Evening Star Newspaper, December 9, 1923, Page 51

HUROFE: VEON THE EVL !20,000,000 Germans Facing Hunger; OF MOMENTOUS EVENTS Present Trends and Future Are Mir- rored in Reflections on Past History. BY FRANCIS J. WAHLEN, Former London Editor of De Maas- bode of Rotterdam, am Important Dally of the Netherlands. HERE is not the slightest doubt, but that the world, with the social and economic disorders of the European communities, and particularly with the rapld return of the “class-war"” upon the foreground, is on the eve of big and momentuous events. 1If the gestatory symptoms of this past Year's preoccupations and worrles in the national life of the German reich, of France and Great Britain, to men- tion only the most directly concerned, are well observed, they foretell the Dbirth of & new crisis in Europe's evo- lution with tolerable certainty. “Hu- man history s In essence a history of ideas,” sald a well known writer, and the last five years are no more than a history of the development and succession of states-of-mind and of acts arising out of them. Indeed, In the past nine years there must have been a destruction of fixed ldeas, of prejudices and mental limitations, unparalleled in all history. Think only of the now-obscuring secular theory of “the European equilibrium’ of all the fading *‘dynastic traditions of the idea of wonalism™ super- teding gradually that of “empire” and “kingdom” in the old world. Framework of Ideas. The historical parallel. therefore, are no more than the bare frame- work of root-ideas. So we see now Gen. Von Seeckt, commander-in-chiet of the German reichswehr, relentless- Bunting down German commun- s “and other radicals,” four years ter the peace treaty of Versallles; whilst President Ebert, from the ranks of pre-war German soelalism, is just &s tired of his hard job as Mr. Thiers was four ¥ after the of Frankfort. . Marshal MacMahons entourage, in . kept the fast-rising French re- yublican leader, Gambetta, at a safe distance. And Gambetta had a great dislike for the “legitimist clique” under Decazes, the Duc de Broglie, und- h! the traditional note” in French politest— Marechale (MacMahon) and friends. Gambetta professed confidence in being able to kevp the extreme radi- cals in order. He sald that the red flag was as obnoxious to him as the white flag (legitimist). That he was not incNned to grant 2 general am- nesty to the (Paris) communists and would not agree to the re-establish- ment of the ational Guard (sus- of Bonapartist sympathies). iie also professed himself in favor of froe trade and asserted that the com- treaty (with England) con- cluded by Napoleon IIT accounted for many of thc Bonapartijts' political successes. France After the Prussian War. The economic life of France five years after the Franco-Prusslan war had_developed in an astonishingly quick time to normalcy, as we stated. It is true that the upper classes In France continued to look forward to the future with undiminished appre- hension. French capital, reversing the present-day process, began to Tour steadily into England, Holland nd the United Satte: and it was tated the rich radicals were not the t in sending their money abroad. This was probably under the influ- ence of Bismarck's “war scare” (1875). Marshal MacMahon was, in his roy- allst convictions, somewhat like- minded, perhaps, with the present ierman Gen. von Seeckt. The French narshal-president of the republic was a simple and amiable soldier, how- ever, who knew nothing about politics. He was credited with an overwhelm- ing admiration for the capacity of his private secretary, Emmanuel d'Harcourt. Upon one occasion the question of applying for the extradi- a criminal who had fled to being discussed in his peace sald the marshal, “we must telegraph at once to San Francisco.” “Pardon, M. le Marechal,” interposed «'Harcourt, “Washington, not San Fran; s, is the capital of the United States, The marshal was so aStounded at the profundity of his private secre- tary's knowlédge that he was only &ble to ejuculate: ““Ce diable d'Harcourt! Il sait tout!” (That devil of a Harcourt! ‘He knows evorything!) Abnormal German Life Today. 1t is, of course, the totally abnormal cconomic life of the German reich of today—whether the causes ought to be sought in the huge credit with drawals for reparations payments dur- ing the past years, or (concomi- tantly) with the criminal operations on the Berlin maney market, each time the government had to buy new reparations remittances—that is the German factor in the French paral- lel. This appalling currency situa- tlon everybody now has learned to see through the jok “Why don't you pick up that bill?" asked recently a traveler in Germany, seeing a native drop a 10,000-mark- schein, knowingly. ‘Ach,” replied the German, wearily. Last week I sjooped to pick up such o bill and lost a suspender button. And you couldn’t get a suspender but- ton then under 50,000 marks. Heaven only knows what they would soak me for it today. So, there you F;cenlly inspected by t! And he made & half-despairing, half- fatalistic gesture. Probably there is not anywhere in the world today a brilliant writer of fiction, even more imaginative than a H. G. Wells in “The War of the 5.” his “Time Machine” or “The First Men in the Moon” who could forecast a sort of veraclous unravel- ment of this grim reality-plot—Ger- many’s currency riddle. Just imagine the eastern half of the states of America, a few intensely industrial- ized states amid a vast expanse of agricultural and farming states. And assume, then, that in such a country American currency would have lost all its purchasing power, That wages, values and services of ail kind would have to be reappraised, revalued