Evening Star Newspaper, September 20, 1925, Page 41

gw, o e L SERRE PR R o o ‘and Pittman. = DITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATURES Part 2—16 Pages Spread Among Boys and the BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. U.\_I.\ll' IST activities in the United ates are more ram- pant and aggressive than ever. They continue to be directed and controlled by the Communist internationale at Moscow, tae political organization of the Rus. sian Soviet government. It 1s be cause the Communists are crusading mnr!_hrnzenly for orld revolution” in this country than at any previous perfod that the Coolldge administra- tion has determined to use every legal weapon at its command to stifle red propaganda. That is the underlying explanation of Secretary Kellogg's action in bar- ring the entry of Shapurji Saklatvala, the Communist member of the Brit- ish House of Commons. who desired to attend the conference of the In- terparliamentary Union at Washing- ton. It is the view of the adminis tration that men like Saklatvala are firebrands who would only add fuel to a flame which this Government considers to be highly dangerous and which it is bending every effort to extinguish. Orders From Moscow. The general public has little con- ception of the boldness and system- atic nature of the Communist move- ment In the United States. It is modeled in every respect, down to the smallest detail, upon the Com- munist internationale In Russia. The headquarters of the American Com- munist party at Chicago regularly asks for and receives orders from Moscow. This Summer there was a serfous split in the American organi- zatlon over a question of policy. One faction wanted to launch a vigorous campaign among the farmers of the United States, with a view to incor- porating them bodily within the Com- munist party. Another faction fa- vored the organization of a separate party to be known as the Workers' Peasant party. American Commun- Ists representing the rival groups went to Moscow. argued their case before the internationale autocrats, and later received a decision which had all the force of a Supreme Court de- cree. It was to the effect that for the present it would be better not to attempt anyvthing in the nature of a separate Communist organization among American farmers, but to seek to league them with the general Communist party. A copy of the de- cree is in the nds of the United States Government. It was in Janu 1924, that Sec retary Hughes was called upon by a subcommittee of the foreign relations committee of the Senate to sustain his contention that Communist propa ganda in America made it impossible to recognize Soviet Russla. Sena- tor Borah was chairman of the sub- committee. The other members were Senators Lenroot. Pepper, Swanson Mr. Hughes and his assistants in the State De rtment et down upon the Senators a barrage of evidence that the country is honey- combed with red intrigue. This writer is authorized to say that con- ditions as reported to the Senate 20 months ago have abated in no re- 'RED ACTIVITIES RAMPANT NOW IN UNITED STATES Propaganda Directed by Moscow Being Workers, Young Colored Race. On the contra they are ag- gravated. The Borah committee has never made a report. It has been understood by all concerned that the proofs submitted by Secretary Hughes were conclusive beyond all "question. He had stacks of additional material to submit, but the committee appeared to be satisfled that he had proved his case. spect. Branching Out. Since then the American reds have branched out in a variety of new di- rections. These include: 1. Creatlion is as many indi- vidual factorfes and other industrial establishments as possible of so- called “cells” of Communism. These consist sometimes of only four or five Reds, who pursue the boring- from-within policy among thelr fellow workers. The iden {s grad- ually to communize a plant, and eventualy the trade unfon in a given branch of industry. Chicago headquarters claims that nearly 200 of these nucleus units were formed last year. 2. Formation of Communist or- ganizations among young people, especially boys, in the gulse of sports clubs. 3. Organization of newly arrived allens into Communist racial groups for the purpose of counteracting Americanization work. 4. Spectal efforts to undermine loyalty of the American colored element. There is reason to be- lieve that Moscow has far-reaching plans in this respect. Fought by Labor. The American Federation of Labor continues, under the presidency of William Green, the policy of Samuel Gompers in combating Communist maneuvers among American worker: There are likely to be some stirring revelations of red activities when the annual meeting of the federation is held in October. The Communists are, making a particular drive among the hordes of foreign workingmen in the United States. The American party subdivided into so-called federations or sections of nationalities. There are Finnish, Polish, Hungarlan, Lithua- nfan, Austrian, Italian and other sec- tions. Each one of these racial federa- tions has its own newspaper, pub- lished in the foreign language in ques tion. The central official the Communists is a daily newspaper Worker, of Chicago. A monthly gan, the Workers' Monthly, is pubiished in English. All of the | munist journals specialize in vitupera- tive attacks on capitalism and on the pitalistic government” of the Unit- ed States, and openly preach the doc- trine of the world revolution. They indulged In violent abuse of President Coolidge and Secretary Hughes at the time of the Count Karolyi Incident and are expected to be equally ex plosive over the SaKlatvala affal Some day, when a little of the inside or- there will be disclosed cei tain things that impelled Secretary Kellogg unhesitatingly to enforce the law against Communist immigrants in the case of Shapurji Saklatvala, M. P. (Copyright. 