Evening Star Newspaper, March 21, 1926, Page 55

3,000 COUNTY JA ILS DECRIED AS MAINLY SCHOOLS OF CRIME Magnitude of Evil Influence Emphasized, Says Prison Expert, by Census of 400,000 Inmates. Absence of Segregation and Regulation Deplored. BY HASTINGS H. HART, LL. D, Member of the Am Prison Assoclation. Note—For |2 years Dr. Hart has sworkad Jor prison reform. Al over the Couniry he b recommiced as 8 oveat o onir in iy ailonging &ricle e 10 a"consiant cause of crime tha & wsually ‘overiooiea. "¢ 7 crime that Tn the voluminous discussions of causes and prevention of crime which have abounded in the press for a year past, 1 have seen very little reference 1o one of the most prolific causes of crime in the United States. 1 refer to the 3,000 county jails. For a hundred years past it has been recognized by every intelligent student of the subject that the county jails almost universally are schools of crime, the great majority of whose puplls graduate distinctly worse in character and habits as well as in physical condition than when they entered. Influences of Politics. ‘The American county organized on the old Englis Jong since abandoned in Great Britain, whereby the jail is under the control of the county sheriff who has many other duties, while the jail is a sub. ordinate The a jaler and counties a s for political re Yy, @ in some . usnally selected . none of whom any spe ining for the work, and many of whom are entirely unfitted for the job. The connty jails are used for two distinct and inconsistent purposes: On |y the one hand tention of pri action, inclue of crime, sceme children, i sons, . and in some debtors; on the other hand, of punishment of minor off periods extel r. and in a vears. In the these different are forced into intimate association in idlen A very small number of jalls provide any employment for prisoners other thun the ordinary do- mestic work of the jail. for the temporary de- mers awaiting court individuals day to one ) two In most jails there is little classifica- tion except the separation of the sexes, and, in the South, separation of whites from negroes. In some States, as in New York and Minnesota, the law re- quires the classification of prisoners, with segregation of the young, the diseased, and the insane; but in many jails these provisions of law are in- operative beca of overcrowding. few tes, like New York, Indiana, Georgia, and Alabama, there is efficient State supervision of jails, but in the majority of the States there 1is no adequate supervision. The United States Government has {about 7,500 prisoners boarded out in county jails, but it has no control over its prisoners. The United States law provides that prisoners kept in State or county receive the | same ca discipline as those who are locally {committed. If the jail is well run they get the benefit of it; if it is badly |run they have to suffer accordingly. { Magnitude of Evil. ‘| The mugnitude of the jafl evil can be realized when we know that the s Bureau in 1922 enumerated 3 prisoners present on a given day, while the total number of prison- ers confined in the county jails of the United States during one vear can not be less than 400,000, nearly all of whom ce heen exposed for a longer or shorter time with the worst crimi- nals to be ind in the community. arly all of the States of the rmatories have been estab. great expense for the restora- coung and inexperienced crimi- i nals: nearly all of whose inmates have { previously” been exposed to the de- structive influence of the county jail. The jail vught to be the most re- formatory prison in the land, because }n is there that the young offender Is [ first_incurcerated while he is yet in- | experienced in crime and is presum- susceptible to reformatory in- but not one jail in 50 has any {reformatory program beyond desul- tory religious services, often conducted v well intentioned people who have little idea of the real spiritual needs of those to whom they minister. (Coryright, 10286.) Millions Recovered in War Fraud Cases; U. S. Victimized Itself Through Contracts (Continued from First Page.) Mr. Michael also declared that in his opinion equally determined and honest efforts had been made to “pun- fsh fraud,” adding that so far as he knew every case of alleged fraud which had been referred to the de partment had investigated—and where the evidence inted it indictments had been or is in the course of investi- re nelined to believe. r of the war transa both the effort to detec added al the effort to punish fraud might | e been made with g ter effi- nd that some additional frauds might have been discovered and pun- i v, but we are not at ali convinced t the results would have been radi- cally different, Profiteering Widespread. | “We believe that profiteering. us | the term is popularly understood. was widespr but that fraud in its technical sense of conduct, which con- stitut a violation of the criminal laws, or, if not criminal, involves moral turpitude in the eyes of the law, was nelther prevalent nor as serious in its consequences to the Govern- ment as has been supposed. We be- lieve that the appearance of fraud was much_greater than the existence of fraud. We believe that the appear- ance of fraud resulted inevitably from the incompetence, inexperfence and bad judgment of many of the agents of the Government from the wasteful- ness and extravagance which char- acterized many of the war activities and from the large profits which the war made possible.” Reviewing the gigantic task which confronted the Government, which he declared was “unprepared,” for war, Mr. Michael told of the mobilization, invelving huge guantities of war ma- terial and munitions, and declared “the primary consideration in the minds of the responsible Government offictals was speed rather than e omy. * * % It was probably in- evitable that men should