Evening Star Newspaper, July 12, 1925, Page 31

10,000,000 BREAK LAWS IN THE U. S. EACH YEAR Americans, Confro nted by Countless Unknown Regulations, Innocently Shatter Many Statutes. eI ERR BY WILLIAM P. HELM, Jr. AWBREAKERS throughout the United States number not less than 10,000,000 a year. Indeed, the number may be twice esreat; there are no statistic with Which to blanket the Nation Here and there the figures have been collected and their startling import is that at least one adult out of every efzht in the country is arrested once during the course of 12 months for violating the law—some law. That is conservative. The propor- tion may run as high as one arrest to every four or five adul “ar @nd away the greatest number of violations occur in the class of minor and often annoying restrictions tten into our law hooks by local governing hoards. The traffic laws oken, perhaps, more often than any other, chiefly because they are of ‘as many different kinds as there agencies enforcing them. Take Washington, for instance, the Nation’s Capital. @rdinarily Wash. ington, as the seat of the Federal Government, is reckoned among the honor cities in law observance. There were 34,529 arrests in Washington last Year for traffic violations alone. One in Twelve Arrested. Little more than an hour's ride away, in the City of Baltimore, whose populition is more than half in as great as that of Washington, ons resulted in 33,170 in r the two cities, with a combined population of about 1.250,000, traffic arrests alone totaled 67,999. One adult out of about every twelve in these two communities was haled into the Traffic Court. And that means that one autoist out of every four or less broke the law. There about 18,000,000 motor cars in the United States. If the rest of the country is as law-abiding as the National Capital and its nearest large neighbor 5,000,000 persons are arrested for breaking the traffic laws out the United States every much for those unlucky motor- who get caught What about thos who break the law and get away with it? It is the writer's ob- servation that at least 10 infractions of the traffic laws are made with im- punity to every 1 that meets with arrest. Perhaps, however,, that esf m To 'be ultra- conservativ ay that for every man arre lating the traffic laws two men violate the same laws and are not apprehended ists Lawless Car Drivers. On that premise. we have 10,000,000 additional lawbreakers on the traffic side of the case alone—10,000,000 men ind women who break the law dur- ing the vear and get away with it. Add that total to the number who are caught, and our trafic lawbreakers mount to 15,000,000. That means, on the average, that almost everybody driving a car breaks the law at least once a year All to laws and tens of thousands more broken untold times within a single vear. Other kindred thou sand The Roman Emperor Justinian, 1,400 years ago, found his empire so be- deviled by accumulated laws that he selected 2,000 of the best, put them in a code and threw the others into the discard. The day seems hastening when there must come relief from uation. At heart and in daily t. Americans are law abiding. n that, the overwhelming ma re eager to keep the law. They with unessential law they are the laws. vet ‘we all. on the average, break the law. Why is it? Mainly, it would appear, because there are 80 many laws that we cannot possibly learn them all. Most of us try to ob- serve the laws we know about. None of us, however, has time, opportunity or memory sufficient to learn and re- tain the whole of law by which we are required to conduct ourselves in doing our full duty by our neighbors. M Somewhere 40,000,000 local laws towns and put up because And ions of Laws. between 5,000,000 and lies the actual number of in effect in the cities, counties of the United States. No man can guess within 0,000,000 of the accurate number, Whether the truth swings toward the 5,000,000 minimum or the 40,000,000 maximum, no man know To count these laws would be the of an ordinary lifetime. It has are dead letters, never enforced. | simply | never been undertaken. The chances | are it never will be. One might as well attempt to count the drops of water in the lake or the flakes that swirl with the Winter winds. Here and there, within the past week or =o, a mayor or a city clerk | has counted or carefully estimated for your correspondent the number of local laws governing his city. Twelve instances have been selected as typi- cal of replies from 50 representative cities. They are the happy mean, running neither to the highest returns received nor the lowest. For what they are worth, the estimated num- ber of local laws in each of these 12 cities is given below: Chicago San Francisco Oakland, Cal. St. Paul... Houston, Tex. Hartford, Conn..... Louisville . Denver cesesnees Birmingham, Ala. Providence, R. I.... Grand Rapids, Mich. Worcester, Mass. [ 4,226 9,000 2,500 6,300 5,000 491 500 1,305 1,500 469 662 115 Total—12 cities. ...32,068 An average, it is found, of 2,672 local laws for each city in the lot. 100 vs. 140,000, That average is a sane one. It may be taken as typical of the 275 cities of 30,000 or more inhabitants. Ex- tremes have been avoided in selecting the 12 communities. On the one ex- treme, in other returns, we find Kan- sas City, Mo., whose mayor estimates the number of local laws at 140,000; on the other, Boston with 100 local laws. In more than half of the cities can- | vassed, the mayors could not even es- timate the number of local laws en-| No at-| trusted to their stew tempt, apparently, h any community at any the laws in operatfon. an Instance of intelligent estimating, however, may be cited the fizures supplied by Mayor Nelson of St. Paul, who ad- vises this correspondent: “Saint Paul was incorporated in 1854, and the first ordinance intro- duced covered the regulation of steam- hoats at the port of St. Paul. In the 59 years from 1854 to 1913 there were 2 ordinances Introduced. In the year 1914 the city adopted the commission form of government and in the 11 years from 1914 to date 3,283 ordinances were introduced, making a total of 6,505 since the city was incorporated. ducting the approximate number of ordinances amended and repealed, there are in effect in this city at the present time about 6,300 ordinances. Taking the average of 2,672 local laws, as obtained above, and applying it to aH of the 275 larger citles, we find the