Evening Star Newspaper, December 30, 1923, Page 31

HOLDS CANCER UNSOLVED PROBLEM OF MEDICINE F,i:pert Declares Surgery Is Main Rémedy. - Holds Cleanliness and Simple : Living as Preventives. BY EDWARD F. ROBERTS. ANCER:—The one great un- solved . problem of medicine. That is the way the great plague of humenity s char- acterized by Dr. Francls Carter Wood, head of the Institute of Cancer Re- search, Columbia University, and one ©of the world's greatest authoritles on the dreaded disease which, in the United States alone, takes an annual toll of more than 100,000 lives. According to the records, between 80,000 and 90,000 Americans dle yearly from cancer. But Dr. Wood points out this number is considerably be- low the actual ghastly total, as in fourteen states, equal to half of the country in area, there are no_reliable records of causes of death. In addi- tion, he belleves that a large number of cancer deaths are attributed to other causes through incompetent or careless dlagnosis by doctors. For these reasons Dr. Wood believes that the total cancer deaths are at least 125,000 per year and may even be higher. Finds No Medicinal Cure. “What hope can medical sclence offer ©of freeing us from this scourge?” was the question I asked Dr. Wood to an- swer. If you mean by hope,” he replied, “what prospect is there for & medicinal cure of this disease I would have to tell you that at present there is none, Cancer . is our one great unsolved problem and we may as well admit frankly that we have thus far made little progress toward its solution.” 'This is rather a gloomy outlook for victims and prospective vietims.” “It may be gloomy,” replied Dr. Wood, “but that cannot justify me in raising false hopes and concealing the truth.” “Do you mean that cancer victims must abandon hope?” Surgery Regarded Best Remedy. “Ey no means. T said that I saw To immediate prospect of a medicinal cure for cancer, but there is a remedy Which can save many thousands of lives that are being lost today if the victims would only learn to avall themselves of it iIn time. I refer to surgery. More than that, I believe that cancer can in some measure be prevented, but that is something the people must do for themselves. Doc- 1 cannot do it." What can surgery do? “If a cancer is cut o 1t appears a patient ha chance of living out hls Surgery is the only really effective Wweapon which we have today, and Where it fails it is usually due fo the fact that the victim of the disease has delayed too long." “What about radium?” Radium Seldom Cures. “Radium and X-rays are Vvery use- ful in treatment, and no doubt in many cases aid in retarding the tu- mor’s growth, but they cure but few cancers. Of course, we still know littie about either radium or , but we are making steady e in investigation, and there is always a possibility that they may have greater curative value than is apparent today. However, as far as our present knowledge goes, 1 can t as soon as an excellent normal life. only repeat that radium is not a sat- j.c isfactory cure for all kinds of cancer Queen of Rumania May Gain Fame (Continued from First Page.) 2nd Greeks and from these confer- ences will emerge something concrete fn so far as Queen Marie's plans for the Balkan confederation are cerned. Naturally the activities of the Ru- manian queen are keenly speculated upon in France, where the idea of the little entente was born and the execution of which brought about the union of the Francophile group of smaller natlons in southeastern Turope. Already France has atded Rumania, Jugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and has been diligently striving to gain a firmer grip within Greece. The French have not watched the growth of British influences in Greece with complacency and it is declared that througzh the royal houses Eng- land has gained in proponderant in- fluence in Greece. It is frankly ad- mitted in Paris that France probably could make greater headway with a Grecian republic, as the fathers of the republican move in Greece are known to be Francophile in char- moter. ‘Where Does Queen Stand? One question arising to perplex many of the statesmen of Europe is whether Queen Marfe, British by birth and sympathy, is not really en- deavoring to undermine French in- fluence over the little entente and through a Balkan confederation, act- ing on'its own, promoting British influence in _southeastern Europe. Nome of the Balkan nations to date have been, by their own efforts, able to negotiate the treacherous shoals arising from the war and 8s a con- sequence have turned to the larger powers for aid. France has been the first to gain advantage in this way, and there s serfous question that her influence can be minimized at any juncture, even though the smaller nations, through Queen Marie's plan, lend themselves to a Balkan confed- eration. That Queen Marle's plans in so far as Greece s concerned may recefve a setback is indicated by the French- Czechslovakia treaty drafted in Parls during the past week. Unques- tionably Czechoslovakia will be first violinist for France's eastern Euro- pean_political orchestra and with Prague’s Influence piramount there is doubt that the French grip, polit- tcally and financially, easily can be 100sened. But if Queen Marie is working sole- 1y for the Interest of the Balkans and ts not working for the indirect inter- ost of Britain, she may win her bat- tle yet, but with the tacit support of the French, who may, through Ru- mania and Jugoslavia, seek to domi- nate Greece, even with a restored royal house, one known in the past to be sympathetic to Britain. ‘Whatever the result, whatever the present negotiation and diplomatic maneuvering, Queen Marle still il remain one of the outstanding ures in after-the-war