Evening Star Newspaper, July 22, 1923, Page 35

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL ARTICLES Part 2—16 Pages* NEGRO EXODUS WITHOUT | PARALLEL IN U. S. HISTORY| Since November, Nearly Demoral- izing Southern Agriculture. BY BEN McKELWAY. HE negro his combination which has always been considered collectively as 4 vital economic factor in the development of the south, have part- ed. There is nothing to indicate what the mule is doing, but there are lurge, numerous and imposing flgures to what the negro is doing. He has packed up his bag and is travel- ing no'th, and the south is survey his departure with anything but traditional composure, while mists generally are awake to a situa- tion unparalleled in the history, one which presents its thr sping as well its promising pects. and mule. show as Census rep for 1420 the town of Rising Fawn, ( e reports showed that und 1920 the center of colored population in the United Stutes was one and three-quarter miles northeast ng Fawn, and that in those rs this center had been moving in a northeasterly direction distance of nineteen a miles. put betwe for It wasn't so much the distance ng | its | econo- | on the map. | 1 one-quarter | weary of bei southern state. & white by the way, is quoted because it is more or less typieal: “There have been vari- ous reasons for the dissatisfied con- dition of the negro in this state and his tendeney to zo north or namely, better wages, improved hou | ing fucilittes, br it al equality. political e To the mind of ti a man. 1des of nality, ete. wril how- eve noticeable exodus paid cash weekly, unfair advantage norant, n Itural pursuits in ack belt of this state If the present the neer anoth is higher wages, nd the generaily taken of the ig- negro agri- the principal it cless in e of migration north und it fal shor 18t continues for is going to pro- | duce 4 ma age labor the black bel From agricultural |or delta section of this st inquiry in as it made among present disturbed conditions, conclusively indicated that the has come to learn that the produces the average negroes on plantation @ the less he receives, and he has grown ng the crude prey of ex- cticed upon him by the tortion. us pi moved in that time by this center of | average plantation owner vopulation that set th 108, It was the direction 1700 the country's center of colored Podulation has aiways moved steadily sonthwest, industries -1914 w00 cutte during the brought negroes from the fields of the h. The slack 1 i 50,000 puthward so of their in the industrial war years approximately it hrother centes L ith their lot December saw the Leginning, and it was a small beginning at that | time. of the gre tive-born population from one the country to another in the tlon's history. The exodus ga force likz a rolling snowball, today, when this immi groes to northern ind is at its height, it is since November 312,000 colored work- ors have come out of the south to na- hered ation of ne- trial settle north of the Mason-Dixon line. | food commodities the cost is shown nts' higher in Charleston | The movemeht was never greater in volume than toda summer is the only thing to stop it. During the winter the country will experts think- | For since | erage plantation owne The call of the northern|general way of | of such tenants.” cities and | of | and apparently | until { more “From my own viewpoint. the ave sponsible for the present lunnwl among the negro due in a to the unfair treatment | Study of the Figures. Aside from other reasons, r imaginary, an interesting statistical {study of the lure the north holds for | the negro has been complied by Phil H. Brown, a student of the problems of his own race, 1 commissioner of conciliation for the Department | Liubor assigned to study the present wegro migration Mr. Brown shows that in twenty- test exodus of na-|two trades in the manufacture of cot- ATt Of fton, the only large indust hared northern and southern state, 5 cent the cchusetts for labor pays than per paid in | south, centers | stimated that | ¢, and the close of ! ang Turning to the cost of living, Mr. wn compires the Calumet district und Chicago with Charleston, and Houston. Texas. For fifteen to be 24.8 325 higher in Houston, Texas, than in the Calumet district. The negroes are being placed in the | east, | the principal cause for such a of colored to] is | negro more he is largely res state of | r EDITORIAL SECTION The Sundy St WASHINGTON, D. BY N. 0. MESSENGER. Wash., | RIFTING further westward with the lead line going constantly in taking soundings of political sentiment, the writer drops anchor in the eastern section of this big, busy and normally pros- | perous state. .Sentiment hereabouts is much of the same character as was found to prevail in Minnesota, and as reported to éxist in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. dissatisfied, without knowing which way to turn for re- isting political con ditions reflecting an unsatisfactory economic It apparently wants to hit administration SPOKANE The electorate is restless; lief; out of sorts with e status of affairs. somebody's head, and seems nearest at hand the 1% % % I'here and the party in power. disappointment, but | thority to dircct the Interstate hand, and that body i ment, upon testimony adduced. The. writer's anal. | with a wallop.” Just as BY JOHN RUSTGARD, Attorney General of