Evening Star Newspaper, October 11, 1925, Page 49

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATUPES Part 2—14 Pages SOFT COAL SUPPLY AMPLE TO WARM ENTIRE NATION Wider Use as Domestic Fuel Urged as Means of Hastening End of the Anthracite Strike. BY G. GOULD LINCOLN. F the public will keep cool, there is no good reason why it should not keep warm, the an- thracite coal strike notwith- standing." This in brief is the belief of officlals of the Government who are In touch With the fuel situation and of coal men themselves. The principal danger in the territory where anthracite is used is panicky buying and hoarding, forc- ing prices up, and in a failure to ap- preciate the fact that substitutes can be_used for the hard coal. The anthracite strike has been on for six weeks. But less Is heard of it than of any other coal strike that has occurred In years. The Federal Gov- ernment is keeping its hands off in the present controversy, having adopted a watchful waiting policy. The real danger of suffering for lack of fuel would come, it is said, in the event of a bituminous strike of large proportions, or a tieup of the rail- roads which handle the coal. Naither of these possibilities, however, is classed as a probability. Efforts to bring about a strike of the soft coal miners in West Virginia have met with little success. Soft Coal Plentiful. The situation today with regard to the anthracite strike is vastly different from that of past hard coal strikes. The production of bituminous coal, which must be used in large part to substitute for the anthracite, is now something more than 70 per cent from non-union mines and less than 30 per cent from unjon mines. Even if the unlon mines in the soft coal flelds should close down, with the increased pressure to produce bituminous coal, the country would still receive a huge quantity of soft coal. Formerly the situation was just reversed, with the union mines producing the great ma- Jority of the soft coal. In round numbers the annual pro- duction of anthracite coal is 90,000,000 tons and its consumption the same. It s used for the most part in a nar- row strip of States along the Atlan- tic coast from Maine to Virginia. These States use more than 70 per cent of the anthracite mined. About 7 per cent goes to Canada and the Test is scattered. The estimated potential annual pro- duction of the soft coal mines is 1,000,000,000 tons, whereas the actual production has run around 500,000,000 tons. It would appear, therefore, that the bituminous production could without great difficulty substitute for the 90,000,000 tons of anthracite, if that were withdrawn from the mar- ket, and still some. The greatest single factor counted upon to force an agreement between the anthracite miners and the opera- tors is this probable shift from the use of hard coal to soft coal in the sec- tion of the country which has used anthracite for heating purposes. Dur- ing the World War, when transpor- tation facllities were strained to their capacity and rates were high to the markets in the West, Northwest and South, where anthracite had been used in some quantity, substitutes were adopted. It is noticeable that some of the markets then lost to an- thracite have not been regained. The production of anthracite, indeed, has failed to keep pace with the increase in population even in those sections ‘where it has been most used. Gives More Heat. Probably no man is better qualified to speak of the bituminous coal sit- uation than Harry L. Gandy, former member of Congress from South Da- kota and now the 'executive secre- tary of the National Coal Assoclation. The Natlonal Coal Assoclation in- cludes in its affillated membership something over 50 per cent of the commercial bituminous coal tonnage of the country. It does not include anthracite producers. Mr. Gandy be- lleves firmly that bituminous coal will see the country through the pres- ent anthracite strike, if that strike continues. His own home in the Northwest, Mr. Gandy points out, has been heated for vears with bitumi- nous coal. and he belleves there is no reagon why the homes of the people in Washington, in the Middle Atlantic States and New England should not be so heated If anthracite Is unavail- able—or even {f it is. ““The deposits of bituminous coal in the United States,” said Mr. Gandy, with reference to this possibility, “are so0 large and so widespread, that for hundreds of years this country can rest assured of a supply sufficient for its needs. Even an extraordinary in- dustrial expansion could easily be sup- plied with the necessary fuel. The Geological Survey has estimated that there are located in this country, ‘within 3,000 feet of the surface of the ground, approximately 3,600,000,000,- 000 tons of bituminous coal of all grades. It is recognized that some of this coal is of inferlor quality, and also that a considerable part of it can- not be mined. A committee of emi- nent engineers, with R. V. Norris as chairman, made a valuation of the bituminous coal properties of the United States for the United States Coal Commission, appointed under au- thority of Congress to investigate the coal industry. They made an esti- mate of the total recoverable tonnage of bituminous coal, allowing not only fort such coal as could not be mined on account of thinness of seams or for other reasons, but allowing also for the unavoldable loss in mining due to the inability to take out 100 per cent of the deposits without pro- hibitive cost. They found the amount of recoverable bituminous coal in con- tinental United States to be 1,625,000, 000,000 tons. They also estimated re- coverable lignite deposits amounting to nearly 544,000,000,000 tons. Supply Widely Scattered. “In the industrially developed north- eastern