Evening Star Newspaper, December 2, 1923, Page 43

NEW MOVES ARE MADE CEMENTING ALLIED TIES Commissions to Investigate Germany May Not Go Far, But Step in Right Direction. BY OLIVER OWEN KUHAN ITHIN the space of a fort- night both England and France have shown two distinct signs that thelr leaders have seen the light—that there must be continued co-operation for the space of the next few months at any rate, or until political and economie conditions in Europe have shown progress along the lines of Treconstruction The latest effort toward rapproche- ment and reconciling their differences ~—for the sake of momentary expe- dlency, at least—came Friday in the @nnouncement from Parls that the reparations commisslon would name two committees of experts to exam- Ine Germany's position, particularly the balancing of her budget und ex- amination into the question of Ger- man finances abroad with the view of getting monetary exports returned, that there may be falrer commutation ©f Germany's finul ability to pay the repurations burden. S Waves Lexality Question. Though it 1s significant that the allies will leave places open for Amerlean representution, officlal if the Washington government sees fit, it b8 extremely significant at the pres- eut functure that Britain walved the question of the legality of the Ruhr occupation. Polncare, on the other hand walved his position that the vestigation should embrace the question of Germany's abllity to pay ‘wl'hln a glven number of years. Eng Jand likewise leayes the question of ‘v'llllnle{e Payment an open one, it be- Jug presumed that the entire Investi- satlon wilj be conducted upon the French thesls of 132,000,000,000 gold marks reparatifons as fixed by the conference of London. It Is generally agreed now, even in Paris, that the Germans will be un- able to pay anything of material pro- portions during the next three to five years, and apparently the British viewpoint that there should be some ane and unprejudiced examination of Germany’'s abillty to settle her accounts with the world has been dopted by the French, with the reser- on, however, that France will not abandon her national position and will not consider any steps looking foward abandonment of the Rhine- land and the Ruhr, Distinct Co-operative Gain. But the distinct gain is represented in apparent co-opérative England proper, however, continues to volce skepticism as to the chance of the expert commission accomplish- tng concrete results looking toward final settlement of the vexatious rep- arations question, and particularly without the co-operation of Ameri- cans. The voice of Amerlca is looked Upon now, as ever, as the only im- partlal, unblased one in world aftairs ut the pregent mome: ‘Though un- guestionably the representatives of America on such a commission, offi- cial or seml-officixl, might act as & bulWwark against the surging tides of I'rench and British nationalivm, there cver remains the lurking fear in shington thut N the pr s of | otiations this country migh be committed to seltlements invoQving | future policles av to the world at Tury However, {t may be expected that unless there be marked cases of in- | transigeance on the part of France or England, the experts will go about their work with the hope that through their activities something may be ac- complished. However, there will be many obstacles to be overcome be- fore the Irench and English view- points are completely reconciled. In the division of experts on Ger- many's capacity and division of opin- fon as to how the allies should treat thelr investigations with eve single to eventual repayment of reparations may but offer further stumbling blocks to future accord. Determined on Results. Nothing risked, nothing gained, and | will enter the In gation | d to achieve concrete results. | To the close observer of events there 5 some question as to how far conti- endeavor. Belgium’s Recoveryé Revealed byPremier| (Continued from First Page.) | 030 men tdle, while we are short of labor. 1 suppose the answer is low | hange, first. Agaln—our work- en do not say, ‘Go slow.” The eight- Lour day I8 not popular here, even with labor. And our business men do not go to work at 10 o'clock and astor for tea at 4 o'clock. Finally— thank goodness—we have not ac- quired the week end habit. 1 think those are the reasons. I had_evidently opened a subject upon which M. Theunis had spent vome study, for he continued his ouger staccato explanation, “To {l- Justrate _our competition with Eng- land: We buy zinc ore from Aus- tialla, & British colony. We smelt t and sell most of the finished prod- tct to England. And we make a profit. We can underbld France also. Refore the war, I managed two ctorfes. One was in Belglum and the other just mcross the border in irance. But the cost of production in the Belglan factory was 15 per cent lower than the cost in the )rench factory just twenty miles away. The secret? No, not wages, for there was not a great deal of alfterence. The secret, 1 think, was work.” M. Theunis's enthusiasm was so contaglous that I had forgotten that the interviewer must play the role of skeptic, producing his subject with thorny questions. Finally, I woke up to this fact and asked if the Belgian burden of taxation was not exceedingly heavy. “Yes, and it now becomes my ploasant job as prime miaister to ncrease it.” M. Theunis made & wry face. “Each subject pays 305 francs on the average, which is not much In gold—about $17—but a lot for Belglum.” “And why 1§ fow?" I queried. - “Ah, that is a sad story. I will tell it you. Tt begins when we took back our country after the armistice. We found it flooded with German marke—about 6.000,000,000 of them. These the Germans had forced upon the people. mot at par, but at 25 centimes above par. And our overnment had to redeem them. at clse could we do?, We could mot let the people suffer {ndividually. “So we bought them up at 1 franc #8 centimes, though they were worth only 80 centimes at the time. And we have them yet carefully stored sway In the treasury across the street, 6,109.000,000 of them, and they are worth today—I sup) a few hundred dollars. If your gov- ernment desires some for the Smith- ronian Institution, let me know. “That is the fundamental reason wwhy our currency {3 low. T notlced by the schedule on M. Theunis's desi that his next appoint- ment was long overdue. Apparently e had not noticed it. He had talked For an hour—on the subject that sas Gaarast o his heart—Belglum. your exchange so | dissolve the reichstag in face of dan- | | cultural | nental political events have influenced the courses of both France and Britain. Unquestlonably the French at this time should be desirous