the Territory. discernible here, especially anong the farmers and the small business men, a sense of irritation against the administration 1 would not call it rather dissatisfaction, qualified by realization that there is not any- thing tangible upon which to found a com- plaint against’ the administration. shows that the low price o# wheat cannot be charged against the party in power, nor even the high freight rates, because the President of the United States has no power or au- Commission to slash ireight rates out of a bi-partisan, judicial body, functioning in its own right and judg- is of the state of pub- lic fecling in the territory thus far traversed is that, so far as the administration is con- cerned, the people, aiter electing the republi- | can party to bring about “normalcy,” are now grumbling because it does not “come across inconsistent, course, as human nature can be. Alaskan witness the results of this migration. | great industries of the north. Com- Returning. for a moment, to the bereft mule. A visitor to Atlanta not «tions for & new mil ce buflding in that city that the lton-dollar o were belng dug with negro labor.jlabor is geiting 42 their mules, and carts. There wasn't a steam shovel in sight. plows moral of his story. This visitor wi willing to wager that if the excavi tions were going forward today there would be fewer mules and negroes and more steam shovels. For the south must find substitutes south has been hard hit. s The | 48; absence of steam shovels was the) bile industry. 4§ The | has a A recent|and he writes to one or two of them, }mm\ his wages, in cash, in long ago was impressed with the fact | allowed at | sary me of he is plantation commis- bale of cotton. In the unskilled negro cents an hour; 49.6: Tubbe .1: road building, acking, 47.5, and in the automo- cents an hour. Yet another explanation. and a natural one, of the growing exodus, lies in that human trait to call out— “come on in, the water's fine.” Every one of the immigrants to the north circle of friends back home, the industries, with the “credi some for huilding his industries. teel statement from the Department of | describing conditions which are bet- Agriculture declared marked movement of negroes from the faims to the northern industrial centers. According to this state- ment, 32,000 negro farm hands or la- horers have left Georgia within the past twelve months, while Alabama ported approximately 3. per cent the whole body of negro farm workers have moved north since the Jast crop season. Arkansas showed 2 loss of about 15,000 negro farmers and 22,750 negro farmers have left South Carolina since last fall. Com- menting on this migration from South Carolina, the New York Jour- nal of Commerce recently stated: “Owing to the migration whites now outnumber negroes in South Caro- jina, a condition which has not ex- isted before in the memory of the living.” Tiles Up Road Work. An Associated Press dispatch from North Carolina early this spring re- ported that the migration of negroes from North Carolina had been sc heavy that the state highway com- mission was forced to shut down more than fifty highway construction programs. Pages of evidence could be written along the same line to show the south is aroused to what it con- siders an alarming condition, and ap- peals have reached Washington, some of them almost frantic, for suggested remedies. How explain this sudden rush from the south, the traditional home of the negro, to the north? The Department of Agriculture, which never loses an opportunity to give the boll weevil another black eye, Buggests this miserable insect as o contributory cause: “Boll weevil conditions last year, which made cot= ton growing unprofitable for a num- Ler of megro farmers; unrest among returning negro troops, who experi- enced more attractive living condi- tions away from farms during and after the war. and breakdown of the contract labor system are given as contributery causes.” Both wifte and negro speakers at ® oconference called in Mississippi to bonstder the problem stressed other than economic causes. The negroes had lost confidence in the fairness of the white population, they said, and they objected to the violation of their etvio rights. One speaker is quoted as saying: ‘““The mass of the negro race want to stay here, but they are not rothg to do it under present con-| difons.” Causes of Dissatisfaction. hat a survey of | ter, or sound much better, than those | southern farming districts showed a!at home ] Another job always seems good when it's far away. Instances could be cited to show that this letter writing back home has come near depleting some communities of their negro inhabitants. Colored pastors have packed up thelr belong- ings and taken out after their scat- tering flocks, while doctors have left the south to follow their patients into a.climate which offers more lucrative professional inducements. And here is where the southerners have been balked in their efforts to stop this migration. Some of the states have passed laws prohibiting labor agents from soliciting for col- ored employes, while other southern communities have resorted to char- acteristic southern expedients for getting rid of labor recruiters. But the letter from a friend up north who is making big money is more elo- quent in its appeal than all the spell- binding labor seekers that