Evening Star Newspaper, February 14, 1926, Page 43

EBRUARY 14, 1926—PART 2 3 [U. S. SYNTHETIC. NITROGEN THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. (., CITIES WASTE MILLIONS, BALTIMORE MAYOR SAYS Jackson, Wh; VHas Cut Taxes 18 Per Cent, Calls Upon Municipal Leaders for Sane Revenue Policy. BY WILLIS J. BALLINGER. HE millions in losses which American cities once paid to Tweeds and their purty hench- men in graft and outright rob. Lery were not greater and no e than the millions which they now pay through plain inefi clency and waste in munieipal gov ernment. Aator Howard E more is responsible for that statement At time when city 1 in all American communities are going U at an alarming rate, Mayor Jacksc 1 cut the tax in_Baltimore. 'here they call him the Calvin fdge of municipal economy He was a business man befo hecame mayor and miuyor. purently, he has in: as a business man of his new emplover. the Y. Jwent to ask him why it is that-the—american eity pays out four dellars now fc every dollar it used - out veurs ago and what he used to bring dows the Baltinu The great field for Drogress in govermment efiec drastie economy-—d economy consonant with rea sopable and necessary expenditures, hu omy that will strike hard at wasteful expenditure, When Lincolr flins write his celebrated bo Shume of the Cities,” 20 vears the big problem of ity govern™ was How to get rid of corrup nd vic Today the trend of cul: and progress has materially re thievery of political b s failed o protect the trom the equally effect wasteful government hurde Jackson of Balti- ) e he ap S had veform _an in the futur course, nient tion ture pe robbery by Bill. some ity in A Staggering i you give me how much the Cost of government has risen decade A. The advance Every tuxpaye fnterest in this pr sider fizures given of the Census city governme tion of 30,000 or ov In 1 e d risen cost react and St the last Leen ominous. Let the us con Bureau the cost s popula rwas £340,000,000 146 In $2 cent 3 ts havir cost these siime 923 the 050,000,000 o a tnerease in cost for Coincident cost of eity government is in the indebtec the indebtedness cities e oned mately $1,400,00 were In debt zovernm the 1 wukition f " 3 the per capita cost wa ise the per caniti the per d nd tota 100 ars the ess of cities, the: hove N ner Tn 1803 sume 14 pproxi they P e extent per capita o 146 had < that cities in 01 it had ns o a of vears ceichec £105 for each per Stute zovernmer 1915 and 1923 the tmately v e 900,000 1915 to 1915 the indebtedness w. pe propo in the fi hetween the jumped approx risinz from 3415, €1.3140.000,000 f the 48 staziering =t 300 t in the 1 d in de w ™ ni ites, $1.400,3 mortgas hat we | zovernment tes least important of is the serious problem not How to we did the the city Cut Costs. niovement Zovernm of Balti away n pounding zovernment and par- number of people on Fhe result was that icipul had emphasized 1o the el wiate for many ve, and 1t those interested in city reform asked all the candidates running for mayor if they would undertake a thorough housecleaning if they we ed. pledged myself 10 unc ke the work e economy and effi cler icipal administration Iy out that promise I was elected. s did vou introduce? by appointing my years the 1 ers the ticularly the city heen steadily had economy m: if of tin ¥ in mu and 1 began to ¢ jua soon Q. What re A. T began mission on _economy and composed of representative bu men of Baltimore, all of whom : t wit npensation ol services of the city free that these i com- eed the n serve city ained the business men in charge and the w achieved is a shining example of pr lic ser On this commission were such men as the vice president of the Continental Trust ( general man ager of the General Blectric Co. of Baltimore, representat B@saul the Heth- lehem Steel Corporatiom=thes Pennsyl vania and 13 & O. railreademiieaier- lcan Wholesale Corporation. American igar Refinery, the —Consetiduted Light & Power Lhis -commission subdivided its work L investi members secured - the- services tis of the hest audICrE-and expert untants of Baltime q wha interested 5 £ making city government 4 g ficiency and econo: | The first result of the investization was to recommend the reorganizition | of the departments of the city so there would be couperation. Under the old system the accounting was antiquated equipment was ovdered thai w: needed, equipment wus frequently duplicated at an enormous loss, r e1pts and expenditures were handled lin a sl nd the whole arrangement Iy unsatisfac tory from the standpoint of efficiency 1 economy » foundation of suc city’ government is economy The gity is a unit of government that does not have to attend to problems that involve great intangible conse. quences like whether we shall or shall Inot + prohibition, or momentous poifeies that should e debated with infinite care. The great work of city rdministration is purely finaneial, and it consequence only the appiication of business principles and a strict adher ence to them can make for successful city government The reorsanization partuients