Evening Star Newspaper, September 30, 1923, Page 38

THE EVENING STAR, « With Sunday Morning Edition, h WASHINGTON, D. C. SUNDAY.....September 80, 1033 "'HEODORE W. NOYES. ...Editor The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New York Office: 110 East 42nd St. Chicago Office: ‘Tower Bullding. European Ottice: 16 Regent St., London, England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, s delivered by carriers within the eity At 60 cents per month; daily only, 45 cents per month: Sunday only. 20 cents per month. Or- fers may be sent by mail or telephone 000. Collection is made by carriers at the end of each month. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday. Daily only. Sunday only. 1yr., $6.00; 1 mq 1yr, $2.40; 1 mo., 20¢ I Other States. Daily and Sunday.1y: Daily only. Sunday only. Member of the Associated Press. The Awsociated Press is exclusjvely entitied to the use for republication of all news dis- credited to it or not otherwise credited s paper and alfo the local news pub- herein. All rights of publication of 1 dispatches hereln are also res d. Enforce the Law! An Inquiry is to be conducted by the prohibition commissioner into charges | that have been brought against cer- tain of the enforcement agents sta- tioned here. It should be searching and sincere. It should reach the bot- tom. If there issany truth in the al- legations of misconduct the guilty men should be dismissed and, if the proof is adequate, prosecuted and, on conviction, punished. ‘That the prohibition ‘law is being | violated in Washington is notorious. The illicit traffic is conducted almost openly. Venders of liquor are well Kknown, their headquarters are verita- ble landmarks, their “‘stations,” where they may be reached for business, are to be learned from almost any fre- quenter of the streets. Raids are conducted from time to time, and arrests are made and liquor zed. But the traffic continues. The courts are kept fairly busy with the cases, but only a fraction of them come to the point of trial. Bonding those accused of breaking the dry law has become a lucrative industry, and the trade continues, with little check. If there are men under federal com- mission who wink at this illicit traffic, or who profit from not molesting it. they are guilty of the most shameful breach of trust, The enforcement force must be above suspicion. These pres- ent charges put some of the force di- rectly under suspicion. The matter must be cleared fully and to the com- picte satisfaction of the public. The District police force, however capable of enforcing the law, cannot work effectively if it is handicapped by incompetence or malfeasance on the part of members of the federal or- ganization. The present conditions in Washington reflect, however, upon the police. Yet the responsibility rests upon the central enforcement organi- zation. Of all the cities in the country Washington should be free of the scandal of unenforced law. The situa- tlon today is a gravé® reflection upon the government. Let it be changed at once for the better by a thorough, de- termined, 100 per cent pursuit of the bootleggers, to clean the atmosphere and relieve all enforcement agencies, local and federal, from suspicion _———————— A few of the Japanese people were | suspicious of trickery in the efforts to carry relief to the regions of wreck- age. A certain amount of nervous ap prehension, however unreasonable, is excusable in the excitement of a series of earthquakes. ——te———— Farmers who desire an extra ses- ston of Congress to provide agricul- tural aid should be willing to assist in forming a preliminary program that may save valuable time by helping to shorten the conversation. ———————— Uncle Sam might more easily be persuaded to take part in a discussion looking toward improved conditions in Burope if Europe could arrange to remain quiet long enough to listen. —_——— The collection of a fifty-million-lire indemnity from Greece will strengthen Ttaly’s belief that in addition to being a patriot Mussolini is a good business man. is se The Spanish Prisoner Game. A dispatch from Barcelona says that men who have for many years been working the “Spanish prisoner™ confidence game have been arrested. This is good news, that may mean a break-up of one of the meanest swin- dles ever practiced. Although repeat- edly exposed, as was the old “green z00ds” game in the past, it has thrived. Nobody knows, of course, how many “Spanish prisoner” letters come to this country, but from sam- ples that are shown from time to time it may be estimated that the United States gets a large share. A dispatch from Barcelona says that no less than 50,000 letters have been dispatched from that city in a year by the large staff of secretaries employed by the band. Probably only a few dozen people “bite.” But the winnings from them have doubtless been big enough 10 justify the expense and labor. Briefly stated, this game is worked as follows: A letter written in care- fully “pigeoned” English is received bty a resident of this country telling him that he has been appealed to be- cause of his known charity and means to aid a man held as prisoner in Spain to recover the buried proceeds of his crime. In order to get at the money an agent is necessary, who must come to Spain with funds sifficient to carry on a search and perhaps to ‘“‘cross the palm” of an official. Sometimes the vietim is not urged to go to Spain, but is instructed to send his money 1o a designated agent, who, when the treasure is recovered, will forward a specified share of the loot. On the face of it this would seem & most hopeless proposition. But again and again, as the Spanish police rec- ords show, people have gone to Spain in response to these letters, have put up thelr money with the agents named, and have then waited fruit- Jessly for results, finally in some cases reporting to the authorities, only to find that they have been chas- and { jform for Congress the proposals of | voters for return to power. ing .a wild goose. For there is no “Spanish prisoner” with buried treas- ure. In the old green goods game the appeal was also to the cupidity of people, usually in rural regions, who were invited to buy counterf8it money of such excellent execution that it ‘would not possibly