Evening Star Newspaper, August 30, 1925, Page 41

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIO NAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATURES Part 2—16 Pages HARD KNOTS TO UNTIE TO GIVE EUROPE PEACE Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empire Fragments Present Problems Difficult of Solution. Editor's Note: This is the tenth and last of a series of articles by AMr. Cline dealing with conditions in Europe from the viewpoint of American interests. BY SHELDON 8. CLINE. ONDON —So_much is heard about the difficulties between France and Germany that one is likely to get the impression that the peace of Europe is chiefly menaced by their mutual suspi- cions and conflicting programs. There could hardly be a greater mistake. ¥rance and Germany have been at Wwar so often in the past that it would be foolish to say they will not Eo to war again, but there are other perils to European peace much more fmminent. One of these perils is Russia, an other is Poland #nd a third is the conglomeration of states which re sulted from splitting up the Austro- Hungarian empire. Peace no abides on the Danube and Vistula than it does along the Rhine. At best there exists an armed truce and the truce is frequently broken. At each break- ing of the truce the chancelleries of Europe tremble, for it is in such ways that wars have their beginnings. Of all the problems of Europe, that of Russia appears today the most dificult and the most insoluble. T do not see how an American can spend any time in Europe without hecoming thankful that his own Gov- ernment kept out of the Russian mess. Other governments which are in would be thankful if they were out. At a Juncheon I sat next to a well informed French diplomat, and the conversa- tion turned to Russia. Asked what France had gotten out of her recog- nitlon of the Soviet government, he shrugged his shoulders in a truly Gallic way and answered, “A lemon. Germany Alone Satisfled. And it is the same story with all the other governments which have en- tered into diplomatic relations with the Moscow outfit—with the possible exception of Germany. Berlin appar- ently is satisfied with the present and hopeful of the future. Feeling them. selves more or less an outcast people, it perhaps Is only natural that the Ger other outcasts how close the relations are between Berlin and Moscow or what under- standings may have been arrived at, but the possibility of an offensive and defensive alliance between Germany and Russia is one of the nightmar of European diplomac: There is every reason to believe Gérmany is sincere in her profession of reconcilement to the loss of Alsace- Lorraine and acceptance of her pres- ent western boundaries as a fact ac- complished. Even in France there is no serious bellef that Germany has any notion of going to war to rectify her western frontiers. But she has not been reconciled to her losses of territories in the east and there is good reason to believe that, did she feel strong enough, she would go to war to recover them. A good part of the territory the loss of which Germany most bitterly re- sents is incorporated in the present Poland. Russla also lost territory which is now a part of Poland. What more natural than that Germany and Russia, In alliance, should some day seek to regain these lost territories? They would find abundant justifica- more | ans should seek association with | No one knows just| have a substantial port. Despite the present lack of trade oportunities, there remains in Russia a very large American financial stake. Not in the way of czarist jdebts, which propagandists would have us believe stand in the way of extending American recognition. No part of the debt of the old czarist regime is owed to the American Gov- ernment, and very little of it to American bondholders. The only Rus- sian debt of which the American Gov- srnment takes cognizance is the $187.000,000 loaned the Kerensky government after the downfall of the czar. No part of this debt ha: ever been paid and no demand has ever been made that the Soviet gov | ernment either pay or fund it. It is |an item Uncle Sam is likely to ca {in his “bad debt” column for a good | many years to come. surplus for ex- | American Property Confiscated. The Kerensky debt has not influ | enced our State Department one way | or the other in the matter of recog- | nizing the present Russian govern ment. But an item this government | has not been able to ignore is the between 400 and 500 million dollars’ worth of American property which has been confiscated by the Soviets. siderable investment of American money in Russia or that Russia will be able to negotiate any considerable loans in America so long as the Mos- cow government brazenly maintains the righteousness of this downright steal. All this is aside from the question of Bolshevik propaganda for the over- throw of other governments. Estab- lishment of diplomatic relations has made it possible to increase the in- tensity of this propaganda among the peoples of governments which have extended recognition, and should the Government at Washington change its mind and recognize the govern ment at Moscow there would imme- diately be a flocking of propagandists to the shores of America. There is no reason to think the Soviets would be any more considerate of us than they have heen of their European neighbors. An Economic Hodge-Podge. For information about Austria and Hungary and the other states in the Danube basin I went to Sir William Goode, to whom 1 carried a letter introduction more about conditions in these coun. tries than any other man in the world. | Sir William has had a remarkable ex. | | perience with the fragments of the| | 0ld Hapsburg empire. He was one of | | Herbert Hoover's relief work in Belgium and western | | ed the Austrian relief administration, | Later he was the British member of the Austrian réparations commission, and still later was economic adviser to the Austrian government, and is given credit for having devised measures which saved that country from utter collapse. its eet and on the way to a measur- able prosperity, he is now undertak. ing the same role for Hungary. Sir William is hopeful, but not opti- mistic, as to the future of Austria and Hungary and' the succession states. old Austro-Hungarian | never was politically but its parts were economically inter- | dependent. In their eagerness to tear | things apart and in thelr efforts to homogeneous, satis: It is not likely there will be any con- | Having gotten Austria on| | | | | | | | | | of | and who is said to know | right-hand men in} Europe, and after the armistice head- | EDITORIAL SECTION WASHINGTON, D. C, The Sunday Star SUNDAY MORNING, AUGUST 30, 1925. Plan for Consolidation of Railroads Involves Prospect of Titanic Battle Editor’s note.