Evening Star Newspaper, February 22, 1925, Page 33

EDITO NATIO SPECIAL ARTICLES RIAL PAGE NAL PROBLEMS he EDITORIAL SECTION Sunday Staf Part 2—12 Pages WASHINGTON, D." C, SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 22, REAL RETURN TO NORMAL IS MANIFEST IN ENGLAND/ London for First Time in More Than! Ten Years Demonstrates Old British Aloofness. ! BY FRANK H. ONDON, February ago I discussed th litical situation in England, and particularly the interest and ex- interest and examination of wmination of Britain's future relation to the League of Nations. In the present dispatch T am going to deal with the general appearance and state of mind »f England, the background and foundation of both national and in- ternational relations. I mean also to SIMONDS. 21.—A week T &2y a brief word as to the domestic ! political situation. L T | the American who comes to| x : London evers mcall who comes to| Now the surprising phenomenon to circumstance is tl te) Ampressive | the traveler who knew those other | e e le total absence of | (imag is the amazing contrast of calm. | cont Yo °t between the appearance k ew ays T and London. With 10 walked uptown in New York om Wall street to the Fifth avenue district and from Fleet street to Hyde Park corner in London and for the first time in more than a decade the impression was one of likeness, not of difference, in the crowds—in the expression ofefages, in the energy and vitality of motion and the utter absorption in the matter Immediate- Iy at hand A year ago I went to Geneva, ha ing passed through London and Paris, and the n immediate and in- definable 1 the Swiss town of being at last in a country which had not been in the war and among a people which had no vivid memories of recent tragedy or recent struggle, Today the Amerbcan in London has precisely this feeling. Both Seek Tranquillity, The America which I left was pro- foundly plunged into that state Wwhich the late President Harding de- seribed as “normale; The England in which I arrived was equally de- voted to “tranquillity,” and the dif- erence is indiscoverable. A vear ago when I was here it was unmistakable that Britain had reco ered fr what you might describe as the emotions of the war, but with the Labor government just taking of- fice there was still heavy emphasis laid upon the problems of peace. To- day one has the consciousness not one of recovery from war, but also what we have called peace for st six years. The tense nervous atmosphere of war and the Kaiser and again of peace and Poincare has given way to one in which a cross- word puzzle easily absorbs more at- tention than a cross-channel prob- lem. In London of the American has no longer a sense of tenseness, not alone in the expres- sion of the faces of the crowd, but in the atmosphere itself. There is no Jonger that consciousness of anxiety and apprehension perhaps resulting from a vivid recollection of the war period, but, in part at least, growing out of uncertainty as’to the future and of no little actual privation in the present. present hour the Feeling of Satisfaction. By contrast one has in London now the sense of dissipated apprehension, of improved present conditions, of a re-established confidence; the impres- sion perhaps of an athlete who has run an exhausting race, won it, be- gun to recover from the feeling of physical exhaustion and arrived at a just apprehension of the underlying physical endurance which made his victory possible. Shall 1 say.also to momething of an interested specula- tion as to the next race? The fact is, that coming to London now the American has a marked im- pression of a John Bull, who has pretty nearly got back to normal, feels measurably like himself and more and more acts like his old self. The American will note the differ- particularly since for the first time in more than 10 years he will find the purposes and policies of his ewn country exciting relatively little curiosity and less discussion. The same would probably be the experi- ence of any other foreigner. John Bull seems to have returned to his aditional aloofness, to have regain- ed his old confidence in himself and lils conviction that the Important thing is what he must do and what Le can do, not the decisions of any other country, America included. Back to Old Beyond all else you have the sense calm and confidence. To find a parallel for the London of the co- temporary hour in my own personal experience 1 have to go back beyond all the nightmare years of the war and the post-war period to the rela- tively remote days when I came here as a boy and for the first time mar- Veled at the amazing and stimulating spectacle of the British capital. For the first time since 1916, the date of my original war-time visit, I have the sense of business as usual, to em- Jiloy the old familiar war-time legend, not alone business in its narrow sense, but the whole business of naticnal Tiving. You cannot e Times. tay in England long without perceiving that just around the corner grave and tremendous problems remain. Unemployment, high cost of living, restricted markets, colossal taxation, they are all there. Broadly speaking, the solution re- mains to be discovered, but merely to consider them from their statls- tical side is to derive a mistaken notion of England. Business depres- sion undoubtedly remains in Great Britain with all its consequent hard- ships, but the great moral and the mental depression has largely passed away. If the balance of trade re- mains unfavorable. the balance mind is unmistakably returned. This means, I take