Evening Star Newspaper, September 24, 1923, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, With Sunday Morning Edition. “"WASHINGTON, D. G MONDAY . .September 24, 1923 THEODORE W. NOYES........Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company + Buginess Office, 11th §t. and Penngylv New York Office: 110 Bast 42ud 8t. Chicago Office: Tower Buildin Euzepean Ofiice: 16 Regent 8t., London, gland, The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning editlon, is deifvered by carriers within the ¢ity #at @ cents per month; dally ouly, 45 conte pér month; Sunday only, 20 cents per month, Qr- dera may be sent by mall ar telephone Main 8000 Collection is made by carriers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunda Daily “only. Sunday only. All Other States. and Sunday.1yr., $10.04 Sumday only Member of the Assoclated Press. The Associated Press is exclusively eatitled to the use for republication of all news dis- patches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the local news pub- lished herein. ~All rights of publication of _also_reserved. Dlil 4 Dall; A Coal Plan. The United States Coal Commission, in its final report now submitted to the President, has made a concrete recommendation that the Interstate Commerce Commission be empowered “to supervise the coal industry. The somewhat nebulous suggestion, ema- nating from many sources in recent | manths, ‘that the government under- take to regulate the coal business has at length taken definite form. The Coal Commission has made a | wise selection of @ government agency for this purpose. The Interstate Com- merce Commission has long been high- Iy regarded by the public. It is a quasi-judicial body. It already has supervision of one important factor entering into the situation, the rates «charged by the carriers for the trans- portation of coal. Fyrthermore, the Coal Commission has wisely avoided any proppsal that @ new government agengy be set up for the supervision of the coal indus- try, with its added burden of cost upon the taxpayers. True, the Inter- | state Commerce Commission will have 10 create & new division to handle the supervision of the coal industry, and it may even be necessary to increase the membership of the commission. But that is a far different proposition from the creation of a new agency. Government supervision cannot set- tie all the troubles of the coal indus- try. It has not settled all the troubles | of the transportation industry, but it thas \gone far to improve conditions that twenty-five or thirty years ago .were becoming intolerable. It is to be expected that government supervision of the coal business, that part of it entering into interstate commerce, will be a great step in advance. It will call for full publicity regarding ail costs, production, prices and profits, The Coal Commission points out in its report that the loeal communities and states must themselves deal with alleged profiteering by coal dealers; that the powers over interstate com- merce given the Congress by the Con- stitution do not run to intrastate mat- ters. Agencies of their own must be evoilved by the states and communi- #ies to act in full co-operation with ithe federal government to protect the dnterests of the public. “Honest and efficient coal operators and dealers have nothing to fear from the proposed government super- vision," the report says. “They have, on the contrary, reasons to wel- come it.” Government supervision, however, of the railroads, of the packers and of other business in the past has been brought about only after great strug- :gles, in which the industries have for the most part aligned themselves against such supervision. But fuel, @s the Coal Commission points out, has as great public interest in the life of America teday as has transporta- tion and food, and the public is en- titled to the protection of the govern- ment in this matter. B The promoters of a new issue of German paper currency were not ex- by the tax assessors. perts in publicity. Anything that calls attention to the value of the mark at present is bad advertising. e —ta—— Its use for commerce and peaceful passenger transportation will repre- sent the greatest improvement the dirigible has as yet undergone.- Stresemann Nears a Crisis. Day after- tomorrow. the German Freichstag meets at Berlin, and it Is ex- pected that the government then will announce abandonment of the policy ‘of ‘passive resistance” in the Ruhr. Apprehension is felt that this will be the signal for an outburst of rioting on the part of either the monarchists or of the radicals. Preparations, it is indlcated, have been made ta suppress such disturbances. Recent efforts to reopen negotia- tions with France on the subject of reparations failed because France saw sna basis for belief that new proposals ¥made by Berlin would be dependable. !The suggestion of ending passive re- sistance, however, was not altogether an act of virtue on the part of the Berlin government. The industrial workers of the Ruhr region, severe- -Iy hit by suspension of work, have ‘been demanding & change of course with greater and greater insistence. ‘Abandonment of passive resistance ‘has, indeed, become a necessity, and it will be doubtless on that basis that the Stresemann government will an- nounce to the reichstag this change of ‘plan. It does not, of course, follow that abandonment of the passive resistance poliey in the Ruhr will directly lead to or result in a settlement with Franoe. But it is decidedly the first step. As soen as resistance erids French ocou- pation becomes effective as a means of collection. The choice in Berlin is . between loss of money threugh what is virtually a general strike in the Ruhr end loss through reparations payments. When the word came recently that negetiations were about to be resumed it was understood that the large in- dustrial interests had finally agreed to a program that would permit accept- ance of the French proposals, or offer of proposals by Germany to France that would be acceptable at Parig. The first Stresemann nropesition, however, failed. It was rejected promptly by Poincare. Perhaps it was expected that it would be rejected. Pogsibly this was the last gesture be- fore surrender. At any rate, the situ- ation resgjves itself now to the point ‘whiere