Evening Star Newspaper, December 6, 1925, Page 57

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATUPES Part 2—20 Pages GERMANS UPHELD LOCARNO! - THREETO ONE, VOTE SHOWS Analysis of Reichstag Action Gives Clear Proof That Nation Is Sincere in Promises, BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. HE vote in the Reichstag on the Locarno treaties supplies the first clear and illuminat- ing test we have ever had of the actual state of mind of the Gerniun people—that is, of course since the close of the war. The tssue submitted to the German Parliament was perfectly clear. A the Locarno pacts would solved | ing strength was concerned, and that {even in the opposition there was by | no means a solid vote against an d\l‘ justment, but rather a difference of i s 'to terms. Tt follows quite ally that the vote may N Ingly reassuring { closu 1 sentiment | Nor can one overlook the moment in the German Reichstas debate when Stresen compani fment of cheer | France.”” [ marks the | pean readjustment since And it was, in a way swer to I the direct appeal of Painleve, the ¥rench premier, addressed to the Ger ‘ 3 man public in an interview in the Ger s inception in the of | = From its inception in t FiinraEs) Pebruary 9 to the conclusion the | "1¢ is, then, quite futile to interpret Pacts in the Swiss Alps the issue pre- | ypo German action as either organized sented by the proposal has been very \.,,‘.-».,um. or passing cléver dissimu [ltion. * Now that Loearno has been differénces which would abolish the | 2pecbied there I mot Hbe o en Tatal atmosphere of distrust and feat || ce e Shich cantintere which has ing Furope for all | hose now ested in international the vears of the war. As such. it was | i mass of the Ger pted by those nati nd ol b f the great Iy 1 French, which political Lo ed thing D with ¥ran nd Proposals pocognition of part the % that | cision of the ich fixed uld meet the de- | wostern fron nny rrangements com- | But the re- | nts were accepted h\] chancellor and the forelgn minister. refore. had the Locarno pacts been defeated or subjected to destructive wmendment in the German Reichstag, the result would have been 10 confirm suspicions of the past and impair hopes of the present and the future Election of Hindenburg. the ast « esidential dis- higlwat - was not to d sth policy tha was to be into the passive continued until able to translate tive operatic that ac note of lear. Tt wa wan proposal of neace, for an adjustment of Europes Ger ove te he great th NI accel = erto vie with distrus In the were modit rman offers maund for furth ing from the ot sulting docun the Germs peace 2 and with Great Britain e was inevitabl the Stabilization of Parties. What, then, will be German policy { hereatter? In the first place, ene must note that there is little likeli hood that there will be any large change in political strengths within the Reichstag in any present time. I was much interested in the statement made to me recently by young P’rince Bism: himself a Nutionalist likely to lead his party presently, that {along with the stabllization of the cur rency in Germany there had come stabilization of party sirength, an that even now elections would hardly when the election of Hindenburg | MAKe any very sweeping chanzes. The extreme Nutivnallst elements whose | L ¥5 SiHenELA S0C LAC SAILE (eacers B opposition 1o reconciliation seemed ab- | PFEPably contlnue to hold the stag soltte, Looking 1,3t hecomes | _ntering the league, then. Germany cleur that the test was not quite fair, | il Seek certaln things. First among for the element of personal affection | these will be doubtless some effort to and admiration entered into the equa- | Promote the general question of dis tlon and elected Hindenburg, although | 4fmament. - I'rom the German point hedid not have a clear majority ‘of | of View, at least, Germany s totally SRR p disarmed, and it constitutes an obv No such qualification could, how- |SUSlY weak polnt for a disarmed Ger- ever, have had place in the Locarno|Many to continue surrounded by case. The plain issue was: Does Ger- | STON€ly armed nations. Therefore i i tha t i lonce the German delegate sits in the many want peace on the terms now i 5 nossible or mot? Now what was the | Touncl of the league "i” best aftorts answer when the vote in the Relchstag | 372 Ukely to be turned toward for- comes to be analyzed. for these statis. | Warding a general conference which tics must have enormous value. Ac. |Shall very greatly reduce Ruropean cepting the Locarno question us an | armament. ultimate test, what does it disclose? N Wil In the first place, of the five con- | A cecond siderable parties In Germany, aside |man endeavor will be to bring an from the Communists, who are to be land to the occupation of any German regarded as a permanent negatlon, | territory and, incidentally, to clear up voting with absolute consistency | the question’ of the Saar, which in against everything. four, namely, the | theory will settle its fate by a plebi Socialists. Democrats, Center and | scite 10 years hence. But in fact People’s parties, made the adoption of | every on knows that the decision will the Iocarno pacts a party issue.