was one pr of reform. The next step was to supervise with ¢ 1 appropriations ind prune down unnecessary expendi- Tures wherever possible. The careful serutiny of expenditures was a great tield for economy, Lastly in the work Jof investigation it + found city administration had been in the past w0 dux and ineflicient that $11 000,006 was due the city by delin. {"ruent tax pavers. The city solicitor { found 10,000 ¢ases against delinquent | taxpayers alone that had been filed | from time o time in the city cov i which had been allowed to without serving any notice on detendant. We got busy and the delinquent taxpayers besan form long lines the city hail woid the expense of a suit cosstul e city de se of the work the soon to to to New Sources of Revenue Our ssault on hrought 1 We passed law prohibi who had not paid their their automobiles from selling s until all tax ssessmen red and this piece of legisli tion brought in hundreds of thousands, Under our re-organization pl we reated @ itral burean of disburse. ment aned by Under tihe old system it took people to pav off the city employ The re- sult of all this was bette respect for the Law P’eople no longer regarded i notice of tax delinquency as so harmless that it be thrown in the wastebasket And the most satis- vi results were in lower taxes Which every one wanted and which the commission of efficiency and econ om; id set out to achie Q. Tell me something tax reduction effected? Al this was sta the city tax rate wa There was a defleit v of $1,130,000. Up t 1 the city tax $100 assessed. That 1 of 18 per cent. The has been wiped out and th s delinquent 000,000 th tax- tirst ing taxes It veir a on heir persons. 34 about the te s in the date te in May per S$100 o treast for every means @ redu ire deticit cents s not | | MY RELIGION: WHAT IT MEANS TO ME OMETHING | thing just didn't begin and £row more and more complex without a push, a plan and a | purpose. Back of all the mar- velous phenomena we are discov- ering were the laws that work these | things. Back of civilization, back of | man, back of animal life, back of | started it. The | protoplasm, back of the nebula, back | of the motion itself that was “in the | heginming.” The procession of life | uldn't start and keep going with- | out impulse, nor move from nothing | without direction. Suppose it is me- | chanics. all of it; the nebula, the life | plasm, the early manifestations of life, the man. and the consciousness of | man and of all the s of man! Whaug does that lead to? £ ok b o | | The thing t generated fhe force "the plan of the mechanical appliance ! plicable | want of a that | which has produced all of these inex phantasmagoria that, for better word, we call life— the original purpose—had to be great er than the thing it produced. Yet it had also to be of a kind with the thing | it produced. If a man had conscious- | ness, the thing that produced mun must have the same and probably (icker consciousness. The attributes of the human mind are not greater than the attributes of the thing which | started the works that produced the | human mind. ,Obviously, we have not | vet reached the outer border of the! capacities of the human mind. certainly we have not defined the force purpose that produced the human mind: which is ¢ another and clumsier way of “Who | shall find out the w Most High?” or 1 only saying. s of the When we assume started it and gav and an intelligen ality broader conclude that that something tu life o purpose . und s0 4 pe own. we must something was son- than our the | Some One! | spirft of life with « | will. | that « | she 44| has planned and put into | ition pensions and disability fits that cost $1.000,000 & venr. omy and progress are perfectly sible. . What b economy and efficienc They are still working for the When their immediate work is shed they will stand ready to be c sulted at any time. 1 hope that 1 have laved down a precedent for en listing the services of the able men of the city in mapping out important re forms in city government. Without their gzood work reform would have been impossible and if the city ud them what they were worth it WO have cost the city a pretty sum A tradition of public service is a fine foundation for good government. ght Men the Big Need. Q. Do yvou think that any pa {ular form of city government is more conducive to efficiency and economy than other types? For instance, have ou_observed whether the city man ager plan of city government is in | trinsically superior to the mayor-coun- teil type? A. Xo. It is more often the type of official that is in government and the | spirit that animates an administration | that makes for good government than the m ical structure through which the official functions. Tt is un wise to change the habits of people unless absolutely necessary. If people have been accustomed to mayor- council type of city government the ’n-n«xlrl» thing to do is to try and re. form the government from within her than scrap it completely and introduce an entirely new type of gov ernmen There is always economy gained when the old can be repaired and 1 le to serve as effectively | something that brand-new and | which calls for an outlay of energy ind time to study how it works and how it differs from what it supplanted. No. It isn't the type of government that you have that is o often at fault | as the more frequent fact that its of. { ficial uperators are not awake to prog {ress or are not possessed of the proper ublic spirit to m it function ef- fantly and progressively. (Copyright. 