section of the country they estimated bituminous coal deposits ac- tually recoverable at 66,540,000,000 tons in West Virginia: 62.290,000,000 tons in Kentucky; 53,920.000,000 tons in Illinofs; 34,920,000,000 tons in Penn- sylvania: 34,640,000,000 tons in Ohio, and 26,640,000,000 tons in Indiana. “While no flgures are available ¢howing actual investment in all the coal-mining properties of the country, this same committee has estimated that the total value of coal deposits, mines and equipment is $11,448,000 - 000. Of this amount $5,157,000,000 represents value of reserve tonnage and $6,286.000,000 the value of de- posits likely to be mined within a generation or so, and of the existing equipment of hituminous coal mines.” It is readily seen from these figures that the near-at-hand fuel supply for the Industrial East i{s adequate for centuries to come. “This condition,” Mr. Gandy said, “has & direct bearing upon the situ- ation created by the strike of the € Enited Mine Workers {n the an olte field. There are few, if any, uses to which anthracite is put where bituminous coal, if properly selected and handled, cannot be used to greater advantage. In the first place, the fuel content of bituminous coal is higher than that of anthracite. In the second place the popular belief that bituminous coal cannot be burned withaut the production of a large volume of smoke is unfounded. Even though the anthracite strike should be prolonged indefinitely, no_house- hold will need to suffer for lack of heat, and no Industry will need to close down for lack of power. What- ever hardship is experienced will be due to the unwilllngness of consumers to use available fuel.” Freight Rates Lowered. In this connection it may be point- ed out that the freight rates on bituminous coal, which represent a large part of the cost, have been re- duced by the Interstate Commerce Commission from the Eastern fields to New England, thereby making it possible to ship soft coal by all rail transportation. These new rates go into effect October 15. The soft coal shipped to New England now goes in large quantities by water, necessitat- ing loading and unloading several times, which is hard on the coal, be- sides being expensive. Backing up the assertion that the capacity of the bituminous mines is greatly In excess of the annual pro- duction, Mr. Gandy sald that as long ago as 1918 an actual production of 579,000,000 tons set a record which has not been surpassed, although a large number of mines have been opened since that year, the big pro- duction then being under the incen- tive of war. In 1923 the output of bituminous mines was 564,000,000 tons. “At no time during the vear,” he sald, “was there any feeling of pres- sure either upon the capacity of the mines to produce coal or upon the ability of the railroads to transport it. To take care of the coal needs of the country to the entire elimination of anthracite would require an out- put of only 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 tons in excess of that of 1923, for the 1924 demand for bituminous called for a production of only 483,000,000 tons. How small a burden that in- crease would impose upon the bitu- minous industry may be judged from the fact that in 1923, when the pro- duction reached 564,000,000 tons, the bituminous mines, according to the Geological Survey, averaged only 179 days of actual operation.” The great increase in non-union mine production of soft coal has come since the Jacksonville agreement was made between the operators and the United Mine Workers. The wages then were continued on the high level which had been reached during the war and post-war period. The bellef was that the result would be to force the weaker and less efficient mines to the wall, and thus to curtail the num- ber of mines, which admittedly is too large for the demand. But it has had a different effect. The con- sumers of coal have sought to buy it where they could buy for the least price, and this has been in the non- union flelds, where wages have dropped. Consequently, the produc- tion in those flelds has mounted higher and higher, while in the union flelds it has fallen lower and lower. Bituminous Strike Unlikely. In the opinion of Mr. Gandy, this condition may well cause the Mine ‘Workers to hesitate before putting their power to the test by calling out the unfon bituminous miners. Many of the union miners are today receiv- ing the first pay checks they have earned for months, and they might be reluctant to give up their work which has come back to them since the shutdown of the anthracite mines. Furthermore, there is a large, un- used capacity in the non-unfon mines which would be brought into play if the unfon mines should shut down. In view of these facts, the anthra cite miners and operators have a very considerable incentive to settle their controversy and open up the mines. The operators realize that the con- sumers of anthracite cannot well stand additions to the prices they have been paying; that they will seek other kinds of fuel which may be 80 easily obtained, once they are willing to accustom themselves to soft coal, coke, etc. The report of the United States Coal Commission shows that of every dollar paid by the con sumers of anthracite, only 12 cents is profit, of which 3 cents goes to the retallers and 9 cents to the whole- salers and preducers. This, in the view of the commissioners, could scarcely be considered exorbitant or more than reasonable profits. If the labor costs are to be increased the increase probably would have to go on the price charged the consumers, it is declared. It is inconceivable that the anthra- cite mines should be allowed to re- main closed for an extended period, with no use being made of this val- uable fuel