy fn asses: ing and levying taxes and In recrul ing the army, and that even before the war there had been a consider- able movement in the direction of private land ownership on the part of the peasants, who welcomed the op- portunity of "buying themselves out of the commune,” so that the mir had actually disappeared in some parts of Russia, and was fast disappearing elsewhere. To the peasants the revo- {lution largely meant not simply more iland, but the private ownership of it. Since the peasants constitute 85 per cent of the population, and they jn- tend to keep the land they have grabbed, Baron Korff belleves that communism s doomed, and that the peasant is probably the most hopeful factor which will produce in_future Russia a stable government. He even thinks that “the Russian peasant may become a very conservative and reactionary force in politics.” * % % Baron Korff's chapters on the events of the revolution and on the part that Germany played in it are particularly satistactory. He sets forth with im- partiality the arguments for and against the theory that Germany created or originated the destructive bolshevik movement. His final chap- ter, giving some lessons of the Rus- slan revolution, Is most instructive, for in it he makes comparisons with the American and French revolutions, He believes that the Russian revolu- tion has brought with it some im- provements in the social order that have come to stay, and that are im- portant and useful acquisitions, as well as gome destructive forces which he hopes will be eliminated. Bolshev- ism he regards as a pathological ex- crescence on the body of the revolu- tion, and compares it to the reign of terror of the French revolution. Since the soviet government is itself an autocracy and leads back to the hated reactionary system of the past, he op- poses its recognition. He belleves that the power of the present govern- ment depends entirely on the red army, and that a new revolution will come when this becomes demoralized. Strange as it may seem, In view of the wild stories of the nationalization of women that have come out of Rus- sia, Baron Korff belfeves that the suf- fering incident to the revolution has greatly strengthened the institution of the family. It may be equally sur- prising to some that he belleves that “private property emerges from the revolution also much better guaran- teed and much more stable than It ever was in the czar’ This he belleves because “bolshevism communism, and frankly denfes pri- vate property. But bolshevism failed, and failed irrevocably.” k% Baron Korft's book leaves one im- portant quesfion unanswered, except by implication. It {s: “Can Russia ‘come back'?” 1 was, therefore, glad when my eye lighted on that very title in the June number of the Po- litical Sclence Quarterly, heading an ticle by Lincoln Hutchinson of Lon- don. The article is full of figures, comparing the production of food and manufactured products, transporta- tion, banking and credit of Russia in 1913 and 1922, and showing how far short the Russia of today falls of reaching the record of pre-war Rus- sia. It is & pretty discouraging pic- ture, but the author says that the question can be answered in the affirm- ative, but only if “the political and economic policy of the Rj n ernment continues to move in the di- rection taken last year with the in- auguration of the new economic pol- fcy, and if the ‘communist’ dictators in the soviet administration can bring themselves to take the final steps which will merk a complete return to economic sanity and make the coun- try attractive to foreign investment.” Even if the essential final steps in the right-about-face in Russian gov- ernmental policy are the writer believes that it is “highly im. probable that the recovery can be rapid; the disaster is too complete, the sums involved too huge.” * kX ¥ Miss Carolyn Wells, whose “Out- line of Humor"” will be published this autumn, has sailed for Europe. It is understood that the humorous omt- liner will meet the historical outliner of the same surname, H. G. Wells. * Kk k% It is announced that Arthur Wei- gall, the eminent Egyptologist, and author “of “The Glory of Pha- raohs” and “The Life and Times of Akhnaton,” both recently published. is com! to this country in. the au- :umn to & series of forty lec- ures. Fnaking7—F. R. l \ l l ——MJ ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS By Frederic J. Haskin —_—— Q. How long was the Capitol in the A. It took seventy years to com- plete it. Q. Will there be any street car lines on the proposed bridge between the Lincoln memorial and Arlington?) —R. H. C. A. At the present time no pro- vistons have been made for a street car line on this bridge. Q. Where will the annual conven- tion of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States be held next year? —L. A. A. While the location of the next convention has not been settled, In all likelihood it will be held In Wash- ington or New York. The chamber expects to move into 1ts new butld- ing, Connecticut avenue and H street, some time next spring. Q. How tall are the trees at Mount Vernon set out by George Washing- ton?