Evening Star Newspaper, January 17, 1926, Page 51

GROWING BUREAU POWER DEPLORED BY ECONOMIST Gradual Invasion of Prerogatives of Congress Declared to Be Onme of Greatest Problems Before Nation. BY WILLIS J. BALLINGER. ONGRE power to a ecutive bureaucrats. rescue of the National Legls ture fr its prerogatives is tant concern of the the most in substance, the answer MeGuire to my question as is the m problem in this ago former Se erious political country A itor Stanley of Ken tucky had uttered a avarning in interview he granted me against flood of laws pourinz from Congress. Mr. McGuire reminded duruned for e performance with the and the of Scores of execu man nothing of ru trative depa activity C.E. the is deluge orders having ited by nts and aimed at every nd life. McGuire has been secretar: Inter-American -High Commii: 1 was one of the co-authors G apacity to Wi here and i translated into many t - oublesome He has been vernment ma- hoth from sderal ad. wee of K, nany’s 1y read ages, was the tions, of ran; the 2 of re withe and ut ministratior World Drive on L the slators. there Is a dis- Ie Al posit over n xalt are have s exe dic- vith favor. The nutlitied the legisla bled all power in the men. In Greece the that he we and ind “public con- vernment ria are un- Venezuela e south u: )n of one-man | rnment. In our own a decided move burlesque our Con t and to eul executive branch of country there is on foot to as inc efficiency the ( “The mald our ment has the constituti until thei has e 1 Government toda lire, dangerousl, The e e *hed upon chts of the States d sovereign power wasted away. In the Federal nment the executive power today overshadows Congress and promises to reduce the legislature n of complete subor to a posit tlon Calls Change Serious. the serious ry and spirit of our Government ich has taken place in last few decades. We face today a condition rapidly making inevi rative tyranny, nd the sur- reign rights by S Faw alterat citizens n in the t lotive subservien of their sov executive ma- Government pidly than the Federal 1ch more nal fride chinery the has grown so m that of the Na the aver ind ? the Federal struc- is often drawn to of material being round out annually by lez Bt is true that our State and Na. tlonal legislative hoppers work at an enormous clip. considerably more bulky and alarming than the ime of annu; administrative form of rules, thousand and one’ official and forms which administrators de- light in devising. It is this ‘sec- ondary legislation’ that the individual meets in most of his contacts with Government. Consequently he comes to view tha delegation of authority by Congress to administrative officers ang their bureaucratic staffs as an aufdmatic and natural process. Blames Congress for Change. tention embroidery regulations and_the schedules not acquainted with »n and being often remote from contact with the Fed- eral Government has viewed com- placently the fact that Congress was more and more readily endowing the executive with blanket powers and that an administrative apparatus was belng erected capable of being trans- formed into a bureaucratic tyranny based upon the principle that the State can do no wrong, and animated by a feeling that the Natlon lives in order that the bureaucracy may prosper. “In the last analysis Congress is to blame for allowing the disease to go on, for occasionally resorting to blind and haphazard methods of reform. Legislative bodies have always had a task in protecting the central idea of representative government from executive encroachment. The tries to which we owe the whole mod- islative control of gov- 1 of the later middle azes, for esample; north Italy and other continental countries—offer abun- dant examples of the progressive des- sication and decline of legislative in- stitutions. England alone was the parliament to retain effective control $nto our century, only to lose it defi- nitely to bureaucracy in our day. “The modern continental, Latin- American and Asiatic legislative bodies have been offering no serious compe- tition to bureaucracy (or, in some pre- war countries, autocracy). At best their contribution has taken the form of an enlizhtened criticism and fre- quent investigating forays: at worst it has served merely to harass the bureaucracies and bring about a frit- tering of governmental power, so that no poliey at all could be pursued, and the popular tension at length resulted in the s pping of legislative ma- <chinery bgether and a resort to dictatorships.” Esplains Placing of Blame. You say Congress i{s to blame. public act situa Q. Why? A. Because Congress has not buflt up machinery of its own adequate to the tasks it has to perform. It has antiquated methods of getting infor- mation and no method whatever of handiing the information when once recorded somewhere or other. The committee system, the holding of hearings, together with the lack of an expert stafl for gathering and or- ganizing mater the lack even of adequate, sultably centralized secre- tarial service—one could go on citing such obstacles to a reasonably thor- ough and expeditious operation of a natlonal legislature. I know it is the fashion to criticize Congress, and par- ticularly by those who have never had any legislative experience. My observation, however, is that the members of hoth houses of Con- gress on the whole do an astonishing amount of work under disheartening conditions. They are too much beset by what I call “barnyard interests”— e fnnumerable errands, favors and tentions which their constituents expect. By the time a man has de- Voted the best part of his morning to work of this nature he is too worn slowly losing its multitude of ex- The n this invasion of impor- American people week an the 1e that, while acting 100 as coun- | out to attack vigrously difficult prob- lems of