total number of local laws in effect in those communities to be a few short of 750,000. ardship. as been made in time to count De. Laws of Small Towns. There remain about 13,000 smaller cities, towns, townships and viliages. Many of these have more local law: | than larger citles. Most of them have fewer. Ifthe ave larger citie: boast a grand total of nearly 35,000,000 local laws. If it were but half the average of the big cities, the total would be 17,368,000. If there is an average of only 300 local laws opera- tive in each community of less than 30,000 inhabitants, which probably is more nearly exact, the total runs to 3,900,000, Next comes 3,000 counties, each with its little set of la Not so little, either, in some cases. If their average were the same as the larger cities, there would be 8,000,000 county laws. If it were half, the total would run to 4,000,000. If it runs to only 100 for each county—an ultra-conservative estimate—we have 300,000 county laws. | Thus the most conservative total | reads ‘nlr city laws. Smaller city. town. village [aws | Comiaes : 750.000 townships and unty 00,000 Total 3 4050 000 The mind connot grasp there figur me idea of their magnitude may be obtained, however, when it is realized that if one were to start now to count local laws at the rate of 100 a minute and worked eight hours doing so every week day, he would not complete his counting task until November 1 next. League of Nations’ Character Changed by Latest Proposals (Continued from Fi of Serbia, which would pressed in a treaty with a league reg- fstration, came into force. Then the Russian mobilization would have been le and the German declaration of yased on that mobilization fllegal. B would have been entitled by virtue of their to support Russia, and the nan responsibility for the war made clear. With this evolution the league loses much of its grandiose -but illusory character. It is no longer Mr. Wil son’s association of nations, with their pooled and ear-marked for It has no direct re- ce or war—it cannot pre- one nor conserve the other. «a court which decides, but, once its decision has been uttered, then it {t for the nations which are con- ed to give force to the decision, as choose, which means in practice as their interests dictate aties Compromise in Ideas. then, is a striking compromise Anglo-Saxon and continental European nceptions, both concep- tions being based upon fundamental conditions and traditions. The Conti- nent wante league which was no than military ajliance, and in n re of things, would to preserve a status quo ted victory and the victors, by the van Anglo-Saxon world wanted a voluntary free-will as- sociation of all ions with force left out and the conscience of the peoples left to be the determining factor. It anted no alliances, and it refused to lend its military, nayal or financial re- sources to the preservation of any physical arrangement, thus, in fact surrendering the control of these re. sources to the superstate which would be created The present arrangement has recog- nized the vital portions of each point of view. It deprives the league of all authority to command the military or al resources of any nation to main- tain peace, even if it regards peace as wantonly menaced. It leaves it with nothing but the right and the duty to decide what nation or nations have violated their contracts and thus im- periled peace. Great Britain, for example she regards the Rhine frontier as of vital importance to her, may enter into any form of agreement she r Here, between which whicl imposed and in nowt te because many or with both to take action with one or the other if peace is assailed on the Rhine. France may do the same with Poland on the Vistula, with Czechoslovakia on the Elbe, with Bel- gium on the Scheldt. The covenant made it a moral @uty of one assafled: the protocol made it a legal duty; the present proposal would make it a permissive right. The covenant and the protocol merged all alliances {n one common league. The present scheme would recognize the right of nations to make separate alli- ances, but would permit only defen. sive alllances, which to become effec- tive must have the formal declara. tion of the league itself. I should make it clear that the evo- lution which I am discussing has not taken definite form; that it is rather the consequence of British policy, as British policy has fallen into accord with French and is now seeking to ar- rive at adjustment with Germany and promote adfustment between Germany and France, than the consequence of any direct formulation. But I cannot escape the conclusion that this evolu- tion was always inevitable, is logical and will ultimately arrive at some useful conclusion. So far the fatal weakness of the league has lain in the fact that it has been based upon assumption which did violence to facts which are funda- mental. Thus no nation will sur- render its right to control its own policies, no nation will consent to dele- gate to any international body any form of control over its military and naval forces which would permit their use at the will of such a body, no na- tion will undertake indefinite respon. sibilities for the preservation of fron- tiers which do not concern It or treaties which do not affect it. On the other hand, no nation can lightly risk the consequences of an adverse decision by a body which in some measure might speak for the moral sense of mankind. Thus, if the League of Nations cannot preserve peace, prevent war, punish aggressors directly, the importance of its power to decide upon the action of any na- tion, to characterize as aggression any specific act, to release forces otherwise unavailable can hardly be exaggerated as a deterrent. Six vears of experience have dem- strated that the League of Nations cannot be a superstate, an interna tional police force. or u ubstitute for separate ulliances. What remains to be seen is the possibility of develop- ment as a moral rather than a physi- + care to make with France, with Ger- cal force. i 1 ordinances | ge were the same as the | these communities would | £00.000 | for all member nations to go to the aid | THE BY JOHN L. BALDERSON. ONDON—The Dawes repara- tion settlement is admittedly the one definite achievement toward stability and peaceful settlement that Europe has made since Versailles. The western security pact, now under discussion, if it comes off, will be Europe's sec- toward peace. More