Evening Star Newspaper, November 22, 1925, Page 45

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATUPES Part 2—16 Pages FASHION TO QUIT LIQUOR || . GAINING IN OFFICIAL SET WASHIN( Many Still “Off Wagon,” But “Drying- Up” Process Is Moving Forward Despite Problems. BY G. GOULD LI S officlal Washington Is a new fashion coming into vogue In the National Capital 5 obedience to the prohibition law in spirit and in letter? .. At the outset, let it be said that the @ryingup process has still & long way to go, and if the fashion Is to be “dry’ OLN. ving up? & large number of Washingtonians both in and out of offictal life are not et “fashionable.” However, and #he prohibition f: ed. It is on jts to birth, pro vided 1t is not too rudelv stepped or There is a nucleus. and @ not unimpor tant one, among the offic ington who have 1 te Is i 5 stronger than cide v beer and ginger ul their own houses, und who hs S0 10 declin lcoholic bever s wh fered them in the homes of othe sons, even though they I pre-war, diplomatic or drugstore supplies. It S tt has percent <ince prohibi tion have er giv ing or whis ky or that percentage e fore the prohibit Out Liqua sund in Wi including lite, there of men and women 1 their bucks on Bue: people in high posi means, Jting a holier-than- cut or simply booze itied term may be P por. And gradually t is recruited. W m is as “wet” ] maac, i the Atlantie, ®has been trite for some time. Only the other day Gov. Gifford Pinchot, Penn sylvania’s leading declared, in peech d the Anti-Sa- L “The pr the (o e in_Washington example. The eighteenth umne vas betrayed the hous of Ameri ington, re made, 1 the conspicuous leader in disr for the law and the Copstitution of th United St Cabinet ofti judge: Senators, Representatives of Congre: and leade: official life in !tne, publ: notoriously and matter of course broke the fun mental law of their country Vote Dry; cret that during the peri some members of Con voted “dry” have dry 1t ofic of the G mtipued to high toddic Drinking ey Py s been by no means confined 1o offictal life he Many of the lead ers in private lite have paid no atten- tion to prohibi Indeed, it became the fashion to drink. Many persons who hefore prohibition did not take a drink once & month, and some of them not once i year, have become regu- lars. They never Kept it in the house before prohibtion went into effect, but now they have had it ther «clothe the ® wporting om d dri m; 2 shionable leggers udder night its way home , fashions are not contined by any s to the class of people in “so- let that And, thought by the ot Persons im other walks of life follow the fashions just as readil White House Bone Dry. In Washington, to some degree, the White House has always set the tash- on. The White House today is bone iry. There Is no_qualification about hat statement. President and Mrs. colidge do not serve liquor of any ind no matter who may be the White Touse gu nor do they touch it emselves. At entertainments where present it is not_served. dryness s extending to the Thi president’s cabinet and from the cabi- iet to the assistant secretaries and to other officials. And gradually this obedience to the law is spreading. It is not diffic realize how potent such an example may become. Tt is a fact that the difficulty of en- foretng prohibition has been due in vary large part to the failure of rep- ¢asentative and influential citizens, voth in Washington and out of it, to /6 up to the law. Their example and r connivance at law-breaking has been a drag on law enforcement from the start. If now these same influen- tial people turn their backs on liquor 1e work of the enforcement officers vill diminish rapldly, it is predicted by some of those who are endeavor- g to set this new fashio Legal and Illegal Liquor. There are two kinds of liquor and wines today, those whose possession and use is legitimate, and those whose possession and use {s not legitimate. In the first category are the pre- prohibition cellars, medicinal and sac- camental liquors and wines and those owned and used in the foreign em- bassles and legations and the homes of the diplomats attached to those embassies and legations Under the law as it s an officlal of the gover private citizen may still uot be a vielator of the law. There is legal liquor and illegal. The legal is that which came into the possession of the owner prior to the date of pro- pibition. As one member of the cab- * fuet said: *There are severdl nice questions involved in this matter of drinking or observing total abstinence. For example, if a man, an official of the Government in Washington, If you will, has in his possession liquors which me to him in an entirely legal way, which he own prior to the enactment of prohibition laws, there is nothing in the letter of the jaw to prevent his drinking them. Suppose, in such u case. a man h: for years been in the habit of taking a ocktail before dinner, or of serving ds today, me.t or a drink_and ine at his dinner table. He has the Nquors and the wines in a legal way, Such a man may well & “Why should I give up a practice a lfetime when I can continue it a perfectly legal way?’ “That is & problem which must be of decided to the individual's own ide signed to stop the drin ges in this cording ng of ountry. a drink’s & drink, no matter whethe as manu- factured and purchased before prohibi tion or not This cabinet officer declared em- phatically that he did not believe that high officials of the Government in Washington today patronize bootleg: gers, that thefr problem is whether r not Is wines. they shall drink gal liguors nother problem which off the Government face is drinkir whisky and otber alcoho in the embassies and legations of the foreign g un nts in Waskington. In thes s of the desert” it is per- fectly legal to serve wine and liguors, and it is perfectly legal to drink them. The law permits the supplies to be re. plenished hy importation into this country. The foreign diplomats are kind and obliging hosts. It seems that these oases will continue to flour- ish like th een buy tree, unless, by iance, it should become the fashion even for the for diplomats to “do in Ror he Romans do” in Wash ington. Nome Refuse to Drink. There are officials of the Govern- nient here who do refuse to drink wine ny other alcoholic beverage in an e sy or legation, just as they re fuse to do on American They not contined to the teetotalers since birth or since the days before pro- hibition. One officlal said in this con nection that he did not care to break in spirit the prohibition Ia d further he did not wish to give the fmpression to the foreigners here that United States officials would do in a foreign embassy what he did not do in his own home. *“There s no real obligation on the part of @ guest to drink in a foreign embassy or anywhere else if he does not care he said. There are Government officials here who, while observing the law them- selves, frankly do not like it and who belleve that it is a mistake to try by legislation to “make over’ cus- toms of the people of the United States. None of them desires to see the return of the old oon, they say, but they would ke to see some mo tion of the law, so might be legal alcololic beverages. under certain restrictions. Other officlals ef ‘ho observe the law and do not serve kind of liquors in their homes, legal or iilegal, do not like the posi- tion into which they are driven by the fact that in so many other homes drinks are freely served. They do not like to be considered “tight wads"” e Government by their acquaintances, unwilling to put up $10 of Dottle for whisky or gin of an inferfor grade Little Chance of Repeal. But ev do mot like prohibition 1 t they little c repeal or modi ion of the ser tors and to be on the decline. i in rt to the personnel of that body is changing with new mem- the constantly bers elected for the first time since na- that tional prohibition went into effect. Many of the older members, however, are to be found in the “dry” ranks. The pre-prohibition cellars will eventually be used up, no matter how extensive they were at the start. There no way for them to be legitimately replaced or replenished. Bot there are 50 fore embassles 1 legations in Washington and rere credited between 300 and '0 diplomats in these embassies and cgotions, many of whom have their homies outside the embassy und lega- tion buildings. They do a great deal Their thirsty Amer- ican friends are made welcome. Here, indeeds is « source of alcoholic sup- ply that the prohibition agents can- not ever dry up. Will Help Prohibitien. The antl-prohibitionists have mads much of the fact that Government officials, members of Congress and other persons of means and influence not obeyed the prohibition law. The advent of this quiet crusade among people of fashion and influence may go far to check the law violation and as a result reduce the demand for repeal hibition law. it will do more for prohibition in Washington and throughout the coun- try than doubling the strength of the prohibition unit. When the band wagon becomes the ‘“water wagon,” 1t it ever does, law enforcement will be the thing rather than the ex- ception. Some members of “soclety” are be- ginning to feel that it would be plaas. anter for living leaders to set an examplo of law obedlence than for them to play the principal roles in a serles of fashionable funerals due to drinking an inferior grade of liquor, which undoubtedly is becoming more plentiful as the pre-prohibition liquor is consumed and the supplies from outside the country are curtafled. Berlin Has Effective Traffic Regulation Berlin was late in establishing traf. fic regulations, but now has done so thoroughly. Not only must all pedes- trians wishing to cross streets wait until the traffic policeman signals, but if at o certaln busy crossing they fail to walk the white line they are called back by the police and if recalcitrant are fined. The first case of this kind has come before the courts, and the vietim, after losing, has appealed. In order to keep pedestrians from run- ning wildly