reconstruction of political and economic life through- out southeastern Europe. —_— Seeing the old year out one of : the most ancient of customs. An old »custom, probably Saxon, is the .un- barring of the house door when the clock strikes twelve, the object be- ing to let the old year out and we! come the new. J P L con- and certainly does not replace sur- gery." “You say that cancer can be pre- vented. How can that be done?” Simple Living Important. “By cleanliness and simple living," sald Dr. Wood, with a very emphatic gesture. “Cancer is not a germ dis- ease. It is caused by constant irrita- tion of some part of the body, most commonly of the mouth or stomach. In the case of women one of the com- monest causes {s lack of proper at- tention after childbirth. If the peo- Ple generally would follow a few simple rules of hygiene I am con- vinced that there would be a very great diminution in the actual num- ber of cancer cases as well as a _great falling off In the number of deaths from the disease.” 1 asked Dr. Wood to formulate these rules, which he did: “Keep the body scrupulously clean, with special attention to the mouth and teeth, ; ‘Never neglect a cut, burn, bruise ]or any simflar slight injury. Avold Spiced Food In Advi ‘Avold highly spiced foods and any {tooa that 1s very hot or very cold. “If a sore develops on any part of your body which does not heal quick- ly consult a competent physician, and If it proves to be cancerous have it cut out immediately. “Men and women about the age of fitty who begin to lose weight and develop signs of amemia should lose no time in having an examination made to determine whether a cancer is developing in the stomach. “If you think you have the symp- toms of a cancer, do not worry but immediately see a'good physiclan who will cure the worry by showing you that you have no cancer. It Is better to worry, however, than to neglect a cancer, because no one dies of worry and many die of neglected cancer.” Says Symptoms Are Indefintte. 1 asked Dr. Wood if there were any characteristic symptoms which preceded a cancer. “No,” he Feplied, “at least none that we have thus far been able to deter- mine. An important thing to remember about this disease 15 that it very rarely develops In persons under forty. This is practically a disease confined to mid- dle life and in the great majority of cases appears between the ages of forty-five and sixty-five.” “There is a popular idea,” I sug- gested, “that certain articles of food predispose toward cancer.” “Rubbish,” sald Dr. Wood. ‘There is'not the ‘slightest evidence that diet hag anything to do with cancer, except to the extent that I have mentioned in regard to highly seasoned fooa which lrritates the stomach. The best Dproof that dlet has nothing to do with it is the fact that cancer is just as prevalent. among the rice eaters of iIndla as among the meat eaters of America and northern Burope. Some people also have an idea that cancer is a disease of civillzation. Thers Is no vestige of truth in that. Cancer fs not only common to people of all races, but is found among lower animals as It 1s a universal plagu, ““Are forelgn countries making any more progress fighting It than Amer ca " “No. It is a common battle for man- kind in which the medical profession of all countries is presenting a united front. It is not a question of trying to outstrip one another, but a common sa in which we are all giving our best for the sake of humanityy’ Chinese Founds Great Industry A Chinese laundryman, who for several years had a little shop In New England, has cut the United States off from what naturally would have been an important market for hoslery and other knit goods. In- dustry in China, supplying stockings to some 400,000,000 pairs of feet and shirts to as many backs. This indus- try has been growing for twenty years, since the Chinese laundryman plcked up a smattering knowledge of the knitting industry in New Eng- land. A prominent technical man in the knit goods industry describes the mills in China as a “purely Ameri- can institution,” because *96 per cent of their equipment was brought from America.” One of these mills alone is turning out 1,000 dozen pairs of stockings per day. U. S. Presents Three Buffalo' to Mexico American buffalo are again to live where the buffalo was first discovered by white men some 400 years ago. The gift from the United States of three biffalo to the government of Mexico recalls the discovery and early history of these big game animals. ‘The gift is made from the herd main- tained by the United States Depart- ment of Agriculture on the Wichita ame preserve, Oklahoma, to the zoo- fi)‘lufl park In the City of Mexico, almost on the very spot where the buffalo was first seen by Furopean When Cortez entered Montesuma's capital, on the present site of the City of Mexico, some 400 years ago, the biological survey points out, white men had thelr first view of the buffalo. A herd was maintatned in the menagerie of the emperor. This was in 1521, when buffalo roamed in millions over the timberlands of northern Mexico and the great platns of the present western United States. Antonio de Solls, an early writer who first described Montesuma's menagerie, declared that the greatest 1arity in’ the collection was the “Mexican bull” which had crooked shoulders, a bunch on its back like a camel and its neck covered with hair like the lio: It was in these terms that he pictured the American buffalo or bison. As a manifestation of good will to- ward our southern neighbors a gift of three buffalo was tendered the Mexican government by the United States Department of Agriculture and the New York Zoological Society. De- talls of shipment were intrusted to Dr. W. T. Hornaday, director of the New York