daily, in the fllusory hope to adjust them to the ever-shifting values which We now call our costs of 1iving. Teutonic State of Mind. Imagine further, that the only peos ple in that extraordinary country to possess real curremcy at all would be those who sold against forelgn exchange currency their food stuffs and manufactured goods. And this foreign currency, being mostly de- posited in forelgn banks, in order to keep a credit available for the neces- sary purchase of raw materials, ship ping space, and foreign imported vic tuals, would absorb all the savings, the profits of the nation. Imagine then the state of mind, the “psychol- ogy of the masses”; of fifty millions of wage-earners, small agriculturists apd farmers; of the economic armies of the ci employes of commerce a v, the people with small savings, tb thousands of modest all these with “no foreign deposit Thus is the state of mind of, per- haps fifty million Germans t What bolshevism did in Rus abolish private property, where the destruction of confidence had brought about the utter collapse of interna- tional and national credit, had been immensely facilitated by the depre- ciation and debauching of the Rus- sian rouble, after Kerensky's fall. But again, it is more to the closely resembling economic state of France, just {mmediately before the French revolution the end of the eight- eenth century, that we might point, rather_than o « historical precedent of a Slavonic and a largely uncul- tured people. French Insue of Notes. Without dwelling upon the tremely interesting details of the is- sue of “assignats” under Calonne, the “ideal minister of finance” of Louis XVI (or should we say of Marie An- toinette?), we Lknow the financial credit of France, the “grand mon- tarchy” of the latter Bourb had become utterly bankrupt money could anywhere be 1. The . lgna or national bonds, were ll sued upon the ue of landed prop- ] ex- ns, erty, and they depreciated almost at once. L 1759, the national assembly i more millions of national 3 bonds,” and the fearful depreciation of the French currency went upace, sapping the national confidence, driv- fng the common people fairly to despairing eynicism. _Which would Attersthe revolt of Jul; su, ism of the Girondins, to Robespierre Current ideas in poli and particu- larly the sentimental and popularized ones, fail often to take cognizance of the economic facts in the development of popular discontent, growing into a revolutionary state of mind. The most important question to be asked today by the intelligent and anticipatin | events, In _view of the threatening crisis in Europe, is a psychological one. “Which is the leading political idea today in Berlin, Munich, the Rhine province or Saxony? Which is the popular state of mind in these various German lands? And who jcould be the “doers of deeds,” pro- Jduced by these ideas, by the develop- i ment and siuccession of popular states of mind?" Republicanism Opposed. Let it be understood that German republicanism, grown out of a more or less Marxian soclalism, after the sudden bolting of the kaiser and the crown prince into Holland (1918), when the self-constituted council of people's commissioners took over the government, is stated to be the po- litical creed of a small minority. Some writers, in Germany as else- where, mean that u plebiscite would reveal that at least per cent of the total German population would favor one or other form of a limited, constitutional, parliamentary mon- archy, as the British. The royal Bavarian reichswehr, com- manded by the “disloyal” (to Ber- lin) Gen. von Lossow, who since their crushing of the recent putsch have been reorganized and fortified (and e Bavarian ex-Crown Prince Rupprecht, head of e Wittelsbach , dynasty, " will be doubly on their ui for the rumored coming events. As long as Bavaria should stand virtually alone against the republi- canism of Berlin and the communism of Saxony, it would, with its nearly 8,000,000 inhabitants, only be a seri- ous danger for German republicanism on account of it being, or becoming, the powerful national champion of German monarchism. And nothing in the past had ever prepared Germany for republicanism like the secession States of former Austria were, the France of Louis XVI, or of Napoleon 111, former republican prince-presi- dent before the coup d'etat of De- cember 2, 1851. Monarchy govern- ment is the most favored form for the north Europeah peoples, and the Ger- man people, as the English, have nev- er successfully gone without. viver Consumers Urged to Store Coal to Consumers. by storing coal can go p long way toward preventing a bi- tuminous strike next April, when the present wage agreements expire, it is fleclared by F. G. Tryon and W. F. McKenney of the United States geo- logical survey, in a report on “The Economic Phases of Coal Storage,” gust made public. “Consumers collectively have the power to make or break a market,” $aid the report. “The relation be- tween the consumers’ reserve and the price Is almgst mathematical. A re- serve below 30,000,000 tons indicates & mellers' market; 20,000,000 tons in- dicate a panicky market, and above €0,000,000 tons indicates a buyers’ market, in which salesmen again take the road and begin to solicit business on the consumers’ terms. Strike Insurance. “There is already talk of @ bitu- mminous strike in the spring, but if there is no strike, it will have been in part prevented by consumers who lave taken the precaution to store; and if this general preparedness helps the operators and the miners to reach an agreement peaceably, the oxpenditure has been worth while. The holder of a fire insurance policy need not regret that he has no fire.” The report is the outcome of & na- tlon-wide