of furthering | the cause of Premier Baldwin of Eng- land, for, aithough he has specifically stated England's {nterests must be pro- tected, he nevertheless, more than any other one single British statesman, has shown willingness to trade with the | French in order to gain a common goal. The Britlsh enemies of Baldwin insist that this has weakened British influ- ence generally. Whatever the situation, any sign of definite progress along the road to settlement of the reparations problem and apparent agreements with the French will aid Premier Baldwin in the British elections by confounding the critics of his forelgn policles who de- clare England Is drifting and has been made a catspaw of Polncare. On the other hand, there are con- tinued signs that the French are mak- ing concessions to England with the hope of furthering the entente in view of the peculiar situation that evidently is formulating in the regions of the Mediterranean. France Grows Suspicious. ! France suspects Italy and Spaln of effecting an agreefnent by which these Latin countrles will take larger and co- ordinated volce in Mediterranean af- fairs. Italy espectally Is the target of French suspicion. Paris has resisted, constantly, Italy's efforts to establish her domatn In the Adriatic, bringing as 1t would consequent control of a greater portion of the Mediterranean. The Ital- fan alllance with Spain undoubtedly would place Italy in enviable position and instead of having to merely beg a Vofce in the settlement of major prob- Jems connected with the Mediterranean, she could demand, all of which Is i { line with the general policles of Musso- {Mni to re-establish firmly Italy's voice in _General European conference: If it were not for England it might be stated that the Itallan and Span- 1sh volee in Meditteranean affairs eventually would become paramount, but as long as Britain takes the In- terest in Mediterranean affairs gen- erally as she does—largely because her trade routes to the far east through the Suez canal must be pro- tected —Engiand must be consulted in large mehsure. Were there to be an open break between France and Eng- land, and the latter should effect & rapprochment with Italy and Spafn, the French position in so far as Mediterranean affairs are concerned would be an unfavorable one, if indeed it did not hecome precarious by vir- tue of her trade lines with her African colontes, It muy be a keen desire to counter- | act the Influence of the Spanish-Ital- ian rapprochment that France has | modified her stand on continental is- | sues which havé brought on troubles with England. But, whatever t reason, distinct modification of Poin- are’s line of reasoning, it I8 be- ved, will go fur toward eventual iraveling of the whi political skein. President Ebert's Troubles. While the allied ships have been careening about and maneuvering for desired position in the general schems of things, Presiednt Ebert has been beset with a series of most vexing German problems—in fact, he has been the only bulwark between the republic #nd a return to monarchical form of government. After several attempts he has picked a man who has succecded in forming & four- binet—Dr. Wilhelm Marx, a Catholle. His ability al- ready fs reported as nil; and it is de- clared that he merely is a blind for tresemann, who will continue to control Germany's destinfes, though ostensibly only a foreign minister. Gen. von Seckt will remain military § dictator, owing to the pecullarly cha- otic state of the reich. The monarchists and soclalists are not backing Marx, though the latter is maintaining an attitude of neutral- ity. It is reported from Berlin that the new chancellor cannot retain the confidencs of the reichstag unless it be extremely lenfent in view of Ger- many’s present condition, and it is expected, therefore, that President Evert in the immediate future wiil zers attendant upon new elections The soclallsts. however, welcome new | elections if for no other reason than | ) convince the onarchical and na- ! tionalist element that the people of | sermany are still loyal to the repub- continental | THE - SUNDAY.. STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 2, 1923—PART 2. The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief summary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended December 1. * k ok % Great Britain.—The news of the election campaign s meager. Lloyd George {s making & whirlwind tour of the realm, with all the American multiplication and magnification ap- pliances. Evidently he hopes to outdo the mid- lothian campaign of the grand old man. But he will have to * for that; he Is now short a good many thousand parasangs. He is, to be sure, a more lively entertainer than Glad- stone was, but he is less convincing on free trade. The British submarine X-1, now almost com- pleted, is to have a surface speed of thirty- three knots. She will carry six 5.5-inch guns and will displace 3.500 tons. Some progress, is it not, since 1901, when the first British sub- marine was launched, displacing 120 tons and with a surface speed of nine knots? * k ok ok France, Csechoslovakia et al.—Presldent Masaryk and Forelgn Minlster Benes of Czechoslovakia (whose reputations are sweet- er than those of any other men in public life on the European continent) were entertained with much pomp and circumstance during their recent visit to Paris. Tt was reported at that time that a close al- llance between France and Czechoslovakla had been struck, which would find immediate expression in commerclal, political and mili- tary written agreements (Inwolving French credits to Czechoslovakia for military sup- plies). But there seems to have been some ex- aggeration in these reports. An intimate mili- tary alllance Is a matter of course, for in a military sense France and Czechoslovakia have desperate need of each other. Czechoslo- vakia Is an eseentlal part of the military cor- don about Germany, maintenance of which is one of the grand features of French policy, the more =0 because our Senate repudiated President Wilson's promise of our participa- tion in a tripartite treaty, whereby the United States and Britain would engage their sup- port to France in case of unwarranted ag- gression on the latter by Germany. To insure her usefulness as a part of the cordon, Czecho- slovakia has a nice little French-trained arm. of 300.000 men. On the side of Czechoslavia, the sense of security, so essential to national well-being. would be ‘completely lacking with- out apsurance of French support against any aggression. On the other hand, Masaryk and Benes are unwilling to commit their country definitely and absolutely to support of French policy. because