it, that in busi- ness, finance and even international relations, the United States must be prepared to deal with a markedly dif- ferent John Bull from the one we have encountered in the last decade. The vity of his condition, which for a long period has depressed him, now begins to act as a stimulant. Unmis- takably he feels that the war and its aftermath compromised his position in the world. Equally obviously, he is out to restore that position. Changing Moods. Perhaps the best measure of the current British state of mind is the character of the cotemporary British press. When 1 was here in 1913, just after the armistice, British ublic opinion was dominated by two things, continued war-time anger with Ger- many and rapidly expanding expecta- tions of American action in Europe. Three years later, just after the Washington conference, the anti-Ger- man passion had largely disappeared, hopes of American performance had shrunk a little, and the outstanding feeling was irritation and an; at French policy. 3 Last year the longz duel with Poin- care had arrived at its culminating point, talk of the next war, and that sent po- | of| with France, could be heard. More- over, all the domestic political and | class rivalry had also culminated in he arrival of the Labor government, and what we in America somewhat humorously described as the British revolution. You had a sense of surg- ing domestic politics and tumultuous international relations. You had al- most, 1 think, the feeling in the Brit- ish people that politics, domestic and irternational alike, had escaped con- trol and were rapidly whirling, Heaven alone knew whither. It is as if the explosion, which was | the Labor government, at once cleared | the foreizn apd the domestic atmo | phere. The revolution has passed | without breaking any domestic china | and undeniably leaving behind a bet- | ter international situation. The aver- age Englishman is no longer display- ing any hate toward the German, an- ger toward the Frenchman, or, may I add, excessive affection toward the American. 1t is, I think, essential to understand this present British temper precisely, because, althou the fundamental conditions all over Europe have im- proved and are Iimproving, a very grave crisis is at hand. Unles viable adjustment of Franco-C relations can be found within a meas- urable time, every one must perceive that Europe is bound to sink back not | merely into the international anarchy of pre-war times, but into a state of incoherence enormously increased by passions born of the recent struggle. And, if this European disaster is to be ayoided, the burden of preventing it will almost inevitably fall upon the shoulders of British statesmanship, since geography has given the Brit- ish people a measure of security and therefore a degree of detachment in examining real and imaginary perils to peace. Stable Miniytry Great Asset. Accepting this estimate of the gen- eral European situation, it is evident how significant and important is the fact that at the present moment Great Britain should have a stable ministry with an enormous majority, giving it an absolute free hand and a state of mind in the people devoid of passion and.of controlling preju- dice, calm, and on the whole com- pletely confident as to the future, no longer swayed either by an exag- gerated notion of foreign menace or of domestic danger. The ‘average Englishman does not seem to be thinking in terms of re- cent enemies, present rivals, future dangers with any efidence of fear, emotion, sentiment. Rather he seems to have recovered his balance, dis- missed the recént past and returned to that attitude of aloofness which is traditional and to the considerations | of his own Pproblems with that con- centration hich has sometimes been described as sacred egoism. Moreover, and the fact is important, | he is not taking an unduly pessimis- | | I tic view of his own or anybody else’s situation. If he is an optimist, he is a cautious optimist, his confi- dence is not overconfidence, byt somehow I have the impression 3 John Bull peering into the looking glass and feeling that after all he rather looks like the John Bull he has always imagined himself to be, and that is perhaps the most reassur- ing experience for any human being of either sex. Rejected Temporary Tlls. | All of which seems to me to mean | that after many hesitations and false | starts the British nation ahd the Brit- ish people are about to resums the occupation of that position which | the country has occupied in Burope despite various temporary interrup- tions for more than a century. It has rejected definitely the leadership of | Lloyd George, who, without regard to historic or physical facts, manipu- lated foreign relations tc produce and preserve domestic majorities in the House of Commons. It has quite | as decisively, but without the same contempt, rejected Ramsay Macdon- ald and something like the Wilsonian role in" Europe. Dexterity and ideal- ism have both lost favor; to be sure, every bedy here, as at home, still re- gards himself as an idealist, but ne policy or purpose has much chance of uncritical adoption merely because it may be described as idealistic. The diplomacy of Austen Chamberlain, secretary for foreign. affairs, and of the Baldwin cabinet generally is al- most certain to be more reminiscent of what is called old-fashioned diplomacy than of any more recent method. e For 10 years '‘Americans in Eng- land have found their country and themselves subjected to searching if not bitter criticism because of what seemed