Evening Star Newspaper, May 17, 1925, Page 43

EDITORIAL SECTION EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATURES Part 2—16 Pages FUNDING OF DEBTS TO U. S. BY EUROPEANS REMOTE viv Nations Ha\e Man Before Settlem Becomes an Actuality. BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. ARLY settlement of interallied Europe's unfunded debt of $7.100,978.695 is not expected in Washington, despite ihe stern reminder which the Unired States has just issued to nine debtor mations. What is definitely expect ed. and what is bound to be forth coming. is prompt Indication that rope. in American vernacular, fs now “sitting up and taking notice. that will be regarded in Washington as_satisfattory evidente of It will be a marked departure from the attjtude of indifference which has steadily distinguished most of our dehtors hitherto. ut Washington is conscious hetween signs of good intent, however definite, and actual nerformance. long delay is inevitable. Like France nearly every one of the debtor nations Is immersed in taxation. budget and currency woes. Industrial reconstr tion, as in France, has been sub stantial. but government finances | nearly everywhere are still in chaos Few if any of the debtor nations have put their houses in order as Great Britain has Thus, it is to he expected that, France is certain 1o do. the Ew Pean governments in our debt will zenerallv plead for time. on the ground that “charity begins at home.™ There will he full appreciation of this attitude here. but less readiness to wait indefinitelv for “brass tacks’ Aevelopment in the way of funding ar- ranzements. Expect No Kariy Settiement. Washington officials. who are fully eognizant of the conditions the French zovernment now faces. are co spondingly convinced that it will he many moons before France is able to zet down to brass tacks on her huge debts to America and Great Rritain. OQur Government knows that M. Cail- Taux, only recently under the ban for semi-treason to France, was called to power because of the grave necessity for heroic domestic financial measures. The French admitted that, even though Caillaux's record was extremely shady. nothing less than his acknowledged financial genius could pulk the republic qQut of the economic mire in-which it has wallowed since the war. Caillaux has two paramount lems to solve. He must get the frar back from its present value of about cents in American money to some- tling more nearly approximating its par value of 20 cents. Of perhaps even greater gravity is Cailjanx’s taxat problem. He has the unpleasant and a8 soma people think, the hopeless task of inducing the French people to.tax themselves and to do so heavily. With the franc luzged npward and reveniie coming in from drastic new taxes Caillaux then has the general problem of halancing the French bud get to deal with. It wonld be idle, and worse than idle. for any American or Briton. who feels that France onght 10 he “payvinz up.” fo imazine that France will be in positlon to do so speedily. Every American financier who knows anything about such mat- ters understands perfectly well that Caillaux confronts a job that will re- quire patience. endurance and skill of the highest order. French Folk Hate Taxes, The French hate taxes. They alwaya disliked them. the spirit to go in for tion on the scale the British did, France might today be in something like Britain's economic position. Cail- laux, therefore, has more than a fiscal situation to cope with. “He has a psychélogical condition in the French people 10 overcome. The troubles of Caillaux, who can be described without hyperbolé as the most harassed finance minister on earth, are political. too. Enemies sur round him on all xides, even within the cabinet in which he sits. They do not hanker for his success in right ing France's economic wrongs. They would much rather trip him w is engaged in that process, wonld single Caillaux out as prot have war-time taxa- necess for the Even | progress. | that | If they had had | ile he | v Hurdles to Leap ent With U. S. | | goal on| foreign | | premiership of which Aristide Briand. now minister, has his heart set. The| | Jealousy between the two men i | notorious. This writer's confidential | |advices from Furope say that the | |real Aght will develop by July. If| Caillaux does not succeed in re.creat- | |ing confidence among the French peo- | Iple there will be a cabinet crisis, and Briand expects to succeed Painleve | |#s prime minister on the ryins of | | Caillanx faflures. About July 1 the| French have 8500,000,600 of francs |of internal bonds maturing. If rev-| enue from taxation Is not forthcom ‘ |ing. Inflation seems inevitable. This | means chaos piled on chaos, France, a See Logical Payment. French authorities in this country | are hopeful that the Calllaux-Briand project to pay America amd_Great | | Britain out of German reparations | v'nl(l pro rata as the Germans pay | | under the Dawes plan. will appeal 1o |the United States. The French hold | |that such a proposition is entirely | logical. Under the so-called London conference terms §f May 5, 1921, which were the hasis of all negotia tions between the allied powers and Germany up to the Dawes plan, France was to receive 52 per cent of a total of 1 000,000,000 gold marks or 65,640.000,000 old marks. What | France expects to receive from Ger- man payments under the Dawes plan | Is estimated by the French sgovern. ment at about 21.226,000,000 gold marks. In other words, France con- | tends that she accepted under the | Dawes plan a cut of nearly two-thirds of what the “original German repara- | tions assessment