public policy. Even when on the floor of Congress the legislator is not immune from constant interruption. The men in Congress, naturally enough, are men in middle life, and they have no sur- plus energy to meet the strain of this constant interruption. So they strug- gle along, each of them chained to a multitude of local interests when he ought to be free to deal with public business. Because the tired legislator cannot find the time to deal with the many questions that he would like to handle he only too wiliingly dele- gates broad powers to the executive, | allowing the latter full leeway to ”mnl! and fortify those powers through the interpretative prbcess. Congress hould be made to take upon itself all i the lawmaking that there is and leave lto the executive only the purely ad- { ministrative work. | Q. What brought this situation | about and,why is there a strong tend to belittle Congress as you say? The growth of the country has ad most to do with it. The legis | ture 1s not in session more than twc | thirds of the time, and consequently | people have looked up to the E tive, which is more continuously work. Congress ought to be at work the year around. Its members should be paid enough to justify this service. | The House, which today is “too large | for a legislative body and too small for }u!l arm: should be cut to workable { proportio; With the development of | our country, when emergencies aros | the Executlve was given new services {to meet them—more and more in with lump-sum_appropria- which allow the executive to it as it pleases. The pressure m; 1 organizations In recent vears has done much to enlarge the powers of the executive. tions, spend of Opposes Blanket Power. | Congress is conferring | more blanket powers upon | ecutive to carry out the | tudinous reforms attempted. The process has been a steadily grow ing one. It was developed hap! rdly and without careful perspec tive in view. The original simple | devices haye been built upon at ran- |dom—a wing here, a turret there, | a few bay windows somewhere else for statesmen looking for a place in the sun, and no end of cyclone cellars for those desirous of safely and in- { definitaly ing out of range of tha rays of publicity. The net result of all this is a blind distribution of | powers and much friction between the multiple bureaus Q. Can the Executive be | fled? | A Yes. n hand of the Executive sho strengthened over his vast numbe ofe subordinates. The President i in need of a sort of switchboard of | intelliggnce—not merely more clerks, but subordinates who can keep the presidential office regularly and di- rectly in touch with a uniform policy that should lie back of each divi- | sion of the administrative machinery Secondly, to consolidate and regroup | the buredus and commissions to elim- | inate duplication of function and eliminate friction Q. Do you still believe in the threefold division of powers as plan- ned by the fathers or do vou wel- | come this unification of the Execu- tive «nd Congress, due to the control of ihe latter by the former? Three Issues Before People. A. 1 certainly cling to the hope that the orfginal constiutional struc- i ture of the republic will not be de- parted from, especially by the grad- ual process of an absorption slowly of the real power of the legislature by the Executive, through the use of favors or intimidation, through the decadence of legislative machinery and the aggressiveness of the bureau- cratic advance. And the slow evap- oration of the sovereignty of the States is a problem of equal mag- nitude. There are three paramount issues before the American peopls | today First, we must restore the legislative branch of the Government to its position of freedom alike from Executive domination through the seduction of patronage and the cloak- room activities of executive official as well as attempt to stifle the free- |dom of discussion: secondly, the | management of the administrative | apparatus so that the unwholesome features of bureaucracy are avoided; and thirdly, the vindication of the principle of State sovereignty, upon which in such great degree the se- curity of the people will depend. Here is the basis of a national movement quite above the proportions of & political or partisan program. more and the ex- multi- two ways Chinchilla Facing Danger of Extinction Sad news for women who have their hearts set on the acquisition of chin- |chilla wraps is that the chinchilla is in danger of extinction. Already the price of chinchilla fur is almost pro- hibitive. In a few more years, unless the | rodent of the barren Andes is given adequate protection, his fur will bring the equivalent of a king's ransom. However, with the decrease in_ the number of the little animals, the hunt for them becomes more determined. In the early days of the Spanish conquest of Peru and Bolivia chin- chillas were found in the lowlands and on the plateaus. They were as com- mon as rats along the few rivers'in these two countries. The wives of the Spanish viceroys discovered the beauty of the fur and the hunt of the animals began. Old records show that {in 1884 a German furrier in Chile ex- ported 100,000 skins valued at 250,000 gold marks (about $62,500). In 1900 nothern Chile shipped over 1,000,000 pelts. Such wholesale killings caused the chinchilla practieally to disappear from its old Chilean haunts and greatly reduced the number in Peru and Bolivia. Efforts to carry on chin- chilla farming there, as silver fox farm- ing is doné in the United States, have not been successful. Dutch Seeking More American Tourists Members of the Netherlands commit- tee for traffic propaganda are consid- ering all sorts of means to promote tourist travel between America and Holland. They want to induce more travelers ot only to come to_the Netherlands, but to visit the East Indles. An increase of tourist traffic there, it 1s thought, would help attract foreign capital for the development of the Dutch colonies. The committee s in favor of cheap Summer trips to the United States. One steamship line {will organize a trip for students of the “higher burgher school” at The Hague. The young men will be away a month and a haif. If this trial trip | proves a stccess another line will fol. llow the example. The cost of the lmu 15 estimated at 1,000 florins (about §400). | their THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JANUARY 17, 1926—PART 2. 