Zoological Park, and Prof. A. L. Herrera, in charge of the zoo- logical work of the Mexican govern- ment. Air Mail Aid Sought. With the air mail service already equipped with seventy-nine airplanes in fiying condition Congress will be urged at this session to give ma- terial encouragement toward de- velopment of the service. Operation of the air mall service during the last fistal year was ocon- fined to one_transcontinental route from New York to San Francisco, with landing flelds at New York, Bellefonte, Pa.;. Cleveland, Bryan, 1Ohlo; Chicago, Iowa City, Omaha. North Plate, _Cheyenne, 1ins, Rook Springs, Wyo.. Salt Lake City, Elko, Nev.; Reno and San Francisco. The total length of the route is 2"'1"1': m"“iopmuon for the year for o o the service was ;l.un.eno the ex- penditures wero $1,774,151.85. During the year a total of 1,809,028 miles were flown by air mail planes, carrying an estimated total of 87, l'l:.'llo plze.- of l!:.-‘dlof’mL performance peroen ‘made for, the years mmu"w. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, -D.C. DECEMBER 30, 1928—PART 2. 3 BY HERBERT COREY. ELLON says—" That Is one phrase rarely heard In Washing- ton. Mellon does not say. Ile writes letters. He issues com- muniques. He Is the most extraor- dinary man in public office today. He has nothing to sell. Hé is not try- ing to put over his policles or his personality on the public. He Is es- sentlally a buyer. His motto is, pre- sumably, caveat emptor—"let the buyer beware.” The public knew next to nothing about Andrew W. Mellon when Presi- | dent Harding made him Secretary of the United States Treasury. Bank- ers knew that he is one of the great | bankers of the world and one of the | four richest men In the United States. A few others knew that his home is In Pittsburgh. That is about all that {s known about Andrew W. Mel- lon today, except that books of ref- erence give his age as sixty-eight and the newspapers tell that he is slender, gray and apparenty diffident. Congress Not Used to His Sort. Congress knows more about him and wishes it dldn't. If a contest of | unpopularity were to be held on the | Hill, which is Washington vernacular ! for the Capitol, the devil and the| Kkalser might run first and-second, | but A. W. Mellon would certafnly | be a good third. Congress is not used to the sort of man he has proved to be in office. He does not argue, he does not shake hands, he does not | make speeches. He writes letters. | And they are terrible. { “Taxes should be reduced,” Is the burden of his lay. “They can be re. duced. This {s what should be done.” His attitude {s wholly that of a banker. He does not discuss rights and wrongs or duties or polleles or votes or office-getting, Bankers rare- 1y do. When they invest in the bonds of forelgn raflroads they do not ask whether the poor heathen will be made better and brighter by tha vi- sion of mogul locomotiven hauling freight cars upgrade. They ask whether the roads will pay. As Mel- lon sees his present job it Is to get the business affairs of the American eople back on @ buiness basis. If ongress, which has the power, pre- fers to inerease taxation rather than reduce it, that s Congress's own re- sponsibility. But &0 long s he has the letter writing privilege Congress cannot say it was not warned, ‘Was Misunderstood at First. et i When he firat came to Washington to take charge of the Treasury he was misunderstood. The reporters who called on him brought out the | word that he is diffident. If Mellon {s difident, then Napoleon was an evangelist.” He s not talkativa or | jolly. He has 2 way of looking out of the window when he Is being | talked to, and he geems a bit frail and a Dbit oversupplied with nerves, but he is not diffident. There s not | a man in the world of whom Ardrew W. Mellon is afrald on matters of finance. One assumes that ha is only interested in matters of finance. His | other interests are not obtrusiva. The Treasury offices open at 9 o'clock. He is always on time, except when he s ahead of time. At first he used to beat the colored messenger to the door. During busy seasons he still does, He handles matters of billions as ex- pertly as some men do hand balls. erall ington, quite Every minute with appointments of various but al- ways financial kinds, ments often run through until midnight. Almost every proposition has to do with | the espending of public money. speaking, No man so completely foreign to the life, manner of thought and shibbo- leths of statesmen ever came to Wash- perhaps. porter’ came to talk with him he was frank. 'RETARY MELLO of his day is occupied talk to reporters. These appoint- | not Gen- Mellon's answer is man in office. “I did not know," When the first re- He wanted to know whether iz was a part of his duty to Apparently that had occurred to him as a possibility when he accepted the position. porter assured him on this point. is one of the fmportant duties of every he said. | Pittsburgh reporters have been coming to see me, but I always send some one else out to talk to them.” Both the reporters and the Secretary The reporters ‘were perhaps unduly careful ip propounding questions to one of the richest men in the world. It was easy to see that he had not been ac- customed to cross-examination. On his side he mp thoroughly realized the dell- cate nature of the negotiations with which he dealt dally that he feared lest a crudity of phrase or a misun- derstanding of the elements involved ight make neediess trouble, Now the l:egorun and the Secretary know each other well. ‘He is one of the simplest and most candid of men,” say the correspondents. “He, talks to us freel Keeps Reporters Instructed. ‘While that is the fact, it is also true that he prefers to issue communiques. He keeps the reporters