1926.) Belasc;) D_efg,i;d__s;W’-é‘men% Garb Of Today as Boon to Femininity BYS DAVID BELASCO. eformers idea of their sl those whose sound of hammering f the particularly zrand ¢ is th own voices still on the questic “immorality of women’s garb.” Prob- Iy no more silly issue could be rajsed, particularly if we will view the topic from the standpoints of art, health and the moral effect. From these th lined up irrevo ee standpoints | am ibly with the mod- nists in the matter of women dress. \Who ean say that long sleeves, high collars and drazging ski healthier t the present free-swing. ing, ozoneadmitting dresses? Th very worst critics of women's dress are the sume persons who howl long and dolefully if u shutting the bedroom windows at night They fresh air for their own bodies and would deny the same daytime hoon to women—merely be- ause these latter women. Modern medic veyond all quest greater reas of seek are science has proved m of doubt that th the body available for the beneficent rays of the sun and the action of the fresh air th zreater the possibility of healtn, strength and happiness for the indi vidual. Therefore it would seem, from the health standpoint alone, t women are dressing more sensi- y than ever hefore. The new styles have taken from women's heads the vast accumul tions of halr which tended to head- aches and nervousness. Corsets e been relega‘ed to the limbo of hoop- skirts and bustles, and clothing is looser. The result is that there is less constriction of the organs and a bettered circulation of the zests From the sert the moral standpoint, I as new garb is of distinct ad- antage. S0 long as women were mysterious through the trappings with which we concealed her charms. just so long she represented what | might Le termed “delicious sin” in the minds of the lascivious. Stripped |of these trappings and frankly a healthy. happy and honest human be- ing. she ceases to be mysterious and ) her intangible appeal to the neurotie is done away with, We surrounded her with a false set of circumstances jand false atmosphere. Today we | Ereet her the age of 12, we {greeted our feminine playmates, frankly and as a worth-while chum. Certainly from the artistic stand- point woman ix more beautiful today than in the days of trains, leg-of-mut- ton sleeves and bustles. ‘There is ng Deauty than the human form, d by the great sculptors And familiarity ! healthy, normal admira- tion without that sullying thought which comes from the chance glimpse of a pely limb otherwise hidden under the garb of prudery I believe there is a limit past which we must mot go in the effort to be normal, frank and clean, but 1 pre- dict now that out of what the re- formers call “immorality” will come a new morality born of frank inter- | mingling of the sexes without pru- | dery—and without too great license. { The world moves and, moving, brings new things. Frankness is honesty. Concealment is an urge to wrong thinking. Our womenfolk of today are no better nor worse than their grandmothers—but they are trying to reach their rightful plane of chum- ship, rather than slavery, with their menfolks. 1 t (Copsrizht. 1926.) had | i | And we that the Som identity something ing the naturally had what we know Soime One was outside ourselves develop changing. ever-wider tain areas of fr opportunities for | ing something | st One That presume as with vast choice. That imy One, in the long run of the eons makes or pushes the plan 1o its perfect Having said all this. how much bet ter it s said by Jesus sitting on the well curt talking to Samaria. a lady realiy should e, w m the woman of no better than exclaimed " HENRY . BUNN. | following of the of the days is a mos| world endad for ihe | news seven ary 13 The British Empire. The zover ment bill providing for erection of considerable number of “steel houses of bungalow type to meet he terrible housing emergency in Scotland was passed by the Commons by an over- whelm majority DT parity splitting bitterly on 1 “The Two Brewers,” one of the old- | est of London Inns and. according 1o tradition, a favorite haunt of Dick Turpin, is to be demolished Its am is said to be not less than 5 Harland & Wolff's Belf: ‘| rd is about to build for the White ar Steamship Co. a bigger liner than the White Star steamship Majestic, one time the German Bismarck | We shall watch with great interest | the career of Krishnamurti, the younsg | Brahman who i being plived up by ihe Theosophical Socfety (which has ts headquarters in Madras and ereof Mrs. Besant is the leading ). the m h of new ‘world religion.” Krishnumurti ha just completed his European educ tion and