on this side of the water un- due and even selfish preoccupation with their own interests. Such Americans might now, were they in England, find their revenge in per- ceiving that as to the League of Na- tions and the continent of Europe generally the British public has adopted an attitude undistinguishable to the naked eye from that American attitude _which has been so long reprobated. Would Like to He Out of Europe. The e: ntial difference today be- tween the American and British atti- tude toward Europe lies in the fact that while America is out of Furope and means to stay out, Britain only knows that it would like to be out and can’t be. The arguments which filled the American press in the days of the League of Nations 'debate and were directed against American guarantees for Rhine frontier, guar- antees which would involve us in European strugles, reappear today in | the British press, directed agalnst! British guarantees of Vistula and Bug frontiers. The Englishman is just as much resolved not to get mixed up in the troubles in the east of Europe as the American was not to get involv- ed in inevitable complications 1in the west. What compromises his position is the fact that anything { which happens in the west of Europe imperils his own security, but he is talking today about Poland, Czecho- slovakia and Rumania in about the fashion in which the American dis- cussed guarantees of western Euro- pean countries dn.the great days of the League of Nations fight, and evervthing which was said in our country against the covenant of the League of Nations is being repeated in this country against the protocol for exactly the same causes. Editor's Note: This is the sec- | ond of a séries of articles in which the views of noted churchmen on our so-called moral slump are set forth in the form of questions and answers. Last Sunday Dr. Russell H. Conwell declared that the Nation was in the worst de€ine morally he had seen in his lifetime. These questions were submitted to four of America’s greatest religious leaders, and their answers will be printed in this series. Today the leading Roman Catholic authority ——Patrick Cardinal Hayes of New York—takes the witness stand in behalf of the church, BY DREW PEARSON. EW men know more about American youth and the temp- tations which beset it in this age of jazz and pocket-flasks than Patrick Gardinal Hayes. In thé first place, Cardinal Hayes has not forgotten the days when he was a4 boy over on the East Side of New York. And in the second place, despite his scarlet robes, the cardinal still looks very much like a boy. You notice it in many little things. When he smiles, for instance, there is a con- tagious Irish twinkle in his eyes and a kindly mischievous line about his mouth. His scarlet skull cap sits rather jauntily on his gray halr as if the latter rebelled at any pretense of dignity at all Cardinal Hayes is an humble sort of person who is just us likely to answer his own doorbell as not, and who in stantly wins his way to any boy heart, Dislikes the Limeligh It was natural, therefore, that in seeking an answer to the question, “Has the jazz aze undermined the morals of modern youth?” I should seek out this kindly cardinal. He hes- itated a little before consenting to be interviewed. I had expected that, because the cardinal's distaste for get- ting into the limelight is legend among newspaper men. Finally, how- ever, he consented to answer my ques- tions, and I repeat them with his an- swers, Q. What is the cause of the “jazz age” and its attendant wave of juve- nile crime? A. The freedom of youth. When we give freedom to our children they must pay for it. In my day and yours the home provided a moral and re- ligious training. It built a character foundation, which made it infinitely BY OLIVER OWEN KUHN. AN England dodge the Geneva protocol providing a way for general disarmament and security In Europe and at the same time prevent commit- ments to France that will forever prove a stone about the neck of the British foreign office? Thig is a question that Is giving | governmental leaders in London many waking hours, for time and tides have washed up a situation where some action must be taken in order that Britain keep a directing voice in formulating future continental pol- icies. That Britain must take a de- termined hand in affairs is admitted, owing to suspicion of continental- directed policies and constant danger | of the whole reconstruction program breaking down—a thing not remote, because of ancient antipathies or a thing not impossible unless England plays her diplomatic cards in adroit fashion. And there is no indication that England will coramit herself completely to France. Neither will she permit the tides to wash up ar- rangements not in accordance with what England considers to the best interest not only of England but the world at large. In Maze of Complicatio In Paris, in Berlin and in London diplomatic representatives of these large powers are actively engaged in working themselves through a a maze of complications that have arisen as a result of the tacit promise of England to offer a security pact to France in case it is found inex- pedient to either defer indefinitely or abandon the Geneva “protocol, which would bind England to conti- nental affairs in a fashion which British statesmen declare is inimical to the best interests of the empire. At least the dominions, whose voice grows larger and larger in the formulation of world policies, must be consulted. From expressions already voiced there will be much revision before Britain