have been assigned to tasks which thev were ot fitted to perform either by experi ence, training or innate ability. Source of Large Profit “The policy of obtaining practically &1l war supplies and material by pur- chase was adopted and the war thus hecame the source of private profit, and often of very large profits. It was believed to be impossible to make purchases on a competitive basis and competition was eliminated, so that the Government's only protection lay in the patriotism and honesty of war contractors and the good judgment and_integrity of Government agents, “There were Some CONLractors so patriotic that they were willing to supply the Government without thought of profit or loss to themselyes, Others treated their transactions with the Government as ordinary commer- cial transactions and, while entirely honest, according to accepted business standards, attempted to make the best bargains they could. Some of them, overcome by the desire for profit, took advantage of the Government’s neces- sity to drive exceedingly hard bar- gains. “Most of the Government's were honest and conscientious eager to serve their country well. Many of them, however, as was per- haps inevitable, possessed neither the experience nor the capacity to enable them to do the work intrusted to them or to deal on an equal footing with the more experienced and astute con- tractors with whom they came in con- tact, so tha < often a_simple matter to antage of their fgnorance and inexperience. U. S, Not Protected. “Contractors were called upon to render services and to furnish supplies which they had never before perform- ed or furnished, and they were un- agents men, “either been carefully | lin 1 | election. of surplus war materials considered only their own advantage and made | the best bargains they could. We do not state. these facts in ¢ writical spirlt. They may havd been under the circum- stances. We state them merely in explanation of . our conviction that the Government's war losses are to be attributed chiefly to the improvi- dent and extravagant contracts rath- v than to fraud. | “The agents of the Government | who mude and settled war ¢ jand who sold surplus | were vested. and perhaps necessi with the widest discretion. If, in the exercise of that discretion, they made improvident and wasteful con- tracts which were neither fraudulently induced mnor fraudulently performed, the Government must suffer the re- sulting loss. “Fraud s not to be predicated upon the superior bargaining power or shrewdness of the contractor or upon the inexperience or bad judgment of the Government agent with whom he dealt. e Lame Ducks to Ge! Respite in Congress (Continued from First Page.) s compared with its predecessor, the Sixty-eighth Congress. Of the 75 changes in the House member- ip resulting from the election of 1924, 29 are found to have been vol- untary withdrawals and two resigna- tions, or 39 per cent of the total turn- over. Study also shows that the polit- ical turnover represents only 5 per cent and for the last three Congresses an average of only 12 per cent per Congress. Of the presemt and pre- ceding two Congresses the highest per cent of political turnover was when is was 18 per cent, and lowest per cent at the last th 5 tes that the great pre- ponderance of the membership of the House, political and personal, were returned by the people, and with- out any change in policy. This also should be emphasized, among the 29 voluntary withdrawals were such distinguished and able leg- Islators as Samuel E. Winslow of Massachusetts, chairman of the com- mittee on Interstate and forelgn com- merce; Homer P. Snyder of New York, chairman of the committee on Indian Affairs; John C. McKenzie of Tllinois, acting chairman of the com- mittee on Military Affairs; Everett Sanders, of Indiana, now private sec- retary to the President; Sydney Ander- son of Minnesota, an able parliamen- tarian member of the appropriations committee in charge of the Agricul- ture appropriation bill, chalrman of the joint congressional committee on agricultural inquiry. In the short ses- sion they rendered just as devoted and intelligent service as they would have given had they not withdrawn voluntarily after many years of able service. his i German Telegraph Industry Declining Gradually in Germany the telephone is killing the telegraph. There exists in that country a telegraph ‘nest,” about 3,500 miles long, which touches nearly every population center, how- ever emall. In the last 50 years this system has hardly grown. Germans are sending fewer messages and now the telegraph system costs the state administration 26.000.000 marks (nomi- nally $6,188,000) a year. The telephone, on the other hand, grows steadilv. The “nest” of tele- phone wires will soon be 4,100 miles long and it will be possible to tele- bhone from any place to any other willing to take the risk of loss. The cost-plus contract was therefore adopt- ed and became a convenient instru- ment for overreaching the Govern- ment. Bad judgment was often dis- played by representatives of the Gov- ernment in estimating the Govern- ment's requirements, and unneces- sarily large quantities of supplies of varlous kinds were contracted for on @y terms obtainable. Most of the war contrags were drafted by repre- sentatlves a¢ the Government and many of them were poorly and vague- Iy drawn and failed to contain terms necessary for the adequate protection of the Government. “The conditions which we hive de- scribed persisted after the cessation of hostllities and characterized to a greater or less degree the settlement of war contructs and the sale of sur- plus war property. When the time came to settle war contracts the war was over. Contractors endeavored to settle their contracts on the best possible terms and were often able to get better terms than they were en -titled