fixed by the allied powers assizned her. The French arzument. as it has been communicated to the writer, is that France agreed to this sweeping slash in German reparations due her because the Dawes plan was essen tially an American plan. France considered that she was making this( tremendous economic sacrifice in the inferest of Kuropean stabilization mainly because America asked it France feels, therefore. that she is preferring no unreasonable expecta tion in hoping that the United Ktates | will think Rt fundamentally fair to let the French fund their American debt in that tio that the Germans fund their reparations obligations to France. Moratorium Proposal. Members'of the World War Debt Commission have let the know semi-officially that the must not expect cancellation form. The French know thar Amer ica expects payment of the principal of the debt in full. France has been fold that any concession we make must come from interest rates, mora toriums or other payment terms. Ambassador Jusserand’s now famous | Washington speech of December 1924, revealed that France said Secretary Melon that she needs breathing spell”"—that is. a morato. rium. Five years is the term that h'a« been mentioned in this connec tion. | The reign French will find the tates in accommodating mood. | though the administration has to| reckon with stern spirits in Congress | like Senator Borah before France or of our other debtors can be! granted concessionary funding terms. |If France asks for anything that | Great Britain did not get, that will |be another snag. But the point of | | immediate importance is that France not likely to be able for a consid- ble time to come to be at a point | here any of these concrete matters | 1 be tackled. Caillaux and Briand | have been aphointed by their cabinet Paris informs us. “to study the in terallied debt question in an sttempt to find an acceptable solution.” The scantiest knowledge of French condi tions, herein narrated. will con | vince anvbody that in the laconic statement just quoted lie the seed of delay interminAble. (Copyright United L. | w as 1925.) French Struggle With Riffs Called “Modern Puni¢c War” BY W. P. of CRESSON, Sehool Foreign Georgetown Thiver Almost within sight of the ships that crowd the Straits of Gibraltar, French colonial troops and wild Riffian tribes men have renewed the wars of Rome and Carthage. France has always looked upon her colonization of “Roman Africa” as a right inherited from the great Latin empire. To make the parallel move striking, the Riffs although their Spanish name Ruffano was probably the origin the term ruffian descendants of population Moreover, this modern Punic war s flled with possibilities that entirely vaise it from the sphere of the som what dingy struggles of modern cor mercial imperialism, wherein at first sight it may seem to belong. If diplomats of Furope are today anx jously studying their maps of north- ern Africa. it is by no means solely on account of the classical involved. About the Straits of braltar, netably. its African shore, cen of the old Carthaginian ter some of the outstanding problems | of modern diplomacy. Here, form. focus the colonial differences of France, and Spain. Across the mnarrow plowed. by keels of madas of wir and p rialism in standing polie munications,”" Spain figures i in acute Great Britain strip of the world’'s €. French impe nd Britaln's L “the control of re brought face 1o face. the question largely on account of her proud insistence in clinging to the narrow strip .of land irrounding an internationalized Tan gier, in spite of terrible losses in men and’ prestige, which are largely sponsible for the presence of & dicta- tor in Madrid. Spain’s somewhat pa- thetic determination not to be de- prived of thie last important rem- nant of her vast colonial empire is still apparent. Moreover, - backed to some extent by English preference for a neighbor like Spain rather than triumphant colonial power like France, King Alfonso’s troops are even cCi operating with their French Thus, into a situation already' com- plicated by the rivalries of the world's great imperial _powers, the sudden fare-up of Abd-el-Krim's wild tribes- men has injected a new and critical element. Except for these international factors, even the most idealistic of looker might regard the Riffian “war” yw= = certals philosophical detach- water of are judged to be the | the | interest | nterests and | a om- | rivals. | I ment. French colonial troops gener- ally eniist in the hope of hard fight ing. The Riffs. as vet untouched by modern Moslem culture, still believe that “Paradise lies in the shadow of crossed swords.” But back of Moor- | ish banditry and French “police meas- ures” lie questions of far greater im port. The rumor seems proved that | officers trained In the methods of civilized warfare” are leading the 1 tribesmen. As Prof. Sloan, the best qualified observer to write concerning the French colonies, recently observed, ““The African shore about Tangier has long been a friction point of inter { national relations most difficult to | lubricate.” 