Evening Star Newspaper, February 18, 1925, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR With Sunday’ Morning. Editien. WASHINGTON, D. C. WEDNESDAY .February 18, 1925 THEODORE ‘W. NOYES.... The Evening Star Newspaper Company Business Office, 11th St. and Pennsylvania Ave. New Yoik Office: 110 Eaat 42nd Bt. Chicago Office: Tower Bullding, Kuropean Ofice: 16 Regent St.,London. England. The Evening Star, with the Sunday morning edition, is delivered by carriers within the ety at 60 cents per month: dally ouly, 45 cents per month; Sunday only, 20 cents per month. Orders may be sent by mail or tele- phone Main 5000. Collection is mude by car- Ters at the end of each wonth. Rate by Mail—Payable in Advance. Maryland and Virginia. Daily and Sunday..1yr., $5.40; 1 mo,, T0¢ Daily only 5 $6.00; 1 mo., 50c Sunday only $2.40; 1 mo,, 20c All Other States. Daily and Sunday. 1 yr., $10.00; 1 mo,, 85¢ Daily only 1yr. $7.00;1'mo., 60c Sunday only......1yr, $8.00;1mo,25c Member of the Associated Press. The Aswociated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for republication of all news dis- atches credited to it of mot otherwise credited n this paper and also the local news pub. lished herein. ~ All rights of publication of spoctal dispatches berein are also reserved. Higher Congressional Salaries. Yesterday, without debate and with- out a record vote, the Senate adopted an amendment to the legislative ap- propriation bill ‘“reclassifying” the salaries of Congress. The compensa- tion of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House would be increased from $12,000 to $15,000 a ar, and that of members of the House and Senate was ralsed from 7,500 to $10,000. The amendment in- cluded the salaries of members of the cabinet, also increased from $12,000 to $15,000.. This amendment now goes to the House, where it is expected it will recelve favorable consideration. There will be no disposition on the part of the country to criticize this ac- tion. The Federal salary scale is low. That in the higher range of official positions has not been increased for many years. Since the last advagce all costs haye risen. Members of the Gov- ernment feel the effect of the high cost of living as do others, and those in the upper ranges of the pay scale feel itas keenly as do those at the other end of the line. In recent years Congress has sat in almost continuous session. The busi- ness of the country has grown to the point that requires an average of nine months a year of leglslative service. Members of the two houses are com- pelled practically to devote themselves exclusively to their legislative duties. Few of them are men of large private means, and many of them are depend- ent upon their salaries. They have found it difficult to maintain them- selves and their families upon the compensation that has prevailed for for him to have seven or eight dol- lars in any form of money, but to carry geven or eight silver dollars is most unusual. Many methodical men carry purses for car tokens and coins, and it seems that in the East our coin purses are not adapted to the silver dollar. When the storekeeper takes from i the Government clerk that part of the salary which the landlord has left, he makes no protest against taking the silver dollars, but it is not easy to pass them back to customers as change. If a customer has more than a dollar coming to her in change, she wants Treasury paper. She is perfectly sat- isfled to have 75 cents change in three silver quarters and would, no doubt, object if the storekeéper should give her a United States Treasury note for 50 cents and another for 25 cents. She insists that money below a hundred cents shall be in metal and that money of a hundred cents or over shall be in paper. It is a habit. It ought to bé possible to keep a few silver dollars in circulation. The silver dollar is a handsome coin, es- pecially when new, and it is known to be quite @ useful coin. Men in their need or quest of dollars might over- look the fact that some of them are made of precious metal, There is no telling what degree of ,success will follow the Government's efforts to cir- culate silver dollars, but at the pres- ent writing the outlook is not bright. France’s Financial Crisis. At a time when France is suffering the pains of a financial crisis her friends will resist the temptation to read @ homily on the benefits to be derived from the jealous guarding of a nation’s reputation for integrity in money matters. No good is to be ac- complished by “rubbing it in,”” and a lot of profitless ill feeling would cer- tainly be engendered. Neither the French people nor the creditors of France have occasion to be alarmed by the difficulties which just now beset the franc. No one doubts the fundamental soundness of the French, as a people and a nation, or that they will emerge from their embarrassments with vitality strength- ened rather than impaired. It is aito- gether probable that the present storm will serve to clear the atmosphere, which has been murky and unhealthy ever since signing of the armistice. A varlety of theories are advanced to explain the present *debacle of the franc,” but the most plausible one is that it is @ natural result of the liquidation of dreams and a return to realities. Ever since the peace was signed French financlal policy has been predicated largely upon the ex- pectation of collecting impossible sums from Germany. External and internal loans were floated in lieu of taxation, on the theory that they would be re- paid out of the proceeds of repara- tions. In the light of discoveries by more than a decade. 