the grand aim of thelr own policy, that which gives It pecullar distinction, §s con- clliation, co-operation and pacification in cen- tral Europe. Undoubtedly Czechoslovakia must lean to France, and she does o willingly from motives of gratitude, of lking and of self-in- terest,'but ehe must become & servient state or a mere satellite; she will not part with liberty of action. Czechoslovakia is a highly indus- trial state, and able to supply her own muni- tions. Therefore, it seems, the French proposal of a credit to be taken out In military sup- plies, including surplus French war material, not all of it quite up-to-date, did not appeal to Czechoslovakia. A word 1s in order here about those con- siderable French credits already extended or proposed to Poland. Jugoslavia and Rumania. In February. a credit of 400,000,000 francs was voted by the French chamber to Poland; in May, one of 100,000,000 to Rumanfa, and in July, one of 306,000,000 to Jugosiavia, in ail about $50.000.000. And now one hears that Yrance propuses to extend similar further credits to the tune of about $100,000,000. Such credits from France, herself heavily indebted to Britain and the United States, to countries also heavily in debt to Britaln and the United Htates, have been much criticized. But it should be borne in mind that France is offer- ing not cash, but credit, to be taken out mostly in surplus supplies that otherwise would be largely a dead loss to France. If some of the military material to bo turned over has vet to be manufactured, well, the French say, our factories must be kept going in the common Interest; a common interest, melancholy as the fact may be, which demands that France, Poland and the nations of the little entente maintain large military establishments in a high state of efficiency. * k ¥k ¥k Germany.—President Ebert asked Dr. Albert, who was Cuno’s minister of the treasury, to form a “non-partisan” cabinet, but after a briet effort the doctor gave it up. This is the Albert wha was Germany's fiscal agent in Washing- ton prior to our entrance into the war, and who, as such, was a central figure in much prapagandist activity. Perhaps that should not be held against him, as he may have been an unwilling local agent of a disgusting policy, but it is understood that the scores of cable- grams of protest from the United States against his assumntion of leadership were a chief factor in nullifying his efforts to obtain suitable associates. Indeed his selection for the chancellorship was, In view of Germany's desire of American ald, a plece of incredible stupidity. Two other gentlemen in turn essayed the task dropped by Dr. Albert. and in turn failed. Finally, on the 29th, Dr. Wilhelm Marx, leader of the center or clerfeal party in the reich- stag, succeeded, if indeed the result could be called a success, In forming a cabinet of the same complexion as Dr. Stresemann's rump cabinet. That is, it represents a coalition of the center. democratic and people’s parties. In fact, the personnel is almost the same as that of the late lamented cabinet, Stresemann tak- Ing the portfolio of foreign affairs. It will lead a precarious existence. entirely dependent on the forbearance of the soclalists. It now ap- pears that Stresemann’s fall was caused by Gen. von Seeckt's order for dissolution of the communist party and the parties of the ex- treme right. The socialists would probably mot be un- willing that the order should be impartfally executed, but they plausibly inferred that It was the Intention to execute it as to the com- munists only. So out went Stresemann. It {s rea- sonable to suppose that the new chancellor has pledged himself to the president and taken pledges from his associates to pursue a policy caleulated to conciliate the socfalists. Otherwise the return of the old crowd would be futile. In line with this supposition Is the fact (or so it is reported) that von Seeckt's order {s not being executed, even as to the communists. They seem to be rapidly getting back to work In the occupled territo; The French predict industrial “normaley” within two months. But that must presuppose sntis- factory and stable arrangenients as to polit- fcal status. currency and transportation. Even transportation is by no means on a sure basis and the other problems seem to be quite in the air. The Rhineland and Palatinate republics Seem more and more shadowdy and absurd, but the probability grows sironger of an autonomous Rhineland state within the reich. Such a solution makes a strong appeal as not necessarliy im- plying any prejudice to the reich, however terrible the loss of power and prestige to Prussia. According to the latest reports the British are not going to challenge the accords re- cently struck between the occupying author- ities and the industrial magnates of the occu- pled area. Most important. if true, but not less important. is the decision of the repara- tions commission to appoint (under article 234 of the treaty) two committees of e perts to consist of atives of the allled and associat One of these mmittees will seei discover how the rman budget m balanced and the German_currency stabilized, while the other will seek to discover the amounts and where- abouts of expatriated German assets and how to repatriate them. Is it in the hope that Americans (with the understood but unavowed approval of the Washington government) will consent to serve on these committees that no limitation to the scope of their inquiries is prescribed? The rentenmark? It is too soon for com- ment on that experiment, but already, one observes, it is being quoted at less than half its value at birth. Italy and Spain.—What precisely was the significance of the visit o‘) the King and Queen of Spain and Primo De Rivera, pres- ident of the Spanish directorate, to Italy? Were the conversations at the Vatican or those at the Quirinal the more important? Probably the former. which related in chief to the ‘vexed question of the status of the religious orders in Spain—an extremely fm- portant question in the domestic economy of that country. Tt is sald that an agreement perfectly satisfactory to the Pope, to their most Christian majesties and to the Spanish dictator was reached, but its nature has not been made public. King Alfonso has shown a liberal tendency in religious matters. It remains to see whether Primo De Rivera, whose voice in the conversations was doubt- less the one that counted, is more or less liberal than his king and former master. The two dictators, the Ttalian son of a blacksmith, and the Spanish grandee of an anclent house, threw verbal bouquets at each other. and there was the inevitable talk of the affinities of the two Latin peoples. of the common an important political rapprochement developed Is doubtful. In the height of prandial en- thuslasm Mussolini called the Mediterranean a “Latin lake” (i. e. Hispano-Italian), where- as he had always previously referred to it as an_ “Itallan lake,” thus raising a flutter in Paris. where the press pointed out how greatly the combined strength of the Italian and Spanish navies exceeds that of the ¥rench navy. It's the same dear old world, only apparently more s0. * %k ¥ X Japan.