Evening Star Newspaper, March 28, 1926, Page 45

— EDITO NATIO SPECIAL FEATUPES RIAL PAGE NAL PROBLEMS Part 2—14 Pages U. S. MILLIONS TO STATES BUT DISTRICT IS BARRED EDITORIAL SECTION Che Sunday 3 faf WASHINGTON, D. €, SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 28, 1926. Capital Pays National Tax More Than Nine States Combined and Twice Nine Millions Received. Editorial Correspondence of The Star. BY THECODORE W. NOYES. VI ¥ course, the main considera- tion for the payment of State taxes is the enjoyment of the political power and prestige involved in participa- tion in the National Government on equal terms with other Americans. To be transformed through state- hood from the status of political allens to that of full-fledged Amer- with all the powers, rights and privileges appertaining to that status, confers a benefit upon the individual of a value not to be calcu- lated in and cents: and deprivation of this benefit involves a loss which is incalculable. Every one, therefore, will recognize the justice of Washington's protest against being taxed to correspond to what other cities pay to maintain a State government, since the District under the Constitution and the laws enacted by Congress is not ‘per- mitted the right, privilege and ben- efit of enjoying and maintalning a State government. But very few persons in the whole United States appreciate the scope of the ma- terial benefits bounties and sub- sidies which attach to statehood of which Washingtonians are wholly de- prived. Our citizens' joint committee brief in 1915 recited the millions which in the past had been distributed by the Nation among the States, omitting the District of Columbia. But these sub- sldies by the Nation to the States are not confined to the past, but continue in vastly enlarged proportions in the present. fcans, dollars subsidies paid tion to States in 1924, none of which was paid to the District of Colum- bla, analyzed and discussed in Editorial Research Reports, December 13, 1924. Amount of Federal Subsidies. “The total payments made by the Federal Government to or on behalf of the States during the fiscal year 1924 was approximately $145,000,000. This represented about & per cent of the total expenditures during the last f the National Government.” Editorial Re- search PAEE572) The purposes and amounts of the principal subsidies during 1924 are shown in the following table: subventions o N: sum il year by (See Report, 1 Bupport of agricultural colleges iment_station ultural exten: Prevention and control of vene- real disease State fund ing act ... Etate fund under natio est act ... 5 4 State fund from gale’ of publie lands . State fund’ under Water power National Guard Total ... Subsidies paid to the States through the Department of Agricul- ture for fighting white pine rust, the Iinropean corn borer, gipsy and brown-tail sths, etc., bring this total to nearly $145,000,000.” Federal Subsidies Since 1914, Pp. 576-577, Editorial Research Re- ports, December 13, 1924: “The rapid expansion of t ecral subsidy system and the in supervision and controi of s the National Government has been accompanied, has veen due principally to six important pieces of legislation enacted during the last ten years. These acts were: May 8, 1914, ct, July 11, ver act Chamberlain-Kahn venereal disease act, July 9, 1918. “The Smith-Hughes vocational edu- cation act, February 23, 1919. “The industrial rehabilitation act, June 2, 1920. “The Sheppar: act, November 23, 1921. “Under these acts approximately $521,772,175 in Federal aid has been granted to the States down to the end of the fiscal year 1924, whereas in 1914 the total of Federal subsidies paid to the States annually amounted to less than $6,500,000. “The resemblances among the six principal acts establishing conditional subsidies for the States are striking. h one provides for close co-opera- tion between the Federal Government and the State, and gives the Federal officers great powers over the co-op- erating State agency. In each case the statuces virtually declare certain State officlals to be agents of the Na- tional Government in certain of thelr activities. The requirement that the tate must match national appropria- tions from State or local sburces is common to all the acts. No State is required to accept any of the subsidies or the conditions provided in the vari- ous laws. In each case the relation- «hip is entered upon veluntarily, al- though it is evident that the State Legislatures 1ust be under consider- able pressure to ‘match the Federal doilar and to accept the terms im- posed, when subsidies are held out in large amounts.’ In the closing days of the last session a new subsidy measure, the Clarke-McNary forestry bill, was enacted and signed by the President. The appropriations authorized by this measure for forestry purposes were not new, however, since such appro- priations for expenditure, in co-opera- tion with the States, have been made for more than a decade.” Paid to and by U. S. It will be interesting to compare what Washington pays into and re- ceives from the National Treasury with what is similarly paid into and eived from the National Treasury by some States approximating the Dis- trict in size. The figures of payments by the States into the Federal Treasury used in the Editorial Research Study are obtained from the report of the Com- missioner of Internal Revenue for 1924, page 98, wherein is priuted a uble giving & sumwmary of Internal -Towner maternity by | {ported by the commissioner of inter- - | the eighteen millions-plus of normal revenue receipts for 1924 by States, including the District of Colvmbia. This table gives the total internal revenue receipts from the District in 1924 at $27,542,52 A foot note on page 99 notes that this amount in- cludes over $9,000,000 back taxes on alien property. Let us then compare the District’s abnormal total of over $27,000,000 with the payment of other | States, precisely as both figures are given by the commissioner of in- ternal revenue in his report. And let us also compare what may be viewed as the District’s normal pay- ment with those of the States by sub- tracting the $9,000,000 of back taxes and leaving a payment into the Treasury for the year of §18,000,000 plu Crediting the District with the payment of 27, it paid into than 30 States the Treasury more |and 2 Territories; ie., Alabama, Ari-| zona, Arkansas, Colorado, Dela’ Florida, Georgla, ldaho, fo |sas, Louisiana, Mgine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Hampshire, New Mexico, North Da- kota, ~Oklahoma, Oregon, _Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washing- ton, West Virginia and Wyoming—30 States; and Alaska and Hawali—3 Territorles. D. C. Pays More National Taxes Than 23 States. If the large payment of back taxes is deducted and comparison is made with what may be viewed as the normal{ Federal tax payment of the District, eighteen milions plus as in 1918-19, the District’s contribution will be found to exceed those of 23 States and 2 Ter- ritories; i.e., Alabama, Arizona, Arkan- sas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Ida- ho, Towa, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Okla- homa, Oregon, South Carolina, South | Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming, | 23 States, and Alaska and Hawali, two | Territorie: The District’s payment of twenty- | seven millions exceeds the combined payments of 1 whose contri- | butions total § 21. These States are Arizona, Idaho, Mississippi, Mon- tana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Ver- mont and Wyoming. If the Distriet's total contribution be reduced to eighteen millions, it exceeds the com- bined contributions of nine States, which aggregate $17,881,499. These States are Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North anntl.’ South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. | Taxes and Subsidies Compared. | The editorial research report figures | the percentage relation of the money | paid to the States by the Nation with | that paid by the State to the Nation, | | as Federal taxes. Let us include the | District_in this comparison and note | its relation to States approximating it | in size. | Percent- | Paid in Federal or Nationa s ‘apital aid. m't. $0.000.000 4" 5315 ) 18,000,000+ $9,000,0004 50— (Deducting Dist. Col. S Arizona d: 31,221 Idaho 5080 6.084 8 039 nal revenue, the District of Columbia paid in Federal taxes in 1924 nearly twice as much as these elght State combined, and its percentage of aid received to taxes paid (331-3 per cent) is less than that of any of these | eight States and less than one-half of the average percentage (67.84) of the eight States combined. : If the extraordinary alien back taxes in 1924 ent of deducted Federal taxes paid by the District in 1924 exceeds by four millions the to- tal paid by these eight States com- bined, and its percentage of aid to tax payment (a little less than 50 per cent) is a trifle more than three | States, about the same as one State and largely exceeded by four States. The average {wrrentsgn of the eight | States is 67.81, as against 50 for the District. D. C. Pays Twice What It Receives. Thus, the District in 1924 paid in Federal taxes (according to the offi- cial figures) three times as much as the Nation appropriated in that year for National Capital upbuilding. The normal tax ‘ment by the District in 1924, deducting from the total the extraordinarily large revenue from alien back taxes, was more than twice as much as the national contribution in that year for the Capital’s up- building. In percentage relation of national ald to national tax payments the Dis- trict's percentage (33 1-3 per cent, ac- | cording to the official figures; some- thing less than 50 per cent, accord- ing to the figures reduced to a show- ing of actual normal tax payments) compares with those of eight States approximating the District in size, as follows: According to the officlal re- port, national aid in relation to na- tional taxes is less for the District than for the States of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mekico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, and is less than half of the average percentage of these eight States. According to the revised figures of Federal tax payments the District, which reduce the total tax payments by the District in 1924 to those which are current and normal, the District’s percentage of less than 50 is a little more than Arizona, 42; Idaho, 45.08, and Wyoming, 42.14; about the same as Montana, 48.97, and less than South Dakota, 60.24; North Dakota, 1?