northern industries could send into the south. It is an integpsting fact that only 21.12 per cent ‘of the negroes ques- tioned as to why they came north, gave better schooling opportunity as a reason: Every cloud has its silver lining, and if this great dark wave spread- ing northward may be considered in a sense of the word a cloud, it is no exception. For the first time, per- haps, in its history, the south is re- ceiving a jolt sufficiently sudden and hard to bring home a vivid realization of its dependence on that picturesque combination, the negro and his mule. Wages are already going up for the negro in the south. Those who are left behind are given inducements never before known to make them,| stay. And in many instances the lonely mule is being scrapped for a substituted farm tractor or steam shovel. The south may for too long have taken the negro and his mule for granted. Sees Great Experiment. As for these negro pioneers, they are on trial. Mr. Brown is one who sees the present migration as a great experiment. The negro has found the opportunity which awaits him in industry. he believes, and it is for him to show his ability to take it. The coming winter will indicate the trend of the future. Already there are signs cropping up here and there that the employment market for negroes in the north is reaching the flood stage. The northern climate s none to easy for the negro, and statistics have shown a mortality A letter received by the Depart-|among that race 50 per cent higher {nentgf Labor -{rom-an—offielal -of a|in the-north than un*. sauth, OME years ago. while on a visit to the city of Washington, 1 made the acquaintance of a gentleman from New Orleans, who anxiously inquired about Alaska. He had. during the muck-raking I period of the Taft administration, {regd about the immense wealth of the territory, and had calculated that his individual interest therein as a citi- zen of the United States was some five or six thousand dollars. His uneasiness at the tardiness with which his vision matertalized dis- closed a suspicion on his part that somebody elsq was getting his share of the wealth. Thiy disappointment is general and national in extent Yet, it is not nearly so keen as that of the old pioneers of the north who, vears ago, seelng the vast possibili- ties all about them, dreamed dreams of marble halls. Those same old pio- neers of the north today still are sleeping in very ordinary houses, oft- times log huts. i | | Overflowing Treasure Ho: It 1s doubtful whether there is any continuous tract of land within the United States more bountifully sup- plied by nature with those basic re- sources which are essential to na- tional prosperity and industrial inde- pendence. By simply skimming the cream, a few people in the territory already have shipped to the United States $1,100,000,000 worth of mer- chandise. Much as this is in proportion to the population. it iy yet disappointing. With oil seepages over vast areas and at numerous places yielding 65 per cent of gasoline and sometimes more, with a paraffine base, too, no oil is exported and very. little produced even for home consumption. With hundreds of square miles of coal land, we are still importing coal from foreign countries. ‘With forests all about us, fully 20 per cent of the forest products con- sumed In the territory have been im- ported from thé state of Washington. With pulp timber sufficient on the coust to, supply 2,000,000 tons of pulp per year—one-third of what the na- tion consumes—without cutting faster than the timber grows, only one tiny pulp mill is in operation. With arable lands capable of pro- ducing as much wheat as the two Dakotas combined, and of much su- perior quality, the entire acreage un- der cultivation to grains is probably not more than 3,000 acres. Population 50,000. ith natural resources of almost every kind under the sun, more abun- {dant and extensive than, and with & iclimate fully as favorable as the Scandinavian peninsula and Finland, the entire population of Alaska is only about 50,000 souls, as against 12,000,000 in the three northwestern countries of continental Europe. Alaska has been under American rule fifty-six years. At the time the northwest territory had reached that age as an American possession four new states had grown up within its boundaries, and others were ripe for assuming independent sovereignty. The northwest territory already had produced a long array of meh prom- inent and influential in the life of the nation both in business and politics. The- growth-of -the ‘Louisiana terri- - C., made plain in what the “wallop” would con- sist of, any more than it can be suggested how the government can affect the price of July 21 wheat. * x From what can be situation in'any way. <onally. Reflection be expected. * % Further eas Commerce encouragement for a Pre of It is not What Is the Matter With Alaska? vommentators in Spokane, which President Harding visited, and where he spoke on con- servation, he made an agreeable impression personally, but did not affect the political . in Minnesota, Montana and the Dakotas, T have told you in previous dis- patches of the turbulent state of poli opinion which seemed to furnish a breeding place for a possiblé third-party movement They say here, well posted men, that this is not good ground for sowing third-party seed Also, that despite the somewhat