1t is fair to surmise that | something more than native desert and has been blogn into the delicate machinery of post-war colonial justments in this quarter of the| globe. In the present struggle ques. tions of “nationalism and self-deter- mination” scarcely apply. The French, | to all appearances. are co-operating | with Moroccan troops in the territory of the protected Sultan.. Abd-el-Krim, on the other hand, can scarcely be taken seriously as an exponent of na- tional aspirations. Tribal advantage nd the sheer love of fighting in srained in this desert sheik is prob- ably the motive of hix actions. . Novel Street Cars Used in Chile Town lquigue’'s sireet car system prob- ably is uniqu It consists of a dozen or more tiny cars seating about 20 persons each and equipped with auto- mobile motol There are nelther speed limits nor traflic rules, and these hybrid vehicle oot along the narrow unpaved streets, sometimes to the great danger of pedestrians. Passengers hold tight to the seats or sides of the r when the motorman “steps on the gas.” Rainfall is un- | known in lquique. Nome of the | northern portion of Chile, making up Ithe great nitrate districts, has any rainfall There are practically no | rivers to furnish electric power for maintaining an electric street car system, and the cost of bringing coal to the port would be almost pro- hibitive. Therefore the ingenuity of xome of-lquique’s American residents produced her novel street cars, which, althéugh they remind one of the Toonerville trolley, xive a speedy service, . | cent | many | under the slogan that “King Cotton .. Secretary Mellon tvld the Sottharn h BY EDMUND A. WALSH, OLSHE which M is an interna only the hopeless| SUN tional reality ly ignortant and overconfident Chauvinists pretend The trail lea American u to ignore. capital in the world. cles have offered a forum for the intellectual Moscow sympathies—if not . with ac strable Moscow affiliations. 1t is my deliberate judgment, 1y Furopean and Russian affairs, peace is possible in Europe. quence, in the entire civilized world, breach between Russia and the world is entirely bridged. particularly propagandist with ds to every niversity cir- v attractive tual, demon- based on near- three vears personal and intensive study of that no lasting and, by conse- until the rest of the This breach is not a chasm dug by national hatred. by historic feud The problem created by the sec revolution is essentially different tions, the evacuation of the Ruhr, disarmament or these current perplexities, though ous international importance, is, a political question. a military legal instrument to Russian problem, as crystallized in inc man I problem. a social problem, i or racial the World Cour promote peac: antipathy. ond Russian from repara- immigration, t. Each of of tremend- nevertheless, roblem or a e. But the Bolshevism, ides all these elements, because it is a hu- nvolving not only the 132,000,000 human beings directly af- fected—but known corner gather race, or strive for human betterm The Bolshev of human society as now organized the world and propose an entirely civilization. Their program is phi terialism in arms, the most darin thought that has ever come upon human affairs. Bullets not ball scornful answer to typical Russia aries of the school of Kropotkin, th and Plekhanov, extending its influen, of the globe wherev The Bedrock of Government, Our conceptions of the structur, ciety and our understanding of t of government are an amalgam ¢ ments—derived from “Republic” and Aristotle’s * Politic strivings for self-government disce rise of the great city-states of the and reaching definite development—first, then in the ks of Runnymede, Cabin of the Mayflower,” “Toleration Act” of the Mar crystallizing, finally and definit Declaration of Independence, that pression of the American mind da mulate a permanent political ph the new continent. The truths. enumerated in th document as thé corner stones of took definite. ju tic shape there: detailed provisions of the Constit United States. These two docume therefore, contains, reasonable, . Rightly does Aristotle, in_his fine the state to be: “A communit working together for the commoh the « in the into a as it were, the distilled life. under a government which isadministered 'REFORMS IN MADE MORE CERTAIN| Democrats Lending to discuss the age-old problems of the challenge the very the Social Democrat. such sources vland colony single organic whole, workable republicanism. ce er to every men fore- ent. tditor's Note—Th tes by Edmund who was a me concept d throughout new tvpe of losophic ma- ng school of the stage of ots is their n revolution he Anarchist, during 1923; Papal the great who Relief of the world ; ative nof change of prisoncrs secution e of civil so. Fareign he functions of many ele- ax Plato's from the rnible in the Middle Ages, under “Compact later in the and ely, in the complete ex- aring to for- ilosophy for Service, Ge Sunday on for the benefit of all in modern times,.did great encyelical “Every ¢ authority. ciety titself, has its sou consequently, God for luws that all public pe God. * * ° rily, however, government. It may provided only that it the general welfare.” The Ri It seems to be Rus: bhe perpetually government. vilized commu at tmmortal our liberties after in the ution of the ts coalesce, which essence of a Politics.” de- v of freemen happiness of imperial ern times. TAXATION Support to Mellon Proposals Owing to Pressure Brought BY N. 0. MESSENGER. ITHIN a week there has been a notable acces: of sentiment in circles favorable to the ad ministration’s plans for re. ! forming the taxes and reducing them | in the nex Congress. Secretary Mel- lon s finding his hands strengthened hy the promise of Democraiic aid for his proposition to reduce the maxi- mum surtax on incomes. 