study made for the storage of coal committee of the Federated wmerican Englocering Socletips. Other A Forestall Strike alpects of the coal storage problem are being studied by mearly 100 com- mittees in all parts of the country. Practically the entire American en- gineering profession has been enlist- ed in the investigation, which is be- ing directed by a main committee of the Engineering Federation headed by W. L. Abbott of Chicago, and in which the United States Department of Commerce and other federal agen- cles are co-operating. $torage Plan Wise, The report asserts it is econom- ically wise for all classes of con- sumers, including the hodseholder, to store coal. Consumers already are resorting to the practice, says the report, adding: ) “It is a mystery where 60,000,000 -0dd tons accumulated by consumers in anticipation of the strike of 1922 was stored. To equalize the season- al demand for coal and relieve the winter burden of rallway _trafic would require the storage during the summer of only 20,000,000 tons more than already is stored, American consumers can manage to find room for this additional 20,000,000 tons." Facts divulged in the Teport, used by permission of the United States. geological survey, reveal the exist- ence of a deliberate policy to build up fuel reserves. Reserve stocks, it is shown, increase as distance from the mines increases. The region of eatest demsity of storage embraces fassachusetts, Rhode 1sland _and Connecticut. Other areas of dense storage are northern New Jersey, New York, Ohlo, Pennsylvania, the etroit district and the Chicago dis- rict, ) 4 ultimately lead to Jacobin republican- | student of current world | t tdemands upon Germany,” he said, THE Brought on Own Ruin, Says Loucheur BY DREW PEARSON. STOCKHOLM.—Civilization is crumbling in cefitral Europe and 20,000,000 Germans must cither emigrate or starve this winter if they do not receive out- side help. s This is the verdict of Prof. Gustav Cassel of Stockholm University, financial advisor to the ‘Ieaguc of nations and generally recognized as | Europe’s greatest economist. ~ I went to Prof. Cassel to ask him what solution he could offer to the present deadlock between France and Germany with its menace of a new war which, he has repeatedly warned Europe, would mean the end of western civilization. He answered with deliberation carefully weighing his words: “If France continues to press her “twenty millions of Germans must migrate or die of starvation and civilization in central Europe will subsequently crumble. GUSTAV” WARNED BALDWIN. will tell you what I told Lloyd George and Mr. Baldwin when I Lloyd George invited me to breakiast one morning and asked me what I thought of the economic situation in I told him that if France continued her present policy of ex- acting her pound of flesh, that Germany would be obliged to reduce her was in England last summer. Europe. population by 20,000,000 “It is not hard to prove this. In 1871 Germany had a population ot roughly 45000,000. At that date she started her great industrial growth which allowed her to increase and support a population of twenty addi- She did this by developing her iron and steel, while | France remained an agricultural nation, with a population of only 39,000,000. Since the war France has slowly but systematically seized First it was Alsace-Lorraine, then Next France supported Poland in seizing the iron and coal of Upper Silesia. Now the Ruhr is gone—some people say for- tional millions. Germany's iron and coal resources. the Saar coal fields. ever. “Civilization means respect for, private property; and in Germany private property has vanished.- The victors have helped to destroy it. They have advocated distribution of wealth which if proposed by social- ists in any other country would have been branded as bolshevism. Ger- man civilization is crumbling. Violence has broken out in various parts of the country, and the government is powerless to crush it.” “What can America do to help2” I asked. AMERICA CAN HELP. “America can do Europe a great service,” replied Prof. Cassel, “by merely showing that she is not behind France. behind herpbut your silence gives the impression that you are, and France England would take a definite stand on the Ruhr exploits that silence. significant comrhent: thing. Probably you are not |means of defens LOUIS LOUCHEUR ARIS.~Responsibility for the final ruin of Germany on the part of France is absolutely repudiated by Louis Lou- cheur, former minister in both the Clemenceau and Bridnd cabinets and the man most frequently mentioned as successor to Premier Poincare. In the course of a rather impas- sioned® interview M. Loucheur de: clared that the policy of the French government has the unanimous sup- port of the French people and that it was dictated neither by militarism por by a desire for annexation, but solely by an unalterable dctermina- tion to obtain security. “The financial ruin of Germany,” he said, “has been brought about by the foolish financial policy of her government and has nothing what- ever to do with the situation in the Ruhr. She has had at her govern- mental helm men who don’t under- stand one iota of the real problem before them and whom I cannot ex- cuse under any circumstances.” LEAGUE NOT ALMIGHTY M. Loucheur refused to answer directly a question as to whether the league of nations could settle the Ruhr problem, but he did offer this “In_France,” he said, “we do not consider the league of nations capable of settling all international questions. to see the league contribute to the solution of some very delicate prob- lems, such as that of Silesia. We have seen with great pleasure its inter- vention in other cases of that kind, but the majority of our people, let me repeat, do not think that the league can offer solutions on every- We have been very glad “The rcal explanation of our use of force in the Ruhr is.that during three years we tried every other method to obtain the guarantees which our security demands and failed. had been in our place she would not have shown as much patience. We have no intention of committing the same mistake as Germany in at- tempting to rule the world by force. The entire French nation is stand- ing behind its government.” FRANCE'S ARMY REDUCED. In reply to a'question as to France’s military establishment, M. Loucheur said: “It is untrue to claim that France’s army is a proof that she is militaristic. 