is entering upon his ac duties. as ve | Seandi v The Scandinavian | countries do not fizure much in our | press repor.s, but of late articles have | heen appearing importing that they | are coming on handsomely. Belike, | they would fain touch us, for a little loan or twain. Why not? Money could not be more safely placed. The explanation of the absence of these countries from the | presy columns may be expressed by the "proverbial. “Happy the people | whose annals are uninteresting.” | Denmark is in many ways, especial Iy in respect of agriculture, a model | country. Sweden has no slums at all, nd her iron and steel industry thrives | ;: o distinguished French writer wres that her hospitals, | schools and other public institutions re unsurpassed, and that the people | e made “their dour land n para " "As might be expected from their history, comparatively the Scan- dinavian_countries lead the world in shipbuilding activity. Sweden operates more motor ships n any other country. Nature has | been less kind to Norway than fo her sisters in the regards of soil, minerals and other sources of wealth, but has compensated by scenic glories scarcely surpassed. Norway, too, is doing nicely, thank vou. To be sure she has been suffering de- flation pangs, but that phase is near- ly passed. France.—The discussion in the | French Chamber of supplementary tax proposals continues drearily and ! preposterously. to the increasing dis- gust of the Senate and the nation | at large. The coming week should witness a positive development- of importance; the urgent necessities of the state cannot much longer brook this strange exhibition of loquacious- ness, perversity, the pettiest of petty politics and sheer fatuity, so curious- Iy unworthy of the most highly c ilized and intellectual of nations. Pre- mier Briand is displaying philosophic patience, tact and humor quite be- yond praise. Marshal Petain has returned to Morocco to prepare for a Spring of- fensive against Abd el Krim, should it be found necessary. There is, how* ever, good ground for hope that, be- fore cessation of the rains makes offensive operations practicable, the Riff hero will accept the very fair terms jointly offered him by France and Spain. * %ok ¥ Ytaly.—The recent development in the relations between Italy and Ger- many is- exceedingly interesting as viewed from all sorts €2 angles. For some months an antitalian agita- tion had been carried on in Germany logical necessity must be Some | ;( | (or |of | object |Difference in Temperature of Muscle | temperature deep in his own body and ARTICLE VI BY WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE Editor and Magazine Writer | WILLIAM ALLEN WHIT know not whom worship Spirit and should | comprehend. horizon His pread s h ol chunged as his s understanding knowledge broadened. | the great { ages od shiped in spirit ar is a be wor as deepened, Then ca For * miracle. countless man, making ven i conceiving his Gad ated in man’s own imag civilization waxed fat into decay w Gud has revealed Him m various | his g or wiys s in ages today ways past revea to arious | o, after another, th appear 0ss the th: imibled into the esert and | one fine day man | was no longer Was u Spirit 1o be minds and in various e with nds or u baked mud idol and his heart put ttributes of on im and di 1 rose itive man his graven the image il the and omnipotence et and blow The i pon his that his mi wor- | by news) Kroups purpose in pr ipers especially ind individuals leged bru t govern: inhabitants This district, p: centuries subject crown, by trenty of Germain Italy. chiefiy in order commund of the Brenner It stan man-s thoush i that of them nanized Italians. However th be, it was quite natural (however it might be unjustifiable in the view of abstract justice) that the Fasecist gov ernment ~ should institute a strong ! Italianization policy in that district Apparently that policy (applied chief- | Iy to the schools) has of late months | been enforced more sternly than be. fore because of resistance fomented so the Italians very credibly | ert) from without the district: but according to Mussolini, quite with- out violence vor brutality. The anti Halian agitation in Germany had been chiefly of a Nationalist bouquet and had gone the lenzth of an in- cipient boyeott (chiefly in Bavaria) | against importations from Italy, and | movement toward omission of Italy from the itineraries of German | tourists. | The Ttalians wer resenting this Ger ry_grounds. he Germans, with their r brewing. A Italian crowds inst the German | me and German con sulates in several Italian citles, with- out results, however, thanks to the efficiency of the Fascist police. | For many months Mussolini had r mained calin under gredt provocation, | But when the President of the Ba. varian Landtag, in answer to an in- | terpellation. indulged in fierce in. | vective azainst the Fascist policy in Southern Tyrol. that the "last straw Addressing been ago ng i for the | fortnight or so ostensibly | demonstrated 1t embassy in serlous Southern for Austr Tyrol. long an st the