through the busy center of Potsdamerplatz. where five streets converge, the authorities have re. moved the pavement and planted grass. Brain Workers Suffer. At a recent session of the five acade- mies which form the Institute de France the plight of certain French intellectuals—palnters, sculptors, writ» ers and savants, who have glorified their country by pure knowledge and disinterested art—was deplored by Paul Chabas. Of recent years, he said, the lot of menial workers had been considerably ameliorated—as was only right—but brain workers, he said, had been forgotten or sacrificed. M. Cha- bas reviewed the great achievements of the institute, which was founded 130 years ago, and of which he is/ presidents r modification of the pro- | If it really works out,| T must be an y matter to write of one's religion when that religion has been Inherited from one’s ancestors, indorsed by on own mental acquiescence, and re- mained unchanged as the explanation [ana guide of life. But it is different when in attempted pursuit of truth one has sought and tested and proved {and discarded with & firm determina tion never, nev to assent to that i on condemns. Then it is a difficult and even a painful task, for it involves probing decply into the springs of action in ohe's own soul. I w family into a Roman Catholic was educated as such. dmit that if T were forced to become un orthodox Chris- tian and to justify my position by scriptural tests, or by an appeal to the traditions of the ecarly church, T should agaln be a Catholic. As an abstract creed its position i3 strong. |As a ctical svstem it has produced i both the most istian and the most | un-Christian_ts any religlon. T i and Even now I must could, on the nd, imagine nothing more opposed to all that Christ stood than a dominican familinr—the most dreadtul figure in all history—or a Borgla pope. * % % pope who lives in a triple tiara is a one for Indeed, any palace and wears u strange representative of Him who knew not where to His head. But, on the other hand, where shall we find anythi iore heautiful than la subordinate their own of the church? It is only fair, how- ever, to add, that all creeds have been associated with some beautiful souls but that none have ever evolved a system 0 Informal as the Inquisition. | "My quarrel. us I attained my fuller power of mind, was not merely with lthe Catholic Church—though its in- tolerance was always abhorrent to me. It had so much to attract in its tradl- tion and its beauty that 1 could not conceive myself turning from it to | any other form of Christian orthedoxy. ] My real quarrel was with that scheme, which was common to all churches, involving as it does the as- sumption that man was born with a hereditary strain upon him, that this stain for which he was not personally responsible had to be atoned for, and that the Creator of all things was i compelled to make a blood sacrifice ! of His own innocent Son in order to neutral this mysterious curse. I remember reading the phrase “an | intellectual nightmare” as applied to { rstem, and it echoed my own ! thought. Tt seemed to me that no | heathien tribe had ever conceived so grotesque an idea, and I turned away from such a creed and wandered into a darkness, which was only dimly lit by my own God-given reason. * % ¥ X 3 There followed my years of ugnostl- cism. I remained a firm bellever in God, for 1 clearly saw order in the universe, and the existence of order postulates a central intelligence. That supreme intelligence was my God. But all else I rejected. As to the survival of the individual soul, it seemed to me that all the argument was against it. Did this soul not obviously spring from the brain? An accident to the brain would affect it and possibly turn a saint into a sinner. | such Entry Into International i 1 BY HERBERT S. HOUSTON. Two events have just come into the news, following close on the Locarno conference, that show how quickly Germany is returning to a place of power in the world's industry and finance. One of these events has been the coming to America of Dr. Hjalmar Schocht, head of the German Relsch- bank, for conference with leading bankers here that are known.to be of great importance, although their exact purpose has not been fully dis- closed; the other has been the recelv- ing of German business men (by an interesting coincidence, on the eve of Armistice day) into the governing | council of the International Chamber ! of Commerce. 