Evening Star Newspaper, July 5, 1925, Page 25

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATURES EDITORIAL SECTION ° he Sunday St WASHINGTON, D. C Part 2—16 Pages 5, FUTURE OF U. S. FLEET HANGS IN THE BALANCE SUNDAY MORNING, JULY 1925, -y England Proud of Her Debt Settlement; Derives Immense Benefits Therefrom BY SHELDON S. CLINE. ONDON: Great Britain is ALLIES CONCEDE GERMANY MUST BE GREAT POWER Restrictions Lifted Now Are Due to Unvoiced But Apparent Menace to Time Drawing Near When American People Must Decide Upon Permanent the way out is beginning to seem more pos- stinctively sible of realization. It is true there is a large overse: he turns t» the British dominions not one nf Merchant Marine Policy BY G. GOULD LINCOL: OVERNME a means of putting the Gevernment- owned merchant marine more effectively into private Amer- ican hand and as a mean, of assuring permanence of the Amer- ican flug In the overseas trade s quietly’ coming to the fore again. Fortunateiy for the United States, the Government in Washington has clung doggedly tothe merchant fleet of which it became possessed during the World War. It has kept the fleet on the seas. Ships have been s0ld only to go into either the coast- wise trade or the overseas trade under the American flag Eight vears have elapsed since the Government undertook in the stress of war to build up an adequate mer- ehant marine. Time is aiding in the solution of the merchant marine problem, as it does in the solution of other problems. The American people today are in a far better posi- tion to judge what should be done in regard to the merchant marine than they were at the close of the war, or in 1922, when the late Pres. ident Harding sought to force the so-called ship subsidy bill through Congress. Fleet Must Be Kept. But while time is alding in solving the problem, there is one solution which never should be permitted the elimination of the American overseas merchant fleet. Either as Government-owned and operated or as privately owned and operated, the fleet should be maintained and fur- ther developed. The needs of American commerce and American national defense demand it. Under the direction of President Leigh C. Palmer of the Fleet Cor- poration, great strides have been made in bringing about the more economical and efficient operation of the Government-owned fleet. This progress is shown in the reduction in the losses of the cargo vessels. A little more than a year ago -the loss per vessel per voyage was up- ward of $25.000. Today this loss is below $17,000. Admiral Palmer is confident that this loss on the cargo vessels of the Government can be reduced ultimately to $8,500; that is the goal toward which the Fleet Cor- poration is now working. A rise in freight rates, another great war, might bring about a still further re- duction, or entirely wipe out the los: Heavy Depreciation Loss. In addition to the loss due to opera- tion, there is the loss due to deprecia- tion, and it has been figured that th loss on the cargo fleet averages about | D00 per voyage. In other word: total loss would be $13,500 per voyage if the efforts of the Fleet Corporation to reduce the operating expenses and to increase the revenues through freight are ultimately crowned with success. With the present operating fleet of some 300 vessels this would mean an annual loss to the Govern- ment of $30,000,000. At present the Government 'is not figuring the de- preciation loss. But if ships are to be kept on the ocean eventually they must be replaced with new, and 20 vears is the life usually allotted to a cargo vessel. The operating loss would be $10,000,000 a year, and the replace- ments’ would cost about $20,000,000 annually The Government has in operation 15 passenger and combination passenger and cargo liners, including the great Leviathan and the George Washing- ton. The replacement cost of this fleet would average about £10,000,000 a vear. If these vessels can be made to break even, taken as a whole, on their operations, then the total cost to the Government, year in and year out, under_the conditions outlined, would approximate $40,000,000 — $30,000,000 for replacements and $10,000,000 for operating losses The studies made by the Fleet Cor- poration, and upon which Admiral Palmer bases his conclusions, indicate that operating losses on privately owned American overseas vessels can be made very much less than on the Government-owned vessels. In fact, the average private owner, it is be- lieved, could reduce the loss per voy- age of the cargo vessels to $4,500. Measure of Government Aid. Tt there is to be Government aid to private American overseas shipping this $4,500 per voyage may be taken as the ‘measure of such aid so far as the cargo vessels are concerned. The passenger ves: present a somewhat different problem. To grant such aid to all the Govern- ment-owned vessels and the privately owned vessels flying the American flag in overseas trade would amount fo about 37,500,000 a year. Passenger and mail lines would require probably another $7,500,000, and the total esti- mated Government aid would be $15,- 000,000 to maintain the present Ameri- can overseas fleet, cargo and pas- senger vessels and Government owned and privately owned, on a_competitive basis with the merchant fleets of for- eign/nations. This is the lowest estimate of Gov- ernment aid needed for the merchant marine yet advanced. But it has this advantage over other estimates—it is made after much careful study and With the facts more fully developed. Operation vs. Subsidy. Bear this in n Continued Gov- #mment operation of the merchant Yyessels means an expenditure of about $40.000,000. including replacement €Osts. Government ald required to keep this fleet going in private opera- tion, plus the vessels now in private operation under the American