Stresemann, confronted with an increasing discontent in the Ruhw, must mave to put an end to a hope- less economic condition. If he moves, however, in that direction he stirs up trouble in another. But if the indus- trial magnates, who are, after all, the real rulers in Germany today, stand back of him he will probably win through the reactions caused by this change of policy. Germany is in for a period of stress, and those who have felt that the pun- ishments so far administered for the crime of 1914 are inadequate will not be saddened by the spectacle. The High Cost of Government. Increased cost of gomstruction and repair hits the local government as it does the citizen and high prices bear upon the taxpayer in various ways. Every citizen knows the effect of high prices on his grocery bill and on the family bills for elothes, shoes and hats. He knows what it means to him in costs when it is necessary to make repairs to the roof, porch or garage. The increased ‘cost of con- struction is reflected in the cost of his home, and if it is & new home that cost is taken into consideration The assessment is based on the value of the property. If the citizen lives in an old home it is likely that the assessment has been increased on that because the value of the old house has been ad- vanced by the great demand for houses and the higher cost of building them. And not only has the assess- ment been increased, but the tax rate has been raised. The District government is collecting a far greater suym im taxes than ever before, this being due to a higher tax rate to higher assessments and the creation of new tax sources by a vast amount of reconstruction in the older parts of the city nd the spread of the city. In spite of its greater revenue, the local government falls behind the de- mands of the city for streets, sewers, lights and many other things: There are several reasons for this. The bu- reau of the budget cuts down the esti- mates submitted by the Commission=~ ers for improvements, reducing those jfor the next fiscal year more than $7,000,000, @nd there Is no telling what treatment it will give to the supple- mental estimates of about that amount, by which the Commissioners hope to put through some of the local needs provided for in the first sched- ule of estimates. Another reason is that a dollar of public money will only buy about as much improvement as 50 cents bought before the war. That was brought out in a news story in The Star. In 1913 it cost §1.77 to lay @ square yard of agphalt street pavement, and last year it cost $3.11 to do the same work. In 1913 a square yard of concrete could be laid for 84 cents, and last year the price was $1.87. The cost of sewer construction between 1913 and 1923 advanced 131 per cent. The water de- partment in 1913 ceuld lay an eight- inch main for $1.18 a foot, and during the current fiscal year the coat is $2.57. These are interesting facts. There is o reason to be discouraged. It may be that we are living on a permanent higher level of values and that we will accommodate aurselves to the new order. There may be a drop in the price level due to increased production of goeods, but there is no visible sign that we will go back to price level | of 1913. ———— Should a German loan be offered in this country a number of subscrihers might be secured by allowing specula- tors to turn in as a partial payment paper marks at what they paid for them. Philadelphia discovered fifty barrels of grain alcohel labeled ‘‘maple sirup.’ It has long been asserted that there is very little real maple sirup, but this form of counterfeit goes too far. It is hard to convince a man who eats at @ hotel that the farmer can be as unhappy as represented so long as he is able to produce his own vege- tables. The Baron Renfrew is so well known in Canada that anether name may be required for purposes of strict incognito. There is a certain amount of in- congruity in the efforts of a secret so- ciety to make its proceedings pecu- liarly boisterous. The Pistol Habit. The International Association of Chiefs of Police!puts itself on record as opposed to the transmission of pistols and other weapons through the mails, and believes that if the Post- master General has not authority to end this traffic Congress should enaet a law against it. An assistant attor- ney general has been quoted as say- ing while the Post Office Department has the power to. prohibit mailing of firearms into states and citles which have laws regulating purchase and possession of such weapens, he thinks that the Postmaster General has no aythority to lssue a general order barring firearms from the mails. ‘The president of the Association of Police Chiefs thinks that weapons should be obtainable through the mails only on official permits like those required in a number of cities. He says that the ease with which a man may buy a pistol through th ‘maila nullifies local laws on this sub- ject. The superintendent of the Dia- trict police in this year's report to the Cemmissioners urged amendment to the law against carrying concealed ‘weapons which weuld provide heavier penalties than the present law, end he made strong representgtions that the regulations covering the sale of pistols in the District should be re- vised for thé purpese of making it more difficult for undesirable persons to ebtain them. The list of homicides is" long in ‘Washington and other cities. Searee- ly a day passes that newspapers do not chronicle murders, many of which due to men chiain danger the practice of carrying them. The evil of pistol-toting has been inveighed egainst for many years, and restric- tive measures have been adopted here and elsewhere, but that these meas- ures are not effective Is shown by the daily record of crime. No men are more famillar than the police with the dangers of pistal-toting, and with the troubles that come from the ease with which weapons are bought, and the opinions of the police an these impor- tafit matters deserve most serious gonsideration, ——— Bulgaria. Evidently the communists in Bul- garia, who have undertaken to utilize the agrarian unrest to conduct a so- viet reaction, have failed of accom- plishment. Today's dispatches indicate a declded improvement in the situa- tion. Bands of rebels who for two days have been marching in certain of the provinces have been