'We have reduced our army by more than 30 per cent in comparison with pre-war standard, and the period of service has been cut from three years to a year and a half. inferior to what it should be in order to guarantee our security. It has not been laid dowh 'with any idea of an offensive war, but purely as a I sincerely believe that if America Our air program is really . M. Loucheur refused to express an opinion as to whether America should enter the league of nation He declared that he regarded that occupation if she knew that she had support of the United States. Your | matter as one solely for the decision of the American people. indefinite policy, I think, was the biggest reason for Baldwin’s apparent | concessions to Poincare at their very last moment. British foreign policy is co-operation with the United States. You have | a bigger influence in Europe, and especially with Britain, than you realize.” “Apart from American action what hope is there of a settlement? “The only hope is that France may realize that when one enemy is crushed another springs up. She must realize that in 1940 modern com- | munications will make Moscow closer to Paris than Berlin was in 1870, and that it is best to have friendly neighbor The A B C of | French motives. that that is so toda M. Loucheur admitted that he was aware that France had lost some of the traditional good will which America has always held for her, but insisted that this was due to misrepresentation and misunderstanding of “We are as sincere democrats as Americgns.” he said, “but you can treat the problems before us more theoretically than we can because you have no Germany at your door. favorable evolution of ideas may take place in Germany and that the German' nation may become a sincere democracy, but we cannot say Every Frenchman hopes that a 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 8: United States of America—The Sixty-eighth Congress assembled on December 2, On De- cember 6 the President delivered his message, most rmarkable for lucidity, conciseness and directness. Its chief declarations and recom- mendations may be summarized as follows: 1. As to the §uestion of ur joining the league of nations, the “incident is closed.” 2. Adhesion of our. government to the protocol establishing the Court of Interna- tional Justioe at The Hague, With the reserva- tions contrived by Mr. Hughes to keep us clear of league taint, is recommended. 3. Our Russian policy remains unchanged. Our government has no objection to trade be= tween our nationals and those of soviet Russia, but will have nothing to do with a government which “refuses to recognize the sanctity of international obligations.” When or if that government recognizes its obliga- tion to compensate our despoiled citizens and pay the debts contracted with our govern- ment by the Kerensky government, and when or if it ends {ts subversive activifles in this country, the story will be different. 4. Cancellation of the war debts owing us from foreign governments (now totaling, with interest, exclusive of the British debt, $7,200,- 000,000)° is not favored, though this country does not propose to act Shylock. It is “the duty of our government to protect as best it can” its claim against Germany for the ex- penses of our army of occupation (viz., $255, 000,000) and the claims of our citizens foun: valid by the mixed claims commission (which will total about $500,000,000). As for the iparations entanglement in Europe, we have offered our advice and counsel, nor shall we withdraw the offer. 5. Leglslation providing for tax reductions 1s the most important duty of Congress. The plan of the Secretary of the Treasury to this end has the President’s “unqualified approval.” 6. The right to issue tax-exempt securities should be abolished by constitutional amend- ment. 7. The present tariff law Is praised 2s “pro- ductive of an abounding prosperity.” 8. The government merchant fleet should be transferred to private ownership as soon as this can be done without prejudice to its use- fulness to American commerce and as an auxiliary means of national defense. Mean- time it should be operated by the Shipping Board-as economically as may be, but efficient- 1y _whatever the cost. 9. Development of the infernatianal water- ways should be pushed, including the project of a channel for ocean-going ships -via the St. Lawrence between the great lakes and the sea Expenditures for such purposes are re- productive investments, as witness the Panama canal. A similar project is that of super- power development in the northwestemn states. 