1925.) RELIC IN MUSEU M RECALLS DE SOTO QUEST FOR GOLD When Hernando De Soto and his intrepid band of Spanish explorers, acting under authority of Emperor Charles V of Spain, made their way through what are now the States of Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mis- =issippi In quest of the “land of gold,” back in 1540, they left at various river points evidences of their adventurous journey, which from time to time in the intervening years have come to lzht. In the museum of the American Antiquarian Soclety at Worcester, Mass., s a relic which historical re- search now links with the De Soto ex- pedition and which appears to indi- cate De Soto’s purpose to perpetuate in stone the trail of his unsuccesstul search for fabulous riches. It is known both as the “‘Alabama Stone’ and the “De Soto Stome.” It is of rough brown sandstone of a rudely conical shape, 22 inches in height, 18 fnches in breadth and from 10 to 13 inches in thickness and weighs 204 pounds. Amazingly Well Preserved. Considering that it is some 500 years old, it is amazingly well pre- served. The “Alabama Stone,” as it is more famillarly known, came into posses- sion of the American Antiquarian So- clety, which is engaged in assembling authentic records relating to the ori- gin of America, as a gift. 100 years ago, from one Silas Dinsmore of Mo- bile, Ala., a councilor of the society. At that time its history was not known. || Later research has developed that the stone was found by a youth named homas Scales in 1817, at what is now Pruscaloosa, Ala., 50 miles southwest @ Birmingham. Scales’ father had oved with his family from northern m»bama to help extend the bound- alls (now Tuscaloosa). The settlers ere at work clearing a- plece of {ground’ just below the mouth of the [Black Warrlor River when in mov- hg timber they found an earthwork Iir embankment shaped like a fortifi- tlon, running across & peninsula be- | veen the river and what was known Big Creek. The embankment was about four leet high and on the top of it, all the ay across from the river to the creek, were growing the tallest trees of the forest. At the foot of one of these, a glant tulip tree, which stood Efle! of a settlement at Tuscaloosa . at the very edge of the river, they found a stone, with the lower end half buried in the soil. the stone. since the vear 1232 was three centuries before the expedition by De Soto. The figures, therefore, are supposed to have some other sig- nificance, which has mnot yet been made clear. The Alabama stone, it is supposed, was used as a marker by De Soto, who, to give it a secifre resting place. placed it at the foot of the fortifica- tion, where it was found three cen- turies later. Built by De Soto and His Men. Presumably the fortification, or earthwork, was built by De Soto and his men as a security against Indians, who bitterly fought the fortune-seek- turn. The Alabama stone is supposed to have been placed at Tuscaloosa Falls some 18 months before De Soto, push- ing wearily yvet hopefully ahead, reached the Mississippi River, the first ‘white man to see that mighty stream. De Soto’s party arrived at the bank of the Mississippi just below the site where Memphis, Tenn., many yvears later, was established It was in June, 1542, that De Soto, the riches he had set his heart upon, and about to abandon his enterprise, sickened and died, his comrades plac- ing his body in the hollow trunk of a tree and weighing it down so that it sank, this so that the Indians would not know the expeditionists had lost their leader. His former comrades in adventure, still pursuing the lure of gold, reached a Spanish settlement in Mexico late in 1542 and soon after- ward abandoned thelr search. Much Red Tape Attends Buying French Smokes Tobacco in France is controlled by a state monopoly. The government im- from various countries and sells them wholesale or retail. Asa rule one buys cigarettes in a “bistro” (the French name for a saloon), but any one desir- ing a high-grade cigar or cigarette must go to a government retail shop and line up in a cue of customers. A very official looking officlal asks each customer what he wants and when the brand is named looks in a catalogue, lets his eyes wander along the wall where thousands of packages of cigar- ettes are piled and fetches what has been asked for. But a customer who Stone Bears Inscription. On the stone they discovered a curlous inscription. ~ His curlosity aroused, young Scales induced his father to haul the stone up to the settlement at the falls, where it stood for a long time in the town squire’s office, an object of much speculation. Later it came into possession of Dinsmore, a friend of the squire. The inscription on the Alabama stone reads “HISPAN. ET. IND. REX,"*and below are the Arabic fig- ures “1232.” The inscription is the same as that found upon old Spanish coins in the day of De Soto, at the time when the King of Spain also as- med the title-of King of the Indies. Historlans have disputed as to what the figures of 1232" mean, but it has heen agreed that they ecould not signify the date of the plaging of tries to get it from him he stabs with a glance of his official eye and orders him peremptorily to “attendez!” (wait). He then enters the name of the manu- facturer and the price of the cigarettes in a book that looks much like a ship’s loghook, fills out a slip and hands it and the customer over to another offi- clal. This man carefully examines the customer, the slip and then the box of cigarettes and its slip, compares the prices and exchanges the customer's slip for a yvellow check and asks him to proceed to the right. There a be- nevolent woman official informs the buyer of the price of the cigarettes. When the purchaser produces the money she hands out a green slip and orders the weary buyer to the next organ_of | printed in English, called the Daily | ing expedition, attacking it at every ; discouraged over his failure to