1t required courage on the part of the Senate to vote this increase, as it will on the part of the House to con- cur. For a self-granted raise of pay is always subject to criticism. Undoubt- edly regard for this feeling has de- terred Cengress for some time from proceeding as it is doing now to ad- Just the salary scale, . Question has ‘already béen raised whether a'self-granted increasc.can be enjoyed by members of the next Con- gress who are now participating in this proceeding. Thers is no adverse statute, and there is likewise no con- stitutional bar. The only constitu- tional provision on this point is that which provides that no member of the House or Senate “shall durlng the time for which he was elected be ap- pointed to any ¢ivil office ‘under the authority of the United States which shall have been éreated, or the emolu- ments whereof shall have been in- creased during such time.” Under this provision it would appear that no member of the presept Senate whose term continues bevond the 4th of March can be appointed to @ cabinet position at the increased salary during the remainder of his senatorial term. This was the case of Snator Knox of Pennsylvania, who was appointed Sec- retary of State after the increase of salaries in 1907, and was not permitted to enjoy the larger pay- until-the ex- piration of the period represented by his unexpired senatorial term. Mem- bers of the House and Senate, how- ever, may vote themselves salary fn- creases at any time to take effact, if they so determine, in the middle of their terms of office, This present increase is to take ef- fect March 4, 1925, not at the begin- ning of the fiscal vear, which is the usual date for salary changes. It af- ects, thereforé, all members of the Sixty-ninth Congress, the newly elect- ed Vice President and all members of the cabinet as iL‘will be constituted two weeks hence. ——————— In certain circles of theatrical art & marriage or divorce appears to con- cern the press agent even more than the minister or the lawyer. S A man who has experienced disap- pointments in politieal life may still have reminiscences which will render him interesting in literature. Aircraft may enable the House of Representatives to rival the Senate it- ®elf as a center of investigation. e Silver Dollars. The silver dollar may be in circula- ‘tion, but it does not circulate long. 1t passes from the pocket to the cash drawer, from the cash drawer to the bank, and it is believed that from the bank it soon returns to the Treasury. The Government at Washington has been trying to stimulate the circula- tion of silver dollars by paying its employes partly in silver. Nobody who recelves these silver dollars is op- posed to them hecause they are dol- lars, and most persons would accept as many as they could carry. A ques- tion of habit is involved. People have the habit of carrying a dollar in”the form of a paper note and keeping it, at least for a little while, in a pecket- book or billfold. A single silver dollar is not an an- noyance, but when a man collects seven .Or elght of them in his small change pocket he is conscious of something unusual. It may be unusual the Dawes committes of experts, repa- rations expectations have had to be scaled down, with inevitable heavy in- creases in taxation as an alternative. It has been difficult and painful for the French' mind to adjust itself to this unwelcome situation, and it it has resulted in the exporting and hoard- ing of capital the French have done only what any other people would be likely to do under simflar circum- stances. But the French are too sensible and too patriotic, despite the evidence of @ temporary panic, to have lost faith in the future. The exported capital will return, and that which is hoarded will come out of hiding. A nation which bore o herolcally and uncomplaining- 1y the agonies of war will not per- menently filnch from the travail of & return to peace. A people who gave of their blood 80 freely will not with- hold their gold when 'the realization reaches home that in no other way is there salvation for their country. The French people probably are much more willing to pay the price than their politiclans think they are. —————————— There are cities which in spite of their parks, monuments, libraries, art galleries and schools permit the viee squads to essume most of the civic publicity. Vice is a sordid Incident of municipal life, normally furtive and obscure. It should not ke permitted to go too far in flaunting itself in the spotlight. —————————— It is esserted that thumb marks can be counterfeited. Criminals will no doubt hope to be relieved of the re- sponsibility for ordinary neatness in their work. Opera and the People. In what manner and in what time will it be possible to develop America into a Nation of culture as well as a Nation of commerce? Just why is there no disposition in this country to sultivate knowledge and appreciation of the fine arts among all classes of people, whereas in other lands the poorest of the poor are not too lowly to be given the opportunity of seeing and hearing their own masters of art as well as those of other nationalities? Music stands out just now as a point in case, for Washington—or, that is, a small part of Washington—has just enjoyed & week of grand opera. In proportion to population, the attend- ance here at opera performances is un- doubtedly about the same as in larger cities, but the attendance ratio every- where at opera productions is far too small. It is difficult to determine whether the high prices that prevail in this country have been caused by the lack of musical education, or whether the absence of this culture has been caused by the high prices. At any rate, these two factors and a com- bination of other circumstances have persistently served to operate against popularizing the operatic masterpieces and their creators. In South America and in Europe children of 10 years and younger will sit enthralled for several hours listen- ing to concerts—and not. only listen- ing, but knowing what they hear, whom they hear, the composer, why his score was written and what it is inter- preting. In the United States the average child of 10 ygars knows the Sunday school songs and a few popu- lar jazz hits of the season. America is the money-méking play- ground of the world, and it is pezhaps natural that famous singers of other lands should come to the United States to grow rich. On their native soll they sing for barely nothing, and in many places every school child 1s given the opportunity of hearing their own sing- ers, composers and interpreters with- out cost. Special concerts and opera performances are staged for them alone, in order that they not enly may, but must, know their artists who .go abroad and gre tendered great ova- tions in foreign lands. In Austria, Ger- many and France, and perhaps in other countrfes, the biggest operas and most famous singers may be en- Joyed for 75 cents and less. In !hl‘ country the same performance draws @ box office price