apathetic attitude toward the administration, there is no substantial ground upon which to base ident Harding's renomination or start a revolt in favor of some ambitious republican, especially a near-republican, opposing him here. There is against the republicans * * gathered of unbiased tion. Similar reports come 1ot underst by grapevine irom some other places he visited before reaching here. In all fairness to him, it should be remem- bered that upon starting out he distinctly disavowed intent to make a political trip, go- ing so far as to say that if it was to be so construed he would stay mer and play with Laddie Boy. essayed to depart from that intention, unless it be said that his St. Louis speech on the world court could be so construed. Ii his sole purpose was to get acquainted with the people and fraternize, it has been successiul, for he is spoken of in most gra- cious terms, and he is very much liked, per mind over rates. six lean yea at home all sum- He has not This year's be revised. But the republican party cannot take unc tion unto itself of any political benefices to B al the major agitation. travels in a movement to oppose Oklahoma, ribbed repu What caused the President of the United States and other high government officials to determine that a tour of Alaska was neces- sary? That question has been asked many times since Mr. Hard- ing announced his intention of makis g the journey. Some persons attributed it to an opportunity for the President @ do some pre- campaign campaigning for re-election. ithers called it a pleasure junket, declaring it opportune, to say the least, that the President could spend his winters in Florida and his summers in Alaska. But, now comes John Rustgard, attorney general of Alaska, with an entirely new angle. has disclosed a state of affairs that demands immediate action. other words, he has injected a new issue into the 1924 presidential campaign, and apparently Mr. Rustgard has written his view of the situation without fear. Unlike a pendent upon W clected to his office by the voters perience in Alas the subject of tory and the Mexican cession was not less rapid. And yet these territories had a basic population in the mother country varylng from only three to twenty millions to draw from, while Alaska has had a population of about one hundred millions to rely upon for ac- cretion. Problems Are Vast. The reason for this tragic fate of Alaska is not found in any natural disadvantages under which she labors, but in various handicaps with which she is afflicted. 1 shall discuss two of these—trans- portation and conservation, Transportation to and from Alaska presenty the problems of greatest magnithde and involves the entire territory. The United States may be said to be Alaska's one market at the present time. To the states we ship virtually all that we produce; from the states we purchase all that we import. Without cheaper transpor- tation between Alaska and her mar- kets the development of any but her richest resources is impossible. Under present conditions only the cream is being skimmed; the rest must be wasted, Commercially, distance must be measured not in miles, but in cost of transportation, When this is done, it will be found that the south end of | Alaska is four times as far from Seat- tle as Hongkong is from San Fran- clsco, and the ports of the south coast of Alaska are about twice as far from the nearest American market as is Puget sound from New York. At present rates a ton of freight @an be shipped from Seattle to New York and return, or four times across the Pacific ocean, or four times the eost to ship it from Puget sound to *|Seward or Anchorage—the south ter- minal of the government railroad in Alaska. Economlc Doctrine Upset. From time immemorial it has been generally thought that water trans- portation is Incomparably cheaper than any form of land transporta- tion. But this doctrine has been up- set by the experience of Alas] Let i tbe observed that, per ton- mile, the cost of transporting freight on the steamship lines operating be- tween Seattle and Alaska is consid- erably more than twice as much as on the continental railroads in the states. On the intercoastal route through the Papama canal the ton-mile rate is approximately one-sixth of what it is on the railroads and about one- shington for appointment, Mr. Rustgard is duly an public life leaves him well equipped to handle The Plight of Alaska.” Without mincing words, Mr. Rustgard In majority of Alaskan ofiicials, de- | | of the territory, and his long ex- twelfth part of what Alaska water routes, Avernges $10.07 a Ton. The rate for all the freight shipped from Seattle over Seward and An- chorage for interior points on the rallroad under joint rates ylelded ths| ocean carrier an average of $19.07 per ton of 2,000 pounds during the year 1922, The steamship companies contend| that if all this frelght had been shipped to Seward and Anchorage un- der the steamship companies’ own lo- cal tariffs the ocean carriers would have received an average of $24.14 per ton of 2,000 pounds. it is on fthe for renomination. pealed to, it is likely to find a favorable re- sponse from these sturdy republicans out So you see, from Lake Michigan to Puget sound, high freight rates and low wheat prices are entangled with political reaction and make a doubtful prospect for the future. Old-timers in politics in this region agree that a more precarious condition for both These rates, then, may be taken as basic. Astounding Comparfsons. | For the purpose of comparison | please note that the rate on such commodities as ‘canned goods, | fruit and beans on the Seattle-New York route, a distance of 7.000 miles, has of late been from $6 to $7 per ton of 2,000 pounds, or only about one-fourth of the average ocean rate | trom Seattle to Anchorage and Sew- ard, a distance of 1,400 to 1,500 miles. The rate on such commodities as wheat, flour and rice in the Seat- tle-Hongkong router has of late! been $5 per ton of 2,000 pounds, oty about one-fifth of the ocean rate be- | tween Seattle and the Alaskan rail- road termini. 