é°3i New Mexico, 98.91, and Nevada, These payments to the States are made on the 50-50 basis—that is, the Federal dollars are to be matched by State dollars—in precise accordance with _the wise half-and-half policy in relation to the Capital of the law of 1878. This policy is so sound and beneficial that it is wisely employed today in the Nation's relations to the States; surely in the light of this vin- dication and reaffirmation it will be retained in spirit and principle at least in the relations of Nation and Capital, where for nearly half a cen- tury it has demonstrated its wisdom and beneficence. Surely the Nation will not today adopt the policy in relation to the States and discard | definitely the honor brought to her by | formanceg in it and the principle of definite pro- portionate contribution upon which it is based in the Nation’s relation to the National Capital. Hatred of America by Peoples of Europe Presents Problem of Increasing Gravity BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. ARIS.—There is perhaps no detail of pres- ent-day BEurope which it is harder for the home-staying American to under- stand than the attitude which is taken toward the United States pretty gener- ally all over Kurope, but particularly in France and Britain. Moreover, the most diffi- cult circumstance to believe about this general attitude must be the fact that it is held most strongly, not by the politicians, not even by the upper classes, but by the mass of the common people for whom Uncle Sam is not alone the enemy, but the cruel ant slave-driving master. Perhaps the best proof of the European at- titude among the masses is found in the re- cent exhortation of Trotsky to the proletariat of the continent to unite across frontiers in the common battle against the American ene- my. This is significant because one must always remember that the underlying principle of boi- shevist strategy is to exploit all possible pas- sions, prejudices and quarrels. Wherever there is bitterness it is the Soviet idea to arrive and exploit it to advantage. * ¥ %k % But it would be a mistake to think that it is only among the masses and chiefly among the uninformed that the resentment, dislike and even hatred of the United States flourishes pe- cullarly. In a recent number of the British National Review, the journal which represents the most extreme conservitive opinion in England, Uncle Sam appears repeatedly de- scribed as a combination of “Mr. Chadband and Shylock.” And It is by no means exact to think of this opinion as English alone. ‘What is the conception on which this hostil- ity rests? It is fairly well defined. The mass of FEuropeans, without regard to nationality, be- lleve that America remained neutral during the war just as long as she was able to sell mu- nitions and supplies to the allles and obtain from them money or promises to pay. When, however, the war reached a point where it seemed likely that Germany might win, then, to save thé sums we had loaned to the allies, we entered. Our coming into the war was no more nor less than a business transaction, to save our investments. % k %k k¥ Having come into the war and having shared in pushing it to a concluslon satisfactory to our assoclates, then, so Europe belleves, Mr. Wilson came to Europe and sought to impose a peace which would deprive the victors of all the fruits of their sacrifices and sufferings. We denied to France protection against Germany through the occupation of the Rhine boundary. We deprived Italy temporarily of her chance to obtain Fiume. Our policy, as expressed by Mr. Wilson, created anarchy and confusion on the allied side, and at the same time brought no alterna- , tive solution. Then, having imposed a League of Nations, which could not have been created otherwise, we went home, rejected the treaty of Ver- sailles, declined to join the league and cut our- selves loose entirely from all European responsi- bilities. In due course of time, moreover, we appeared once more on the horizon to demand the pay- ment of the debts which had been contracted to us by our associates of the war. Our first appearance in this directlon was through the Dawes plan, which, from the European point of view, represented an American plan to regu- late reparations in such fashion that Germany would be able to pay just enough to cover what her enemies owed us and no more. In a word, we intervened to save Germany from her con- querors and to reduce her reparations payments to sums which would cover our Joans to her conquerors. * ¥ k % The Dawes plan having been put through, then, tn Washington the demands for the pay- ments of the debts other than British were re- doubled. As to the British debt, T do not be- lieve it is humanly possible to exaggerate the depth and breadth of British resentment over this. It will take a generation, perhaps two, if the payments continue, to modify this feeling materially. Moreover, while we insisted upon British and Furopean payment, we at the same time closed our markets to European goods by high tariffs, we closed our gates to Kuropean immigraton by our new