instructed on national and international finance, but when‘he has a statement to make it is almost invarlably a written one. His is and always will be the banker’s at- titude. Thanks to their knowledge of the situatfon the reporters can write accurately on their own account, but he can only be held responsible for his written words, It is doubtful if he has ever put in words what must be his knowledge of the fact that his is a position of extreme difficulty. On the one side is Congress, preesing for more money, still suffering from a hang-over of ex- travagance dating from the war times, when millions were thrown away like birdseed. On the other, is the public, resenting over-taxation' and yet de- manding more money from the Treas- ury for every sort of cause. Between times he has to resist his fellow mem- bers of the cabinet, each of -whom is perfectly willing that every other de- partment shall be made to economize. “But do not touch mine.” Mr. Mellon's policles are perfectly well known. He belleves that,the European debtors should pay, because borrowed money should always be repaid. That is business. But he would not press them unduly until they are able to pay. That {8 business, too. He belleves that lower taxes would not only relieve the individual pocketbook but would give a tremendous forward impetus to busi- ness. He thinks that any savings we may be able to make in the conduct of our national business should be de- voted to paying our own debts, instead of being spept. Great fortunes should pay their proper share of taxes, but unfair taxation is confiscation. An Optimist Above All Else, Above all else he is an optimist. No man in the United States, perhaps, is as widely Interested in foreign busi- nese as he, through his holdings of stocks and bonds. His fellow members of the cabinet are almost dally being yumunded at the vast stretch and in- timacy of his-knowledge of affairs. In deflance of the pessimists, who think | the world is going to the dogs, he be- lieves it is getting better. He is able { 10 foresee an era of renewed peace and | solvency In Europe. He is certain of | the essential sanity and solidity of his | own lang But all without blah. oratory, no eloquence. banker's point of view: “Two and two have always made four,” he says in effect. “They always will' Taxation cannot be reduced by | increasing taxes. Prosperity cannot be encouraged by hamstringing prosperity.” Politiclans have almost stopped trying to talk politics to him. He is not in- terested in popularity. He does not care to have bables named Andrew W. Mellon Smith. Jobs are not swapped for votes in the Treasury. He is there to do business In a non-conversational sort of way, but always business. Uncle Sam pays him $12,000 a_year. If his services were put on the market the bidding would be in the miliions. No wind, no Always the The re- It “In The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following s a brief summary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended December 29 THE BRITISH EMPIRE. The king will open parliament on Janu- ary 15. The conservatives approached the liberals with a suggestion of common actlon to forestall a labor government, whether through a conservative govern- ment (under Lord Balfour, say) with liberal support or a liberal government with con- servative support—a near coalition, as it were. and thereto sniffed unpleasantly. tion, no understandings for us,” say Messieurs Lloyd George and Asquith, “but freedom un- compromised and unfettered. who really control the situation. of the present government are, of course, numbered.” To be sure, though they will make no commitments, the liberal chiefs have intimated that, if the labor party will shelve their capital ievy and nationalization pro- posals, they may expect liberal “acquiesence” in a moderate progressive program. But the labor chiefs appear to be pledged to mnon- compromise. They, too, are for “freedom, uncompromised and unfettered.” There is little doubt that they will succeed to the government and they are practically com- mitted, in such case promptly to put to vote thelr extreme and distinctive proposals. Then, defeated, they would ask for a dissolution and new elections under what they conceive to be the most favorable circumstances. Ah, but the king is not obligated to grant a dissolution. He might (and the liberals seem to think he would) call on Mr. Asquith to form a government. Would such a gov- ernment draw to its support a sufficient num- ber of conservatives, anxious to escape a worse thing? Apparently the liberal big chiefs think so. But at best a precarious support, a stop-gap government, scarcely a government to furnish that which is most needed—a strong, clean-cut foreign policy. The victory of the Swaraj (home rule) party In the recent elections in the Province of Bengal, India, has created a situation ex- tremely embarrassing to the British Raj. The party leaders, of whom C. R. Das, Gandhi's right-hand man, 1s chief, refuses to form a ministry, except on prior acceptance by the British authorities of conditions practically importing nullification of the British rule. They require release of political prisoners, abolition of laws held by them to be oppres- sive and provincial autonomy, but they do not stop there. They demand national home rule and an end to the diarchy. The new British policy for India contemplates ultimate home rule In the fullest gense, but by successive stages, experimental and- educitional. The first of these stages is the diarchy system. The non-co-operationists -are not content to walt. They threaten to make the diarchy impossible by refusing to vote the budget. GERMANY. Henry M. Robinson, president of the First Natlonal Bank of Los Angeles, has Been in- vited