Evening Star Newspaper, February 21, 1926, Page 39

o 9 THE SUNDAY MY 1) STAR. WASHINGTON, D. FEBRUARY 1926—PART RELIGION: WHAT IT MEANS TO ME ARTICLE VIi BY IDA M. TARBELL jiy Author of “In the Footsteps of Abraham Lincoln,” “History of the Standard Oil Company” and “The Lifc of Judge Elbert H. Gary” i1 3 CHARGES BAKERS ROBBING PEOPLE OF $100,000,000 ! ARMERS LOBBY MOUNTS LL! | | | | | i George N. Peek, Foe of Hoover, Takes Charge of Campaign for Dickin- son Exporting Bill. Representative Brand Declares Short Weight Costs Huge Sum Annually and Seeks Federal Law to Prevent Practice. BY WILLIS J. BALLINGER. FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. ITHIN a few hours Wash not usually | politics identified with farm time jon | CANNOT remember the when [ did not have a conv ering the cost of bread will be a long spiritual inner life they must find it and bitter fight and reckless measures by groping out from where they ton will become the battle- £round of the most intensive drive for radical farm legis lation that has been attempt- in recent vears. Its objective is to ~tampede Congress into enactment of the bill introduced by Representative Dickinson, 1tepublican, of lowa, pro. Vviding for Government aid in the juarketing of surplus farm produce. I'he attack on Congress through this super-lobby will be led by George N. Peek of Illinois, one of the best hnown agricultural economists in the i'nited States, and a former ofli the War Industries Board and the Department of Commerce at Wash. ington. In the capacity of president of the American Couggeil of Agriculture the end of 1924 Mr. Peek and tierbert Hoove Seeretury of Com- merce, locked horns in a bitter discus sion. Tt grew out of Peek’s charges that Hoover was attempting to “hog’ fur the Department of Commerce cer-| tin - functions, 1ha? Velong to deoylture. mainly the marketing. Department of Outgrowth of Conference. The drive for the Dickinson bill is the outgrowth of the Des Moines in- terstate farm conferencs on January The Washington A Ny conducted, under Mr. Peek's nd. by two representatives from each of the 11 corn belt States repre- ted at Des Moing Governors of cach of the States also will be asked v come to Washington and lend their 1in lining up their respective con sresslonal delegations behind the Dickinson bill. While the campaign is in progress at Washington, the corn States will be the scene of a comprehensive speaking program, in which the governors of lowa, Ne- lLraska and South Dakota, and Sen- ators Cummins of Towa, Norris of Ne- braska, and Cap; of Kansas, with will be = ed to articipate. The apparent purpose of the speaking cumpaign in the States is to create a “back-home” sentiment that will in- fluentially reflect itself in ton. Few legislative drives have been vrganized with greater care or more intensive skill than the impending de for the Dickinson bill. firing line will be on Capitol Hitl, Washington, but general headquar‘ers will be maintained at Chi with kil another strategic base Des ines. For the past threa weeks organizers of the drive hyve been holding executive committee meetings t Chicago in preparation for the opening of hostilities in Washingtow. According to the latest plans, opere- tions will begin as soon as Congwe: yeassemblex after the Washingwn birthday holiday. Alr. Deek, .om- mander-in-chief at Washington, will hoist his flag over an elaborate suite 12 offices in a downtown hotel, Strategist of Campaign. _One of the principal stvategists of he Dickinson campaigr. Frank \Warner, secretary of the fowa Bank 'S Association at Des Moines. Mr. Warner known throughout the West as a particularly able organizer and executive. He is understood to liave brought together the most varied combination of interests ever leagued for farm legislation. Jr includes daily newspapers, bankery shippers, rall- road executives anc geher interests ial of | com- | Washing- | The | The Dickinson bill is opposed by the | same elements, including the Coolidge administration, that for the past three | e have stubbornly stood against | so-called “MecNary-Haugen” legisla- | tion for Government aid in exporting surplus farm produce. At the recent operative marketing convention in ngton, representatives of wd-| ministration agricultural policy de- | nounced the Dickinson bill in un- | measured terms. It v ttacked as | | “the ola Huugen Dbill in| { bobbed hair and short skirf | The bill's outstanding feature is the provision of a Federal Farm Board for the disposition of domestic surplus ferops. A few days Mr. Dickin- son introduced his bill on Januar | Willlam M. Jardine, Secretar | culture, issued a very guar | ment pointing out that while the bill | “may pave the way for more tangible | consideration of the agricultural su plus problem,” he had “some reser | vations ax to certain portions of the DIl Mr. Jardine recalled that he | has consistently favored “some form of farmer-controlled agency” at Wash ington. But the Secretary of Agri- | culture did not leave much doubt that | the sweeping scheme of Government | @ld for farm export, contemplated by Lthe Dickinson bill," finds no favor | ¥ith the Coolidge administration. _This writer has just had opportu nity in Washington to discuss farm | lekislation vsth Gov. Arthur G. Sorlie, | Republican ®rogressive, of the great wheatraising State of North Dakota. « Torlls asserts that politiclans in | Washington. eZzes. “or home consump { tion fa their ¢wm constituencles, are | exazgerating the gravity of the so- | called “farm revolt” in the West | “Conditions in many regions,” said Gov, Sorlie, “are tar from ideal. But i North Dakota at least, which has ‘ertainly been hit hard in the past, we are mo longer in a state of panic and | ure working out our own . | We ara finding that this is possible | | if there 1s less politics and more genu. | ix_u» conperation applied to the situa-| | tion. Opposed to Price-fixing. i “I am strongly opposed acheme of Government pr ce-fixing for farr: produce. But I am equally strengly in favor of our powerful and wealthy Government putting fts full financial and diplomatic machinery be-. | hind some systematic scheme of sell. ing our goods abroad. As agriculture is the basis of nearly every mnatfon's agriculture should be one t things to receive govern !lht‘!i[ suppor The manufacturing in | dustry has long enjoyed suc support in the shape of our protective tariff. Tndust is sufficlently organized to | reap unaided the Government benefits it enjoys under the protective tariff | system. The American farmers are I not so organized. They are entitled, ‘h. my judgment, not only to full tariff | equality with industry, but the most | substantial financial assistance which | the Goverament can afford in market. 