the to ¥ wis assigned to give Pass, 180,000 ire mostly Ge Mussolini wus the Ttalian Camera Mussolini let hinself go; his pent-up ath found expression in such a tirade as seldom has issued from the | lips of responsible statesmen | nv, as shown above, Mussolini | i very just cause of resentment He had sufficient grounds for strong representations to the reich govern- | ment. | He might even forgiven for | suspecting that the anti-Italian agi- | tation was regarded with complacency by that governmem But he coula not be justified in acting on mere suspicion: worse than that, it appears that he had information that Strese- | mann, the German minister of foreign \rs, had officially deprecated the | gitation. and he had no right. with out sure proofs. to impugn that gen tleman's honesty. Nevertheless he | let himself go, concluding as follows: | “ltaly is ready, if necessary, to 5 her flag bevond her present | in Poland and Alsace-Lor m\.-“l nkln-r.« (the Brenner Pass), but| e of all peoples in the weakest po- | back. never. s r‘rinrllznn:z a Strong —assim. | Thus he del red himself into the ilation” policy: | hands of the wily Stresemann (2) The Southern Tyrolese had been | (ommenting on Mussolini’s speech Austrian, not E s, and | {o the Reichstag, Stresemann, dis-| it was the part of Austria, not Ger-|avowed on behalf of his government | many. to take up the cudgels onall sympathy or nection with the | their behalf if they were really being | anti-Itallan agitation and all unfriend. | maltreated: | liness toward Italy. He pointed out | (2) Germany had been treated with | that Dr. Held was not competent to | unusual consideration by Italy since | s for the reich government. He| the war; | admitted that Mussolini had occasion (#) And chiefly all this agitation | for feeling sore, but asserted that the was in the main insincere: its grand |democratic German government had | bheing, not to ameliorate the [no means of controlling unofficial | lot of the Southern Tyrolese, but to | manifestations of sympathy by Ger- conciliate Austrian gratitude by | man citizens for Germans under alien | championing them and so to strength- | rule. And now he proceeded to score en the movement in Austria for [off Mussolini. Mussolini, he declared. union with Germany. So at least [had wantonly threatened the peace the Italians interpreted, and, no|of Europe. Were Germany in the doubt, correctly. It should be marked | league she would appeal the matter that there 1s, of course, no moral [under articles XIjand XIT of the cove- turpitude involved in the German |nant. desire for German-Austrian union, | Phat was but present agitation to that end is|day Mussolini again addressed the dangerous to European peace. It|Camera. *“T confirm,” said he, “in will be some time ere Italy and the |the spirit and in the letter my former | reich can safely be neighbors. speech, including the final allustion to the tri-color on the Brenner Pass, Well, for the reasons above stated, bad blood between Germany and !which Stresemann may interpret as | | a home thrust. The next | And Skin Cause Hot or Cold Feeling: atures are taken by electrical devices. By this technic curves were plotted of the gradation in temperature from the surface of the skin into the muscles corresponding to different mouth temperatures. The records were made with the subject experi- encine comfort or discomfort due to nge In surroundings, or due to pro- longed exposure to an atmosphere too warm or too vold. Whether one feels hot or cold de- pends solely on the steepness of the temperature curve from the surface into the deeyer regions of the body, Prof. Bazett said. If there is little in- crease from skin to muscle, the sen-| sation of warmth is experienced. On i the other hand, if the temperature is increasing sharply as measurements are taken deeper into the tissues, then one will feel cold. In this fashion the physiologist ex- plains on purely physical grounds the sensation of warmth after a cold shower bath, when the temperature A thermometer stuck in the mouth is not an accurate index of the aver- age temperature of the body, ments at the University of vania have shown. By taking the in those of u dozen assistants, Prof. H. C. Bazett has found that the mus- cles of the arms and thighs under nor- mal room conditions are two or three degrees below the temperatures of the mouth. This means that the average body temperature is not what is usually inferred, since many portions are! colder than the mouth reading. When feeling cold, as after a cold bath, for example, the muscles may be six or more degrees colder than the mouth temperature. The data were secured by sinking special hypodermic needles Into the arms and legs of the observers, often to a depth of an inch. At the points of the needles were thermocouples, permitting the temperatures to be read on the scale of a galvinometer to|is actually down. The psychological within one-fiftieth of 2 degree in much | element does not enter, according to the same way that furnace temper-|Prof Bazett. | 000,000. whiped in spirit and truth, and the