2 The significance of this second event stands forth as a rainbow of hope agalnst the background of the war. Indeed, the head of the German dele- gation, Franz von Mendelssohn, of the old German banking family, is re- ported to have said that the presence of his group was evidence of the de- sire of the industrinlists of Germany “to turn over the detested page of ! war and write a new chapter—a chap- ter of cooperation—in the history of Franco-German _relations.” To this | challenging and evidently genuine sentiment the head of the French de- legation, Etinne Clementel, former minister of finance, replied in kind, saying that it was a matter of con- gratulation for the industrialists that the two counries had come into a great organization where they could work together for the prosperity of their own countries and for the good of mankind. Thus' does the world, slowly, to be sure, but steadily, go forward to liqui- date the greatest war in history. But when the complete dislocation is con- sidered which the war brought to the ordered life of civilized countries, the liquidation is proceeding with a good deal of speed and certalnly with in- | creasing acceleration. So, at least, it | seems to the writer. who has a vivid | recollection of the days in Paris, only five years ago, when, as a member of the American committee, he sat under the chairmanship of this same Cle- mentel working with colleagues from eight other countries in setting up the International Chamber of Commerce. No one was there to represent Ger- Damien among | the lepers rs, or indeed | | any of that host of gentle, humble souls who, as parish priests, mis- slonaries or workers among the poc: lives to that | Seen as Proof of Intent to Write New Chapter | in Her Relations With France. EDITORIAL SECTION iTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER — Society News | | | | he Sunduy Star | 29 22, 1925 ARTICLE 1V ' BY SIR Author of “She | { | ; SIR ARTHUR ( My medic; 1 knowledge assured me of the fact. Alcohol and many drugs scemed to influence the soul, making the individual fexalted. quarrelsor di or Was it nc rang from matter it survive when matter How could had dissolve linto its chemical atoms? The argu- | ment seemed final, and T was left | with no hope and no particular de sire. It was a valley of gloom, with death and extinction waiting at the | end. There was nothing but plain, obvious duty and self-respect as an acting religion. Then came the strange experiences which slowly made me realize that| rational agnosticism is not a terminus ‘lvf our journey, but rather a junction | where one changes from an old to a new ome. My m rto been filled with an ignor: i | | and unreasoning contempt for ps They ran clean counter to| views, and seemed to me to | be half funcy and half fraud. But telepathy gave me pause. My supposition that brain produced soul or mind. But if the brain could indeed affect another brain at a distance, than clearly there was something there which was psychic rather than material. 1 made sure of telepathy by personal experiment. It shook the | whole fabric of my philosophy and en larged my ideas of the possible. whole previous case rested upon n»-1 | - T was drawn into psyel | n and reading. The latter | affected me much. 1 read Judge Ed-| monds, Crookes, Wallace and Myers. | I began to see that the facts were | investigat GERMANY REGAINING PLACE AS POWER IN WORLD TRADE| THAN EVE Chamber of Commerce many and her absence did not even occasion comment. But in the short span that has since elapsed the International Chamber. made up of business men of the world, has been driving home the truth that there existed an essential community of interest among all nations M in- dustry, commerce and finance. That 15 so manifestly true in the case of France and Germany that they have now publicly expressed their belief in it. As this expression is but another evidence of a new spirit that is spread- ing over Europe, it may not be too much to hope that even the gloomlest pessimists may soon see a few signs of a happler time. There i not space here to give these | signs in detall, but when these three events come with the seventh anni- versary of the end of the war it must be clear that real peace has become a fact—the third event, besidés the two mentioned, was the sending of the allied note to Berlin saying that the last troops of Germany's former ene- mies are soon to leave the Rhine. {(Copsright. 1925.) France Plans to Profit By Real Estate Rise French authorities are taking an in- ventory of the national buildings in Paris with a view to putting themfto better use or placing them on the mar- ket. Such an inventory was made a dozen years ago, but a new one was considered necessary on account of the rise in real estate values. The total of the last inventory was 1,795,246,448 francs (approximately $350,000,000). The Arc de Triomphe was estimated at 20,000,000 francs (nominally $4,000,- 000); the July Column, erected where tormerly stood the Bastille, at 2,710,000 trancs ($540,000); the church and dome of the Palace of the Invalides, includ- ing Napoleon’s tomb, 43,580,000 francs ($8,700,000); the Pantheon, 50,000,000 francs ($10,000,000); the Opera; 53,372.- 000 francs (§10,750,000); the Louvre, 284,372,000 franes ($56,870,000); the Pal- | o | of the mess: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE rlock Holmes.” 'ONAN DOYLE, against me, and that thero was an alternative to my former views. 