important | causb, important as it was to end the reparations dispute which led to the Ruhr occupation and unsettied the whole continent, nobody supposes that the Dawes scheme represents a final accounting between Germany and her creditors. But the exorcism of that fear which for two generations has kept practi- be- Europe in arms in peace, as in war, would be the most important move conceivable toward ultimate disarma- ment. And without disarmament most economic authorities agree that the Old World must steadily decline until it crashes. The western security pact has been fear of invaston by France, from France the fear of invasion by Ger- many. If it does these two things, whatever else it may fail to do, it must prove a landmark in world his- tory. Calls for Sacrifices. It is vet too early to analyze the German offer and the French reply and attempt to figure out what, if any, pact will emerge from these ten- tatives. The diplomats must bargain and haggle for months before we know that. There must be a confer- ence, probably in London. -But, al ways if and provided Great Britain makes herself a party to it, I do not find much doubt that the western pact will become a reality. Great sacri fices, from the nationalist viewpoint, will be demanded from both France and Germany. Germany must renounce all hope of regaining her lost territories in the west, and those personally conducted tours which ascend hills in Baden to Kaze upon the spires of Strasbourg Cathedral can no longer be assured by their guides that the day, is com- ing when Germany will reconquer Al- sace. France must abandon that tena- ciously held war aim, possession of the left bank of the Rhine. But whatever heart burnings are caused by the pact in Paris and Ber- lin, and they will be many, one fact now seems crystal clear—the great mass of Frenchmen and Germans are determined that neither they nor their sons shall fight each other if it can be nided People Demand Peace. Therefore the vast majority of Frenchmen and Germans will insist that their governments accept an en gagement under which Great Britain guarantees one country against Inva- sion by the other. That is the fun damental reason why, so far as France and Germany are concerned, the pact | | rings are drawn across the trail and with whatever skill government prop agandists seek, as they are seeking in the interested countries, to misrep- resent the purposes and conditions un. der which Great Britain is to fulfill { her role. The outlook would then be most cheerful, were not a struggle over |the pact pending in the British Em pire. The main lines of that coming ) BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief sum- mary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended July 11: Great Britain.—Sir Esme Howard, the British Ambassador to the United States, made a very interest- {ing speech the other day to the Amer- lican Iron and Steel Institute. He drew a gloomy picture of economic conditions in_Britain, terrible shrink ge 'in “invisible exports,” certain for- eign markets, once lucrative, now most closed: most serious depres sion in the coal trade, in the shi | building and engineering industrie: {in the cotton and woolen manufactur. {ing industries, and above all in the tiron and steel industry. Of a total of 1102 blast furnaces in Scotland, where | 85 are normally in operation, only 21 ! were working at last report. A few | bright_spots Sir Esme noted, or’ per- haps, less gloomy than “the lave,” but | not many. There is no hope of recov- |ery, as he sees it, except through firm establishment of international peace, |good will and sense of security whence revival of credit and trade Premier Baldwin has asked the Commons to consider whether it may {not be necessary to avert disaster, to i subsidize some of the greatest indus- tries (to which the safeguarding of industries act does not apply). | Of British industries, that of coal |is the greatest; some 5,000,000 persons are dependent on f 160,000 British {miners are unemploy British {coal pits are closed. How in the {world can the most terrible disaster be escaped unless production costs are cut down? Yet the men clamor for further reduction of working hours and further increase of pay It is reckoned that there was a {of coal exported within the past three months. It is not, however, by any means altogether a question of the attitude of British labor. Very great {reforms in_organization and produc- tive methods are indicated. But even supposing such reforms effected and can remain the mainstay of That doubt stirs the coal British trade. .agination. e * ok ok ok The Moroccan War. Gen. Stanislas Naulin has been ap- pointed to the chief command of French military operations in Moroc- co, relieving Marshal Lyautey of mil- itary responsibilities. The French attack countering Abd- el.Krim's fierce ¢hrust at Tasa was particularly successful, the enem abandoning arms and munitions in considerable quantities, and a good many tribesmen who had recently gone over to him returning to the French allegiance. however, indicates that the Rif leader is preparing for another attack in force, and, as no rebuffs in the field check Abd-elKrim's propagandist ef- forts, French anxiety on that head is unabated. The Franco-Spanish negotiations in Madrid respecting Morocco are nearly completed. An agreement has been signed providing for Franco-Spanish collaboration in land and sea blockade of the RIf frontlers, and another is about to be signed providing for political collaboration respecting the Rif. It is understood that the latter contains the general terms of a peace which the two powers are agreed jointly to offer Abd-el-Krim—that autonomy be offered under a Spanish protectorate. We are left in doubt as to whether or no Spain consents that the French pursue the enemy into the nish zone. A Ak —The Chester group—i. e., ral Chester and his American - A ond and even more important step | cally all the 20-year-old young men of | conceived to take from Germany the | must succeed, however many red her- | loss | of a shilling and a half on each ton | Reconnaissance,a controversy are already clear. It will be of vital importance for France and Germany, of great import to all the irest of the world. There can be no | western security pact without Great | Britain. Britain is the only force ca- | pable of guaranteeing France against Germany ' and Germany against | France, since both