checked and dispersed. The government at Sofia has ‘met the emergency stoutly with an efficient campaign of repres- sion. Since the overthrow of Premier Stamboulisky, who lost his life after his deposition, there has been much unmrest in Bulgarja. He was the idol of the agrarians and the peasantry. The communists, who have nothing what- ever in common with this elass, sought ‘to utilize the reaction occasioned by Stamboulisky’s ouster and death to overturn the government and estab- lish a soviet regime. Had there been weakness or hesitation at Sofia this might have been accomplished. King Boris, it is noted in the dis- patches, has decreed a reconstruction of the ministry, but this change, it is stated, has nothing to do with the agrarian uprising. Socialists refused to participate in the government if the nationalist party was permitted repre- sentation. The minister of justice in the former cabinet was a member of the national liberal party, against which it was charged that its tenden- cies were pro-German. By the reconstruction of the min- istry the Bulgarian government is strengthened. The soclalists are hos- tile to communist movements, and evidently a fear prevails in Sofia lest the German Influence gain in ascend- ancy. Bulgaria has had enough of as- sociation with Germany. With the erown supported by the socialists, as against both the reactionaries on one hand end the communists on the other, it has a good chance to stand pressure. A general election will be held early in November which will have an important bearing upon the future of the state. —_———— Suggestion that farmers meet their difficulties by cutting down wheat pro- duction calls for another suggestion as to what the uitimate consumer will do about the effect on the price of bread. —_——— The most difficult part of the coal problem, the protection of the con- sumer against abnormal prices, is still in the hands of the Governor of Pennsylvania. —_———— The fact that humanity is just re- covering from a world war does not prevent nations in Europe's historic trouble area from clinging to their controversial customs. ———— Something must be dome for the farmer, declares Senator Borah. The slogan, while impressing a serious condition, is one of such familiarity that the public may not appreciate its force. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON Full of Honors. I experienced an urge to be a joiner. It was an impulse fierce and uncon- trolled. Of words you now must be a rapid colner To designate the offices I hold. I'm the warder of the Mystical In- scription. the grand exalted goof I'm known to fame. I am king of the Canonical Connip- tion— Nobody ecalls me by my proper name. As Of the Beatific Bobcats I am ruler. I'm a Venerable Owl; an Ostrich, too. For the Polar Bears I'm keeper of the cooler. T'm nearly everything that's in the %00. My titles now too numerous to men- ‘ tlon Do not convey their old accustomed thrill. I now regard it as a neat attention It some acquaintance simply calls me “Bill!"” A Change of Subject. “Why are you so fond of that song about bananas?" “It's a relfef,” replied Senator Sor- ghum, “to go home and find the crowd raising a holler about something be- sides wheat.” Jud Tunkins sqys that the tap Sir Isaac Newton got on the head with an apple was nothing eompared to the . smash Einstein has given him. Not Enough te Go 'Reund. Avrithmetic claims cunning skill As problems rise anew. ‘When 1 have pald the coal man's bill, ‘What will the landlord do? Suburban Foresight. “‘Set the alarm clock for 6 o'clock,” said Mr. Chuggins. “De you have to start for work that early?" . “Not exactly for work. But I've got to give myself time enough to find & place to park my filvver.” . - A Concesgion. “A womah shows her independence by wearing her hair short.” \ “‘Yes,” replied Miss Cayenne; “yet 1 feel that 1 have to go to a man barber to be satisfied that it 4s pgoperly trimmed."” 3 “It's funny,” said Uncle Eben, “dat folks is so hard to interest in de gospel truth an’ so easy to convince "bout a tip on de races.” ous weapans and ta | Can Europe Hold Together? XI-—Italy—The Land of Mussolini. BY JOHN F, SINCLAIR Phe problem of Italy can be summed [up In & sentence—she has too large a family, too much expense and too small an income. She has sixty-eight times as many people occupying a land not half so large or fertile as the prairie prov- inge of Manitoba, Canada. A very prolific race, living in a densely populated semi-arid country with a very low standard of living. In 1918 the per capita annual incoms was $112 as against §185 in France and #3356 in the United States. Before the war she had too many mouths to feed. So many were forced to leave Italy. ¥ In thirty years. from 1876 to 1908, the number of Itallans leaving her shores rose from 10’3.000 to 500,000 each year. America took a large share of these. 8til] her population increased from 27,000,000 to 33,500,000 during this game period. During the war, emigration stopped. She lost 1,000,000 in war and disease, but she gained 3,000.000 in popula- tion from 1911 to 1921. No other nation approaches that racord. Afte the war came the werld-wide depres . Emigration barriers went_ up in United States and elsewhere. Her population is increasing at the pres- ent time at the alarming rate of 1,500 a day. She canpot relieve herself. BEmigration barriers prevent. Result —as I write, Italy has 700,000 un- employed. The number is constantly growing. That's the first big prob- {lem for Mussglini—how to take care or get rid of’the aurplus population of Ttaly. * ¥ ok ok The second big problem in Italy ‘luday ip that of having too much ex- pense and too little income. This problem is all the more serious be- cause of the population—the problem remains unsolved. She has been liv- ing bevond her means. From 1911 te 1914, the government of Italy spent 106 miilions of dollars more than she got from taxes. By May, 1815, the public debt of Italy was 2,621 mi lions of dollars—$§82.90 per capita. For such a poor country this was as heavy a debt as she could bear. Then the war came. and during this period Italy spent 15,063 milllons of dollars for purely war purposes and raised 1,059 millions of dollars in war taxes. For every dollar she spent for war purposes. she ralsed just 5 cents in taxes. She had other expenses