whole world changed. "k ok ¥ ok In 2,000 vears another civilization has come upon us in the Western world which has dramatized the great truth so casually announced at Jacob's | well near Bethlehem, that God s a Spirit and shall be worshiped in spirit and truth. How foollsh to quibble about the miracles of the man who made this profound discovery. The miracle of @ new civilization, of a new relation between men, of a new atti- tude of life, the slow intrusion of al- truism into the heart of man, and the ways and works of man is a vaster miracle than any which the Bible rec- ords; a miracle which is growing in power, growing in certainty every day of our lives. The stories that were necessary to carry this truth to the hearts of men, the fables, parables, the wonder tales and hero myths, had their need, filled their need, still have their need, still fill their need. For there are still upon this globe all sorts and conditions of man. But, because one man needs these short material steps to falth—idols, images, miracles and hero tales—and another man rises from a higher plane to a nobler faith is no reason why the lower steps should be destroyed; no reason why either should distrust the other's journey toward the truth * Even the wisest of us are fa the truth. far from unde even a hint of the great m is life. In all snapping fron nding ery that this new age where we are side many ancient physical bonds, we have discovered much, but alas—we can explin nothing is as mysterfous to the wisest h gist, us incomprehensible to the gr est physicist as it is to the savag; the savage needs his idol folk lore to bolster his faith the scientist with all his libra all his laboratories needs also symbol—perhaps humble in the sight of God as the graven image of the savage—some symbol by whi may realize his faith My religion epts the myst v of life and the inexplicable behind the mystery of lif plumbed wisdom beyond our and surely ries and i ford u had bullt | est senses: the truth bevond even our | gy, kindest hea My faith would deny that would help the darkest ¥ faith would fear adven the dep a univer 15 of spiritual no story mind. M ture into terial vast ma nox vaster “« it he likes, but which fn the sense that I never sub- mit to the violation of treaties peace which guarantee their frontiers conquered at such a heavy price of blood. Quite so. Mussolini confirms retracts. all in x breath. The retrac tion's the thing. The threat is with- drawn and all's well. After all, the episode was worth while It illustrates the virtues of coolness and fineness. Mussolini “had re but blinded by passion. abandoned his cuurd Stresemann, cool as vou make em. disarmed him at discretion. The atmosphere. however, seems (o he ed. The German tation ap pears to have died down over night. nd Mussolini has gone on vacation L s interpret and £ % % United States of America. anthracite coal str e was ended day by written agreement. miners won on the grand i operators abandoning their for compulsory arbitration. to be resumed at on terms of the recently expirid tract, which is to continue in until August 31. 1930, subject to mod- ification from time fo time, as pro. vided in the ugreement On Friday night the its tax-reduction hill, Senate bills have gone The Senate bill calls for totul reduction of $436,261,000: i. c., $103, 000,000 more than the Senate financ: committee recommended and $129, 100,000 more than the total of the House bill. The Senate voted aboli- tion of Federal estate taxes and tax publicity. It should be noted that Secretary Mellon estimates the Treas- ury surplus at $330,000,000. The reply of the Mexican govern ment to the latest note of our Gov. ernment in the controversy over the new Mexican land petroleum lexislation was delivered to_our am- bassador at Mexico City on Friday. I must omit notice concerning cer- tain interesting detafls in the con- troversy as to how the Aluminum Company of America is to be dealt with and as to whether or no the Department of Justice is to have black eye in that connection, also concerning the ferocious onslaughts of the Department of Justice on mo- nopolies. near-monopolies, alleged monopolies and would-be monopolies in the baking line. * % T'h = The the W under ric e the enate passed 1d House and conference. s Miscellaneus.—The total damage in Belgium from the recent floods is estimated at, the equivalent of $300.