|he in favor of Germany, and there is These partles together hold 292 of {u general recognition of the likeli- 1he 493 xeats in the -t Reichstag, | hood that some earlier settlement can and they polled the Bavarian |be arranged. Meantime the Germans peoples, which t its lot in with | will work through the league, which them, 18,000,0 in a total of |controls the Saar, for modifications approximately 39,000,000 at the last of the French regime. lection. The final vote, too, was 201 | The Nationalists in Germany are 1o 174 for ratification, so it is clear | certain to press the parties responsi that since therc the inevitable | hle for Locarno, seeking to prove that sbsences th parties not only held | mistakes were made in not getting practically tt followers but | Jarger concessions. The Locarnists picked up votes f minor groups. |are likely at one time to lay emphasis 1pon the things actually achieved and {make appeals to the allied govern- worli hiad made up man sentiment by on and it refore temporarily disuppoint wekwa Try to Settle Saar. \d quite as obvious Ger- with Analysis of Vote. Analyzing these parties, we see that | ments not to weaken the situation in | three of the four, the Democrats, So. cial Democrats and the Catholic cen ter represent the alled Weimar Lloe—that is, the parties committed to | the republic. The fourth, the People’s. | the allies refuse anything. the' party of hiz business, which | Yet I do not mean to suggest that wontains members who are republieans | Locarno will be open to question, that nd members who are monarchists. | it will remain something to be re oadly speaking, then, the majori tor the treaties was made up of the Socialists, who in reality are not to| be confused in the American mind with extreme radicals or the Commu nists, who do represent radical ideas of the Russian brand: the Catholics. the Democrats, who are the intellec- tual but not the politically powerful moderates, und 1l of that element which constitutes business and finance. Now over against this combination what do we find” Tirst of all the Natlonalists, the frankly monarchia and reactlonary party, which counts in the Reichstag 110 members. Allied with them on this issue were the mem. Germany by refusing concessions. | Both sides will shout “I told you so, ® s 1 S. On the contrary, it Hkely mo: and more to pass to the number of things which are settled, if not for- ever, for many ars 1o come. As to | remaining in territories actually taken from Germany and later in regions | which were not German, the Germans are likely to make Increasing repre- | sentations before the league. Two Dominant Tssues. Hut in the background of all Ger- | man minds there are two issues which | will more and more dominate all else. One s the matter of the Polish corri be accept- | and | the Locarnists when they obtain any | new concession, the Nationalists when | opened, as the Dawes plan certainiy | erman minorities, first the minorities | he Sunday S EDITORIAL SECTION ba? WASHIN( iTON, D. C., SUNDAY MORNIN | WAS brought €1 d of Eaglish Puritanism. I m grateful for it, as 1 believe that Puritanism offers a_tirm basls for building up strong, solid and sincere character. 1 was Torced to read and study the Bible constantly, «nd on this count also 1 acknowledged an immense debt to Puritantsn, for beautiful and deeply Dhumar have been my classies, ! But T am equaliy grateful that | was to 1 n early escape from nisui. TIHL T was 20 T accepted vithout question, th Tee {that T had been taught. I had never | boen what my co-religionists called onverted.” for there is no need in my nature for crude and luscious tritual experience. 1 kept a hard | belief in the cast-iron dogmnas that had Leen hammered into my head all rough my childhood. i | | l l | rit | olmost 1 i e 1 Drawn | The business 1 {lowed me long Into Controversy was engaged in al stretehes of leisure, and T was a wide and diligent reader and poetry T loved most, but zood deal tietion man in those between the pro- seience and orthodox wtful id beins Controversy cements of stianity gerly examined the arguments lon both sides and was swaved toward Darwin, Husley and Mill. T carefully 1 Herbert Spencer’s “Synthetic | Philosophy.” Tt has largely influenced {my after thinking. Though philo { sophic thought has moved aside from | Her & cer. he rem 4 clear {xolid thinker @nd @ sure corrective to { e wild, loose fallucies of Nociudism dthe leading apologists of that h disse cwman 1 receive )\ sensi C in the