too, We find Italy spent for all purposes. war included, 17,595 millions of dellars and ralsed 2,403 millions of gollars of it in taxes. That is 13.3 per cent. The @ifference, 86.7 per cent, she raised: (1) By inflating her eurrency from 518 millions of dollars on July 31, 1914, to 2,96¢ millions of doilars on July 20, 1819, an increase of 572 per ceat. (2) By increasing her public debt from 2.621 milliops to 15,008 on May 31, 1919, an increase of 572 per cent. We now know what this mean Inflation always means,higher prices and relatively lower wages. Trans- lated into reality. it took $515 to pur- chase in 1918 what §126 would in 1513. The money had gome down in purchasing power. In 1913, for every dollar of bank notes and deposits out- standing she had 62 cents {n gold to back it up, s against 7.7 cents in {wold when the war closed. in 1913 an American dollar pur- chased 5 lire—now it will urchase 23. The gold point was broken and the international exchange machinery had to slow down. This was very serious to such a country as Italy— aimost as serious as to England and more serious than to France. For ltaly, like England, lives primarily by international trade. e But this is only part of her difi- culty. She had trouble before the war raising revenue enough to pay her way. Her public debt was equal to 13 per cent of her mational wealth. After the war the public debt was Yequal to 66 per cent of her national wealth. The significance of these figures can be shown in another way. Out of a per capita income of $112 each Ttalian paid $2.81 for interest charges before the war. After the war out of the per capita income of certainly not over $90, each Itailan paid $15.71 for interest charges. Today 38 per cent of the 1922-23 budget conglsts of items of interest on public debt and }civil and military pensions. The pub- {lic debt charges today are twice the total expenses of the government in 1914. Yes, and the forelgn debt chaiges. (3194,000.000 per year at 5 I (Copyright, 1923, by North A er gent) owing to Great Britalp and Dntted "ankas Srany Rritaln and Italy is_taking about $30 out of every §90 of matiopal income for taxes. It is a terrific drain. Her taxes are almost the heaviest in Eu- rope. Yet she cap’'t bring in_enough taxes to her expens The dif- erence she makes up by selling her onds, or still further inflating her eredll Her banks and others stili buy bonds and her money has not been greatly corrupted some others. But with interest charges Piling up more and more every year, Wwith world-wide production slowing own, and with a deficit facing her lor '8 to come, Italy's salvation genters on her ability to pay her way by dellvering each year to the people of other countr goods and services whose value Is sufficiently fireat to pay for the goods and serv- ices furnished by other people to her nd in addition meet at least the in- erest on her obligations held abroad. * ok ok ¥ Can she do it? Let us look at the facts. Italy must import all her coal, cne- balf her food, besides much of her raw materials like cotton and wool. In the five-year period ending 1913, Italy bought 240 millions of dollars more goods each year from other countriés than she sold to other countries. This charge she paid just as England, France and Germany had —by means of her invisible exports. For Italy these items are-chiefly re- mittances from abroad and tourist expenditures in Italy. From the first she received about 100 millions of dol- lars & year ang from the second ahout 75 milllons. She also received about 50 millions a year from her ships, besides a smaller amount from her forelgn investments. Altogether she was able to pay the yearly “unfavor- able” balance of trade. During the war, her purchases from abroad greatly increased while her sales to other countries greatly de- croased. She ran up a bill of about 5,000 millions of dollars, for a great part of which (3,500) she gave her bonds. That 1% how Great Britain nd the United States have now talian bonds. Since the war her purcha; utside have been large #nd her sales small. She has bought since the war approximately 1,600 millions of dollars more goods than shg So0ld. Her invisible exports can- not pay 20 per cent of the amount * ok ok % Her ability to purchase outside of her country what she must have— and that includes food, coal, cotton and wool—is growing less ang less. The demand for her goods—like cot- ton and wool—is smaller, too, for her customers in central Europe are grow- ing poorer. In plain English, the national Income of Italy is decrea: ing, not increasing. It has today de- creased in my opinion at least 20 per cent below pre-war times, She has little money credit for purchases outside and er sales are slowing down because the surplus income of BEurope has gone too. Factories are closing. unemployment s growing, 40 per cent of her merchant marine les idle. Her national income with- ers. Italy—poor ang populous before still_ poorer and more populous than ever. Now she can't seem to get rid of either her expenses or her people. Both continue to increase at an alarming rate. She has 20.000,000 t00 many mouths to feed. This ex- lains why the peaple of Italy are alf starved. It may show, too, why her workingmen are in revolt. ~They have been caught in a vicious na- tionalistic trap—in an economic and political state not now able to buy enough bread to feed itself properly. A debt repudiation or revolution looms up on the horizon. Mussolini or no Mussolinl. the salvation of Italy like that of England lles in mational trade. She will aehieve it not through intense pationalism, not by imperlalistic action nor by war with Greece. a_poor country with less than “one-eighth the population of Italy. She will attain it first by a financial shakedown which will elim- inate much of her debts—and then by a restoration of the machinery of international trade and good will. In the meantime a new dark age, economically speaking, will appear in Italy and the struggle for bread will become harder ang har Modern warfare and moadern civilization are deadly ememies. The bitter experi- ence of Italy proves it.. Next: Belglum's struggle for life. reat Britain ican ‘Newspaper Allisuce. {U. S. Editors Wish Lord Renfrew ' Good Time on His Vacation “Lord Renfrew” carried the best wishes 'of American editors with him