2y ‘WAS brought up an Episcopalian. Until T was a girl in my middle teens I went to church regularly and amicably. 1 will not say church-going satisfled every spiritual need, for as yet there had come no time in my life when I experienced a spirit- ual need. I had been confirmed, not at the urge of anything remotely ap- proaching “conversion,” but simply because my Sunday school teacher suggested it. I remember remonstrat- ing with her, arguing that T had felt no “call,” that 1 was quite content to £0 on as T was. She replied that the motivating feelings which 1 seemed to miss would come after the sacrament. It did not come: it has never come. But for a year or two after confirma- tion T continued to go to church. It Iwas a “high” Episcopal church, and |the beauty of the service—angelic- faced choir boys, sonorous music, dell- cately-adjusted lights, pulsing incense, flowers on the altar- br: lamps swing- ing in front of it—held me fascinated. Perhaps the fact that the Puritan Sun- day is so drear and vacant a day and that some of the girls T know also went to my church contributed their urge in establishing this habit. PRI Gradually, however, it me that T had no real relation to the exquisitely ordered ritual of my church; that T was merely making mo- tions—beautiful ones, to be sure, bud without spiritual significance in my life. In the meantime, too, T was do- ing a great deal of reading and think- andardized bellefs, ause inherited, vanished; | belief ‘in a pers belief in the Bible as the word of that God; belief in the divine origin of Jesus Christ; belief in the efficacy of prayer; belief in the immortality of the soul. After awhile T to be a regular churchgoer. )t when I drift into the cathedrals of Europe—those mas- sively materialized, warml vibrating, colorful facets of the Catho- lic faith—I scarcely enter a church. I think my case is typical of thou- sands of my generation. Like me, they were inducted early into the church-going habit. As with me, there me a time somewhere along the church-going experience, when® they realized that—in some mysterious way, the fault neither of the Church nor of themselves—the emotional uplift had passed for them away from the church function. Although they lost their faith in dogma, many of them retained their faith in God. It was a period ceased a BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following s a brief sum- mary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended January 16 Association of Great Britain (coal op- erators) has presented to the royal commission, which is investigating the British coal mining industry, sugges- tions realization of which might, in view, enable the industry just barely to carry on without loss (but, it is emphasized, without any likeli- | hood of profit), as follow: 1. *The miners’ working day to be increased by one hour without addition to present pay. 2. Weekly wages to be cut, 6 pence in some districts, 5 shillings 6 pence in others, more than 15 shillings in othes 3. The owners to reduce costs by 10 per cent. 4. Railroad rates on coal to be re- duced. 5. Immediate (temporary or not, as developments may determine) dis- charge of 100,000 miners. It is scarcely believable that the miners would consent to any such pro- gram. S Germany.—President Ilindenburg’s hope of a big Relchstag coalition of the Socialists, the Democrats, the Centrists and the People’s party went a-glimmering on Tuesday, when the Socialist caucus of the Reichstag re- solved, 85 to 33, not to participate in such a coalition, Therefore, President Hindenburg has invited Dr. Luther, whose rump cabinet, which resigned several weeks ago, is still carrying on, to form another cabinet to be based on the support of the Democratic, Centrist and People’s parties. The combined representation of these parties is less than one-third of the Reichstag, but the Socialists could be counted on to support the foreign policy of such a cabinet. To escape disaster on domes- tic issues would require extraordinary address, but it is said that Luther is inclined to compromise with the So- cialists on such issues. The arrangement is precarious and unsatisfactory, but perhaps for the present preferable to new elections. The merger is announced of seven great Rhine and Ruhr iron and steel companies into a corporation, named the United Steel Works, about as great as the Bethlehem Steel Corpora- tion, which will control about 60 per cent of the iron and steel output of Germany. Part of the financing is to be done by thé American firm of Dil- lion, Read & Co. A prime object of the merger was to attract American capital, so much needed in the pres- ent crisis of German industry. It is reported that on January 11 the number of German unemployed had risen to 1,500,000. The other day 70 flre-eating Na- tionalists and Monarchists, including many aforetime intimates of Hinden- burg, issued a manifesto demanding immediate abandonment of the present parliamentary system. At the same time one hears of fresh subversive plans of the Saxon Communists. Some connection seems inferable between these phenomena, and the economic dpression which appears to be a crisis in the “deflation pangs.” * kK k Russia.