these nations know | that British interventlon for or against must prove decislve in the | probable absence of other powerful belligerents. If Great Britain withdraws from the pact, or makes suche conditions as to render it worthless as a guarantee of the Rhine, then it will collapse, or prove of little value. There is a pos- sibility that the Baldwin cabinet has bitten off more than it can chew, and that public opinion here and in the Dominions will destroy the pact by withholding the British guarantee. The world will remember for cen- turies how Woodrow Wilson signed a peace ti ¥ In Paris and committed the United States to a joint Ango- American guarantee to France against German aggression—and what hap- pened to that treaty and what to that guarantee pact in Washington. On a less dramatic and sensational scale, a repetition of the Wilson tragedy may be staged shortly in London, with Baldwin and Chamberlain for its vic- tims. Great Britain stands officlally com- mitted to nothing. Forefgn Secretary Chamberlain has agreed with Briand on the terms of the French reply to the German security proposals. He has informed France and Germany that the British government is willing to negotiate a pact and the lines on which the cabinet intends to proceed are fairly clear. The government view fs that peace in Europe is neces- sary for British interests, that Euro- Dpean unrest means continued economic decline in this country. The Labor government tried to commit Britain to the League of Natlons disarma- ment protocol, without success. Protocol Always Downed. The election here, which downed Labor, did not destroy the protocol. It was clear from the start to any un- prejudiced observer that the British public would have none of commit- ments 8o vast and all.embracing. The use of the British fleet to force sanc- tions against offenders anywhere in the world at the behest of the League | of Nations, the practical guarantee by | is country of ftuld and unjust ntiers in’ eastern Europe, which most people think must be revised by | force "or otherwise—these were re- | sponsibilities at which most English- | men. when they understood them, distinctly shied. The Tory government feels, I think | rightly, that it is going to the extreme | limit of what public opinion will stand in proposing to guarantee the present Rhine frontler by arms. 1In doing so, | Chamberlain will wnake clear that no | other territorial mmitments which | would fnvolve this country in a Eu ropean war are in contemplation. He also will be able to show that under the Versailles treaty and the cove. {nant of the league it would be diffi | cult, or impossible, for the empire to keep out of war should hostllities break out again between France and Germany. Dominions Not Consulted. All these points, however, based [ upon covenant and treaty, though ! strong juridically, are not understood | associates—have again gained finan ial control of the Ottoman-American Development Co., having ousted the British pretenders, as one might call them Admiral Colby M. Chester se- cured the “billion-doilar Chester con- cession™ (as it is optimisicaily termed) from the Turkish government, the act ual value of which would seem to be rather problematical The Turks are mighty men of war. and in diplomacy more than a match for Europe’s hest, but for the humbler tasks of peace they have yet to dis play genfus. Ghazi Mustapha Kema peace policies are not bearin« any zolden fruit and presumably disinter ested criticism thereof is mostly d- | verse. But it is quite too soon to judge them with confidence Dr. Willlam Post, a medical mis sionary with 22 vears of service in the Near East, returning to this coun- try therefrom, delivers himseif most dublously concerning the prospects of | the American mission colleges | Turkey. Angora. he save In- effect. | | erows less cordial to them day by day. On the other hand, Prof. George H. Huntington, vice president of Rob- | ert College, Constantinople, back with | us on vacation, has nice things to say | about Angora’s attitude toward Rob- ert College, the most important Amer- ican foundation in Turkey. A near re- lation of the Turkish prime minister | 1s to enter Robert College this Fall. Shefk Said, who headed the recent { rebellion in Kurdistan (Turkey), has been hung along with 21 other prom- inent participants in that business. The sheik, it will be remembered, pro- posed to restore the caliphate and sultanate in the person of a member | of the house of Ottoman. | e China.—On July 4 a Chinese rabble, estimated to number 800, entered the |plant of the Asiatic Petroleum | jthe arrival of a British gunboat. Same town, same day, another mob, | {led by Chinese ‘“ho - scouts” stoned | | company. | These enthusiasts were | scattered by British marines, charg- | ing with fixed bayonets, and one Chinaman was hurt. Swatow s still a danger spot. One hears of a studentled mob stoning and looting Chinese shops operating under British or Japanese flags (or perhaps only carrying British or Jap- anese goods). A Chinese military officer opens fire on the mob and dis- perses it. | Several Japanese mobbed at Shang- |hai July 4, but rescued” by Chinese [police. “A Shanghai dispatch of July |5, tells of an attack a mob of {about 200 on foreign police of the |International settlement. An Ameri- can marine intervenes, kills a rioter and disperses the mob. Little change apparently in the strike situation at Shanghai since a week ago. More or less terrorism against Chinese workmen in British or Jap- anese employ, other workmen pre- vented from returning to such employ by fear of the terrorists. The Shang- hai volunteer corps and special po- lice again mobflized to full strength in fear of untoward developments. The power plant in the international settlement partially shut down and current cut off from Chinese factories within and without the foreign settle- ments, not by way of retaliation, but because only a limited force of forelgn volunteers being available for opera- tion full maintenance of the plant is impossible. Incidentally the Chinese factory own- ers are no doubt doing some salutary | thinking in this connection. * * Some see (I think rightly) much I | pact, as a campaign cry, just who signifi e +in a stern proclamation by Chang Tso Lin's son, Chang's troops in the by the public. It is the' task of the Baldwin government to make Great Britain and the dominions feel that it is worth while