by the reparations commission to be a member of the committee which, under the commission’s auspices, will seek to ascertain the amounts and whereabouts of expatpiated German assets. The German fiscal and financial situation has been remarkably eased by the renten- mark {ssues. Printing of the old mark ceased, and its quotation rising to twenty biilions to the pound sterling has remained thereabout for some weeks. The government has been covering {ts revenue deficits with renten- marks, but its rentenmark credits are now ex- hausted and it is thought that its rentenmarks in hand will be gone by the end of January. ‘Then, unless proper security can be found for . fresh rentenmark issues, inflation must re- commence. HUNGARY: A plan for the fiscal and financial rehabili- Hungary has been adopted by the Jhe league of nations and.has been - -¢ial adviser, actuslly -he will exercise a power - But the liberal leaders turned deaf ears “No coall- For it is we The days submitted for ratification to the Hungarian government, to the governments to which Hungary {s indebted for reparations and to the member governments of the little entente. 0 doubt the required ratification will be re- ceived before the next council meeting, in mid-March, whereupon the plan will go into operation at once. In principle, the plan is precisely the same as that which has.been ap- plied so successfully in the case of Austria, but details of application will differ consider- ably, inasmuch as Hungary's plight is noth- ing like as serious as Austria’s was. For ex- ample, the council undertakes to float a re- construction loan, but it will be less than half the size of the Austrian loan and will not require guarantee by the powers, being sufficiently secured by unhypothecated assets of the Hungarian government. Reparation payments by Austria were suspended for twenty years, but Hungary must continue such payments. though the annual total is re=- duced to a bagatelle, for twenty years. As in the case of Austria, a league commission will exercise fiscal supervision. The currency should soon be stabilized and it Is estimated that budget equilibrium wiil be achieved by June 30, 1926. Hungary, unlike Austria, is fortunate In being almost self- sufficlent in the matter of food. Not the least important feature of the instrument of agrees ment is an engagement by Hungary to fulfill her disarmament obligations under the trianon treaty and to facilitate armament inspections by the allies. It is this feature in chief which commends the plan to the little entente states. The chief “begetters” of the plan are Foreign Minister Benes of Czechoslovakia and Premier Bethlen of Hungary. The names of Benes, Bethlen and Chancellor Seipel of Austria will bs honorably associated in his- tory, Benes, of course, being the most dis- tinguished of the three. BULGARIA. . It will be recalled how general elections in May last for the Buigarian sobranje or parlia- ment returned twelve “bourgeois” representa- tives, fifteen communists and more than 200 members of the agrarian party. Then, early in June, the revolution, the overthrow and death of Stamboulisky, the dissolution of the sobranje, the seizure of power by the bourgeols parties, the complete discomfiture of the agra- rians. General elections held a few weeks ago returned 185 bourgeols candidates and sixty- two_communists and agrarians. Queer; isn't it? But the agrarians have no kick coming. Premier Zankoff in his election arrangements merely took a leaf out of the late Premier Stamboulisky's book. GREECE. In response to invitations from the pro- visional government and the revolutionary committee (the real government,. or super- government, 80 to speak) to an appeal signed by 300 of the 396 elected to the constituent as- sembly, and to another appeal from a- large proportion of the army and navy officers of Greece, Venizelos has consented to return to Athens to pilot the ship of state past revolu- tionary point into constitutional bay. The ap- pellatits are pledged to allow the great man a free hand. Venizelos stood out for these pledges, though general history and his own experience warn him not to trust them over- much. On’ the other hand, the Cretan sage's assertion that his new involvement in politics will only be temporary, that he will not take office, may well be faisified in the event. Venizelos i3 & great patriot and will act as his estimate of the situation on the ground itself, and as developments may seem to re- quire. He has not always acted wisely; it was only at frightful cost that he was disfllusion- ized as to the capacity of Greece for the im perial role, and indeed for self-government. But he has learned from adversity. His most recent services were his best. At Lausanne saved much for Greece and went far to Te- habilitate a considerably diminished reputa- tion. He owns one of the most precious of assets, the ability to keep his mouth shut. Nobody knows which way he inclines; to a monarchy or to a republic. Probably he has not decided. Nor is it certain which party will be the stronger In the constituent assembly, the mon- archist or the republican; many wavering ones are walting on Venizelos' declaration of pref- erence. 5 Nominally, Venizelos is'to be only an’unoffi- greater than that of a Mussolini or a Primo de Rivera. His presence is expected to insure regular and deliberate proceeding; but for his intervention, no doubt the extremist repub- licans would proclaim a republic. The constit- uent assemby will convene on January 2, and will debate the question of the form of gov- ernment for the future, and its choice and the grounds thereof, having been published, a plebiscite will decide the matter. It is reason- able to expect that the assembly’s choice and the people’s decision, will be determined by Venizelos’' advice. Venizelos is Greece's oracle, her Dodona and Delphi. But wise oracles will not save Greece from calamity. It is a calamitous fact that she should depend on one man's wisdom. What Gre’eca really needs is another Hellenic in- vasion. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. No doubt when M. Tchitcherin gave the lie direct to Secretary Hughes he Intended a com- pliment. For as Greeco was supreme in sculp- ture, Florence in painting and China in cera- mics, so Moscow is supreme in the art of mendacit}, and of this art Tchicherin Is prob- ably the most distinguished master. M. Tchi- teherin’s compliment to Mr. Hughes reminds one of Frederick the Great's to Washington. No, there {s no connection between the soviet government and the communist internationale, no more than between one Siamese twin and, the other. The efforts of certaln earnest American statesmen to prove M. Tchitcherin an honest, and Mr. Hughes a misinformed man do them credit, but they miss the point. As space may, permit, I shall take up the fascinating projects of polar exploration for 1924. It is estimated that 7,850 murders were com- mitted in the United States in 1922, In 1921 there were sixty-three murders throughout England and Wales. There were seventeen murders in London in 1922; in every case (ex- cept for one or two, who committed suicide) the murderer was apprehended and convicted. In 1921 there were 237 murders in New York city and thirty-four convictions. There are practically no murder “mysteries” In England. In 1921 115 persons were tried for burglary throughout England and Wales, and 165 con- victed. In New York county in the same year 565 _persons were tried for burglary and 349 convicted. % Hooray for us: the ancestral home in Eng- land of the Adamses (the John Adamses) has been turned over to the Sulgrave Institution. It is within ten miles of Sulgrave Manor and is a small thatched cottage of one story and attic, bullt in the latter part of the sixteenth cen- tury. Within a radius of ten miles from the Wagh- ington home lived at that time the Franklins, the Adamses, the Penns, the Longfellows and the Hardings. MISCELLANEOUS. The Spanish censorship contlnues as rigid as ever, but reports leak out importing that the military regime is not. giving universal satisfaction; that in fact there is a vast deal of dissatisfaction, even in the army. One hears of an ambitious communist plot nipped in the bud. 5 . Raisuli, the famous Moroccan bandit, who not long ago made his peace with the Spanish government on terms exceedingly favorable to himself, has again been reported dead. As usual, he isn't. The strength of the Czechslovak army has been cut down to 150,000 men from, I believ 300,000, A Polish food profiteer has been e tenced to thirteen years' imprisonment at hard ;".lbor' besides confiscation of all his property. ne. 3 One hears without surprise that Esao Kun, president of China, supreme master in the arts of trimming and squeeze, is having his troubl especlally with the liament. 2 On December 27 a communist attempted to sassinate Crown Prince Hirohito, regent of Japan, but his bullet went wide and he wi seized and incarcerated by the police. Home Min! r Goto assumed responsibility for the affair, and the cabinet resigned. A mere formality? Perhaps not. Puebla was recaptured by Mexican ment troops on December 22. The ments of the past week are obscure. The Chilean nitrate export tax su cent of the national revenue of eans should include in their Orisons a prayer ‘that all mam of artificial nitrate overn- evelop- lies 60 le. Good 2 | PARLIAMENT OF BRITAIN SEES GREAT CHANGES felt the difficulty of the position at firat. Thl'ee-Pal'ty Afigllmellt Has Vital Bear- ing in Shaping National Policies. BY FRANCIS J. WAHLEN.” Former London Editor of the Maasbode of Rotterdam. ING out old shapes -of foul disease, Ring out of gold; Ring out the thousand years of old, Ring_in the thousand years of Peace, the narrowing lust Rl_;-_g in the vallant men and free, e larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that Is to be. Thus sang Tennyson's “In Memo- riam.” . . . And we cannot find any nobler, more symbolic words at the end of this year, which also marks unmis- takably the end of a centuries-old po- litical situation in the government of the British people, than in these verses of the great Victorian poet. Because, when, in the first weeks of 1924, the British parliament will onee more foregather at Westminster, the very last perhaps of the vestiges of that great period of British cotemporary history, the Vic- torian er# illuminated forever by such names as Peel and Russell, Gladstone and Disraeli, will have definitely disap- peared. Gone, because even the two- party system of government will have gone; if not forever, certainly for many a decade to come. | Third Party Starts to Grow. | i Since the Irish party left Westmin- ster for Dublin, December, 1918, there had been & certain breathing space for the two-party system of the house of | commons. Abler pens than mine should tell of the extraordinary influence on the two-party system the “Irish Bench,” under such admirable leaders as Par- nall and John Redmond, has been able to bring .to bear upon the political | cross purposes. of the traditional two great parties of the British parlfament “—the whigs and the tories. And whilst these dauntless sons of Erin were win- ning their long-fought-for victory for self-government, already a new third party was growing into maturity! That new party may now be the governmental labor party! Let me tell you Something that; happened just a hundred vears ago in good old London-town. One morn- ing in December, 1823, the lord may- or's court, at