laws. British commercial marine was terribly struck by the competition of our new merchant marine, now in reality run by Governm:ent subsidies. We restricted our pro- duction, both of cotton and of wheat, so Eu- rope believes, for the deliberate and calculated 278.48 MILES AN HOUR STANDS AS BEST SPEED YET MADE IN AIR Mark Set by French Flyer in 1924 Still Is Unsur- passed, in Spite of Talk of 300-Mile Dashes, Made Under Trick Conditions. - purpose of obtaining higher prices. But when the British did the same with rubber, we raised & tremendous protest. Today the conception of the situation most frequently held in France and quite common in Britain, indeed one might say it is the com- mon European vlew, is that the United States has from the outbreak of the war onward so played its cards as to arrive at the present situ- ation in which it has put all Europe to ransom. “We are no more free,”” this is a familiar state- ment. “All Europe is paying tribute to America and this tribute will be continued to the third generation beyond the war.” In the present hour, when Britain is strug- gling with economic problems of hardly paral- ieled gravity, when her population is in con- siderable part idle, the very bases of her pros- perity shaken, the United States is taking an- nually a tax of $4 per head, while American shipping 1s reducing British commercial profits to nothing, thanks to Government subsidy, and American competition is eating into the Brit- ish pre-war markets, notably in South America. More than that the British home market is it- self deluged with American products. * k k * Hotels {n Paris and London, to say nothing of the Riviera, were filled with Americans, who, in France, were spreading money with that ut- ter disregard which a depreclated currency in- spires in the mind of the dollar possessors. Not only did the press teem with reports of amazing American prosperity, which were brought back by the few European visitors to the United States but visibly, before their own eyes, the people of London and Paris saw the Americang scattering money without thought or care. Yet over against this picture of wealth, ac- centuated by veraclous reports from Washing- ton of vast reductions in the taxation of our country, at the moment when all European treasuries are struggling to find fresh sources of revenue to balance budgets, despite the colossal burdens already borne, stood the offi- cial attitude of the United States demanding on every occasion the payment of what from the European point of view were unbelievable sums to_meet the war debts. Now in this state of facts one hears day by day the ever-increasing suggestion that Europe must take some common action to escape from American exploitation and control. Trotsky, ap- pealing to the working men of the continent, is but one voice. The same idea is heard in capi- talistic quarters with equal vehemence. The belief that Europe has become purely and simply a fleld of American exploitation is well nigh universal. * X %k % In the last analysis it s the working men who bear the heaviest burden in periods of eco- nomic depression such as exist in Britain and Germany. But those same working men are constantly told that the reason for their trou- bles is the American insistence upon debt pay- ments, which at one moment explain German reparations and British debt payment, while in France the financial troubles are ascribed to the refusal of the United States, rich be- {ond-the dreams of avarice, to assist France in er hour of extreme crisis. The conception of a United States of Europe, not political, but economic and commercial, a combination of European powers to meet the American menace, is in my judgment, beyond realization now. We still ‘hold the whip hand, for Europe must borrow from us for many vears to come and whatever the private re- sentment, the public expression, officially at least, must be correct. It {8 not conceivable that, for a_decade at least, Europe can venture on any collective struggle against the United States., But one must see and feel what is actually happening. A whole new generation {s coming on the field in Europe simply saturated with the conviction that its present miseries are largely due to the policies and purposes of a rich powerful and remorseless America, which exploited Europe in war and is now continuing to exploit it in the miseries of post-war time. ‘We are accumulating a balance of dislike, dis- trust and even positive hatred which it is a little appalling to consider. * % ¥ ¥ There is a legend in America, much employed by the champlons of the League of Natlons, that Europe is still eager to welcome us back, that it is waiting for our co-operation to make the league a final success, and that it is also walting for our ald to achleve final disarma- ment. Nothing could, in my judgment, be less accurate. Furope does not want anything from Many O the United States at this moment but money, and it resents the fact that to obtain the money it has to seem to invite our participation in what it regards &s its own affairs. Your European friends, British or French, do not longer discuss the American attitude or policy. It is no longer regarded as the subject of possible debate. It is excluded from all but