to, without resorting to fraudu- ent methods, Similarly, puschasers: place in Germany. Moreover, the Germans are urging the adoption of an international system whereby Edin- burgh, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna and Constantinople will have direct telephonic communication with any part of Germany. Passport Nuisance. One proposal likely to come before the League of Nations’ second in- ternational passport conference in Geneva In May is that of making it possible to obtain passports from post offices or police stations and thus reducing the passport formali- ties that still face the traveler who wishes to go abroad. ‘The May conference will consider the best means of hastening the grad- ual abolition of the passport regime. Should it decide, however, that the passport must be retained, a proposal will he made that every passport in the future hold good for a minimum ok bwo Jears X MARCH 21 1926—PART 2 Spirit of Unchanging Yankee Villager "Reflected in Life of Col. John Coolidge/> BY LOUIS M. LYONS. OL. COOLIDGE, father of the President, was a man of his unchanging hills. About less- er men than he have sprung up legends. His position in the simple village for years was that of a business man in a farming community. As store- keeper, postmaster, insurance agent; bank officer, “town agent,” justice of the peace and tax collector he was keeper of the fiscal secrets of the town. He was a man of affairs, to be con- sulted on the troubles of his nelgh- bors, about their borrowings and failures to repay, the value of thelir holdings, the state of their crops, the capacity of their land to stand a mortgage. He stood between the plain people of the hills of Plymouth and the com- ‘plicated affairs of the world of trade and politics. He had, from his less sophisticated neighbors, that half- awed respect that those who are slow at figures so’commonly pay to the more nimble-minded. To this extent he was a sort of village squire. But also he had kept the general store, and its hot stove was to his last year his favorite haunt. 1le was probably never a popular man. But he was recognized as a substantial citizen, whose shrewdness in his own affairs recommended him to handle the affalrs of the town. The town records show that his neighbors voted him into office 127 times from 1872 to 1926. In that period he held a round dozen separate offices and most of these he held almost contin uously for nearly half a century. Elocted Constable. At 28 he had already become a man of mark in Plymouth. That must have heen a momentous year for the young storekeeper. At town meet- ing in March he was elected con- stable and tax collector. On the Fourth of July a son was born, in a room behind the store, his only son, des- tined to become President of the United States. In the Fall Plymouth slected him to the Vermont Legis- ature. Not a year went by in the next 40 that did not find John Coolidge elected or re-elected to one, two or some years four or five town offices. When he was 32 he was made super- intendent of schools. At the same time he was ‘“town agent,” an office akin to town counsel. He was still the legislator from Plymouth, the tax col- lector, constable and postmaster. @Became Town Auditor. Two years later the oftice of auditor of town accounts was added to his functions. He remained town auditor up to his death. When he was 35 he served a term as selectman. In 1894 he was elected justice of the peace, an office under which, 30 years later, he was to summon authority to adminis- ter to his son the oath of President. The next year he was made road commissioner, post of importance in < before the State took over aviest burden that country wn knew. In 1897 he became land Juror. As late as 1909 the colonel's fellow citizens found a new post for him to fill. He was elected State Senator that year at 65. His title of “colonel” is the fruit of still another office. He was on the staff of his old neighbor, Gov. William C. Stickney. Calvin Coolidge cannot be =ald to have lacked a background in politics Sold Fire Insurance. But the colonel did not devote him self to office, to the neglect of his private enterprises. Nor did he have to drop plow in furrow to serve war- rants or sign deeds. Rather were his COL. JOH] pursuits such as went along hand in hand with the tasks of village magis- trate. Who could more r duties of justice of the ps local fire insurance agent? For years the colonel had heen agent of the Ver- mont State Fire Insurance Co. Who more acceptable as tax col- lector than the vice president of the Ludlow Savings Bank and joint stock owner of the town's chlef industry, the cheese factory?” Who more natural a candidate for Representative, constable or auditor than the man whose interest in poli- d mortgages gave him a busi- jon with every farmer in riding distance? oft-conferred office of “‘tow A bill of pa place in Py Was Village Type. With the notes and deeds and money errands of his neighbors, John Cool- idge busied himself all his years. In office and out his work was of & piece. And his work filld his life. If this robs the picture of him of some glamour s a farmer, it places him more ac- curately as a supreme type of village Yankee. The colonel himself laughed loudest at the newspaper notions of his son as a milker of cows. He eouldn" remember when Calvin ever COOLIDGE. had to milk a cow. but did not. Col. John was never a farmer. He owned a farm, but he either hired a man to run it or rented it on shares. The big, comfortable white Coolidge homestead opposite the store where the President was born is built on a corner of the farm that Col. John's father worked. But the farmhouse had not been Col. Coolldge’s home since his boyhood. The distinction between Col. Cool- {dge, village banker and insurance agent, and the hill farm neighbors, is a very necessary one