1 saw that the brain might be some- hich is acted upon rather than something which acts, and that its disorganization accident or by drugs might pr such action, as the broken : prevents the efforts of the musician I vead and read. The opponents of psychic things were great men, Hux- leys and Kelvins, but they were ready to ‘admit that they had not found time to study the matl On the other hand, the advocates of spirit had studied it deeply, and spoke of what they had seen. But then the phe- nomena were so childish, the mes. sages so futile—how could 1 accept them as belng from another world? Slowly—too slowly—my knowledge | expanded. I was hampered always by Graduall; was preconcelved prejudic two facts er that these phenomena i 1 did not app A knock at the door is in itself But it draws attention to the knoc , and that may not . What were these rappings s knockings at the door of our intelligence? They were signals to engage our attention. * One trivial e be tri as to the character of some s, If death truly made no change at all in the individual, as ed by the Spiritualists. Then t man or woman s of dvanced intelligence, was it not reasonable that the aver- age message should be superficial? One by cne my difficulties disap- MY RELIGION: WHAT IT MEANS TO ME sure. whole world was crving out, “Where are our lost ones which has been ef- fected. Something much higher has been obtained. We have got intol contact with virtuous souls long passed over, who now correspond fort to others. passed since that resolution, and it is evidence, ful of which we have cognizance. So Him—the great, kindly, brooding spirit peared, while the personal evidence grew ever stronger. But it was only in the war time— early in 1916, to be exact—that my ease was complete, and that I was Then the enormous importance overwhelmed my mind. The of it our dead?” “Where are those grand young fellows who only yes-| terday were so full of life and en er 1 knew where they were. I was sure that 1 knew. My wife, who, had shared the evidence and in con- sequence the conviction, felt as I did. Together we determined that we should devote the rest of our lives to handing on this knowledge and com- Nearly 10 years have stronger with us now than then. There is no space here to go into the and it is fully recorded elsewhere, but it is, to my mind, con clusive that those we call dead have long been able to react found us insensible to their approach. % % * * It is not merely the reunion with to what were called angels. them we get direct religious teach- ing founded upon actual experience. It is in many ways a new conception. and vet it has come through to us in man; 1s and through many in struments. It is simple. It is res sonable. Above all, it is extraordinar mforting. When once you are convinced of its truth this world holds no terror for you, and vou look into the fu- ture unafraid, with no fear of death. It tells us of a really merciful God, whose rewards are immense, and whose judgments world which contains that work and those pleasures which are most con- genial to of a gradual evolution from a lowly paradise to the highe the development of our ow! &, of homes and family cireles a reunion of all who love, even of the lowly animal world, with the exclusion of all who jar. Such is the life beyond as pictured by t who live ones, of natu But the wonderful thing is that by devious paths we have got back to Christianity once more, and that the Christ figure appears—to me, at least—more beautifu! and under- standable than ever. The worst that any sect can do for Christ is to make Him incredible. Now He appeared as a great heaven-sent teacher, living a life which was to be our example. That was surely enough without any question of @ mystical atonement. It is not for our mosquito brain to say what degree of divinity was in Him, but we can surely say that He was nearer the divine than we, and that His teaching is the most beauti- in a circle we have come back to who yearns over the world which is His speclal care. e has ceased to be a miracle. He has become our dear friend and brother. us, but have |} From | re mild; of & new ! A | FRANCE GAINS ADVANTAGE BY EVACUATION OF RHINE Frees Future Trade Negotiétions From Handicap of Hatred, Bred by Alien Uniform on German Soil. BY FRANK H. SIMONDS, ERHAPS the most concrete and definite consequence of events at Locarno yet disclos has been the official announce ment at Paris that French op- position to the evacuation of the Cologne zone has been finally with drawn. This withdrawal, delayed since early January, will now begin by December 1, and thus will be in time to have no little repercussion in the German Reichstag, where Locarno pacts are to be voted upon and N tionalist opposition remains formid able. Of course the Freneh decision is not only logical, but reve the more or less tacit made at Locarno. Outside of the written documents, which have been duly reprinted all over the world there were a number of secret or at least unofficial “gentlemen's agree- ments.” The allies, to use the famil iar term which after Locarno tends to become obsolete, were in the posi- tion in which they could give away much by favor, wk could n | sive anything