10. Railroad legislation, by way of amen ment and additional, should be undertaken, but cautlously. The Labor Board should not be hastily scrapped. The law providing for voluntary railroad consolidation should be amended so as to stimulate such action. Should such amended _permissive legislation prove ineffective, “the authority of the gov- ernment will have to be directly Invoked. For ‘“consolidation appears to be the only feasible method for maintenance of an ade- quate system of transportation, with an ‘oppor= tunity to so adjust freight rates as to meet such temporaty conditions as now prevail in some agricultural sections.” “An entire re- organization of the rate structure for freight is necessary and should ordered at once by the Congress.” (This last statement will be challenged by those who consider that this is a business which had best be left to the S2parts ot the Interstate Commerce Commis- sion. 11. The prohibition law should be rigldly enforced, and to this end the coast guard should be greatly strengthened and swift power boats provided. < 12. An anti-lynching law, 8 minimum wage law for women and a constitutional amend- ment to limit child labor are récommended. 13. The classified civil service should be extended, t%oluly with reference to the Post Office ?munn. ‘The fleld force for prohibition enforcement should be “brought wythin the classified civil service without cov- ering in the present membership.” 14. The personnel of Army and Navy should not be further reduced. Both services should Dbe strengthened rather than weakened. Mors planes are required for the Army, and more submarines for the Navy, and the Panama de- fenses must be perfected. 15. The policy of restricting immigration should be continued. Immigration should be selective and limited to our capacity of ab- sorption. 16. Legislation should generally provide for disabled veterans and their dependents, but, said the President, “I do not favor the grant- ing_of a bonus." 17. The President seems to approach the great coal problem with less assurance and less definiteness than he does other problems: and good reason. I must postpone to another occasion notice of his remarks on this head. 13. The President felicitates the country on its enjoyment (largely in consequence of adop- tion of “sound principles” by the government) of a remarkable prosperity. As to industry and commerce this statement requirgs no qualification, and, indeed, agrigplture is for the most part successful, elever staples hav- ing risen in value from about $5800,000,000 two years ago to about seven billlons for the current year. But range cattle prices remain lamentably low énd there is much actual dis- tress in certain wheat areas; and in general it has to be admitted that the prices of agri- cultural products do not hold up with those of manufactured articles. The restoration of the farmer to full prosperity must be a main concern of the government. Indirectly the farmer should be relleved by reduction of taxes, by reduction of frelght rates (involv- ing railroad consolidation), by provision of cheaper fertilizers (involving the right solu- tion of the Muscle Shoals question). But “no complicated scheme of relfef, no plan for gov- ernment fixing of prices, no resort to the public_Treasury will be of any permanent value in establishing agriculture. Simpls and direct methods put into operation by the farmer himself are the only real sources for restoration.” The farmer will “get back” and hold his own by proper organization, by an efficient system of co-operative marketing, by cducation and consequent wise diversification of crops and allotment of acreage. The wheat farmer may ultimately have to resign him- self to loss of the foreign market. Mean+ time, while the farmer is at unfair disad- vantage, the President is favorable to govern- ment palliatives (within the/limits of wide discretion) for his behoof. such as loans nad assistance by the War Finance Corporation to export of the crop surplus; but as pallia- tives only they must be recognized—temporary and emergent. o he. Dresident also spoke strongld in favor of vigorous legislation for reclamation, for highways, for reforestation. A most notable address. And now for the blocs. It should be a very interesting session. * % %k % Mexico—Coups in Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Memelland, China, all over the old world, and we were beginning to fear that we of the ' western hemisphere were given prematurely 014, had lost our “pep,” when, on Thursday the news arrived from Mexico of & military revolt in support of the pretensions or to satisty the grievances of de la Huerta, one of the presi- dential candidate: De la Huerta, it would seem, claims that President Obregon has ma- nipulated ‘the election machinery so as to in-~ sure victory at the polls for his rival, Gen. Calles, but no doubt the real motif is vindica- tion of the glory of the new world by a little coup, Mexican style. The situation is obscure, but apparently Presideat Obregon is taking vigorous measures toward suppression.of the revolt. [ * % *x ¥ Great Britatn—The elections were held on the 6th and resulted in disaster to the con- servatives, who, though winning a plurality, falled of a majority of seats—so that eyery- thing is_at sixes and sevens. The conserva- will have about 260 seats in the new :‘b‘:xazlment. labor about 180, and the liberals about- 150. Never in the history of British politics has there been a situation so dubious and_perplexing. One thing only seems per- fectly clear; namely, that the issue of protec- tion f- as dead as Hector. Labor’s great:gain of fifty seats does mot indubitably fndicate in- creasing approval of labor's capital levy and nationalization planks. Not the least interesting development of the campaign was the strong stand taken by the conservative champions, and.especially by Premjer Baldwin and by Lord Derby, the min- ister of war, for preservation of the entente. Lord Derby went so far as to assert the legality of the Ruhr occupation and his agree- ment Wwith Poincare that the so-called bank- ruptey of Germany was deliberately engi- and is, in fact, fraudulent. The latter he sense that billions of German assets, including huge profits of the industrial mag- nates gained through Inflation, have been ex- patriated. Whatever may be thought of such views there is great importance in their ex- pression by Lord Derby, one of the most highly esteemed of Englishmen. and who, so speaking, is undoubtedly representative of a large section of his countrymen. Lloyd George, on the other hand, has been cutting loose vigorously in denunciation of Poincare's poliey, ‘professing to dissoclate it from the French nation. most sparkling bon mot of the campaign was the following: *It is a sottlement of Europe you want. You want protection not against French mills, but against French militarists.” As Charles Lamb once said to a friend who asked his opinion of a pun: “Shakespeare made worse puns and better,” * k% % Germany.