when he went into seclusion on his Canadian ranch for a “roughing va- cation.” The Prince of Wales is sur- prisingly popular on this side of the water. His visit here some time ago emphasized that he was, after all, intensely human, and this fact is emphasized by those who discuss his present vislf, while there are many editors who hope when he gets “en- tirely rested” he will make another tour of the “States.” . He wants to ‘hunt and fish and ry to forget for a time that some ay he will assume the dutles and re- sponsibllities of the great British Empire” says the Memphis News- Setmitar, and “the least the world can do is to respect his wish and grant him these few minutes of nor- mal living among normal human be- lings” The very fact that he re- | sponded frankly to the “Canadian veteran who addressed him as ‘buddy' throws light on his character” the {New York World holds, inasmuch as “the prince has led a severe life conolliator for the biggest busine in the world—the British Empire. By nature, regardless of formality, he came to his ranch in Canada for the first let-down {n decorum since 1914. Truly a busy man Is having | his vacation in the wide open spaces.” | He needs all the rest he can get, be- |oause iruly he has “a job ahead of him,” as the Minneapolis Tribune sees it, and “the people across the line are not much better able than the people of the United States te { comprehend and recognize the pro- !priety of a dual identity for royal persons. The prince may escape be- {ing interviewed or feasted or ac- glaimed as the prince, ong Be ity ex '\::Qno‘l. h:k:hn ':ml alibls if he gets away with it. It is not to be overlooked, however, that he is an agile and dexterous person in fitting fate or getting out of situstiona gracefully. Uik “It ign’t much fun beipg a prinee, ingists the Albany News. “That is a job, just as everybedy's work is a job, and probably the prince gets as tired of his job as the rest of ua do. Really what a privilege it is to be just ordi- nary felks and sit on the bieachers at the ball game or go te @ show or ride on @ train without having to look princely all of the time! The bless: ings of obscurity are many." Which the Peoria Transcript fo s § Here's hoping that Lord Renfrew is as successful In avoiding exhausting publicity as his roval highness the rince of Wales was suecessful in meeting it" The Baltimore Sun is impressed with the fact that “the inter- | prince is a good guesser when he told | an acquaintance on shipboard that he supposed that many of the girls whom he danced with some vears ago are | married and settled down by now. One feels that he is beginning to realize the loneliness of the unwilling bachelor. The youngsters whom he used to know are no longer carefree and cheerful. They have homes of their own, Perhaps some of them are even putting on welght. But the pro— that is, the baron—is still cavorting around the British Empire with noth- ing to do except to maintain his repu- tation as a good mixer. He is making ne job of it, but maybe he is lone- some, “just the same” In addition, goes'on the Winona Herald, “even royalty need vacations from their everlasting corner stone layings and funetio! attending. If Amerjcans could learn to let their President got about comfortably in his private ca- pacity once in & while, by the magic of ll!lnf the word incognito, much of theatrain of office might be relieved.” * ok ok % It is to be hoped that “he will have left off his princely penchant for tumbling off’a horse's back™ while in the wide open spaces, the Albany Knlckerbocker-Press humorously sug- Fests, but “like the rest of us he has work cut out for him and a diversion from . the conventional order will better fit him, mentally and physical- ly, for the tasks ahead.” Simply because “he is a regular fellow,” the arion Star believes his privacy will e respected because “here is an in-| cognito that fs frank, open and emi- nently abovebeard. Not the slight- est deception is being practiced on the public. . And,it wouldn't .be sur- D{!‘.lnl’ if it proved to be 100 per cent effective.” t is algo the argument ot the Little Rock Gaszette. whose .d&tor “would like to take Kddie on 8 fishing trip with us. Those.are the imes that try men's souls. The fel- W that can fight mosquitoes, blister the sun and work like a slave all day and wind up without a gtrike | and yvet not complain is & man as well as a good sport. % wo rinoce of & fellow.” four-ply ure that H. R, H. Edward Wales 1s umt (st Toreng * ok % ¥ “As Lord Rentrew he “comes hon- estly by hip taste for dapeing)' the Teronto Star recalls, .hecause® i @reat-grandmother, Queen Victoria, and his grandfather, King Edward, danced well and enjoyed the exer- rcise, but the Star bemoans the fact that the dancges then in ion now are forgetien and “in Canadi they re almost as extinet a4 the cringline, of galloping 1o the Night g‘é o f o B v f o fox- rots to ‘You've got to ‘see your mammy every night' but enjéys it ery whit as much his grand- ather did the gallop. {by a call from the window. ! the EAST IS EAST BY FRANK H. HEDGES Pausing te wipe the grime from his face, Hijrohito, Prince Regent of Japan, turned to an American eorres spondent to reassure him that the new government had sssumed office and weuid carry on. The little group stood jn the grounds of the foreign office in Toklo gnly & few hours after the first great earthquake shock had begun the destrustion of the capital city that the flames were to continue for two day. i The dispatch that crossed the Pa- cific telling of the prince regen statement had far greater significance than the information it conveyed. The highest power in the empire had spoken, it is true, but the highest power had not issued an imperial edict from the seclusion of the palace, but had spoken In broken English to an American newspaper man. * % ¥ ¥ Accustomed as we are to the de- mocraey of the yoyal family of Eng- land, it is difficult to grasp the pecul- far position in which the imperial family of Japan is placed. The power of the emperor is not so much tem- poral as spiritual, Millions of Japa- nese belleve implicitly in his divinity. He Is to them not only a ruler on earth but in heaven, associating on equal terms with many of the deities to whom they pray at Shinto shrines. At his coronation, the gods of nature are