Evolution Disturbs Filipino Populace Evolution has set the Philippines by the ears. The newspapers bristle with letters from excited subscribers. Some recommend birth control and all ad- vanced doctrines; others are strict fun- damentalists who see the ruin of the younger generation. As usual, the Leg- islature comes to the rescue with a queer assortment of bills. One would tax bachelors, another’ would prohibit the teachings of evolution or the men- tion of it in the public prints. Another would tax marriage and Impose fees for births—to be the father of a child would cost a_quarter. Bishop Aglipay of the Filipino Independent Church says that his denomination has re- written the Bible and embodied in it the of evolution—the only church in the law of evolution—the only church in the world that has put modern sci- ence above the Bible. Ireland After Bettors. Irish Free State authorities are strictly enforcing the laws against gambling. A man in Fermoy who had been running a roulette wheel for 18 years was prosecuted as “‘a rogue and a vagabond” under an act of George IV. His defense was that he had done it on his own property which, as he could exclude anybody from it, was not a public place. The justice, confirming this view of the thra- | law, dismissed the chargs against hige ] EDITORIAL SECTION | he Sunduy St WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 11, 1925. Ambassador Page Gives Woodrow Wilson A Picture of the War Gloom in London (Note—This is the eighth installment of the letters of Ambassador Page to President Wil- son.) EDITED BY BURTON J. HENDRICK. Copyright. 1925, by Doubleday. Page & Co. AMERICAN AMBASSADOR, London. TO THE PRESIDENT. London, August 19, 1915. Dear Mr. President: As this amazing tragedy unfolds itself we know only imperfectly what is happening, and we can only guess what is going to happen. But from what I hear and can infer we had as well prepare our minds and our plans for a long war yet. If the Allles make a.peace that leaves the German really victorious, they'll have to fight again, perhaps with fewer of them united than now. They'd rather suffer extinction now than later, and they'll not quit till they ere obliged to quit or till they win. I hear that neither side can win in France. The report (private) here is that a little while ago the French, with half a million men, tried to break through the German line, that they ad- vanced about 5 miles and had lost more than 200,000, and that they then gave it up. It is sald also that the Germans have no expecta- tion of breaking through in France. If these reports be true, and for the présent at least they seem true, the land war will be @ecided in Turkey, in the Balkans, or in Russia, though Russian defeat alone can decide nothing. This seems to mean a long struggle—through the Winter and nobody knows how much longer. England is alive to the peril, and she’ll spend her last shilling and (eventually) send her last man. She regards English clvilization as at stake. And England is so slow that she'll not marshal all her strength till the other Allies are exhausted. No end, therefore, seems in sight. * kK X But following this war, as there followed all preceding great wars, will be great changes in the rules of the game as between belligerents. Men used to say that the machines of destruc- tion would become o terrible as to make war impossible, for it would mean mere extermina- tion. The war in France is already that—the only question s, which side will be exterminat- ed? The trench, the machine gun, the hand mortar, the hand grenade and gas (vet in its experimental stage) are killlng men in such numbers that nefther the French nor the Ger- mans report the number—to say nothing of explosive shells from howitzers. Several British regiments now contain hardly a man—private or officer—who first went out. The gentle euphemism for this annihilation s “wastage.” Fighting above ground is obsolete where both sides are ‘“sclentific.” And an- nihilation is going on in France as fadt as any theorist could wish. Of course, it takes time to annihilate millions of men; the army unit has increased so enormously. And the population of parts of Poland is suffering annihilation, as a part.of the population of northern France and of Belglum did. Starvation and the use of ges will become conventionalized in future wars whether “legalized” or not. In fact, they are already accepted weapons in this war. The mistake made by those who predicted that the horrors of war with new engines would make wars impossible was not a mistake about an- nihilating, but about the shrinking of men from being annihilated. No such fear stops them. In fact, it looks as if war now means practical extermination. * x k X It the Belgians ever get into Germany or the Germans ever get into England or Italy, something very closely akin to extermination will follow. Men were once horrified by the use of the cross-bow in war, and at the use of guns—all the old rules of sword and plke war were knocked out by these dishonorable new weapons of indiscriminate destruction. So the art of killing moves on toward a gas that will annihilate an army or devastate =a province, As for our controversy with Grest Britain, this seems to me as good a forecast as can now be made: The blockade, as defended by PRISON REFORM HELD BENEFIT TO PUBLIC AS WELL AS PRISONER Sir Edward Grey, rests on his citations of American action during the Civil War and on his willingness, i need be, to submit disputes to arbitration. Unless some influence that I do not now foresee comes in to play a part, this government will stand on that contention. Tt will conduct the blockade as favorably to us as they can bring themselves to do; but they are persuaded, perhaps overpersuaded, that the