the most intimate conversations because it is felt that to mention it can only be to release comment which must wound without serving any purpose. I do not want to give my readers the im- pression that I share this European view of the United States. Naturally, I do not. But, on the other hand, it seems to me essential that Americans should perceive something of the sentiments which prevail generally over here toward their country. If, as seemed likely when I left home, there is a new senti- ment in favor of American participation in European affalrs, it is of a certain lmportance that Americans should understand the state of mind of the Europe into which they are to adventure again and the welcome which will attend them. * k k X If we come back, no one will again_ believe that our decision has in it anything but the desire to forward our business, advance our investments. If we advocate disarmament Europe will see in this no more than the de liberate attempt to reduce military expenses here In order to insure larger rebate payments to ourselvés. And some countries at least will belleve that we are prepared to take away from them all means of self-defense, solely that we may collect from them a larger an- nual debt payment. The legend of a disinter- ested and generous America, of an idealistic America, bhas gone and cannot be restored. If we come back we shall come back rather as Shylock than as a savior. That is the cold fact, We Americans may regard this European point of view as unjust, unreasonable, even as a proof of European obliquity of vislon. Certainly no American is ‘going to accept it as accurate. But-the solid fact that American statesmanship and public opinion must deal with is that this European judgment exists and is likely to continue. Even more, it is likely to increase rather than diminish as years pass and the single concrete reminder of the war {s the tribute—as Europeans re- gard it—paid each year by every country to the United States. 8 We have been pleased to regard the debts as an ordinary commercial transaction, cov- ered by the customary morality of private debts, but there is, in fact if not in principle, a profound difference between debts which concern individuals and debts which exist be- tween nations. France, the French people now, owe us nearly flve times as much as Germany made them pay after the lost war of 1870. The payment will carry consclous- ness into the life of every Frenchman and it will arouse resentment. In England the re- sentment is flercest among the working peo- ple, for whom life is incredibly hard and to whom it seems the exactlon of a rich and selfish American public. * X % % Certainly Europe is not going to combine to make war upon us. Nevertheless, I do venture the prediction that the time will come before long when all Europe, divided by every sort of ancient and cotemporary difference, will find at least one basis for agreement in the common hatred of the common creditor. Doubtless if the debts were something which might be pald and eliminated in one year or five, the feeling wouldalso pass, but they are to remain for 60 years. Such being the out- standing fact in FEurope, the circumstance which most amazes an American is the present ‘Washington and American opinion, which con- tinues to act in the apparent belief that we shall be welcomed in Kurope, whether at arms conferences or elsewhere; that credence will be attached to the famillar statement that we are ready or willing to help Europe. In sum, in Europe we are Shylock; that is the long and short of it; but European ne- cessitles make dealings with Shylock ines- capable. From the European point of view we ave taking our pound of flesh; our claims are legal, not moral. We may, perhaps with perfect justice, hold that the Luropean view is unfair, unjust and even fantastically inac curate, but what we have to do is to recognize just what that European view is and what it is likely to remain for an indefinite future. (Copyright. 1926.) FAILURE AT GENEVA MUDDLES U. S. RELATIONS WITH EUROPE Debt Settlements Give Appearance of Insincerity in Reduction of Armaments, Gen. Allen Believes. bject to Politics in League. BY FREDERICK R. NEELY. The most deceiving factor in avia- tlon is speed! Speed, spoken of in terms of hun- dreds of feet per second or hundreds of miles per hour, is the element that sells aviation for military and com- mercial purposes. Speed, and with it the ability to annihilate time and distance, is what has brought flying up to its present pedestal of recognition. There i8 no denying that airplane travel is fast, but how fast is it? At regular intervals reports trickle into the press from all over the world of amazing speeds attained by such and such a plane in flight between two points. And because the public has heard of airplanes traveling at 300 miles per hour or more, such stories take the edge off the actual maximum speed of the airplane, which is 278.48 miles per hour. Two hundred and seventy-eight, point forty-elght, miles per hour doesn’t mean a thing when placed be- side 290 and 300 or more. But the aviators the world over have the ut- most respect and reverance for that seemingly small 278.48, which has stood unmolested since December 11, 