ever consents to the protocol, which in its present shape works completely to the interest of other natlons, particularly France In a fortnight the counsel of the League of Nations convenes in Geneva, and Austen Chamberlain, forelgn minister of England, will in- form the league that it will be impossible to subscribe to the proto- col in its present form, and that British dominions must be consulted on all amendments. He will tell the league the matter should go over until the September session of the assembly. This undoubtedly will be the course pursued, and as a con- sequence the proposed arms confer- ence, in June, which would _be innocuous without previous adoption of the protocol, will he deferred to a dim and distant date. Sees Curb on Freedom. Great Britain is not intentionally garroting the protocol idea or the jdea of security and disarmament, but the protocol in its present form is declared to materially interfere with Britain’s freedom of action in handling her forces throughout the empire. By virture of the great es- fablishments maintained by the em- pire, England would be called upon, through vrovisions of the protocol, to take a hand in outbreaks in all sections of the world, and her share in league-dictated undertakings would be preponderant by virtue of her re- sources. 7 In the meantime, England recog- nizes that the Rhineland and the This does not mean that Great i (Continued on Third Page) Ruhr questions must be settled if continental equilibrium is to be maintained. England realizes that the sooner ‘all the vexatious ques- ALLIES ARE ENGULFED IN DIPLOMATIC MAZE Can England Dodge Both Protocol and Security Pact With France? Paris Driving Hard Bargain. UNBRIDLED YOUTH IN MORAL SLUMP. Cardinal Hayes says: “Our men are flocking to’ the church in greater num- bers than ever before. Itis our young girls that we worry about. I remember as a young priest, 30 years ago, noting the laxity among the young men of that day. Thisis all changed. I think the change has been caused by the women.” “When we give freedom Patrick Cardinal Hayes. easier for a boy or girl to go straight. Now parents have suddenly let down the bars; and youth, unaccustomed to this new liberty, is paying the price. The amount of Jjuvenile crime is alarming, and the worst part about it is the manner in which it has jumped up within the last year. It's not the independence of youth that I object to, but the sordid, silly things which youth seems to think are necessary evidences of that inde- pendence. Youth Is Irreverent. Our young people have created com- plete new standards. Things that would have entertained you and me modern youth laughs at. It has be-| come sophisticated and irreverent. I recall a Civil War portralt which touched me deeply. I don't see how any one could help but be filled with emotion by its patriotic sentiments. Yet while looking at it 1 overheard some of younger generation remark: “Aw, what's that stuff Germany are settled the better it will be for all. And what is more important, England belleves that a prolonged state of unsettlement means new and greater problems, with renewed vexations, which may lead to any eventuality. Committed to a policy of early settle- ment, it is entirely within the bounds of prudence to engage France in dis- cussions as to a separate security pact, in order that so-called French to our children they must pay for it. Parents have suddenly let down the bars and youth, unaccustomed to his new freedom, is paying the price for it. The amount of juvenile crime is alarm- ing. And the worst part of it is that it has jumped up within the last year.” Q. Has modern youth lost faith in the church? A. Certainly our young men have not—I am speaking only for my own church here. Our men are flocking to the church in greater numbers than ever before. It is our young girls that we worry about. I remem- ber as a young priest, 30 years ago, noting the laxity of religious interest among the young men of that day. This has all changed I think the change has been caused by the women. When these bolshevist ideas floated over to this country we thought there might be something good in them— that they might be a new step toward the brotherhood of man. But when we discovered what a subversive doc- trine bolshevism rea)ly was we were revolted. We discovered where this Soviet propaganda proposed to place our women, and it was not where we wanted our mothers and daughters. As a result we swung back to our old — faiths and tightened our religious convictions, so that the young men of today and also the young men of 30 years ago, who are the fathers of today, are more religious than ever. Q. What is wrong with modern women? A. They are in a transitional stage, I suppose. They say they are raising themselves to a level with men, but I say they are lowering themselves to man's level. Of course, we smile and joke about it, but 1 think this is one of the most serious things we face today. Women are in process of finding themselves, of adjusting themselves to a new life, but T do hope they will not get soiled and smirched in the process. The other day 1 had occasion to ad- dress an assembly of women, and 1 read them an editorial from a well known newspaper, called ‘‘Emanci- pated Bunk.” “Bunk” may not be the word for a cardinal to use, but that's about the right name for what this editorial described. . It pictured the wife who leaves her husband for an- other man because she conceived this to be her new and bounden duty. You can label this practice with a new name If you wish. But it