for the empire to agree to fight for the sanctity of the Rhine boundarfes without = getting anything tangible in return. Such a task must prove difficult. Some of the difficulties may now be indicated. First and less important, the Do- minlons. Their governments have not been notified, nor consulted, as to the proposed British participation in the western security pact. Technically, this can be justified on the ground that Great Britain still is committed to nothing. In reality, the Dominions were not asked because what they would say was known in advance, They would all object, South Afriea with great violence and the others de- cisively They would follow the example of the United States and declare them- selves unwilling to be parties to any arrangement committing them to war in the future. Unless there is some remarkable and quite unpredictable change in Dominion opinion, that will be the nature of their official pro- nouncement when the time comes. Dominion opposition, though se- rious, is not held here to be neces. sarily fatal to British participation in the pact. Both France and Germany would accept gladly the signature of Great Britain to such a pact, the Dominlons standing aloof. - The mili- tary strength of the Dominions is after all but a small fraction of Great Britain's. Such an arrangement, how- ever, must gravely perturb inter-im- perial relationships. When the King of England goes to war he remains King of South Africa, Canada and Australia. The complica- tions in an empire loosely held to- gether, bound together in its relations to the rest of the world by no written constitution, of an empire partly at war, partly at peace, are obvious, and would be most unwelcome. Home Opinion Decisive. British participation in the security pact, however, will probably in the end stand or fall on public opinion at home. This is as yet the unformed, but significant fact already emerged. Ramsay MacDonald, on behalf of the Labor Party, has wholeheartedly condemned the proposed pact as tend- ing to war and not peace. It seems certain that this will be the official Labor attitude. Opposition to the eems likely to be popular with thd working classes. They will be asked whether they wish to commit themselves and their children to fight in a new and more horrible war for France, or for Germany, and when the issuc is put in this way the response of the masses can be.predicted in advance It will be a most emphatic “No!" To some extent MacDonald’s own de. nunciation of the pact and that of his ex-ministers may be due to jique His league protocal was turned down by the Tory cabinet, this pact was put in its place. But whatever motive or combination of motives may be alleged, the opposition of Labor, rep- resenting one-third of the el te, is a most serous blow to the advo cates of British participation in the pact. Liberals on the Fence. The Liberals, although only a rump in the House of Commons, can still poll a quarter of the nation’s voting strength in any normally conducted election. Their radical group now at Shanghai district, forbidding strike in timidation and naming severe pen alties for non-compliance. Chang. it might seem, has thus at last declared himself unmistakably against the ex tremists, Little change in the situation at Hongkong. The strike continues and coastal shipping is fairly tied up. The British governor at Hongkong an nounces that strike intimidators now in jail at that city will be used for scavenger work: that future offend ers in that kind will be flogged, and all unemployed Chinese will be deported. The Canton government forbids ac- ceptance of foreign money by Chinese and serves demands on the British and French consuls in Shameen re- quiring agblogy and compensation and the surrender of Shameen. Sha- meen expects to be attacked. On the other hand, a comforting rumor has it that Canton Reds and Pinks are at it again, hammer and tongs, with their faction broils. Considering China as a whole, the anti-foreign demonstrations have now subsided to small proportions. If this subsidence be due, as some dispatche intimate to organized efforts repre- sentative of the attitude of the great bulk of the Chinese population, the fact is most reassuring. But if such be the case prompt action by the powers pursuant to the Washington conference treaties is all the more “indicated.” * x Kk ok the French Chamber unanimously ratified the “treaty on Chinese integrity” and the “treaty on the Chinese tariff,” and the Senate followed suit on the 10th. The treat- jes become effective with the ex- change of ratifications, which should be accomplished in about a fortnight. The treaty on the Chinese tariff On July 7 ) z e : ing in China,! Co. at Chung Kingg, destroyed theprovides for the meet office and plundered the living quar-| within three months of complete rati-| iters of the staff. They dispersed on| fication thereof, of a special confer-| | ence of representatives of the signa- tory powers (and other powers ad- hering) to consider Chinese tariff re- labor conciliatory, it is doubtful that |workmen in the employ of a British| vision and related matters. T understand that our representa- tives for such a commission have al- ready been designated, namely, Stlas Strawn of Chicago and John Van A. MacMurray, our Minister to China. The rumor is being put about that the powers will not consent that the commisston " shall meet until the Chinese political situation shall have been reasonably stabilized. To which the reply has been made: Is not that putting the cart before the horse? The situation cannot be fairly stabil- ized until the Peking government is strong enough effectively to assert it authority. To the acquisition of such strength a very considerable addition 10 its “resent revenue is essential, and | under the conditions it is not apparent whence that addition may come ex- cept through increases of the tariff rates, requiring joint approval of the powers. Against which it may be urged that these new revenues might be squandered by the central govern- ment or grabbed by the Tuchuns, making matters worse than ever. Quite so, the powers have to take order to forestall any such sad re- sults. A beautiful problem. * X X ok The most intriguing and mysterious element in the complicated Chinese situation is the question of the status, intentions, commitments and activities of Feng Yu Hslang, the “Christian general,” the betrayer of Wu Pel Fu. What are