to muke, to understand elthen the colonel or the President. The substantial magls- trate, who could well afford to send his son first to Black River Academy and then to Amherst College, was of a different breed from those simple farm neighbors, who needed the bovs in the fields before they finished dis- trict school, if the farm was not to pass into the hands of Col. John's nk. Could milk, yes; Character Was Cosmopolitan. Yet they were the same breed a was a blend of much that was strong- ly rural. But it was not as redolent of plowed ground and sugar bush as it was of cracker barrel and the sheriff’s office. There was more than a touch of David Harum in the colonel. And something more to complicate the picture, Calvin Coolidge has boasted of a strain of Indian in his ancestry. It came through his father's side. The colonel was strong- ly marked by it; indeed, amazingly marked by it, for an admixture that must be presumed to be both very remote and greatly diluted. The President has never said, and Ply- mouth has apparently never inquired, as to the time and manner of thig Indian admixture to the Coolidge blood. The hilltop cemetery—so full of Coolidges and Cooloedges, of Moores and Wilders and the other lateral con- nections of the President’s family— glves no clue that is susceptible of interpretation to the curious visitor. But Col. Coolidge's aquiline nose and high flattened cheek bones, his straight black hair, his sllences— more eloquent than his son's—his almost furtive step, his listening ear —there are few Carlisle graduates with a more complete equipment of the traits of America’s original pos- ses80rs. Of Strong Yankee Strain. This is by way of making plain that Col. Coolidge was a_more pro- nounced Yankee than the Yankee strain as it s encountered In the pure form. Usually in the pure state, it Is now seen only in decay. But the Cool- idge character is a vital one. It is as though the forgotten Indian scion had given increased persistency and vigor to the original root stock. So it happens that though you can match Calvin Coolldge's blue eye and sandy hair and twang a dozen times a day in Winsor Coimnty, you will not duplicate the inscrutable cast of the colonel’s countenance, or the sound of his footfall or the subtle inwardness of his chuckle, not if you lined up the pure-type Yankee end-forend across Vermont. So the caution of the Coolidges s something deeper than New England prudence. The sensitive car of the colonel is more than village keenness. The canniness of Coolidge goes farther back than the highlanders of Plymouth. : When time permits a mellow biog- raphy of Calvin Coolidge, this factor in the blood strain will have to be taken into account. Never Forgot. So far as Col. Coolidge goes, it may account for thie much. The colonel had a reputation of never forgetting a favor or a fault. He found ways and means to repay friend and foe, and time did not dim his distinction between them. He always had a reputation, too, of knowing more than he seemed to know, and of “al- lowing that he knowéd" only when there was advantage in doing so. The colonel was born and always lived in Plymouth Notch. And al- vays in the village His ther's »f the roads. ght's appren- tice until he came of age, But at 22 he rented the general store, and kept it 50 years. le had enjoyed a better education than many of his neighbors, for he had been sent down to Lud- low, 12 miles away, to attend Black River Academy. Schooling and busi- ness acumen, together with the stra few generations back. Perhaps the accident of location, at the crossroads for one, and three miles up the mountainside for the others, made the difference. Or was it accident? What- ever it was, Col. Coolidge was not a simple countryman. His character tegic position of storekeeper, gave him a commanding influence in his 20's. He had initiative as well as shrewd- ness. For he was one of the founders " (Continued on Fifteenth Page.) The Story the Week Has Told BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief sum- mary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended March 20: * % kK Geneva.—On March 8 the assembly and council of the League of Nations met at Geneva for the express pur- pose of admitting Germany to the league and to a permanent seat on the council. On March 17 these bodies adjourned without having exe- cuted that purpose—Germany remains outside the league. Meantime, beside the shores of Lake Leman a strange controversy had raged. Extreme anti-leaguers as- sert that the episode has completely discredited the league; hardly may it survive such an exhibition of inepti- tude, of inveterate nationalistic cross- purposes, of incurable suspiciousness, selfishness and pettiness. Optimistic league champions, on the other hand, maintain that it justifies hope, rather than despair, as to league prospects; that it marks the crisis of the transi- tion from the world of the wicked old diplomacy to the new world to be dominated by the spirit of Locarno; that the body politic of the new Eu- rope was during those 10 days purged of sundry, peccant humors; that the Locarno powers are more nearly con- sentaneous than ever before, various doubts and misunderstandings having been resolved; that certain vices and defects in the constitution of the league were brought into vivid relief so that the much to be desired reform of the league's constitution (which otherwise might have been delayed in- definitely, with baneful results) is to be undertaken immediately. 