hasn’t changed an fota. It is still pure, sor- did, unadulterated rot Criminals and the Church. Q. How can the church save the juvenile criminals which fill our jails in increasing number? . By taking religion into the jails. I am not speaking offhand now. We have studied this problem for about 10 years, and the church—I am speaking for my own church now— believes that herein lies a very con- structive means of helping society. We feel that with a careful proba- tion system the church may help to replace the jail, at least for juve- niles. Let us try to explain how. When a man falls down in the street the city or State rushes an am- bulance to him and takes him to a haspital, where doctors proceed to build up his physical strength. But before they do anything they diagnose the case. That man lacked physical When a boy fell down because he strength. falls down because he lacks moral strength a patrol wagon rushes him to jail. But in other re- spects does he get the same treat- (Continued on Third Page.) CLOSER UNION IS URGED 'FOR CHURCH AND LABOR Lynch, Typographical President, Praises Attitude Being Taken by Religious World—Says Matter Warrants Study. OMPLETE sympathy with the movement for closer under- standing and friendlier feel- __J ing between churches and labor unions is expressed by James M. Lynch, president of the In- ternational Typographical Union, in a statement issued from his headquar- ters at Indianapolis. “The modern industrial struggle is well deserving of serious considera- tion by every institution interested Page) in ethics and human happiness,” Mr. “The More You Break The More We Make” BY IDA M. TARBELL. industry “The we S it true that modern has adopted as a slogan more you break, the more make"? Admire as one will—and as I certainly do—the ingenuity, variety, abundance of our factories and mills, the conveniences they provide for all classes—for the kitchen of the house- wife, the bench of the artisan, the desk of the writer and the clerk—the cheapness of all sorts of novelties and devices—admiration is sunk in disgust at the lack of integrity in standard necessaries where quality counts. It is not serious that the vanity bag be a collection of glittering junk, but it is serious that the hose I pay ruinous prices for unravel at the first wearing, the enamel of my high- priced pans peels on a week's use, the sheen of my serge and silk and broadcloth turns quickly to an olly shine. * ok k Xk There is an alarming side to this indifference to quality in output, which those who permit it and profit by it do not appreciate, and that is the revolt it stirs in the mind of the thrifty buyer. It sets him to com- paring the prices he pays—the dura- bility of his purchases with his ex- perience of 20, even 10 years ago. He sees himself getting less wear for more money. There may be an “im- provement” in the later product; there is almost certailn to be more paint on the surface, more grace in the form; but when it comes to serv- ice, to doing the thing wanted ever a long period, the product of today falls down. He feels defrauded, grows bitter and seeks in talk and in poli- tics a chance to express his discon- tent. Here is a case to the point: 1 have a valued neighbor in Pleas. ant Valley—a careful, hard-workin; thrifty farmer—fair in his judgments of those better off than himself, but he is steadily becoming & noisy revo- lutionist. The cause of the uproar in the mind of this normally peaceful man, who truly asks only that he be given full measure fn return for the full measure he gives, is that the makers of the tools he must buy for his farming ure, as he expresses it, “doin’ him_dirt!” And he has proved it to me more than onca by his exhibits and their history. * ok kX Just now his favorite exhibit is a cultivator, new last Spring. Now to him a new farm implement of any all the evening beside it, contemplat- ing its merits, showing It to his neighbors; and his first tryout is as exciting as the tryout of a new car. Last Spring he groaned much over the new cultivator, for it cost just three times what his old one, bought 10 years ago, had cost.. He put it to work and, three hours later, crack! went an essential bar of the front frame. He “fixed it best I could.” A week, and a wheel came apart. He riveted it together. Another week, and the handle split. I looked at it after it had had three weeks' use. It was still shining with black and red paint and varnish, but it looked like the victim of an automobile crash— bandaged handles and frame—a heavily riveted wheel—that my lay- man’s eye could see. * ixia He had a similar experience in every particular with scythes. He bought a half dozen at the opening of the haying season, paying treble what he had 10 years before. In the first week ono had broken down— tangs off, blades chipped and bent. And to finish the season he had gone to his junk heap and his garret and dragged out ‘the discarded scythes. They, the old and worn, did the work of the season. Is it any wonder that my farmer friend says “Something’s the matter.” Or that he declares “Something must be changed.” He has not fixed the point of attack, but if he ever be- comes reasonably sure of it I miss my guess if he does not try hard to hitit. It looks to me like a real griev- ance in a world where I admit there are many fictitious ones. It looks to e as if he were right when he says “Something’s wrong.” I thought it might be the tariff, so I looked up the tariff act of 1922. Cultivators come in free, and they tell me at the customhouse that it is an honest- to-God “free”—that