'Seas our surplus farm prod- | I In the past the machinery of Gov- ernment and diplomacy abroad has been used for war. America is a Na- tion of peace and busine: hould not the machinery of Government and diplomacy henceforward be employed exclusively in promoting those causes?” Appalling Crisis Rising Before Britain in Old Coal Question (Continued from Fi which always accompanied the wa ing hours before the fighting began There is, too, a pretty clear. appre ciatlon of the fact that natlonal safety may well turn on the outcome of the new trial. Men are not thinking much in terms of years and the re- ter future as in those of the day the * . 'he horizon filled with this single enormous cloud, hehind which all is hidden. 1t is true, too, that as a consequence of this preoccupation over domestic problems England is mightily uncon- cerned as to foreign questions. It has taken Locarno at its face value, it deliberately refuses to consider with «ny degree of attention any foreign issue. T shall write next week about the British view of foreign and of lluropean matters, but at the mo- ment it seems worth while to note that neither America nor the conti. yient of Europe much interests John Bull. TUnited States Ts Unpopular. One can say with complete aceuracy 1hat not in many vears, perhaps not 11_a generation, save during the pe viod of our neutrality during the World War, has the United States been as unpopular fn England as at 1he present moment. It is not that the dislike of the nation is expressed in_ hostility to the individual. The American, particularly if he is known Liere, is just as sure of a pleasant wel come and of courteous treatment. But Cnele Sam is not only disliked cordialiy, but one must recognize that Tie is felt to be a good deal of a Shy- Tock and not a little of a hyyocrite. Tt is no exaggeration to say that the question of the inter-allied debts has yoisoned Anglo-American feelings for o long time to come, and the conse. Guences are still mounting. We are felt to have let Europe, and partic larly PBritain, down, to have drawn \ast prosperity from the war and, in the presence of the desperate plight of those who fought on our side of the firing Yines, to have taken a totally course. The recent flurry over rubber excited fairly general British | satisfaction because it was felt that for once Britain had scored. ‘The average Englishman, to an ex- aggerated degree, ascribes present dif- ficulties to the insistence on our part upon what to him seem huge pay- ments on account of the debt. The recent Anglo-Italian debt settlement has served to explode the last British hope that Britain can collect from her debtors, Germany included, anything like enough to meet American de. mands; the disappointment has been yeal, but the comments are all such as to disclose a combination of grim as- sent and unconcealed satisfaction that et least John Bull will escape the in- dictment found against Uncle Sam— the indictment of Shylock. United States Structure Studied. But it is, of course, easy to exag- gerate the extent of this unmistakable dislike and resentment of America. In reality John Bull is facing his great crisis with a_pretty complete self-ab- sorption. And it is true that, while criticism is general, there is a notable growing appreciation of the necessity of taking account of American meth- ods of organization in industry and of American handling of the difficult re- lations between labor and Fven newspapers like the Morning Tost, which has little affection for the Tnited States, urge British labor lead- ers to examine the attitude and pol- icy of American workingmen rather than to turn to those of Russia. i'or the American, there must be ycw and for the new few months very Ml impertance in British affa capital. | More or less all over Europe the old parliamentary system of government, democracy in its European form, has broken down under the post-war strain. We have the Soviet dictator- ship in Russia and the Facistl dicta- torship in Italy. There are half a dozen other open or concealed dicta- torships, and even in France there is | A growing apprehension lest some re sort to dictatorship or directory may be_inescapable. i It is in Great Britain, after all. that | one must see the best if not the only chance of preserving democracy, as we understand it. in Europe. But this pr(-flel:\';flloll must depend upon the capacity for compromise between Brit- | ish labor and British capital. The su- | preme necessity of government at the present time lies clearly in the avert- ing of an open battle. And with not a little skill and a very real under- standing and sympathy, the Tory prime minister, Mr. Stanley Baldwin, had directed himself to this task, and so far has actually done a very great deal to restore good feeling and to di- minish class hatred. Situation Still Critical The situation remains critical, the solution is still far away. But the best sign that I can discover in Eng- land today is not that of improving in- dustrial conditions, although the