away written con. tract. Briand had an opposition in France not less intransigeant than the op- position of Stresemann and Luther in Germany. That opposition insisted that Germany must enter the League unconditionally, that she must comply with disarmament requirements with- out regard to guarantee pact settle ments. The German Nationalists quite as loudly proclaimed that Ger- many would not enter the League until her conditions were met, and that she would not accept League pacts until Cologne was evacuated For Home Consumptio Here was all the material out of which deadlocks are made. But the | men who met at Locarno were re: able people, resolved to agree. There- fore what was possible to put in writ ing they wrote; what could not be written, but had to be done, they ex- pressed in Briand's assurances to Luther, Stresemann’s promises to Chamberlain. It was all one with the odd situation of a few months ago, when Stresemann was quite reason {ably negotiating at a distance wi Briand, but at the same time holdin his Natiof 3 which were conciliatory. = But each speech was followed by a hasty call upon Briand by the German Ambassador in Paris, who came to explain that Stresemann meant what _he wrote, not what he had to say because of exigencies of what the Germans call “inner poli- tics.” The key of the existing situation in Europe is all here. The men who are running the machines, the gov ernments in France, Britain and Ger- many, not only have an equal desire to arrive at a settlement, but recog- nize that the good faith and desire of all are equal. The element of confi dence has been restored so far as the foreign offices and foreign ministers of the countries are concerned, and the strength of this confidence is such that there is even a tacit recognition that the principals may have to make faces at each other from time to time to_satisfy domestic stupidity But the agreement to evacuate the Cologne zone has an obvious and tre mendous importance in the present European situation. Technically it means no more than that the allfes have now consented to withdraw from the first of the occupied zones, the zones occupled under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, hecause they regard Germany as having com: Such, in brief spa has been the outcome of my religious evolution. Is it final> 1 do not know, but I do know that what 1 have is solid, even if more should hereafter be added thercto. (Copyright. 1925.) MUSSOLINP’S ITALY MORE UNITED R IN COUNTRY’S HISTORY Awakened National Spirit and Co-operation Seen on All Sides—Truth Is Often Distorted by Cor- respondents—Premier’s Work Undying. BY RICHARD WASHBURN CHILD, Former American Ambassador to Italy. To one who is familiar with present- day Italy and has just seen the suc- cessful debt negotiations between our two nations, a good deal of the news from Italy appears to have found its source in personal Irritation of cer- tain_correspondents rather than in truth. Every indication is given by some of them of a disrupted country, but the wise observers who return from the Mediterranean, recognizing that plots against the premler have been afoot, know that Italy is more united today than at any moment in her history. Propaganda Misleading. That unity is ndt only one of sawakened national spirit, but of co- operation in economic rehabllitation. | That the old politiclans should be dis- contented is mnot astonishing; that Mussolini should make trouble breed- ers walk the plank is not unnatural in days when discord is valueless and discipline is necessary. We have been fed in the Unite@ States with stories of Mussolini’s ati on Masonry and Catholicism. The fact is that the Masonic order described has no con- nection with the non-political Free Masonry of the countries we know best and that the Catholic groups mentioned are the remains of the Partito Poulare, an opposition politi- cal party which has no sanction to represent either the Vatican or Roman Catholics. It would be absurd to expect & country with the wide diversity of Italy: geographically and even raclally to support to the last man even the new and efficient government of Mus- solini. /It is even more absurd to over- look the undoubted fact of Italy’s re- construction spiritually and economic- ally under his administrative skill, his demand for loyalty and service and his discipline firm enough to make some real mistakes and also in- vite /false accusations of charges wholly fictitious. His Work Undying. Though coming out of an extended periol of illness which would have made a heart less brave find excuse ace of Versallles, including the Tria- non, was estimated at 720,155,000 francs ($144,000,000). To obtain pres- ent values, say the officials of the serv- ice of national palaces and govern- ment buildings, it will be necessary to . multiply these swus by fve, v for cessation of patriotic service, Mus- solini is still Mussolinl. Were he to be inated tomorrow under no circu nce ' cound ‘his count be- come more “feeble and disorganized than when its destiny was put in his \ } hands. The pletiers may wipe him out, but they cannot wipe out his ef- fect of uniting and stimulating the whole economic and social fabric of his country, nor diminish the lasting resuits of the most conspicuous single- handed administrative undertaking of modern times by calling it such names as may be borrowed from the text- book sociologists. (Copyright. 