economic pressure on Germany is their strongest weapon. Public opinion here takes that view more and more decisively, and mem- bers of both parties that form the coalition government have committed themselves to this belief. Since they are willing to submit their action to arbitration—taking the risk of an- other Alabama award—they hope to get through on this basis. I think we did a good stroke in drawing from Sir Edward Grey his note declaring his willingness to submit to arbitration. This seems to me our real triumph so far in the controversy. * ok ok X The trouble that the controversy gives you they follow and share. They know the Hoke Smiths and the other agitators, and they have | their share of alarm. But (I think) they are going to keep up their economic pressure on Germany at all hazards. The public will rend the government if it does not. Yet thoughtful men here know that Great Britain will come out of this war at the best with great financial and commercial embar- rassment, and at the worst practically bank- rupt along with all the other European gov- ernments, and they know that the United States will have a prodigious advantage over any other country for a generation or two, which (barring some great misfortune to us) will mean a prodigious advantage for all time. They wish, therefore, to stand close to us, for selfish reasons, reasons of self-preservation, as well as for reasons of civilization—the preservation of Anglo-Saxon institutions and asplrations. If we get through this war amicably with the British, they will be more friendly to us than they have ever been, since we have not only the largest English-speaking white popu- lation, but will have the start also definitely toward financial and commercial lu&'emflcy. Thelr predominant financial grip on the world, which s their main grip, will be gone. And, though they have not lost their virility, they have never acquired our efficiency. They are slow and unadaptable and tradition-ridden and class-ridden yet. * %k % % On any street corner in London you have to | buy one afternoon paper from one man, another from another, and a third from a third. It has never occurred to any one man to sell two or more papers. I passed two men the other day tn the country each trying to coax a horde hitched to a great load of hay up a steep hill. Each horse had more than it could pull. I said, “Why don’t you hitch both horses to ore cart, pull that up and then come back and get the other cart in the same way?" After a moment of surprised silence and deep thought, one of them answered, “We've never done that. sir,” “and he went on urging his horse up inch by inch. That night at a country hotel, lighted by electricity, they charged me for candles. “But I had no candles.” ‘Yes, eir, but we've always done that.” These little experiences explain the lack of munitions six months after the munition works had been begging for orders. They explain the effort to take the Dardanelles without an army. They explain the postponement of con- scription, although everybody knows that England will have to put her last available man in the army. The amazing thing is, the men who sell only one paper each continue to sell them, the men with the carts do get up the hill, the hotel landlady got my money for can- dles, the government is getting munitions at last, and the Dardanelles will be taken even if all Egypt has become a vast hospital for English needlessly wounded. In none of these activities, however, has the Englishman had the direct competition of the Yankee. When he encounters that, good-bye, John. And that’'s what he will encounter when the war ends and leaves him poor. He understands that his financial primacy 18 in danger, and he will do his utmost to keep close to us. Lk ok Kk There come dull and depressing ruts in this road that we now travel, and we are now in such a rut. Everybody who can leave London is gone. Most houses where one meets people who know things or who think they know are closed. Everl the clubs are deserted. Members of the government themselves—as many as can—try to find seclusion and a little rest in the country a few days in the week. Most of the diplomatic corps have gone to the country, and come into town for office hours every day—an utter delusion unless they have bables in the family, and the only diplomatic family here that has babies {s the Chinaman’s. My house is as good a place as there is in England for me as long as this nightmare lasts —except, of course, every normal man hates a town. But this isn't a bad Summer town. It isn't really hot, as you know, and there are golf links within 15 minutes of my office. House be hanged! His kind solicitude for me 18 a case of benevolence badly wasted. But it s a dull and depressing period. The streets and parks are full of wounded soldiers. So is all England, for that matter. I saw them in every village I drove through in the Midlands last Saturday and Sunday. The price of good food goes higher and higher. Women make the hay in the fields, punch your ticket at the rallway stations and take your fare in the street cars in some cities. My shoe- maker sent only yesterday a pair of shoes that I ordered nearly three months ago: “My men have gone to the war.” The uptown part of the city is nearly deserted. Shops and resi- dences are to let on almost every street. The newspapers have little but Russian defeats and assaults by Hoke Smith—two curlous sources of sorrow! Poor old John Bull, he pathetically looks to the United States for sympathy, and he's “muddling through,” con- scious at last of the fact that he didn’t get on to his job anywhere near the beginning of it. But his strong point fs—nothing “rattles” him and nobody can scare him—nor hurry him. *x ¥k Xk X I cannot