—The Russian government has replied to the Invitation to send representatives to participate in the commission which is to make prepara- tions for a disarmament conference, stating that it will accept only if the commission meets and carries onsout- side Swiss territory or if the Swiss government apologizes for the slaying of a Russian_ government agent on Swiss soil in May, 1923, and the ac- quittal of his slayer. Stalin's victory over the extremists at the recent Moscow congress of the Communist party of Russia insures that for the immediate future, at least, there is to be no reversion to the stark old Communist fundamentalism. Maxim Gorky, now living in Italy, has renounced communism. He re- cently called in an orthodox priest to baptize his baby. * ok Kk ok China.—T told last week of how tHe | comes a sociological as well as a bi- chief executive of the provisional gov- ernment, Tuan Chi Jui, announced his retiyement to take effect January. 15, dawned on | human, | MY RELIGION: WHAT IT MEANS TO ME ARTICLE 1T BY INEZ HAYNES IRWIN IN HAYNES Author of the Famous Phoebe Stories, “Maida’s Little Shop,” Ete. IRWIN. of new evaluations in religion. Ever: where, however, churches continued to exert their profound influcnce. But | everywhere, too, people were seeking | God fn thelr own way and through | avenues other than the Church. | * % ok % | 1 recognize that people have al-| Wways felt the necessity of religion. have never known that necessity. recognize that in times of emotional | stress or of physical danger most peo- | ple instinctively ery for help to a force | outside themselves. That recognition | begets in me no answer. Perhaps an | early observation that religion could Great Britain.—The Mining —and quite frequently did—exist in |l saved something. Although I can- | He canceled this announcement, but later again announced his retirement for the near future, without, however, vouchsafing the date thereof. It has turned out, after all, Feng Yu-hsiang, the “Christian eral,” was sincere when he announced the intention of retiring. He resigned command of the “National People's and the resignation was ac cepted by Tuan Chi-jui, who ther upon appointed him “commissioner t study industries in foreign countries. This development, of course, further complicates a situation, already com- plicated beyond human capacity of analysi. that * x % % Mexico.—The little flurry that mo- mentarily seemed to perturb (if that is not too strong a word) our relations with Mexico has subsided. The petro- leum bill (not yet passed) and the land act (passed but not yet promul- gated or gazetted), regarding which our Ambassador at Mexico City lodged a DProtest or representations, seem to be of a bouquet similar to that of the famous article 27 of the Mexican con- stitution of 1917, which nationalized | the Mexican subsoil. It will be recalled that the Mexican Supreme Court de- cided that Article 27 might not operate retroactively as regards property in Mexico acquired by foreigners prior to its enactment, and that on the several occasions when legislation of a sim- flar character has been protested be- fore Mexican courts, the courts have similarly decided. It is understood that the Mexican government will give assurances that, whatever might be the wording of new legislation, property rights of for- elgners wiil not be prejudiced by retro- active or conflscatory operation pur- suant thereto; that the pledges re- specting those rights given from time to time by Mexican governments, not- ably when the Calles government was fully recognized by ours, will be scrupulously honored. It were, of course, devoutly to be wished that the Mexican legislature would refrain from legislation which, whatever the relief to be obtained from the courts or otherwise, to put it mildly, dis- turbs the equanimity of American property holders and adversely affects the valuations on the exchanges. But legislatures is legislatures, as Huck Finn would say. Further re- mark on this interesting situation is inadvisable pending publication of the expected note of assurance from the Mexican government. A late dispatch states that the pe- troleum bill has been passed and that other measures have been promul- gated. Mexican bandits hoarded the Guada- lajara-Mexico City passenger train on the night of January 9, robbed and murdered about 50 persons, in- cluding the train crew and guards. Curlously enough, the lives of all the foreign passengers were spared, and zen- | | Cana1 the foreign women were not robbed human souls apart from morality, pro- duced an evanescent, youthful cynic- ism. If that were true then, it is cer- tainly not true now. I realize now that the religious temperament is a special temperament. I realize now that the capacity for religion is a gift in itself. And, curiously enough, the I|fact that the two do not inevitably |ltef in another life. 1 accompany each other seems now not ! conscious of that sensation now. 4 inatter for cynical comment, but for deep human understanding. % ok ‘What, then, is left of my religion? What did T salvage from the wreck? The Story the Week Has Told or in any way molested. With com- mendable promptness, cavalry was sent in pursuit, and it would seem that most of the bandits were soon rounded up and elther killed in fight or captured and summarily executed. * ok ok ok United States of America.