flag and in the ov s trade, would cost about $15.000,000. Obviously the saving to the taxpayers if Government aid were adopted would be $25,000,000 annually. The Congress and the people have to determine whether they prefer to continue as at present, with the Government paying all the losses of the fleet now maintained, or whether they desire to grant some kind of Gov- ernment aid to meet the differential between the cost of operation of an American vessel and the cost of opera- tion of a British or a German or a Japanese ship. “Subsidy” is a distasteful term to the American public. But Govern- ment aid to the merchant marine for the purpose of the national defense and the promotion of commerce takes on another aspect. a Crews in Naval Reserve. Chairman O'Connor of the Shipping Board has already announced personal desire to see established Government ald through pavments to the crews of merchant vessels sufficient to offset the wage differential now to the ad- vantage of foreign shipping men, the members of the crews becoming in ef- { | wheat |French Clergymen Live . fect naval reservists. Organized labor does not take to this proposal, tearing Government control of the seamen thereby. The United States Chamber of Com- merce has announced itself in favor of Government aid to merchant ship- | ping s0 as to put the fleet permanently | into private operation. Admiral Palmer, president of the Fleet Corporation, to which the oper tion of the fleet has been turned over by the Shipping Board at the direc- tion of the President, in an address recently delivered in Seattle, declared that the program should include “‘an aggressive and well thought-out plan to transfer the Government fleet to private ownership on terms that pr tect the Government interests and at the same time give the buyer an op- | portunity for profit that will insure his continuance indefinitely in the trade.” He did not attempt to specify the form of Government aid that should be given. leaving that to Congress and the President. The president of the Fleet Corporation is giving his at tention to the efficient operation of the fleet. But he has made clear the situation so that those charged with the duty of formulating the govern- mental policies of the United States may act with a full knowledge of the facts. Value of Merchant Marine. The value of a permanent Amerl- can merchant marine to American merchant marine to American com- merce is becoming more and more clear to American business and Ameri- can producers, as the years go by. It provides surer and more adequate service; it gives the Americans some chance to say what rates shall be for carryving goods overseas. Whether Government aid to ship- ping would have to be a permanent establishment time only could tell. The more firmly American shipping becomes established, however, the less it should need assistance from the Government. The great possibilities found in the industrial carrier, which transports to foreign countries the products of American concerns, the | concerns which own the ships, and | brings back to these concerns raw | materfals, are becoming more and| more recognized. One of the greatest | things that could happen for private | American shipping would be for| American manufacturing concerns to | invest their money in ships. In a, measure, the owners of the ships would then be the owners of the basic | cargoes which the ships would carry overseas. The money made in the | trading ventures would more than off- | set, in most cases, any losses which the ships, as delivery wagons, might entail. The advertisement to the | American concerns derived from ship- ping in their own vessels would be no' small item. Why should not a com- munity of American interests, doing business abroad, shipping out of the | same port, not become the owners of | ship lines to handle their goods and bring back raw materials or commer- cial cargo? There are infinite possi- bilities in such a program. Where Politics Enters In. Probably political expediency will largely determine whether or not the next session of Congress will tackle the subject of Government aid to merchant shipping. If sentiment in fa- vor of such aid crystallizes sufficiently there will undoubtedly be a move for | legislation. But if the country is| lukewarm, or the members of Con- | gress believe it to be lukewarm, then | nothing will be dome. It is a fact, however, that many people in the South and the West who looked | askance on Government aid to ship- ping are inclined now to study the matter more thoroughly. The interest of the American pro- ducer in the establishment of a per- manent privately owned and operated merchant marine was forcibly ex- | pressed by a representative of big | and flour interests at the national foreign trade convention in Seattle, Wash. When the producers | of the éountry, both industrial and agricultural, become fully alive to the desirability of such a merchant ma- | rine the battle will be won. 2 P! Longer Than Others Statistics which reached the labor | department recently indicate that| French clergymen and business men live longer thdn men in other profes- sions, their average being 65 vears for clergymen and 64 for men in busi- ness. Next come the farmers, with an average of 61 years of life, while soldiers, lawyers and workers, though living under entirely different condi- tions, average 57 years. School- teachers and physicians show the lo est average, 52 vears. This is ex- plained by the fact that educators, from the university professor down to the country schoolmaster, are under- pald. The report does not seem flat. tering to the government. It says: “Officials are as underpaid as the pro-. fessors, but while the latter have to furnish strenuous mental effort, which should be supplemented by better food and less material