im- provement is real, but of the improve. ment in class feeling, the marked di- munition in passion and class hatred. If T were a betting man, I think I should gamble that the great strike and the frightful economic war will not come; but the danger is all there, the possibllity unmistakable, and 1 cannot avoid the conclusion that the present constitutes one of the few very great crises in all British history, one of the moments when history for a generation, if not for-a century, is taking form. To my mind, nothing less than democracy itself is at stake, and the battle is to be decided in the place of origin of our own democratic conceptions. If the British democrac: survives, in the end the continental dictatorships are likely to fall and ISurope wilt resume its pre-war course. On the other hand, if British democ. racy cannot survive without a class war, the effects upon. the Continent must be almost beyond calculation and the ultimate effeets upon us enormous. (Copyright, 1926.) Athleti;: Heart Held Myth by Scientist College students need mno longer fear that four years of hard foot ball or track work will leave them with a shaky “athletic heart” in middle age. Experiments by Dr. Burgess Gordon of the Boston Peter Bent Brigham Hospital on men and animals reveal- ed that the heart, instead of enlarg- ing after strenuous exercise, actually shrinks. Furthermore, no enlarge- ment of the heart resulted after pro- longed athletic training. Dr. Gordon made his observations on Boston marathon runners, and rabbits with normal and abnormal hearts. The rabbits were exercised to exhaustion, and x-ray pictures taken immediately afterward reveal- ed a shrinkage which took time to disappear. The strained hearts of marathon runners also got smaller, Dr. Gordon said, and did not return to normal for several hours. Athletes were studled to note any permanent enlargement of the heart which could be blamed on the exer- cise. but it was found that the most prolonged vigorous efforts did not produce the much dreaded hypertro- vhy ol the heart. f of divine goodness at work in the world. ligion has always been an inward certainly that the central principle of things is beneficent. This convietion has held in spite of the succession of ude jolts that it has received from zrowing familiarity with the opera. tions of life. As a child T suppose center of things, with a ready to give me what I wanted. found from experience that that w not true, but the good God remained, myself the 1 and 1 reconstructed my notion of the | nature of His relation to me. Later I found myself struggling under the discovery that 1 had been preceded on the earth by countless generations of men and women and that the civilization of which I heard » much boasting was simply the last of a succession and that it probably in certain respects was less fine than some of its predecessors * x The knowledge that I lived in a universe and not merely a world be- wildered me. but that which shocked me hardest was a continuous series | of discoveries about human sufferings, Alities, greed, ignorance, all so inconsistent with' the notion of a merciful force active in the universe, Yet I never lost my sense that this force was at work, and I never ceased to readjust the disturbing outside to the serene, stable inside. Tt true that the divine spirit which as a child I had visualized lost its human outline; it became and ore spirit. and 1 realize now that as the outline disappeared the hold ‘the spirit had on me became more powerful. It was while I was seeking desper- itely to understand and square up thi y—from which T could not es: pe—with what 1 met in iife, that made my first aequaintance with the doctrine of evolution. It was re- garded as biasphemy, w denial of re- ligion by many of those who surround- ed me, hut to me it was-a revelation | —the divine method or process by which the beneficent spirit in the uni- verse was to work out its intent. Ev lution has never ceased to be a funda- mental element in my religion. * x The slowness of the process does not disturb me, for my religion eman- cipates me from time. It has come to be literally with me as the Psalmist puts it: “A” thousand vears in Thy ight but as vesterday when it is past and as 2 watch in the night. Of course this leaves me a tiny atom in the universe, but, as a matter of fact, that is what I am. my only business beinr to be a sound atom, one that works with and not against the beneficent spirit in things—there lies my_immortality. How keep in touch with the divine and let it work its way with me? That is my most important business, | also the one which I have most neg lected. It has always seemed clear to me that it was only by some form of very personal communion—sworship in its purest form—that I could hope for any degree of understanding of the divine. But if you are to have worship there can be no outside in- terruption or distraction: real ship requires silence and solitude The longer I live the more convinced 1 have become that when I first laid hold of the relation of silence to gen- uine communion with the divine, I struck a great spiritual truth s Best in her stimulating and ating storfes of “Rebel Saints,” as she characterizes certain early Quakers, quo Thomas Lurting's comment that “as silence is the first word of command in martial disct pline, so it is in spiritual: for until that is come unto, the will and mind of God concerning us cannot be knowr, much less done.” Even primitive religions provided for silent meditation. solitary com- munion. It has not always been easy Mi illumi The core of my re- | good God | wor- | more | IDA M. TARBELL. | | | | | worship for would-be saints to command lence-—freedom from disturbance; s0 we have monks, hermits, ar stes, withdrawing from the we e si nd hor- food, sleep, human presence. 