3 Parenthetically, it may be pointed out at this time that cannery prod- ucts freight for southwestern Alaska is carried for about one-third of what freight for other industriea is carried, and copper ore from Prince Willlam sound is carried at cost or less. The bre belongs to the holding company of one of the steamship companies. Legisiation Necesary, It will be improper in an article of this kind to discuss the causes of these abnormally high freight rates —or the remedy. These are subjects on which minds disagree. Personally, I am convinced some legislation is necessary to relleve the situation, but I am convinced also that by proper legislation it can be relieved. It must be obvious ‘to any fair- minded person that if the present high freight rates between Alaska and the states are the result of some. natural disadvantages inherent in the situation of the territory, Alaska is doomed to_soon be reclaimed by the wilderness. If the present rates are “reason- able,” the sooner Washington forgets Alaska the better for the entire country. : 1t the®natural - conditions under - SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 22, 1923 Lakes to Coast on Trail of President ~ Shows Party Outlook Unchanged by Tour 312,000 Colored Workers Moved Northi When party loyalty is ap- a good deal of criticism here “falling down” of the Minnesota in failing to stand by the republi- can senatorial candidate in the recent elec- They given u square deal by his own party and can- do not think Gov. Preus was and it * ok kK Washington farmers are in a state o1 wheat prices and high freight They are promised a fat crop after rs, and sce the falling prices tak- ing their hoped-for profits away from them. For six years dry weather cut down the crop. Last year the state produced 32,000,000 bush- els, which brought around a dollar a bushel. estimate is for 59,000,000 bushels. Wheat Mere now is bringing about 83 cents, with a prospect of going lower. If this prospect is fulfilled, all prophecies about politics and third parties may have to * oK K K all through this western cour political parties has not existed since the days of free silver and agrarian They ask each other if politics circle, and if 1924 is destined to bring a recurrence of former agrarian mov ments, with the politics of a great block of states, running from the Mississippi to the coast and from the Canadian boundary to including states formerly rock- blican, embarrassed by the farm- ers, the cattlemen and the shippers Lack of Legal Security Keeps Investor Out of Alaska, Territorial Leader Says which we exist are such that water transportation to Alaska must of | necessity cost more than twice as |such per ton mile as raflroad trans- portation in the states; if it be neces- sary that it cost twice as much to ship freight from Seattle to Seward. @ distance of some 1,400 miles, as it costs to ship if from Seattle to New York by way of the Panama canal, a distance of 7,000 miles, it is the obvious duty of the government to scrap the new railroad in Alaska and sell it for junk. Under these circumstances it is un- pardonable for the officers of the government or those responsible for the administration of public affairs to close their eves to the question of water transportation. During the Roosevelt administra- tion, when the fear possessed the na- tion that Alaska was a vast store- house of wealth which might become the exclusive property of a few pow- erful corporations, the lands covered with forests or known to contain ofl or coal were withdrawn from entry, Recently the lands with the minerals underlying have been released to the extent of permitting water sites, coal and oil lands to be leased. Bar Private Control. The people of the territory are well aware that the system of dealing with the public domain which pre- valled thirty or forty years ago will never again be revived. The nation is determined that the basic resources of the new country shall not fall inte the hands of a few private concerns. The reserve system, so far as fuel, power and forests are concerned, has, therefore, come to stay and we are dried | prepared to accept that fact. What we complain of fs that the government has not yet found a 'melhod for administering these re- serves which insures the results pri- marily designed. It is no exaggera- tion to say that the administrative system adopted for the reserves has a decided tendency to bring about the very condition which the creation of the reserves was aimed to pre- vent. Tt is obvious that the conser- vation system as at present adminis- tered has a tendency to force all Alaska into the hands of one big, dominating