be detected. They were to go to New York, for example, with their cash and after following instructions were to pay over their good money for the bad, which they were then to take back home and | pass to their neighbors. They were shown packages of supposed money, which were put into a valise, with instructions not to open it until they got on the train, or back home. When ! they opened the packages they found | genuine dollar bills on the ends of | oblongs of green paper. There was, ! of course, no ‘“comeback,” for they ! were themselves engaged in a crim- | inal enterprise. This game was finally Lroken up by a man who shot dead two of the promoters. The President’s Message. President Coolidge's message to Congress at the opening of the regu- lar session, two months off, will be re- garded as his campaign platform. He | cannot avoid this. It will be his first official statement of the aims of his ! administration, and will outline his recommendations for legislation to the new Congress. Naturally, republicans who have presidential aspirations will await this message with the greatest interest, knowing that it can scarcely fail to have an effect one way or another on the preconvention campaign. Natu- rally, the democrats, who have been | walting and waiting for something tangible from the new Chief Execu- tive on important issues of the day, will scan the message eagerly when it | is delivered. Beyond declaring his ad- | herence in general to the Harding | policies the President has in the two | months and a half since he took of- ficé given little inkling of what his administration will ask of the Con- gress. e Suggestions are coming from some quarters that it would be well to call the Congress together in special ses- sion in November so as to get a jump on the work that must bé done, and thus make it more certain that Con- gress will be ready to adjourn sine die before the national conventions of the republican and democratic parties | next summer. The campaign promises to be brisk; in fact, one of the most hotly contested in years, and mem- bers of Congress would like to get into their states and districts as soon as possible. The legislative program looms large, with transportation, ‘coal and the farmer problems among the foremost { that await consideration. The demo- ! crats may be expected to play the game in Congress to the limit on the | eve of the election. The organization of the new Congress promises, also, to give trouble, with the apparent repub- | lican majority cut to the bone in both houses and the radicals of the party | holding the balance of power. Why | not, some are saying, get the Congress | here so that it may have at least a chance of getting away by convention | time? i In 1916, when President Wilson and | Secretary Hughes were the nominees | of the two parties, Congress returned | to Washington after the conventions worked almost continuously hroughout the summer and fall. In 1920, however, Congress adjourned be- ! fore the conventions, and the battle of | politics received the entire attention | of the legislators thereafter until the | election in November. President Coolidge has been-giving | t study to the issues of the y since he entered the White House. { He has been on the job day after day | for long hours, listening to all who | came to him with suggestions and in- formation regarding the coal industry, the agricultural situation, foreign re- lations and many other subjects. Senators and representatives, labor | organizations and veterans' organiza- | tions are submitting to him their pro- | posals for legislation dealing * with | many subjects. The next two monthu{ is little enough time in which to di- | gest this information and put into | the administration, it appears. The ‘work of the next Congress, as well as the administration of President Cool- idge, must be relied upon by the re- publican party in its appeal to the If the farmers get all the things they desire the oppressed east will be- gin .to register complaints about the opulent wesf. The price of gas does not make the same speedometer record in different parts of the country. All the celebrities are coming over. Papyrus has arrived and Lloyd George is expected later. Food Prices. The Department of Labor furnishes figures showing that food prices in ‘Washington were higher in July, 1923, than in 1922, “and approached the peak of war-time prices in 1919." No | discourtesy is meant to the Depart- ment of Labor when it is suggested that Washingtonians are acquainted with the facts. These facts are im- pressed upon us in other ways than by official bulletins. The department says that the prices of July, 1923, “approached the peak of war-time prices.”” July? That was the seventh month of the year, and we are now on the road to Thanksgiving, and the lights, chimes, holly wreaths and joys of Christmas are not far in the future. ‘We paid the July prices long ago, and are wrestling with the prices of now. ‘We know they are high. Nearly every- body has to pinch to pay them, and thousands of citizens find it hard to get two meals a day and a noon sand- wich and make a monthly deposit in the savings bank. . ‘We used to cry out louder than now against food prices. People got hoarse from making outcries, -and prices were without pity. The price-lifters were deaf. The department furnishes food price lists from several cities. Some things are higher here than there, and some things lower. There are many conditions which make for a legitimate difference :in. price. Take the department’s price | abstinence in addition THE list on sirloin steak. Tue Washington price is registered as 46.7 @ pound, Rochester, 40.6; Peoria, Iil., 36.1, and Salt Lake City, 27.8. The schedule is not particularly enlightening. Porter- house steak is porterhouse the coun- try over, but its quality depends on the kind of a steer or cow it came from, how long it has been ‘“‘ripened” in cold storage and other things. And, of course, butchers may have certain price idiosyncrasies. There seems to be no more differ- ence in the price lists of the several cities than may be found ‘in stores in ‘Washington and probably in the other cities. The department notes that in July fresh vegetables were higher here “than in most of the other