—On December 1 an agreement bee tween the occupying authorities and the au- thorities of the German state railroad was signed, but the German government has not yet ratified it. Ratification in the immediate future seems falrly certain, but, so much achieved, there will still remain to be solved the problems of a satisfactory political status and of a currency “wot is" a currency for the occupled area. About these matters there is “much talk about it and about,” but no settlement in sight. The new German chancellor seems to be marking time, waiting for a final vote by the reichstag on his “authorization bilL” which proposes to_confer on his cabinet dictatorial “‘economic, flnancial and social powers” sim- flar to those granted to Stresemann. It is expected that this bill will pass, but amended 50 as to provide for “a special advisory com- mittee” of twenty-eight reichstag members— this apparently as a sop to the soclalists. Wonderful are the ways of German politics. History repeats itself, for Chancellor Marx has in his pocket a presidential decree em- powering him to dissolve the reichstag should it refuse to vote his bill, and_the reichstag doesn’t want to be dissolved. One hears that the occupying authorities are taking steps toward making the occupation as- “invisible” as possible. \ ¥ ek X ‘Turkey.—The unanimous vote of the Angora assembly for Mustapha Kemal ss first presi- dent of the new republlc—was it genuine or only & vote qf courtesy, 8o far as a consider- able minority were concerned? The question 1s askeéd because on the eve of the election reports from Turky indicated anything but unanimity of approval of Mustapha Kemal Pasha. Faction, we were told, quite so long as the Glaour had to be dealt with, had raised its head as soon as peace was definitely estab- lished. Raouf Bey had resigned the pre- miership and gone into opposition. Conserva- tive Turks were deeply angered by the revo- lutionary procedure respecting the caliphate, and blamed It on Kemal, who also gave them constant offense by his, very liberal attitude in regard to ancient religious customs and observances. Foreign trade was wilting under illiberal burdens and restrictions. Many -cf the old-established forelgn trading houses had pulled up stakes and left Constantinople, No ' money was to be had for reconstruction. The economic prospects grew bleaker daily. For which conditions it was common to blame Mustapha Kemal. No doubt report much ex- aggerated the opposition to the father of new Turkey, but no doubt, too, the unanimous vote lied. ; * K K % Notes—Maurice Barres, the distinguished French writer and orator and member of the chamber of deputies, is dead. It 1s reported that If has offered Switzer- land a free port on the of Genoa. MAN IS “TIME-BINDER,” - POLE’S CONCEPT OF LIFE Count Korzybski, Noted Philosopher,- Advances New Theories as to -Nature of Humankind. NOW THYSELF,” was the advice of & wise man of an- clent Greece. But, aside from theological studies, and an atteppt, now and then, to consider man in the sbstract, ma: kind made little progress, although there was some one in every age to draw his attention back to the main theme, In one age it was Alexander Pope, who reminded the clvilized world that “the proper study of mankind is man.” Today Count Alfred Korzybski. Polish engineer and philosopher, has drawn mau’s attention anew to the real problem of his being, with his now famous concept of man as the “time-inding class of life.” Count Korzybski's two forthcom- ing lectures in the National Capital tomorrow called renewed attention to the Polish philosopher's ideas concerning man, and his chance’ for & peaceful life in a warless world. The count believes it possible, but holds that the only scientific_basis of hope for the world lies in the as- sumption that when men and women are bred. to understand the distinc- tive nature of our human kind the “time-binding energies of man will be freed from their old bondage and civilization will advance in accord with its natural law in,a warless world, swiftly and endlessly. Meaning of “Time-Binding.” “Time-binding 7" To understand what Count Kor- zybekl means by that term, it is necessary to look into his theory, as explained at length in his book, “The Manhood of Humanity; Science and Art of Human E = : “Humanity,” he say binding class of life.” Man, unlike animals, s able to uti- lize the work of past generations, and begin anew where his ancestors left oft. Thus one time is in a sense bound to another, &0 that the peculiar inventive enérgy of man, which dis- tinguishes him from the beasts, goes on from century to century with ever- increasing momentum. Take your house cat. She has been catching mice for thousands of years, yet the cat of 1923 does it just exactly like the cat of 23 B.C. No cat, in the history of the world, has seemed to fecl a necessity for an advance