- Four hundred houses in Liege were destroyed and a good part of the town will have to be rebuilt. The Belgian Chamber has voted re- duction of peace-time service with the colors to 10 months. Germany has submitted applica- tion, without reservations or condi. tions, for admission to the League of Nations. There is to be a special (skeleton) League Assembly meeting on March 8 to consider the applica- tlons, and it is expected that Ger- many will be represented on the council at its March meeting. The German minister of finance puts the number of German unem- ployed on February 1 at 2,000,000, Germany has regained second place in the production of pig iron and steel. The first meeting of a preparatory commission which is to pave the w. for an international economic confer- ence under the auspices of the League of Nations will be held in Geneva April 26. : Only 1,551 Found Suitable. It was recently announced that as a result of 9,325 interviews given to applicants for positions as telephone operators in the British post office service only 1,551 girls were found suitable. Among the principal causes for applicants being turned down were defective or slovenly speech, undesir- able accent and bad spelll some | h he demand | l MAY BREAK MONOPOLY Various Processes Developed for Tak- ing Valuable Chemical From Air N spite of the fact that ordinary air is four-ifths nitrogen, the United States is at the present time in the clutches of foreign monopolies that control the kind of nitrogen that can be used to feed America’s crops, make its explosives and furnish raw material for thou sands of chemical and other industrial plants. For nitrogen that can be industry and agriculture ¢ urally in workable quantities in pric- tically only one location, Chile, and it is expensive and difficult to take the free uncombined nitrogen of the air and convert it Into fixed or chemi cally combined nitrogen that can be used in agriculture and industry Such American plants th Muscle Shoals, using methods devel- oped at home and abroad, can success. fully produce American-made nitrates Unlike the rubber situation, in which little relief from foreign con trol is in sight for a decade or more, America can easily become independ- ent of foreign nitrate in time of need $75,000,000 Worth Used. American crops and factories nearly $75,000,000 worth of nitre in one form or another each year oxer $50,000,000 of this comes f abroad, chiéfly from Chile. Other kinds come as fertilizer from factory wastes or as ammonia in liquors from coul distillatio coke. The rest is made synthetically om the nitrogen in the air by chemi- cal means In 1925 the world used of the element nitrogen {that occurring in anim | fooc Of this amount comprised the nitroge of Chile saltpeter was fixed nitrogen A monopaly of controls practically lof the Chilean ment of Chile is a nopoly and puts every ton of nitrs {country. At esent, nitrate, artificially loos | sets the standard for | nitrates and fertilizers. It is believed that when the meth {ods for getting nitrogen from tk r ure further improved and more com monly used, et will the fiel Rece of zetting ni ieve it exists ir in an used in curs nat use en d om 837.000 tons exclusive of products or 41 per cent 1 in the output | and per cent | nitrate producers he govern ¥ to the mo the tax synthetic turn tubles on and from war, - Unite the Vast Need Exists AS f world's came the war only 10 per that way. The pl nitrogen which is in r the taking f griculty the demands of ulation of the ing the sieep econon here room wproven; he Department of Agr {out that in 1925, out of millions of ac plan fonly about 35 per cent are Vhat done wi problem in the next | g0 far to detern {ards of living, ment of Dr. Harry | chief of the nitrate division United States Department merce. “Unless relatively nitrogen can he supplied ture each acre will rops, while ¢ inue to get larger Although the processes trogen from air already supply of out of the world rowing pop which is disturh is A accordir AL ( ¥ the GERMAN STEEL 1 BY GEORGE E. | The newspapers have carvied the | news of ew combination of iron, steel and coal properties 1 1 in a manner which is n | unfortunate in some vespects been announced under {with comments which conve {that the new organization i [ormed | to make a great drive in foreign mar | kets and that it is likely to be a men face to the fron and steel industry of | this country The cable dispatch 10 the New | Times says that “the trust's | production at full capacity w 30,000,000 tons of coai. 8,000,000 tons of coke, 2,500,000 tons of pig iron and 3,700,000 tons of steel According to | these figures the combined iron and {steel capacity will almost exactly {equal that of the Younsstown {and Tube Co. of Yc stown. Ohio | which, according to the istics of the American Iron and Steel Institute, {has an annual capacity of 3,053,000 | tons of piz iron and 3.240.000 tons of steel. The annual capacity of the | Bethlehem Steel Corporation is given by the same authority as 6,850,000 tons of pig iron and 7.600.000 tons of |steel, and of the United States Steel Corporation as 18.933.200 tons of pig iron and 23,337,600 tons of steel. The theoretical capacity of all pig iron furnaces of this_country von by the institute as 50,500.000 gross tons, and allowing for neces: repairs, etc.. the practical capa estil mated at 45,000,000 tons. In steel the total theoretical capacity is estimated at 56,000,000 tons and the practical capacity at 50,000,000 tons. The total world. production of pig iron_in 1925 is estimated by the Iron Trade Review of Cleveland at 000 tons. of which the United States made 48 per cent. and the world’s production- of steel at 88,964,000 tons. ROBERTS. dinz and It has adlines and the ide in the making of gas | re