twen- ty-one cities from which figures were obtained.” The price of fresh vege- tables is largely a local question. If a city is near a good vegetable-growing sectlon it will probably have cheap vegetables in good seasons, if high prices elsewhere do not draw off the cabbage, cauliflower, beets and peas. Vegetable growers in the Washington region had a bad season last year, and not a happy spring and summer this year, but those farmers and truckers who succeeded in raising good crops must have made money. Prices were hi They are still high. —_—————————— Fascisti at Rome ordered a strike to improve conditions for engravers. It is regarded as a departure from previous policies, and creates interest as to whether the fascisti may not have a little internal politics of their own. The course of every organiza- tion depends as much on the elements that come into control as on the con- stitution and by-laws. ——— It is claimed that District employes have better working conditions than those in private business. No tax- payer who has been in one of the Dis- trict offices during a rush hour can conscientiously say that any employe in sight looked as if he had an easy Job. ——————————— Mrs. Coolidge modestly declares in response to an invitation to join a literary association that she does not assume to be an author. Anyhow, the admiring public will credit her with sharing with her husband the distinc- i tion of being a fine audience. —_———— The New York pressmen desisted from what seemed & threat to put the newspapers temporarily out of busi- ness. There cannot be much sustained enthusiasm in a strike that curtails its own facilities for placing itself be- fore the public. —_—————— While one of his attorneys lay faint- ing from exhaustion Ward was being kissed by ladies. It is difficult to see why Ward should deserve so much reward or the attorney so little. —_———— There is so great a variety-of dogs that all the fanciers cannot expect to have their favorite styles of canine represented at the White House. —_——— Mr. Haynes recognizes the fact that prohibition agents should not only perform their official duties but also | set good personal examples. The Ruhr people are inclined to evolve a form of “local option” to be considered in connection with the Ber- lin foreign policies. According to Commisstoner Haynes {a governor ought to sign the pledge of to taking the oath of office. Germany has made a variety of moves, but none that appeal to French statesmanship as precisely fitting the situation. Operators and miners are on the job of supplying fuel, but as usual the public is doing most of the real work. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. Friend Cow. Friend Cow, though once you stood and dreamed, For generosity esteemed, You have departed from the ways That merited our love and praise. They say—it is a charge severe— That you ere now a profiteer! That you consort on cordial terms, Unless you're watched, with wicked germs! That the expense of milk-and meat Is high because of what you eat! ‘Why have you grown so impolite, A roysterer and a sybarite? You really do not look the part. Friend Cow, reform and have a heart! No Bright Fancy. “Do you never dream of retiring from public life and settling down in peace?” “That's not what I call a dream,” answered Senator Sorghum. “It's a nightmare.” Jud Tunkins says one of the saddest things about boosting the price of coal is the way it seems to hurt the feel- ings‘of the dealer who hds to do it. Oklahoma Campaigner. Father buckles on his gun And fiercer grows his nature. Friends are urging him to run And join the legislature. Selective Patronage. “So Crimson Gulch is to have a new hotel” “Yep,” replied Cactus Joe, proudly. “What will it be like?” “T don't know. And I suspicion I'll mebbe never know. The plan is to make it so expensive that nobody but cich wayfarers kin afford to go in- side.” Delicate Sentiment. “That man who reads the meter must be tender-hearted.’ 7} ‘He never says a word.” “That's it. He doasn’t like to tell the bad news abruptly. He goes away and gets somebody else to write it.” “De man dat knows all de laws," sald Uncle Bben, liable to be a good citizen. He's got to 80 hard he’s bound to keep qi not break none.” SUNDAY STAR, Advises Leaders WASHINGTON, D. C, of Thought To Avoid Stirring Up Turmeil BY THOMAS R. MARSHALL, Former Vice President of the United States. Every now and then I meet a man who wonders why this age is not producing an Emerson or a Thoreau. Iam not sure that there are not many Emersons and Thoreaus even yet in the ‘world, but we should realize that the age of Emerson is not this age. I well remember when a book was & luxury; I have lived to see the day when it rarely escapes being a nuls ance. Fifty years ago the man who had a hundred books in his library was regarded with awe by his fellow citizens. They were afraid to ex-, press an opinion in his presence, for he had at home all the knowledge of the world. Now a private library is negligible that does not contain ,000 or 4,000 volumes. | “The uninitiatea may imagine that all these have been digested, but most men know they were bought by the set with reference to the es- thetio value of their bindings. Any man who g0 desires may now have a newspaper once an hour the twenty-four hours around. If he likes he may “listen in” over his radio. There is a8 much philosophy, as much wisdom, as much learning and in- finitely more information in the world than ever before. Much of it is, how- ever, either predigested or undigest- ed. The rush of modern times leaves no moment for thoughtful separation of fact from fancy, no hour in which | to consider a subject from all its angles. This statement may not apply to the philosophers of the age, but surely it is applicable to those of us who ‘have neither the time nor the inclination to suspend judgment until ; we have gotten at the root of things. The effect of all this upon the world at large 18 not as bad as its reflex ac- tion upon ourselves. It is this reflex action which leads to the sort of phi- losophy that T am not responsible for what T think, still less responsible for what I say, that I cannot help thinking and that I have a constitu- tional right to speak. Such philoso- phying adds complications. It