—This is the first of a serics of siz articles by Mr. Mitchell dealing with the vitally important question of railroad consolidation, which just now is engaging the attention of public oficials, railway heads and financiers. Upon the solution to be reached depends the future of railway transportation, and back of the issue of voluntary or compulsory consolidation hovers the possibility of one of the most titantic political and financial struggles in American history. BY JOHN E. MITCHELL. HE hearing on the application of Oris P. and Mantas J. Van Sweringen, “the Van Sweringen boys of Cleveland,” to the Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to consolidate 9,000 miles of railroad—the Nickel Plate, the Erie, the Pere Marquette and the Chesapeake and Ohio—will be resymed after a month’s adjourn- ment, on September 8. It began last April. Commissioner Balthasar H. Mever and Di- rector of Finance Charles D. Mahaflie have lis tened 1o enough testimony to fill one of the Van Sweringen box rs and to merciless ques tioning of witnesses by the attorneys for those who object to the consolidation—the minority stockholders of the Chesapeake and Ohio. This hearing will help decide, perhaps defi nitely will decide, whether consolidation of railroads in this country can be accomplished It is a part of the most spectacular turning point in the business and industrial life of the Nation since the mergers of the United States Steel Corporation and the Standard Oil Billion Dollars Involved. A vast amount of money is involved. Paper profits of the Van Sweringens and the owners of the stocks and bonds of the four railroads have been estimated at $100,000,000. The value of the railroads is more than a billion dollars. The decision of the Interstate Commerce Com- mission on this application will influence the whole stock market, and the number of men and women whose interests wil be influenced by it is incalculable. The decision will have political effects, too. Consolidation of railroads was a Republican war cry in 1920. It has been the darling of the Harding and Coolidge administrations and an especial pet of Herbert Hoover. When the hear- ing was adjourned four weeks ago, President Coolidge anounced in Swampscott that “‘volun tary consolidation of railroads will pave the way for a solution of the transportation prob lem.” The President, dispatches continued, “is watching with interest the efforts of the Van Sweringens to obtain approval of their merger plan.” The Railroad War. Beneath this is the approaching struggle of the railroads of the East, a struggle upon which is staked the fortunes of their executives and their hundreds of thousands of employes, It is a story of strange. fierce lovalties and bitter rivalries. To understand it. bne must see with his eyes a railroad man's world—a world in which drab little towns (Fostoria. Ohio., is such a one in the present hearing) assume mystic signifi- cance because they happen to be junction points; in which whole regions are damned (northwestern Pennsylvania for example) be- cause they mean a 2 per cent grade; in which communities exist only for what they ship— coal, automobiles, pig iron. It is a world in which “the road,” as was testified in a trial of the Rock Island, “can’t never do anything wrong.” It is a world in which men have, as one participant in the present hearing shyly confessed, “the choo-choo bug.” This Autumn, it has been privately an- nounced, President Pat E. Crowley of the New York Central, President Samuel Rea and Vice President W. W. Atterbury of the Pennsyl- vania, President Daniel Willard of the Balti- more and Ohio and the two Van Sweringens will meet in New York. President L. F. Loree of the Delaware and Hudson presumably will resent a fifth interest. With them will be traffic men, engineers, accountants and secre- taries. They will be assembled to divide a rall- road empire, the independent roads of the East. Plans for Consolidation. The transportation act, after years of agi- tation, was passed by a Republican majority in 1920. It permitted rallroads to form consolida- tions, something which had been forbidden since the days of Jay Gould, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and E. H. Harriman. On August 3. 1921, the Interstate Commerce Commission issued 'its preliminary plan_of consolidation, based on a-survey of Prof. Willlam Z. Ripley of Harvard, grouping the railroads of the coun- try into 19 great systems. An appeal was gen- lly made to the executives of the railroads to agree upon some plan of voluntary consoli- dation among themselves, with this preliml- nary plan as a guide, and to present it to the commission for approval. The appeal fell on deaf ears. According to the act, the Interstate Com- merce Commission must prepare a final plan for consolidation. If the railroads then have not themselves acted it is believed this final plan will be a basis for compulsory consolida- tion by Congress. Three Great Systems. In the Eastern district, between New York and Chicago, are three great systems, the New York Central, the Pennsylvania and the Baltimore and Ohio. After them comes the smaller Nickel Plate system of the Van Swerin- gens. They divide naturally into two groups, the Central and Van Sweringens' roads on the north, skirting the Great Lakes, and Pennsyl- vania and Baltimore and Ohio to the south, serving Philadelphia and Washington. The