—The Japanese are good sports. They recognize with equanimity that the British naval base at “Singapore is being created against the possibility of a “tlash betwéen Britain and Japan. They are not angry that their old ally should thus proceed; rather they pralse the sagacity of the British admiralty. The Ango-Japanese alliance is dead, killed by the Washington conference. They like and admire the British and do not wish war with them, but they openly discuss its possibility. The British have not now a dock in the far cast that can accommodate a dreadnought or battle cruiser. Should_waf be joined in that quarter before the Siggapore base is in operation, the British would be at a fatal disadvantage, and, of course, the French in Indo-China, the Dutch in their island posses sions. we ‘ourselves in the Philippines, likewise at the mercy of the capable, valiant, impenetrable and imperturbable Japanese. * k ¥ % United Stntes of Amerfen—A commlittee, headed by Gen. William Lassiter, appolnted to Investigate the condition and needs of the Army Alr Service, made a notable report the other day. It justly declares that the aerial arm is as important as the terrestrial and naval arms. It points out that the afrcraft in- dustry 1s rapldly diminishing and, with contin- uance of present conditions, i. e., chiefly for lack of government orders, will soon disappear. It recites how the existing Army aerial equip- ment {s rapidly deterlorating and becomlng unsafe for use: how the aerial personnel strength authorized by the current Arm appropriation act fs far below that contem- plated by the national defense act, and how, whereas not less than 1,500 planes are re- quired for even so reduced a force, with future appropriations at the present level by July, 1926, there will be less than 300 planes in sérvice. The committee, of course, recomi- mends the appropriation indicated. Last year's casualty 1ist in the Army Alr Service was very high, thanks, no doubt, largely o defective materfal. The aerial personnel are the very flower of our youth. It seems unlikely that Congress will be content that they should be subjected to hazards other than the sufficient normal ones of the service: this apart from the certainty that the future of war is in the alir, the obvious desirability. therefore. of maintaining an adequate aerial defense force and comparatively moderate ex- pense thereby entafled. AS A UNION MAN SEES BY JAMES M. LYNCH. 1 (Former president of the International | labor bil vote of both houses finally passed the erecting the bureau of la- bor statistics, State Federation the foundation stone paign conducted by the New York of Labor. amendment legalized an out from under the roof and assigned commodious quarters on one of the main floors of the capitol and given This eight-hour aims of fascismo and the new | Spanish movement. and all that; but whether | a | { psychological perspective of his coun- { membrance — Thanksgiving, | i i 1 days of certain states. GERMAN ISSUES TODAY THOSE OF 1,000 YEARS Will the Present Te Be Entirely utonic Maneuvering Political and Bloodless? BY FRANCIS J. WAHLEN, f De Mansbode of Amsterdam, the leading news- paper in Holland, now in Washingto; ‘ Polities without history have no root History without politics bears no fru r B. J. Seeley. HERE is a startling cnclusion to which a critically observ- ing and thinking stranger, competent to judge, after a stay for some time in various places of the United States and giving him- self the trouble to get acquainted iwith what we are now calling “the | psychology of the masses,” would of necessity have to come. At home, i wherever he came from, they might | have told him about America's craze for “mere facts.” For “statistics” and | basty “news items” without the genesis :or analysis of these facts, statistics or | news reporterage, or without—as it is | already called—the “psychology of events”! But during his stay in the United States the conclusion, however, bu].'nrr‘:d; unavoldable for the analytical onlook: sense of things In Americans; even, per- haps, unto the hallowing and intensify- ing of the general consciousness of an abiding reality in past national events. Thing» of Great Reverence. I'll specify. Your stranger, globe trot- ter as he may be, will remember no country where the birthplaces of de- | parted rulers, the homes once occupied | by them or their personal souvenirs are | the object of greater reverence or more | pious of Grant, names of cities, states and counties, suburbs and streets, in memorials, im- posing public monuments or highways, jin the intimacy of specially dedicated | ehrines and musca? Everywhere throughout country these historic names and struc- tures remind the citizen of today of the try, of his poiitical past, of its states- men, of the historicai traditions or as- sociations. Look then at the corporate, soctal life, hallowing solemn days of re- Independ- | ence, Columbus day, the birthdass of Washington and Lincoh, Memorial, Armistice or Labor day, not to speak of the many other legal or public holi- the lists of Further, scrutinize American biographies and histories—, 1 new books of the last quarter of a_century—and yowll be amazed! Glance over the titles of recent plays, or the adaptations of modern novels, by Drinkwater, Emerson Hough, Rex Beach, or Rida Johnson Young, with her charming “Little Old New York," and observe the same thing. Photo- plays, of course, tell a similar tale since’ years ago 'Griffith’s productions made 'his historical plots famous all over the world. Now we have “The & Standish” and the : the film-version of ‘The Covered Wagon” and . “Robert E. Lee” and numerous episodes out of the lives of many g great Amer- ican, taken from the national history. One’ could also mention the varied magazine literature, the epic ballads and popular songs. There are al sorts of expressions of the historica theme In art. style, and even in the fashions, right from the development of American architecture, the specific Typographical Union: former New York State Industrial Commissioner.) Article VIL New York state has been a pioneer in the enactment of laws for the pro- tection of its wage earnere in their