1t will be recalled that the Secretary in his ad dress to the Mississippl bankers ad mitted the futility of endeavoring to prohibit by constitutional amendment further issuance of tax-exempt bonds by States and municipalities. In the meantime. he advocated Jower surtaxes in order to encourage finance to invest in industry and in manufacturing, for the zood of the prosperity of the country at The Segretary would have been con- tent with the maximum of 25 per reduction and is agreeably sur prised to find prominent Democratic advocacy of even a lower rate. Sen- ator Glass of Virginia, for instance, is willing (o reduce the maximum surtax to 20 per cent. Now comes Senator Bruce of Maryland, who is agreeable to & maximum of 156 per cent. Sen ator Bayard of Delaware will accept the Secretary’s proposed reduction and several other Democratic senators are known to be ready to abate thi previous objections to a rate below the existing law of 40 pex cent. . Dawning In the South. This change in Democratic senti ment is explained by politiclans as being deemed. especially in the South, to & changing of opinion among busi- ness men and financlers of that sec tion as to the Sofith’s interest in ‘eco- nomic reform. It is dawning upon the South that it is rapidly turning from a strictly agricultural region to a diversification of industries. For vears the South carried on ruled. That is the case no longer. Cotton manufacturing is going ahead of cottog producing. Cotton manufac- {urers of New England are going South in increasing numbers with their mills, taking advantage of the water resources of the Southern States and cheaper labor there. Secretary Mellon is described as feeling very confident of the success of the administration’s plans to re- form the taxes at the next session. He thinks that the Government just now is in a better position to ap- proach tax reform than at any other period since the World War. Treas- ury surpluses are more reasonably assured and the country at large bet- ter understands the questions in- volved in tax reform and can askess |at their true value the various pro- posals for dealing with the subject. The campaign of education on tax reform which the Treasury has con- ducted in the last 18 months has ma- terially lessened opposition to pro- posed reform in and out of Congress. The Secretary is still disappointed that the present law failed to reduce the maximum surtax below 40 per cent, but he has abundant hope of a change o the next revenue. political | large. | in South. | bankers in Richmond gnd in Jackson, Miss., that Secretary Glass and Secre- tary Houston, as long ago as 1919, saw the trend of events and made the first move toward putting the Nation's finances back on a peace-tima basis “Indeed.” he said, “it is a source of pride with us at the Treasury. There is a continuity in policy on man questions which after all are crysiz’ and economic rather than political in their field.” The Treasury Depart ment consistently emphasizes the fact that taxation is a national problem which must not he viewed from a sec- tional or partisan angle. Senator Bruce of Maryland. the latest supporter of Secretary Mel |lon’s position on tax reform, in an article in the April issue of the Vir. ginia Quarterly Review, published by the University of Virginia, accentu- ates this thought: “There is no reason,” he says, “why the Republican party should have a monopoly of wise taxation and sound | finance.” That Is word of advice to Southern Demp. crats who in the past have been prone to resist any measure which flavored of being of Republican origin. Politi- clans generally admit that the Re- publicans are on a winning card in their tax-reduction plans. publicans claim. that they are not sponsoring them because of their po- litical value, but because they are eco nomically sound. In 1896 the Re- publicans took the same position in advocacy of the gold standard. It is probably a fact that when Willlam J. Bryan and the Democratic party took up free silver the majority senti- ment of the voters supported it. Re- publican leaders took the opposition on a question of principle and of economics and Republicans carried the country for William McKinley, who himself at one time had Jeaned toward bi-metalism. re of Party “Come-Back.” Senator Bruce of Maryland, in the article referred to, makes some sug- who is country, which will be of interest at this time. Senator Bruce, who is re garded as one of the soundest and most conservative thinkers in the Sen- ate, js'sure that the Democratic par wili “come back,” if it avoids certain issues .and adopts_ others. He lays more stress upon the thing he hopes to be avoided. The first affirmative position he advocates to be taken by the Democrats is that the party “should commit fitself thoroughly to the principles of taxation which have come to be known as the Mellon tax plan.” It is here that he expresses the sentiment that “there is no reason why the Republican party should have the monopoly of wise taxation and sound finance. 4 He advises the Democrats to eschew any connection with = the extreme principles and purposes of the Pro- gressive party, such as public owner- ship of raflroads; the total abolition of the process of inmjunction in labor dispute and the re-enactment of stat- ute by Congress when declared un- constitutional by the Supreme Court. | He holds that attacks upan the wealth, ‘ndustry and the courts of the coun Soviet Rule, Denying Human Rights, Direct Challenge to U. S. Government S. J., PH. D. A. WALSH. American Relief Administration in Russia was director general Mission buting funds contributed by the Catholica who 1ras special represent- the Vatican' Soviet authoritics for the preservation of religious rights in Russia and for the er- He is regent of the The second article will be printed nect Khould Recognize Soviet Russia?” On the Chrisgian Constitution inculcate the nd this authority, no less than sc