Dalaware and Hudson of Loree, with its en- trance to New England, lies between them. The dominant executive in the northern group is Crowley of the New York Central, trained under the ablest railroad statesman of this generation, the late Alfreéd H. Smith, whose memory, incidentally, fills like an escaping djinn the tegtimony of the present hearing. The exe- cutive ifor the Van Sweringens is J. J. Bernet, another Smith protege. On the opposite side ix the 70-year-old Rea and Atterbury, student of formal philosophy. ex-shop mechanic, chief of the railwavs of the American expeditionary force in France and terror of Republican poli- ticlans. He has given his life to the Pennsylva- nia, the “'standard railroad of the world.” No one knows, except other railroad men, the emo- tions with which he has watched the recent rise, under President Smith of the New York Central in operating efficiency and prestige. Rise of the Van Sweringens. The three years after the issuance of the preliminary report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, years in which no move towaré consolidation was made by the three great sys- temes, were busy years for the Van Sweringen boys. They already had the Nickel Plate, sold to them by Smith in 1916. As soon as the trans- portation act was passed they acquired the bankrupt Clover Leaf and the Lake Erie and Western. They soon began gathering control of the Erie and Pere Marquette. They felt that their system had two great needs. The Nickel Plate's easterr end is in Buffalo. They needed a line like the Delaware, Lackawanna and West- ern to carry it into New York. This would change the Nickel Plate from a bridge line to a trunk line. They needed one of the inde- pendent roads from Buffalo to New York, they foresaw, whether or not they succeeded svent- ually in getting the Erie. They needed one of the rich Southern coal roads like the Chesa- peake and Ohio. Then they would own the po- tential equal of any system in the country. It is possible they began the most delicate negotiations to find out how the big roads would regard their acquisition of the Lackawanna. If they did, they found the nerves of the three big trunk lines on edge. There were three of them, and between New York and Buffalo, and only two strong independent lines, the Lacka- wanna and the Lehigh. Some one was to be dis- appointed. The Van Sweringens found their powertul neighbors unfriendly to their hopes. Meantime, the Van Sweringens quietly bpught the Huntington interest in the Chesapeake and Ohio and its subsidiary, the Hocking Valley. This was the situation when President Smith, 18 months ago, was thrown from his horse in Central Park and Killed. Sought Permission to Merge. Five months later, in August of last vear, the Van Sweringens announced they would ap- ply to the Interstate Commerce Commission for permission to consolidate with their Nickel Plate system the Erie, the Pere Marquette and the Chesapeake and Ohio. This application is now being fought by the minority Chesapeake and Ohio stockholders. A month after that came the first conference of Crowley, Rea, Atterbury, Willard and the Van Sweringens to reach an_ agreement for voluntary consolidation in the Eastern district. The Van Sweringens alone entered the confer- ence with nothing to lose and everything—spe- cifically the Lackawanna—to gain. They pro posed that that road be given to them, the Le high Valley to the New York Central, and the Reading and the Central Railroad of New Jer. sey to the Baltimore and Ohio. President Rea and Gen. Atterbury of the Pensylvania. vio. lently disagreed: their counter-proposals were rejected by (‘rowley and Willard: and the con “(Continued on Third Page.) TOLERANCE, NOT INDIFFERENCE, HELD NEED OF AMERICA TODAY Fight for Truth and Freedom of Opinion Should Mark Life, Accqrding to Church Coun- cil Secretary. BY SAMUEL McCREA CAVERT, | opinions, or irresoluteness ir stand BY ROBERT T. SMALL. 'POLITICS SIZZLES, BUBBLES OVER, | IN THREE IMPORTANT SECTIONS New York City Mayoralty, Wisconsin Senatorship and Pinchot’s Senatorial Ambitions Stir Up the Natives—All of National Significance. Waterman. selected by the Republican | league, empire | General Secretary, Federal Council of Churches. Long ago Dr. Johnson remarked in his famous dictionary that tolerance was a good word, but not used. What | would he say if he were to see in the ing for what one believes to be the truth, it would be indeed a doubtful virtue. Lack of strong convictions is an even greater evil of our day than lack of tolerance. But true tolerance is an utterly different thing from this. What it involves is no complacent shilly-shallying about my views of the truth. but a recognition of the other Three warm_political spots mark the map of the Nation today, and with- in the next three weeks two of them at least will have reached the boiling | point and have bubbled over. { New York is in the throes of its most baffing and interesting ma.\'urnll_\‘% campaign, which threatens to have regulars for nomination at the pri- mary, has not been accepted by the | rank and file, who are flocking in dis- | concerting numbers to John J. Lyons, | former secretary of state at Albany, | who has “felt called upon’ to run and | rescue the party “from disaster.” | Will Abide by Primary. ‘ BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. HE approaching session of the Assembly of the League of Nations, which begins its la- bors at Geneva on September 7, promises in many ways to be the most important in the stfll brief history of the organization. In the nature of things this meeting will be dominated by two closely related issues, the admission of Germany to the league and the relation of the pro- posed security pact to the league itself. As to the admission of Germany, the real problem remains whether Germany will consent to come in un- less certain special concessions are al- lowed her. For Germany the league itself has obvious auractions and quite as patent disadvantages. Look- ing to the latter first, the league is unmistakably the product of the Paris conference which made the