'Tis only a matter of six months, they say, "till Germany will be admitted in a sweet- er, cleaner atmosphere. ‘We do not know, and perhaps never shall know precisely, how it came about that, on the eve of the Geneva meeting for admission of Germany to the league Poland made public a de- mand for a permanent council seat along with Germany. There appears to be no doubt, however, that Briand and Chamberlain were at least gullty of a certain awkwardness of be- havior in that connection. At any rate, Poland did make that demand and thereby “started some- thing.” If Poland was to be thus fa- vored, why not others as well? So Spain, Brazil and China demanded permanent council seats. Germany took the stand that for the council to make her admission to that body conditional on simultaneous admission of one or more other nations would not be fair dealing. It is clear that Briand and Chamberlain recognized the German position, and it is equal- ly clear that Briand was bound to do everything short of repudiating his obligations to Germany on behalf of the Polish claim. His maneuvering wag exceedingly clever and resulted (Czechoslovakia handsomely co-operat- ing) in the following compromise agreement with Germany: Czecho- slovakia should resign her non-perma- nent seat in the council, Poland there- upon to be elected by the assembly to take her place. German amour propre would thus be satisfied and German interests safeguarded, as the constitution of the council would not be changed gainst Germany’s entrance, and vakia, France's bosom friend, would not alter the political eomplexion of the council. This was a highly sensible proposi- tion, for Poland ought to be in the council, but ought not to be admitted as one of the great powers, nor so as to give offense to Gern or any- wise reduce German influence on the council. The proposal was consistent with French (and British) engage- ments of honor to Germany and took due account of Irance's pecullar ob- ligations to Poland. Observe, please, that Luther and Stresemann have de- clared themselves convinced that the French and British never conceived the notlon of packing the council against Germany. ‘But Briand's victory went for noth- ing. For it remained for Brazil to give the most sublime (or fatuous) exhibition of intransigence the world has seen. A single vote in the coun- cll can prevent admission of a pro- posed new member. Brazil, a non- permanent member, held out for a per- manent seat along with Germany; else Germany should not be admitted. It was preposterous, declared her spokesman, that South America should not be honored by one perma- nent seat, and Brazil was indicated for the honor. The representatives of the other South American nations declared themselves entirely unsympathetic with the Brazilian attitude. The for- eign office at Rlo de Janeiro was show- ered with imploring cables, but Brazil remained firm. Obviously, as Briand remarked, that the Genevan catas- trophe should be brought about by such means, was ahsurd. A commis sion has been appointed by the coun- cil to overhaul the league constitution so that such a thing may not again occur. It s as certain as anything can be that next September Brazil will find herself outside the council, hoist with her own petard. The results from the German epl- sode may be disastrous. The Natlon- alists may get the upper hand in Ber- 1in, Paris and Warsaw. Sir Austen Chamberiain may pass into the wil- derness. The foreign orlentation of Britain_may take an anti-Locarno slant. On the other hand, everything may be hunky dory. It might be well, perhaps, that for a little space the comic spirit should supplant the spirit of Locarno. The German application for admis- sion remains before the league. But_as to whethér Germany shall go to Geneva in September—that, says Luther, “depends on the German gov- ernment of next September.” Quite so. * Xk ¥ k The British Empire.—A conference is taking place in London of repre- sentatives of the governments of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Belgium, to consider the question of equalization of hours of labor throughout that group of countries. The British are eager for removal of the competitive disadvantage of Brit- ish industry because. of the shorter British working day. ‘The other day, in the course of de- bate on the budget by the Indian Leg- islative Assembly, at Delhi, and after an impassioned speech by Motilal Nehru, leader of the Swarajist or Home Rule party, all the Swarajist members of the Assembly walked out of the Assembly chamber. ’ Motilal Nehru declared that thes| Swarajists' overtures of co-operation had been flouted: that they had heenl Caechosla- { subjected t9 Ii humiliation. The Swarajist delegates met apart and dispatched a message to the peo- ple of Britain. India, declared the message, could not be contented until its system of government should be drastically altered. *The hearts of the bureaucracy remain obdurate.” Pleasant accounts had come to us importing the commencement of a blessed era of good feeling in India. The above does not look like it. ** xx France.—On Thursday Briand ap- peared before the Chamber with his new cabinet, and presented the minis- terial delegation. It urged quick non- party action on the budget, justitied Briand's conduct at Geneva and pro- posed amendment of the electoral law by way of return to the former system of district representation. The declaration read, the Na- tionalists began a sensational attack on the choice of M. Malvy for Minister of the Interior. While de- fending himself against the familiar old charges (he asserted that the had been made the scapegoat for the failure of the high command at the Chemin des Dames), M. Malvy fell in a dead faint. Briand then rushed to the tribune “M. Malvy,’' said he, “was condemned for secondary faults on an erroneous interpretation. The man who sold Chemin des Dames— what calumnies; what lies; and now you are seeking still to exploit that atmosphere of hate and anger. You never have been willing to admit that you were mistaken, because you are politicians.” Briand recelved a vote of confidence, 361 to 164, the unified Socialists, who had intended to abstain, rallying to him because of the attack on Malvy. The franc is tumbling, tumbling. * %k ok ok China.