is like | throwing mud into an already turgid stream. W] 1'am led to the making of these observations by a recent editorial in one of the really great newspapers of America, back of which there is nothing but the finest of motives. Neither its owners nor editors would' voice a sontiment which they did] not believe to be true—aye more, which they did not belleve would aid the common good. Yet, fn an hour Of stress when a momentous ques- tion was at issue, when sane and in- teliigent leadership was needed, when the public desired and deserved the| truth, and nothing but the truth, this| paper editorially gave expression to| dissatisfaction with the agency of| our government which was handling | the question. and by that very ex-| pression made confusion worse con- | founded in the minds of its readors, | The governmental agency was criti-| clsed for not having furnished to the | newspaper thought it should have supplied. when. as a matter of fact.| the information had been supplied. | Ladislas Grabski had been premier of the republic of Poland. When I saw him in Warsaw in July of this vear he wap finance minister. He did not speak English, so Count Marke- tz, the husband of Countess Marke- vitz of Irish fame, acted as inter- preter. Yes, the Polish government budget would be balanced—some day. Imports and exports would balance— some time. When? That was im-| possible to say. But Poland some- ! how would stumble up the hill to peace and prosperity—if she could hold together long enough. In theory the republic of Poland should be one of the most substantial countries of Europe. Here are 29,- | 000,000 people, two-thirds of whom | are Poles, living in an area (124,097 square miles) about the size of Wis- lconsin and North Dakota combined. {One-half of the people are engaged | in agriculture and the other half in | industry. She is rich in timber, oil, | coal, iron, zinc and water power. She | has 'large cotton and woolen plants, | mostly owned by foreigners. She | has fifty citles of 25,000 people and over, | “We think we can balance our budget by 1924. That is excluding the deficit on the railroads. By 1926 we will balance the budget entirely,” | declared Mr. Grabski. | “You mean that by 1926 you will be able to pay all your government ex- penses by receipts ffom taxes?” I| { inquired. | "“On, no; not that. I mean we will raise from taxes as much as we can | and the deflcit we will get by selling | government bonds to banks and in- | vestors, so that we can stop making | up our deficits as we do now, by | printing more and more unsecured | money. That's our policy.” * k X * So that was it. The finance minis- ter would be satisfied to be able to recover enough government credit on which to borrow, to take care of the mounting government deflcits—just as Frande is doing. The finance minister brought out his official figures to show | lare on {power to lash into a fury the waves The newspaper had not taken the trouble carefully to examine the agency's report. Few of us realize our responsfbil- Ity for what we say. I do not claim that I discharge my responsibility. I do not pretend to argue that my ut- terances always are the result of de- liberate judgment based wupon all facts that are obtainable. But now Is a good time, I believe, in these stressful economic days, to urge once again that those who speak from ex- alted position, particularly those who Speak to the public through the daily newspaper, seek all possible facts before voicing censure. I shall not dlscuss the responsibility of a man for what he thinks. 1 let that go with the comment that if he thinks wrong the sole injury is done to him- self. But the times are full of eco- nomic trouble in America, and those Who gulde by speaking or writing must be held responsible for the ;'Z‘»;vthv;lvmch their expressed opinions v6 upon t T e ue he future of the * K % % I do not bother my mind over the discussion as to the inerrancy of the Seriptures. 1 worry no more about higher criticism than I do about the chemical difference between whale oil and fusel oil. T believe, of course, the Bible to be divine, but whether divine or not its principles, if ac- cepted and lived up to, will make life more worth the living. The: . They con- :;xll:ns more certainly than any other & to the peace, qui ur;ler of adciety: n T ROoD reread this morning th of the Master of Mankind upon. the ea of Galilee, when He stilled the waves, In the account appeared these words, “And there were with Him other little ships.” The phrase had not attracted my attention on pre- vious readings. When the sea is calm, the sun is shining and the s are quict, what difference is it her the boat be large or small, whether one be salling with a master mariner or not. But whether seas are calm or disturbed, little ships always their surface. He who has of public opinion ought always to remember that there are with him little ships, and he also who has power to calm the waves of public opinion should never forget that like- wise he has with him little ships. There are great moments when the sword of Gideon and thq Lord should be unsheathed: there are great crises when, regardless of cost, reform must be wrought: there are moments when the individual must be lost &ht of in the common good. How- ever, as men gain realization how much depends upon their ability to create storms that much more will they hesitate to do sp. It is not pos- sible to separate the moral from the economic, yet there never was a time | when purely for the purpose of hear- ing the winds blow and seeing the waves mount high a man was justi- fied in stirring turmoil. Somehow I feel that this Is an hour when all of us should speak words calculated to calm the angry seas of life, remembering that there are with us other little ships. No investigator who has even a quasi-judicial mind is justified in the light of facts in say- ing that the wrongs between labor and caplital are all on one side. Those ho seek to mould public opinion will contribute to justice and fair public certain information which this|flealing more just now by speaking | beace than by adding windy words to the storm. (Copyright, 1923, 218t Century Press.) Can Europe Hold Together? XVII—Poland—A Victim of Militarism BY JOHN F. SINCLAIR. ing new