1924. , Mark Likely to Stand. That astounding figure to aeronau- tical people, recordéd at Istres, France, in a hideous-looking monoplane called the “Ferbols,” fitted with a 500-horse- power Hispano Suiza engine, repre- sents the maximum speed any airplane in the universe can fly. tin Bonnet flew this ship over a three- kilometer course four times, twice up and twice down, which would guar- antee no assistance ‘from the wind. The average for the four trips then was.proclamed to the world as official by the Federation Aeronautique Inter- nationale, the world governing body. There is not a plane in existence “in the flesh” in America, unless it is guarded With the utmost secrecy, that can approach this record, in the opinion of military aviators here. The racing stock in_ Great Britain and Italy is inexcusably low—in fact, far behind America, as demonstrated by the entries of these two nations in the Schnelder seaplane trophy race at Baltimore last October. America has three new racing planes, two belong- ing to the Navy and one to the Army. Adjt. Bonnet. The Army’s little black Curtiss racer, with a 600-horsepower V-1400 engine, captured the Pulitzer Trophy Adjt. Floren- | race at Mitchel Field, Long Island, early last October, and fitted as a sea- plane, likewise took first honors in the Schuneider Trophy a few weeks later. The speed this little lightning flash made at both events came under the class of 100 and 200 kilometers as a land plane and the figures respec- tively were 249.342 and 248.975. As a seaplane they were 234.356 for both distances. Then Lieut. Jimmie Doo- little of Mc€ook Field, Dayton, Ohlo, who won the seaplane race, established a mark comparable to the Bonnet rec- ord, but only for seaplanes, of 245.713 miles per hour. The “Ferbols” never flew as a seaplane, so Lieut. Doolittle and the black Army racer sit on top of the world seaplane speed honors. Go Fast With Wind. There are airplanes in existence to- day that can fly over 300 miles per hour, but the circumstances in which they do it is similar to getting a speed of 70 or 80 miles an hour out of the light automobile which on the level can only turn out 50. Run this auto- mobile at full throttle along a level stretch and then shoot it down a steep grade with the engine working at maximum capacity, and it might register 10 or 20 miles higher. But that doesn’t prove the speed of the car. Sometimes a slow De Havilland (slow at 100 miles per hour after talk- ing about 278.48) will ride into a fleld on top of a strong wind and when the figuring of distance and time are con- cluded it will be proven that the D-H ' flew as high as 140 miles per hour— quite impossible in still air for a serv- ice ship and over a long distance. A short time ago one of the mall planes dashed into New Brunswick, N. J., the Eastern terminus of the transcontl- nental airway, at a speed of 150 miles per hour. The wind did it and the plane going in the opposite direction. if in the air at the same time, would have been slowed down to almost stall- ing speed. The air line distance from New York to Washington is about 220 miles and with a De Haviland the fly- ing time in still air is about two anda half hours. But this distance has been covered in a D-H in time ranging from one hour and a half to five hours. Records to Try For. According to the contest committee of the National Aeronautic Associa- tioh, with headquarters here, the offi- ‘new | So France may continue to enjoy in- | cial .governing body for aircraft per- America, airplane rec- ords embrace the following categories: Maximum speed on straightaway three kilometer course, the peer of “ them all; speed for specified distances BY GEN. HENRY T. ALLEN, Who Commanded Our Army on the Rhine. American relations with Europe are more muddled at this moment than at any time within the past three years. The Geneva faflure, for such it was, can well be attributed to thé surrep- titious understandings agreed upon at Locarno, wholly at varfance with the world’s estimate of the spirit of that conference. The debt settlements with Euro- pean countries, particularly the one with Italy, has aroused a spirit of ani- mosity, largely because it is generally believed that if there were a genuine determination by FEurope to reduce armaments a finding more favorable to us could have been made. The spe- clal opposition to the proposed settle- ment with the Fasclst government is founded on the fact that Mussolini's administration, however effective it be, is a challenge to all that American history has taught in respect to gov- ernment and all that we have preached over a period of one hundred and fifty years. Many Agree With Houghton. The alleged statements of Ambassa- dor Houghton, accepted by the con- gress as reported in the press, have irritated England and angered France. After all, they are the utterances of one individual. They are, however, in consonance with the views of the others who saw In the desire to put Poland on the council of the league an effort to establish a counterpoise to Germany’s entrance. That spirit pre- (closed circuit) of 100, 200, §00, 1,000, 1,600 kilometers, and by multiples of 500 to 5,000 kilometers, and by each 1,000 kilometers thereafter; speed for loads of 250, 