—Presi- dent Coolidge has appointed Maj. Gen. William Lassiter, commander of the American forces in the Panama Zone, as president of Tacna-Arica Plebiscitary Commis- sion, in succession to Gen. Pershing, who had been relieved because of {ll health and is returning to this coun- | try. The appointment is in form of a permanent one, but the possibility had been indicated that should Gen. Pershing’s condition greatly improve in the near future, he might be re- appointed, relieving Gen. Lassiter. On Tuesday the Senate voted, 41 to 39, that the appointment by the Governor of North Dakota of Gerald P. Nye as Senator to fill the unex- pired term of Senator Ladd was con- stitutional. Mr. Nye is what is known as a La Follette Republican and is a member' of the Non-Partisan League. His confirmation is of espe- cal importance, since he is expected to oppose our participation in the World Court. After two weeks of negotiations the conference in New York between representatives of the anthracite coal miners and representatives of the operators was, on January 12, ab- ruptly broken off, each side blaming the other. It was an operator who made the motion to adjourn sine dle, subject to the call of the chalrman. The question of arbitration was the tnsoluble issue. The Pennsylvania Legislature con- vened in special session on January 13 to consider the anthracite problem and other matters. Addressing the Legislature, Gov. Pinchot advocated recognition of anthracite as a_public utility and State control of the an- thracite industry through the Public Service Commission and the making of compacts with other States in or- der to regulate retall prices of anthra. cite. These proposals were embodied in bills. Commencing this week this World Court resolution is to be displaced in the Senate by the tax revision bill A long debate on the latter is to be expected in consequence of the oppo- sition organized by Senator Simmons, Democrat. A good many Democrats seem to feel that Senator Simmons and his Democratic supporters are not furthering the interests of their party in advocating fundamental al- terations of the non-partisan House bill. The effect of the most fmpor- tant of the alterations they propose would be to increase tax reduction beyond that proposed in the House bill by abour $175,000,000 annually and by the same token to delay ex- Population of About 250 Millions Predicted for Nation in Year 2000 Not quite two and a half times its present population or approximately 255,000,000 of people will be the popu- lation of the United States in the year 2000, is the estimate of Prof. Howard B. Woolston of the University of Wash- Ington. From 1660 to 1860 the rate of growth was practically constant and the population doubled every 23% year; but since the latter date the rate of increase has declined. The present estimate is based on the as- sumption that conditions prevailing in the United States for the 50 years pre- ceding the World War will not ma- terially change, and assumes further that the food supply and vital rates will be taken care of in the economic process of national development. Prof. Woolston calls attention to the fact that the type of industry prac- ticed and the standards of living affect population growth, which thus be- ological function and is increasingly difficult to predict with accuracy. Prof. Woolston found that areas > of high per capita wealth tend also to be areas of density of population. “Evidently wealth and density are correlated,” he states in his report, “for where the rate of growth for wealth has been rapid, increasing density appears to have attended it.” The New England States are cited as examples. Nevada is an exception, having high per capita wealth, but low population density. This is proba- bly due to the method of exploiting new land, A few men come first and by rough extractive methods obtain much wealth; as more people come in and the wealth is subdivided, the per capita wealth decreases. A perlod of agricultural development follows, but as, the cheap land is exhausted the people turn to the cities, where under skilled management wealth is again built up. The turning point between rural and urban development is reach- ed when the land is worth more than $50 per acre and the country is peo- pled at a rate of more than -flm families per square jlle, the | iy not belleve in the divine origin of Jesus Christ, I have a profound ad- miration- for Him and for His teach- ings. I like to think of Him as the Genlus of Goodness. I suppose there has been no action of my life which, consclously or unconsclously, has not been affected by His words. I belleve from the very depths of my soul in the brotherhood of man. I have al- ‘ways conserved my respect for the re. liglon of others, and—this goes with- out saying—my bellef in a complete freedom In this respect. In other words, I consider religion a sacredly personal problem, the business of no- body—State, church, soclety—unless’ it violates certain obvious laws of health and morals. Yes, I broke easily enough my church-going habit; eabily enough parted with my bellef in a personal God; the divine origin of Christ; the divine inspiration of the Scriptures; the efficacy of prayer. But when it comes to the immortality of the soul! ‘There, with me as with most people, one touches on the raw. I cannot make myself belleve in the immor- tality of the soul, but I want to be- lieve fn it. I am not one of those who prefer to think that death ends every- thing. I cannot endure the thought. Immortality seems by every rule of ethics just; by every rule of analogy logical. If there is no immortality, the universe i{s a senseless joke per- petrated on helpless humans by some monstrous djinn. [ should like to live this life forever; or falling that, to live any other life or lives, to live| them anywhere and under any con- ditions—rather than annihilation, vacuum, silence. I refterate I cannot | belleve—and yet I want to belleve. I want to believe in a steadily-continu- ing consclous existence after death. * * ok I hope to believe. Every year of | my life, more earnestly I want and hope to belleve. It is my conviction— the result of my observation of life and my reading about it—that this de- | sire and hope is common; that as peo- | ple grow older they yearn for that fire of the soul—call it faith, call it religion—which insures them the be- Certainly I am Not enough serfously to impair my thrill | |and Joy in an active life—not as vet, | at any rate. Perhaps it will come. | | Perhaps I shall yet experience the ecstacy of knowing I shall live again. I can only wait and hope. (Copyright. 