of $6 and up. It may be that the production costs are much greater in America; that the artists themselves come here to make money and demand exorbitant sal- arles, or that the producing corpora- tions create the condition by seeking to outbid each other in the making of contracts, It stands as a cold tragedy, however, that no serious effort has ever been attempted here to make the musical classics universally known and appreciated. Whatever the causes, the net result is that America will never know opera at the price of $3 plus for a seat a city block away from the stage. Indecent Plays. The question of censorship for plays that offend the public taste and violate the canons of decency is not difficult, though it is discussed as if it were of extremely, complex nature. There should be no hesitancy on the part of public authorities to proceed directly and drastically against dramatic enter- tainments or other forms of public amusement of an indecent character in language, in costume or in situa- tion. ‘Washington has been the scene of & number of performances in recent years, especlally in recent months, that have seriously shocked public sensibilities. These have been in the nature of “tryouts,” or first produc- tions prior to thelr New York appear- ance, Washington has no partlcular con- cern for the morals of the New York theater-going public, but it is con- cerned on its own account. It does not relish being made the *‘goat” of the highly commercialized theatrical busi- ness, which seeks profits by appeal to the unclean taste of a small percent- age of the people. No matter what the theme of a play, no matter how broad its references to matters that are, with regard for decency, left unuttered or undepicted, the test of the performance lies in the 8pirit of {ts creation. Much is excused on the score of “art,” yet that word s camouflage nowadays for offal of the vilest kind. There are two strains of impulse in the present theatrical business, that of the more or less de- generate creator who wants to shock public decency because he is a radical Iconoclast, and that of the purely com- mercial producer, who is after the profits that come from purveying to the pruriency of a small section of the public. Between the two they have brought the American stage to @ shockingly low state. ————— One of the most futile efforts of imagination is that of trying to repre- sent the naturally conservative and well behaved Capital of the U. 8. A. as a center of dizzy dissipation. Wash- ington has a serfous, thoughtful and lawabiding population. When excep- tions are magnified they serve to prove the rule. —_—————— New York theater managers who fa- vored police interference on the theory that it brought profitable publicity may find that they have pressed their de- flance too far. Even the people who pay would prefer less to forgive for the sake of enjoying what there may be of real art or cleverness. ————— Corsets are reported to be coming back into style. However, they have been so long neglected that the “hour- plass waist” which constituted the de- #pair of the hyglenist will be impos- sible for a generation or two. ———— The pages of journalism teem with wit, satire and humor. But the trag- edies of life assert themselves. The fate of Collins, a martyr to the spirit of exploration, is one of them. SHOOTING STARS. BY PHILANDER JOHNSON. The Beneficlary. For heroes pageantries are made; For men who suffer as they climb. The one who looks at the parade Is he who has the easier time. And yet the man upon the street Who offered no suggestion wise, But waits in comfort all compléte, Is always first to criticize. Joyously Innocuous. “You admire cross-word puzzies' “I do,” answered Senator Sorghum. “They represent @ form of pleasure, in some cases ecven A habit, without bringing up arguments regarding law enforcement.” Appropriate Response. The drama that our ears has awed, ‘They tell us, ought to cease. ‘We don't know whether to applaud Or call for the police. Jud Tunkins says he notices with regret that peacemakers seldom draw down as big profits as prize-fight pro- moters. ' Gentle But Firm. “I'm thinking of asking you to marry me.” “You're not thinking,” replied Miss Cayenne. “You're dreaming.” ’ Portfolios. On New Year, resolutions great Impjied @ call to concentrate. But little of such work was done Back there on January One. Now every mail some message brings Of how the country changes things; And March the Fourth will be the day For turning of New Leaves, they say. “De reason dar is so much bad singin’,” said Uncle Eben, “is dat we sll git'de most enjoyment f'um-tryin’ When a man is 10 or 15 years out 0f school and college, one day he is likely to ask himself some such ques- tion as the following: Now that I have been out about as long a8 I was in, what have I learned since I left? Eduycation, whether one likes it or not, 18 mnot .confined to the classic halls of grade school, high school and college or ‘university. This thought may come as & blow to those ardent persons who hated their school days with ferver. Yet education is something we re- celve every day of our life, from the first wall which heralds our advent to the last sigh. Consclously or un- consciously, we are always learning something. Books played their part in educa- tion during school days, and bave yet much to do with the year-by- year educstion of the man with enough common sense to realize it is not a thing set apart, but something that comes home to a man's hearth and bosom every day of his life. Teachers played their part in th: formal structure called ‘When we left college we dispensed with such professional “ the main, reverting to the process of education which is the usual one of nature, . e. consclous and uncon- scious assimilation of facts and fancy. Thus the “college of hard knock: has been the salvation of many & man, in and out of college. Ask al most any honest man—or woman— with an A. B. degree, or an M. A. de- gree, and he—or she—wlll tell you thatperhaps the best part of what they got out of eollege was in the pugsuit of the so-called “college acs tivities” and the everyday inter- course Incidental to student life. Yes, we have all been learning something since we got out of school. Just what one has learned, of course, varies with the individual. No one can speak for another {n this matter. But, from a general stand point, I believe the four main divi. of learnihg sinoe school days about as follows 1. How to earn a living. 