places of employment from accident and disease. the New York laws as models, so that today we have in many of the states departments of labor similar lic and are not desirous of returning to the monarchical scheme of things. Grip of Germany On Potash Slips Germany's grip on the potash mo- ! nopoly has been definitely broken by America and France, according to leaders in the American Chemical So- clety. who, In a survey of the prog- ress of this industry since the world war, assert that the United States finally has emerged as a potash-pro- ducing country. Potash meeting the nation's agri- need for purity is being made and federal and state experi- ments to ascertailn how far borax, inherent in American potash, is bene- ficial to crops are under way. These tests, it Is declared, are of vast eco- nomic importance. An American investigation of French potash actwvity In Alsace shows, the statement sald, marked advances both In business manage- ment and technical skill. The United States, it was stated, is producing potash superfor to that of other na- tions and at a cost far lower than during the war. Americans are now buying up thelr own potash pro- duction before purchasing abroad. The attitude of American chem- istry toward German _ competition was summed up by Dr. John E. Teeple of New York, treasurer of the American ~ Chemical ~ Soclety, who said: “Both French and American pro- duction of potash are here and here permanently. There is no lofger a German monopoly. Germany can be entirely shut off and the world can be supplied from other sources. The rtion of Germany's ability to rve any part of the world, or feed any part of the world, she chooses is now only an empty boast, s the world can now entirely feed (tself without the help of her potash.” The people of this country, de- clared Dr. Teeple, should understand than In quality, American potash fis now second to none. \ Gasoline Substitutes Making Progress Now How gasollne substitutes or mix- tures are making considerable prog- ress in some eountries, with conse- quent effect upon the market for gasoline, is pointed out by Henry C. Morris, chief of the petroleum div- tsion of the United States bureau of foreign and domestic commerce. “He says that this situation makes ft necessary to give due consideration to these substitutes in any survey of those markets. As examples of the substitutes which have already at- tained commercial ' importance, he mentions the benzol mixtures used in Germany, the alcohol “motor spirit” in Cuba, and the compulsory cohol mixtures 18 France. in scope and usefulness to the great department that functions in the Empire state. To the New York State Federation of Labor must be given much of the credit for bringing about the enact- ment of the great' volume of labor laws and the compensation laws. However, there are other assoclations that are also entitled to praise, esps cially those assoctations of women who have labored indefatigably for the protection of their sisters in in- dustry. The American Association for Labor Leglsiation has been of great service, first in drafting proposed laws and then gathering data and materfal in support of the campalgn to secure their enactment. In addition the proposals have had the indorsement and the active support of many pro- fesstonal men, of clergymen and in almost every case of one or more em- ployers. Departments Consolidated. ‘When in 1914 the compensation law was enacted its administration was glven over to the State Workmen's Compensation Commission, while the state department of labor enforced Other states have used [ | the labor laws that applied to public)| work, factorles, mines and mercantile establishments. In 1916 the two de- partments were consolidated under an indusatrial commission, but the name state department of labor was re- tained. In 1921 the commission was abolished, and an {ndustrial commis- sioner substituted. The department has branch offices in all the princi- pal cities of the state and more than one thousand officers, Inspectors and other employes. Because the history of the New York state department Is in many of its aspects the history of all of the state departments for the protection of wage earners and the administra- tion of compensation laws it is briefly covered here. This history is a rec- ord of the patience and the persever- ance and the intelligence of the wage earners and others who promoted and fostered what was once & weak and neglected infant, with about an in- fant's power. The same facts apply a8 to other states. To attempt a complete enumeration of the great number of labor bills that have been progressively enacted in the work of bullding up the labor laws, public health laws and educa- tion laws and of their continuously extended and improved enforcement, and to tell the serial story of how often such bills were offered and de- feated before opposition was eventu- ally overcome, would fill a very large volume. However, there are outstand- ing measures that form substantial parts of the edifice of the labor laws And thelr history that may well be ncluded here. Asks Burean of Labor Statisties. Reallzing the lack of verified infor- mation on which to base legislation, the Workingmen's Assembly de- manded in 1871 the creation of a state bureau of labor statistics such as had recently been created in Massachusetts. This was the initlal effort to establish a department of the state devoted to the affairs of labor, and it was continued with vigor until the legislature in 1883 by umanimous of the present important state de- partment of labor. In the meantime legislation had been promoted and enacted guaranteeing apprentices hu- mane treatment and proper instruc- tion and lifting them out of the serv- ile, underpaid and underfed condition that the organization of the state la- bor body had found them in through- out the state. This legislation was he beginning of the laws to regulate child labor in New York state. A bill creating an elght-hour workday for employes of the state, counties and cities was introduced and finally en- acted, thus laying the foundation for the elght-hour workday In private employment. Mechanics' lien laws for unpaid wages were secured in 1875. In 1881 the labor blll requiring that seats be provided for women workers in their places of employment became law. This was the beginning of the code of laws recognizing that women work- ers are entitled to special considera- tion. In the legislature of 1886, la- bor's chief preferred measure to pro- vide for inspection of factories in the interest of the health and welfare of factory workers, was enacted and signed by the governor. This wag the beglinning of the actual