in the art of catching mice. No cat has invented a mouse trap. The busy bee gathers its honey to- day i the fashlon worked out in the processes of evolution thousands of years ago. The toiling beaver of one dentury builds his dams just as did the bea- ver of yesteryear. Man Shows Development. But man does better than that Hiy history-through the ages shows a continual development. The his- tory of _transportation 13 an ex- ample. First man walked, then he ®ot horses to ride on, then had them pull him. Then he used the past experiments of the ancients to work out the steam engipe. Then came the railroad train and the steamboat. Today the world has the airplane, a carrier that goes back through the ages, from the mythical experiment of the Greek youth who made himself a pair of wings, only to fall to his death, to the more or less perfected craft of today. Thuy time has plaved its part in all_the affairs of man, and, rightly understood, offers the key to the real nature of man, according to Count Korzybski. Man, whenever he first appeared in the world as such, brought to light something entirely new in the world, the Polish engineer belleves. It was the energy which invents, which civ flizes. Having Invented his first rude plow man used i nd criticized it. Agx {4 and Tuesday nights have; after age he kept on criticizing the work of his hands, until he evolved better and better plows. No animal reinforces its ability by the presence of past achievement. Only man can do that. His mind is reinforced by past accomplishments. If he decldes to make a bridge, he. studles Intensively for a fesv years, learning what sort of bridkes have .. been built in the past, and how they were built. So man has come into the possessior . of arts, inventions, beauty, wealth—bot}: |material and spiritual—as the result of his transcendant ability to utilize in times present the arts, inventione, beauty and wealth of times past. So will he go on to better and better things, In ages yet to be, through hie ability to bind this hour—but which then will be time past—to the ages to come—then his present hour. Holds Man Not am Anfmal. Count Korzybskl does not believe that man is an animal, or yet that he is a mysterious union of animal with something supernatural. He divides life into classes. Plants he calls the baslc-energy- binders. Animals are the space-binders, bo- cause thelr characteristic feautre that they can move swiftly from plac to place, in tremendous contrast to the plants. Human beings are the time-binders. Man, therefore, forms a distinct - class {n the world. It is due to th fact that man has looked upon bLim- Isclf as a species of animal, accord- - ing to the Polish philosopher, that war exists among men as it does _ among the various animals, ¥ Once man, as a whole, and in pare ticular, comes into a correct and gen- erally comprehended understanding of himself as a distinct class of life, will he realize that his money grab-- bing gets him nothing except the opportunity to spread the highest ideals of "his distinguished class— the tima-binders. Animal ethics is a ‘space-binding ethics, an ethics of might, of brutal competition, of violence, combat and . war," says Prof. Cassius J. Keyser of | Columbia University, & leading Amer= tican philosopher, who indorses Count . | Korzybski's views. Come to think of it, that hits off the world war pretty well. It was @ * conflict of men reverted to animals, - marching swiftly _through epace, anihilating with their great guns space as well as thelr brothers. Would Conserve Possessions, This time-binding faculty, on the othér hand, used to its full, and not in plece-meal, would tend to make mankind remember and conserve its . greatest and best inventions and ideals, handed down frpm one 2ge to the next, its most precious pos- T sesslons. A striking example of time-bind. , ing right here in the National Capital * was furnished recently by the offer - of a public-spirited resident of a large tract of land as a public park and playground. So would he bind the ideals of the .. past to this time, and then, in turn, bind this time to the next with the happiness of men and women, &nd.2 the laughter of little children. That is what time-binding means, So the timg-binding faculty is seen not as an effect of civilization but as the cause of civilization. - Prof. Keyser in his book, “Mathematical Philosophy.” one chapter of which is devoted to Korzybskf's concept of man, belleves that this concept must lead to a new interpretation of his- tory, to a new philosophy of history. A fundamental principle of the new Interpretation must be the fact that what man has done and does has depended and depends upon what man distinctively s, and also, in very great measure, upon what the mem- = bers of the race have thought and think man is,” says Prof. Keyser. “Korzybskl belleves thatethe great war marks the end of the long perfod of humanity’s childhood and the b ginning of humanity’s manhood. This second period, he belleves, is to be initlated, guided and characterized by a right understanding of the dis- cti ure of ma three great As a Great Union Man Sees It, Arbitration BY JAMES M. LYNCH. (Former president of the Tuternational Typos graphical Union: former New York State in- dustrial commissioner.) ARTICLE VIIT. RBITRATION is not a pana- cea,” wired the president of the United Mine Workers of America in response to 2 message from a chamber of com- merced’ urging arbitration of the dis< pute that was threatening another shortage of coal with winter only & few weeks away. But he did finally accept what practically was arbitra- tion and the award thereunder. I agree With the coal miners' exec- utive that arblitration is not a pan- acea for