treaty of Versailles, the formal ex- pression of Germany's defeat, and it has 8o far been dominated by those nations which were conspicuous as Germany's foes in the war itself. The connection between the treaty of Ver- sailles and the league, then, is too unmistakable not to arouse German dislike. Again and specifically, it was through the agency of the league that the Upper Silesian settlement was made in a form totally unsatisfactory to Germany. This decision, which di- vided the industrial region of this part of Germany and gave the better part to Poland, remains one of the greatest of the post-war grievances of the Ger- man people. In addition, the league falled to make any protest when the | French and Belglans occupied the| Ruhr, which to the German mind stamped it with a pro-ally and preju- diced character. Outside Has Disadvantages On the other hand the Germans are quite manifestly at a disadvantage in remaining outside the league when all Europe belongs and the Geneva meetings deal with a variety of ques- tions closely affecting the Reich. The mere absence of Germany tends to continue her position as an_inferior and defeated nation. Within the too, as Dr. Stresemann, the German foreign minister, pointed out | to me last March. Germany would be | able 10 work more effectively for cer-| taln desirable ends than without. | The question of German minorities in Poland, Czechoslovakia and even in | Rumania, a burning question as the recent Polish expulsions showed, | could be approached much more ef-| fectively through the league—indeed, | it is difficult to see any other place !in which Germany couid raise these questions at all. But bevond all else there is the fact that a marked isola- | tion must be felt in Berlin when all the rest of the European world goes to Geneva and the solidarity of member nations naturally grows. Germany, too, cherishes | manifest hopes. the most consider- | able of which are the remaking of the Polish frontier, the union of Austria | with the Reich and some more satis- | factory adjustment of the question of | the large German minority within the | frontiers of Czechoslovakia. It is the hope of Germany to reopen all of | these questions ultimately, but save for the resort to force, that is to war, which would certainly array the public sentiment of Europe against her, there | is no chance of raising them outside | the league, while there is at least a | legal basis for raising them under the | certain | VITAL QUESTIONS FACE COMING LEAGUE SESSION German Entrance and Security Issues Promise to Give Meeting Color Unequaled in Past. joining themselves. and therefore of direct interest to them, but equally frontiers of states remote and with- out direct interest. This protocol collapsed by reason of British objection which was founded upon the fact that no British govern- ment could commit the British people to defend any frontiers save those of direct importance to Englishmen Thus a majority of Britons recognized reluctantly that nothing could happen in the regions where France. Relgium and Germany are tangent without in volving Britain, but they did not con cede that there could be anyv interest for themselves in the regions where Poland touches Germany or Russ for example. Security Pact in Type. Accordingly, the substitute pro. posal of the British based upon the German proposal of February § was for separate pacts—that is. that in stead of a general agreement making every nation responsible for every other, nations which had common in terests should work out private pacts Of course, these pacts were o be reg- istered with the league and to be in accordance with league principles, but they were nevertheless to be separaie bargains. The security pact now he ing debated in London, Paris and Ber- lin is the type of these. By this proposed arrangemept France and Germany would agree to accept forever the existing frontier and bind themselves not to attack each other, and Great Britain, as an interested neighbor, would guarantee the inviolability of the bargzain. This, should either France or Gert:ny vio late it Britain would be bound to in tervene against the aggressor. Bel glum, of course, was equally covered and the whole transaction took th= form of that guarantee of Belgian neutrality which Germany trans formed into a “scrap of paper” witn fatal consequences 11 vears ago. This scheme had the advantage that it saved Britain from making any separate alllance with France against Germany, thus reviving a whole system of hostile combinations And it gave a British guarantee not to one nation against another, but to a system of peace against any possible aggfessor. It was in form nelther anti-German nor anti-French But it was rigidly limited and did not go beyond the Rhineland area Germany Welcomes Plan. Germany, of course, welcomed such a proposal, because she saw in it the possibility of realizing her desires in the east, at the expense of surrender. ing, in the west, hopes which her best judgment told her were vain For to recover Alsace-Lorraine meant war, and war provoked by her meant the entrance of Britain as a foe again. Rut if she could zet a west ern agreement which would prevent France from ever assisting Poland or Czechoslovakia in case of German aggression, her hands would be free to realize her eastern hopes. But the maneuver was tr in Paris, Warsaw and Pr: just as Germany was assailed by her Russian partner of the Rapallo treaty over the conditions of entrance into the league, France was at once bombarded from Prague and War. saw. The Poles and the Czechs cogently argued that France could not in” honor and merely to get a British guarantee for her own fron tiers abandon her eastern allies, with nsparent gue, and tion for such a program in the his- | aspirations of miror allies. the | t"entieth century, the disheartening whom she had made a sacred con far-reaching political effect. |language of the covenant itself. tory of Europe for the last 200 vears. It has been a favorite outdoor sport in Europe to make war and grab off a piece of the conquered enemy's territory, and for the