find | ports ready-made cigars and cigarettes | H i history of the Karolyi episode can be | | revealed. | i EDITORIAL SECTION The Sunday Star | WASHINGTON, D. ~ oy SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 20, 1925. Many Precedents for Young La Follette In Aspiring to Father’s Senate Seat BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. OUTH and family succession in political office in the United States were two points of attack particularly stressed in the campaign to defeat Robert M. La Follette, jr.. in the primaries for the Republican nomination for Senator. Neither line of attack proved of the slightest avail. Nor is there reason why such arguments should suc- ceed, where the office is elective and not ap- pointive. The first quarter of the twentieth century has been called the “young man's day.” A United States Senator at 30 years of age, there- fore, could scarcely be regarded as a shock. Also young men have come to the fore in American political history long years ago. Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay were no- table examples. Clay, who was born in 1777, was elected a Senator from Kentucky, in 1806, when, he was still only 29 years old, although the cpnstitutional provision s that a Senator must have attained the age of 30 vears, and a member of the House, 25. A President of the United States need be no more than 35, by the provision of the Constitution, although none of the Presidents so far chosen has ap- proached closely this uthful” age. When Henry Clay was first elected Senator, like the younger La Follette. he was chosen to 1ili out an unexpired term, Senator Adair hav- ing resigned. Clay, previous to this election, had served in the State Legislature, but had held no other public office. - After the term to which he had been elected in the Senate expired—as it did, March 8, 1807—Clay went back to service in the State Legislature, and in 1810 he was again elected to fill another vacancy in the Sen- ate of the United States, serving for only a vear. When he entered the House of Represent- atlves soon afterward, he became Speaker al- most immediately. So much for a young man of long ago. - * x % * Family succession in political office, provided the voters are satisfied, is not open to criticism. Supposedly the voters choose the man or wom- an they desire to serve them, under the system in vogue here. The younger La Follette, dur- ing the campaign for the primaries, was re- ferred to by some of his opponents as the “ecrown prince.” If he attained the office of Senator through appointment, and not by the ballot, such a characterization might have been more fitting. The case of the Elkins family of West Virginia, for example, was much more open to such criticism. Stephen B. Elkins was Senator from West Virginia from 1895 until he died, still in office, in 1911. His son, Davis Elkins, was appointed by the governor to fill his father’s unexpired term. Several years later, during his service as a major in the American expeditionary force, in France, Davis Elkins was nominated and elected Senator by the thers closed. In one case of father and son serv- ice in the Senate, both the father and the son sat in the Senate at the same time, though one represented the State of Wisconsin, and the other the State of Iowa. Gen. Henry Dodge, the fa- ther, was elected one of the first Senators from Wisconsin in 1848. His son, Gen. Augustus C. Dodge, was elected one of the first Senatorp from lowa In the same year. The latter was the first Senator of the United States who was born west of the Mississippi River. The elder Dodge remained Senator until 1857, and the son until 1855, when he was appointed United States Minister to Spain by President Pietce. Both father and son were Democrats. * k ¥k % In the Senate as it is now constituted, three Senators there are whose fathers served in the Upper House before them, Senator Thomas Francis Bayard of Delaware; Senator Frederick Hale of Maine, and Senator Guy D, Goff of West Virginia. The record of the Bayard famlly in the Senate is unique. More than a, century ago, in 1804, the first Bayard took his seat as Senator from Delaware. The present senutor's father, who was also Thomas Francls Bayard, his grand- father and great grandfather, both of whom werd named James Ashton Bayard, his great, great grandfather, Richard Bassett Bayard, and his great uncle, Richard Henry Bayard, were all Senators. Thi¥ ant ancestral senatorial line, indeed. Senator Hale succeeded a distingufshed fa- ther in the Senate, although the succession was interrupted by a Democratic Senator, Charles F. Johnson. Senator Frederick Hale was elect- ed in 1916. He now holds the chairmanship of the Senate committee on naval affairs, as did his father before him. Senator Goff's father served in the Senate only a few years ago, a Senator also from West Virginia. * Kk Kk X Going a little farther back, the Camerons, fa- ther and son, represented Pensylvania in the Senate for 38 years. Simon Cameron, the fa- ther, became Senator in 1845, filling a vacancy caused by the resignation of James Buchanan. During the Lincoln administration he became Secretary of War and organized the Union forces for service in the field. Early in 1862, he was sent to Russia as Minister and when he returned to this country he was agaifm elected a Senator, serving until 1877, when he resigned. His son, James Donald Cameron, fol- lowed closely in his father's footsteps. He was president of a railroad when he was appointed by President Grant Secretary of War. On the resignation of his rather from the Senate, he was elected to the vacancy and served for 10 years. Nebraska affords another case of father and son service in the Senate, although the service Versailles treaty in the Senate after it had been negotiated by President Wilson at the close of the war. * ¥ % X Not all the Senators in recent years have been graybeards, or