2. The conduct of life. 3. Finance. 4. Health, It is exactly in these four endeav- ors that modern classical education is lacking. The student, with some ex- ceptions, goes through elght years of grade school, four of high school and four of college without taking any particular “courses” in the above four great subjects. It may be that as a student he had a particular aptitude for mathe- matics, and 50 came to be an assist- ant instructor In college, and later a full professor. In that case his school days did teach him how to earn & liv- ing. He was an exoeption. There are always exceptions. Some men may have learned the conduct of life during school days, others assimilated knowledge s to money and Its conservation, others managed to pick up enough health lore to carry them through the rest of thelr days. The majority of the students, how- ever, did not and do not. The ordl- nary classical education of this great country of ours, bullt up in a day when thers wers but three so-calted learned professions — the law, the ministry and medicine — falled and still fails to put much stress on my four great subjects. These are things one has to learn for himself after school days, in that greater education, which living. Happy was the man who, through ability or necessity, saw this during the days of formal education and be- gan these “courses” of his own voli- tion. 2 Formal education which does not formally take up the problem ‘of earning a living has just to that ex- ent failed In that practical applica- tion of thought to aotivity which ls the contribution of America to the world. 1t is not enough that same of the work done in college can be applied later to earning one's living. Earn- ing a living is fundamental, after school years, so why not make it fundaniental during them? This 1deal is being approached in some institutions, where practical application of astudies to that one main alm of earning a living 1s made with the full knowledge of the situation that an ie born to earn his bread in the sweat of His brow— or_his brains. B It is almost criminal to allow stu- dents to leave college without some definite idea of what they want to do, whers they are to find that work and. & very definite idea of how to do it whern they get it. I Hope I make my meaning clear, that the trouble is-not that much of what ene .learns in_achool and col- lege. is not used later, but that it 1s not taught ‘with ‘some definite- idea of practical use ldter. There is & world. of difference there. The “conduct of life,” as I have named the second essential we com- monly ‘learn -during the 10 or 15 years immedlately following . our school days. s nothing more nor less than our old friend “practical psy- chology,” of which we have heard so much recently. One does not have to be a pro- fessed peychologist to be a great t & psychologist at bottom. Every who knows how to run his plant is & psychologist. Every newspaper reporter who goes out to get the news, and bring back the “story,” is a psychologist, and a mighty good one, too. It is a safe bet, however, that he never learned it in ollege, but picked it up during his years of newspaper work. The little trick of knowing how to “handle” people, how to brush up against them, as it were, and not wear one's self to a frazzle in the rubbing, is about all there is to the conduct of life. You have to learn how to re- frain from talking at all times and to all men, you have to know how much: to say and how much to leave unsaid. You must manage, somehow, to have toplics and points of contact with men 20 that each one of them feels com- fortable with you. A whole college course might he devoted to this one subject, and still the student would have a lifetime of study before him. Ralph Waldo Emerson has one book which, though I have never read it, has been of great benefit to me, merely through its title. That book Is “The Conduct of Life.” Personally, I do not belleve I ever will read it, preferring to keep my regard for its title intact. It is {mpoesible to think of that title without belng helped. It makes one have a definite conception of the supreme necessity for practical ap- plication of knowledge to everyday living. Since leaving the formal educational stem, the average wan has learn- ed all he knows about handling money. He has found out that it is much easler to spend money than jt is to earn it; that the only way to really save money is not to spend it. . Such mundane considerations as banking-and real estate never sullied his classical course. And yet he would have benefited immensely from a good course in those two sub- jects. He will never use “amo” or “amat” during his entire life, not once, but there will never be a day £0 by that he will not handle mone ether our American life is built by and on the dollar is a matter for some dispute, but there is no question but that every man, and every woman, for that matter, ought to have a thorough and sound under- anding of finance, st nd bonds, savings, banking, real estate, etc. Money 1is the very basls of our modern life, spiritual as well as mate- rial, for it it only when one has the Jeisure that money can securs him that he can give his soul over to meditation and repose. As for health education, a man has to get that after he leaves callege, or never. Colleges spend too much time now on athletics, you say? Bless you, that is the trouble! They are too busy bullding the health of the healthy athletes to bother with the sickly fellows who need the tralning most. WASHINGTON OBSERVATIONS BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE Graphic and tragie light on the franc crisls in France is thrown by the disclosure that Jules Jusserand's retirement pay, which began when he left Washington in January, works out at about $1,000 a year. That's a little more than & Government-office typist is paid by Uncle Sam. The former French Ambassador to the United States s put on a pension of 18,000 francs after 50 years in his country's diplomatic service. The Jusserands have some private means, though they are not wealthy. Other- ‘wise the French currency erisis would be a serious matter for