conquered enemy in turn to make war and grab it back again when he got strong enough or gained strength through alliances. It would be too much to expect of Germany and Russia smarting under real and fancled wrongs, that they should virtues their neighbors Ppossessed Menace in Economic Way. Nor is it in a military way alone that the other nations of Europe are made uneasy by the German and Rus- slan rapprochement. They are dis- mayed by the economic possibilities. At present Russia has relatively little to offer in the way of worthwhile trade, but she has a very great deal to offer in the way of possible develop- ment of her raw resources. The plc- ture of German technical skill wedded to Russian raw materlals Is not one to be viewed with equanimity by the other industrialists of Europe. It looks to them as frightfully menacing in times of peace and of appalling possi bilities in the event of another war, That the (ierman economic pene- tragion af Tussia already under way IS snown by an official statement Just issuad ty the Moscow govern- Tegt Nimelv agreements now are in effvci, vnder which Russia has grant- o4 concessions to foreign capital, Twenty1wo of these agreements are with German firmg, 17 with English $ wmp American, and the remaining 48 are divided among 20 various na tlomslities. The n ost important con- cesptonal aciivity o far is in the tim- her Indusatry where the concession- alres are taking ont about one-fourth of all the timber exported. Inquiry diseloses how little founda- tlon there was for the fears of those Americans who thouzht that unles the Washington Government extend ed recognition to the government at Moscow American exporters. includ- ing farmers, would be deprived of rich Russian markets. Rich Russian mar- Kets are like the old farmer’s giraffe, there “ain’t no sich animule.” As is well known, the foreign trade of Rus- sla is a monopoly of the Soviets. The government decides what shall be im- ported and whence. And it is rather @ striking fact that in the forelgn trade appropriations for the present year larger sums were set aside for purchases in the United States than were allotted for purchases in any country which has extended recogni- tion to the Soviets. France extended yecognition, and got “a lemon.” The United States withheld recognition, and got the bulk of available Russian cash. Chance to Sell on Credit. Of course, there are almost limitless cpportunities for the United States and other nations fo sell goods in Russia if they are willing to accept Soviet promises to pay in the lieu of cash. American exporters, at least, are not anxious for irade on those terms. There have bheen too many exhibitions of Russia's financial im. morality. So far as Russia offering 2 market for American agricultural products. there is nothing in it. Rus. sia s predominately an agricultural country and given anything like a fair ehance Russian farmers will grow all the foodstuffs needed at home and have not exhibit | the economic unity of Basin and left economic | place. | economic requirements by political ambitions, so that hunger and want are the °I ings” that have come in the train of “self-deter- mination.” Dire necessity Austria and Hungary and entente —— ("zechoslovakia, |and Rumania—to tear down some of | the barriers erected by the treaty- makers, hut there still is nothing like | | healthful intercourse among them, and | there can be no prosperity or assur- ances of peace until trade is permitted | to flow again in its natural channels. | Suspicion and Fear. All the countries of central and east- ern Europe recognize the necessity of correcting the absurdities of the peace treaties, but suspicion and jealousy and fear stand in the way. Each of the countries, it would seem, prefers to go hungry up to a very painful point rather than gain an advantage by conceding n reciprocal advantage to rival group. When hunger pains have grown too severe (o be longer en. dured, some small step tow justment is taken, then they down again to see whose will hold out the lorigest. Some of the “fears” which heset the Danubian states are grotesque, but are typical of the fears with which all Europe is assailed. 1 asked Sir W liam Goode about the recent discus. | slon of Hungary ss « menace to the peace of eastern Europe. “It’s a lot of humbug.” he answered. “What! | are the facts? Hungary has a popula- | | tion of 7,900,000, and an srmy restrict ed by the treaty of peace and by the | | presence in the country of an allied | military mission to not more than 35.000. “She is only permitted 10 manufac- ture under allied supervision war ma- | terial within the limits of the treaty | and is forbidden to import it. She Is | prohibited from manufacturing dirigi- | bles or any airplanes except slow duds, Armored cars, tanks, poisonous gases and even defensive gas masks are also on the forbidden list. In addition to these peace treaty restrictions it should be remembered that Hungary's military expenditure is under the strict | control of the league. | _“The little entente—that is to say, {Czechoslovakia, Jugoslaviz and Ru- niania—nave a combined population of over 42,000,000—more than five times the population of Hungary—with ar- mies totaling 405.000, peace strength, and about 1,000,000 war strength, as compared with Hungary’s 35,000 max- imum, peace or war. These three coun- tries are also giving, annually, mili- tary training to two or three hundred thousand men. They have complete freedom to manufacture or import as much war material as they desire, and 50 far they have taken full advantage of this freedom. It is surely rather stretching the bow to suggest that the |little entente are really afraid of Hun- |gary. If an inhabitant of Mars drop. ped into the Danube basin he would probably be puzzled to know why Hun- gary was not daily appealing to the world for a security pact against the overwhelming populations and armies {with which she is almost completely the Danube chaos In its are thwarted the little Jugoslavia stomachs makeérs of the peace treatles destroyed | As the situation stands today, | has forced | H the