worry, the former lead a sedentary, carefree existence and mater!1l worries do not shorten their lives.” wd Porch Beggars Cro Of Massimo Palace Massimo Palace, in the Corso Vit.! torio Emmanuele, in Rome, is one of the guide book sights. But most tourists know it as the nameless porch that is packed with beggars at night. They do not know that the beggars are there by virtue of a property right as solemnly granted as any oil con- cession ever granted to the predatory rich. Hundreds of years ago Prince Mas- simo, being of pious mind and chari- tabie disposition, gave to the beggars of Rome the right to sleep on his front | porch, which was elegantly adorned with ‘marble columns 4nd tracery. The said beggars bequeatiied: the said right to their heirs and assigns to all eternity. So every night the visitor may see the porch occupied by scantily dressed old zentlemen and their wives, cook- ing their supper over alcohol lamps, or taking their ease on pillows of burlap and straw. | the countries where it is necessary to inquire as to the chances that debts owed America will be paid world knows, Great Britain is her debts to us. It probably through banking loans Great H rowed from the United States mistice about as much as the Britih govern- ment has paid on account of the war loans. But that doesn’t lessen the importance of the fact that payments on account of debts have been undertaken. It also is bling about it. any permanent significance. even makes for any serious good feeling between intelligent Englishman with fact that he is immensely of its external war debts. true that the British making payments on account of the war debts without a great deal of growling and srum- But I don’t think I don’t think it impairment _of the two countries. whom talked has made any attempt to conceal the proud country was the first to undertuke payment And, being a p tical sort of person, well versed in the W army official As all the to examine this is paying true that ain has bor- ¢ e the ar about half a te. It also is heavily taxed, in chief topic of conve It ix as much a the war is at home. are not getting used to and that has like debt settlement, but as a whole, the approval of the would not be levied. No 1 have that his grams of ernment Stanley Ramsay ac- dwin. of credit, he knows his country already derived immense benefits therefrom, sees prospect of greater benefits to come. Why Englishmen Growl. He growls over the terms cans will understand that. ister of England. It suppose that if there is not were any and deep-seated resentment over the terms of wettlement the author of that settlement would now head the British government Despite the rabid utterances of a few anti-American journals, believe there is in England any great volume of informed opinion which holds Uncle Sam or even a harsh creditor Englishmen, as a rule, do not seem to think that the terms of the American settlement are more stringent than England ought to impose upon its debtors on the continent of Europe. 1f soreness at all over the debt question it is principally because England has toriously to be a usurer there is any of simply because it is the Englishman’'s way to growl at what his government does. They little growling at their own Government. don't lose sight of the fact that Stanley Bald- win, the man who conducted the funding ne- gotiations at Washington, is now prime min- reasonable to and E the terms of the debt payments on a rather insignificant British income. At settlement Ameri- not a And a0 d the the 60-ye The 000,000, within 000,000, for $4 per capita me-t widespread Qi€ tenth Of course, led upon an already o I v I do mot gelt. The proportion kets than it ever the markets abroad and of unemvloved—1 figure—but when unemployment detail we shall see that the situation is on s bad as the figures would ind true that and the British people s fact, universal theme as enforc ment, or non-enforcement, of the liquor laws But a people can get almost anything, and the British people are adjusting the taxes their government has imposed. There is a lot of grumbling over the taxes, there is grumbling over it taxes British people, There hasn't been any fundamental difference MacDonal and the conservative Payments Comparativel far as the actual amounts involved under principal and inter: present the annual ments call only for slightly rgest ar period is less than payments L tax on the British people of I This is probably the annual per capita charze the people subjected themselv the purpose of making loans to Europe the fact now heavily burdened indus- try and people makes its weight more keenly of which is net profit is & great deal smaller than 1 it used to be and British industry is forced to meet keener competition in the world’s mar- met equipment of all the world was greatly en- larged as a result of the war, and it now trying to find employment for itself. war Americans_ got 50,000 is the latest we come later on question in curtailing gotten on an British industry Even heavily taxed, so that taxation is the tion wherever you go. cotto thouzht crease of used to themselves to vigor, being is a that of our the the American is certain that, taken are levied with the else the play the wheat and portation Kingdom Ameri beefl I the taxation pro- laborite gov- government in Small. 2 hec a le countries. mal, littl here. ¥ prefer not certainly they can of the annual or st represent 3 of the annual settlement, fraction e than $160.