its author. The right to rule is not bound up by any special mode of challenging The autocratic repression of nat- ural rights and fundamental liberties under the Russian government the outstanding political anachronism of mod- But does the new union—the pres- construed as a | The Re-| gestion to the Democratic party for | | regaining Democratic control of the ent Soyiet MAY 17, state—meet e Sunday Slar WASHINGTON, D. C, 1925. the age-long vearnings of the Russian people for political freedom and economic independence? Studying ganic, that construed in fundamental class discrimination and are made the mainsprings of Soviet ngernal laws and external policy. the Soviet law constitution—the or- of the land—we find class privilege Russia’s Liberty is favor of certain defined classes— workmen, peasants and soldiers; all others are disenfranchised—which is a logical develop. ment of Garl Marx's theory of “Class War.’ I is impossible to understand the Russian revolution unless one makes 4n honest attempt to appreciate the point of view of its philoso- phers and penetrate the psychology which di- rected it. The Marxian Socialist recognizes only two entities in the human race—the em- ploying and the employed classes—and from the “inevitable conflict™ antagonists economic, existing between these he derives every gsocial. political, religious and industrial evil that his- tory ‘has ever recorded. These classes he calls *“the “‘proletariat” clasy). bourgeoisie’ (employing class) and the (the employed or wage-earning Marxian Conception of Life. The as a daily class struggle, Marxian conception of industrial life, is enlarged and trans- ferred so. as to embrace every form of human activity. Everything centers about that peint. It is set up planation historical variations, by Russian Soviet as the only ex- history and alone can interpret account for the rise and fall of empires, explain the dorination of given is is the first of two A. Walsh. S. J.. Ph. mber of the Hoover of wars. | believe it | metaphysic. sciences, 922 and of the distri- famine in 1922 to Russia. one to treat awith the which your under religious per- School of I niversity gle between orgetown the United States in an appl the first at And rightly and wisely, Pope Leo XIIL, in his same sound doctrin, 1nity must have a ruling irce in nature, and has, Hence it fol- must proceed from necessa- sects, wer as they take this or that form, se of a nature to insure ship of that teligion, n Antithesis, a’s unhappy this definition desting to of overlords: tified in order .that punity. made czarism races, and. it is declared. the u natural sciences and pure mathematics. commentator hardly another know field of human knowledg: from Totemism to the origin of Greek tragedy According to the Soviet view. of al mundane ilis is, therefore. of human disease: »ot of all evil is private property, so, tremendous blow must always be struck that institution; then industry tionalized and expropriated operatives; the bourgeoisie must be disarmed, then .disentr nated as you would exterminate parasitic in- Education manifestations of human genius, by the Soviet, serve to increase the class conscious ness of the proletariat and insure the dictator- opiate only. into unthinking submission to their capitalistic hence, the minds of the masses with patent and oppressive abuses of capitalism in it nate principle cues and famines. Its followers trates the realms of philosophy, economics and the political It has not as yet fully embraced the but, there ax truly points ,out, is orthodox Marxist will not under- take to explain on the basiz of the class strug- the bourgeoisie and the proletariat the panacea to he sought tion of Marx's principle to the root And as, for the Marxist, the must be na in favor of the nchised and gradually extermi- literature, music and such it is believed must e coltivated only tn o far art, class, in the Marxist scheme of life, is an invented to drug the proletariat is to be deliberately iden- the it may be thus destroved with im- (Continued on Third Page.) NATIONAL QUAKE SURVEY. | | | | | | | | Plenty | | tion on in various parts of United States have led Tnited States Coast and ieodetic Survey to under- take a national earthquake survey with a view to giving peeple plenty of advance information, when: an | earthquake is likely to occur in their | neighborhood. |tion Is assembling all the readily avallable information about earth- quake activity in different parts of the country, and next will come a | scientific study of earthquakes occur- | ‘m: in the United States, regions un- xder its jurisdiction and adjacent waters, from precise observations within these areas, in order to ob | tain accurate - kneo earthquake area. The co-operation of universities and other inntllunony’ ‘npfl‘alln: seismographs hxt« heen; solicited. ' Changed by New l.-w The Coast and Geodetic Survey be- came responsible for Government in- vestigations. and reports relating to earthquake activity by an act of Congress approved by President Coolldge in January of this year. For more than 20 years it has been | operating seismographs, the delicate magnetic -instruments by which earthquakes are recorded and their location determined. It also main- tains magnetic observatories im-Porto Rico, Maryland, Arizona, Southeast Alaska and Hawall. In 1906, after the California earth- | quake, the Weather Bureau became e e e try could have no effect except that of indefinitely deferring the return of the Democratic party to power. They would alienate from it the good will of the small, as well as the big busi- ness world, the confidence of the ordi- nary savings bank depositor and of | the industrial worker or farmer, as well as that of the capitalist, pros- | perous ‘banker, manufacturer, mer- chant or trader. He advocates the Democratic party taking a firm stand against the pater- nalistic tendencies and the encroach. ment of the rights of the States which have become so prominent in the operation of the Federal Government.’ Pointing out that the extension of Federal authorities was the logical consequence of modern facilities of communication, “the triumph of the national idea in the Civil War and its constitutional sequels—the eighteenth and nineteenth amendment But he goes on to say, “the consolidation of the Federal jurisdiction is now going on at a rate which threatens to eat to the very core of State au- thority.” Affirmative action which he advo- cates includes repeal of the Volstead act so that each State may be free in® accordance with its habits and convictions. to allow or disallow 4o its citizens the. use, within the limita: tions of the eightéenth .amendment, of light: wines and -beer. He also urges that the Democratic party should ad- vocate the United States assuming its proper share of the burdens and re- .sponsibllities of world - by. suj _porting the League of Nations. [ earthquakes or shocks | the [ tions and obtained the | tve. |of The first chapter in the investiga- | ledge of ‘every BEING MADE BY EXPERTS Action Determined to Give People of Advance Informa- Shocks. interested in- earthquake investiga- | authority from Congress to install seismographs at everal points; including Northfield. The Weather Bureau in vears decidéd that this.activity did not fit well with itx regular work, and as a the Department of Commerce and Agriculture responsibility for the work was. definitely placed upon the Coast and Geodetic Survey. First Forward Step. The investigation just begun by the Coast and Geodetic Survey marks the first_really serious effort Wy the Gov- ernment to prepare for future earth- |Quakes in this country. The United | States has:lagged behind every other in| country which has earthquakes earthquake finvestigation. But of what good is it to investigate | earthquakes - when they cannot be ' controlled?® Col. E. Lester Jones, director of the Coast 'and Geodetic —Survey, answers the question in this way: “There. are three possible mental attitudes toward this great problem. First, ignoring the ppssibility of earth- quakes, which is unwise in an earth- quake region: second, accepting the earthquake and its cohsequences in a | spirit of fatalism, which, evitable in ancient day is not a correct modern viewpoint: third, fac- ing the problem squarely and under- taking to find a’ solution which will permit the earthquake to occur with me leagt possible damage and loss of e. though in- Problem of Engineering. “It would be an indictment of modern civilization and of human in- telligence to say that it cannot be solved. Ina large measure the prob- lems belong to engineering. No one | will deny that it is of great value to| know the nature of great storms and when they are coming, as ships can get away from them and certain pre- cautions can be taken on land. For simllar reasons it i Important to| know where, and approximately when, earthquakes are lfkely to occur. “In many reports of earthquakes we read the statement that the earth- | quake would not have done much damage if the building had not been of such indifferent ,construction, and, | again, if in the construgtion of the bullding the character of the geolog- ical formation had béen taken into account thé damage would not have proved serious. It has been estab- lished beyond argument that special methods of construction. greatly re- duce -the . loss of lite_ahd property during earthquakes. ““There are compnrnllvelv few areas in the United States and the regions under its jurisdictions where large cities are subject to damage by major earthquakes. _The problem here fs therefore somewhat modified. How- ever, since all such regions are be. coming steadily dotted with small cities and towns, the problem_differs | only in degree. “The earthquake of February 28, 1925, near the Saguenay River, Que. bec, which was felt over the northeast y::nlnn of t] Unuod«stam present. Al recent | result of remommendations by | 7 to Capital BY FRANK H. SIMONDS WO weeks after the astonishing | election of Marshal von Hin. denburg the German situation | seems still complex and haf fling. So many different interpreta tions have heen put upon the outcome that the lay reader finds himseif still confused. Moreover, we are-still too near the war not to think in terms of war psychology of the German and of his purposes. There is, however, German situation whieh 1 studied with considerable care in Berlin—a phase which T believe has an impor- [tance not to be exaggerated and has so far received on the whole too little notice outside of Germany. The recent election seems at a distance to be, mainly. exclusively a battle between Republican and Monarchist, and the whole domestic political situation to revolve about In_reality this is hardly the case. { You have in Germany, to be sure, the two great contending forces, Repub- jlican and Nationalist, th former com. | prising three political parties, { cialists, the Democrats and the Cath lolic Center: the latter, nominally at least, including the Nationalists, now almost completely centralized into one | party, and the People’s party | represents the great industrialists and | is the party of big business almost ex | clusively Capital and Labor Struggle. But wholly apart from the issue of