1925.) tinguishment of the public debt. It is general opinion that in the end the Senate will vote only few and unimportant alterations. By 257 te 133 the House has ratified the arrangements for settlement of the debt of the Italian to our Gov- ernment agreed on by the debt fund- ing commissions of the two govern- ments. Of the votes against ratifica- tion 113 were cast by Democrats and 17 by Republicans. In the course of debate on the matter a letter from Thomas W. Lamont of J. P. Morgan & Co. was read, declaring that flota- tion of the $100,000,000 loan to Italy recently transacted by the Morgan Co. in the New York market costs | Ttaly 41 per cent, and that the Mor- gan profit in the affair was less than one-fourth of 1 per cent. The funded total of the Itallan debt is $2,042,- 000,000. If the agreement is carried out in full (ratification by our Senate is still required), we will receive dur- ing its period of 62 years a total of $2,407,000,000. The American and Greek Debt | Funding Commissions are discussing {the Greek debt to_the United State. | which is about $17.500,000. The Jugoslovakian Debt Funding Commission has arrived in Wash- ington. The agreement between representa- tives of the railroads and of rail- road organized labor on the terms of a bill calling for abolition of the Rallroad Labor Board and providing machinery for settlement of disputes between railroad managements and railroad employes is one of the most interesting of recent developments. * ok % ok Miscellaneous.—The French Parlia- ment reassembled on January 12. The program of M. Doumer, the finance minister, is {n the hands of the Cham- ber of Deputies finante commission, whereof the majority are radical So- cialists and unified Socialists. It is sald that they are playing the devil with M. Doumer’s bill, and that its prospects are cloudy. The director of the Pasteur Insti- tute in Paris reports the discovery by two Frenchmen of an effective anti- toxin against tetanus. Over against Italy’s extraordinary budget, improvement in revenues con- tinues more and more to exceed es- timates, we have to get the ex- traordinary increase of the unfavor- able foreign trade balance, that of 1925 being estimated to exceed that of 1924 by 2,500,000,000 lire. We are glad to hear that Gen. Pangalos did not, as first reports gave out, upon assuming the dictatorship of Greece, declare the constitution (a new one was adopted not long ago) “null and void.” To the contrary, he declares that elections under the new constitution will be held within the next flve or six months. Gen. Pan- galos says that he is trying to nego- tlate a Balkan pact to include Greece, Jugoslovakia, Bulgaria, Turkey and (perhaps) Rumania, and that Jugo- slovakia has consented. The Angora government has im- posed on importations from coun- tries which have not made commer- clal treaties with the new Turkey duties eight times those Imposed on importations from countries which have made such treaties. No doubt, the United States was the chlef ob- Ject of this humorous proceeding, and | Admiral Bristol, our high commis. sioner in Constantinople, has duly notified our appreciation. Ibn Saud, Sultan of Nejd, has pro- claimed himseif King of Hejaz. The dates on the Tacna-Arica plebiscitary program have been post- poned 16 days by the commission. President Coolidge, as arbitrator, has dismissed the appeal of Chile from certain decisions of the commission. The tone of the arbitrator “opinion and decision” is at once firm and con- ciliatory. -— A New Musical Cue. From the Boston Transcript. It may now be expected that in New York the wedding will be played in Jazz time, 3 FEDERAL OIL BOARD URGES U. S. TO BURN MORE COAL Réport to President Says Petroleum { prema Supply Being Wasted in Heating Homes and BY WALTER R. McCALLUM. QUICK about-face by the United | States as an oll consuming nation into a nation whose petroleum resources must be conserved through tensive use of coal for home heating and industrial purposes is seen today | ‘ederal Oil Conservation Board | as the F prepares to swing into the final stage of its exhaustive Inquiry inaugurated 13 monhts ago. Progressive accumu lation of replies from leaders in tha ofl industry indicate that the Nation either must turn back to coal or for- ward to hydraulic power for its heat and power. A picture of rapldly di- minishing ofl reserves, dwindling to the point of exhaustion in a decade %t the present progressive rate of con- sumption by motor cars, industries and homes of America, {8 drawn in summarles of the evidence presented to the board and submitted to the President a few days ago. Like the army which marched up the hill and then marched down again, | America must make a rapid about- | face if it {s to maintain its dominating position as a producer of petroleum, right arm of the navles of the world and literally the lubricant that keeps the wheels of {ndustry and commerce turning in their orbits of progress. A Co-operative Inquiry. The ofl board appointed by the Pres. ident on December 19, 1924, has reach- ed the end of the preliminary stages of its inquiry; “not an investigation but a co-operative inquiry. It s about to embark upon the final steps of the lengthy process of a fact-finding inquiry that eclipses in importance any similar undertaking in this country Within a few days the outstanding figures in the oil industry will come to | Washington, roll up their sleeves, take off thelr collars and go to the mat with | the problem at hearings lasting about a week before the full board. Then the board, with