yet definitely find out the mistake that caused me to think that you thought it desirable for me to make a brief visit home for a consultation. There’s no such thing as a vacation while this earthquake continues. Fortunately T don't need one. I am, as occasion permits, driving out now and then into the country for Satur- day afternoon and Sundays; that gets a change of alr, and I drop the war and all its brood of woes at the third hole on a golf course. Many thanks for your kind letter about the marriage of my daughter. I am very content with it, since such things must be. But it's nevertheless “devilish hard on the old man.” That girl has been the charm of my household here, and (if the truth were known) her mother and T need her worse than her husband does. But they are very happily paired, and that's all we have a right to ask. We all heartily appreciate your kind thought of her happiness. No sooner had 1 written this than the news comes of the sinking of the Arabic. About this there’s no use writing, since all the informa- tion will promptly go by telegraph. Nobody here is in the least surprised—surely I am not. Some such thing has been expected, and more will come. Berlin is utterly desperate, and it will become more desperate. The elation of success in Russla brings desperation, and so will a reverse—such a German reverse, for example, as I am now told will probably take place within a month or two at the Dardanelles. I hear that the Turks are showing unmistaka- ble signs of exhaustion—of ammunition and of fighting qualities. The German machine has its qualities and character, which no event has yet in the slightest degres changed. It has that incurable disease—the Napoleonic am- bition. Yours sincerely, WALTER H. PAGE. (The ninth installment of the Page letters will be published tomorrow in The Evening Star.) GREAT TIDAL FLOW HARNESSED TOOPERATE HUGE POWER PLANT| BY ADOLF LEWISOHN. A large number of people have the childish idea that increase of crime in most parts of the United States is due to prison reform. They feel that if prisoners were harshly treated, lashed or whipped, that would have a tendency to decrease crime. They are convinced that the people interested in prison reform and in bettering conditions in prisons are too fond of the prisoners and take away the fear of arrest and imprisonment, in this way increasing criminal tendencies. This is a mistake. Those of us who are conscientiously working for prison reform are only recommending such improvements as are entlrely in the interest of the general pubilc. The discipline in prisons is determined by the authorities, and everybody inter- ested in public welfare should insist upon the necessity of having high- class prison officials, and even judges, divorced from politics. Trade Training Urged. It should be easy to convince any good citizen of the desirability of the psychiatric examination of prisoners on the arrival in prison as to their mental and physical condition, thelr proper employment in order that they may be in a position to take care of themselves and their familles after they leave prison, and of the neces- sity of equipping them with an ad- equate education. The industries in prison should also be conducted in such a way that they give good re: sults without disturbing those oc- cupled in industries outside of prison. There is a misunderstanding as to the consequences of repressive meas- ures for the punishment of crime. Multiplication of penalties and exces- sive penalties for offenses never have diminished crime. There never was more crime of all kinds than in Eng- land in the middle of the elghteenth century, when 160-0dd offenses were punishable with death. 1t is obvious that the general com- munity should be greatly interested in this subject, for in the United States alone from 200,000 to 300,000 persons yearly go into prisons, jails, reforma- tories and other corrective institu- tions and about the same number come out. Many of those that go in are repeaters, having been in penal instifutions beforgs - = Nearly all the people that are going into prison within the next 15 or 20 years must already be among the gen- eral public now as children or older people. So the community is greatly interested and vitally affected by the treatment which prisoners receive, and by applying the right kind of treatment we can in many cases at- tain good results and can even bring it about that many of those who have been in prison will give up criminal life and become good members of the community. It is reasonable to be- lieve that if these persons are hu- manly treated while in prison after their discharge they will be able to take care of themselves and their familles and not spread either mental or physical disease. If this object is attained prison reformers will have greatly benefited soclety. ‘We must create natural conditions. If people are kept in prisons under in- sanitary conditions and under condi- tions breeding mental unsoundness, if we do not give them the proper kind of work to do or such occupation that they will get used to work, if we do not induce the public to give them a chance to get employment -when they come out of prison, we must expect them to go wrong. If politics are played in prison and a bad example given by the wardens and keepers, we most certainly can expect only bad results. Urges Wage for Prisoners. Prisons are in most cases a loss and a heavy expense to the State. For the past six years I have been work- ing actively, together’ with my asso- clates on the New York prison survey committes, to bring about better prison conditions in the State of New York. In order to succeed it is necessary to have a good business man conduct the prison industries in an able and sen- sible