practice of toleration. | i Christ Opposed Intolerance. | | Christian religion is indicated unmis- {there are many problems which have | rope as a {one to see, spectacle of organizations whose very corner stone rests on religious and ra { cial intolerance” | The prevalence of intolerance in our | own country is especially difficult to | understand when one first, that intolerance is un-American: and, second, that it Is unchristian. So inseparable was tolerance felt | to be from the true genius of Amer- | ica that freedom of worship and free- dom of conscience were guaranteed in | the Constitution itself. Our fathers saw clearly that in a democracy made up of diverse zroups an ordered so- ciety is virtually impossible without realizes. How incompatible the intolerant mind is with the true genius of the takably in a revealing incident in the life of its Founder. When a group of Samaritan villagers was unfriendly and the angry disciples wanted to call down fire upon these people of another race and another religious tradition Jesus pointedlv rebuked His fol- lowers, declaring, ‘“Ye know not what manner of spirit ve are o There is, unfortunately, a kind of easy-going spineless Indifference, be- reft of any positive convictions, which sometimes passes as tolerance, but which is worse even than intolerance. It is the attitude of a Montaigne, out- wardly patronizing all religio inwardly believing none. If tolerance really meant an absence of clear-cut to be settled before the nations can return to anything like a secure pros- " but mainly they are problems| of individual nations and not of Eu- | whole. The case of Italy | will serve to illustrate. Italy was hard | hit by the war and her people suffered | as much, if not more, than any of the | other belligerents, but under Musso- | lini there is a semblance of order and fair start toward economic recovery. Hydraulic development is giving Ital- ian manufacturers cheap power, and were it not for the scarcity of raw materials and the difficulty of obtain- ing them, the outlook would be hope- ful. It is true that Italy has a sur- plus and fast-growing population for which some outlet must be found, but there is no thought that Italy ever is likely to go to war to obtain such an outlet. So far gs it is possible for any 1thly is not one of the powers which menace the peace of Surope. In previous articles I have discussed the American attitude toward Europe in general, and I want to add just this conclusion: I believe that during the six years since the armistice it has been to the benefit of Europe that the United States held aloof from political entanglements and maintained liberty of action. I believe it has been possi- ble for America to help Europe more, for instance, than if we had been a member of ‘the League of Nations. Whether this will continue to be true is another matter. When certain set- tlements are made, some of them be-| ing already under way, the entire | European situation will ‘be changed, swrrounded—populations which, it musy. he remembered, are united in ]firmed alliance against Hungary under the little entente agreements. | Throughout all the rest of Europe - and it is not beyond the range of probabilities that those changes will necessitate changes in the American attitude. (Copyright. 1925.) | man's right to do his own thinking| 128 I do mine, to reach his own con. | | clusions, and’ then to hold his own | honest convictions as frankly as I hold | mine. It makes me ready to say. with | Voltaire, “I disagree with everything | You say, but will defend to the death | your right to say it.” It means that I | have so much confidence in the truth | that I can trust it to win its way | without any other compulsion than | that of its own intrinsic worth. 1| shall reason with the man who differs | from me and seek to persuade him by | showing him why T believe as I do, but try to coerce him—never. Is Earnestness of Convlction. True tolerance means. in a word. earnestness of conviction combined with respect for the convictions of others. It is, as Phillips Brooks once pointed out, a fusion of love of truth ‘with love of men. Strong love of truth without love of one’s fellows makes the bigot. It is this which has lighted the fires of persecution in every age. Love of one's fellows, on the other hand, without devotion to the truth makes the sloppy sentimentalist. The blending of the two makes the ardent and at the same time tolerant spirit. As long ago as the time of the Peloponnesian War, Arfstophanes Wrote certain lines that are as modern as If penned yesterday and never more needed than today: the sus) From murmur and g icion With which we vex one another Give un reat Make a new beginning And mingle agzin the kindred of the nations In the alehemy of Iove. And with some finer emsence of forbearance Temper our mind. (Copyright. 1925.) the subtiety of Wisconsin is w<{nessing a fight which will determine whether or not young Bob La Follette can hold to- | gether, even temporarily, the great| political machine built up by his| father through 30 vears of unceasing, painstaking effort. | In both Wisconsin and New York | City the issues will e settled at a primary on September 15. The ‘third “hot spot” politically Is | in Pennsylvania, where Gifford | Pinchot, a whole year in advance of the Republican primaries, has begun his campaign for the United States Senate. This is the first move in what many persons belleve to be Mr. Pinchot's firm intention to try for the White House as soon as Mr. Coolidge releases the honor of the presidency. or even before if the Coolidge tenure threatens to endure too long. There can be nothing like a climax in Penn- sylvania for another 12 months, but the situation there will bear constant watching by those who are interested in the political portents and purposes. Both Sides Are Fighting. In New York City there is in- ternecine strife in both the Demo- cratic and Republican ranks. At first it/ seemed all the fighting would be done by the Democrats. The Demo- crats are noted for that sort of thing. The Republicans thought that with Mayor Hylan