paper money. Out of every dollar she spent in that year, 53 cents went for military purposes. She spent $3.81 on the army for every $1 she aised in taxes. That such a policy could only end In disaster was evident to_any observe The next year, 1921, her receipts were less than one-third of her ex- penses. Still_her military expenses were more than her receipts from taxes. Last yvear, 1922, for every dol- lar the government spent she raised | 45 cents in taxes, of which 33 cents were for military purposes. The fig- ures for thiz year so far, instead of cutting the spread between expenses and receipts, show just the reverse. The Polish mark is depreciating in value so fast that not more than 30 per cent of the expenses of the gov- ernment this year will be raised from taxes. Still “the military expenses continue. That's the reason for the huge increase in paper marks each month. In four years Poland has completely destroyed her financial machinery of exchange. Her present currency is unstable, unreliable and useless. * K Kk x The new country of Poland owes $287,000,000 in debts outside her country. Among these items in tifis total are the following: To the United States Grain Cor- poration, $24,000,000. American Relief Administration, $51,000,000. United States Liquidation Commis- sion, $57,000,000. United States War $20,000,000. United $4,000,000. United States Navy Department, $2,000,000. Those itams she cannot pay worthless paper marks. only by gold or.goods. Department, States Shipplng Board, in She can pay She has no |gold, so she must pay these items only by creating an excess of exports over her imports. There {8 no other way. The size of the payment is de- termined finally by the excess of ex- ports over imports, ‘What is her record in this regard? Briefly, in 1919, her imports In value were nine times her exports. No help in that year. In 1920 her imports, in metric tons, were five and one- SEPTEMBER 30, 1923—PART 2. Capital Sidellghts BY WILL P. KENNEDY. In explaining to the delegates at the annual convention of the Ameri- can Red Cross how the United States Veterans' Bureau {s still “in the duration. of the war” with many great problems to solve Brig. Gen. Frank T. Hines, director of the Veterans' Bureau, told this little story: “When the American forces were being brought home I was standing on the pler at Brest watching a colored stevedore battalion working in the handling of supplies and bag- Bage. The sergeant in charge of the particular squad that I was near no- ticed one of the colored members of the squad was not taking a very active part in assisting in handling the baggage and I overheard a con- versation like this: ' ‘Hey, there, nig- ger, why don't you come get to work? ‘Sergeant, the war am over.’ ‘Yes, yes, that is right, nigger; the war am ‘over’ ‘I only enlisted for the “duration of the war.”' ‘That is right: you only enlisted for “the duration of the was ‘The war am over, ain’t 1t ‘Yes; but you are still " in the “Quration”; so get to work.” " . Representative Peter Gansevoort Ten Eyck of New York, whose ances- tors have been helping to build this country since the Mayflower landed, boasts that it was in his grand- father's home, Fort Crilo, New York, that “Yankee Doodle” was first sung. It is also his proud boast that his maternal grandfather, for whom he {was named, first ralsed the Stars and Stripes in battle at Fort Standish. * % ok % In these days, when many are com- plaining that the legislative mill has been gripding out too many laws, cronies of the “late lamented” Champ Clark are recalllng one of the fa- vorite quotations of that long-time leader in Congress. Champ Clark said that, next to the Bible, which he considered the greatest book ever written, he thought Buckle's “His- tory of Civilization” was the best book he ever read. Quoting from i this history, he was wont on occasion to remind his colleagues that: “Every great reform which has been effected has consisted, not in doing something new, but in undoing something old. The most valuable additions made to legislation have been enactments destuctive of pre vious leglislation, and the best laws which have been passed have been those by which some former laws have been repealed.” * ok %k % When we think of the cost of the Navy we never stop to consider that the mere little item of ice-water amounts to quite a decent amount— depending, of course, on how many officers there are. For example, in 1921 the Navy spent $86,521 for ice- water and last year the appropriation of $65,000 was just about enough. For the present fiscal year they are asking Congress for $60,000 — ice- water. _And, mark vou—this is just for the Navy 'Department and navy yards. 1t does not include the hospitals. The Navy Department has been cutting {down on this schedule, according to Rear Admiral David Potter, chief of the bureau of supplies and ‘accounts. As requisitions have been coming in the bureau has answered, “You can- not have as much ice as you had last month.” And where do vou think the biggest kick is coming from? Why, Key West, the nearest jump- |ing off place to the Island of Bimini, Cuba, and other famous oases of these | Volsteadian days. Rear Admiral Potter says: “Even at Key West we have cut down on this item, and we received a vehement protest from the commandant at Key West, because they have hot weather there all the time.” * In the first race Representative Wil- ltam A. Ayres of Kansas made for Congress he was a little apprehensive about some of his old friends, both re- publicans and democrats, as a number of both had gone to the bull moose party, so driving through the coun- try he called on an old republican |friend who was the owner of a fine Jersey herd. The first thing he said to his friend after passing the time 6f day was “John, that {s sure a fine cow; is she registered?” He was told she 'was, after which he praised her a little more. About that time his friend's wife, who had been an old schoolmate of the congressman, ap- peared with a fine baby boy, and he immediately took the baby and paid the compliments he could. Finally, he said, “John, how are politics out here this campaign?’ He said, “Bill, e aro awtully mixed. Iam a repub: {lican, my wife is a democrat, that cow, you so much admired is dry, and the baby, as you no doubt have dis- covered, is wet. * ¥ ok * There was a three-cornered fight for the democratic nomination for the United States senatorship from Ten- nessee in 1905. Former Senator Lyke Lea, former Gov. Patterson and the then Representative Kenneth D. Mc- Kellar were the contestants. Lea had served six years as representative. McKellar took them to task for ab. senteeism. He charged that both had been absent from their dutles a great portion of the time. The Congres- sional Record showed that Gov. Pat- terson had once been dropped from the rolls for continued absence from the House and that on one occaslon | Senator Lea had, by order of the Sen- ate, been brought to that body by the which is substan- sergeant-at-arms, tially arrest. McKellar dealt only with records of his opponents and_after reviewing these records he asked his audience what was the real difference between the records of the two gentlemen, one of whom had to be dropped from the rolls to get him to Washington and the other having to be brought there by order of the Senate. He said the difference in their records reminded that the government this year was.half times her exports. Still no help. { him of a story Jim Brett of Memphis reducing the issue of paper money!In 1921, her imports in value were |had told him. Brett had a colored each month. Here were his figure Six hundred and sixty-seven billions of new marks issued in March, 1923;} 409 billions of new marks issued in April, 1923; 215 billions of new marks | issued in May, 1923. He was quite confident of success In cutting down | the volume of new paper. Then the June and July figures came out, with the following record of new paper | 1 jued: 833 billio; of marks issued in | June, 1923; 912 billions of paper marks issued in July, 1923, ‘The record of Poland in putting out “cheap money,” is ‘“some” recora.l These figures are in millions of marks: four and one-half times her exports. Still no help. In 1922 her Imports were two and one-half times her ex- ports. What conclusion can we draw? Only one. Up to this time she has had no excess of exports over im- ports with which to pay a dollar of her foreign debts. In fact, she has been creating more and more foreign obligations, which must sooner or later be met, or. her volume of im- ports must shrink. Poland has been going behind every year. She has been sinking finan- cially and economically every year since she became a nation. A nation cannot be built on promises to pay or armies. +No nation in Europe that 1 visited shown so little capacity in the handling of her government boy on his place who was a bachelor, but who had been for a long time quite a ladies’ man. Once day as Mr. Brett was getting in his machine to go up town the boy, whose name was John Jones, came up and said: “Mr. Brett, is you goln’ by the co'thouse today?’ Brett said, “Yes,” and the boy said: “Well, sir, here’s two dollahs and & ha't; I wants you to git me a pair of ma'lage licenses. I want to git ma'ied tonight” ~(Negroes In the country frequently call a marriage license a pair.) Brett took the money, got the license, took it out and hand- ed it to the boy. John took the license, slowly unfolded it, saw where the minister was authorized to sol- emnize_the rites of matrimony be- December 31, 1918, total paper money | finance and national organization as | tween John Jones and Mandy Patter- outstanding, 1,024; 1919, 5316; 1no.| 49,362; 1921, 220,538; 1922, 793,43’ July 1, 1923, 4,478,000. ‘What does this mean? For one thing, Polish money is un- fit to be used for doing business. These figures will show that. June 30, 1919, it took 17 marks to purch: one American dollar; 1920, 142 ma. 1921, 2,076 marks; 1922, 4,675 marks; 1923, 105,000 marks. Inflation. Increasing prices. De. creasing paper money value. Debtor class robbing creditor class. Increa ing difficulty of balancing govern- ment_budget. Increasing cost of liv- ing. Increasing paper wages, and de- creasing real wages. Decreasing standard of living. A slowing down of business. * ok k x Poland's troubles started with her first budget of 1920. Her expendi- tures for that year were 78,000,000,000 marks and the receipts were 11,000,- 000,000. Yet her military expenses ‘were 42,000,000,000. To put it in an- other way, for every dollar which d nt for that she raised lpl.‘o.-‘nu om n-r.m’gla. with which to pay. The balance came from print- £ % b Poland. L The present collarless and tieless premier of Poland, M. Witos, and his colleague Korfanty are intense nationalis trying desperately to build up within Poland a complete economic unit. These men and their colleagues are typical by-products of the war—politicians of the old school who think only in terms of the little national unit of Poland and not of the ‘g-rouer unit of Europe as a whole. So far Poland has been & disappoint. ment financially, economically and olitically. She has shown herself to ge nothing but a military outpost for France—a buffer state between Rus- sia and Germany. Poland, no more than England or Italy, can build up trade with armies and navies. ~Her trade must be built up on good will and genuine friendship. Finland. — Young and Tomorrow: healthy. He looked up and said, “Look , you done gone and made a I knows 1 been runnin® lot wid Mandy Patterson and one time I thought sho’' I was gwine to ma'y her. But, boss, I met Lucy Lea not long ago and since I done met Lucy I done gone and changed mind.” mfinn 1d: “Well, how was I to know that? I have seen you running around here for years with Mandy Patterson and I just supposed you wanted marry her.” The boy an- swered, “Yes, you ain't to blame, you ain't to blame. I knows I was thinkin' about ma’yn’ Mandy, but since I done smeen Lucy I sho' done changed my mind. Look here, bos: cain’t you get dese licenses changed Brett said, “Oh, yes, 1 suppose so. The boy said: “How much will it cost me to git dese licenses changed?" Brett sald it would cost him & quar- ter. Whereupon, the boy scratched his head and appeared in deep thought a moment and then slowly folded the license and put it In his pocket and said: “Never mind, boss, I'll just take ese licenses an on and ma'y dy hmrn”. ain't 8 quar- ter's ~worth difference them two niggers nohow.” son. 