them. A Parieian financier who was recently in Washington told this observer that the French government's recent borrowings from domestic banks were made on the basis of 9% per cent intérest. A first-class stenographer in the French foreign office is now- adays paid 123 francs a_day—about 85 cents, or $3.90 a week. A State Department stenographer<f the first grade in Washington earns nearly 36 a day. % R . There’s some interesting specula. tion as to what kind of a coat Pres ident Coolidge will wear for his inaugural ceremony. The wardrobe he brought to Washirigtdn four years ago includ venerable though wear-worthy “Prince Albert” of pre- gubernationaf vintage. There is said to be ‘a possibility that he will don that tunic of presidential tradition and discard the morning coat (cut- away) of modern fashion. The sug- gestion has reached the Senate and caused satisfaction among our elder statesmen. Some of these have never succumbed to the cutaway and would rejoice to blossom forth on Magch 4 in the “Prince Albert” in which they were brought up. Senator Heflin is about the only mémber of tite upper house who wears the old-style coat larly. regulasly. PRI i Aaron Sapiro, Amerioa’s young co- operative marketing genius, has been invited by the government of Caecho- slovakia to come to that country and give it the benefit of his knowledge and experience in co-operative or- ganigation. Mr..Sapiro expects to spend the coming Summer at Prague as _adviser on that subject. He is one of Uncle Sam'’s remarkable young men. Sapiro was brought up in a Jewish orphanage in California and studied to be a rabbl. Then he took a law degree and finally almost stum- Dbled into co-operative marketing as a speclalty. For five years he has been in universal demand in that fleld, which he invaded virtually as & ploneer. His first successful venture ‘was on behalf of the California citrus fruit and egg Andustries. Then he put potatoes, vegetables and Burley to. bacce on the oco-operative bass. Sapiro has caused many co-operative marketing 1aws to be passed by State Legislatures. In two of the bhig Canadlan provinces wheat is now being sold on his plans. He is 40 years old. * ok K * Senator Hiram Bingham of- Cof- nectiout, who sits in the vacsted Brandegee seat, lists the fact that he is ‘“the father of seven sons” as one of his claims :10 e ul; the autoblographical section of the latest Directory. Blngham will Mo Bropham s counectsd with the’ Tiffany family, and brought her hus- band, who was the son of a Hawalian missionary, a fortune. The youngest and tallest member of the Senate is immensely proud of his seven boys. He dedicated, a recent book to “the mother of seven son Most of the Blngham youngsters are huskles, like their elongated father. One of them recently won the 145-pound boxing champlonship at Yale. * k x % Fred Upham could have been a Mr. Becretary, Mr. Ambassador or a Mr. Almost-anything-else in cotemporary Republican administrations, so highly was he esteemed as a politicfan and a man by succeeding Republican Presi- dents. But he preferred just to play at the game of politics as a pastime. There can be few Americans who put into politics so much In time, energy and money as Fred Upham, and who took so little out in the form of sub- stantial reward or personal glory. Mrs. Upham, formerly a Miss Helen Hall of Cedar Rapids, Towa, was her husband's inseparable political crony. She always called him “Fritz” and “Pritz" had great respect for her judgment of men and matters. Up- ham acquired his love of politics from an uncle, who once was Governor of Wisconsiti {n the days befors La Fol- létte captured the Badger State. The late chancellor of the G. O. P. ex- chequer had great respect for Calvin Coolldge's économy habits. always was amused by Coolidge's in- sistence, while campalgning for. the party, upon traveling in Pullman upper berths and Ilimiting his ex- pense accounts to their actual cost. That; Upham sald, was not a unversal practice. > t/ * % % Alexander P.’Moore of Pittsburgh, American Ambassador to Spain, who is now in the United States on leave, is the hero of more storfes in Madrid than any .other envoy ever stationed thers. One of the best relates to the occaslon, soon after Moore's arrival In Bpain, when the Ambassador called up King Alfonso on the telephone. Now, that sort of thing isn’t done in Madrid or any other royal capital, but Alfonso, thinking it couldn’t be any- thing less {mportant than a message direct from the President of the United_States, took the call. “Hear you've, got a house down on the sea- shore at San: Sebastian,” sald Moore. “I'm looking for that kind of a place myself. Can you suggest how I'd bet- ter go about it?’ When the King re. covered consciousness, he promised very prompt aid in the Ambassador’s quest. They are now bosom friends. 5 ok ok % Nearly every forelgner of distinc- tion who visits Washington wants to meet Borah. Sir Campbell Stuart, di- rector of the London Times, gratified such an ambition this week. He told the chairman of the Senate commit- tee on foreign relations mot to fail to visit Europe this year, if Borah can possibly arrange it.. Stuart, who is & Canadian, was one of Lord North- cliffe’s discoveries. He accompanied Northcliffe to the United States as military aide in 1917, and later be- came his right-hand man on ‘the Thunderer. Sin Campbell recently per- ;u-a the French government to {m charter the palace of Versailles for a reunion of distinguished French- men ~whose progenitors foundea Canads. Soprright, 19233 Politics at Large BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. Seven months agv, assembled in convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the Conference for Progressive Political Action, launched a “third ticket” for the presidency, with Senator La Fol- lotte at its head. A few days later, Tepresentatives of the nex movement prevailed upon Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana, Domocrat, to cast in his 1ot with them and take the nomination for Vice President. The Conference for Progressive Political Action will meet in Chioago on Saturday to determine what steps if any, it shall take to organize for- mally & new liberal party—a kind of perpetuation of the third ticket, which was labeled the Progressive ticket during the last campaign. Neither