1f the were to be a pure flame lit and spr ing in their souls they felt it only be done by continued siler | templation. But this small. It ¢ of the st class has always been me into conflict with one ngest instinets of man, | also one of his necessities if he was to live on the earth. and that vas | the need. the duty of aming with his kind, sharing its experiences Men had to do that in order to exist But they could not get away from the instinet’ to worship, and consctousness, however dim, t ship meant spiritual witl they built temples and churches X ok & | But, alas! the temples and churches sooner or later ceased to be places of 1m»«hmnun. even to give oppoltunity | for solitude. They became more or less bustling cente of song, cere. mony and preaching. Man felt the need, too. the spirit. Feeling that something in himself akin to the divine spirit, he gave it a form like its own, a form with head, legs, arms he made it talk—he gave it human qualities. Ofttimes the gods he ted became scandalous creatures had to be entertained, flattered to, talked to, that to visualiz there w that sung prunished | trutif. crueliy The that enter of the spirit, seel had to be bought off.| religion was no longer ing understandings | and development in silence and hu mility. Man worked out a_ practical substitute for agony of soul, for the | vstical waiting on the Lord. I cannot but feel that pure religion i< frequently talked to death in the very houses of the Lord. T would not be s meaning that creeds, cere monies, man’s eff to make more real to himself the divine nature and the divine method, mean nothing to me. A church. a temple, u religious system is, and always has been, holy to me. It is only when the exponents of the various religions begin to fight over them that 1 feel the need to withdraw. * % | The debates fundamentalism | 1d modernism affect me as having | nothing to do with my religion—they are outside its province. They are stivities of the intellect. not of the| they belong to that effort, al- over pirit; ways s late theiv thoughts and feelings into a creed, which those who do not know it or deny it are to bLe forced or per-| snaded to ©] Pure religion forces | no man’s spirit - its very essence re- quires that the spirit be free for con- | templation, for learning what the di-| vine has to teach it. | Men naturally accept the creed. the | | forms to which they are introduced | children. as the truth and the only If they to have any real | prectous, | men—not | produce stand. Personally, I have no inclina- tion to sneer at the Tennessee moun- taineer who regards evolution—which, as I have sald, came to me as @ reve latfon—as an impious idea. I do not think you are golng to get this attl- tude out of him by ridiculing and lecturing him. I think he is much more apt to grow away from it if he is left free, to believe or not to believe. After all, true religions does not come from believing this or that, however essentlal, fundamental this or that may be to yvou ad an indi- vidual. It is not in theologies, creeds. cere- monies that we find the most vital and profound expression of religion— it fs in the kind of man the religion makes. A man’s tolerance, sympathy, charity—a man’s relation to other human beings, reflects the depth and genuineness of his spiritual com- munion. The Christian religion. in spite of the crimes in human relations which have been constantly committed in its name, emphasizes more clearly beautifully and satisfactorily than any other what the relation of the truly religious should be to his fel- lows. According to the Christian sy tem as it is laid out in the Bible, society should be a brotherhood of a_ brotherhood of white but of men of all colors. it takes men as they are, Christian, idolator, scoffer, and Jew, and it lays down the set of principles which are essen- tial for their living together in a Just and peaceful society. These pre- cepts, if they mean anything, mean mutual understanding ,accommoda- tion, sacrifice “Judge not lest ye be judged.” “Ye cannot serve God and mam- mon.” “Whatsoever ve would that men should do to you do ye even so to them.” “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate vou, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute vou.” Test light, men onl Moreoves these precepts by the inner the light which communion, gives, and they ring true. atisfy the spirit more and more s it develops. Moreover, they the only type of human being that can work out a brotherhood They deeply lof man. * ok ok % A few vears ago, trying to get down w T really thought about the influence that the Bible had ex- ercised in the world. 1 said of the man that it seeks to build up to work out Christianity’s netion of a brotherhood of man, that he was “the man of the Beatitudes—hun. gering and thirsting after righteous- ness; merciful, pure in heart, meek in spirit, peacemaker, willing even to be persecuted and reviled for righteousness’ sake. This is the ‘whole’ or perfect man in the Bible sense, and to produce him is its continuous concern. By personal his- tories, by parables, by contrasts of #ood and evil conduct, by maxims of the highest beauty of form and of the most penetrating moral quality, it warns against those things which would poison the heart and deform the conduct it seeks to establish. Pride, greed, hypocrisy, eruelty, ir- reverence, cowardliness. are moral diseases on which the Bible wars as strong among men, to formu- |a_great physician wars on physical | griven to the wall, and then the limit wilments which, uncorrected, would destroy the body's tissue.” This conception of men in their relations to one another is mot the fruit of doctrinal struggle, church organizations, of theologies however sound and essential, but rather of the travail of the spirit. It comes from the striving in solitude and silence to enter into a fuller understanding of tie divine. (Copyright. 