molds of his lan rent admiration for his 10 see this fine. e @ pa posit ed L stronz reaction of gladly, wi with wonde tang and w his soul th main not ticle of ve con Inspired by Armold. | But he who chiefly propped my | mind and stéered my course in thos davs was Matthew Arnold. I ma | eratefully dwell upon the memory of {my close friend, the-Rev. T. W | Chignell, the Unitarlan minister at ! Exet a cousin of Mark Rutherford, although he hadsthrown away all dogma, his was one of the most religious minds that I have held in 1 communion. Together we found t religious support Matthew nold It today 1 w r carest expression belief (so far as 1 have lief that can be f ) 1 should nd it in that lon geous son of Empedocles with its final note I say: Fear not! 1 Téaves Hunman eff ¢ N Tie < ith Niirae no extravagant hop in rel Because thou must not dream. thou needest not then despair. Arnold constantly send loftiest and most invigo; ious strains and impulses. re doubtinz and baffled { him for help. . hard, definite out the iting relig- Those who may go 1o He will not offer them creed. but he will spiritually fortify them. He is not for those who seek an anodyne, but for those who need a tonic to brace them to endurance. Arnold is the <urest and strongest and most fear- less religious teacher of our time | We can lean upon him, and face the | darkness with him. Entered the Cave of Doubt. Tennyson and Browning never went through the darknes They I saw the deep black cave that opened mankind when orthodox Christianity shook and cracked u the assaults of sclence. The itered the cave of doubt, made ex- tensive excursion in it. and came ! before back reporting that on the whole it | was hetter to abide safely on this side in the comfort of cheerful and | spacious generalities. Matthew Ar- neld did go fearlessly right through the darkness and came out on the other side, strengthened and as- the 70 power 1 diligently rched into the truth of these things., T have never heen ible to accept the dogmas of ortho- dox Christfanity. Not even to save those the vears in best of when of my MY RELIGION up in the rigorous | ARTICLE VI BY HENRY ARTHUR JONES Author of “Mrs. Dane’s Defense,” “The Hypocrites,” | UND ERWOOD HENRY ARTHUR JONES. soul will T teach my tongue to|needs. I cannot develop a true religi- ¢ over forms of words that have|ous feeling towards it. The future 10 meaning to me. My mind offers | existence that it promises has no al- a swift instinctive opposition to all [ lurement to me. Without denying it tements of fact that I cannot diculing it, I cannot find s e and understand. accommodation for it in my scheme of < hings annot make . Formulas Are Bewildering. |10 5O e et T bsent myself from its extremely teriu 15 felicity, and linger here to com raune with my earthly companions and enjoy with them the light of the sun. While 1 have many ubsorbing tasks of present concern to fill days, I push aside the business of in vestigating spirituajism. 1 am far | | my 1 i Neither in religlon, nor in politics, | nor in art, will 1 bewilder and deceive | If by repeating formulas that I up into their constitu-| lent parts, so that I may reassemble | lthem in an intelligible unity of thought before admitting them to a | permunent place in the furniture of | my mind. Tt will be argued that the cardinal dogmas of Christianity are matters of faith. But they are issued to me as definite statements of fact, and as| such they are imposed upon believers. | W hat moral impulse and quickening, what spiritual illumination and a dor, what assurance and_consolation | in this dim world, can I obtain by re- | | peating Statements of fact which | | merely baffie and puzzle me, and| which I must not question, but must recelve as matters of faith? | From my early manhood until a| few years ago 1 called myself an Ag. | nostic. 1 was never wholly sucked | into the invading tide of materialistic | thought that followed the publication of “The Origin of Species.”” If in my my: cannot break happen to me in eternity, than about what is going to happen to this coun try in the next 10 or 20 years. If the new heaven of spiritualism s veritable scientific topography, 1 look back with affectionate memories to the vanished New Jerusalem of my childhood, with its spotless white rai ment, and angels’ waving wings and ps of gold. “We don't get such weather as we used to et in the of Charles I1" Addison’s old omplained to his crony. 