- payment $188, call than not more than me annual this year will 3 that th ing America. trader. buy can that sell as ere to for that this\ charge is find total British income have at least no pass away industry find very that maintain a this before. The plant is v During deeply into British the Germans are objective he befor spinners were seeking to develop within they Americ much of the Americ be not enough left for the British. Since the war this movement Queenslanad, possible cotton of now an beef cannot com@ete in extent in American wheat large financial reason will buy I would not want to convey entiment The He is going to buy wherever he 1o best it is a much United States as possible said seated resentment is the United Stiates seems determined kas been It must be confessed that this program of purchases in Ame very cious individ ca has not , but the Britisher is a tena al, and once he gets his mind is likely to stick to it. war the Lancashire cotton ources of e they e the the fore: empire, becau a day when the in- spindles would use o n crop that there would aw an is latest being fleld to pushed with greater come under study in Australia, where there area at least equal to own Southern States. Economic Forces Help. World-wide economic forces are helping to British game so far as American beet products are concerned. Im- American beef into the United is negligible, simply because price with Tast the United elsewhere. vear Kingdom took a great deal of American wheat © hortages in Canad: and to other wheat-exporting if this_year's crops are nor- will he marketed the British ca, and they America when wtage elsewhere. the impression nything approach- cotting trade with is, first and last, a n nd sell wherever he market, but he feels national policy that he buy as little from the to buy from Am not huy from to better ad is in England for boy Britisher advantage profitable necessary to and that I cannot find any deep- over the debt settlement resentment which is not likel when times get better and Br more fully employed. But bitter resentment over the o sh do fact to marine of its own, and revival of 1 merchant intensified the not been able to arrive at as satisfactory settlement with France and Italy as the United States has arrived at with England. England would like to do with respect to her own debtors in Europe exactly what America has done with respect to England. Once for Cancellation. It is true that some time ago there w a good deal of sentiment in England for an all-around cancellation of war debts. But don't get the notion for a minute that any spirit of altruism was responsible for that sentiment. A section of the British people favored cancellation because they believed, all things considered, canceMation would be to the benefit of British interests. Ask any frank Englishman whether, had his country been in the position America was with re- spect to war debts, he would have favored all-around cancellation, and he will answer promptly and emphatically that he would not. So those earnest and well intentioned souls in the United States who fear Anglo-Ameri- can friendship has been jeopardized because the American Government insisted upon its just dues can dismiss their apprehensions No Englishman whose opinions count has any such notion. But there is no denying that the debt set- tlement, lenfent as it was, imposes a hardship on the British government and British in- dustry. But the British do no more than normally complain of this. They know that the payment of debts always is a hardship, and they know, too—at least the more intelli- gent of them do—that the American people underwent hardships to earn and save the money they loaned to England. They know something of the sacrifices made in American homes to pay for the Liberty bonds subscribed for under the pressure of war necessity and s fighting tooth and nail to get back the mar- kets they once had. If it wasn’t for the tax on German industry imposed by the Dawes plan, British industrialists would be warranted in taking a gloomy view of the future. That is a chief reason why the Dawes plan is so popular in England, and is a big offset to any ill-feeling that might have been engen dered by the debt settlement with Ameri Must Get Dollar Credits. The great difficulty in the debt is to find ways and means of « British assets into dollars at New ship gold there is impractical, as America already holds approximately half of the world’s available stock of gold. The Brit- ish would like to pay their debt charges with goods, but their requirements compel them to buy more goods in the United States than they are able to sell there, and the necessity for settlement of the balances of trade against them adds perplexity to their problem. They have to get dollar credit therefore, wherever they can, and one re- course is to buy such credits with profits earned in trade elsewhere. That goes against the grain. It would go against anybody's grain This brings us to the starting polnt of what may be a very great revolution in the whole scheme of British trade and industry, which may in a large -degree revolutionize the trade of the world, and profoundly aftects Americans in every walk of life. It is dif- ficult to foresee what displacements may take place and what readjustments be necessary before world trade swings back to an even course. question verting York. To No Animus Toward U. S. by agitation at home for a ship subsidy Englishman feels that he ought to be per- mitted to do America’s ocean carrying, first, because he thinks he can do it more economi- cally, and, second, because he thinks America ought to be willing to permit him, either with goods or service. to earn the amounts he has to pay on his 7 1d not force him to do it with profits out de. From the Englishman’s point of view, there is no reason why Americans should aspire down to the sea in ships” He sees the United States zreat, scantily devel- oped country, compared with his homeland, and he thinks there is plenty to do at home to keep all Americans busy. For him, sea- faring is a stern necessity. He amust hav ships to carry foodstuffs for his people and raw materials to keep his factories