19 The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BU HE following is a brief sum mary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended Febru- ary 20: The British Empire.—The press accounts of what happened at the great conference of the Liberal party held in London during three days of the past week, to consider Lloyd George's land reform proposals, are not very clear. 1 shall give proper attentior. to this very important mat- ter as more precise information be- comes available. TImportant new foreign orders re- ecived by British shipyards encour- age some ot believe that the British shipbuilding industry is “turning the corner.” = That very distinguished soldier, the arl of Craven, has relinquished the office of chief of the imperial staff, and has been succeeded by Gen. Sir George Francis Milne, whose record in the World War was also a fine one. It is understood that the Earl of Reading, one of the chief ornaments of the Liberal party, will, upon re- turning to England from India after turning over the vice royalty to his successor, announce his conversion to conservatism. Like Sir Alfred Mond, he is disgusted by Lloyd George’s pro- posal of land nationalization. The House of Commons has rati- fied the new treaty between Great Britain and Iraq. framed “to fulfill the stipulations made by the Council ofs the League of Nations in connec- tion with the settlement of the Iraq boundary In the discussion preced- ing ratification, Sir Austen Chamber- lain declared that there never was a more shameful allegation than that the British government had its eye on Mosul ofl in its dealings concern- ing Iraq. * ok ¥k France.—Almost two months ago M. Doumer, the French finance min- ister, submitted to the finance com- mission of the French Chamber a measure contemplating a total of 8,800,000,000 francs of taxation in addition to the total of the 1926 bud- get. Already, a few days before he took office, Briand had wrung from the sullen Chamber emergent author- ity for three billion francs additional taxation, so that the Chamber was now asked to vote a still further levy of 5,800,000,000 francs. The total of 8,800,000,000 francs Doumer proposed to use as follows: 4,300,000,000 against the estimated budget deficit; 2,000, 000,000 to reimburse the Bank of France; 2,500,000,000 to go into a sinking’ fund for amortization of the public debt. On February 16 the Chamber sent up to the Senate a. bill authorizing 1,600,000,000 francs of additional taxation (as against the 5,800,000.000 asked for by Doumer). Recent behavior of the Senate justi- fles Briand's expectation that the Senate will return the bill to the Chamber with its original lineaments Pructicaliy 1estored, with authoriza- | tion of supplementary taxaton to the | tune of 5,800,000.000 francs, as pro- posed by Doumer. This total is in- deed the minimum required in order to stabilize exchange and finance. Should the Senate “‘Come across Briand expects, Briand no doubt would have to face another terrific fight in the Chamber. There is no | other spectacle in the world today to | compare for esplendor_with that of !the desperately ill Briand battling | with more than his wonted addres: |and (to the e wonted buoyancy to carry his coun- try safely through the present des- perate crisis. The franc | the New Yor { day, very near | of .42, in March, | The recent election to the French | Chamber, by a very handsome plu- | rality, of Andre Tardieu. one of the | doughtiest champions of the Right, to represent a district previously very strongly radical Socialist, i regarded {as_significant. Mardi Gras was celebrated in Paris on February 16, with something of the, old-time gayety and abandon. * * ¥ The Middle East.—A development in the Middle East is reported, which, if the report is correct, immediately and seriously threatens the interests of France and Britain in that quar ter, and holds_hideous possibilities of menace on a far grander scale. Ac- cording to this report, Ibn Saud, Sul- tan of Nejd, the redoubtable head of the fundamentalists of Islam, has dispatched a force of 10,000 to co- operate with the Hauran Druses against the French in Syria, which force is now crossing Transjordania | (under British mandate). Ibn Saud has extended his sway over practically all the peninsula_except the coastal under British protectorate. Recent- ly he concluded a treaty with Great Britain by which in return for a sub- sidy he promised to keep the peace with the territories under British mandate (Iraq and Transjordania) bordering his empire. But, if the re- port is true, the temptation offered by French embarrassments in Syria was too much for him. Moreover, on the assumption that the report is true, might he not be in cahoot with Ghazi Mustapha Kemal, President of new Turkey? was quoted at 3 on Exchange on Thurs- the low-water mark 1924. * k %k K China.—On the summons of Chang Tso Lin, super tuchun of Manchuria, a conference of representatives of the three Manchurian provinces is tak- ing place at Mukden, Chang's Capital. The conferees have assented to Chang’s proposals, which appear to be substantially as follows: Pending establishment of a government com- petent to exercise sway over all the of China proper plus the 3 provi- dences of Manchuria), Manchuria to be a completely independent federal republic, each of the three provinces and ear) with all his | Arabian strips | 31 provinces (i e., the 18 provinces | | thereof enjoying a large measure of | | autonomy,” Chang Tso Lin to be | President 'of the new republic: exist- {ing agreements respecting Manchuria between Moscow and Peking to be treated by the new republic as null and void,” Moscow to be called on to | negotiate new arrangements with Mukden, and in case Moscow should fail promptly to act in that sense Mukden to “take independent steps for protection of Manchurian inter- ests.’ The chief reasons advanced for es- tablishment of Manchurian inde- pendence (note once more that perma- nent secession is disavowed) are: Ever-increasing holshevist penetra tion into Manchuria and failure of the Peking government, whether by reason of impotence or of aproval thereof. to check it. i A good many discover Japanese in- spiration in this striking develop- ment, but one could argue as per- suasively that Japanese interests are likely to be dissevered, as that they are likely to be promoted, by it. It is plausibly reported that Chang proposes to serve important demands on Moscow respecting the Chinese Eastern Railway as soon as his new government has definitely been estab- lished. Wu Pei Fu is reported to be ad- vancing north from the Yangtze se- gion with such numbers and so vic- toriously as greatly to alarm the Peking government. P * ok ok Ok United States of America.—The conference report on tax revision was a surprise to most. It will be recalled that the House bill called for a total tax reduction of $327,161,000; that the Senate bill called for a ditto of $456,261,000, and that Secretary Mellon’s _estimate of the Treasury *surplus for 1926 was $330,000,000. It was expected that the House con- ferees would hold out absolutely against a reduction beyond the last- named figure. They did not do so. The bill agreed on by the conferees Is for a total tax reduction of $381,000,000 in 1926 and $343.000.000 in 1927. Little doubt is entertained that the compromise bill will readily be accepted by both houses, and that it will become law before the end of this week. The controversy is now at height in the Senate involving the question whether or not the Depart- ment of Justice was remiss in re- spect of investigating certain alleged monopolistic sins of the Aluminum Co. of America, whereof Secretary Mellon is a chief owner and in respect of investigating alleged contemptuous disregard by that company of an in- junction issued by a Federal court pursuant to the Sherman antl-trust act and involving the further ques- commerce committee has rejected the President’s nomination of Thomas 1. Woodlock to be a member of the | Interstate Commerce Commission. Our balance of foreign trade for January was adverse to the tume of $15,000,000; explain it how you will. The annual report of Chief Forester Greeley indicates that the Clark-McNary (forestal act) is oper- ating successfully. “The forestry laws enactéd during 1925 by State Legislatures are proof that the States” in genegal “are steadily de- veloping their forestry policies. Un- fortunately, however, four of the most heavily timbered States—South Caro- lina, Florida, Mississippi and Arkan- as—have yet to adopt a forest policy.” The work of the American Forest week committee is highly praised. Tt is pointed out that one-third of the cattle and sheep of the Western States use national forest ranges em- bracing about 90,000,000 acres. Graz- ing privileges, says the report, should be allowed so far as they may con- sist with the well being of the for- ests, but the danger of overgrazing is emphasized. A _magnificent church is to be built on Riverside Drive, New York City, to replace the Park Avenue Baptist Church, of which Dr. Fosdick is pas- tor. The type of structure is to be a Gothic mask over a steel skeleton. The most striking feature will be a 400-foot tower, in which will be in- stalled the carfllon of 53 bells now in the Park Avenue Church. ‘The philanthropical interests of the United States in Syria are more im- portant than those of any other out- side nation, éxcept France, including the orphanage of the Near East Re- lief, a number of missionary schools and (of chief importance) the Uni- versity of Beirut. The university has about 1,200 students of sundry na- tions, racial stocks and religions. The medical department has a high repu- tation for efficiency and usefulness. * k k% The League.—A good deal of alarm on behalf of the League of Nations and ‘“the spirit of Locarno” is being felt by many because of the pressure being exerted from sundry quarters for adding still other nations (Poland, Spain -and Brazil being those most prominently mentioned) to those rep- resented on the league council at the same time that (iermany acquires a seat thereon, France, we are told, being urgent for such enlargement of council membership in order to offset the threat to French interests from German membership on the council. Rumor has it that, should such pres- sure be effected Germany would with- draw her application for membership in the league. It should be remem- tion whether or not a special investi- gation of the Aluminum company shall be set afoot by the judiclary committee of the Senate. Obviously the controversy opens up matters of deepest and widest moment. By I tu 6 the Senaie interstate bered that Germany must become a league member before the Locarno treaties become effective. . ‘The subject is extremely imoprtant, hut far too- complicated for adequate Lreatment here. HIE American people are be. ing robbed of $100,000,000 a | vear in short-weight loaves | of bread. | That is the charge of | Representative Brand of Ohio, wuo i~ launching a movement to standardize | the size of the loaf. He points out that bread is already being sold at an excessive price; that in Kurope, with labor operating by hand and the crudest and most an cient methods and with flour imported | from America, bread is sold to the | people at half the price charged our | own people. Since this high price is exacted he demands that® full weight be given. Representative Brand has been in the food business the greater part of his life. He has made a special stndy of the bread situation in the United States and abroad. He is the author | of the bread standardization act of | Ohlo, which’in 1921 he forced through | in the face of powerful opposition. During the war Mr. Brand was active ly assoclated with Herbert Hoover in | food administrative worl nee