1 that we don't get such fine solid in the skies, socialist and spiritualist, as we used to get in the days of good Queen Victorda My dear friend, Arthur Conan Doyle, to whose carnestness and truth-seel ing crystal sincerity I pay the warm struggle to gain firm land I swallowed | €st tribute, will forgive me if I lag much .of its wash, I always managed | Cut of his company, immersed as to keep my eyes above {ts mountain-|am in affal Sus waves. Our civilization today|me little respite to lay | nourishes a large and increasing | treasures in Heaven. amount of hideous, coarse material This Earth Compels. ism, but there is. I think, a sensible ’ | decline in materialistic philosophy and| Whatever call to wander in strange. haunted spheres of Eont fe and Mighituned sonis have sphodel. in new modes of helng. « resting place in spiritualism. [ amid new duties and new pleasure: ssed an overwhelming | evidence that manifesta- | beyond our seeking | 3 place. Much of this evidence is questionabie, some of it i | incredible, but much of it has great | weight, is difficult to discredit and fm- )esible to disprove. I am more curi- lous about the scientific aspects of spiritualism than about its religious aspect: A% & religlon it does not satisfy my | of pleasure and succe nsions | | found | They have amount of | tions of a po do_actu: t has earned its release from the fles] it is to this earth that it passions turns and returns and clings toda this earth that is the mother o that T know and feel: this earth where I have lived and sinned and suffered and loved, and fought and stumbled and triumphed and despaired, and s and bitter WHAT IT MEANS TO ME Ete. | | suited to my eyes, | stored me | nmihi: | iitable | bave 1 any encouraging words to call | | [ less concerned about what is going to | our | movement Iiand not of this world that give habits this universal frame of things|cry v up for myself |and directs its movements? ther or fields |uppreliend it, we cannot whatever call to prolong and fullfil its |the very words themselves, deny that existence my spirit may obey when it |design and intelligence are th eaten my fill and drunk deep draughts | telligence_operate anywhere and in DECEMBER 6, 1925. ISENATOR CAPPER OUTLINES MEASURES TO AID FARMER Trouble-Making Surplus of Farm Prod- ucts Demands Early Thought and Action From Congres:s. \ 4 W cups of misery and defeat and shame; this earth whose dawns and sunsets and variegated pageantries are nicely and her harmonies and discords exactly tuned to my ears; this earth whose winds and angry storms have buffeted me, but whose lue skie ycon days have re very earth, the only place where my foot finds firm| standing and where my spirit feels herself at home. Only in the degree that any prom- ised or imagined Paradise offers to re- new the conditions and experiences and activitles of this present mortal life and to restore its assoclations, « it win me to desire its hospital- itv, and then onlv as a last resort, a refuge from dissolution, a chilly ex- change from this pleasing anxlous be- ing, this palpable breathing world, | Where a short crop will bring it where beating hearts make music to!ducers more money than a bu beating hearts, and where love and|Yield. The potato crop of 1% friendship clasp no shadows. but|example, is worth more m arm human flesh and blood. Still I|than was that of 1924, which will ch us much as I can from twice the size of this vear ion, and 1 shall find no pari- Gise intolerable if Arthur Conan Doyle there on its threshold to welcome BY ARTHUR CAPPER, | Senator from Kansas ing ma tions of the have war ) depenc 1 1t has become a common suying farmers should not look to legis patent medicine to cure This sort of talk has been cl used propaganda inst ? kind of assista from Congress. | ¢ © Farmers as a whole have not asked |} for tmpractical experimenting by Con- | eress, but they do believe the Gover ment’ can give them {heir problems Tt is the trouble-making surplus of farm products which den tion and action from Congrs often these surpluscs 1 our domestic market and nomic condition is broust It anadian | othe: | sistance fro Solution in Co-op=ratien W oper il jon the way to per | pecially in” the 1 Tor | Sumer. The . s prob-{ | s atten- | o t Farmers h. croy Asks Export Corporation I do not udvoeate bus of farm products by th nor any form of pric should be possible for Coni UD @ Government-supervised esportis corporation or to selling organiza {azed or comtrolled, with mits. The Government finding and reaching forelgn m for these surpluses. there. Only the necessary machinery with intelligent af needed. The tariff on agrie products must be so adiusted t gives the same protection 10 thes 4n 1o receive a spirit of communi- | products as is now given to the prod cation tonight—rather T should feel{ ucts of indust unasin nd discomfort. 