busy and to take his finished products to market, and when he can do a thing so well he feels he ought not to he opposed by the competition of & people whom he thinks can do it only badly. Americans are not asked to subscribe to this British view, but it is the British view, and as such must be taken into the reckoning. Other Bi There must be left phases of the British situation which are of intense interest to Americans, not that their problems are comparable to ours, but because Americans are bound to be profoundly af- fected by the solutions which the British reach. One of the most intensely interesting of these problems is the efforts now making to bring the component parts of the British empire into closer relations with and greater dependence upon the mother country. Great Britain seems to be much in the situation of an aging parent who sees her children grow- The to “go h Problems. for following articles | particularly of the compulsion of public opinion. a notion, of course, that all Europeans think but intelligent Englishman. Americans are millionaires, true of the Hardship to British. all scarcely The hardship to the British comes in finding the charges on account of the principal and in- Not that the British people are so hard up as surface ap- They are a good than anvbody a year ago 't was possible they could be. the impression they are by any means out of the woods, but ways and means of meeting terest of the debt to America. pearances might indicate. deal better off today don't mesn to convey There is Understand, there that 1is to be the hard considerable sum of to pay it with in order to keep his his labor emploved, tective tariff system market from being s If he cannot annual thought 1 that less from America. therefor 'SHIPPERS SAVE MILLIONS BY SCIENTIFIC PACKING Thousands of Eggs Now Reach Peru With None Broken as New Methods Are Put in Effect. BY HENRY L. SWEINHART. HUMP! Bangity, bang, bang, bang! Those who have stood at a railroad station and heard a precious trunk with valu- ables inside come “smashing” down from a high trunk onto a con- crete platform, know something of the importance of proper packing. This is magnified a dozen times when goods have to be shipped thousands of miles and transferred perhaps a half dozen times from one vehicle of transportation to another; from freight train to steamer to lighter to automo- bile to muleback and what-not before they reach their destination in the interior of Bolivia, China or other distant part of the world. In order that American goods may arriye at foreign ports in ship-shape condition and maintain the standard of excellence which is desired for them, officlals of this Government, the Department of Commerce, have been pounding.home on manufacturers and exporters the necessity of packing properly. The Department ot Commerce has made a careful scientific study of the meth- ods of packing to be employed for all kinds of products and for all sorts of conditions. Shippers Learn Lesson. American exporters are now seeing their shipments arrive in first<lass condition in all parts of the world, and, according to reports received here, there are few causes for com- plaint due to breakage or similar mis- hap. Although there may have been just greunds for criticism at one time, it is claimed that in this particular the foreign shipping of the United States is now comparable to that of any other nation. Great improvement has taken place during the past few years, it is asserted, and it is only in exceptional instances that con- signees abroad receive damaged goods. Esgs are among the products which are now being exported from the United States in increasing quantities, and a recent shipment of thousands to Peru was reported to have arrived This is more remarkable in view of the fact that they had to be trans ferred ashore in lighters and other- wise handled several reaching their final market. While Peru is not a regular market for eggs from the United States, it was neces- sary for them to import some this yvear because of the exceptional rains and inundations which put the Central Railway, which links Lima, the capi tal, with the interior of the country out of commission temporarily, =0 that part of its food supply was cut off. Officials See Improvement. O. P. Hopkins, acting chief of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Com- merce of the Department of Com- merce, sees in this an illustration of the care which shippers here are now taking in preparing goods for foreign markets. The work which the depart- ment has been doing, not only din calling the attention of American manufacturers and exporters to the importance of proper packing, but also in studying the problem and giving them the benefit of the information gained, is showing results all along the line, it is believed. These results are taking the form of dollars and cents, and millions of dollars are be- ing added annually to the sales of American products abroad, it is con- fidently asserted, because of the im- proved packing methods employed. The study which the department has made on this subject covers every- thing from candy and rubber shoes to automobiles and rallroad cars. Not only were tests made as to the carry- ing quality of different kinds of con- tainers, but climatic and port condi- tions in varjous parts of the world were taken*into careful consideration in the recommendations which have been prepared by the Department of Commerce. A large part of the work in this investigation was con- ducted in co-operation with the Forest Products Laboratory, at Madison, Wis., which made exhaustive tests into the strength of boxes and barrels of various shapes and sizes and made of different kinds of wood. ‘without a single egg being broken.” “The increasing emphasis placed on (Continued on Third Page) 1s