his relations to the pro- visional government at Peking? or, considered separately. to Chang Tso Lin? To Moscow? To the leaders of the Kuo Min Tang party? Of what forces does he dispose? A pleasant rumor reaches us that a decided general rift has developed in the Kuo Min Tang party between the SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 12, 1925—PART 2. —_— Fate of Western Europe Security Pact Rests With Public Opinion in Britain: tacks the pact. Other Liberals, though more reserved than Labor | leaders, vaguely e at present on the whole ostile. What Liberal policy line taken by such statesmen as Lloyd George, Lord Oxford and Lord Grey. Their outspoken condemnation, cause of their high positions in the past and their knowledge and experi- |ence in international affairs, might |make the government's position in | favor of the pact impossible. At pres. ent it seems likely there will be a split in the Liberal ranks. Were Lloyd Geeorge's denunciation neutralized by the support of that famous foreign secretary, Earl Grey, and were Asquith more, or less neu- tral, Liberalism in this, as in many other recent great issues, might have little weight because of its divided volce. Finally, there is the Conservative attitude. This at present, amongrank and file, is doubtful and hesitating. After Baldwin and Chamberlain have argued for the pact before Parllament, they will probably find behind them the bulk of their great majority. The press campaign against the pact, how- ever, is being led by Conservative newspapers. The powerful and im- portant Beaverbrook press is in full cry against it. The Daily Mail is sit- ting on the fence, but the odds are that it will soon join in the chorus. Tories May Oppose Government. An anxious and highly critical edi- torial in the Sunday Times a few day ago gives warning that the Berry group of Tory papers, more powerful in the provinces than London, may turn against the government's foreign policy. What influence the Tory party press has over the cabinet is a mat ter of dispute, but it is inevitably con- siderable. Baldwin and his colleagues must believe intensely in the necessity for this security pact if Europe is to re- cover. For they are faced, and they know they #re faced, by a terrific fight that may split their party in their attempts to get it through. They must realize, too, that a permanent or |long-term British guarantee of the Rhine frontiers cannot be imposed on he nation or the empire by a mere parliamentary mafority. Such a thing is not like a tariff bill, that can be | repealed by another party after a new | election. It must command general, |if not unanimous, consent. | Were a security pact negotiated and | brought to Parliament for approval, {and were that pact then attacked b the united Liberal and Labor oppos tions, cheered on by the most power- ful section of the Tory press, the gov | ernment would be certain to withdraw |it rather than force its ratification |a strictly party measure. Indeed, faces |by such a prospect, the pact would not be introduced. That is the.real danger. Most of the bluff and bluster about this pact may come from Paris to. |day and from Berlin tomorrow. But |in the end the great mass of German |and French opinion will demand its | acceptance, provided the British guar- |antee is obtained. Whether the pr ent cabinet can carry the public opin |ion of its own country, even without | that of the dominions, with it to the | end of its present line of policy seems at this early stage of the proceeding extremely doubtful. And without Brit. ish participation the western security pact must collapse. Covyright. 1025. by Press Publishing Co (New York World) The Story the Week Has Told | Reds and the Pinks, the wild men and {the less wild: the latter headed b; { Tang Shao Yi, unfortunateiy, how ever. Tang Shao Yi, though a very able man, has an unsavory reputation for tergiversation. Mr. C. C. Wu, son of that delightful person, the late Wu Ting Fang, would be a better leader. * % % % of America.—All all Tennessee, all Ameri- |ica” is agog over the Scopes trial now on. The prospect is held out by a certain person of a campaign look ing to amendment of the Constitution of the United States so as to forbid the teaching of evolution. | Representatives of anthracite min. {ers and operators convened in At lantic City on the 9th to discuss an | agreement to supersede the present | anthracite agreement | Unitea Dayton, States D. Warriner announced rejection by the latter of the miners a wage increase of 10 per cent contract miners and $1-a-day men and for the “check-off” he declared that in face of increased competition from other fuels (oil, gas, coke, bituminous coal) and from electricity, main. tenance of the present wage scales would be possible through increased productiyity per worker and reduction of labor ‘costs. To raise the price of For he asserted, and the margin of profit te the operators (two or three com panies excepted) cannot bear further reduction. He stated that the average of the annual earnings of anthracite employes is upward of $2,000, more than $700 above the average for all industries. He proposed arbitration of the points in dispute. Speaking for the miners, John L. Lewis rejected arbitration. He cited the records showing 1,000 miners killed and 40,000 crippled within the past two years. For service so perilous a generous wage is clearly indicated, he said. of freedom, is almost extinct. As a matter of fact, it isn't bald. The adult bird appears so at a distance because of its white head. So that which is called freedom is sometimes illusory. (Note.