1 am co Farmers are ; tent to held communion in my protective tar il awith their memories who products of swhic cen my dearest earthly compa for export T will accept all authent 15t be revised so th of their continued existence | own commodities it offered directly to OWN | in line with what he recelves fo senses, and that I can subject to[ uroducts. There still 15 ton o proof. T will not o out of MY Way | disparity between what the farm, to seek for it. 1 | ceives for his output and what What then is my religion t0da¥? | must pay for his needs What positive definite creed have I While we have looked to foreizn | wherewith to fortify and cheer my-|markets to absorb our surpluses, it i« self and light my feet in my few re-| well to remember that the luropean haining vears as 1 go down 10 the | market for American products fu be 1o them who are follo Descending to the shadow: g "Whv |Why Agriculture Turn ame beaten path | - It is only in late years that we have | rned from science that each of not, as we supposed, in a tene- | of clay, but a tenement of | Matter has been resolved | to force. But this force is every- | where intelligent, foreseeing, orderly, | = directly, purposeful in its manifesta- | Y ashington for relief from de tions, whether it majestically swings | ¢conditlons. = Th arth around the sun in a mathe- | Meeting of the matically caleulated orbit, or whether, | reau Ilederation with the same unerring precision, it | President Coolldge will commands the infiniesinal rings of |Fegister agriculture’s demand for re e atan |in stentorian tones. Once again But is this force not blind and | times are out of joint in the farn majignant when it hurts, or punishes, | COUNtry. Six months ao the or destroys me? No. I must not| world seemed to be on the th ribe to it my purpose and prefer-| of a year of bumper prosy mees. Whether the tiny phagocyte | Prospects were brilliant. os we & the poison from my blond and | high. Mortgages were being paid of. aves me. or whether the deadly ml-| Farmers nearly everywherc wer {ills the poison and kills me, | jubilant mood ike purpose and intelligence | Since then a, variety of things has directing their microscople activities. happened to depress the agriculturists. How can [ call that “design” which | The corn crop turned out to be so hiz shapes and animates the clumsy work ! that it sent prices crashing to alme of man, and not call that “design” | unprecedentedly low levels. Then t which shapes and animates the in-|railroads, which the farmers have finitely perfect forms and movements | regarded their natural enemies, in every cranny of this universe? How | petitloned the Interstate Commerce can 1 call that “spirit” which inhabits | Commission for a horizontal increase my flesh and directs my movements, | in freight rates. From the four qu call that “spirit” which in-| ters of the agricultural univer he s sent up that the threatened ‘1'!\;7‘6:1.“‘ would be nothing short of - 2 ruinous to the farme who already What Is Determinism? felt himself burdensomely handicuppec However we may name this pervad-| by the cost of reaching the mark ing force, however we may imagine or | place with his produce. Congress 1 without abol- | . with agriculture's approv ishing our conceptions of design and i passed the so-called Smith-Hoeh re intelligence, nay, without abolishing | lution fnstructing the Tnterstate (. merce Commission to investigat freight rates. The purpose was t determine a more equitable charge on igricultural products and effect nec. essary changes. The investigation di rected by Congress has been under way for several months past. Mean time, as a conn nove to the action of Congress, 76 railroads in West ern States are demanding an increase in freight rates amounting to 11 per cent. The farmers feel they may also No Personal Revelation. had no_ sligh rsonal re of anything ou side the eve con e of events, nor am T inquisitive to communicate with loved ones who have gone from me. T am disinclined to invoke agen cies that claim a power to bridge the gulf that separates me from the dead: T would rather imagine them to be at rest, and not vexed about the hap. penings of this world. It would give no happiness to know that I was T have ion Meantime, n y deve farmer e king for particula h we pro the pre at hie ¢ prices have ions that o at a r re e to Washington With Demands for Economic Relief Ing me ment ct BY FREDERIC WILL! Agriculture has again AM WILE. the inc pressing Amerécan | at Chicago, whic dress, wi 1 ng rural reshe o latest of th husiness 3,000, 1 o tablish a « This would t & anch bill to this sented 1 ment cc farm produce What cre- | ators, the sustainers and the sov- evelgn dictators of this universe. It i {mpossible to acknowledge that | there is “design” fn any part or sec- n of this universe, in any work of | man or of nature, and then to rail off | that section as an oasis and a pre.