Senator La Follette nor Senator Wheeler, it is expected, will attend the convention. Senator La Folletto is in Florida, whither he went a month ago to shake off an attack of grip. He is much improved in health, it is reported here. Sena- tor Wheeler has drifted back Into the Democratic fold, and is likely to re- main there for a while. It is reported here that Senator La Follette i send- ing a message to the convention in Chicago—and that he is not sending one. *x e x Notwithstanding the fact that La Follette-Wheeler ticket received only 13 electoral votes—those of Wiscon- sin—about 5,000,000 votes the country over were cast for that tfcket—which is a very considerable vote. Further- more, in several of the Western States, among them California, La Follette ran well ahead of John W. Davis, the Democratic nominee. Those who believe in the coming of a new, beral party, making for a new politi- 1 line-up in this country, feel that this showing warrants them in going forward now with a formal party or- ganization. There. 18 no doubt but what there will be a strong demand at the conference in Chicago for such action. The Conference for Progressive Political Actfon, as originally organ- ized, was not partisan. Soms of the strongest organisations, which have been represented In the conference— inoluding organized labor—the Rall- road Brotherhoods and the Americam Federation of Labor, have been non- partisan 'in their politioal activities— declaring for candidates and princi- Pples rather than for parties, The trades unionists, for the most part, do not belleve that it is ad- visable to organize a labor party as such. They believe, many of them, in the progressive principles for which the third ticket stood during the last campaign. They are all entirely will- ing that individual members ghall join a third party if they desire. But they do not intend, apperently, at this stage of the game to tie their labor organizations up as such with 2 new party, L The executive officers of the rail- road brotherhoods are to meet in Chi- cago Friday, the day before the con- vention of the C. P. P. A, and will de- cide what their course shall be at that convention. It s likely that, with one possible exception, the brotherhoods will turn away from participating in a new party, as representative of their organizations. It is one thing to take part in politics. It Is another thing to become responsible for a po- litical party. Leaders of the labor movement—and the rank and file also—in this coun- try have not been particularly fm- pressed with the achievements of the Labor party in England, and with the entrance of labor into political par- tles in other countries in Europe. They do not consider a labor party practical in this country, largely be- cause of the laws in the State relat- ing to.primary elections and elections. On the other side of the Atlantic, la- bor owns the labor parties. Here a political party is a kind of public utility, and under the elections laws any one may vote for nominees of any party he or she sees fit. * ok ok x Several things may happen in Chicago. Jt is possible that the Conference for Progressive Political Action will decide to retain its identity and to work along non-partisan lines for progressive measures and candidates. It is also possible that those who desire the establishment of a new lib- eral party will go ahead with such an organization, entirely outside of the C. P. P. A In fact, knowing that the convention is called to pass upon the question of a new party, the proba- bility is that the majority of those who attend will be there for that purpose. Those opposing such a move would more likely remain away. Frankly, many of the followers of La Follette believe that the time has come for a new party, and fully ex- pect it to be launched in Chicago. * % * x ‘While organized labor is going bit slow, to say the least, about the formation of a labor party, it has its fighting clothes on over the treatment that has been accorded the proposed child labor amendment to the Consti- tution. The fact that the amend- ment has been tufned down In various branches of various State Legislatures in more than one-quar- ter of the 48 States does not mean the amendment is dead, labor leaders insist. It only means that a vigorous campaign is about to get under way for the purpose of electing Legisla- tures that will vote to radify in at least 36 of the States, and thereby make the amendment stick. They in- sist that a tremendous amount of propaganda, financed by cotton mih and other Interests, has been spread over the country in opposition to the child labor amendment, and has been the cause, to a considerable extent, of the failure to ratity up to the present time. * ok ok % Democrats in the Senate are won- dering whether the best politics is to continue to oppose the confirmation of the nomination of Charles B. War- ren of Michigan to be Attorney Gen- eral, or to permit his confirmation. From the Democratic point of view— which is by no means the Republican —to have as Attorniey General a man to whom they can point as sticky with sugar will be an asset in the next campaign, rather than a detriment. It now appears that the chances favor the confirmation of Mr. Warren, whether in the present Senate, or the next, that the Democrats will not be united against him when the vote is cast. It would be a precedent if the selection by the Presif®nt of the United States to fill a place in his Cabinet were turned down by the Sen- ate. Furthermore, very few appoint- ments to big office have ever been turned down by the Senate, whether to the Cabinet or.other place. Many times there are threats of revolt and rumblings, but when the showdown comes the nominee Is almost invari- ably confirmed. » * kK 'The Democrats already are at work on their campaign plans for 1936. D. X. Hempstead of Ohio {s the liaison officer between the Demoocratic na- tional committee and the Democratic congressional committes.in the new. offensive, yet to be launched. He is executive secretary of the congres- sional committee and also congres- slonal assisiant to: the national co: mittee. His Headquarters are in the Investment Bullding, where he is in conference with party leaders fre- quently. < Comes the word that National Chairman Clem Shaver and Jesse Jones, director of finance, have prac- tieplly arranged to have ‘the entire ‘Democratic daggt. of u;lo\n $300,000. underwritten. These gentlemen, how- is ted, have - steered ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN Q. What. language is spoken by the most people in the world?