and Gov. Al Smith at death grips the city hall plum would fall squarely into their waiting and empty laps.” But no sooner were the’ Republicans set to- feast upon the Democratic carcass than trouble start- ed within the G. O. P. ranks, and they now have a first-rate family row to deal with on primary day. Frank D. |Both Heats and Coois His Dwelling With Air Piped From Luray Caverns A heating system which excells in | efficiency any vet perfected by man for the comfort of his home is to be found in the home of T. C. Northcott of Luray, Va., president of the Luray Cavern Corporation, which owns the caverns famed throughout the world for their great natural beauty and the wonder of their innumerable sta- lactites and stalagmites. J. W. Shaffer, illuminating engineer for the General Electric Co., who re- cently had charge of installing an in- candescent lighting system in the caves, reports that the methods used by Mr. Northcott for regulating the temperature of his home are- both unique and extremely practical. It chances that the air in the cav- erns, with the exception of being mois- ture laden, is almost completely free of impurities. Mr. Northcott built his house close to one arm of the cavern so that it would stand directly over one of the larger caves. He then drilled down to the cave and installed a pumping system which would draw ‘air from the cave, force it through “a drying chamber int6 a ventilating system and hence through the rooms of his home. The temperature of the cave remains fairly constant in the neighborhood of 60 degrees. This means that in the Summer the air {h the house may be as much as 40 degrees cooler than i | the outside temperature. The ven-! tilating ducts are provided with heat. ers which heat the air in the Winter. The thermometer may be hovering around the zero mark and the air bitter cold, but Mr. Northcott only has to heat the air which he uses in his home from 60 degrees to the tem- perature desired for greatest comfort. The ventilating system allows fresh air to enter each room at the top and stale air to go out at the bottom. Norway’s Many Doctors. Students of medicine at the Univer- sity in Oslo have been so numerous in recent years that the medical pro- fession is in serious-danger of being overcrowded. Doctors in Norway al- ways have enjoyed high social and professional position, but many re- sponsible persons predict that if the development of recent years contin- ues there will be a lowering of the standard. In vain the medical facul- ty has warned young men and women against taking up medical studies and there now approaches a crisis. Pres- sure has been brought on the Storth- ing to pass a law limiting the number of practitioners to a certain nt- age of the number of inhabitanta. However, the Republican chances in the city are wholly dependent upon what happens at the Democratic pri mary. If Mavor Hylan is defeated for the nomination by State Senator “Jimmie” Walker, and refuses to run independently at the election, then the Republican chances will be slim, indeed almost negligible. Hylan says he will abide by the primary decision, but many of the skeptical say he means he will abide by the decision if he considers the primary ‘“free of crookedness™ or if the result happens | Some of the Tammany | 10 go his wa leaders seem to believe Mr. Hylan will not run on a third party ticket. They reckon without the mayor’s chief backer, Mr. Hearst. Mr. Hearst likes to back independent tickets—provided the old bank roll is as loose as it used to be. Then, too, there is the chance that Mr. Hylan may not regard the result of the primary as being “regular.”” He already. claims to be the ‘regular’” candidate in the primaries, and says the Democratic leaders who failed to fall in back of him are “bolters.” If the “bolsters” should nominate their ticket, could Hylan be expected to re- main out of the race? If Hylan by chance should be nomi- nated, or if Hylan should run on an independent ticket, the Republicans would have a good chance to carry the election in November. There is pretty general opinion that the Republican primary will not amount to a great deal, because the result of the Democratic primary may bring about an entirely new align- ment—perhaps even fusion with a dif- rent slate all down the line. There is a disposition here to regard this campaign as a fight between Al Smith and W. R. Hearst. Hearst, thréugh Hylan, is striving for one more “come back” as a political boss in the State. Al Smith is fighting to ave his leadership. Situation in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin it would seem the chances are growing brighter and brighter for young Bob La Follette. There are many wise observers in the Badger State who believe Bob could whip any one person upon whom the stalwarts might center. But now the stalwarts are split and there will be at least two in the fleld to split the conservative vote, although one of them claims to be “the right kind of a progressive.” The ‘regular stal- wart” candidate for the Republican nomination is Roy Wileox of Eau Claire, who was designated by the State conference of Republicans held at Oshkesh. This was an entirely in- formal gathering and Francis E. Mc- Govern, former governor, has refused to abide by its decision. He says he is going to run and that he is the man to win the State away from ‘‘young Bob.” McGovern once was a member of the La Follette inner circle. La Follette took him up and made him governor. But in 1912 McGovern de- serted Batfling Bob for “T. R.” and the battler hated him religiously to his dying day. The real interesting feature of the Wisconsin situation is what President Coolidge will do when young Bob is nominated, as now appears almost cer- tain. The feeling in Wisconsin is that young Bob will be swallowed and no “regular Republican” will be backed against him i the speeial election which follows the primarfes. Linked With Russia. But Germany would be willing to enter the league only on conditions because, while the advantages are I plain, the disadvantages are also obvious. a treaty of which remains