| serve from chaos. If design and in-| the furmers argue, interest ting to agricul (Continued on Nineteenth Page) be the indirect victims of the rail- fir roads’ demand for an increase in the Demand for Prataetion. hers of the Hittler-Ludendorfl faction, the extreme and wholly irrational Na- onalists, with 15 votes at the outside. Che voting strength of this group Is 5 and it represents pretty fairly the real oppostion. The with 45 ar E purely negative—again nents, but in no sense to be taken s monarchists. They desire to de- stroy the republic, to prevent the re- turn_of the monarchy and to set up the Russian system in Germany. The combined vote of the Nationaliets and tittlerites at the last election was 4.500,000, just i shade more than third of the pro-Locarno group. Accepted Three to One. Three to one, then, Germany ac. «epted the Locarno pact, but it would not be quite falr or accurate to say that the Natfonalists as a unit op- posed the idea of lLocarno and held themselves resolutely against any ad- justment. Some of them do—perhaps w majority—but just there were \any Natlonalists who broke away m their party and voted for the Dawes plan, including old Admiral Firpitz and voung Urince Bismarck, there were I iy Natfonalists at the later stage whose opposition to Lo- «arno was in detail rather than princl ple, and one with some war- rvant, I belleve. that had votes been needed to put the ratitication through, Nationallsts votes would ugain have Leen forthcoming Some, if not a majority. in the tionalist party opposed the Locarno pact because while they recognized that a general adjustment was not only necessary but inevituble, they nhelieved that better terms could und <hould have been made for Giermany. rhey agreed that what Locarno repre- <ented broadly 15 an essential detail in readjustment, hut they said openly that Germany wus ing too much. Moreover, by holdi themselves in he oppostion they rather helped than indered the Luther-Stresemann gov- rnment by enabling it to ask conces- jons from the ullies outside of the greements to strengthen them at me. And these concessions were ranted, beginning with the prompt ‘romise to evacuate the Cologne zone nd change the character of the occu- ation in the remaining areas. Therefore one arrives at the satis- Yactory conclusion that the compara 1ive strength of the champlons and .pponents of Locarno repregnted re- pectively three ard one, so far as vot- have said, all govern Communists, | { dor and Upper Silesia, the other is the | question of the union of Austria with | the Reich. Could both of these ques- tions be settled in Germany's favor, she would at a single hound have re covered all she lost of importance in the war, or, more exuctly, recovered what was most vital of what was lost | and in addition acquired new territory | far in excess of what she surrendered. In the Locarno agreements Gier- |by arms to change | either in the cas her frontiers, or the west. But league the matter of her eastern frontiers. She feels certain, moreover, that so far as the Polish corridor and Upper Silesta are concerned she will have the support of the British, per- haps even of the Italians. And in this matter all German partles are united. 1f there 18 a division in opinion over | Alsace-Lorraine—and thera are many | Germans who are prepared, if a com. plete settlement with France is possi- | ble, to accept this loss—there is not a single Germun ready to accept the | eastern frontiers as more than transi- | tory. Union With Austria. But while the matter of | frontiers 1s one of national sentiment, constituting in reality the Alsace- Lorraine for Germany made by the {last war, the question of the union of Austria 18 one of future greatness. {To get Danzig, the corridor and Upper | Silesta would give Germany most of what she had in 1914 and restore her {national integrity. but to Austrla would not alone give her large territories and considerable population, it would take her down |the Danube and give her mastery in | central Europe. B {"To acquire both would make her master of the outlets of Poland and of ! Czechoslovakia, would bring her into touch with Hungary. an inevitable ally; would restore her to something like her position of power and in fluence of 1914. But before she can {acquire elther she must at the very least find some method of separating | the Poles and the French, for France even under the Locarno agreements retains her right to defend Poland, and she,must also abolish the French and Italian vetos of the Austrian union, for both countries stand against this, the French unwilling to see Germany ze eastern (Continued on. Nineteenth in value and importance ADVOCTATES 'COAST-TO-COAST PROSPERITY TAX-CUT BILL FINDS REFLECTION IN THEATER DEBT REDUCTION DEFERRED TO 1 $325,000,000 Lopped Off by Mes: ot Ex- pected to Hamper Administration Plan to Re- Box Offices Among Best Business Barometers, Bears | Out President’s Statement, Belasco Declares. ure Is ! many has pledged herself not to seek | | she relies upon Article XIX of the| covenant to enable her to open in the | acquire | BY DAVID LAWRENCE. Advocates of prompt payment by the American people of the public debt have