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, etc., kilograms over the specified distances of.100 to 5,000 ki- lometers or more. Seaplane perform- ances also come under this grouping. All such tests are held under the ausplices of the contest committee of the assoclation which, after being duly satisfled that the performances are correct and authoritative, submits them to the world parent body, the Federation _ Aeronautique Interna- tionale, in Paris. Once the F. A, I. has placed its stamp of approval on them, all the fast flying with winds or dives or whatnot will have no effect on the world record. And the associa- tion would welcomeé fl;: ::pp:;tun&y to supervise an attém 0 it the renowned 278.48 record of Adjt. Lonnet. cludes the universality of the league, while suggesting the old balance of power with its concomitant race for armaments. It supports a militaris- tic policy. The Geneva failure, while demon- strating the futility of the declaration that the league is a-superstate, has increased the difficultles that were already looming too large in the ap- proaching preliminary disarmament conference. The protagonists of Lo- carno must win if America's estab- lished attitude toward disarmament is to have a reasonable degree of suc- cess. Perhaps the rude ordea! through which the league has passed will serve to bring about a reorganizatien that will forestall any such impasse in the future. The interests involved in the fate of the Locarno pacts and the stability of the league are of such importance to the world that only intensive na- tionalism may destroy them. Without a sincere desire for conciliation through conference and the conviction that increased armaments advance the chances of new war scourges, the notable progress made toward peace in recent years will have been lost. Universality Must Triumph. ‘When the present European bicker- ,ings shall have yielded to reasoned Jjudgment, it is hoped that the sub- committee on league reorganization will make the next meeting at Geneva in September noteworthy through | concession and agreement. To accont | Plish that all prospects of another bal- ance of power must be sacrificed to the policy of universality; and when that is accomplished, our country may participate in a conference on reduc. tion of armaments with a reasonable hope that progress can be made. Domestic politics in our country at the present time is ajmost as potent in defeating the ends of international peace as is natlonalism in Europe. ‘Witness «the debates in the Senate when an international matter of im- portance is being discussed. Our country’s interest in Europe Is becom- ing ever more acute with the Increas- ing millions in new loans. We cannot ignore the political considerations that follow the financial investments be- yond the sea. Even as a business measure, stripped of all altruistic sen- timent, the United States should more than ever exert its great influence for peace and disarmament. (Copyright, 1926.) -— Berlin and Stockholm will be con- nected by airplane service, the sched- ule calling for six-hour fiights. INEW SAFEGUARD PLANNED .ON OUTGO BY WILL P. KENNEDY. LANS for completing the Fed- eral budget circle and for but- tressing the Federal Treasury against any possible “leak in serious consideration of Federal offi- clals and the law-making body of the land. We have the Budget Bureau to fig- ure on keeping Government expendi- tures about evenly balanced with Government receipts. We have the ways and means committee of the House to initiate legislation which provides for raising funds theough tariff and internal taxation sufficient to pay the costs of Government. We have the appropriations committees of House and Senate, which must reach an identical agreement, ap- proved by both branches of Congres: before funds are available. We have the controller general's office as an auditing agency—responsible directly anu solely to Congress—to see that the Federal funds are expended a Congress intendea they should be spent. Committees Reorganized. With the adoption of the budget system, the appropriations committee reorganized departmentally to give speclalized study to the ~particular needs of each department, and took ranking men of both parties from the | legislative committees for these de- | partments, which had previously con- | ducted the appropriations hearings, jand these specialists from the legis- lative committees have been chalir- | men of subcommittees on the depart- mental appropriations biils. Now, with the experience of five years of actual operation, plans are belng worked out for perfecting the budget system. One of these con- templates placing the many scattered | disbursing agents now operating as | employes of widely varied agencies of | the administrative branch of the Gov- ernment into a corps of special | trained agencies, under the controller | general, systematically distributed in | much the same way the Federal | Reserve districts, and who will be en- |tirely independent of influence or | coercion from any administrative offi- cer or executive of any department, bureau, board or commission. In this way a short cut would be made to assuring that the money appropriated by Congress for specific purposes would be spent