represented as occupying a sphere even lower than that of the emperor, for the myriad deities of Japan are not of equal rank. Only a few months age army and navy officers who nad heen retired following the Russo-Japanese war knelt before the massive double bridge that gives en- trance to the imperial palace in Tokio and there prayed for interces- sion In their fight for increased pen- sions. Their prayers were not ad- dressed to the prince regent to bring e by ue of his earthly power, but rather in his po- sition as a descendant of the great sun goddess to influence in some mys- terious way the actions of the cabinet and the diet. VR e For centuries it has been thus in Japan. When the power of the Tokugawa shoguns was broken fifty- five vears ago, the emperor emerged from the seclusion of his Kyoto pal- ace, where he had come to eccupy a place in the national life predomi- nantly religious and with virtually no grasp on the political government In searching for a new form of goy ernment to meet the changed condi- tions, the Japanese went back through fourteen centuries to the day awhen the emperor had been supremie, had been the actual leader of his people. _ Political power was again placed in his hands, but neither Meiji Tenno nor the present emperor has exer- cised it save through a little group of statesmen close to the throne who have been the real government of Japan fer more than a half centyry. Under the new regime the throne was surrounded with a mystic awe and glamour that removed it even farther from the people than had previously been the case. When the emperor left the triple-moated palace in Tokio the streets were cleared by soldiers who drew up as a guard of honor. Shutters were elosed in all window: above the first floor and passengers on street cars were forced to alight, for no one might look down from above on his imperial majesty. But déspite the religious barriers by which the emperor has been walled off from his_people, his hold on their affeotion®y thas steadily increased. The Empérer Meiji, only a boy when called to the throme, ruled for more than fort§ years. In many respects he was democratic, and his subjects were ofterr given the opportunity of seeing his face. The present em- peror is but little known, due chiefly to_illness that has made him an in- valid for.a number of years, which is the reagon for the appointment of the crown prince to the regency. e It is Hirohito, & young man who has jourheved to England and other natiogs of Europe, who is knitting the bond between the reigning house and the people even closer. He still commands religious reverence, but in addition he has become a human be- ing to his milllons of subjects. Tithe after time he has cast precedent to the winds and has taken some step which his forefathers would have considered undignified, but which has resulted in_an Increased loyalty to him from the nation. Guards have been almost entirely dispensed with when he-rides through the streets. He has visited practical- 1y every spot in the empire in person. Only a month before the earthquake he ascended Fujlyama on foot. He has played golf on a public links and he doffs his hat to cheering crowds instead of stiffly saluting as was for- merly the practice. The newspaper men covering the trip of the Prines of Wales through Japan were wholly taken off .their guard in the mountains of the Ha- kone range one misty afternoon. We were in ope of the rooms of the detached palace that gverlooks the beautiful Lake of Reeds, high in_the mountains—the lake in which. on a clear day, the outlines of Fujlyama lie reflected—when we were startied It was the prinee regent. He had walked around the palace in the rain and asked that the newspaper men come Qut to take his photograph, standing there with an umbrelia in his han while cameras clicked. Until that dey only court photographers had been allowed to photograph members of the imperial family, and no newspap:r was allowed to publish their portraits ex- cept by special permission. L It is a little incident in itself, but considered in the light of the past and the promise it gives of the future it has tremendous significance. It has been sald, and rightly said, that even if by some strange freak Japan were to become a communistic state the imperial family would still be retained; the Japanese woyld in some way reconcile these two conflicting institutions before they would allow their soverelgn to be _dethroned. This unbreakable hold of the em. peror over his subjects has been a most exclusively spiritual in the past. Without losing that grip in the least, the prince regent is zdding to it a genuine popularity and humanity. The whole nation rejoiced when the leader of one of the most powerful clans falled to break the betrothal of the prince regent and Princess Nagako Kunl, because the whole na- tion believed the match to be a love affalr rather than a marriage of state, Each of the millions of his subjects wishes in a very personal way to bring about the happiness of his imperial highness. S The destryction of Yokohama and partial demolition of the capital city are cleuds -whose silver linings may .be ' easily ramlvou, or the world knows that in their destruc. tlon ‘old cities were swept away which will now be replac by new and better municipalities tant as the physical re will be, great as will made in modern bulldings tifically pianned cities, that is comihg over Japanese thought and life is even greater and of much vaster consequence. The skyscraper ‘tl vfl{ replace m': ll;fl: '&nfllh\n not mean uch to the future erSI an and :‘ the world as does the attitude of ‘the pringe regent, the desgendant of the great aun vio, standing |n‘:lu t'h‘. uge in & o capital, turns simply 1o an Am newspaper man and informs him in roken English that Japan s to LS AL ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS Q. Who designed the fountain in fropt of the Copgressional Library? ~—A. G. A. Roland Hinton Perry was the sculptor of the “Fountain of Nep- tune” This was one of his earlier works and, while vigorous and ef- fective, {s not considered to be as finished and artistic as some of his later efforts. Q. Do cabinet officers have mileage given them?—R. K. A. The members of the eabinet have selaries but no allowances. Q. What is the most common first name in ireland?