'round him as well as his fond parents alll MEN AND AFFAIRS BY ROBERT T. SMALL ‘When the mammoth navy dirigible ZR-1 floated down Pennsylvania ave- nue a few days ago so low that you | could see the propellers turning and could almost visualize the faces of the officers and men in the dependent gondolas, it recalled to mind a comic incident of one of the early Zeppelin ralds over London. It was in 1915, a time when the English had taken virtually no steps at all for the protection of their capital from the sky raiders. So on this occaslon one of the marauding Zeps deliberately set its course down the Strand, sailing extremely low and with perfect safety dropping its little twenty-pound bombs, raising lots of racket, caving in a door of the Gaicty Theater and generally making every- body furious. When the silvery Zep started down the Strand it so happened that a London messenger boy was riding in the same direction on his bicycle. A small kerosene bull's-eye lamp was affixed to the front fork of his bike. Hearing the hum of the motors, the boy looked up and was terrified to see the Zep coming right after him. He put on more speed, but as he looked back he saw the Zep was galning. Once more he pedaled with still greater vigor, but still the Zep was gaining. The monster seemed to have eyes that looked at him lalone. And it was just about to pounce when suddenly a great in- spiration came to the hard-pressed messenger. He swerved his bike into a black ailey and leaping from the wheel quickly blew out his lamp. The Istrategy was a great success. The |Zep missed its quarry. It circled labout the city for a time, but in its chief mission it had failed. The boy escaped {ts wrath and lived to be a hero among all his mates. * ¥ X % W. Jett Lauck of this city has one of the rarest qualities ever bestowed upon an expert statistician—a sepse of humor. Mr. Lauck was one of the experts recently called in during the anthracite strike negotiations at Har- risburg, being a particularly close adviser of John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers. Harris- burg at the time was all broken out with experts. The streets were lined with solemn-faced men wearing horn- rimmed spectacles and carrying brief cases. Some were “experting” for the miners, some for Gov. Pinchot, and some for the mine operators. Some of the experts, it appeared, were un- attached. They Jjust stood around ready to expert on the slightest call for assistance in any direction. “I never saw quite so many and such varled experts in all my life,” says Mr. Lauck. “But at that they did not compare with one I met on a case some years ago. We were ‘experting’ at a pretty good pace when ‘the’ expert I have in mind rose up on the conference and said, ‘What this case needs is a little constructive Heard and Seen Sir Walter Raleigh has got a lot of credit through the centuries for that stunt of throwing his velvet cloak down in a pool of muddy water 50 that Queen Elizabeth might cross over dry-shod. Looking at it from the viewpoint {of 1923, it would seem that Sir Wal- ter got more publicity than he de- served for & somewhat theatric ges- ture. He must have had any number of velvet outfits in his wardrobe, so it really meant nothing to him. The gallantry of the action, of course, is what has kept that anec- dote intact through the ages. Even !in this street car age, courtesy flour- ishes. This despite the bad manners of women who refuse to thank a man when he gets up to give them their seat. . One rainy morning recently a mod- ern Sir Walter Ralelgh might have been observed on an open street car running downtown from Mount Pleas- ant. It was one of those sloppy, drizzly mornings, when the street car com- pany pafticularly delights to run open cars. Try as the passengers may to huddie in the center of the seats, they are bound to get wet i Let them pull down the blinds on the far side as much as they please, still the rain seeps in all over ever. thing. * &y That wet morning 8ir Walter got on, carrying a newspaper. He had left his velvet coat behind. This morning he wore & straw hat, and carried an umbrell He got seated and was reading away when a woman got into the seat d rectly in front of him. She stood rather than sat down on the wet seat. The man was so_interested in his paper that he failed to see the lady's dilemma. * ‘When he grasped the situation, how- ever, he was quick to act. Foiding his paper to double thick- ness, he reached over the back of the seat, spread down the newspaper and cried: “Be seated, madam! The strangest part of this story is that the lady accepted the newsy seat with a !mlle.* * x Now this is no reflection on street cleaning department. Just a curious instance of how long a little article can exist in the whirl | ana turmoil of a busy city street. Probably you have read the story pt 0. Henry's In Which is recounted the pathetic episode of the old man, mortally ill, who believed that he would die when the last leaf, on an old wall out his window, dropped ay. *Such a master of the short story might have built a similarly enter- taining story out of the little tin spoon which lay for weeks on a sewer manhole at 11th and E streets. An observer happened to notice the spoon lying there. The next morn- ing he saw it again. After that it became his habit to look for that bit of tin every morning. Each day before he got to the man- hole_he would wonder if the spoon would still: be there. Sure enough. there it would be. One morning it would be near the center of the iron. Another time it would be kicked over near the edge. Once it got over the rim it was gone. By actual count, the spoon stayed there on that manhole for five week Countless feet trod upon it. It wi bent and twisted. Then it was gone. * * * As absurd a sight as ever graced a Washington street was furnished last week by a big, old dog that ran away with a Teddy bear. The bear was reposing on a front step, where it had been left by some small member of the family. The dog came along, eyed the bear with interest, sidled over to it and grabbed it up in his mouth. Then, with a toss of his head, the dog sped_off down the street, drag- g the Teddy bear after him. When fast seen ho was rounding the cor- ner ,and somebody seemed out a per- it '?Hfiufl’"‘ E. TRACEWELL. the