work of en- foreing the labor laws of the state. At the same time a state board of me- diation and arbitration was erected by law, and this brought into exist- ence the third bureau devoted to the interests of wage earners, all of which were subsequently welded into one organization as the state depart- ment of labor. Mine Inspections to Imsure Safety. Inspection of mines and tunnels In the interest of the safety of workers was secured in 1890. In 1885, the sweatshop {n Industry was attacked and the first victory gained by the enactment of the Rooscvelt law pro- hibiting tenement house cigar mak- ing, and In 1896 inspection of mer- cantile establishments by boards of health was authorized and women and children prohibited from employment in basements under stores and the em- ployment of children under fourteen years of in or about a store en- tirely profiibited. In 1899 a law prohibiting the em- ployment of minors under sixteen years in connection with light and power plants initiated the code of prohibited hazardous occupations for minors. In 1890 a law gave women workers In New York and Brooklyn a pre- ferred claim for wages in all occupa- tlons and the right to imprison judg- ment-debtors for such unpaid wages, and in 1895 the preference was ex- tended to women workers throughout the state. The first regulation of the hours of labor of women and minors in fac- tories and the requiring of efficient lighting of factories and inspection of bollers therein was contained in the labor bill enacted and signed in 1899, and by itg companion law of that year licensing and providing for the inspection of tenement workshops inaugurated to abolish the sweatshop in this state. Employes Given Time te Vote. Labor secured the passage of a law in 1890 which compelled employers to allow employes time to vote at gen- eral elections and since then that law has been extended to include primary elections, and the constitution amend- ed and a law passed to fermit rail- road and other workers unavoldably absent on election day to vote by malil. By a decision of the courts the eight-hour and prevailing rate of wages law for public work enacted in 1908 was declared unconstitutional. Labor presented an amendment to the constitution which passed two leg- islatures, and in.1905 was ratified by after a strenuous cam- and prevailing rate of wages law for all public work done anywhere in the state, and in 1906 the original law was replaced on the statute books. The experiences of injured and killed wage earners and their de- pendents in endeavoring to collect damages from employers for negli- gence under the old employers' lfabil- ity law so absoluteiy proved the hope- lessness of recovery against a cas- valty insurance company with whom the employers were insured and who compelled the employer to fight the mplove with every resource which inciuded contributory negligence, fel- low servant negligence and assump- tion of risk by the act of going to work after vears of attempt to im- prove this law such a course Was abandoned_and In 1910 a law was sought and_secured establishing the principle of compulsory workmen's compensation for injurles and death in certaln clearly defined extra haz- ardous occupations and optional com- pensation in other occupations, the wage earner surrendering any right of negligence action for specified in- demnity payments while actually dis- abled or in event of death of his de- pendents. The courts annulled this law, and the wage earners had again to ®o_through the arduous task of amending the constitution, which was finally accomplished by ‘referendum in the elections of 1913. An extra session of the legislature in Decem- ber after the peopie had voted, passed the present workmen's compensation law. This law was re-enacted by the lezislature of 1914. The benefits of the law have been increased and im- proved progressively. Golden Era Opens in 1911 The golden era in remedlal factory legislation and expansion of the state labor department's powers of en- forcement of existing labor laws opened in 1911, when the factory In- vestigating commission was created. At that time the labor laws of the state were contained In one 3x6-inch booklet, built up word by word against he most Intense opposition, and the state labor department into which the three orlginal bureaus had been consolidated occupied a small space in the capitol, the labor com- missioner's office being approached by a ladder leading to a mezzanine floor, his insufficlent staff of inspec- tors working out from the floor below amld the paraphernalia of records be- ing handled by the clerks. As a first result of the Investiga- tions and work of this commission, which reached Into every work place in the state in a_most thorough man- ner, eight new labor laws were recom- mended and enacted In 1912 extending in the most comprehensive way the state’s protection of men, women and chill-en engaged In industry as to health, life and limb safeguards, hours of labor of women and minors, and thelr actual conditions of em- ployment. Among these new laws were the nine-hour workday and 54- hour week for. all women and minors employed in factories with an eight- hour day for minors under sixteen years. The inspection force of the state labor department was doubled and all other agencles for the en- forcement of the iabor laws increased. In 1913 another batch of labor laws was recommended by the commission and enacted, still more widely extend- ing the scope of existing laws and adding new sections to the labor laws, all designed to protect workers in employment, increase their comfort and facllitate production on & humane basis. Dark age factory methods were torn up by the roots. Alto- gether forty-four new additions to the labor laws were enacted in 1913 as the result of the recommendations of the commission. It completely re- organized the state labor department and the already increased annual ap- propriation was more than doubled to carry out its requirements. It be- came the second largest department ia the state government. It was taken power to open much-needed branch | offices in industrial centers of the ! state with supervising factory Inspec- | tors in charge. State free employ- ment bureaus were likewise estab- lished. Other Labor Laws cted. Among others of the forty-four new labor laws of 1913 were those ex- tending the nine-hour workday for women and minors to mercan establishments; bringing all cannins factories under the labor law and | regulating the working hours of women and children employed there- | in; extending the school attendance | laws appiicable to working minors to | bring them into harmony with the Improved labor laws: establishing | one day’s rest in seven in all factor- | fes and stores and most other work- | places; creating a humane schedule of hours with proper medical attendance for compressed air workers In cais- sons and tunnels, providing that seats for woman workers must have backs and requiring adequate dressing | rooms with proper heat and light prohibiting smoking in factorles and amplifying ~ preventives of fire an means of escape: establishing con- tinuation schools for employed mi- nors; licensing tenement house work- shops, making a sanitation code for them 'and providing continuous regu- lar Inspection, with tags to go or articles made in such workshops; reg- ulating, where not prohibiting, ' chil- dren in street trades; prohibitinz work by women and minors in fac- tories after 10 p.m. or before § a.m. and requiring physical examination of minors by physicians to decidc | thelr fitness for employment; enu merating dangerous employments at which minors and some at whick women must not be employed; re- moval of polsons, fumes, gases. an infected material from contact with workers, with numerous provisions fc guarding of hoists, stalrways, and beiting and machinery of every de- seription. Designed to Remedy Evils. The foregoing and many other en- actments of similar import of 1913 were in each case designed to cure or remove some evil condition discov- ered by the factory investigating commission in thelr inspection of factories and workplaces which up to that time had never been really in- spected by the state of New York. Wonderful as has been the legisla- tive accomplishments of the men and women of labor in the Empire state, and of the other assoclations assist- ing them, the work Is being pushed just as aggressively as It began in 1864. There is still much to be done | and those to whom the task has been i given are not unmindful of the les- | sons of history. They are persistent in their efforts, and they do not pro. pose that progress shall be jeopar- dized by illegal methods or senseless and destroying radicalism. There is a _sure way and that is through the education of the people to the recog- nition of the justice of thelr program. (Copyright, 1923, oy tne MeCiure Newspaper Synaicate.) Healing Desert Acres. { Young Capt. Delgas learned that running water was the death of| heather which In the early part of the nineteenth century overran the lands of Denmark and threatened to make it a desert waste. He according- 1y put the people to digging ditches and canals, Peas, beets and rye soon began to grow and cows and pigs fol- lowed. The waste was reclaimed in good time and Denmark became a land of butter, eggs and bacon, | blind | personal | tested mental { which constructive, { ns, note of the beautiful American home- interior, to the peculiarly American touch and coloring in modern fem {inine dresses. millinery and whs not! There are. moreover, the mi ‘tary, social and fraternity’ organiza { tions, all psychological utterances of the slogan: “Lest we forget Blind Fetishism Denfed. This means certainly not a more fetishism, a superannuated hero-worship or sentimental patriot- <m, nor a reactionary leaning toward “the Dead Things of the Past” tather does it signify 2 healthy. virlle determination to search for the facts among the experimented deas of earlier cultural advance. It t3 there only *that an analysis of interpretations of _these deas, through the minds and the ac- ns of the will of the great his- toric figures, is possible. And the cssons to be drawn from the action of these “doers of deeds,” become for posterity a most valuable mine of experiences, out of if not ecreative. new ideas and motives are evolved to enlighten and energize our pres- ent in its consclous preparation of the state-of-mind of the future. More than ever are Amerfcans cager to understand the psycholog: not only of their own growing bi tory, but also of the spreading wav of nationalis-m in the old world Furope's history today is leading up apidly to a crisis-period of unparal- ed_gravity. The outstanding fact uf the firmly established Marxian vrinciples, as an attempted form of rovernment for nearl 200,000,000 in- \abitants of eastern Europe, may be ;alled a psychological problem. the olution of which involves really all ations of middle and south eastern Surope; for the constant, if subtlc nfluence of revolutionary propaganda ‘mong half Slavonic races of central Curope Is always at work. The state 5 mind of north-Germans, Bavari Saxons or Rhinelanders of to- day may decide the action of royal irinces or_soclalist leaders of to- norrow; this psychology of = the masses is really the incaiculable factor, the “imponderabilia” in the tevelopment of events, in the making of history! Historic Parallel. Tt has been stated that the historic parallel of the aftermath of the Franco-Prusslan war probably comes nearest to the present condition of affairs on the European continent. The splendor of Napoleon's empire dazzled no longer the popular imag- inatlon of the French in 1875, four vears after the peace treaty. Mar- shal MacMahon's government, since the fall of Thiers, was regarded by Bismarck’s _cabinet with anything but favor. The marshal, who had re- luctantly accepted the honor thrust upon him, was generally regarded as a French Gen. Monk. But which of the three pretenders was to be Fis Charles II remained a matter of somplete uncertainty. The electlon of some of the Orleans princes In 1871 had glven rise to Inconvenient demonstrations on the part of thelr political supporters, who Kept on pressing for the repeal of the law disqualifying that family. Thiers had ylelded on the point of the ad- mission of the princes, for the Orleanists were weakened by their Gissentions with the legitimists (un- Ger the Comte de Chambord). The Bonapartists appeared to cause the government the mos<t anxiety, be- cause their party had made much progress in the country. The moder- ate republicans Included in their ranks many honest and respected men, but had to contend with the extreme unpopularity ‘of the govern- mdnt of national ° defense, under Thiers, in swhich they had formed the chief part. The extreme repub- licans finally endeavored to make up in violence what they wanted in numerical stréngth. Amidst this col- lection of parties and the confused political situation, the Marshal Mac- Mahon was credited with the wish to place the Comte de Chambord on the throne; and the language of his entourage 'was strongly legitimist. It was the historlc..white fag man~ » the conviction of the growth | {and the’ deepening out of a historical re than in America. Does not | the spirit of Washington and Lincoln, | McKinley and Roosevelt, to! name only