—M, J. 8. A. A recent newspaper article eaid that there were one-third more Irish- en by the name of Patrick in Ire- ;:nd than by any other name. - Q. Will you publish a diet for a foot ball team?—C. A. A. The followipg diet was given for the use of foot ball teams in training. by ome of the athletic in- stryetors of a local college. In the morning—plenty of fruit, cereal, eggs and toast. A dry lunch consisting of cold meat with water or tea but no soup! Very little coffee should be taken. A more hearty dinner may be enjoyed, but pastries should he avoided, Q. I notice that there are more than 14,000 negroes in the United States who do not speak English. ‘What language do the: k?—M. W. A. The bureau of census says in its yeport on the number of persons unlLlo to speak the English lan- uage that there are 14,644 negroes. q'h- majority of them speak the Spanish language. These negroes are from the West Indies, Central and South America and Mexico. Q. What D. D. MeD. A. The growth and activities of fungi are responsible for the decay of timber. Certain parts of the fiber are dissolved by fermentation in the wood cells of the growing spores. Q. What effect does the Japan cur- vent hgvy on the climate of Califor- nia?—C, L D. A. The weather ' bureau says that it is hardly possible to determine this influence exactly, in view of the fact that the current has largely lost its identity before reaching the Cali- fornia coast. However, the climate of the state is greatly modified by the warm waters of the Pacific ocean, the winters being distinctly warmer than in other localities at the same latitude to the eastward, while the summers are distinctly cooler, due to the effact of the adjacent waters. Q. What is bean?—M, E. D. A. The jumping Pwan is the seed of any one of several euphorblaceous plants when infested by the full- grown larva of a small gray tortricid moth (Carpacapsa saltitans). The seeds are somewhat triangular and not only roll from side to side but mave by. jerks and jumps. The move- ments are produced by a plump whitish larva which occuples about one-fifth of the interlor, the seed. in fact, being but a hollow shell lined with silk which the larva has spun. Late in the winter the larva cuts a cireular door through the secd, strengthens it with silk and trans- forms to pupa, the moth soon after- ward pushing its way through the prepared door. The larva of another moth (Grapholitha sebastianiae) in- fests the seed of one varieqy of euphorbiaceous plant (Sebastina pal- meri) and produces similar move- ments. These plants and insects are natives of Central and South America, makes timber rot?— the Mexican jumping | { I | BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN and the imported seeds are frequently called Mexican jumping beans and in the southwestern United States “broncho beans. Q. How many $50-gold pieces have been minted?—W. R. R. -A. There has been $150,950 in $50 gold pieces minted. These are the Panama-Pacific international expos sition coins, which were coined in the year 1915, Q. How is the réligious popula- tion of Palestine divided?—K. T. A. No official religious estimate has been taken since the war. The estimate of 1922, exclusive of resi- dents of Transjordania and exclusive of the British garrison, was as fol- lows: Moslems, 583,188; Christian 84,659; Jews, 79,203; Druses, 7,034; Bahais, 168; Samaritans, 157. Q. What does chee-chaco mean? — J.D. P, N A. It is a slang term used in the far northwest for a tenderfoot. Q. Is Central University, Kentucky, a state school?—0. T. S. A. Central University of Kentucky is a sectarian institution, under the auspices of the Preshyterian Church. Q. Where was the first chamber of commerce organized in this country? ~F. L T. A. The New York city chamber of commerce, organized in 1768 and incorporated under a royal. charter from King George 111 in 1770, was the first institution of its kind in the United States. Q. Were the republics of Central America_ever united in one govern- ment?—F. Q A. In 1828 the five Central Ameri- can states were united into & na- tional federation which subsequently adopted a constitution modeled after that of the United States. The fed- eration was partially ended by 153 practically dissolved in 1839 and com pletely dissolved b Q. What is the speed of the ele- vator in the Washington Monument? How fast does the fastest elevator run?—8. C. W. A. The office of public huildings and grounds says that the elevator in the Washington Monument makes 100 feet a minute. As the elevator shaft in the Monument is 500 feet high, it makes this distance in five minutes. The twe elevators In the Woolworth building, which operate *from the ground to the fifty-fourth floor, rise 700 feet in one minute and these have the highest rise and are the fastest traveling elevators in the world. Al- though elevator service is provided in the Eiffe]l Tower, Paris, to a height of nearly 1,000 feet, three lifts must be used to reach the top, the high rise of a single lift being about 450 feet. Q. Who Invented dice?—A. & A. Dice were known in anc Greece, and their invention is = tributed by some to Psalmedes'in the thirteenth century B. C. The dige ex- humed from Thebes differ in no way from the ivory or bone cubes of to- day. They had spots ranging from one to six on them and the sum of the spets on the two opposite sides was always seven. Q. How long has the United Stat been exporting cotton to Europe?— A. The first bale of cotton exported from this country to Europe wa" shipped from Charleston, S. C., in 1784, (Send your guestions to The Star Information Bureaw, Frederic J. Haskin, director, 1220 North Capitoi street. Inclose 2 cents in stamps for return postage.) CAPITAL KEYNOTES BY PAUL V. COLLINS. Everybody knows that the United States was not prepared for hostil- ities in April, 1917, and that all that saved us from reverses at the out- start. was the defense of the asso- ciated nations already engaged. All wars with first-class powers will not give us the long interval between declaration of war and actual hos- Glitles, such as we were obliged to take In 1917, because of our umpre- paredness. Americans will “spring forward by the millions over night,” when a erisis presents, just as Mr. Bryan sald, but a mob of unarmed, uutrained men, is not an army, and is only a hindrance in the way of real preparedneas. No one knows, better than Gen. John J. Pershing, the necessity for sclentific preparation against a fu- ture condition of supine unreadiness. That is why he is still on active duty al of the Army, chief of staff, nt acting Secretary of War, d pooh-bah of military pre: pa He might retire, but, while distinguished for nis modesty, he is mot of the retiring kind, when there is a castie to be taken. Next year the bugles will blow and the grand American Army will raily once again around Old Glory, ready to conquer the world. 