research’ In my experting days 1 had heard of a good many kinds of research, but this was a new one ‘Just what is constructive research I timidly inquired of my associate ‘Constructive research,’ he replied, ‘is | where you reach your own conclu sions and then go out to find some- thing to substantiate them. R R Royal D. Smead, sometimes of Ho olulu, but mostly of Washington, has | just returned from a vacation dow in Maine, spending much of his time motoring through the small villages and mingling with the good England foik. “It was a great relief,” said Mr Smead today. “to find one bit of th. country, at least, still immune fror the waves of wild spending and w indulgence which seem to be sweep ing the nation at large. In some the villages of Maine the nickel stiil is regarded as legal tender. Even the penny is not entirely obsolete. T at tended a village auction sale ons day. A quite e€laborate kerosene lamp was put up. The bidding start ed at 30 cents, I think, and went up by leaps and bounds at 5 cents « bid, until the hed a dollar By this time two old farmers locked horns. *“‘A dollar fiv ‘A doilar te s Dollar fifteen.’ said the first. “Just about this time the much perturbed wife of one of the farme leaned over and in a very audible voice admonished, ‘Now, Hiram, don't get excited; don't get excited:” “Perhaps’ New England may vet admonish the rest of the country not to get excited and overbid it B Some inquiry has been made of tlie government here as to whether an | thing can be done to stop the hawk- ing of German marks on the streets of New York. Peddlers, it is report- {ed, are standing on the street corners | with sheafs of the mark notes in their hands and calling * hun- dred thousand German for 10 cents.” Of course, fdea is that many people want to {buy the big mark notes as souven or curiosities. But there are two | points of attack upon the practice | One is that it is not exactly a punc tilious thing to do toward a friendly power, even if its currency is vir tually outlawed. The second point of attack is that the men who sell the mark notes are cheaters and swindlers. One of the street venders recently was arrested for cheating because he sold only 50,000 marks to the dime. The new rate of one mil lion marks for a dollar on the street corners {8, of course, out of all pro- portion to the market quotations, which have run ail the way up to 300,000,000 to the dollar. Ona of the puzzles of the situation has to do with who took the bother to bring over the bales of virtually worthless 1100,000-mark Fifty Years Ago In The Star The real seriousness of the panic of 1873 was not realized at the outset : . of that financia | Continuation convulsion. Wash i ington, but little af- of the Panic. fected by the bank money stringency * sald one. . by cracky,’ said the marks the failures and the was inclined to be unduly optimist regarding the outcome. The Star of September ! thus reviews the over-Sunda on | “The inte of the Sabbath has given a sa opportunity for a breathing nd a cooling-of’ process from the wild financial ex citement of the few days. The main force of m is still cor fined to New ough other lo- calities symp: to a certain ex tent with_the sturbances in the financial atmosphere of the great commercial city. It is a reassuring fact, demor ihroughout the panic, that the antile interests and the banks 1 have confined | their operations to legitimate bank- | ing are not crippicd by the storm, and that it affects m the business houses that have gone into sto: gambling or rash speculations in | doubtful securities. There is no good |reason why it should extend beyo the Wall street gamblers and the lame ducks who have got crushed i attempting to carry the unavailablc bonds of unfinished railroads. Crop: | are good, the fall business has opened | well, and there is no cause for the trouble extending beyond its original limits, the dealers in speculative se- curities. vention ary ated * ok ok % “The governing committee of th New York Stock Exchange very prop- | erly decided to suspend the business | ot the board on Saturday to create an interval during which values would settle and discretion recover lits equilibrium. The wisdom of the course s so apparent that it is only to be regretted that it had not been adopted twenty-four hours sooner. {and thus perhaps have stopped the | tide of disaster before it had gained uch momentum. The duty of those oncerned in the financial stabllity of our business communities is at such a juncture to shut oft the wild gam- bling of jthe stock exchange, which only serves as food for panic, and af ford an opportunity to the public to exercise their reasoning powers and regain confidence by seeing the little ground for anticipating any rea financial crash. “Today not only the stock exchange but the gold exchange is closed, with excellent results in the way of check ing the force of the panic. A much better feeling prevails in New York today, and it is evident that the storm of disaster has nearly spent its force there. “In this city today affairs are re suming_their old course. The run on the savings banks has dwindled dow1 to_very trifling proportions, and the other banks are pursuing the even tenor of their way without any un- usual pressure at their counters indicate that a financial storm is go- ing on in New York. “Some little excitement was created on our Washington Wall street t morning by the reception of a dis- patch that all the New York ban had suspended. but the statement w almost immediately contradicted by another dispatch,.and appears to have had no foundation whatever." ‘ 3 This hopeful feeling lasted for couple of days, but was succeeded by a renewal of the gloom when other large banking houses in New Yark tailed, as noted in The Star of Sep- tember 24, 1873. On the next day again it was announced that the panic was “over.” It was true that there were no more sensational collapses. but in the news columns of The Star of September 27 appear brief an- nouncements of bank suspensions In difterent parts of the country. It was this condition, resulting from the New York panic, that continued for many months to spread, with the effect of slowing business all over the coun- try, a condition that lasted for a num- ! ber of years. 3