concern. Property upon the reserve can be held only at the pleasure of some official or officials, Who can best afford to take the chance on the stability of so fickle a foundation? Obviously, he who is able to maintain the strongest lobby at the capital. An effort has been made of late to give more assurance of legal security for investment on the reserves. But even under the most recent laws there are no rights except under oil per- mits, which may be forfeited at any time at the option of some official. Must Obtain Leases. If you wish to develop and utilize water power, you may obtain a-lease for fifty years—on certain conditions. What are these conditions? -Some few of them are contained in the water power act, where they are ab- breviated to 8,600 words. The rest of them are set out in the regulations promulgated by the water power com- mission. 'The latter document con- tains & recital in some 20,000 words of What the lessee must do and must not: do to retain his lease, and what (Continued on Third Page.) | Greece and WORLD PEACE ADVANCED BY STRAITS SETTLEMENT Agreement on Navigation of Dardenelles Long Held Vital in Europe, and U. S. Now Is Signatory BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. T last the question of naviga- tion of the Straits of the Dar- denelles and the Bosporus, It is reported, has been settled. If the peace treaty negotiated be- tween the allied nations and the Turks at Lausanne has had this re-| sult, it will go far, it is believed here, | to assure peace in the future. In fact, | the settlement of this question has | been regarded as essential to any per- | manent peace plan for the nea The freedom of the straits and ad- jacent waters for the commerce of the | world, and for the warships of the natlons—with certain restrictions, it/ is understood-®has been accomplished. | Under the new treaty—the complete | text of which is still to be published | here—the Turks have regained con- siderable of the ground lost by them at the close of the war. Their diplo- matic victories have been no less than their victories over the Greeks before the armistice of Mudania was signed last fall. In the treaty of Sevres, ne- gotiated between the allied nnlinnsl and the old Turkish government, but never ratified, the Turks, it is true, retained Constantinople. But the new Turkish border on the west practically | ended with Constantinople area. This left Greece in a dominating position with regard to the city. | east Buffer Zome P! | es-| Under the new border line now tablished the Turks hold a large area, Including Adrianople—a Kind of buffer territory as a protection to Constan-| tinople. Arrangements have been| perfected, it is understood, for a neu- tral zone along the line between | Turkish territory some | twenty miles wide, in which there are to be no fortifications and no troops maintained by either nation. The Turks have held Constantino- ple since 1453. It was an imperial city and commercial center for ages before the Turks occupied it. In| more recent years the powers ux\l Europe have been unwilling to h the eity fall into other hands— cept during the period of the world war—on the theory that the posse slon of that great center by Russia,| for example, would unbalance the whole European scheme. It is true that it was reported the allies dur- ing the war had a tentative agree- | merable treati {only |ana east jand sible. And after a . " powers, as ans of checking the ambitions of each other upheld the hand of Turkey in the matter limiting the navigation of the strait- by warships of the nations. Innu- s have been ma tween Turkey and t ous Euro pean powers relat the use of the straits both by merchantmen by war vessels. It is understood the Lausa 4 the allies and Turkey the stra tiement provides for frecdom of pas sage of all merchant vessels, and fc the passage, in time of peace of wa vessels also, but not in excess of the slze of the fleet, which a power of the Black sea maintains in the Blac 'n. sea. The United St s is not a4 party of this treaty. This country never declared war on Turkey. But a new treaty between the United States and Turkey is now in the making and it is unthinkable that the rights of the United States with regard to the navigation of these waters will be safeguarded. a m o here that unde: Turks at War Often. Peace to the Turks has been as recently as Congress of the United States more recent years®there have the Turko-Italian war, 1911: the firs Balkan wa 1912, and the on¢ Balkan, 1913, and then the world wa from 1914 on th a peace treat now loo a possibility Although the Turks have been drive: back, they have consistently re bounded. Their western boundarie were curtalled in the fire Balkan war, me back tn th cond Balkan war. In the world much more. in control after the overplayed their result that they the Turks, in a position ate the I a summer re to war, the Turks The Greeks were place Smyrna distric But the Greek hand, with a fina were driven out b the Turks were place almost to dictate to th allies at Lau On the othe hand, large slices of former Turkis territory opped off to the sout nd handed over to Franc Great Britain as Syria and Mesopotamia, little reason to bel will get these back long period. los we, mandates nd there i that Turke least for ve Soviet Helped Turks. The soviet gove s nment of aided the new T, h government t