but a very few, live every- | where among our living generation in ! this vast | issued at the end of October, 1875, from Salzburg, which effectu~ ally ruined the legitimist cause in France. Economic Life Normal The monarchial majority parties | thereupon adopted the plan of having | power conferred upon the marshal for a fixed and long perfod. They wished it to be apparent to the country that the marshal was especl- ally the president of the conserva tive —majority, and_ obtained his presidential term of seven years. Except for the ceaseless struggles between the various political par- ties In France, and Bismarck's war scare, which subsequently became an almost annual phenomenon, the economic life was fairly normal throughout the republic; and the whole of France began to look for- ward to the great world falr of Paris (1878) and the brilllant suc- cess it became. e The only parallel between the de | feated France of 1575 and the Ger- many of 1923 would, then, seem to be with the monarchial Influences under Marshal MacMahon and these agitating the present reich. But there is one capital difference b tween the French situation of Afty years ago and the German of now. The German monarchial claims today tend. toward decentralization or dis- integration of Bismarck’s empire— whilst the Orleans princes had ten- dered already In the autumn of 187 their alleglance to the Comte d. which completed the long fusion of the Bourbon Sentiment's Growth. { How sapldly the republican senti- under Gambetta’s inspiration. grew’ in France is well known. The different dynastic pretenders in the i German reich today, of which the { principal two roval houses are the Hohenzollern of Prussia and the Wit- telsbach of Bavaria, are vying with each other for best positions in case the government's crists would be- come so acute that the chances for a monarchial restoration becon much greater than they were up till now. Even as Napoleon III, under the third repubile. so the head of the German imperialists lives abroad MP. Thiers had complained of Queer Victoria's great solicitude for the ex- emperor of the French: her majesty’s troops had been marched to Chisle- hurst to be reviewed by the French exile: and Nupolcon, the ex-Empress Eugenie and\ the prince {mperial enjoyed the constant hospitality of the British sovercign at Windsor, and even In London. On that point the stay of the ex-kalser at Doorn, strictly” secluded as his life has to be. bears hardly a pleasant com- parison. The French imperial prince disappeared with a halo of the tradi- tional flower of chivalry—fghting in a far-away country—whilst the for- 1 crown prince undergoes a democratic metamorhoss, began at Wieringen and continued at The German * n princes Bavarian Wit s, Crown Ruprecht. Prince Leopold and Prince Alfons, have alw remained In thelr ' eountr: e the sporadic communistic “ristngs in Munich, at the end of the war. The former Bavarian kingdom, now under mon- archial rule but in name, with Dic- tator von Kahr and_the so-called prime minister, Von Knilline. at the head of the stite, has a similar flag- prohlem as the French monarchisis had in 1875, Differences in Germany. The incldent of the great Reichs- flag on the high Venitian masts ir front of the Munich Hauptbahn when last year they were constantl changed overnight for the Bavarlan colors (white-blue) so that an armed body of reichswehr had to keep n close watch over them. has provided the German sativicts and humorists with 16 end of material. The effective segregation of the administration of posts and telegranh. of the “troops of defense.” finances. ete. has ceaseless- 1y developed in Munich. The antipathy between the Catholic Bavarfans and the Prussians hns steadily been ac- centuated: even in the music dramas of Richard Waen-r, and_especially in his “Parsifal” it has been pointed out, the antitesiz hetween north and south Germany already empha- ed. The eradual ascendancy of Prussia over Anstrin during the nine teenth century. and all that it m for the cultural life of million German-shensing peop been particul 1ght into these last fi i There is a las* point of comparison between the German situation of to- day and the French of fifty years ago. It is, indeed, the spirit of the German people. The French popular state of mind under Marshal MacMahon might be called fairly united, loglcally developing the spirit of republican- ism, under the inspiration of men like Gambetta, Jules Grevy and the grow- ing lights of the third republic. The psychology of the German masses. under the stress of the reparations problems and the absence of any pos- sible foreign policy, has become in- tensely nationalis Nationali means here rather reglonalism: the Saxons, Rhinelanders, Bavariang & Prussians have each their local brand. and nearly fifty vears of Bis- marck's process of unification i uin in the caldron—w tic aspirations! It will be extremely interesting to watch this varied regionalism around its princes com- ing to battle with the larger issue of nationalism and Deutschtum it is called. The issue is one of a the sand vears in the old lands of the Hohenstaufen. Patent Office Jam Business Hindrance { ment, (Continued from First Page.) stacks to house these copies and to put an office the sidewalk level for the financial clerk, who receives all fees, amounting to more than $3,000,000 last year, in this salesroom of Uncle Sam's 10-cent store. It is proposed also to provide accommodations for the copy sales dlvision, which sells 200,000 coples a month, on the 9th street level so that purchasers will not have to go to the third and fourth floors to get coples. Publfc Search Room. The plans also call for a pubilc search room for attorneys and the public on the street level. This is now Ilocnled on the fourth floor and is the only place in the Uhited States where any one can examine those ocoples: | The commissioner of patents fs de- Isirous of keeping that search room open nights for the convenience of attorneys and the public. The buflding on the G and Sth stroet {sides was wonderfully designed for {1ts original use to houso exhibits of {models, but the patent office stopped | requiring models some forty years ago, and this space is not designed for use by examiners, although neces- sity has forced a.makeshift use of all this space. The plans call for remod- eling the building to provide rooms for examiners. It is also proposed to put a row of rooms around the top of the building on the courtyard side for examiners in much the same way as was done with the Treasury bufld- ing. Extreme care has been taken in drafting the plans so as not to spoil the architectural beauty of the bufld- g rom the Cuiiide ’