is, there are no Jokers. ‘What is it that's wrong? Is it not that overmuch combinatipn in the making of farm tools has given such power and profit to those in the com- bination that there is no longer need to consider quality, there being s0 little actual competition? My farmer friend is right—they are not thinking of him—of his need of durable tools In his hard struggle with the land, raising our food—they are thinking only of swelling the number they can sell at the highest kind is an event. He buys it only after careful and repeated examina- tion. He “sleeps on it"—talks it over ‘with her (“her” being the wife), and tions existing between France and|finally when it does come home sits price that they can get. It is unfair and they who get rich at such a price must not expect their victims to hold their tongues forever. . . ACopyright, 92 _ Lynch says. “It has ever been a source of disappointment to Ameri- can labor leaders that so many clergy- men have chosen to ignore the case of the working man or, worse still, to applaud the social program of the exploiter. Fortunately, powerful men 4n the churches are coming to give their attention to the labor movement and consequently to sympathize with the aspirations of organized labor. Prelates Are Praised. bor is quick to reciprocate this interest. In New York we find Bishop Willlam T. Manning expressing from his pulpit appreciation of aid offered by organized labor in raising funds for completion of the great cathedral. In Toledo, Ohio, the Council of Churches has inyited labor leaders to address meetings of the Min'sters’ Unfon. Out in Bakersfield, Calif., Bishop L. Sanford, preaching at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, deprecates the ‘disgraceful’ manner in which the ‘Better America Federation’ attacks the trade union movement. “Fear is blamed by Bishop Sanford for the unrest and unhappiness in our economic and social life. Each week, the bishop told his hearers, a weekly letter reaches his desk from the ‘labor-hating’ organization,« in- veighing against combination of workers in_their own defense. ‘Such bitter words, so full of hatred, said the bishop, ‘conld only create - the trouble against which they protest Must Be Good Will. . “With exceptional shréwdnesg : the bishop has laid his finger upon the seat of the soclal malady. Men live and work together in happiness only when there is a mutual sense of security, and when good will rules. There is a fight- ing spirit in men that precludes peace, ‘while men suffer injustice at the hands of their fellows. 'The capitalist who hopes to crush labor into humble ac- ceptance of want and defeated aspira- tions is only heaping fuel on the fires of combativeness. This type of capital- iet is usually kept by his personal con- cerns from gaining an understanding of philosophy, peychology or any other branch of knowledge bearing upon the task he undertakes. It is proper that preachers and all others, whose train- ing and understanding fit them for the Job, should show the way. “And it is gratifying to forward-look- ing labor leaders, who would like to be- lieve in the erudition and sincerity of clergymen in general, to learn that many preaehers are attempting to bring reason to bear on the capital-labor con- troversy. Condemns Anti-Laborites. “The Rev. Oren H. Baker, pastor of a Baptist church in Morgantown, W. Va., has arisen as a champlon of la- bor's right to organize. In his State some organizations have demanded that labor organizers be driven from the State. ‘The church is bound to con- demn these proposals of certain busi- ness interests; this minister declares. ‘Let it be remembered that individuals cannot maintain harmony with God un- til they have succeeded in effecting proper adjustments to one another.” “Some historians credit Moses with being the first labor leader, because Moses arose in behalf of his enslaved people when he saw an Egyptian boss beat a Jewish workman. Moses slew the boss and stood forth from that time as the champion of a down-trodden and suffering race. The Old Testament is concerned almost wholly with the en- deavors of common people to maintain their freedom against the tyranny of the labor exploiter. As for the New Testament, certainly the exponent of wealth through exploitation, can find little comfort in the words of Christ, Who came on earth to relieve the suffe ing of the many, not to assist a favored or fortunate few in monopolizing life's blessings." R BY HAROLD K. PHILIPS. HE fight to create the East's first great national park in | the beautiful Blue Ridge | Mountains .of Virginia has | just begun. Although Congress, early last week, passed legislation flatly naming it as one of the two areas that shall be- come such a reservation in the South- ern Appalachian Mountains, and ap- propriated public funds for a survey of the territory to determine its value in dollars and cents, Virginia must still overcome the menace. of aggres- sive friends of the other site, that lies partly in the State of Tennessee and ‘r partly in North Carolina The site in the Blue tains, just 90 miles over the new Lee Highway from Washington, has the jump on ail other contenders, it is| true. Not only was it selected by the unbiased Southern Appalachian Moun- | tain National k Commission as the one outstanding site in the East bat it is geographically ideally situ: ated as the seat of a great outdoor playground and natural museum | There is still, however, the deter- mination of North Carolina and Ten- nessee to pilfer “first honors” from the Old Dominion State