com- | {Ing to Congress he has waged a per. sistent fight to get a national law regz- | ulating the weight of bread uniform- | 3 Iy throughout the country. In the last session of Congress he nearly succeeded in getting a hread standard- ization law enacted similar to the | Ohio statute, but the pressure of the powerful baking interests, who regard the profit from under-weizht bread as their special bonus and perquisite, and the shortness of the congressional ses sfon conspired to defeat his efforts. Doubts Price Increase. “One hundred million dollars annual loss from the tolerated practice of selling under-weight bread is a heavy bill to foot,” sald the Ohio Congress- man. “This staggering sum. which | represents hoth tribute to the baking barons and an unjustifiable economic | waste, is equivalent to the amount of | the soldiers’ bonus, over (he granting | of which there was so much agitation. This annual loss from under-weight | bread would purchase a playground | for and install a gymnasium in every town in the United States.” tut, Mr. Brand, I interrupted, if vou | Proposs to j up the missing ounces in under-weight bread, don't you at| the same time look for an increase in | the price of bread? A, If such a plan would increase the price of bread, I would be the last to favor it. Bul experience refutes lany such fears. In all the States that i have bread standardization acts the price of bread is just the same as in the other States. The only difference | is that the people of, say, Ohlo get! | about 10.000.000 more ounces of bread | for the money they pay than the citi-| zens of New York. In Ohio we pav | 8 cents for 16 ounces of bre In| | States that are not protected by bread | Standardization laws the custom is to| sell for § cents lecs than 16 ounces, and | when an ounce or two Is pinched™ off millions of loaves the loss is enor- mous to a community Fears Big Combines. Q. Your statements about cheapness of the cost of bread { France and England are startling. you think we have a bread monopoly in America? A. I would that at present there is a great deal of competition in the bread-making industry, but if large combinations are successfully effected it will only be a matter of | time before the little bakers will be the 1 of extortion will be the sky. In 1 | T was in Europe and found that bread {was selling at 41z cents in England {and at 3 cents in France. Much of th® flour used came from America. The | labor employed was mostly hand and not comparable in efliciency to Ameri- can bread-making machinery. For in stance, in English factories 1 saw hun- dreds of workmen laboriously rolling and patting the bread like American grandmothers used to do. Contrast this with Corby's bread factory in Washington, where I found 18 men | turning out with the aid of machin-| ery 100000 loaves of bread—machin- | ery that patted the bread, rolled it and brought the finished loaf out of | the oven with human hands scarcely | having anything to do with the proc Under such conditions in Amer- :a. T have often pondered why bread is twice as high here as in_ Europe. But there are figures on bread produc- tion in America which must cause the intelligent person to open his eves in astonishment. In 1924. the Corby Bak- ing Co. was selling bread to the retail grocers at the wholesale price of § cents and at the same time this same concern was selling to the Government at 423 cents a loaf. In Februar: 1924, the General Baking Co. bid low ‘as 3.75 cents a pound to make bread for the Government. but even this was surpassed by the Corby Bak- ing Co. in June of that vear by a bid | of 3.69 cents a loaf. More Bread for Same Money. Q. What particular merit will your | bill of bread standardization have? The big problem seems to be to lower the price of bread rather than to jack up deflcient weights in loaves? A. Yes, that is the bigger problem, but what my bill proposes to do is to offer some immediate relief. Low- may be championed. All that I want to do is to divert some $100,000,000 that is each year being taken from the poor in America and hand it baci to them in the form of more bread for what they pay. My plan will not lower or raise the cost of bread. but will mean more bread to the consum ing public. and that is as good as lower-priced bread. Q. What will your bill provide? A. It will require that all bread st weigh one pound or one pound multiples of one pound The public will henceforth buy bread by its weight and that weight wiil be uniform. An end will be put to the practice of certain baking houses of cultivating grain that yields a flour that makes bread appear very bulky but which is in_reality composed chiefly of wind. Such loaves appear to be the equal of other loaves, but on the scales their inflation is ex posed. Weight Stamped on Wrapper. Q. But in many States the a law that requires that the weight of the bread sold must be stamped on the wrapper. In many States of the Tnion bread is sold today by its weight. A. But thos weight to be do not provide f loaves of bread. contrivances for evading the real in tent of bread standardization laws. For instance, in Ohio a man pays 8 cents for a loaf of bread that weigh by law 16 ounces. In New York State man may pay exactly the same price for a loaf of bread, and does €o in fact, as bread over the United States has a_uniform market price, but the bread he buys has stamped on its wrapper something below 16 ounces of weight, and in such States as New York the baking companies simply pocket the amount of ounces below 16 that they have “pinched off.” n and a half « laws requiring the stamped on the wrapper u orm weights in s are clever Sees No Consplrac. Q. Is this short:changing process in weights of blead an agreed upon con spiracy on the part of bakers? A. No, it is a habit that has grown u Like persons who used to swea* coins, the bake who turn out unde: weight bread