won out as against those who favored 1. r reduction in taxes and smaller installments on the war ¥ weeks there has been a rising pressure from members of Con gress to apply less and less of the surplus to retire the public debt so that it might conceivably mean re- { tirement in_62 I'he present plan, started b Democratic ad. { ministeation and continued by two { succeeding Republican administra- | tions, contemplated payment in 2 | vears. When it became apparent that the United States was willing to give forelgn governments 62 years in which to pay their war debts it was prompt- ly argued that the American people should not be g0 hexvily taxed now, but should give succeeding genera tions some of the burden. $300,000,000 Tax Cut Urged. The question had to be decided con- currently with the policies on the new tax bill. For if the amount that is lusually set aside annually to retire | the public debt were to be diminished, }it would mean that a larger sum | would be available on ®hich to base tax reduction. Some had estimated that as much as $500,000,000 might be {cut from the t: bill. The new meas. lure, us drafted by the House w nd means committee, provides for | only $325,000,000 in cuts. This is some { what in e3 of the amount which ecretary Mellon said _could be ap plied to tax reduction. but the varia- | tion is not large enouxh to cause con- cern. The larger question of whether at least $200,000,000 should be taken from the annual instaliments on the public debt and used for tax reduction has n | duce Nation’s Interest Charges Each Year. BY DAVID BELASCO. I'resident_Coolidge, at a recent ban- quet in New York, called attention to the country-wide prosperity apparent at this time, and declared it a healthy and natural outgrowth of the new order of things which has resulted from the after-war readjustments. There is no better barometer of busi- nes and individual financial con- ditions than the theater box offices, and these, I am glad to say, hear out s President Coolidge’s statements to the tion of the annual surplus from gross letter. New York always is what is receipts over expenses. In future!termed “a good show town” becaus 2 the payments will not be asof the enormous number of out-of- large, because suppiles left over from |town visitors throughout the year. So xhfin\mj and Government property gen- we must turn to the other cities of erally ha only” opportunity to cut the interest and agricultural payment is by making as big a cut in proofs. the principal every vear as is possible.; These, during the present theatrical Coolidge Backs Mellon. {season, ‘are displaying evidences of prosperty which have beeny lacking President Coolidge has stood square- | sadly for several years pa Road 1y behind Secretary Mellon in his in-|companies, even those of doubtful | sistence that every dollar available | merit, are reporting splendid business should be used to cut down annual |everywhere. Los Angeles, Portland, interest charges. The argument was | Seattle and San Francisco on the advanced also that if business condl-| West; Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadel- tions continue to improve tax receipts | phia, Baltimore and Washington on would grow and the American people | the Bast, all are showing about the { | heen disposesd of satisfactorily xrnm\ the administration viewpoint. i TUpward of $850,000,000 vear is | now taken ont of tax recelpts in order | to pay interest on the public debt. This is regarded as too large to carry in the budget, which is slightly less than three and three-quarter billion | dollars. The public debt amounts to | about $20,000,000,000, and has been re- | tire with great rapidity since 1918,! partly through the up- | plies and partly through the applica centers—for our would be given the henefit of reduc-|same percentage of increase over the | tion in tax rates through that process, | bad returns of last season and that of but if 2 surplus was attained for a|1922.23. particular year the proceeds should! The great industrial | be used to retire the public debt. Middle-Eastern and some effort will be made by mem- | groups_of States, enters of the Middle-Western on which the pro- {ver: reasoning, but the preponderance of |between the two coast groups—which sentiment’ now is in favor of a. quick {reduction of the publie debt, and a | eritical decision of policy has been | taken. Administration leaders, at any vate, are a unit In support of the policy, and have abandoned any idea of urging a larger cut in taxes than is contemplated by the House ways and means committee. (Consrisht. 