republic or *monarchy. a new struzzle is developing in Germany, and it is | not mainly connected with this purel political debate. Capital and labor in Germany are stripping for a battle to the finish over the issue of which shall bear the chief burden of reparations payments. Moreover bhig business in Germany is confronted by the problem Lof regaining foreign markets. a thing only possible if German products can be sold cheaply, which in turn means produced cheaply. Now in this great economic struggle which is developing the lines of battle are quite different from those in the political debate over the form of gov ernment. If the Socialists represent Labor exclusively, the other Republi- can parties, the Democratic and the Center, ave made up of members of both classes; there are employers and employed divided by the main issue between capital and labor. Thus at the outset one must see the essential fact thet there is a fundamental lack of unity within the Republican ranks on the greatest domestic issne in Ger- many-—that is. the &onomic issue. On the other side and the People’s party are tially united on the guestion of eco nomics. The Nationalists are domi nated by the agrarian interests, which desire high tariffa on foodstuffs and include the ‘mobility.and the great landowners. The People’s party is. as ] have said, the representative of big business. Moreover, these fwo groups not only have common interests. but they have the tradition of common {action coming from ol imperial day Foreign Confidence Vital. In the matter of republic or mon archy the Nationalists are manifestly | | uncompromisingly for the restoration | of the monarchy. But the situation of | substan the People’s party is slightly different. | In theory, I imagine, the majority of the Peoplé’s party prefer a monarch: but in practice big business is neces | sarily concerned with insuring that [form of government which 1s best | suited to enable it to work advan- | tageously at home and abroad. It ap- proaches the political problem from | the_economic angle. Thus there develops Nationalists and the People’s | obvious line of cleavage. -The big business representatives recognize | clearly that the price of German eco. nomic rehabiliation must be foreig confidence. Germany must have large long-term loans because she lacks capital to get her vast industries to running again; she must have peace because only under peaceful condi- | tions ean she regain foreign markets |and get rid of foreign armies of oc- | cupation. None of these essential requirements would be possible, naturally, if the progress of domestic politics within Germany gave alarm to the outside world. And any attempt to upset the republic now and bring back the mon- archy would manifestly constitute a danger signal to the outside world. | Thug the cardinal principle of the | People’s party has been and remains, between the party an | to adjourn all discussion of the mat- ter of form of government and concen- trate all attention on the restoration of German industrial prosperity. Monarchisme Favored. With this condition, the People’s I party leaders are willing to envisage an eventual restoration of the mon- |archy in some form—not the old form, for they are too intelligent to believe that one can go back to the conditions lof 1914. But thie condition is primor- | dial: If it is not observed their whole | Im Nation’s BY HENRY T. ALLEN, Who Commanded the American Army on he Rbine. The increased consideration to be, i given to aeronautics at the national! ;mmm and naval academies, strongly approved by the respective Cabinet heads of our national defense and the President, indicates a better under standing. on the part of the Govern- | ment of the future greater importance jof the air service. The study of air | wartare and its role in wars of the | future must be catalogned along with | | that of service by land and sea. | It is not to be sipposed that efther the Navy Secretary or the War Secre- tary hopes to make pilots of all mem- bers of the classes that leave the por- tals of our national academies, but they do hope to give a good general knowledge of the subject within the time that may be possible in the al- ready crowded curriculums, and to qualify the graduates at least as ob- servers. The limitations of physical fitness of these graduates for pilots is | no loriger theoretical, but well within the domain of the empirical. Of the West Point output only about one- third can.pass the prescribed air ser fce physical examination, and of these, 120 per cent-more fail in qualifying as | pilots at the end of the vear's training |at the specialized schools: The same would be approximately true of An- napolis. The new policy is but a prelude to new developments in aircraft whereby grenev safety and effectiveneag will one phase of the | these two fixed points. | the So. | which | the Nationalists | \GERMAN CAPITAL-LABOR STRUGGLE NOW AT HAND Distrust Abroad Follows Election of Hin- denburg, and Poli iticians May Seek ize on It purpose and policy falls to the zronnd Last vear. then. Stresemann. the {ablest German politician, maneuvered 10 bring ahout 4 ministry which should | include ‘the Nationalists. who had | hitherto refused to participate, ex clude the Soclalists, but bring in rep resentatives of the other twn repuh lican parties, namely the Democrats and the Center. Such a government would naturally he conservative on economic issues, since it would be con trolled by Nationalists and leaders of | the People’s party, but on the issua of republic monarchy it was to he neutral. at least so far as any decisive action