unknown, but bearing of which upon the league ! with Russia the full | matter is disclosed by German diplo. ] extent the matic fencing now. Since Russia is outside the league and likely to re- main outside for a long period. it is to be conjectured that the Russo-German understanding covered the possibility of German entrance into the league and doubtless pledged Germany not to enter the league on such terms as to compel her to assist actively or even passively in the event of a Rus- sian conflict with any league member, Poland for example. In return, Ger- many probably was assured the rever- sion of the Polish corridor in case of a Russian victory. All German diplomacy in this ques- tion turns on the double play of escap- ing the disadvantages incident to non- membership while retaining the ad- vantages, real and prospective, of the Russian 'alliance. Therefore she de- mands that since she is herself dis- armed under the treaty, she shall be freed from the obligation to share in the defense of any member nation and her territory shall be forbidden to the troops of any league nation seeking to aid an attacked member. In plain | English, this means that Germany de- mands that if she joins the league | France will not be able to send troops { #cross Germany to aid Poland against | Russia. | | But not only is Poland bound to op- pose such concessions, but she has allles in Czechoslovakia, which fears Germany, and. in Rumania, which fears Russia, while France is the { powerful ally of all three with strong reasons for not desiring to see Ger- many aggrandized at the expense of Poland. Thus German application to enter the league on special terms has been so far steadily rejected despite the fact that the British would like to see the Germans in on any terms, be- lieving - that, once they are in, this fact will have a powerful influencs Entrance Seems Certain. That Germany will enter the league seems to me fairly cert2in, although there is a good deal of ma- neuvering to be done within the Ger- man Reich itself before the thing is carried through. That she will get the terms she seeks is totally un- likely because of the position of France, which holds the necessary veto. Nevertheless in practice it is excessively unlikely that, given the German state of mind, French troops could be moved to the support of Po- land; a convenient strike of the rail- way men, who are government em- ployes, could prevent this. Turning to the broader issue of the relation of the proposed security pact to the league, one comes up against many of the same factors. Last year at Geneva the league for- mulated the famous protocol, which was in reality a universal security pact, an agreement which, had it been adopted by all member nations, would of any one attacked. It embodied the doctrine of universal responsi- bility and placed a moral obligation upon all’ member nations to defend not alone the frontiers of nations ad- She made at Rapallo in 1922 | have bound each to go to the defense | tract. And they also pointed out | that. having overcome them, as she { might do with relative ease if France | remained passive. Germany could | then turn west. and even British aid might be insufficient to check a vic torfous and newly aggrandized Ger | many. i France Provides Answer. Thus, in reality, one came back to | the old question of the protocol. The | proiocol had been based upon the idea that all frontiers were matters of concern for all nations, that it was in practice impossible to fsolate one area and one group of nations while war, if it came, would involve all nations. If an assassin’s shot in re mote Serajevo couid plunge three quarters of the habitable globe in conflict, what use to argue that any restricted pact could be of real value? And France, which had ziven adher ence to the protocol, supplied the best evidence in her own experience, because she was not only the neigh bor of Germany and vitally interested In the security pact as it affected her own frontiers, but she was also the ally of Poland and Czechoslovakla and, therefore, concerned in their frontier: Now when it comes to the league it is plain that the great mass of smaller nations. which feel them selves exposed to attack either on the side of Russia or Germany, or likely to be involved against their will in any. European conflagration, are going to view the present security pact with suspicion, since it may wall seem to them an invitation to con flict. not a bulwark against it. All their efforts will then he directed at reviving the old protocol and in pre. venting the making of the separate security pact. which would, from their point of view. he no more than making peace in one corner of Eu rope while making war more likely in_another. 1t Germany makes a security pact covering her western frontiers and at the same time refuses to make the same kind of an agreement covering her eastern or southern frontiers, it is unmistakable that she holds that there i8 a difference in the permanence of ithe two sets of limits. In theory this does not concern the British, who are anxious to get a detente between France and Germany by removing French fears of ultimate German at- tack to recover Alsace-Lorraine. But it does just as manifestly alarm Po. land and Czechoslovakia, since it gives them new reason to fear Ger. man policy. Offer of Little Value. The German offer to make treaties of arbitration with, those eastern states and thus in principle to re- nounce force as a means of adjusting issues is of little value, for it is of small matter to these nations how * Germany undertakes to acquirs thair territories. What they desire for their own securitv is precisely tne same assurance which Germany offers France and RBelgium and studiously declines to offer Poland and Czecho. slovakia. Thus the German security pact proposal, while from the British point of view carrying a promise of peace, because it affects regions Brit- | aln views with concern, from the con | tinental point of view carries menace. | What the smaller nations of Fu. rope _want is a_general security pact (Continued on Third Page.)