Russ ment that in the dismemberment of no little extent with money and the central powers and Turkey that was to follow the termination of war, Russia was to be awarded the city of Constantinople. But that was be- fore the revolution in Russia and its defection from the cause of the lies, al- is Easily Defended. Constantinople is so located that it can be defended against a naval at- tack only by fortification of its ap- proaches through the Dardenelles and the Bosporus. How well it can be defended, however, was proved dur- Ing the world war. The safety of the city—which is the capital of Turk and also the seat of the Caliphat is closely bound up with the question | of the navigation of the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus. These straits provide the only outlet by wa- arn of a upo and with the constant threat alllance, which i its effect the other powers any agreement navigation of 1 Dardunel ntial been i1 provisior been recognized quently. And vited to sign t of the agre at Lausann the invitation be epted, The making of peace with Turke and the settlement of the strai question, it is Lelieved here, will & far toward in ving conditions Europe an cast. The ciouds have affected for nothe has held & the other burden of war with the Turks, wi a possible flare-up of the Mohamm Russi me wi regio threatenin avy in th ter of Rumania and Bulgaria, and the only outlet by sea for Russia ex- cept that on the north, which is close bound by ice during part of the year. They are the channels through which a vast amount of trade passes between the west and the east. The necessity for the settlement of the questiog of the navigation of the straits was recognized by President Wilson in the twelfth of the famous fourteen points which he communi- cated to the allies and the enemy on which he believed a final peace set- tlement should be based. He said in this point 12 “The Turkish portion of the pres. ent Ottoman empire should be sured a secure sovereignty, but other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured of an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships of commerce of all nations under in- ternational guarantees.” United States Interests Large. It is a long cry from the United States to Constantinople and the Dardanelles. But existing and pro- spective American interests in the near east and the middle east have made the equitable solution of the problem of the navigation of the Dardenelles of no inconsiderable in- terest here. American capital is con- stantly secking new flelds. The so- called Chester concessions which now have been recognized by the new Turkish government are vast. The ofl flelds in part of Turkish territory and in° Mesopotamia also are vast and it is the policy of this government to see that an “open door,” with opportunity for Ameri- cans as well as other natlonals, be maintained in these areas. In the early days. when the Turks took Constantinople, they took practically all the territory bordering on the straits and the Black sea. These waters were, therefore, within the Ottoman empire and the Turks set up an absolute control over the navi- gation of these waters. It became known the “ancient rule of the Ottoman empire.” Any navigation permitted by Turkey was considered & matter of privilege rather than of right. But through wars and diplomatic maneuvers gradually the freedom of the straits and of the Black sex was wrung from Turkey, though still she clung to the old rule as far as pos- dans on other lands Germany Gains In Trade With U. & American trade with Germany not as one-sided as it was a vearas The United States fs now exportir to Germany about twice as much value as we are recelving from Ge many in imports. A year ago w were exporting about four times : much, These interesting and significa changes are revealed by compilatior just completed by the statistical d vision of the Department of merce. Increased imports from Germai feature these returns. During & eleven-month period we exported t Germany $247,000,000 worth of goo and received in return goods to 1l value of $130,000,000. While our e ports to Germany declined 17 p. cent as compared with the san eleven-month period the previo year, our imports increased by 50 p cent. Con Purchasing Power Cut. Probably the depreciation of ¢ German mark has had the effect stimulating Gern exports, whi the decline in German demands f American goods would seem to ino cate a falling off in Germany's pu chasing power rather than a prefe ence for other goods in the Germu market. Notwithstanding the great increa in imports from Germany during t! last year, we are still importing per cent less in value from Germa: than we were before the war, whi the quantity of goods is probably n more than half. Our exports to Ge many are now 10 per cent less value than they were before the wa but much less in quantity owing the general rise in prices, Thus in pre-war years Germar sold us 55 per cent as much as it pu chased; now it sells a little less th: 50 per cent. During these past elevc months only 3 per cent of our tot imports came from Germany, as cor. pared with 10 per ceént in 1914, These figures all indicate to clo students of trade conditions the while our relations with Germa are becoming more nearly normal, ti ‘olnl volume of American busine. with that country is much less impo tant than in former.vears,