if that is| humanly possible. And North Caro- lina proved in the past two months that when it sets out to get a thin it will just about move heaven and earth to accomplish its purpose. Vir- Ridge Moun- ginia and Tennessee allke felt the teeth of the Tar Heelers of most re- cent date. | Had Three Entries. North Carolina had about three en- tries in the race to win the approval of the commission when it first set out last Summer to find a suitable sitg “east of the Mississippi River” for a real national park for Dr. Hu- bert Work, Secretary of the Interior. The park experts of that State banked on numbers, if nothing else. | two VIRGINIA STILL FACES FIGHT IN PARK ISSUE North Carolinans, Undeterred by Failure to Land First Honors, Will Continue Effort to Put Over Their Site. every year after it is once estab- lished, it can be seen that a donation of part of the area would be an ex- cellent investment for the State. It would return richer dividends than any stock could ever yield. The Governor of Tennessee saw the advantage of a donation as early as a year ago and now holds an op- tion on 80,000 acres in the Great Smoky Mountain area. No sane per- son can doubt that the State of North Carolina will offer the Government at least as much, and there is a move- ment on foot for the two States to combine forces now, each buy half of the territory lying within their rés spective boundaries and offer it t# the National Park Service as a present May Embarrass Virgini Virginia is handicapped Trin- kle and Senator Byrd, who will prob- ably be the next governor, have both declared Virginia would do its share in that direction. But the Old Do- minfon legislature will not convene again for a year, and then it might be too late. The time to offer dona- tions will be next December, at the latest, and preferably this Summer, while the iron is still hot Should North Carolina and Tennes- see carry out their plan to present | the Government with half of the ter- ritory, Virginia probably would be placed in the embarrassing position of being forced to do about as much, even though the cost of carrying out such a project in the Great Smoky Mountains would be divided between States, and the Old Dominion would have to bear the entire burden in that case alone. There no doubt, purchase is the actual the Virginia area however, of the land in should cost far less than that the Great Smoky Mountains, even though the former is considered more desirable for park that in after the first park was established— a second reservation would be created in the wonderful Great Smoky Moun- tains of Tennessee and North Carolina. North Carolina Starts Fight. North Carolina_was not through, however. When Dr. Henry W. Tem- ple, chairman of the committee that selected the site and a Representative in the House from Pennsylvania, in- troduced a bill asking Congress to name the Virginia area -the Shenan- doah National Park the Tar Heelers got busy with both fee and before | they got through the bill almost dicd. The commissioners argued in vain that they had given North Carolina a park, figuratively speaking. No per- | son in touch witk the situation doubt- ed that the Great Smoky area would be taken over within a very few months after the establishment of the Virginia park. Dr. Temple even ac- cepted an amendment to his bill formally naming the area the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and asking for an appropriation for its survey. Still North Carolina was not satis- fied. It wanted the Linville Gorge site or nothing, apparently, and steps were even taken to ask Congress to appoint a congressional committee to go over the different contending areas again to pass on the work of the com- mittee appointed by Dr. Work. The Secretary of the Interior, in return. flatly announced that were such a thing done his official interest in the whole matter would be at an end. BIll Is Passed. That meant the end of any hope for any national park anywhere this side of the Mississippi. North Carolina realized t and_finally a compro- mise was reached By which Dr. Tem- ple accepted an amendment to hi bill which authorized the Secretar: of the Interior also to select, in ad- dition te the Blue Ridge Mountain and the Great Smoky Mountain arcas, any other places he might deem “suitable” for national park purposes. Not only did that clause give the backers of the Linville Gorge sector hope that sometime after the two big parks are established their fa- vored site might be considered, but it also put the Great Mammoth Cave district of Kentucky back in the run- ning for the race that is sure to be started again in the distant future. Needless to say, the bill then went through. But the fight of the linians had had its effect with the Shenandoah National Park. the Great Smoky Mountain Natiomal Park has been created—on paper, at least—and now Virginia is face to face with the proposition of having the next Congress decide which of the two aeras shall be made the first park. The question of cost is going to count heavily when that battle starts, and there is a question of whether or not North Carolnia and Tennessee have not got the edge on Virginia. Price Issue Raised. orth Caro- Together If the decision were left to park experts there would be no doubt as to the selection again of the site in Virginia. Not only could it be made a national park in less than half the time and at half the expense, but it is accessible to 40,008,000 people, 90 per cent of whom could even visit it during week end vacations. But if the land in that area costs a