1025 Night Life of Paris Losing Its Shabbiness Visitors to Parfs who have not seen the city since béfore the World War notice many cHanges these days and nights. Leaving aside the fashionable night quarters where the animation 1s undoubtedly greater, the visitor cannot help’ being impressed by the improved condition in the night side of the city’s life in the avenues lead- ing to the outer districts, formerly the highways of indigent folk of both sexes and all ages, many obviously utcasts. Most of them used to make their way to Les Halles. There was shel- ter, too, at the Central markets. Ill- lighted cafes were numerous in the adjacent narrow streets. There, for 2 Sous a cup, & man or a woman might buy a drink and linger over it, even sleep across a table till day- reak. Nearly all of these cafes are one. So has the necessity for them. There are still homeless people to be seen, but they are unobtrusive com- pared with those of former years, Better provision for necessitous cases and, above all, the general ab- sence of unemployment in France are undoubtedly responsible for the change. Gypsies Annoy Berlin. Berlin police are worried by an in- flux of gypsies. These strange Romany caravans appear from nowhere and camp on Kings heath, near the Johan- nisthaler chaussee, in East Berlin. Or- dered to move on, they go, but next day they are back in camp again. ts have been filed ‘peddling in in- but {plied sufficiently with the disarma | ment provisions of the treaty 1 Treaty Breaches Charged. Last January the allies stayed when {evacuation was ~ expected, because they claimed that Germany was disre- garding the treaty, and in due course of time served upon the German gov ernment a statement of German dere- Hetipns. In many ways this action was n_disaster. Doubtless there had been derelictions—even the Germans would hardly deny this—but the es- sential fact was that the agreement at London upon the Dawes plan in the preceding Autumn had not alone eliminated many obstacles to adjust- ment, to general adjustment, but f{t had created a state of mind which was altogether favorable to further adjustment. The delay in the Cologne evacuation poisoned an atmosphere which had been clearing, it played into the hands of the X s and it gravely compromised the general situation. The election of Hindenburg was one later consequence. Many Germans, by no means the most unreasonable, who had seen in London the promise of peace, saw in the Cologne episodo the denial of their hopes, and more than one sald to me last Winter in Berlin, with obvious sincerity and plain passion, “We are being swin- dled.’ Nevertheless the Cologne episode, while it hampered Luther and Strese- mann, did miss upsetting the apple- cart. The election of Hindenburg proved to be a flash in the pan, so far as nationalist dangers were con- cerned. Germany went to Locarno and from Locarno emerged an agree- ment which continues to inspire opti- mism all over the world. Yet once Locarno was agreed upon, it became the obvious interest of Chamberlain and Briand to make easy the road of Stresemann and Luther in obtaining ratification of the agree- ments. And the single simple contri- bution was the promise to evacuate Cologne and the translation of the election into action. For Germany the chief present value of the Locarno pact, the outstanding recommenda- tion, is obviously that its German ac- ceptance would obtain the evacuation of the Cologne zone, as the German acceptance of the Dawes plan pro- duced the evacuation of the Ruhr. Junkers Hastened Action. Luther and Stresemann, on their part, could view with something less than complete anger the maneuvers of the Nationalists.at home so long as the allles had not kept their pledge about Cologne. This very protest of the junkers strengthened their hand with the aHles and contributed to hastening allied action. Luther and Stresemann could wait untll they had obtained Cologne before they began to fight for Locarno. The National- ists on thelr side may make claims to having obtained Cologne by their original stand against Locarno. But beyond the narrower political aspects of the Cologne evacuation there now lies a broader issue. The evacuations of the Ruhr and the Cologne zone have utmost significance because they demonstrate the fact that, contrary to ‘German fears, the ot " allies, the French in particular, have 2o imtention of staying permanently - on the Rhine or Germany industr of the Ruhr ceking to dominate lly. With control ud the lower Rhine, Ger many resumes mastery within her own home. Retiremnent from a por- tion of the Rhine barrier insures re tirement from all w the Lauter the Alsatian boun, because