—Tientsin is 70 miles up the Pel Ho, and Taku is at its mouth. The protocol of September, 1901 (con- sequent on the Boxer movement), pro- vided that the Taku forts be razed and not restored and that communica- tion between Peking and the sea, via Tientsin, be kept clear of interference with foreigners. The other day Chang Tso Lin, Super Tuchum of Manchuria, sent a number of transports with a convoy of warships to the mouth of the Pei Ho, with a view to the landing of troops, the capture of Tientsin, the “liquidation” of the Kuominchun (“National People’s Army") forces which might offer opposition, the oc- cupation of Peking, and the super- session of the present regime by one subservient to Chang. The Kuomin- chun commander in those parts was, however, not caught napping. He mounted batteries at Taku, mined the moutH of the Pel Ho, and exchanged artillery fire with Chang’s warships. ‘The mining of the channel and the desultory artillery duel involved in- terference with foreign shipping and constituted violation of the protocol of 1901. Therefore the representa- tives of the great powers still adher- ing to the protocol (Great Britain, the United States, Japan, France and Ttaly) sent a joint ultimatum to the Kuominchun commander and the commander of Chang's fleet. The mines must be taken up, the artillery duel must cease. Chang's ships must stay outside the bar, and there must be no further searches of foreign ves- sels except by the customs authorities. ‘The Chinese commanders have prom- ised compliance with the ultimatum. So Chang's braves must find another landing place or 80 One incident of the Taku episode re- quires special notice. The shore bat- teries, under circumstances still ob- scure, fired on two Japanese destroy- ers, wounding 10 Japanese, of whom one has died. The Japanese govern- ment, which. since the Washington conference, has constantly pursued a policy of conciliation toward China, is treating the matter as lightly as it may. It is sending & note to Peking calling for an apology, the punishment of those immediately responsible and “remuneration” (the word “indem- nity™ is avoided) for the wounded: but the nature of the punishment and the amount_of remuneratfon are left up to the Chinese government. Young China resents the action of the powers respecting the Taku busi- ness. On Thursday malcontents esti- mated to number between 2,000 and 3,000, Including representatives of the Students’ Union, the General Labor Union, the Kuomintang and the “Dare to Die Corps,” assembled in Peking and passed resolutions demanding re- jection of the ultimatum of the pow- ors, expulsion of the foreign repre- sentatives who signed it, an apology by their governments, denunciation of the protocol of 1901 and withdrawal of foreign war vessels. They then ched to the mansion of the provisional President and de- manded that he receive a delegation of them. He sent out a refusal. A clash followed between the demonstra- tors and the personal guard of Tuan Chi Jul. Ultimately the latter fired, killing 32 persons (21 of them stu- dents, including two girls) and wound- ing about 90, half of them danger- ously. It is obvious how this affair might haye consequences embarrassing to the government. It is significant that Kuominchun headquarters has issued a statement disclaiming any connec- tion with it. The government has for- bidden mass meetings and has ordered the arrest of sundry radical leaders, including the director of the Chino- Russian University. The fine Musco- vite hand {is suspected. * ok Kk K The League—The league council is about to dispatch to our Govern- ment an invitation to send a delegate to Geneva to discuss with delegates of the states which adhere to the World Court protocol (orle from each state) the reservations to be Senate resolution providing for par. ticipation of our Government in the ‘World Court; the conference to take place this September when assembly and council are in gession. The league council has designated May 17 as the date for the post- poned first meeting of the commission which is to prepare the way for an international disarmament confer- ence and in which our Government has agreed t: Exu:!cinme. Miscellaneous.—Col. John Calvin Coolidge, father of the President, died in Plymouth, Vt., on Thursday. The everlasting friction between the Spanish government and the Catalans is reported to be in a very acute phase. Bucharest University has been closed until after Easter, because of a student’s strike in protest against admission of Jewish students. The Peruvian government having demanded indefinite postponement of registration for the Tacna-Arica plebiscite, the plebiscite commission ordered postponement of commence- tration S FRANCE CHANGING ATTITUDE / TO AMERICA? EXPERT SAYS “NO™ e Skinner, Who Knows Country Inside and Om," Declares Women in Provinces, Who Mold Opinion, Still Love U. S. BY BELLE SKINNER, Rebuilder of Hatton-Chatel and Member of the Legion of Honor. Note—This brilliant American 1coman knows her France beiter, probably. than . " She shows how Ranging. ~ Mfiss Sk ted and rebuilt the old vill Siatton-Chater, and she knovs ‘the ment of the provinces as well as of Paris. What part of France? Whose atti- tude in France? The attitude of poli- ticlans? Of journalists? Of tourists who get but a partial view of public opinion, who may perhaps receive rudeness for rudeness and bring back reports of a diminishing friendliness and lack of courtesy toward Ameri- cans? Of cosmopolitan Paris? Or of the French provinces, which are the real France, the steadfast France of the toflers? It has been my good fortune for many years to spend six months out of every twelve in France—partly in Paris, but mostly in the provinces— and T am constantly impressed by the