output | Steel | Now Available. world each year au amount gr than that shipped out of the Chilean fields. There are many possible ways of hooking up the obdurate atmos pheric nitrogen with materials on earth, hut only three of these ways are actually used The simplest of these is the electric arc process. Nitrogen is imduced tr combine with oxygen by the powe stimulant of electricity. The nitr oxide formed is passed through huge | absorption to where it reac with water and more oxygen to for | dilute nitric acid. The process L | been successful in Norway, but exceedingly high electric power quirement has prevented Its u most other countrie Italy Used Other Process. In the cyanamide process, whict was first used in I nitrogen s trapped as It passes over finely pow | dered calcium carbide heated to abour 1006 degrees. It b fixed into solid « | which can be easil monia gus or nitric materfals needed cium carbide are and the en | one-fourth | process, changed The Iy abour the a mide into tl soil stimulated there w countries ibstan, times irectly product already making The production hetic the fixation Toda processes | - pioneer e n the wh ! there are man ised on the same principle Hal was work ut mostly by Haber in Ge: hetween 1 and 1908. The olved has heen ded to ompl Fritz secret. The fearful -of being . set up a plant at to a corke the cut off fron Muscle Shos modified v ) operation until British attempts ammonia plants ment, A d but the w to esta out it inf was over. on ulso were unsu f countries I~ Difficult was the but it A nitrogen arn kept temperature is ressure up A d ' ammor volved onia process is cor mide the here is poten The pow nd the Americarn the cyan ha ted xe itory has s quirernents labor IERGER SHOW FALSE LIGHT BY NEWSPAPERS which the cent he manne of United es made 2 ) plg The 2 ent iron il Belgiun vear capacity nd its the same. ws report indicates Ger hrought Bel i obj tion and n the capae works which ing one management will The reports say t the secure econumies in « selling costs which will enable them to oper more rezularly. and, of | course. se. if accomplished, {1ead to enlargements of capacity | 1t prosperity returns urope it is | probable that the n and steel ca- ity of all Eur 1 countries will | be fully occupied in mesting the home demands, tozether with the share world trade which has been accustom ed to those countries. In no event is European competition likely to make much of a dent on the |and steel business of the Un | States. | It is unfo lof warf i seribing ordinary and where nder reased to ted rtunate ths the language wily used in de ness movements and _especial are of different countries. The expansion of the Beth lehem Steel Corporation in recent | Years has heen far more important to the steel industry of this country than ation. but it lack ed the dramatic suggastion of inter: tional rivalry. The habit of treating | business news as war news when com petitors are of different nations illus trates the psvchology which makes for war. Ther> is no reason why rivals of different nations should not cor pete like rivals of the same nation | without gettine whole nations stirred |up with mutual antagonisms. u: developments, competitors Tests With X-Ray Hunger is pain, ac T. Rogers, at Bavlor University, at Dallas, Tex.. who has succeeded in tak- ing an X-ray snapshot of his own stomach at the instant when he was experiencing sharp pangs of hunger. Investigation under Dr. A. J. Car proved that the stomach undergoes violent contraction, lasting nearly minute, when the gnawing sensat is felt following fasting. This was shown by the insertion into the stom- ach of a rubber balloon, joined by a tube leading up the gullet to a pre sure gauge. At the instant the sink- ing feeling came on a hungry subject the pressure rose, indicating the bal loon was squeezed as the walls of the stomach flapped together. Now Dr. Rogers has analyzed the process, using a new X-ray technic which enables him to photograph the air in the stomach and in the balloon lowered into it. “The hunger a a contractions differ rding to Dr.%. | son of the University of Chicago had | n | Hunger Is Real Pain, Within Stomach, and Balloons Show from the during movements of the stomach digestion.” Dr. Rogers ex | plained. “When food is in the stom ach a constriction starts about half | way, and p downward, thereby moving the contents along. “But in the case of a hunger spasm there is a circular contraction of the lower two-fifths of the stomach, which hrinks like a deflated balloon “The photograph al that the hungry stomach drawn _upward frequently right under the ribs.” The hunger convulsions cease when ever solid or liquid. even water, enters the stomach. This fact complicated the taking of the X-ray pictures, since | barfum sulphate or bismuth subnitrate, commonly put in the stomach to make it opaque to the v, would also stop_the sought-for contractio | “The hunger contractions are more | pronounced in infants than in aduits, | said Prof. Rogers. “Children cry when they are hungry because they are, in deed, fn pain. | Xor