the full and complete pic ture of the situation before it, will gather all the facts it has unearthed, digest the testimony and proceed to write its final report. This is expeect- | ed not later than the last of Febru-| but may not come along until of the Interior Work fs | chairman of the board, elected at the | first meeting in January, a vear ago, | His associates are Secretary of War Davis, Secretary of the Navy Wilbur | and Secretary of Commerce Hoover. The creation of the board came about as a direct ary to the Teapot Dome investigation of two years ago, | which continued in some of its more | virulent stages well past the last | Presidential election. | Must Safeguard Nation. In appointing the board, the Presi- | dent emphagiged the safeguarding of | ational security through oil conser- ation and said that even though we are not today facing an under supply | of oil, the “over-production” from our | 300,000 wells itself encourages cheap- | ness, which, in turn, leads to waste- fulness and disregard of essential values. Oil, o which our resources are lim- ited,” he said, “is largely taking the place of coal, the supply of which seems to be unlimited, but coal can- not take the place of ofl fn most of its higher uses, on land or sea or in theair.” In the light of later develop- ments, the President’s pronouncement that “developing aircraft indicates our National defense must be supple- | mented, if not dominated, by avia-| tlon” iS interesting. He added that | “it is even probable that the su-| v of nations may be determined | by the possession of available petro- leum and its products.” | The picture before the oil board to- day is one of a United States dominat- ing the world in oil production—a | United States whose ofl industry hat developed faster than the industry in other parts of the world, and an in- | dustry whose gigantic forward strides have placed this country far in the lead as a power in that dominating world essential—oil. For the United States today produces about 70 per cent of the oil output of the world. Take the United States and Mexico off | the world map—wipe them out of world production, and the great na- tions of Europe #nd the Orfent would die of oil starvation. For Mosul and the Caucasus, Persia and southeastern Russla_do not produce more than a mere fraction of world And yet. even in the mendous production in America of | about 800,000,000 barrels, we import | oll. Mexico is the foremost country | trom which we obtain oil by import. Future Not So Rosy. | Even though the picture, In so far as | the immediate present is concerned, | is a rosy one, for the golden flow of heavy black petroleum continues un- diminished from the mid-continent, Louisiana, Oklahoma, California and even Eastern flelds which have not al-| together given out, the future is not| as happy. This follows because any | estimates as to future production | hinge altogether on the possibility of | new oil field developments. And the| pealy of stimulation of drilling and ex-| panflon in the industry itselt has passed. New flelds do not come with | the spontaneity and enthusiasm that | marked the healthy boom of two years | ago. Smackover and Bartlesville have faded from boom towns, the mush.| room growths of early developement: into the steady, plugging, and healthy | productions of ofl towns in the full bloom of rhature properity. And all| the while California and Eastern pro-| duction diminishes, leaving the South- west, where the millionalre Osages buy expensive motor cars, and gild| the lily pink and purple, ‘to garner | the fruits of the golden flood. ! The board, based on the shrewdest guesses in the industry, will make two definite recommendations. i Conservation Stressed. conservation | That a national ofl policy be embarked upon at once,| looking to less use of oil and larger use of coal and water power (hydrau lic_development) ag primary sources | of heat and power. That, in order to protect for Govern- ment use (to protect our oil resources with the national security in mind) a new national policy with respect to the Government oil reserves be im- mediately inaugurated by decreasing production on public lands and ofl re- serves with oil storage above and be- low ground. The first is the important considera- tion from the viewpoint of the home user of ofl who has installed an oil burner_or is considering fts installa- tion. For him it means the Govern- ment recommends that he return to coal as a primary producer of heat in the face of the greater convenience and ease of handling oil. And the oil board counters with the suggestion that if our production is cut in half— by 350,000,000 or 400,000,000 barrels a richer and our diminishing reserves would be hoarded to the point where | | | year—posterity would be that much | the national security will not be imme- ! diately endangered for lack of the necessary oil. 0il for a Decade. { Geologists estimate the coal deposits | underlying a large part of the conti-| nental United States—leaving Alaska | out of the picture entirely—will sup- ply the Nation, even at the present rate of populatiem increase, for a more ex-| | director |ing the Navy and the F by Industry. thousand years, while oil, if consumell at the present rate, will 1ot last much |longer than a decade. Estimates vary on the latter point, but all are agreed something — that vague something, which the board will attempt to crys- tallize into action-—-must be done. | “Alaska produces, or can produc both oil and coal. Philip S. Smi of the Geological Survey found largs surface oil pools up near the Arctic cle last Summer. He did not maks stimate as to the probable yield under the restricted development pos sible {n such cold regions, but did as- sert that Alaska may become an im- portant producer of oil. Coal can be mined, but not cheaply