—J. N. A. English is the most widely spoken language In the world. It is stimated that about 160,000,000 peo- ple speak this language. Q.~ What historio back und has ‘Warren, Ohio?—B. H. W.m A. The first seat of justice in the Western Reserve of Connecticut was established at Warren in 1810. Q. Does the electrio impulse travel in the copper wire or along the outside of it?—J. L. F. A. It travels largely on the out- side of the wire. Q. We have a beautiful plum tree. Each year it blossoms, but never by frult. What can be done to make it bear?—W. H. P. A. If the tree Is a single tree, the chances are that the varlety is sterile with its own pollen. There is nothing to do but bud or graft another variety on it. This may be developed in two or three vears. Be sure to select & varlety that blossoms at the same time. This cross pollina- tion may be done by cutting blossoms, placing them in water and setting in the branches of the tree. Q. From what streets do numbers run in Chicago?—F. J. M. A. The streets in Chicago are numbered east and west from State street and north and south from Madison street. Numbers are as- signed on the basis of 800 to the mile or 100 to the prevaillng block of 660 feet or one-eighth mile. Q. What Is the difference between | gravel and shingle?—J.oP. O. C. A. Gravel is the name given to aggregations of waterworn _and rounded fragments of rocks, varying in size from a pea to a walnut. When the fragments are smaller the deposit is sand, when larger it is called shingle. Q. How many of the States have Juvenile courts?—R. C. McC. A. There are juvenile courts now n every Stats and practically all over the world. Q. In what country was the battle of Waterloo fought?—D. B. A. It was fought in Belglum on & field not far from Brussels. Q. Which States growing?—C, S. A. Texas leads In number of bear- ing trees and size of crop. Georgla and Oklahoma rank second and third in number of bearing trees, but in size of crop Oklahoma -outranks Georgia. lead in pecan company that came over on the May- flower?—N. J. A. Al the passengers on the May- flower were Gentiles. Q. Please give correct promincia- tion for Hough, the name .of the writer.—D. 8. K. A. The name of the late Emerson Hough is pronounced as if spelled Huft. Q. Who are the kneeling figures in Raphael's Sistine Madonna?—K. J. L. A. Pope Sixtus IV and Santa Bar- bara, the patron saint of Venetian gunners, are the kneeling figures in the Sistine Madonna. Q. How many persons have becr hanged in the District since March 24, 18817—L. G. A. About 40 persons have besn exe- cuted in this period. Q. Who began the Great Wall of China?—D. A. S. A. Tsin-Shi Whang Ti, who ascend ed the throne at the age of thirteen, was a great buflder. It was by his command that the wall was com menced. Q. Hasgthe Passion Play of Oberam- mergau been filmed?—A. N. S. A. The Passion Players of Oberam- mergau have never had any part of their Passion Play filmed. They have been offered vast sums at many times, but the giving of their play is & mat- ter of religious observance, as it was started centuries ago as a thank of- fering for the lifting of the plague which was ravaging the village. It wilk be played ag E he BIrth of a Na o. Q. When was tion” produced?—. A. “The Birth of a fon” was first produced at the Liberty Theater n New York City on March I, 1915, Q. How young was Mozart when he composed “La Finta Semplice?*—EB. T W A. This work was composed when he was 11%. It is a light opera. Q. How many times has the Per- manent Court of International Justice (To know where to find information on a subject is, avcording to Boswell, as true knowledge as to know the subject itself. Perhaps “your drop of ink falling on a thought will make a thowsand think.” Submit wour perplering ques- tions to The Star Information Burea, Frederic J. Haskin, Director, Tiwcenty- Q. Were thers any Jews in the first and C streets northw Send o 2-cent stamp for direct reply.) E STORY OF THE FRENCH DEBT BY WILLIAM ARTICLE 1L During the Year 1919 when the days of war were becoming a fading horror and all the world was turn- ing to the ways of peace, the states- men of France found many things to occupy thelr attention. The burning subject of debt cancellation < then among their problems it was not, at that time, burning subject. But among current events which dld concern France greatly were numerous calls made by her Washington representatives on funds in the American Treasury. Fifty-seven times during the 19189—long after the war had ended —did France send her emissaries to the Treasury of the United States to ask for cash. The pleasant stretch of well paved street between the French embassy and the Federal Treas- ury became a groove along which rolled weekly a fresh demand for money. There was no falk then of debt cancellation—not even & whisper. Far from it. Ne Hint of Cancellation France went to the Treasury, left her promise to pay, and departed— with the money she asked for. An agreeable thing it was in those days to have the United States Treasury to draw upon. France saw to it that the pleasant condition was not marfed by doubt of her willingness or ability to pay the reckoning in time. Congress, it will be recalled, sat in almost continuous session throughout the year and any hint of debt cancellation from French lips undoubtedly would have ended ab- ruptly the American advances which France s0 needed to restore her stricken country. Once every week on the average, and sometimes oftener, France called on the United States to advance her money, but not money to hold at bay the enemy at her door, for that enemy had been thrown back and the French tri-color waved in tri- umph across the Rhine. It was not for war that France needed Ameri- can gold In those days, but for peace. Germany lay prostfite; there was no need for & single American dollar to make certain her defeat. During the year 1919 while France was nursing her wounds in the quiet aftermath of the great conflict, the ‘American Government lent her & to- tal of $801,050,000 solely on