manner. A moderate gain, in- stead of a loss, can be derived from the industries in the prisons, so that out of the profits the maintenance of the prisoner can be paid, as well as a moderate wage to him to use for the support of his family whilst incarcer- ated, leaving perhaps something after his discharge. We cannot expect good work without giving some remunera- tion for it, and I am confident that if the matter is carried out properly and honestly, good results will follow. F BY W. S. MURRAY. Five years ago while recuperating after an operation for appendicitis, Dexter P. Cooper, an American hy- draulic engineer, conceived the idea of deriving power from the tidal dif- ferences of Passamaquoddy Bay, in the Bay of Fundy. For many years Mr. Cooper and his family had been in the habit of spending their Sum- mer vacations at Campobello, and as far back as 1912 he had already made some observations on the remarkable force of the tide in this little-known corner of Maine. His enforced leisure gave him time to study the land con- formation and water levels of the district and gave rise in his mind to the most ingenious power conception of the century. ‘The principal feature which should be thoroughly grasped by the layman is that Mr. Cooper's scheme is not purely a tidal one. He has pointed out a potentiality hitherto hidden from the mind of man—pamely, that it took the conjoint relation of differ- ipg_water levels and particular land configuration to produce the power men have dreamed of harnessing ever since they noted the sea’s tremendous, restless, but regular energy. Mr. Cooper has invented nothing—he has simply taken known methods, known machin- ery and known principles of engineer- ing, combined them and applied them to a novel problem. The continuous tidal power whose . possibilities he foresaw he found in Passamaquoddy Bay, where the tidal fall is from 14 to 17 feet; the geographical condition he found in Cobscook Bay, less a few dams that must be constructed there. ‘Mr. Cooper’s genius is that of the escort er applying thought and imagination to quantitative facts. He must be rej led as exactly filling Thomas Carlyle's definition of genius —an _infinite capacity for taking ns.” The bare detalls of the powen scheme are us follows, but of the two bays already indicated two pools, an upper and & lower one, will be made: At _the mouth of the upper pool a wall 4,000 feet long and 70 feet high will be built. Thirty-three gates will be set in it. A wail 2,400 feet long, arovided sates, will close the lower pool. Between these pools, covering an area of over 150 square miles, will be power houses. When the tide is rising the gates of the up- per pool are to be opened. When the tide is ebbing the lower pool gates will be opened. The fall of the sea water through turbines into the lower pool will be “harnessed” for electrical uses. The construction of this great plece of engineering will keep 5,000 men busy at least four years and pro- duce over half a milllon horsepower. The cost will be about $100,000,000— but to produce similar power would utilize $10,000,000 worth of coal an- nually—so that, despite the annual fixed charges on the establishment, a cash saving will be effected, besides saving a commodity which will, as the world grows older, become scarcer and scarcer. To bring the fruits of his intensive study to maturity Mr. Cooper had to turn politiclan. He stumped over the whole State of Maine, making speeches, to obtain popular ratification of the bill passed by the State Assem- bly empowering the scheme. He was successful, and the dream of this miracle worker—the electrification of New England and eastern Canada—is now a feasible project. Very soon Eastport will no longer be, as it is today, 14 hours' slow traveling from Boston, for the great turbines of this remote eastern tip of the United States will serve the people from north of New Brunswick to as far south as New York City. | | Society News [FRENCH DEBT IMPASSE HELD TO CLEAR SITUATION Showed That Allies Capacity to Pay, Like Germany’s, Is Limited by What BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. IEWED in retrospect it is pos- sible to say of the fallure of the French debt conference that, granted no immediate financial crash in France fol- lows and assuming that no political upheaval in Paris results, failure was the best possible success, for it leaves all hands free to deal with the situa- tion in the future in which one may fairly well estimate, many unknown factors will be cleared. The truth of the matter is that two enormous experiments are at the mo- ment being tried out in the matter of | international payments. The first is | the Mellon-Baldwin debt settlement, | | the second is the Dawes plan. The easy assumption that elther or both | of those experiments has already proven the viability of the two adjust- ments is totally unfounded. Despite all that has been said and written about the British adjustment, all in- formed observers know that unless economic conditions in Britaln greatly improve within the next five years the payments envisaged on account of the American debt will not continue at their present scale. German Payments Overestimated. { In preciscly the same fashion it is assumed on all sides that, although the Dawes plan calls for a minimum of $600,000,000 annually within the same five-year period, not only will this sum never be reached, but before the five years are up there will be a quirements. Today the sober British estimates of the ultimate scale of Ger- man annual payments does not exceed $250,000,000 or much less than half of the sum foreseen in the present agree- | ment. The British settlement with us was | made on the assumption that within | a brief span of years, and in part