—The Ecuador government has been overthrown by a military coup. Another little setback for the millennium.) Women Keep Flowers On Bluebeard’s Grave i Memories of Landru, | bluebeard, who was conv |Ing slain 11 wives and jecuted 4 years ago, are very vivid in Parfs. Many women believe that he was not guilty and was improperly convicted. He was buried near Ver- sailles, where “unknown admirers” have put over his grave a marble tombstone on which are engraved the words “Henr! Desire." The grave is seldom without fresh flowers, especially Landru's favorite violets, brought by women who con- tinue to believe in his fnnocence. the French ted of hav- was ex- Berlin Stops Raphael Sale An American, whose name is being withheld, wished to purchase a Raphael, “Gluliano de Medici,” from a citizen of Berlin. The city board has just voted to ask the minister of thé interfor to refuse a permit to export the picture. According to a law passed December 11, 1919, a permit is neces- P and as a protest has been made it appears that the American will not be able to remove the painting, and therefore will not make the purchase. | A ¥ is to become will depend upon the | et Speaking for the operators, Samuel | demands for | anthracite is altogether impracticable, | The American bald eagle, or hird | UN tates Finding of Ne BY HENRY L. SWEINHART. HAT'S the price of rubber today? What did you pay | for your latest atitomobile tire? Will the next one cost more? These are | questions in which millions of people | are interested, and nowhere more than in the United States, which now | consumes three-fourths of the world's supply of this universally used prod. uct. In spite of the 100 per cent in- crease which has taken place in re. cent months in the price of imported crude rubber, it is the opinion of well informed authorities that ‘‘conditions will get worse before they get better” and that rubber may touch a dollar a pound before there 1s permanent re- lef from the burden of excessive cost which s now placed upon the Ameri- can consumer. In the meantime, efforts are con- tinuing to locate favorable sources of new supply and to encourage the growing of rubber for the American market which will relieve it of the virtually monopolistic situation which now prevails At the same time other methods, including the chemical rec- lamatlon of much larger amounts of used rubber, are being urged to off- set the existing shortage. Looking to Future. The United States is paving the way for its future rubber supplies, for it believed that the real shortage has not yet made itself felt, and that this will not come until 1928 or 1930, when a real burden will be laid upon the American consumer unless a sizable increase in world production can be secured by that time or shortly there. after. On that account this Govern ment, through the investigations which the Department of Commerce has been conducting in South and Central America, Mexico, the Rhilip- pines and elsewhere, is seeking to point the way to profitable new ven-| tures in rubber production. New | plantations started in any of these regions even today would require five or six vears before they could make a beginning in vield. The importance. therefore, of making a start promptly’ as possible is emphasized While the majority of the rubber today fs plantation grown, and it is believed that this will be the only profitable way to continue its produc tion on a large scale, still it is pointed out that there is almost certain to be an increase in mount of wild | rubber gathered, especially with the prices for the product which prevail | today and which are not expected to g0 down permanently for some time to come. There will be fluct ions. but authorities on the subject do not look for continuing low prices until | some radical change has been brought about in the present world condition Brazil, which at one time was the | world's great source of rubber, and which still has vast areas of wild rub- ber, has been finding it profitable once more to gather this more intensively her output during the first three months of the present vear having in creased something like 40 per cent. * Central America Promising Field. With more than 93 per cent of the | rid's rubber today being of the | antation variety, against less than 1 per cent 20 vears ago, before | the East Indlan plantations got under | way, it is considered necessary to en courage this method. Amone . the | | | | | republics | with 3- ITED STATES SEEKING FRESH RUBBER SOURCES 100 Per Cent Increase in Prices Necessi- w Supply to Make Industry Independent. flelds which have been investigated by this Government’s agents it is be leved that Central America and southern Mexico offer xrez‘! promise The possibilities in the Philippir also have not been overlooked Halti is one of the smaller Ameri where favorable soil climatic conditions have been found The labor problem is one which h to be taken into careful consideration in studying this question. From point of view, the East Indies has an advantage, for in'no other part of the world, it is stated, can such cheap I bor be obtained. There are other fac tors, however, which enter into the calculation from a business stand point, the principal one of these beir the original cost of getting the rubb plantation set out. Here is whe Central America seems to have ce tain advantages which are not pos- sessed to an equal extent, as far known, elsewhere. Ordinarily the land has to be cleared to start a rubber planation, and this is frequently an expensive operation. This initial e pense can be avoided, it 1s belleved large tracts of land in Centr America. Banana Land May Grow Rubber What proves to be a bane in onc direction_ may prove to be a blessing in another, and this may be the case thousands of acres of ban lands in Central America, which have to be abandoned after a few years be cause of a disease which gets in and attacks the trees on which the edible grows. These lands, already cleared of forest growth, tan be turned into excellent rubber plantations, it is said and in a few vears believed thes could be made to f a large part of the rubber which is used in the United States. Considerable territory in southern Mex 0 is well adapted, both climatically and in soil requirement, it is stated, to rubber growing. No one section of the globe, how ever, which can be utilized in making the United States economically inde pendent of foreign control in securinz it rubber =upply is being considered to the exclusion of others. The far stretching line of trees from whicl this country may secure its futurc rubber may extend all the way from Africa to the Philippines and from South America to Mexico and Hal Already a st has been made i Africa by American interests, and th: Firestone Tire and Rubber Compar has a concess from the Libert Government of 1.000,000 acres of suitable for rubber A cleus of something cres already planted, there lans developing this territo Roads ar being built and houses constructed f. the workmen. It is st that t} agreement, made a few months with the Ameri pected to have a fa general economic beria. The importance of this problem to the United that $13,000 dustries in this coun pendent directly or inc ber. These are rubber man e automotive