are simply indulging ir a practice that in the case of coins has been remedied. Q. How about the cost of enforcing such a law as you suggest? Wouldn t it require an army of bread igspect ors and mean an annual cost 1n gov ernment that would be stagge;ng” A. No. The President aslel the Department of Agriculture to sawr to hirh the cost of administering this measure. Their answer was that their present force would be able to enforee the Jaw without any additional ex pense. These inspectors of the De partment of Agriculture are daily col lecting samples of food all over the country znd it would be comparative mple for them to collect at inter s sampies of bread and weigh them to see if the bread standardization law was being violated. State experience with such laws has disproven ar fears about the expense of enfore it. The Ohio bread standardization law went into gffect in 1921. In 1924 the secretary of agriculture of Ohic announced that the cost of enforcing it had been $1.800 per annum Believes Practice General. Q. You consider that the selling of under-weight bread is a rampant evi in the United States? A. Yes, I would s quite general, protection by In all th . that it was i1 States have law from this practice. other States selling of un- der-weight bread has been amply prove ¥ by the Bureau of Standards of the country proved con clusively the extent of it. Q. Are any important organizations interested in backing your bill? A. Well. when m bill was intro duced in the last session the farmers and labor organizations were solidly for it. All of the superintendents of weights and measures of the States indorsed it unanimously d the small bakers came down to Washing ton to agitate for it. Mr. Brand concluded by ing upon the importance read to u mation In Europe today important food of I was in Greece 1 men carryving in small hunk of bre: was the typical fare of the poor. With enough water to wash a piece of bread down many a workman in Europe today just barely exists. That is why all the ‘countries of Europe to day so strictly regulate the production of bread. A Roman was called great solely because he gave cheap bread to the populace Tt was the starv ing peasant of France that subsisted on black bread. America is wealthy but we should be ever watchful thai the production of bread does not fal under the control of monopoly. But the monopoly hasn't happened yet It is oply attempted. What has hap pened i< that the people are being cheated by short-weight bread. What I want is a square deal on bread for the people of -the United States and you can’t have a square deal and per mit short weights comment of cheap bread is the all the poor. When used to see work @ handkerchief 1 for lunch. This (Copyright. 1826. House, by Efficiency, Fast Regaining Its Former Leadership Over Senate (Continued from First Page.) case, and then have the committee on audits and control of the contin- gent expenses act upon it. In the House all resolutions go to the Tules | committee—an unbiased depository and then the question of expense referred to the committee on accounts, which_ is extremely careful about au- thorizing any expenditures. Norris Flays House. Recently Senator Norris flayed the House verbally for ‘“irresponsibility” and as not being a deliberative body. Yet— There are repeated examples of how the House is assuming the re- sponsibility and the Senate acting frresponsibly. After most careful committee hearings and two days of debate the House on last Wednesday passed a resolution authorizing o appropriation of $2,186,000 for par- ticipation by the Federal Government in the sesquicentennial celebration in Philadelphia. It was sent to the Senate and Senator Pepper immedi- ately offered it as an amendment to the deficiency appropriation bill, con sideration on which had just been completed. Senator Warren stated that it was buttressed by committee approval and it was’read with scarce- ly a Senator listening and adopted. Only last Tuesday the Senate passed a batch of 58 bills, mostly private claims, with little or no considera- tion. Some of these were old Civil War depredation claims, which have been pending for vears and repeatedly set aside—but they were slipped carefully investigated sidered in the House mittee report, and not because of a request by any particular member They cannot come up at random, but have to be on the calendar and con- sidered on a particular day. All Bills Carefully Probed. Then, too. a particular member of the House is assigned to scrutinize each individual bill no matter how small or apparently inconsequential it may be. This work is done under the supervision of Representative Begg of Ohlo for the Republican ma jority and under the direction of Rep- resentative Black of Texas for the Democratic minority. Each bill is studied for “jokers,” and repeatedly motions are made on the floor to amend many of these minor measures. Again—and very important—the House is governed by strict rules of procedure, and' ‘the House follows precedent. The Senate really hasn't any rules, as was publicly acknowl edged by the late Vice President Thomas R. Marshall while he was presiding officer in the Senate. It decides questions of order on the mierits of the pending proposition. All this begets stability and conf dence. House Leader Tilson was chosen to direct the legislative pro- gram because he held the confidence of his colleagues. While he is con stantly on the floor while the House is in session, he is not active in taking charge on each measure, but is bullding up a strong working or- ganization in the House by having the committee chairmen take charge of the legislation recommended by Bills are con only on com through in the Senate. That cannot happen in the House, where every bill is referred to committee Lo be their committees, thus giving working experience, which strengthens the or. ginization as a whole.