fact that the attitude of the provinces toward America has not changed. The provinces are sunk in tradition, wedded to their sofl, and have an in- herent aversion to invasions, either by enemies or by friends. Therefore, when they become friends their friend- ship s something to be counted upon, and any change in it would be really significant. But, according to my best observation, provincial France has not changed. Army Still Cheered. A French priest, recently in our country, says that in his journeyings about France in connection with his work he has within the past six or eight months been showing & war film. He makes the unqualified statement that {nvarfably whenever the Ameri- can troops appeared upon the screen they were grected with tumultous ap- plause, and that this happened not only in the devastated regions which our men helped to liberate but in the villages of the center and south of France as well. The American Army, then, has never ceased to arouse a thrill of gratitude in the hearts of the French provinclals. clagses in the Verdun sector of France 1 know that the impression which this priest has received s well founded on fact. Over and over again they speak of the thousands of kind- nesses shown by our American sol- dlers to the families with whom they chanced to be billeted, and they de- clare that the link which these have made in the chain of Franco-American friendship is a link which no jingoism can break. These people of the prov- inces judge America by the considera tion they received from our soldiers The women in particular speak ev now with deep emotion of their grati- tude to us for our help during the dark days of fighting and reconstruc- tion, and thelr real liking for us will do much to counterbalance the in- trigue of interested politiclans. It is the French women, we must remem- ber, who mold the opinions of the next generation. Talk Little of Debts. As to the payment of their debts, provincials talk less than Parisians. But it would be absurd to pretend that the whole of France Is not hoping for ‘“easy terms.”” We Americans sometimes forget that false hopes were raised in the minds of all French men by those unofficial spokesmen for our country who announced in Paris. “Of course, America will cancel your . debt to her.” Statements like that were given immediate and enormous circulation, and it is lmpossible ever to catch up with a first story and cor rect its impression. However, in the provinees it is now pretty generally recognized that thera will be no can cellation of her debt, and that the best that France can hope for is “easy terms.” Creditors are not popular with debtors, whether individuals or na- * tions. Still, France does not blame us as a country for what she considers the usurer’'s attitude. She looks upon the existing state of affairs as politics. and France in general thinks as lttle of our politiclans as we do of hers, Perhaps there {s exaggeration on both . sldes. In any case, I am certain that the enduring friendship of these too- seldom-quoted advocates of ours in the French provinces will stand us in From innumerable conversations that I have had with people of all One’s Luck Will Seem Less Toug good stead in these painful days of beadline agitation. (Copyright. 1926.) h After Reading of Others’ Problems Well, maybe the furnace did go out this morning, or the B battery went wrong last night, or the old bus wouldn’t budge, or the baby has the croup again, or the note is due at the bank, or the boss bawled you out when it wasn't your fault, or the boy's ting a flask, or you've just learned the market has wiped vou out and that creditors have sefzed your Florida property Tough luck, every, bit of it: but read this from the records of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, which ln concerned with civilian rehabilita- tion: “At the age of 2 a young man had lost his father. The following year his mother died, leaving three small or- phans. e states that they were dis- tributed in the neighborhood, much after the fashion of dispensing with small kittens. He had never seen his foster father and mother until the day they drove up to the house for him. He had been in his new home only a vear when he became afflicted with septic fever, which confiped him to his bed for a period of three years. Dur- ing this time the bones of his lower legs separated at the knees and his left hip became deformed. He states that no medical attention was given his limbs, as the doctors concluded that he would never have further need of them. Surprises Physicians. ver, at the end of three years he surprised the physicians by partial recovery and was able to get about with the aid of crutches. The nearest &choolhouse was about two miles from his home, but his desire to get an edu- cation made the walking of this dis- tance on ecrutches each day seem a trivial matter. er a few years he was able to dispe with his erutches “How had completed the eighth grade. Ile length of time and walking always has been a hardship. “At the time his case came to the attention of the rehabilitation depart- ment this young man was 26 years of age, and the only work he was capa- ble of doing was the carrying of wood and water to the house of a good farmer who was caring for him. He had an ambition to become a linotype operator, and at his own initiative had, BY ERIC PALMER. American Observer. International Broadeast Tests Visiting in Geneva recently the pal- ace which shelters the secretariat of the League of Nations, my thoughts turned 1o the forces that might be drawn into greater usefulness to elim- inate ignorance. bigotry and discord. There came to mind a letter which T received from Gen. John J. Carty, world-famous engineer and vice presi- dent of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. 