be. cause of the debt adjustment and the consequent restoration of the pound sterling to par, the British | economic situation would be restored | to prewar prosperity. Given this | prosperity it was a reasonable gamble that Britain could pay us $181,000,000 annually without serious difficulty. We have seen, however, that al- though the pound sterling has been restored to par, British economic health has not been correspondingly restored. On the contrary it is be- coming more and more obvious that the problem of restoration remains acute, and it is at least possible that full restoration may never take place | by reason of the fundamental changes without and within Britaln which af- fect British trade and industry. In 1a word the British debt settlement may well turn out to have been made on false premises and it this proves to be the case, It will have to be re- made, France's Outlook Dubious. In the case of France, there is no human being who has any clear no- | tion of the present or future financial situation of the countr; The un- { derlying difference between France and Britain today is that if you wiped out all the domestic and for- | elgn debts of both, the French situ- | ation would be very good indeed and the British would still be exceedingly bad. This s due to the fact that France is a golng concern, with busi- ness to employ all of its labor and a market for all of its production, while Britain is & country which at the moment can not sell enough abroad and at home to keep its la- bor employed or meet its current costs of living. By contrast, France has very little available capital, the war and the restoration of the devastated area | | have wiped out most of her savings| and foreign investments, while the Eritish have still relatively large for- | eign investments and accumulated capital. Thus for a certaln number | of years the British can carry on by liying on their capital. while the Tench can not continue as they are without “forelgn borrowings to sup- ply liquid capital. During this period the main souce for France of funds for meeting for- eign obligations must be German repa- rations, but outside of foreign debts France has no necessities, for, unlike Britain, her exports exceed her im- ports, while she draws a relatively vast sum from tourist trade. But if German reparations are not forthcom- ing then the French position is obvi- ously compromised. French Payments Possible. The basis of all recent French pol- icy, then, has been to stipulate that on foreign debts France shall not pay more than she receives in reparations from Germany. We and the British have refused to concede this principle and there has resulted a deadlock. Yet in practice the British have placed their estimate of French payments so low that there is reason to belleve rep- arations payments will suffice, while the five-year arrangement Mr. Mellon has offered M. Caillaux would have the same character. Had France agreed to a gerferal set- tlement, even on the terms M. Call- laux proposed, which represented an average of $91,000,000 annually for 68 years, and had the British arrange- ment with France, which meant $61,- 000,000 annually, also stood, France would have been committed to more than 60 years of foreign payments on They Are Willing to Pay. anything but a world disaster fs of course untrue. If Frence went through a perfod of chaos comparable with that of Germany the whole con- tinental political as well as_economic situation would be upset. Italy and probably Belglum would be dragged through something like the same ca- tastrophe, while the effect upon all the successfon and outlying states to the east can hardly be calculated. We should suffer materially, both directly through loss of our own trade and in- directly through a shrinkage of British_trade, which would lead to a demand for « debt revision. Broadly speaking, our own people have been just as much mistaken in the matter of debt as the French in the matter of reparations. Nor must one fail to note that the French on their side have been quite as stupidly wrong In the matter of debts as our own general public. The two ex- tremes, our own “last red-centers” and the French advocates of cancellation have been talking without any regard to realities from the outset and have served to excite each other to the gen- eral dislocation of all sober minds. . Coercion Futile. The French had to occupy the Ruhr before they discovered that it is not possible to coerce a nation into exc sive payments. We have had to g through the recent Washington flasco to discover that moral pressure is Jjust as futile as military in enforcing claims which strike the payee as ex- cessive or beyond his resources. The i very materfal reduction In the re-|.,),e of reparations and of debts, the real value, is the amount which the debtor is willing to pay to get the thing out of the way. It bears no re- lation to the amounts fixed as due, either financially or morally. The British paid us a relatively high price—many Britons think an altogether excessive price—to get rid of a situation which was completely impossible if they were to get back to their old position. What they paid had no relation in reality to what they borrowed from us, but solely to what a present settlement was worth to them. The Germans undertook the Dawes plan, not because they recognized any moral or material obligation, but because at a price the liberation of the Ruhr and the Rhineland and the <uarantee against new invasions was the most desirable thing for them in their present state which could be imagined. They are paying, not reparations, but what to their mind is a form of blackmall to get free from foreign interference. Price of Good Will. The French put a price upon their release