—C. T. A. Several elms have been meas- ured and found to approximate nine- ty feet. A sugar maple which was probably planted by him measures ninety-one feet and one ash approx- imates 100 feet. Q. of Of what are the corner-stones the federal district composed? ey A. The stones are of brown sand- stone, about one foot square, beveled at four inches from the top and ex- tending about two feet above the sur- face of the ground. Q. What became of the flag that the Americans flew at Chateau Thierry?—C. G. A. The first flag raised at Chateau Thierry after the Germans retreated is in the museum of the National Red Cross headquarters in Washington. Q. When will the coal Investiga- tion be finished?—C. W. A. The survey of the coal industrs which is belng made by the Ham- mond commission, will be concluded insofar as the anthracite branch of the Industry is concerned, on July 1, and for the industry as a -vhole on September 22. Q. What is the pay and allowance for a juror in a United States court? —D. AL W A. Jurors in federal courts receive $3 a day and 6 cents a mile, with the exceptions of those In certain of the western states, where 15 cents a mile is allowed for certain modes of travel. % Q. Are the eighteenth amendment and the Volstead act the same thing? —J. P A. They are not. The former ix a constitutional amendment, passed by Congress and ratified by the states, while the latter is an act of Congress which was vetoed by -President W son and passed over his veto. Q. When was the practice of using highly polished surfaces of hard stone for the bearings of the smallar quickly moving watch pivots and mAers rubblng contacts Introducea” A. A patent was issued in 1704 to Nicholas Faclo, Peter Debaufre ang Jacob Debaufre for the application of jewels to the pivot holes of wat and clocks. Facio was the inve Q. What state fn the unfon 15 tnd windiest?—G. W. A. The weather bureau says that this has never been accurately de- termined, and it is probably impos sible to make a positfve statement However, it 18 auite probable that Oklahoma as 2 whole is the windfest state In the union. This is due to the fact that the winds are rather constant at moderately high veloei- ties during the entire year in thi state; in many other sections wind may at times average hig] than In Oklahoma, nevertheless, 1 fre not mo eanstant or cover S0 co Dletely the entire state. Q. Are green plums ever maka oMves®—L. I. S. A. Mbck olives may be made home use from unripe plums. A h- brine composed of one pound of 4y to one gallon of water is poured M+ the green plums. Allow it to sta for thirty-six hours. Then place the fruft in a_new brine and boil for ore minute. Drain the plums, pack Intc jars, cover with the hot brine. and process pint jars for thirty utes at 212 degrees Farenhelt. used Q. Have any kings and queens ever been divorced?—W. H. A. A. Assuredly there have been kin and queens who were divorced. T famous examples are afforded 1 King Henry VIII of England and b Napoleon. Q. Were more unfon soldiers kilte? in" the civil war, or more confel erates”—W. A. D. A. The casualties in army numbered 35 were killed in action or wounds, and 249,458 men disease. accident or other causes. confederate loss in killed and wo. ed during the war was about 9 men; that from disease, accident anc other causes probably amounted 164,000, (The Star employs Mr. Haskin answer questions for the public. | replies dlrect to all inquiries. Onl a few answers of general interest printed.) dled died fr The » CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS Here is a mystery! A party of| diplomats. representing fourteen Latin countries, has started to Los| Angeles, to celebrate in that far-off | state, on July 2, the 100th anniversary | of the Monroe doctrine. i Why in California. which did not belong to the United States a century ago? The Monroe doctrine was pro- | mulgated in Washington. The date of its centennial !s December 2, mot July 2. but Los Angeles preferred to entertain their distinguished visitors in July. ¥ % % x It i gratifying to find Central and South America so interested in the doctrine, after €0 many years of jeal- ousy and misunderstanding of its pur- port. The countries which will be represented at the celebration are Panama, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chill Columbia, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaraugua, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. These countries are interested to the same extent. as is the United States, in the self-protection afforded by the Monroe doctrine. The doctrine is a warning to the outside world that the western hemisphere will take care of its own territory and will brook no interference or incroachments by any forelgn power. The United States does not set it- gelf up as a protector of these smaller nations, except as In so far as the sacredness of their territory Is con- cerned. s While President Monroe based his doctrine solely on the interests of the United States against any further colonization upon this hemisphere by | any European power, the fact that we thereby warned Europe away, resulted benefit and safety of ‘all the :.';J:'-f; in this hemisphere, though we neither asked from them compensa- tion nor tribute, nor asfumed a pro- teotorate over them. * K ok ¥ This idea 114 not originate in Pres- fdent Monroc's mind. It was one of the principles and aspirations of our statesmen, even before the revolu- tion ended. The hope of setting up a government 8o strong and so far- hing a&s to control the fate of T whele continent—if not the whole \ hemisphere—was expressed in the naming