1925 lup nicely. with cities like Cleveland, | Detroit, Indianapolis, St. Louls, | Kansas City, Denver, Salt Lake City and Omaha revealing receipts a bit over the general percentage of in- crease throughout the remainder of the country. This has two meanings—that the rker 1= heing given steady \ of Congress to attack this line of | ducer must depend for his real profits | {employment at good wiges. | ¢ been disposed of, so the'the country—the industrial, financial | | | | ordinarily are profitable—are holding | Sees Excellent Season. wnd that his employer is profiting splendidly | from the activities of his employes. Money, in the parlance of thel financlers, is “easy'; i.e., available in | large sums and at low interest rates. Merchants are turning their stocks over rapidly at fair prices and are taking their discounts for quick pay- ments. The country’s crop conditions are good. Building, according to the statistical reports, never has heen bet- ter. Conditions of unemployment have shown such a betterment that even so- | called “seasonal” workers like woods toilers and harvest hands seem to be finding profitable employment in their | off sons, When these conditions exist, the box offices of theaters nutomatically re- cord increases in receipts. When that condition is general, as is the case this ar, we of the theater know that prosperity exists throughout the Na- tion. Nearly all of the road shows are booked for long seasons and, best of all, the producers are making ex- tensive plans for new and costly pro- ductions next year. 1 believe the season of 1925-192 marks the return of a general pros- ' perity throughout the country und that, with a_wise continuance of pub- lic policies, there is no reason why the splendid condition should not continue for several years to come. S S Ttaly Buys Few Autos. Ttaly is not a flivver nation. Only 44,000 private motor cars were owned in the entire country last year—little more than double the pre-war number. With public motors and lorries the total came to 75,000. Italy does not go rates for carrying the mails. Farmers Fail to Enthuse. While worrving over these tions, the farmers have been studyving the agricultural relicf program work ed out last Spring be President Cool idge's farm commi: on. It fs to arouse thelr enthusiasm. For the most part, they have come to the conclusion’ that It cffers them stone instead of bread. The Presidents factfinders, acting cn Mr. theory that self-help is the farme surest salvation, recommended ernment wld In co-operative murket ing as the chicf need of the hour. The Capper-Haugen Dill, embodying the farm commission’s recommendations, | among other things, called for the establishment of a permanent agricul- tural commission. The bill proposed to give the commission certain powers for co-ordinating the activities of the various farm co-cperative o tlons. The farm co.oper-tive associations, 15 one of thelr leaders puts it, were appalled” at the comprehensiveness of the Capper-Haugen bill. They thelr judgment, their enterprise their business freedon: curtailed. They left no doubt of their hostility to this apparent Government interference with_farm marketing uctivities. The result was a bill introduced in the Flouse by Representative Dickinson, | wni- f Republican, of Tow:, the farm Io:\rh-r“:‘..‘l‘xn,h fhes aly in the lower branch of Congress. The | LiRpsio Dickinson bill provided for central-| = (Cop \ Farmers Should Join Forces to Gel ays Yoakum farmers demand e ire et fes ized through me Feder tariff and 1 tion Taws. is their clan Republican that the e o are 1 m Republican 1 Federation m, mostly of Towa’s leadin journal publisher former Secretary just launched a farm | whereby the Federul the beginning o establish a r wool, sugar, produce the f: he houzht, unde Government at sold road terms for the b 1SS on the ered by t his variation en plan is not like {port of the C Gov- of Agriculture. G vern D vear price for ganiza- > this pre wned BY B. F. YOAKUM, Chairman of the Board of the St. L. San Francisco Raflroad and close stude of agriculture. With devotion to the Thanksgiving proclamation of the President, we have just given thunks for America amazing prosperity. All business en terprises are making money, save and | except alone the stupendous agricul tural industry—the industry which supports all others. Agriculture, like every other indu try, consists of two factors—produc- | marketing factc the farming | tacts show that ceives of the sumer for hi third he t Zoes Lo the di reaps the profit no profit, but actually with all the hard labor of the business thr Only a few days : business men of Mi ern Sta mferred 1 My lct rds At n pr t runs in for mass production and carefully Dprotects its citizens by tariffs and spe- cial taxes from the temptation to buy low priced American cars. of Agriculture Jardine tion and marketing. Unless these two concers factors operate jointly one or the | $400.000.000 loss to the furmers on (1 other will pull down the whole enter- | Year's corn crop. This conference way prise. With agriculture it is the (Continued on Third Page?