even approaching such a state. Senator Wadsworth of New York, whose father was an influential member of the House, was 37, when he was elected to the Senate. Senator Morris Sheppard of Texas— ‘silver-tongued ora- tor of the Rlo Grande ame to the Senate when he was 38. He firat served in the House to which he was elected to fill the unexpired term of his father. When Davis Elkins was ap- pointed Senator to fill his father's unexpired term, he was only 35 years old. Henry F. Ash- urst of Arizona, was another elected to the Senate at 3% years of age, and Park Trammel of Florida became Senator when he was 40. Senator C. C. Dill of Washington was 38 when he was elected Senator in 1922. The succession of “Bob” La Follette, jr., to his father's seat in the Senate, which now seems assured, in view of his overwhelming victory in the Republican primarfes, is not without precedent, therefore, nor is his youth. He will come to the Senate personally known to practically all the members of the Upper House. e has been known in the past, however, as secretary -to his father, In December, he will appear on the floor of the Senate as the peer of any Senator, if he be elected. Although he’ will come to the Senate as a Republican, the regulars have declared they will not accept him as such, but will treat him as they did his father and Senator Brookhart of Towa, and Senator Frazier and the late Senator Ladd of orth Dakota, denying him a place in party councils and committee assignments as a Republican, * ok ok ok When the senior La Follette came first to the Senate, also as a Republican. in 19 he was a lonely figure. He was regarded as a radi- cal. The ‘regulars” turned their backs on him. But in a short time a group of Progres- sives began to gather in the Senate, first with Dolliver of Iowa, Clapp of Minnesota and Beveridge of Indiana, and latér including Dixon of Montana. Bourne of Oregon, Borah of lda- ho, Cummins of Towa and Bristow of Kansas, a group that proved a thorn in the side of the “regulars” in the Payne-Aldrich tariff fight. The younger La Follette will find in the Sen- ate, already a group of progressives, with Borah, and Norris of Nebraska, Brookhard and Frazier, and several others of varying degrees of “progressiveness.” The effort of the conservative wing of the Republican party to stamp out the progressive, insurgent and radical group of Senators hall- ing from the West, so far has not met with undiluted success. The plan for a new liberal people of his State. His term of office expired last March. There have been other instances where sons succeeded fathers in the Senate—some of them immediately—and others who have been elect- ed Senator years after the service of the fa- M. Hitchcock, was separated by many years. Phineas War- ren Hitchcock was a Republican Senator from that State, from 1871 to 1877. His son, Gilbert was elected to the Senate in 1911, as a Democrat, and served for two terms, leading the fight for the ratification of the political party, advanced by Senator La Fol lette and abetted by other Progressives, has been abandoned actively to be sure. fight for “progressive” measures, it seems is to contfnue unabated in Congress. But the ROUTINE, CHIEF CAUSE OF WAR, HAS CLUTCH ON WHOLE WORLD| SEEN IN PROSPERITY IN STORES It Finds a Hereditary Enemy for Each Nation, and Teaches People to Hate and Arm and Keep Chips on Their Shoulders. BY DAVID STARR JORDAN, Chancellor Emeritus of Leland Stan- ford University. Jacques Novicow, the distinguished professor of history in the University of Odessa, used to maintain that one of the chief causes of war was to be found in “Saint Routine.” Routine de- clares at all times that “it has always been so and so it must always re- main.” We must have a big navy for protection to our commerce. We must have a big army to_keep off our jealous neighbors. We must always maintain the tradition of wicked neighbors. We must teach our children to hate them, and Rou- tine demands that some particular neighbor must be at all times kept to the front for the people to hate. ‘We must keep our young men under martial discipline for two or three years at least, lest they have time to think about what Routine is demand- ing of their lives. Then, in turn, having, Routine fashion, peopled land and sea with enemies, Routine de- mands that we fight some of them from time to time, lest our martial spirit fade away, even as our great ships and great cannon soon rust if not used. They are made for killing. and they will not willingly continue to “shoot at a mark unless it wiggles ‘when it is hit.” Saint Routine, who dominates the countries of Europe and has her grasp on America, asks no guestions as to the need of what she calls “de- fense” and ‘“security.” The true meaning of both is expenditure. Neither does she count the cost, which, as stated “Johnson's Law of National Waste,” “in every expanding nation consumes all the fruits of progress.” Always With Us. The enemy is always with us, whether existing or mnot, and to he victorious over somebody is the only avowed object of Routine. The enemy has some time or other offend- ed the national honor. This may be accomplished by an impudent state | paper, or by an unpald debt, or a grievance of some ill-treated exploiter, or a failure to salute our flag. With “a chip on our shoulder” and “our hat in the ring,” we may trust Saint Routine for the rest. Wherever we may raise our flag—and we are not overparticular on whose premises it is elevated—Saint Routine demands that we shall never haul 1 down. The rocket's red glare will show it still there, whatever the complaints of those whose flag Is dispossessed. Saint Routine presided over the treaty of Versailles as over the other abominations which came out of Paris. It presided in like fashion, in earlier vears, over the treaties of Berlin, Vienna, Frankfort, London and Brest- Litovsk. It is the regular way. The