the London Mansion House, was hilariousl> astonished because “a radical appeared before it in a_clean shirt,” sald the Times of the following day. And the dig- nified City-journal described closely the costume of that man, Wadding- ton. Not only was the radical's shirt clean, it is stated that his cravat was clean; it is implied that his very face was clean. His hat was not a radical hat—the white hat, which Henry Hunt had recently made a badge of political opinion—it was a high-crowned hat, such as would be- come a swell of the first water. His coat was cut in the first style of fashion. His personal appearance was composed. Cause of Transformation. And what had caused the trans- formation of a radical into such a respectable person? He was by no means shy, we read, in avowing the cause of the surprising metamorpho- #is. He had given up radicallsm as a propaganda and entered into re- spectable employment. Just for a handful of silver he underwent this complete outward change—a clean shirt and a coat In the first style of fashion! Waddington must have been a notorfous person in his day, though his memory has faded among that of the lost leaders. In fact, he de- clined, politically, upon respectable employment. Worse still, he came as an employer! His business at the Mansion House Court was to prose- cute beadle for assaulting two of his nds. Whatever the word “rad- ical” may have meant to the writer of the account, the story rouses some little doubt about the depth of Wad- dington's conversion. His may have been only the radicalism of a Simon ‘Tappertit of Dickens’ “Barnaby " Sald he: “You-meet in me, not a 'prentice, not a work- man, not a slave * % ¢ ‘but the | leader of a great people * * * healer of the wounds of his unhappy country * ¢ The Viectorian Era. That was the mild sarcasm with | which even the very name of radi- calism was ridiculed a hundred years ago. Then came the Victorlan era, the immense prosperity of industri- allsm .with the halcyon days of the liberal thought and the two-parties ystem—until the great war. And now, since the election of December 6, 1923, is the strength of the three parties in the house of commons as follows: Conservatives, 256; labor, 189; liberals (reunited), 158; others, S. “Why not a iabor government?’ asked the Daily Herald, the official organ of the labor-soclalist party, the day after tne result of the Brit- ish elections were known. Never, since the granting of the Magna Charta, nearly 700 years ago. has such a question had ‘any reasonable chance of being posed by any one in the parliament of Westminster. Of course, labor, although impatient, could only govern by compromise, if not with the co-operation, between the liberals and labor men in the house of commons. No such arrange- ment being as yet a fact, many seem to think that the criticisms against Premler Baldwin for not resigning without meeting parliament are mis- taken. The suggestion is made that the British prime minister has fol- lowed the true constitutional course for a representative government in walting for the verdict of the house of commons—through which only the nation speaks and declares its will. Good In Three Parties. As 2 matter of fact, one excellent result of the late general electlons will \be to restors to the house of commons something of the author- ity it has logt In recent vears, par- ticularly since the war cabinets. Gov- ernments have grown so sccustomed to having an obedient party-majority behind them that they have got into | the habit of thinking that the house of commons has nothing to do but to choose & government and then go to only to wake up to vote sup- Tt will be no bad result of tri-partite division of forces that, whatever governments there may be during this parliament, fRey will be brought to realize the dependency of all their measures upon & house of commons majority, which may or may not be forthcom- ing. - Fhe work of a British government is COLD WATER FOR “DEBS.” Among Washoe Indlans of Nevada the debutante is allowed nothing to eat for four days preceding the “girl dance” in her honor. On the, fourth night the dance starts and lasts till sunrise. Money is thrown at the dancers by the parents to keep up their flagging Interest. At sunrise the exhausted girl is led away, sup- ported, to her tepee, when as & last act she throws money at the dancers once again. Then she is made to stand while a can of cold water is thrown over her, after which 'she Is ready for a proposak P R ! Baldwin administration |larly in regard to the i The two-fold: First, to carry on the ad- ministration of the country, subject to the existing Jaws, and second, o em- body in legislative measures the politi- cal projects of the party in office. 8o long as the commons is willing to vote money to the government, so long the government can perform the first of the duties, even though powerless to chang: the law, ‘ ‘When Real Test Comen. The real test, therefore, may not come with labor offering an amendment to the address from the throne, which will amount to a vote of censure, but rather at ‘the more important budget stage, when money has to be voted to the government. For, the advocates of another election at an early date forget, that the mation Is now diviaed into three approximately equal partics, and no changes in electoral machin and no number of elections will neces- sarlly alter this hard fact. What seems rather to be required now is fome sor of a government in which the hous: of commons has sufficient confidence t« trust with money, and which will be willing to carry out such reforms for which there is a clear majority. Sor of the first legislation probably d manded would, of course, have to de with unemployment; perhaps & repeal of all the protectionist