1t wiil be “mag- nificent.” but not war. There will be ne profiteers mobilized. * % % % It is not the plan for the United States to maintain a great standing army. The Regular Army is only a nucleus to which a citizen army will rally, already organized and trained. The Regular Army is the first line of defense, on land, next comes the Na- tional Guard and finally the reserve army. 1 * ¥ % X Gen. Pershing has but -two more years before he must retire by rea- son of the sixty-five-year legal age limit. It is well known that the gen- eral is in prime health and vigor, and feeling under no physical necessity for ceasing activity. * ok % % Times are unwholesome for the whangdoodle which whangeth of di aster. Prosperity persisteth. This is proved by all tests and financial baromete! For example, the largest increase of deposits that has come to the postal accounts since 1920, came last week, all over the country. The reatest {ncrease was in New York ity, $124,154; second, Bostan, $120.- 803, ‘and third, Denver, with $118,216. s by far the per capita population, and it most significant since it is lo- cated near the center of the country. Uniontown, Pa., has been leaping over the heads of some of the greatest in- dustrial centers of the country, and last week added $57,229 to its postal vings. S The most interesting feature of the postal savings lles in the fact that it omes from wage earners, and largely from those of foreign birth, which indicates the heaithy condition of in- dustrial activities, and the fact that the same condition is indicated from widely separated points, shows that the prosperity is not sporadic, but extends generally over the country. * % ¥ ¥ After the discovery that it had tak- en eight years for a postal card to travel by mail from one part of Wash- ington to another, the department has awakened te an overweening am- bitlon to break the record for speed. Consequently, no longer depending on the railreads to carry hurry-up let. ters from ¢ ital to that region -mu‘?fimn the President, a l:fl’elll delivery letter was given to a man who sald he was going that way and would just s scon take the letler as not. It was addressed to Portland, Me., and as the letter carrier walked fast, all the way, it reached its destination in only twenty-six days. That beat Washington local delivery by seven years, cleven months and three day But was not this giving of mail to anybody outside of the postal service a direct violation of law? The postal service is a government monopoly. jealous of its monopoly, and there is a penalty for attempting to run op- position.” However, it is understood that the messenger, to Portland did not run, yet he beat the elght years. In justice to the very expeditious service _ordinarily maintajined by steam, the regular schedule between Washington and Portland is eighteen hours. i The National Retall Coal Mer- chants' Association In angry over the anthracite settlement, and rises in its wrath to flay the so-called “Pinchot compromise.” It pronounces its wrath in these few words: “Arbitration has been relegated to the scrap heap, and arrogant organ- ized labor has ' gained the victory. * ¢ ¢ If merchants are to be sub- jected to price regulation by the state, it must be upon a basis that will es- tablish a rate of return for capital and energy employed, sufficient to at- tract requisite capital and competent brains to assume facilities and effec- tive use of same, adequate to the pub- lic_need.” There are pending now in the District of Columbia courts a large number of cases against members of the coal association of Washington, charging them with price extortion and conspiracy in restraint of trade. It is also alleged that owing to lack of competition the coal dealers do not undertake to instal and use modern labor-saving apparatus, which would clean and sift the coal properly. There is an organization of coal con- sumers being formed to prevent extortion here in the city. None of these eonditions are attributable nor to be credited to the “Pinchot com- promise.” A New England governor recently summed up the coal situa- tion in a few words: "The people want coal; not resolutions.” * ok ok K Shakespeare must have looked for- ward to the day of Senator Brook- hart when he wrote: “They that stand high Have many blasts to shake them, And if they fall They dash themselves to pieces. The senator is in trouble again. Not only must he defend himself for what he said about former Secre tary of Agriculture Ed T. Mere- dith, which Mr. Meredith estimates to amount to thirty cents, but now he must recken the damages for what he failed to say.on Labor day, which one John Watt of the United Mine Workers of Americe estimates at $10.000. The senator had promised to make a speech and it is alleged he failed to keep his appointment. There is an adage which tells us that speech is silver, silence golden, but the range between the evaluation of Brookhart's Meredith speech cents—and Watt's claim_ of $10,000 for Mr. Brookhart's “golden” silence iy so great that gold and silver would have to be figured a far higher ratio than 16 to 1, if it spans the spread. ‘What was it that Senator Brook- hart failed to say in $10,000 worth? At what rate per word was he to speak? T og ha ) This Iitigation which brings to fight the possible value of things sald (30 cents) and the contrasting value of things left unsaid ($10,000) throws the spotlight on the now fa- mous Coolidge:Pinchot - telegram of congratulation after the coal strike settlement. So long as neither party gives out the telegram, but e: de- fers to the honor of disclosing the telegram is in the class rated a $10,000, whereas if . it should lea out even Mr. Meredith would ap¥ praise it at 30 cents. (Coosright, 1923, by 2. V. Col