America in this threatened Britisher is governed by what he conceives necessities He has got to pay America each year a very money. the goods but ¥ sell Ameri him that the logical course is for him to bu He , for other sources of supply for the things he cannot produce at home, and in- | no antmus revolution. toward jng up The e of the situation ing compels seems that their al There England—I quarter: closer apart He would like he manufactures factories running and the American pro- avents the American 1 open field for him. more, it seems to is looking around, {he mimest will be the and children are loval in sentiment and their af- fection is undiminished, but they have grow- interests them orption seems —that together or entirely. bring the empire ¢ drifting away from her. The of their 10 serve, they not in their o be a have heard it own which necessity nd to the parent it a little selfish In own affairs. growing belief in voiced in numerous the empire must be brought it is in danger of falling Che steps being taken to ser together and some of insuperable obstacles in the way subject of my next article, (Copyright, 1925.) CLASH OF WORLD IDEALS "POSSIBLE CAUSE OF WAR |Newspaper Discussion of Bo]shevismj Viewed as Reflecting Public Anxiety Over Future Property Rights. BY WILLIAM ALLI American newspapers WHITE. in all sin. times before | cerity are greatly, and probably quite properly, excited about bolshevism. The bolshevists, so the newspapers declare, are responsible for the trou- ble in China. The bolshevists are re- sponsible for the trouble in Mexico. The bolshevists, of course, are in control in Russia and are making bitter medicine in Central Europe. A high priest of prosperity the other day declared there were 100,000 bol- shevists in America. He was right. America is property minde be- lieves with tremendous earnestness in the divine right of capital to rule the land and so govern the world. Never before in our history has pub- lic sentiment as expressed in our po- litical leaders been so completely con- vinced that all human rights are cir- cumscribed by property rights. Now, there is outside of America a consid- erable cult of amiable, easy-going people who believe in other rights more strongly than they believe in property rights. Conditions in Mexico. The Mexican government is work- ing under a constitution which clear- 1y expresses a low opinion of property rights. The Chinese obviously are in that lax and unhappy state of mind where they don’t care much of a dollar. They offend us. We see in this large complacence at the trou- bles of property a blow at civilization as we understand it. We Americans, particularly we who assay 100 per cent, feel that those citizens of for- eign climes who disagree with our high notions of human justice are outlaws and should be wiped from the face of the earth. The northern civilization which the United States embraces has for its basic idea the belief, deeply grounded in every citizen, that capital—the sav- ings of yesterday for the use of to- morrow—is a sacred _institution. Hence debt paying is a fundamental virtue with the United States. Punc- tuality, thrift, industry, frugality are cardinal virtues, for they all promote and protect and produce capital—that is. these virtues make men fore- handedsand provide for posterity. The civilization of Mexico is essen- tially Latin—plus an Indian hang- over. It cares little for capital. It esteems debt paying, punctualit thrift and industry as minor and un important virtues, because Mexico is not interested in tomorrow. The philosophy of the North believes in postponed rewards. in deferred pros- perity, in tomorrow’s good. The philosophy of the South believes in life for the hour. “Eat, drink and be merry,” is the slogan of the Mexican, “for ‘tomorrow ye may die.” aggregates of capital, with all the rights, privileges and _immunities which' large aggregates of capital re- quire, have little standing in the re- public to the south of us. Here are two distinct ideals func- tioning in two neighboring civiliza- tions. Obviously the American can- not have his American capitalistic rights respected in Mexico. Obvi- ously the Mexican cannot have his rights to a good time uninfringed ere. Says “Clash Must Come.” The clash must come. One idea or the other must perish. The con- tinent is not big enough for the two ideas—except that wise, unselfish | Christian rules hold the peace. But Americans are in an imperial mood. They believe in fighting for the rights of capital. They will not brook in- sult. The Mexican will not refrain from insulting what we think is sa cred. Bloodshed is sure to_follow, and war will follow insult and blood- shed. So wars are bred. In thi§ threat- ened clash of world ideals only the quick, earnest work of those who love peace will prevent another great world war, (Oopyright, 1928.) Large | BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. HE announcement, other day, that troops would be withdrawn from the Ruhr within period fixed by the agreement of London, last Summer, a detail, but) a very important detail in the Dawes plan, must be accepted as of more than passing importance, because it is certainly the forerunner of an even more important withdrawal, namel that from the Cologne zone, which was fixed by the Treaty of Versailles for January 10 of this year. The de lay was due, if one accept the allied statement, to the German violations of this disarmament provision of the Treaty of Versailles, but in any event acuation was impossible unti rench and Belgians were out of the Ruhr, because their lines of com munication passed through the Co. logne zone. The announcement of the upon a date for evacuating the Co. {logne zone will be one of the most important in post-war history, because of its moral effect in Germany 11 was in Barlin