measures of the would also b insisted upon by the labor and liberal parties. That will necessarily lead up to the great question of the hour: wiil there be a capital levy Policy of the Liberals. There 15 a tradition, established des nitely during the later years of th nineteenth century, after a long period of fumbling, of the essentlal continuity of British forelgn policy. The facts and conditions on which this convehtion based were the vital interests and per- manent aspirations of Great Britain and the British Empire, which tran scend all distinctions of class and i ronicy ‘The n: ture of such profound British interes has been recognized, instinctively or e plicitly, by every British administratior that has conducted the affairs of sta in the course of many decades throug out the Victorian Ta. There have been differences rather of acc emphasis. Generally speak be said, that liberal governments ha been léss inclined than conservati governments to lay stress on techn questions of defense and of due prepa- ration for possible wars. The optimi: tic liberal conception of progress the sympathy most strongly expr by the liberal party for oppressed na- tionalities ha led at to diver- sions and discussions in matters of fo eign policy. These disc! in the end to a fun on the main lines political parties. Whatever the eym- pathies_or antipathies of any section of the British people might ever form or direction its h instincts might be expressed, the care of every British government in changing complexities of internatic aftairs was the defense of essenti British interests! ‘WIill Policles Be Changed? Now that the British domestic situ- ation has changed, and the two-par system has evolved by no obscur processes into a rivalry of three pa ties, the burning question is: W the vital features of British foreig policy, clearly established after lor discussion between the two partles who_alternately held power durin the last century, be seriously affecte by the advent of this third, new pa professing new, “international” al At the present we have recent ex- perience and party programs to upon. On current affairs, the friend- Iy relations between Great Britain and the United States, and particu- uropean coi tinent, the policy of liberals and cor servatives, as represented in the gov- ernments_of Bonar Law and Baldwir is clear enough. “It is one of em phatic disapproval of the occupati of the Ruhr,” says the London Time vative and Francophile, “cor a desire to maintain far as possible friendly relations w France.” British Authority Intact. ‘Whatever criticism may he against the apathethic attitude of the conservative policy since the fall ¢ Lloyd George's coalition governmen 1922, British authority seems to ha been kept intact, as it has wo gradually over to its viewpoint otner countries—to megition only Italy liberal election manifesto de- clared: “Liberal foreign policy stands for the prompt settlement of repari- tions with due consideration for position of inter-allied debts and for an earnest endeavor to co-operate with the great American common- wealth in bringing peace to the world.” Mr. Ramsay McDonald has stated that “labor stands for a policy of international co-operation through a strengthened and enlarged league of nations (to include Germany and Russia, presumably), and for the im- mediate convocation of an interna between the mad. foreign of general pr Little is know ernment. is a matter not onl ciple, but of methe of the intentions with regard .to British foreign policy, of the labor party. For the party is confessedly socialist, yearning for u reapproach- ment with Moscow and Berlin, and though in the party there are several degrees, colors and interpretations of socialiem, the underlying concep- tion of the (now world-wide) Carl Marxian dogma, which includes all these varieties, is one of ciass con flict! Class war cuts right across all differences of nationality, and insists on the International unity and solidarity of one class against all the Test. There is, of course, the British temper and patriotism in the labor party, which may not readily con form to the rigid demands of a gen- eral soclalistic theory. But the the ory is there and is formally ac cepted! X Coalition Is Unlikely. The idea of a labor-liberal coalition appears to be ruled out, at least for the present. At its conference iu Edinburgh last year the labor party passed with a single dissentient « resolution “against any alliance o electoral arrangement with any sec- tion of the liberal or conmservative parties.” Apart from socialist ethics, such. an alllance would not be politically profitable. Philip Snowden in a recent pamphlet, took ve: much the same line, when discussing the circumstances in which a labor- soclalist government might come into power. His conclusion was, that i would be fatal for a labor govern- ment to be formed in coalition witk liberals, because it would create d sension’ in the party. Because “the socialists. would incur all the un- popularity of failure.” And &lso, be- cause they “could not put forward their own undlluted socialist p. gram, but would have to modif* * in deference to their weak-Kneed liberal assoclates.” And the (inde- pendent labor party) withia the &8 ternal organization of the compre hensive British labor party s a thing that greatly matters! No fewer than 126 out of the 189 labor-social- ist members elected belong to the I L. P. and these soclalists are heartily afraid of “the corrupting in- fluences of liberalism"—and particu- larly of the opportunistic Welsh wizsardry of “little David” (Lloyd George). The officlal liberals, who would necessarily become Mr. Me- Donald’s colleagues in any labor- liberal coalition, reoiprocate to the full the dislike of labor lgaders!