should he concerned In effect. the Stresemann-Luther cabinet was formed with this gram: In foreign politics the man government was to seek to | store “the German situation by ecre- |ating an atmosphere of confidence; it was essential to give »vidence of an | intention to fulfil under the Dawes plan and also to meet the Fremeh | feeling of apprehension by some proof ]ur German willingness to insure French integrity and security withia the frontiers laid down by the treaty of Versailles Meantime on the domestic side theé | position of big business was made secure by the alliance between |the Nationalists and the People’s party, supported by the capitalistie | elements in the Democratic and Cen-! ter parties. The purpose of tha’ | Luther-Stresemann cabinet was to { hold back extreme Nationalistic ac tivity, making concessions when neces- sary. to prevent any raising of the | dynastic question, adjourning for 10 | vears at least—until foreign occupa {tion had terminated—the debate over the form of government That is the kev to all which hap- pened in Germany prior to the Hin- denburg election. That explains the various moves made by Stresemann to satisfy France: it explains the pro. posed peace pacts. the renunciation of any future claim upon Alsace-Lor- raine, the prompt and complete com- pliance with the reparations provi- sions of the Dawes plan. And up to the moment of Ebert's death, despite the protests of the more extreme wing of the Nationalistic camp, the policy prevailed and was bearing fruit in the wayv of increased foreign confi- dence, even in France, When Ebert died an election was forced at the worst conceivable moment for the Luther-Stresemann combina- tion, for while it had made all its con- cessions dbroad, it had so far brought back no results. The evacuation of | the Cologne Zone, fixed by the Treaty of Versallles for early January, had been interrupted by the report of the | Allied Commission that Germany had evaded the disarmament provisions of the treaty. Nothing definite had come of the proposals to France | Neverthles. in the first election the results were satisfactory. No candi date was elected. but the sum of the vote cast for the republican candi- | dates was in excess of that cast for | the nominee of the Nationalists. o | far the returns were entirelv satisfac- tory to the outside world and made a real impression in France. where the | reality of republican sentiment had been generally questioned. It was the common belief in Europe at the mo- ment I sailed home :hat Marx would be elected and that the Luther-Strese. mann policy would bear fruits by early summer. e Von Hindenburg Chosen. But at this point the Nationalists suddenly took the game into their own hands, cast off Jarres, who Wi | doomed to defeat, and chose Hinden- burg. believing, as events proved cor- rectly, that the immense personal pop- ularity of the old marshal would just turn the trick for them and win the election. This left the People’s party In a Qifficnlt situation. Obviously neither Luther nor Stresemann was blind to the fact that if Hindenburg were, elected the foreign complications would be bad: that much of their la boriously engineered foreign negotia- tion wonld be compromised On the other hand, to break with the Natlonalists would mean to_insure, not alone republican success. but snc cess In such form as 1o give labor ma- terfal advantage in the struggle with capital. And 1t would mean, too, quite obvious disintegration within the People’s party. So. between two ob. vious evils and without enthusiasm, the People’s party decided for Hinden burg and supported him with pretty clear unanimity. In a word. forced to the decision, bix business .decided on the line which seemed most advan tageous to itself, but, so far as Luther and Stresemann were concerned, at least with an equally clear realization of the difficulties the Nationalist ma- neuver had insured Now that HMindenburg has been elected, we face the new situation. In reality it Is not new, but the same situation which in a lesser degree prevailed before. Can the Luther- Stresemann cabinet endure? Can it again_establish its fundamental pol- (Continued on Fourteenth Page.) Air Service Looms as Factor Future Defense | be secured, whether by the adaptation of the helicopter principle or other- | wise; and whereby, it is hoped, the demands on pilois may be diminished. The great measure of immunity en- joved by airplanes from land or ship fire, the enlarged sphere of their ac- |tivity and bombing capacity, their lever Increasing carrying power, even of emergency war supplies, and the |advantages that the improved machine I will possess as a post of command, | whether in iand or sea warfare, c pel the study of seronautics at our funda-nental war Institutions. i Impulse Given Aeronautics Regardless of the question of a uni- fied seryice for the air or of its rela- tive importance in war, the greater impulse that will be given to aero- nautics by the new policy is well cone sidered and wise—a measure demand- ed by our national defense. If we are | to measure progress by what has hap- pened within the past 15 years, even since our forces crossed . over to France, it would be indeed difficult to overstate the future value of air ser ice to effective warfare. The future of air navigation and its value in com- merce as well as war challenges a | vivid tmagination. The new policy, | somewhat overfiue, is not based on ithe thought that all young officers from the two academies, or even u ma- jority of them, can qualify as pilots even with radical imorovements in the fiying machine. (Copyright, 1925,)