few months ago nothing was more striking than the general conviction that the allies—and in practice the French, meant to stay permanently on the Rhine and all forecasts of eventual evacuation were idle. Most of the Germans with whom I talked were satisfied that in the last analysis the French would not go and the British would not be able Lo make their allies retire. Gave Nationalists Strength. This conviction was, and is, in my | judgment, one of the strongest ele- ments in the Nationalist strength at the moment. They have steadily ar made the the French agreement |that France had for centuries been | striving for the Rhine frontier and now that she again occupled it, would hold fast. In the same fashion they reasoned that all concessions, all ef forts to perform under the Treaty of Versailles, all policies of fulfilment were worse than futile, because each German vielding only invited and pro- ‘\lwkmi fresh allied demands. Thus the retirement from the Ruhr will be in jtself the first authentic «ign of the mistaken promises of Na tionalistic pronouncements, while the retirement from the Cologne zone will be final evidence of the fact that the French determination nently to hold the left bank Rhine does not now exist. gether these two events will have a very profound influence in shaping German policy with respect of a gua antee pact and German sentiment toward her western nelghbors, pro vided only the Cologne evacuation is |not too long delayed. perma of the Taken to. Change Is Vital of fact. the the allied »gnize that liquidation of all war sanction has arrived. Germany has unmistakably reached that point in | her recovery from the effects of her | defeat when it will no longer be | possible to treat her as a conquered nation, as a country under sentence of an international court. To coerce Germany in her present state would mean present trouble and eventual war. There is nothing particularly new lin" the present phase of Germany. France went through precisely the same state following the Napoleonic |collapse. For several vears -allied {armies " occupied soil _and | France was subjected to every form jof international interference. But jthe time came when European El esmen, and Brifish primarily. were wise enough te see that further interference, further coercion, so far | from insuring either peace or security {for the neighbors of France or for that Bourbon regime which the al- | Hes of 1815 had established in Paris, | threatened both. | Accordingly the allied armies went {home and France was left in posses sion_of her territory as it had been ixed in the treaty which liquidated {an earlier great war. It is true that |the victoriou allies made secret | agreements among themselves, con !tinued to watch France with appre hension_and felt a moment of alarm when, vears after Waterloo, France threw the Bourbons off the throne, sut by that time their ability to in erfere had passed. Effect Just Opposite. Underlying the decision of a cen tury ‘ago was the recognition that occupation and interference designed to promote security and preserve peace were having just the opposite effect. Frenchmen of every shade of political sentiment resented with equal violence the presence of for- leign troops and the limitation of French independence. After a decade {of terrific struggle against all Europe Napoleon had fallen only because in the end the French people tired of the strain and came to view the strug- gle rather as one resulting from the | personal ambition of the Emperor than of having real importance for |the nation. But for 20 vears, while France felt that her own freedom and integrity were at stake, she stood off Europe. The great danger then, a century ago, as the allied leaders perceived it, was that as a result of continued occupation the French people should again be moved by the spirit which |sent them to the frontiers in 1752, that the supervision, designed to pro- mote peace, should provoke another | national uprising. New to a degree, at least, the same situation exists to- day with respect of Germany, and the single remed—- which one can dis- cover is that applied more than a hundred years ago. Germany Disarmed. Germany has been disarmed, not completely, but as completely as s humanly possible. Her fortresses have been razed, her fleet has disap- peared. To preserve such a situa- tion it would be necessary not alone to keep allied garrisons permanently on the Rhine and in the Ruhr; it would be necessary to keep allied gar- risons in every part of Germany. It would be necessary, in'reality, to pre- vent German recovery, economic as well as political, because only a help- less people would consent to remain permanently in such a state of weak- ness. But it is perfectly clear that it is impossible to keep garrisons all over Germany, and at’ the conference . of London last year the allies there rep- resented accepted the principle that Germany should be permitted Yo re- cover economically—even more, that she should be aided to. attain that recovery. After that it was plainly the course of wisdom to seek to make peace with Germany as soon as pos- sible, peace In the sense of some Now. In point rived when have to ri time has ar nations will complete and treaty Peace if C the | When | that | { gued that the allies would never go, | ontinued. | viable allies | mans Political changes in France, in Brit ain, in Germany itself, have delayed this adjustment, yet it is manifest that the postponement has worked harm |and may be well nigh fatal to Euro. |pean peace. The guarantee pact which is now under discussion and must dominate all other international questions for many weeks to come is |no more or less than one more and |the most serious attempt to find a basis for settlement with Germany. settlement, acceptable at least tolerable to the the