the cure of industrial dis- putes and wage contentions. Arbi- tration can, howéver, be made a fair method of settlement and one that will guarantee substantial justice to the disputants and safeguard the in- terests of the public if arranged for before the war is on. Resorted to as a last and somewhat questionable ex- 113 Can Be Success ;ance by both parties to the wverdict | and rigid adherence to it. Arbitration may not be compulsory, except where it has been voluntarily agreed to before the contention arises. | ‘Arbitration made compulsory by 1z would be a most colossal failure, just as it has always been when so de- * creed. No statute that proposed to jail men for their failure to worl Wwould in its application work. Invol- untary servitude is just as distaste . ful, and more so because men are now free, as slavery was distasteful. Compulsory arbitration as to its ver- dict could be enforced against = protesting party in but one way, bv | putting them in jafl. That would be < the last step. That would be the step = that would spell failure for such 2 law, Arbitration Successful. On the other hand voluntary arbi- * tration of fndustrial disputes by agreement between the parties at in- terest has been successful and is now entirely possible of success. There must be the prior condition of a strong association of employers and & . strong association of wage earners, both able to carry into effect the pro- visions of the contract, especially awards made under such a contract. pedient, in order to avert what threatens to be a public calamity, or maintain peace in an industry as be- tween employer and emplove, it is often a remedy that in the end proves to be a greater detriment than the disease it allowed to burn itself out. Frequently the workt thing_ that can happen to the cause of arbitra- tion is a sudden resort to-it, without previous preparation, without rules of proceedure, without an arblitration agreement prepared carefully in time of peace, and so hedfed around and perfected at every point and in every paragraph as to most thgroughly safeguard the rights of each party to the covenant. With proper prepara- tion when the dispute arises and ad- justment in conciliation is not possi- ble, there is the right to resort to an agreement previously prepared for just such an emergency. Every step from the selection of the arbiters to the final decision has been charted, 80 that there may be no suspicion in the heat of controversy that one par- ty is attempting to o guide the pro- ceeding as to almost guarantee a ver- dict for his end of the cause at court. “Court” Happy Word. The use of the word “court” is a happy one, for an arbitration pro- ceeding 18 before a court, voluntary in its genesis and voluntary as ta its membership, but charged with a sac- red duty that must be most intelli- gently and consclentiously performed. The rules previously agreed to must be meticulously adhered to and the entire procedure, including the pres- entation of evidence, the acceptance or exclusion of that evidence as tho arbitration agreement provides, the safe-guarding of the rights of each party to the dispute as provided for in the bond, so fully complied with that when ‘the verdict s rendered even though there may and probably will be dissatistaction by one side or the other, and in some instances dis- satisfaction by both parties to the issue, there can be no question as the fullest and fairest opportunity for the presentation and argument that char- acterized the procedurée. There must of couurse be included in such an agreement the provision for accept- Given an agreement of this kind and union officers who understand their business, are capable of putting up - seasoned argument based on facts and__ figures, and there Is almost sure suc- cess for the wage earners if their cause is just. There must be merit and the contention of each parts should stand or fall on its merits. Conciliation and mediation general- 1y precede arbitration. This is usua 1y provided for in arbitration agree ments In many disputes agreement reached on all questions but one or two, arrangements are often made for reférence of these to an arbiter, and . as a rule his duties and his powers are closely restricted. He may take evidence and make decision only on the points in dispute, or on particular phases of these points. In still other cases arbitration &ap- plies to wages only, and in some by | understanding the arbitration is con- fined to the prevailing wage and the { wage that s asked for. Arbitration as generally applied. however, relates to every matter in dispute, except the right of the union. to function, the union shop, and union. rules. ‘These are usually excepted. t But it all depends on the agreement that has been reached prior to the in- ception of the dispute. “Arbitration has been given many a black eye by the selection of arbiters with but_slight, if any, knowledge of the business or industry to which their decision will apply. It is impos- sible to give such men a comprehen- sive pictuf of the processes and the technicalities of the industry In tae limited time which an arbitration board has at its disposal. Too often has_the verdict been not in accord with the facts. Many times has the \verdict been of the hit-and-miss de- I scription, and then follows a period of wrangle and -dissension between ™ the people who must live under an award the terms of which are subject to many interpretations or cannot be made to apply with any degree of smoothness and result to the needs of the industry. Arbiters should have expert knowledge of the questions on which they will be expected to pass, (Copyright, 1f the McClure Newspap: ¢ df 5 Syndicate.) o To be Comtinued Next Sunday.