greatest crime a nation can commit is fo be beaten in war, and to a wran- gling coalition Routine assigns the spoils. And every crime of victor or vanquished is pardoned if “they are all doing_it"—that is, if prescribed Saint Routine. byh is natural that half-scared na- tions should wish to be ready for emergencies, even if the emergencles are of their own creating. To demand an army and navy is natural, and once established these are the choice preserves of Saint Routine. Whatever their expansion, they cannot be re- duced. It they are well organized, Routine demands that they remain so. Whatever its status, every organiza- tion strives to extend its influence, its power and, alas, its expenses. Hence half the income of solvent na- tions, and .sometimes twice the income of others, goes through Routine to army and navy. In our “greatest of counter, where the cigarpttes are de-|nations™ out of every hundred dollars livered by another official, naturally |exacted from the people 333.69 goes after a careful examination of the today for current military expenses, green siip. » $50.74 for past expenses, interest, pen- | slons, etc., and $15.57 for all other functions of government. In this relatively small but really large sum Saint Routine assigns to general law enforcement 64 cents; to foreign relations (when not fighting), 44 cents: development of agriculture, 87 cents; study and promotion of the fisheries, 4 cents; sclence and re- search. ‘39 cents; public health, 47 cents; immigration and naturalization, 15 cents; highways and public build- ings, $5.74. These figures are com- piled by the Budget Bureau, and each one of these relatively insignificant, with as_many more of vital impor- tance. But as Saint Routine does not have values in her mind, they count for mothing as against “security from foes," chlefly of her own creating. The way for a nation to avoid “in- vasion” is to deal fairly with other nations. “A clvil tongue in the for- elgn office counts for more than a dozen battleships.” And the way to remove misunderstandings is to ‘talk them over, not to write caustic or abusive letters, as is the more fre- quent custom. Whatever the valuation of the eco- nomic and biological soundness of Mr. Bryan, he had a heart above the clutches of Saint Routine. He wrote once to Japan the finest sentence in the whole history of diplomacy. When asked if & certain decision was a finality, he replied: “There is no final word among_friends (Copyright, 1925.) HUGE BUSINESS B OOM IN NATION Retail Business of Country Is Climbing Steadily and the Greatest September in History Is Predicted for the Man Behind the Counter. BY HARDEN COLFAX. Write down this month as the big- gest September the man behind the counter ever had and you can't go wrong—such is the consensus of re- turns the country over concerning the condition of retail trade throughout the United States. It is reflected in preliminary reports to governmental agencies here gathering such data and is forecast by the impressive fig- ures already gathered covering Au- gust. 2 Day by day, the retail business of the country is climbing. Evidence accumulates that the Nation is on its way to a new prosperity record that will be reached, in all likelthood, be- fore the snow fiies. Here are some of the straws in the wind: Sales Show Increase. * Sales of 528 retall, department, clothing and other large stores throughout the United States, tab- ulated by the Federal Reserve Board, show a 7 per cent increase last month over sales in August, 1924. Sales of the two largest malil order concerns are now running to almost $1,500,000 a day. August sales ran to $28,000,000, as compared with less than $24,000,000 during August, 1924. Sales of the leading 10-cent stores in August ran to $30,000,000, as com- pared with sales totaling $27,000,000 in August a year ago. New life insurance policles taken DIRECT ATTEMPT BY GERMANY TO NULLIFY TREATY CHARGED BY ROBT. UNDERWOOD JOHNSON, Former American Ambassador to Italy. The idea of a federation of the cen- tral states of Europe—that is, of its German-speaking peoples, with the hegemony .at Berlin—is not new. Tt was indeed so obvious a part of the Teuton policy during the war znd is so manifestly inimical to the peace cf Europe that it was specifically pro- hiblted by the treaty of Versailles. But the signatures of the German en- voys to that document were not writ- ten in fadeless ink. and before lung it will be difficult to find them at all. Time and the weak statesmanship of Great Britaln have given boldness, not to say arrogance, to German de- mands for modification of the treaty, and at last, a few days ago, the presi- dent of the Reichstag in honeyed words presented to a peace conference in Paris the idea—it will soon become a proposition—that Germany and Aus- tria should be permitted to unite! Even the gorge of Mr. Herriot rose at this, and he remained away from the meeting at which the president of the Reichstag was expected to make this demand. Herr Loebe, apparently in deference to French sentiment, re- nounced for the time his chance to present the idea, but was finally ac- corded a hearing. Full of Fair Words. Herr Loebe, to judge from his pro- fessions, was the man who invented peace. As reported by the correspon- dent of the Christian Science Monitor, who was present, “he denounced war as a crime and accepted the security pact. He desired obligatory arbitra- tlon. He hoped. disarmament would most conducive to the peace of Eu- rope? At the same moment, speaking in Vienna, Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart approvingly reports that Austriar opinion strongly favors the union. Counting on the spineless sentimen- tality of many well meaning persons and on the natural obscuration of events in the memory of man by the tide of time, Germany hopes to undo what was gained for permsnent peace by the treaty. No Time for Temporizing. Any one in touch with European opinign knows that Germany will not succeed in her ill-timed plan. The danger lies not in any chance of suc- cess, but in the continental discord that the proposition will arouse. Here iz a chance for Great Britain to make herself felt and to strengthen the bonds of the allles which she has done so much to loosen. She cannot too quickly enter into pourparlers with other nations to nip in the bud this futile ambition of Germany. Frem what I learned during the past Sum- mer’ in Belgium and France, I am convinced that those countries, and at least Italy, Poland and the little en- tente, may be counted on to oppose the suggestion. It is time vor them to say frankly that it must not be. To temporize with the situation would be to invite another war. (Copyright. 