dollar an acre more than that in the Great Smoky Mountains it will not make a very good talking point. . Whether the land in_the Blue Ridg area will actually cost more is not definitely known yet. Owners of the property down there declare they will Dbe able to undersell their opponents in the most distant South acre for acre. If they do that there is no: reason just now why this time next year the land should not have been almost taken over for the park. On the other hand, they will .cut their own throats if they ask exorbitant prices under the hallucination that the Government must have the prop- erty. State May Give Ald. Not only must the owners of the property, much of which has been al- most valueless up to the present time, ask only reasfonable prices, but the State of Virginia will probably be called upon to buy up part of it and donate it to the Federal Government. ‘When it is remembered that at least $100,000,000 will be speat in the park But the one site that North Caro- | lina favored is a beautiful little stretch of mountain wonderland | known as the Linville Gorge and Grandfather Mountain area. Unfor- tunate as it may seem, the spot was too small and too populated to considered in the final lection. and the choice fell first to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, with a hope expressed that later—very shortly purposes. That is about all it is good for, except in a few rare in- |stances ‘where farms have been forced to vield a few crops. In the North Carolina and Tennessee areas, |however. the timber has been ex- | ploited, much of the forests have been {cut over and the Government wouli face the proposition of going into | competition with sawmills for th site, which is already liberally oc- cupied by lumbering enterprises Bill Provides Start. This is not true of the Blue Ridge Mountain a Its flora is of such a nature that extensive lumbering enterprises would be scarcely profit- able enough to make them pay, even though the forests are even more beautiful, and certainly more of them are virgin, than those fagther South. Down there, however, there are, or rather were, more big hard- wood trees, so valuable Yo the lum | pering merchant. That is why bus'- | ness exploited the areas more than in the Virginia section, which is far more accessible and closer to th2 | centers of business and population. The bill creating the two big parks carried provision for an appropria- tion of $20,000 to pay the expenses of the commission, to be appointed by Secretary Work, that is to inquire into the cost of acquiring the land, accept offers of donations of land and take options on whatever parts it thinks might be obtained at reasonable prices. This sum is to cover the examination of all the areas so designated by Dr. Work. "It is almost certain that Dr. Work will name the same committes to 8o this work that he asked to make the original hunt for suitable areas. ) | commission probably will get | ea in the Summer and from jthe | time it takes the field there is #er- tain to be bitter fight between the |two sections. Virginia won before because it had “the goods.” This time it will have to “come acro: with “the goods. False Reports Spread. Enemies of the entire scheme to create a national park In the East- and some of them are reliably puted to be envious Government agents—have busied themselves with spreading false report in both sec- tions to the effect that the Govern- ment expects to obtain both areas gratis In their entirity and will even resort to condemnation proceedings to carry out its park building pro- gram. Farmers have been told they will simply be turned out and their property seized. 1t is unnecessary to deny such a report. The Government fully ex- pects to buy the largest portions of the areas. But it also expects the State to buy some of the land and give it to the Government, for the State will not only forever be relieved of the cost of building roads and keeping up improvements in the sec- tor, but by turning it into a park the Government will divert hundreds of millions of dollars into the State so favored No farmer will be asked to con- tribute an acre, although the farm- rs around the areas under considera- tion will learn that it would have re- paid them a hundredfold to have bought up every inch of the prop- erty and themselves given it to Uncle Sam for his great, charitable unde taking. Vacationists are good spend- ers, and the thousands who will spend thelr vacations in the Shenandoah National Park in a few years are go- ing to spend many, many millions on food that the farmers of Virginia will supply at handsome profit. re- Longest Aqueduct. The Apulian aqueduct building in Italy will be when completed the longest in the world, though not of the greatest capacity. Several of the provinces which form the regions known as Apulia \and Basilicata have suffered through the ages from lack of water, and their geographical position and geological formation are such that the onmly Femedy lay in bringing water to them from the western side of the Apen- nines. A law providing for the construc- tion of the aqueduct was enacted in 1902, and the work was begun in 1905 according to plans prepared by Ital- |ian engineers. The undertaking en- tailed the building of a main aque- duct about 140 miles long, to which over sixty miles had to be carried water through the Apennines in tunnels. From the main aqueduct spreads a network of subsidiary branches having a total length of 1,000 mile: This will carry water to five pro inces and supply the needs of 3,600,000 Dpeople,