the ue of the barrier in the military sense depends upon occupation of all Once, however, a portion of the Rhine barrier Is arrendered, what pra tical use to hold the st? Hav. ing quitted Col why should the allies sta in slenz or Mayence? Not to insure ts of s 1] ion of been re from litary enforcement by he Dawes plan. Not to insure secu rity, because Locarno is, in itself, an undertaking on all sides to maintain security. as the conception of those who the Treaty of Ver sallles t oviding for the occu pation of portions of the Rhineland for ting in i nee yea any new vered fx No Time Locarno a guarantee withou was substituted for the re- 1ces of Versallles. Ger- 4 the att upon time and Britain un e immunity. What addi does France have, then s of occupation in British to Wies mum ma n rece »m Limit Set. But at time limi stricted many France for derwrote t tional gecurit h even a min lieves that Ge is 1 the next ten pation will disap why keep th on German soil, then? In fa N are all the other wa: as French troops stay on Gers no matter how carefully incidents are avoided, thei: presence is a humiliatic ation and can le: rmies are no unst att antees of the sentment tion, but i wn e provoke passion nd with German 1 the north of time fixed d her indemn e reason f« the pa the dangers continued b, y a matter of logic, the acceptance by Germany of the Locarn: pacts must involve the “winding up of the watch on the Rhine” as our sol diers used to describe it. At Locarno it may well be that promises did not £0 to this extent, although It is cer tain that promises were made that r the treaties were ratified the oc- atlon should beco that n ment; explicable ations still rematl te when Locarno pas 1to the law of Europe Trade Bargaining Point. We are, then, st inevs bound to see within the next months a very long step taken toward freeing German soil from foreign sol die: It may well be that the actua} uation will be used as a bargain ance and ve been deadlocked over aties for more ifficulties are even more rench ing point on both sides. T any Gern T wted 10 econo, coal are in the nature of to be combined they Lorraine was still in part hands. Tomorrow, when these commercial negotiationseare resumed, what more inevitable than that the Germana should suggest that concessions which the French demand in thelr own in- terests should be made contingent upon evacuation, while the French on their side should insist that evacua- tion depends upon concessions? ~In reality both are ready to negotiat but the Germans can much mo easily persuade their Parliament to make tariff concessions if they insure territorial liberation while the French can justify withdrawal by the report of material benefits acquired in re turn. The main thing is to bring th pation to an end count quite settle down to peace, to the re- nunciation of resentments, while the uniform of @ recent enemy expresses on its sofl the fact of a recent defeat. Invariably the victor has resorted to this «device to protect his victory and insure his payment. The alll f 1814 stayed long in France after Waterlool and the Germans after Sedan. But they stayed only until their job was done. With Locarno accepted, the job of the allies of 1914 in occupation I8 finished. But even the evacuation of the zong would not remove the causes of irris tation and the menaces to complete adjustment. There is still the Sarre Basin to liquidate. Here France has, under the treaty of Versailles, certaln present rights, and she has in addi- tion the advantages, theoretical ad- vantages, incident to a plebiseite In 1935 to determine whether the Sarre shall be German, French, or remain what it now is, a ward of the league, Finally the coal mines are French out- right, although Germany may buy them' back If the Serrols vote to res turn to the Fatherland. Germany Will Get Sarre. There is not, however, one sensible; Frenchman who dreams that the re-, sult of a plebiscite would favor. France. indicated when the plebiscite takes. place, and Germany will be the victory It a century and more ago parts of the Sarre, like Sarre-Louls, for exams/ ple, were passionately French in symg pathy, as they had been French o of unchallenged German / possessioft changed all this. Sarrbrficken is as loyally German as Konigsberg Itself. ‘What earthly reason, then, to p: long the existing situation, which is Something like unanimity is, | nationality for long decades, a century: . a cause of irritation, distrust, anger, , which keeps the League of Nations in perpetual uproar? Much better to find some basis of bargain here as in the case of the remaining Rhineland zones, to clean up the whole Rhineland mess in one bargain. Today renum clation in advance has a material a#f well as a moral value. Tomorrow th evacuation will have to take place under the legal requirements of the situation. And 1 may say with com plete accuracy that this point of view had very great currency in France when I was there last ‘Spring, al- though the negotiations which led ut- (Continued on Third Page.) 1 !