1925.) In Case One Loses Life.| 1 Swiss hotel managers are frugal and cautious. They know the risks in- curred by Alpine ‘ enthusiasts who climb the mountains and do not want follow. Moral disarmament could'only | to take any chances on them. Re- come from reciprocal confidence and absolute equality between nations. In- ternational understanding depended on a Franco-German reconciliation.” Admirable words! But will they camoufiage to any eyes the plan now officlally promulgated to set aside the one provision of the Versailles treaty tly the leading hotels in the high- ml put ‘the following notice in the rooms: ‘Patrons who have decided to |undertake dangerous ascents are re- spectfully requested to settle their ‘bills before leaving the hotel. Their fiw ly 1abeled, will be care- fully stored free of charge.” out In August swept to the record total for the month of 949,000. In August of last year the number wa: 784.000. Nine chain systems of drug stores report a 17 per cent increase in busi- ness last August, over the preceding one. Grocery Stores Boom. Twenty-seven chaln systems Erocery stores report a 2 increase in total business same periods. Six chain systems of shoe stores re- port a 7 per cent increase. Four chain systems of music stores say business is up 30 per cent. Five chain systems of candy stores record an increase of 10 per cent. Department stores—359 all scattered throughout the United States—report an increase of 6 per cent, Commercial failures Increased about 4 per cent in number, but the total labilities of the defunct firms dropped more than $2,000,000 below the lia- bilities of defunct firms reported in August, 1924, The foregoing figures were taken from reports to the Federal Reserve Board and are official. They are the latest word as to the country's busi- ness condition and prospects. To cor- roborate the accuracy of the upward trend, as thus reflected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports an increase of 12 per cent in its retail food price in- dex for July as compared with July. 1924. August figures are not yet com- pleted. ¢ Rallroads See Prosperity. Rallroads with riging totals of car- loads of traffic ...‘_5 the story of the coming business boom is right. Late figures show loadings of nearly 1,200, 000 cars a week and before the pealc of traffic is reached next month a record of 1,250,000 carloads handled in a single week—notwithstanding the coal strike-—probably will be hung up as something for the future to shoot at. There never has been anything ;2«: ;.he volume ‘:at traffic that is roll- ow over -the rails; in firat 1,000,000 car week of whios ihore Is a record bobbed up in 1920 and was halled as a wonderful mark at the Now that record will al likelihood: by 25 pes b:et:let"d'l’:- asmuch as 1920 marked the crisls of our post-war industrial fever, as shown by high figures then recorded on the business thermometer, today’s :::‘llln?lxh;r readings show how far the ry has progre: t Sountry has Drogressed since its great Record Christmas. The present volume of ret - ness throws a long ahadnwuua:’r‘;‘n the coming holidays and presages a fil}:rm:nusfifxr pihe merchants—the e of which the Un| E never Inown. before, | - Ctates has vernment . economists agree the almost unparalleled ern‘ployntx::: conditions are largely responsible for the excellent showing. Returns to the Federal Government employment service show no areas of real unem- ployment anywhere in the Unitea States, ‘except for the white-collar men, who never have been fully em- ployed and probably never will be so long as they prefer store and office to factery and farm. The solitary ex. ception to this rule is in the anthra. cite fields of Pennsylvania, and even there the erstwhile mining hosts find little difficulty in obtaining other tem- porary employment at good wages. Liemiss Waistcoat Weather. From the Albany Evening News, The average man’s idea of normalcy is getting his waistcoat back on and being able to keep a pencil.and other-things in the poc! etn’tehereo:. of for the per cent | told, | Organ Reaches Cri BY FRANK H. SIMONDS, HE latest session of the assem bly of the League of Nations at Geneva and, the events| which have there been dis closed serve as a. natural and logical basis for some review of the point to which the league has come in the #ix vears of its existence. It is clear, too, that the league. has, in a sense, reached a crisis, If not a turn- ing point, in its development, as the sharp difference between British and continental European opinion clearly discloses. i And at the outset of any discus- slon it must be recognized that so far, at least, the development of the league has not been in uny large de gree along lines which were foreseen when 1t was created. At the start the conception was of a super-state, which should preserve peace by the control of the military resources, as well as the economic, of the member states. Peace was to be insured by force—the nation which broke the p e was to be dealt with by an international police precisely as the lawbreaker of the individual nation is dealt with Broken Down by U. S. This original