her prom- ise to pay. There is not recorded a single instance where France asked in vain for American money in 1919 Her borrowings tapered down from $220,000,000 in Msreh to6 $35,900,000 in August, but shot up again to $85,- 000,000 {n September, ten months af- ter the conflict had ended. In October, 1919, France borrowed $40,000,000. In November she sent her emissary to our ' Treasury only once. With true French deli- caoy she selected the anniversary of the armistice as the appropriate date for requesting her November loan of $10,000,000. In December she bor- rowed $10,000,000 more. Purchase of War Stores. While the United States was thus financing France to large extent at Washington during the vear, there were other money matters across the water in which the French govern- ment and people also were interested. These concerned the huge stores of equipment and supplies shipped from the United States-to France during — e e thus gain control of the party. They are anxious to keep the Democratic national organization as free as peasible, from the strife which proved 50 disastrous last Summer. * kX K As soon as the present Congress has turned up its political toes and gone where all Congresses go, good, bad and indifterent, the Republican administration will get down to work on a program of legislation to carry out the platform pledges of the party. The present short session of Congress can scarcely be considered a criterion in this respect. In the first place, there {s no time in a short session for .a_legislative program to be put through, In the second place, the old ess, and riot the Congress elect: y the people in November last, is now sitting. This program will undoubtedly include revenue legislation, economy and more econ- omy, and such agricultural relief as is not attempted at the present ses- sion, in conformity with the recom- mendations of the President’s Agrl- cultural Conference. = Leaders in Congress will have a share in the formulation of this program, un- doubtedly. Some of them will be in ‘Washington working on measures in which they are particularly interes 1| ed, during the coming Summer and P. HELM, IR. the war for the use of the American expeditionary forces Monumental in their co: | physical dimensions were these stores, paid for with moneys borrowed. b: the American Government from ' th American people on Liberty bonds, and from the heaviest burden of taxir tion which this Nation had cver Leen called upon to assume, They included an entire railpoad built in France with American material supplied by American mon tremendous stores of explosives and shells made to fit French guns; mountains of foodstufrs and other necessary supplies, not for- getting millions of doliars’ worth of American tobacco. The physical aspects and the value e mammoth stores—the largest ed by this ou either or abroad—wifl be discussed in subsequent articlas in which such discussion will be more to the point Suffice it to say here that their cost ran into the billlons and that the materials themselves were all “rench lines wh; was signed. to do with th our haste to get our soldl home became a real probiem months immediately succeeding the cessation of hostilities. To ship them back to America would have involved tedious and delaying effort as well as enormous expense. Besides, thers were other large stores of surplus materials in the United States— stores which had to be disposed of piecemeal and with great skill to avoid breaking American markets and precipitating American industrs into a post-war panic. n stores in back in the Serely Needed by France. nd over and above all, bleeding France needed sorely nearly every- thing we had stored upon her soil, munitions alone excepted. She had vast and crying need for our food- stuffs, our cotton, our raitroad equip- ment. The obvious thing to do. the thing which could work out onl; the advantage of both the United States and the French people, was to leave Intact these huge depots of supplies as they stood, so that they might be put to their most usegul purpose in lieving the wants of the war-weary French pe And that was done. With a superb gesture, reminiscent of the fervor of our war-time endeavor An Ica waved her billfons of surplus sup- plies on French soil into the hands of France, leaving it to France herself, almost without superwision, to, fix the price to be paid. And France fixed the price, with peace-time thrift, at but a small fraction of the origingl cost. With that there was no dquarrel, for thie war was over and pecce time is the Wime for driving bargains, even between the "best of friends. No one, however, ean truthfully assert that the United States acted the cloge trad e:;lln her dealings then with her great ally. . So France took the.goods and EATve in return her promise to pay. ot & dollar changed hands in actual e or currency over the transfer for ou: substanc The transfer was virtual- 1y completed on August 1, 1919. On that day the French government handed the United States its 10-year note for $400,000,000. That was the sum she paid for our surplus materials, subject to subsequent adjustments which swelled the total to about $407,000,000. i Interest Payments Met. That 10-year note provided on its face that interest should be paid on the $400,000,000 at & per cent an- nually, but the sum was to bear no Interest at all for a vear. The firs semi-annual interest payment on th item was to be made 18 months fr the date of the obligation: France met that interest pay: and has met every subsequent interes payment on that item. The principal of the note, or $400,000,000, now be- comes due in about four vears, or on August 1, 1929, All of which, of course is in the nature of a commercis transaction between nations, ever. detail of which has b#en punctilious- ly observed thus far. If that were a!l there were to it, there would be lttie point in rehearsing the transaction at such length here. But that is not all. The point is that France borrowed $801,050,000 in cash and_$400,000,000 in supplies, a total of $1,201,050,000, in 1919 or from to 14 months after the war had ended That sum is almost 40 per cent of the principal of her debt. And that sum, some of her statesmen would have us believe, ghould be canceled along with the rest-as 3 matter of falrmess:and Justice. (Copyright, 1988)