from American servitude. There was a sum which they were willing to pay to recover their eco- nomic, financial and political freedom, all of which were compromised while the debt question remained unliqui- dated. And they did exactly the same in the case of Britain. In neither the American nor the British case was thelr first offer final, al- though in bhoth cases they really made little ultimate advance. But in all cases of all debtors the underlying element has been the value to the debtor of an escape from the situation in which the unliquidated obligation placed him. Britain wanted the pound sterling restored to par, Ger- many wanted the Ruhr evacuated, France wanted access to the Ameri can and British money markets. But in all cases the advantage was only worth a certain price. Germans Best Lloyd George. Seven years ago, on the morrow of the victory, Lloyd George was telling the British electorate that he pur- posed to go to Parls and make the Germans pay the last penny of the costs of the war to Britain. This ear the British debt is in round figures $37.000.000.000. the annual charge $1.750,000,000, and the sum of German payments to all her con querors was $200,000,000, almost every cent of which came from money loaned to Germany by her conquerors, Britain included. Out of this $200, 000,000 Britain gets less than $50,001 000, and she paid us more than $160.- 000,000 on account of her debt. More- over, during the war Britain lent her allies $8,000,000,000, on which she has so far received not one penny. United States Fares Better. By contrast, we loaned $10,000,000.- 000, and next year if the French pa ments are made as provided in t final compromise we shall receive something more than $200,000,000, with Italy still to be heard from. As suming even a nominal payment from her, we shall recefve encugh to take care of the interest and sinking fund requirements of half of what we lent. We shall get more than everybody collects from Germany in reparations, and we shall, in all probability, be the only nation which collects anything on war-time lendings. Viewed in the light of an investment, this is a poor return. Regarded in the light of & refund of moneys ventured in a war, it is surprisingly good. Looking to the future, my guess ts that we shall receive less rather than more. Meantime our people have to learn the fundamental truths that in inter- fational debt settlements the collector country can get only what the debtor country is willing to pay, and that the debtor country is only willing to pay. not the past amount of borrowing, but the basis of $152,000,000. But {f in the meantime German reparations were scaled down either by agreement or in operation to a sum below the $300,000,- 000 a year required to provide $150,- 000,000 for France, then the French demand for a revision would have been inescapable. Politics Hampers Issue. The value of the Mellon-Baldwin set- tlement and the Dawes plan lay pre- cisely in the fact that it took the Brit- ish debt and the German reparations issues out of politics. The great evil of the Washington fallure lies in the certain accentuation of political agi. tation in a fleld where tranquillity is most essentlal. E’Wfit. 1925.) Taming Speed Maniacs. Authorities in Bulgaria sometimes adopt crude methods to enforce the speed limit. During the months when, because the roads are not macadam- 1zed, there is a great deal of dust, sol- diers and policemen are stationed on roads leading into Sofla. When a car is adjudged to be going too fast an admonition is shouted. If the speed is not slackened immediately a rifle shot is fired into the air. If that does not produce the desired effect aim is di- rected at the wheels. It may be im- agined that unless the rifle is in the.| hands of an expert marksman the oc- cupants of the car are likely to be hit. the weatment atops the cals Five years from now we shall doubtless know a great deal more about the transfers of great sums be- tween nations than we know at the moment, and almost as much about the willingness of nations to fulfill obligations growing out of war-time borrowings or resulting from the loss of a war. Meantime France will, if the compromise offered be accepted, pay us no more and no less than the sum which her experts and our agreed was the maximum of possibility with- in that perlod. The single problem recently has been whether the moral effect of a funding of the American debt, which would be expressed in American commercial loans to France, would be sufficlent to save ¥rance from bankruptcy, or whether the add- ed burden would drag her down. ZThat French beakrupty would be the present value of an escape from the obligation. (Copyright. 1025.) Opinions on America Are Aired at Geneyv: Count Skrzynski, Polish foreign min- ister and ‘head of the Polish delega- tion to the League of Nations assem- bly, has confided to his friends at Geneva some of the impressions gain- ed during his recent trip to the United States. “We Europeans,” he says, “have committed three grave errors in our conversations with Americans since the war. First, we have spoken {ll of our own particular European enemy. That makes a bad impression. Sec- ondly, we have nearly always asked for money—which singularly weakens our case. Thirdly, we have persisted in trying to tell Americans what they ought to do and how they ought to do 1. The men listen attentively to the count’s conclusions, but the women listened quite as intently to the Ame- ican fmpressions of a young Polish at- tache who accompanied the count. “Three things in America,” asserted the attache, “are wonderful—the jazz, the skyscrapers and the women. thtee things are frightful—the cook- ing, the imitation European and the ignorance concerning foreign aflaisa,”