of the army. It was ot the colonial army, nor the army of states; it was the “Continental” army. * ok k k In 1780, Mr. Pownall of the house of commons, addressed “A Memorial to the Soverelgns of Europe” in which he said: “A people whose empire stands singly predominant, in & great conti- nent, can hardly suffer in their borders, such a monopoly as the Bu- ropean Hudson Bay Company. °* * * America must avoid complication with EBuropean politics, or the entangle- ment of alliances, having no connec- tion with Europe other than com- mercial.” Mr. Pownall had been royal gov- ernor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Appointed in 1756, he had: returned to England in 1761. After having served three terms in the Brit- ish house of commons, he gave ex- pression to the above in 1780, as he was about to retire from Parliament —forty-three years before President Monroe reiterated this doctrine ‘in his famous message to Congress, De- mber 2. 1823. °“In 1184, Mr. Monros wrote to Mr. Madison, sentiments indicating a de re that America should preserve, “uninfected by contagion, those pe- cullarities in their government and manners to which they are indebted for thess blolslnr = In January, 1788, Washington wrote to Jefferson, just before the ratifica- tion of the Constitution: “An en- ergetic general government must prevent the several states from i volving themselves in, political di putes of the European powers. ‘Wash! [l!e‘n‘l" famous ':‘Pll&l his farewe] 88, I ‘em- tangling Illlmug"lm.;nmpfi, Was also a forerunner of the Monroe doc- 5 Pm(m dents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson exi similar aloofness from European influences. Thus, the honor. which is given President Monroe, should be shared by all hie predecessors in the presi dential chair. The Monroe doctrin Is a composite American doctrine, ¢ which President Monroe galned th glory. Though he was the first t proclaim it officially to the world, was no more strongly committed it than all of the statesmen of early davs of the republic. * o ok x Hooray! Congress five montl~ away. and Senator Pat Harrison, ti« rip-roaring tormentor of pure r¢ publicaniem, is getting $100 a speect making daily orations at chautauqus in the mouth. What does he care whether Cou grees keeps or not? He will convert all of Texas, Oklahoma and, perhaps Missour!, to democracy, With his elo quence. And he doesn't care a H rison whoop if it takes all summer and fall. * % %% Word comes to Washington tha Alaskans are lining up all along the route to be taken by the Presidential party, and every man has a “huskie which he will offer to give to the President and Mrs. Harding. Darc) they accept one of the dogs? Laddly Boy would last just about as long a8 did Biggy. the squirrel, when Laddi Boy closed in upon him. Why not send a reindeer instead of a dog? Or, a dog team, whic could be loaned to Santa Claus Christmas time. * ok % * A week or two ago, there was el in Washington a flag conference, with representatives of mearly a score 7 prominent patriotic societies. The object of the conference was to for mulate a definite cods of propriet in decorating with the United States flag. The voluminous decorations Washington, for the Shrine had been criticized as violating every principie of respect for the flag. The conference was addressed by President Harding, which fact gave it semi-officlal status, and its pro motors took their work very ser ously. A code was adonted and resn lutions expressed the lofty desirs th never again should the United States flag be abused, by being bunched Into festoons, or hung in any way excent flat. Good—so far as it went! * & x % Tuesday evening practicall every temet of the hew code was i nored, in the decorations of the hun quet hall at thé banquet given by the American Legiots in homer of Cor mander. Owsley. ¥lags—not bunty —were draped and féstooned. Th did not hang flat. They @id not ur formly so hang that the “read” “stars and stripes” Half at Jeast ‘“read” “stripes and stars”. The code sais that when flagy are hung, the sta must be at the left of the spectator, the stripes running toward the right. Half the flags were reversed. Yot the occasion was to honor the hesd of the greatest defenders of the flag in America, and the flags were fur- nighed by ‘the Quartermaster Corps of the regular Army. Among ti guests were: major generals. brigad dlers, majors, captains and shavetals. and all joined in singing the “Star Spangled Banner” while standing it attention. On Memorjal day, speak- ers’ stands were decorated with the flag, instead of bunting, contrary to the laws of the District and all rules and regulations. (Copyright, 1923, by P. V. Collin: Coal, Pounds and Prices. To the Editor of The Star: Until we ndopt for good:the met ton of 1,000 kilograms. let us stick td the old-fashioned ton, ‘which, if not simple, is at least dignified, for: 1 ton=20 hundredweight=160 stones =2,240 pounds; 3 1. hundredwelght =8 ;stones=112 3¥Brone = 14 pounas: 7 X 1 avoirdupols pound rains But in the scheme of turaihg to the 2,000-pound ton there is a Jttlg joker ‘With the.ton of 2.24 * unds at $16. we pay $16,00+2240=% .g‘ per 1,000 gmmfl.l. and, considering that for the 000-pound ton they would reduce the price. 10 per cent, we would p; zu 0-+-2000=§%20" per 1,000 wundf “Mntt- dlfl.r.flelTvlil.Fh Ahnwunthm ere is & reason for reposition. EDMUND BEX R \