o Ger. Has Humorous Aspect. Certainly it without its hum orous side that just 11 years after the crisis out of which the World War |emerged Europe should be solemnly |discussing _ the way to consolidate |peace, with the question specifically raised by German offer to guarantes the frontiers of her western neighbors, almost literally to give the same sort of commitment with respect of France nd Belgium that she gave with re- spect of Belgium in 1839. And Britain is proposing to underwrite that com- mitment by guaranteeing the guaran- tee pact. But this circumstance |serves to emphasize the fact that rope has appreciated the truth that the roads to any settlement must lead | through Berlin The evacuation of tory, the admission |the League of Nations, the making of a bilateral guarantee pact with |Germany, the- winding up of interna- tional or allied supervision of German disarmament and the substitution of |some form of League of Nations con |trol, all of these things which are now |in the day’s news were nearly unthink- |able three vears ago, when the French and Belglan troops went into the |Ruhr, and collectively they illustrate |how profoundly the views of the states- |men of various nations have changed in this brief time. Problem Has Changed. ardily, perhaps, but with increas- rity, the statesmen of all cogintries are perceiving that the real question of pe war in Eu cannot depend sofely or mainly upon the preservation of an overwhelmingly strong group of nations exercising »mplete control over other nations, disarmed and occupied by armies re resenting the predominant group. The {problem of staying in Germany has, |almost overnight. given way to that |of getting out of Germany | ._Under the terms of the treaty of | Versailles allied troops were to stay |in certain parts of the Rhineland | until 1935, and the ultimate disposition | of the Saar Basin was to be deter- { mined ‘in that vear by & plebiscite. 3ut already there is discussion of shortening the time of the occupation, and no Frenchman has the smallest illusion as to the result of any plebl- | scite in the Saar,. and. therefore. no real interest in the holding of such a | test. " On the contrary, it does not re- | auire too great optimism to forecast | that there will be no plebiscite and ‘mac allied troops will be out of the German Rhineland before 1935 or that in this year the Saar will be turned back to Germany. Republic’s Life in Air. The relation of the Bourbons to the allies of 1815 in the end doomed them with the French nation. It is still open to question whether the German republic will be able to sur- { vive the’long period of enforced com- pliance with allied demands, but what |is now manifest is that whether | Germany retains the republic or re- | turns to \Ge monarchy, it will be im- | possible for her opponents and con- | querers to direct her course per- manently, At the moment Germany is domi- | nated by a tremendous sense of un- deserved inequality: the German people with passion and with unan imity resent not alone the condi- | tion of physical inferiority which the | terms of the treatles of peace imposed | upon them, but at least with equal | vehemence the assumption of moral superiority which the allies disclose in their attitude, both official and per- sonal. -More emphatically than he | demands the abolition of the Polish idor or the return of Upper Silesi, the German demands that he | shall have the treatment appropriate to a member of one of the great peoples and that his country shall be addressed in language and manner suitable to a great power. Complete Freedom Wanted. No German cabinet, government, political party could endure which again consented to recelve messages couched in the terms which were em- ployed invariably between the end of the fighting and the London confer- ence. Nothing in the new G which is rising is more than this determination to obtain complete freedom within German frontiers and equal treatment beyond these frontier If Germans are divided on a score of domestic issues, separated widely on the great ques- tion of republic monarchy. they are as one in their determination to obtain for their country complete {liberty and absolute equality In the face of this universal state of mind, it is plain that prolonged allied occupation of German soil, repetitions of military inspections, any sort of treatment which of itself dis- al the purpose to hold Germany down, can have only one consequence. It must, in the very nature of things, rouse a passionate and even an \m. reasoning resentment, which at “no distant time would make Germany:a very real menace to the peace of the world. Any visitor in Germany now will, T feel sure, be struck with the fact that |there is a_ very great similarity be- tween the feeling of the German over |the fashion in which he and his coun- |try are treated and the feeling of the Japanese over the attitude disclosed in our exclusion policy. And in both cases one Is dealing with imponder- ables, with human emotions which one cannot accurately appraise, but must very clearly recognize. All Views Justified. I do not believe there is any man alive who can forecast what the new Germany Is to be, whether it is to be dominated by the old order, or evolve into a permanent republic, as France did after 1870. The visitor can find support for any view he may desire to justify and no completely satisfying evidence to prove any case. It is, per- haps, a question still unsettled, and not to be settled until the events of the nmext few years have exercised a decisive influence. But one impression 1 did very defi- nitely bring.away from Germany, and that was that the new Germany would be essentlally German, that the events of the war and post-war periods had (Continued on Third Page) is not German terri- of Germany to impressive