conception broke down immediately when the United States refused to enter the league be. cause such entrance imposed upon it responsibilities with respect of the | trontiers of other countries. We as members of the league would have been morally and legally bound to Join with. all other member nations in deferding the frontiers of Rum against Russian aggression. of Poland against - efther Soviet or German in- vasion. And in the temper of our countrymen then and thereafier it was Impossible to make such a con tract in thelr name. This original conception, however. remained fnstinct in the league until it found its definite expression In the protocol of September, which went far beyond the covenant in the matter of obligation. All member nations be- came by virtue of that document guarantors of the safety, security and integrity of all other member nations, and the British people were told that their navy had become the interna- tional marine police force of the | league. But the British people were in no mood to undertake the defense of remote frontiers, and in quite the same fashion that the United States ! had rejected the covenant, the British | Bovernment rejected the protecol, in | dicating clearly that it was opposed | {both to the general commitments of the protocol and to the accompanying obligation to submit all questions” to arbitration. | Britain Offered Substitute. The protocol was thus either finally destroyed, or at the least temporarily eliminated. Then the British on their {side brought forward at once a substi- {tute proposal which was no more than {the offer to assume responsiblity for {that European frontier which intimate- | {1y concerned themselves, namely. the | ! western frontier of Germany, while| | specifically declining to assume any re- sponsibility for any other frontier. At the same time they earnestly sought to | persuade the French to renounce all interest in other frontiers in return for the double assurance of their own— double since France was to have a | German pledge to respect them and a British promise to support France in case of Germgn violation of the given word, although in theory the British were also prepared to support Ger- many against any French aggression. {thus avolding the appearance of mak- ing any alliance with France against Germany . This British substitute, although it carried with it the condition that Ger- {many should enter the league, which was naturally welcomed at Geneva, was promptly recognized to do vio-| |lence both to the original conception | land to all the development of the | League of Nations. Beyond all else |although the proposed security pact was to be registered with the league and tled into the league machinery, it actually went outside the league alto- gether And so far from contributing to general security, it was felt, particu- larly in Warsaw gnd Prague, that the chief consequence of the pact would be to compromise Polish and Czech ex- istence and to insure ultimate German aggression, although in terms it bound {Germany not to act against elther Slav state by force. Depends on France. Obvipusly, the suyccess or failure ‘of the British substitute must depend upon France. France has not alone been the most outspoken and consist- ent advocate of the protocol principle, as contrasted with the regional pact, but France also was and is the ally of both Poland and Czechoslovakia, bound | to come to the aid of either, if it should) be attacked. France, therefore could not in honor consent to accept a guar- antee of her own security which in- volved the abandonment of her allies, even more a virtual surrender of them to Germany. This moral obligation, however real, might perhaps be avoided were not the materlal interest identical. But if France stood aside and permitted Poland or Czechoslavakia to be crushed either by Germany alone or by Germany and Russla, then an ag- grandized Germany might in her turn pay as little regard to the securi pact as she had in 1914 to the guaran tee- of Belgian neutrality. True, Britain would be bound to. support France and Belgium again. But, given the inevitable state of” British military strength, Germany might con- vince herself again, as in 1914, that she could triumph before the British could get going. Memory Is Barrler. Moreover, one must remember that the French have long memories and recall that the fatal blunder of Na- poleon III in' permitting Prussia to crush Austria in 1866 was the sure prelude to 1870, when France, in turn, was isolated and crushed. Moral and material reasons, therefors, have steadily prevented France from follow- ing the British completely. and accept- ing the proposed security pact as an exclusive affair, wiping out respon- sibilities elsewhere in Europe. The French thesis falls in naturally with .the views of most of the con- tinental nations. Poland, Czechoslo- vakia, Jugoslavia, Rumania, the Bal- tic states, Belgium fand marny other small countries regard Wwith just sus-. picion the substitution of a special for a general pact. For all of them there are very real dangers, dangers in every case grow- ing out of the refusal of neighbors to accept the existing political frontiers ot Europe. | any—to | land | patent | “SUPER-STATE” MISSION OF LEAGUE HAS FAILED ation Declared Impotent When Faced by Major Issues Now . tical Stage. Greece for e were again wantonly attacked by Ttaly, as in the. Corfu episode; to Ru- mania if Russia eventually seeks to reconquer Bessarabia. Moreover, Po- and kia have very opposing t British proposat directly, because in their eyes it merely licenses Germany to change her eastern frontlers in re- turn for accepting as final her western boundaries. ample—if sh Argument for Proponents. At bottom, too, there is this to be sald for the arguments of the cham- pions of the protocol: Past history has proved how difficult it ix to localize European disputes. The British ldea that