or economical ly, in Alaska. The board's inquiry has been most exhaustive. It has tonched every phase of the oil Industry from producer to consumer and has reached down inte the very vitals of the industry to ex- tract @ willing degree of co-operation from the men who realize their cor tinuation in the industry depe ups; some farsighted Federal policy wityp regard to oil conservation. For the dustry has come forward willingl gladly, has met the Government more than half way in its efforts to find the facts and has literally opened its books to the fact finders. ! Waste in Production. Of course, waste in production haa come in for a large share of the it {quiry. Any board or commission whici? | has Secretary Hoover on it cannot e {cape the keen search of Mr. Hoover'§ inquisitorial eye o the possibility & avoiding waste. President Coolidge now has befors him a digest of answers to all the questions asked of the fndustry by the board, concerning production, possible substitutes, refining, foreign develop- ment, storage facilities and waste of utilization and production, prepared by an ‘“advisory committee’” of the board headed by George Otls Smith the Geologlcal Survey. Other members of the board are Brig. Gen. Edgar Jadwin, War Department; Rear Admiral Harry H. Rousseau, vy Department, and Harry H. Hill of the Bureau of Mines. This commit- tee took the answers of the industry, went through them with a fine-tooth comb and digested them for the board. Its findings were transmitted to the White House only a few days ago and are secret. Procedure Outlined. The procedure to be fol swed | drafting the final report of the board, roughly, will follow these lines: Firs the board will consider past and pres- ent conditions in the industry. Second, it will take up and make recommenda- tion as to the essential petroleum re- quirements of the Army, Navy, mer- chant marine and the executive arm} Third, it will consider the legal pow of Federal and State governments, statutes governing import and export, the constitutional rights of individuald to develop ofl lands and the presend status of Federal control of the public domain. It will then proceed to consider the naval commission’s report to the Prest dent on petroleum conditions as affect deral Trade Commission reports on a similar sub Ject. From that point it will branch off into_the important questions, takin up first the question of essential an non-esential use of petroleum and tha present effect of so-called competitive conditions in the ofl and coal fine dustries and possible substitutes. Foreign Development. The question of foreign develop- ment of ofl fields by American na- tionals then will be considered. and lastly. and one of the important con- siderations the board will discuss is the effect of final action and publica- tion of its report on the Nation's eco- nomic condition. Only recently what is considered one of the really constructive pro- posals for afl conservation has been presented to the board in the form of an explanation by Henry L. Doh- erty, mining engineer of New York, of a plan worked out under his direc- tion for preserving fluidity of ofl un- derground by retaining natural gas in soluntion and thus preserving both the full oil production and the gas Gas waste has been one of the most expensive phases of oil development when considered in connection with the possibility of helium production from ft. Mr. Doherty’s engineers contend their new method will, if ap- plied to virgin ofl fields, yield practi- cally full production and treble the normal output under present condi- tion: Experiments have been conducted here by the Bureau of Mines with the Doherty method and have proved revolutionary when undertaken on a small scale. Italy Fosters Art By Copyright Law Italy’s new copyright law is an ab- solute fnnovation in the prevailing copyright law of the world. The in novation consists in the abolition of the concept of public property and the creation of the concept of state prop- erty in copyrighted works after the explration of the period of private ownership of works of literature or art. In other countries such works, after the copyright period, become public property in the sense that any one may publish or perform them without paying royalties to the author or his heirs. In Italy, hereafter, the state will recelve a royalty of 5 per cent, which will be devoted to the mainte- nance and encouragement of national art. At present the Itallan government contributes a considerable amount to artistic purposes. Under the new law probably much more will be providad by the state royalties. For example: After the Puccini rights to “La Bo- heme" expire the Chicago Civic Opera Co., when it presents the opera, will have to pay 5 per cent of its receipts to the Italian Ministry of Fine Arts. But the money will go toward the maintenance of Italian art collections, the funds for which are administered expertly and consclentiously. Glut of Tobacco. Bulgaria is suffering from a glut of tobacco. In the years immediately following the Word War little tobacco was grown, but in 1920 the peasants: realized that they could cultivate it more easily and at less cost than cereals. Production increased to an enormous degree and, as Greece and Turkey were at war and produced little, “the Bulgarian weed found a ready market in Europe. All the blg export firms made large profits and production kept qg increasing. Now the slump has set in, Bulgarian to- bacco being considered too dear, and there are vast stocks unsold. Efforts are being made by the government to barter tobacco for machinery, air- planes and general manufactures. But in many places the peasants have de- cided to return to cereal production. According to a decision of the IIN- nols Supreme Ceurt. women are not eligible for jury service in that State,