and essary to keep large supplies coming. and th aim of Government to kees them coming at p will nc be an economi e pec of the United S (Copy his growing. like 1,400 nd it is reporte is = : Ty e de v on rui ufacturing t is fces whict Congress May Cut Number Of U. S. Di (Continued from First Page.) that might arise on any account sub. | | mitted. The disbursing officers now are un- | ds 1y insul ient to loss to the Government ¢ unwarranted accounts. If {they pay out money improperly they | |are denied credit at the Treasury and | jthe charge raised against them and | their sureties. Oftentimes, due to im i proper training or lack of training, | disbursing officer may pay out a large {amount in good faith which the Gov- {ernment has extreme difficulty in re covering. This recovery procedure is costly to the Government—amounting to a loss of many millions of dolla annually There 1d be a bi; {ing to Unele Sam and the taxpayers under the proposed new syvstem. Would Prevent Changes of Funds. | Congress makes its appropriations |for specific purposes or projects. Oft- |entimes Congress turns down some pet scheme of an administrative officer | who in the past has gone ahead with |this pet project, disregarding the dis- | approval of Congress. Under the pres ent system an administrative officer | having appointive (or discharge) pow- ers, to whom a disbursing officer is re- | sponsible if he wants to hold his job to- support his family, might (and oft en does) exert his influence to have moneys appropriated by Congress for | one pgrticular purpose diverted for other work in which that particula administrative officer is more inter- ested. The office of the Controller| General is now kept busy checking up on such cases and trying to recover the erroneous payments. This makes |excessive extra work for the Controller General's office, which could be obvi ated under the pre-audit feature of the proposed new legislation. Members of Congress who have bee: vexed by this practice of administr: tive officers in switching funds to pur- poses not approved by Congress wel- come this way in which they can con- trgl administrative efforts to subvert the will of Congress. The pre-audit would greatly relieve disbursing officers from their present responsibility, which has been made burdensome by the fact that they are subjectsto the will of administrative officers directing such unauthorized payments. There are cases of record in which disbursing officers have been financially ruined by reason of orders from superiors to pay improper coun There is also lability [hnpl sonment, for the disbursing of- | | ficer is criminally liable under the | law. If he is employed in one of the military departments he is liable also | to court-martial for failure to obey orders from a superior officer directing improper _disbursements = in which case he is “between the devil and the deep blue sea.” System Has Had Test. The preaudit system has been given a good practical test in the payment of the so-called ‘soldiers’ bonus.” The auditors from the con- troller general's office are keeping up to date with the clerical force of the Veterans’ Bureau, which figures out the amount due each applicant on the record of service credit transmitted by the adjutant general's office. In the period of nine months these auditors have kept even pace with the Veterans’ Bureau on millions of cases, so that when the Veterans' Bureau force was reduced on July 1_the Glneral Accounting Office took off more than half its auditors who | had been employed on the pre-audit | of veterans' claims. This audit was accomplished with out delay in the disposition of the of l)ursing Agent veterans' claims costly process that ~ otherwisé under the old s is n and nd th roided the inconveniences have resulted Each account balanced and clos Bin the he Veterans' Bureaw service Tr would nths In ref adjusted service certif A have been no a: untl six months after the issuance of a check thereon—that is. after death of the veteran or 20 ve six months to the ndividual der the old system audit not have commenced until six n after the check was delivered erence to the cate there wc man. he udit er He ssunrice service mer the Treasury known. The old caused incaleulabie Government and trouble Iy every bank in the might have made loan: cent of their value) on t ment certificates. hereas under never vstem svstem for ¥ which (up to 90 pe hese Gover British Empire’s Fate in Balance (Continued fr t Page. unless the component British Empire can be drawn together there danger that may fall apart entir I have asked seriously by intelligent lishmen if there is any strong ment in the United States in of the annexation of Canada. When I tell them that I know of no such sentiment at all, they seem to find it hard to understand why such a sen- iment does not exist. Apparently they think it logically should exist both in the United States and Canada I mention this to illustrate 10 me to be a lurking-under- the-surface fear among Englishmen that the empire is in danger of breaking up. I don't think they fear the danger is an imminent one, but I think it lurks in the back of their minds—a sort of nightmare to trou- ble their dreams One of the difficulties seems to be that the British cannot get from the conviction that their ests lie primarily with the Europe, that they are Surope and as such cannot from invelvement with its problems, whereas Dominior have no such sense of European af fillation and more und more are find ing interests elsewhere. Already this divergence of interests affecting the policies of the British govern - ment, as witness scrapping of the Geneva protocol largely because the British dominions objected to its Jap- anese coloring, and it is an interest- ing speculation as to what the even- tual effect will be. I have heard it predicted here that the day is not distant when representatives of the dominion governments will sit in at Weéstminster and _help determine British imperial and foreign policy, but that is for the future to deter. mine. So we get back to the simile that Great Britain is much in the condi- tion of a mother who Sees her chil dren growing up and disposed to go their separate ways. And there is a disposition to look upon the United States a good deal as the son-in-law or daughter-in-law who weans thes children away. (Copyright, 1925.) parts of the closer Eng vor. what seems inter continent part escape tangled