if an arrangement is reached between F ice and Germany a gen- eral war can be avoided even in case of local disturbances sounds unim- pressive at a time when all Europe is stll suffering from the universal destruction incident to a dispute aris- ing in the midst of the Balkana and concerning only Austria and Serbia at_the outset Whatever the guarantees and treat les, one may take it as axiomatic that France would not in any present time permit Germany to accumulate the military strength necessary to crush Poland, and use it to that end, since France would belleve that this strength thus accumulated not only could but would be, in turn, thrown against France, France, in company with most coniinental states argues powerfully that there is no such thing as partial peace, that neither peace nor war can be loedlized, and that the necessary mission of any such inter- national agency as the league is to preserve peace everywhere with equal effort and with equal force. More Apparent Than Real. And in reality the real difference Dbetween the British and the French thesis {3 more apparent than real, for what it amounts to is that the British are convinced that their own security compels them to be concerned with conditions along the Rhine, while the French bellef is that the security of France must be similarly guarded on the Vistula and the Upper Elbe. The effect of this dispute between the continental and fnsular view—for it i3 fnexact to speak of the nations opposing the British conception as Latin, since several are Slav—has been to paralyze the development of the league. It'is still absolutely im- potent in the presence of actual war dangers. We have had since the in- ception of the league two considerable wars_in both of which league mem- bers have been involved, namely the Bolo-Polish war and the Greco-Turk- ish. Yet in both cases the league has done nothing and could do nothing. The Franco-Belgian occupation of the Rhur and the Italian selzure of Corfu were similarly events which threatened war, yet the league was unable In either case to act, and had it undertaken to act in either its own existence would have been imperiled by the withdrawal of member nations which would not have consented to in- terference. Twice, too, the league has heen asked to decide in issues which did clearly menace peace, namely, in the Upper Silesia and Vilna questions, and in each case its decision, which stood because the nation favored was able militarily to maintain its grouna, was accepted only under duress by the loser, and stili constitutes a very real menace to permanent peace. Unable to Function. As a superstate, then, as an inter- national agency capable and commis- sloned to maintain peace, the league has been unable to function from the start and two efforts to clothe it with the authority and the resources, name- Iy, the covenant and the protocol, have been ineffective. - Moreover, the ulti- mate obstacle to any such evolution has been Anglo-Saxon, that of the United States in absence, that of Great Britaln powerfully pressed by _the overseas.dominions in actual presence at_Genev. Nor has the league at any point been able 1o exercise the smallest con- trol over governments. On the con- trary, the men who have sat at Geneva have been at all times directed from their own capitals, or have come expressly to declare policles which have been agreed upon in advance. It is not, for example, the league which is condueting the present discussion between France, Britain and Germany in the matter of a security pact. Not in the least. These discussions are going forward without regard to Geneva and all that will happen is that in.due course of time the result, if any, will_be notified ta the league. It is not the league which is seekirg to bring Germany into its circle; it is France and Britain. Could Only License War. The security pact itself, so far as it has yet been sketched, does not clothe the league with any other authority than that, perhaps, of deciding that some nation has become an aggressor and is therefore entitied to punish- ment. In a word, the most the leagus could have to do with the pact would be to agree that it had become non- operative as a restraining force upon | either France or Germany by reason of the fact 'that the other had vio- lated it. Then it would be for France and Britain, for example, to make war upon Germany, absolved from any moral restralnts. It could not keep . peace, it could simply license war. The “simple truth is that even if there were some acute menace of war in Burope today, the league could do nothing. about.it, because it has no method ‘of intervening effectively. It Russia, for example, should attack Poland totally without present provo- cation, no Polish-appeal to the league would have value and no league ap- peal either to Russia or to the mem- ber nations would have any conse- quences. Poland would find ald, if at all, from her Rumanian and French allies. Moreover, as 1 have said, the fact that the league gave Kattowltz to Poland despite German claims and Vilna despite Lithuanian does not in the least carry any moral obligation to either the German or the Lithuanian to accept this decl- sion. On the contrary, both nations are firmly resolved to recover the lost cities. It would be a total mistake, of dourse, to assume that the league, he- | cause it has been unable to accom- plish any larger mission, is a com- plete failure and has.no future value. The real difficulty in discussing league issues lies in the tendency to exag- gerate on’ both sides of the enduring eontroversy. The champions of the league’ claim for it everything, the opponents deny it everything, and the For all of these smaller nations the | protocol is the desirable line_of leagu actlvity, because it gives & collective guarantee of all member Bations to truth, as s customary. lies well be- tween the two extrems ‘has- proved . ftsell an |