1 had telegraph- ed congratulations to Gen. Carty just after he had addressed an immense au- dience throu a radio-telephone com- bination linking Havana and San Franclsco, thus reaching nearly the entire North American continent. In my telegram 1 raised the question as to what message he would send If it came within his power to address practically the whole world. Gen. Carty responded “I would say in Latin ‘Sursum corda’" (Lift up your hearts!) From him came these in- spiring words “We are looking for a our world difficulties and for the at- tainment of universal peace. We are looking for this peace through the signing of treaties and the forming of leagues and courts. These things are great and good, and when the time comes they will be indispensable. But before they can be converted from symbols of lofty aspiration into terms of practical achievement there must be a change in the hearts and minds of the people of the world. Anything ‘which delays our recognition of this trust is harmful. “Until our hearts are made right, there can be no permanent peace. Until we establish the right state of mind among the peoples of the world, a treaty of peace—even though sign- ed by all the natlons of the earth—is but a truce.” To this statement that distingulshed divine, Dr. 8. Parkes Cadman, added a fervent amén. ‘What more efficlent or more roman- tic medium has been developed for reaching, all over the world simulta- neously, the hearts and minds of men than the radio? Here is the method by which information will come to be disseminated, through which there Official olution of .will be secured a fgge interchange of ‘werld eplaloas. this will work smoking cigarettes and talks of get- | and he continued in school until he | has never been able to stand for any | without success, applied to a number of printing establishments to learn the trade. The department of rehabili- \la!lnn succeeded in making arrange ments with a small job printing office [to give him the desired training, with |the understanding that the department would pay the cost of the boy’'s main tenance for as much as 20 weeks, if necessary. while learning the trade At the time of receiving this pla ment training instruction was given him in glish a Y. M. C. A. night school. where he was presented with a scholarship. “At the end of three months he was able to take over the operation of a machine in this shop, and at the end of five months employment was ob. tained for him in the largest job print ing office in the largest city of North !(‘arolinz at a salary of $20 a week. His smployers are well pleased at the work | he is doing. and have agreed to ad- vance his salary as his speed {s in- creased. He is more than happy in the knowledge that he is sel DWYflP . to fit himself for the vocation of his cholce.” Other Cases Shown. There are other examples. A lumberjack who lost a foot was made a driver of logging tractors; a paralyzed miner was taught to re- pair clocks, watches, sewing ma- chines and phonographs and now has his own little shop: a young woman, who lost both legs. became a skilled photbgraph retoucher; a young man who lost both hands was trained on a large poultry farm after being fur- nished artificial hook arms and s ° is now a foreman: a man who lost * his evesight while blasting stumps is now a college Instructor. The Federal Government provides * financial aid to the States for civillan rehabilitation work and the States spend, on an average, about $2.73 for every dollar of Federal monev re- ceived. Tt is estimated that it costs = State from $350 to $300 to care for . an inmate in an institutfon and from: $200 to $350 to re-establish a dix- © abled person as a wage earner. About 6.000, including 764 Women, were re habilitated in the last fiscal year, and about 12,500 were in the process at the close of the year. In many cases persons rehabilitated now earn more money than they did before disability. Radio Held Most Efficient Method For Solution of World Difficulties to the end. that many petty jealousies and misunderstandings will ‘be eradi- cated, as every natfon becomes better acquainted with its neighbors. In Geneva I found a great and growing " appreciation of what the radio would *' do to promote world understanding. This is what Sir Erlc Drummond, secretary-general of the League of Nations, had to say on this subject: “We can hardly estimate the change that may be made in international re- lations if people in various countries become accustomed not only to tha thoughts but even to the actual voices of the statesmen of other countries. All we can say at the moment {s that we are at the beginning of a new era at whose potentialities we can hardly not easy.” he continued, “even for those who serve the cause of peace to realize the enormous new force that now makes for better understanding between peoples, on which peace must ultimately depend. Before it, distance and time almost cease to have impor- tance. Pecple hear of each other and . know each other. Before such con- tacts, war recedes to a distant back- ground. ““The full development of radio must render international co-operation, and therefore the task of the league, in- finitely easfer.” That is certainly a great goal of hu- man service to set before the radlo. And it seems quite within the bounds . of the attainable, when one consi x the tremendous progress that has re. cently been made in intercontinental radio transmission. Syn- P, 193, Commot, NI man. Editorial Board.) > Movie Plots at Low Price. . Chinese or foreigners who expect to reap rich rewards for writing mo- tion-picture scensyios for Chinese film companies are doomed to disap- ~ pointment if a special scenario contest - inaugurated in Shanghal gives a true . indication of the prices to be ptldA . One Chinese company offers a cash prize of $100 local currency, or abogt 50 gold, for the best motion-ploture - :wl"g submitted. -