for just those pur- poses which Congress intended, and for no other—whereas now attempts are frequently made to have such dis- expenditures which Congress had positively disapproved. Would Cut 11 Committees. | Leaders of both the Republican | jority and the Demecratic minority in the House now are having a sur- prisingly prompt “meeting of the minds” on_another proposal to but- tress the Treasury. Representative R. Walton Moore, Democrat, of Vir- ginia has offered a resolution provid- Ing for elimination of 11 minor House committees which now have jurisdic- tion over the expenditures in the va- | rlous departments of Government and for public bufldings, and replacing them by one large committee, of 21 members, to act for the House on ex- | penditures in the executive depart ment, independent offices and estab- lishments. This proposal has received the im- | mediate and hearty support of Chair {man Madden of the powerful com- | mittee on appropriations. Then came Representative Tom Connally, Demo- crat, of Texas, who picked up a re- mark by Mr. Madden that these ex- isting committees as now organized are “unfortunately usually manned by men of the same political as the administration, and they do not want to investigate their own ad- ministration.”” Mr. Connally promptly proposed that the contemplated new committee, on expenditures “shall be composed of a majority of the minor- ity party” as a greater check and safeguard to the interests of the tax- payers of the country. To the sur- | prise of the House Mr. Madden eager- |1y agreed that this was a valuable | suggestion. Replying to the thought that this ould be carrying into the legisla tive machine the same principle that we have put into the office of the controller general,” Mr. Madden said: “Yes, the more investigating power vou have, the better it would suit me, because I believe the Government hound’s tooth everywhere and there ought not to be any politics in the finances of the Government -under any circumstances or under any party.” The vigorous apnlause which greeted these remarks showed plainly that the temper of the House, both Democrats and Republicans, is fa vorable to such a reform. Wide Powers Are Cited. Mr. Madden ever since he has been chairman of the committee on appro- priations has been urging the need for completing the circle of defense of the Treasury of the United States. He points out that no committee of the House has such broad jurisdiction as these 11 committees on expendi- turés now have—the power to send for persons and papers, documents of all kinds from the departments over which they have jurisdiction, and to invastigate not only the detalls of every expenditure, but they have the power to investigate the legality of every expenditure. They could, if they vau]d. supply the House with informa- tion which would be invaluable, but ‘they never have except in one or two rare instances."” _Mr. Madden recalled that Senator Blackburn of Kentucky while in the House made a great national reputa- tion by his work as chairman of one of these small committees. “He fm- peached the Secretary of War for Thalfeasance in office; he showed up the rottenness of expenditures and made for himself a name that was kmown all over the United States,” said Mr. Madden. He suggested that the proposed big committeo on expenditures would act in conjunction with the appropriations committee and. with the ways and means committee, and also with the controller general of the United States. This committee, he argued, would fill in a missing link, would have the power to investigate, to as- certain the legitimacy of the expendi- ture, and ascertain whethey the ex- penditure was being made according to law, whether they were being made extravagantly or conservatively, whether wisely or unwisely; and this committee would be able to supple- ment information, which neither the appropriations committee mnor the controller general is now able to ob- tain because of the pressing business the dyke” are receiving very | bursing officers approve vouchers for | faith | ought to be kept as clean as the| OF U. S. CASH Minority Party in House Would Domi- nate Committee, With Power to Check Public Expenditures. which pushes them forward to com- pletion of the problems which con- front them. The proposed new com- mittee, Mr. Madden believes, would supply Information not now available | upon which many financtal reforms might be based. ! Holds Check Important. Mr. Connally argued that if one wants to investigate any agency o | system one would not take part of that agency or system to make the investigation, but some other agency, which would have an interest in show ing If any wrong could be found. He pointed out that the basic trouble is that the existing committees do mnot | perform their duties. He emphasized | that it is “quite as important to check | up the appropriations and see that they are properly expended as it is to scrutinize them in the beginning.” | Then Mr. Connally took up Mr. | Madden’s suggestion that under the | old system of auditdrs in the various departments, which has been succeed- | ed by the general accounting office, | “unless the auditor ruled as the ad ministration wanted, there was a cer- tain feeling that he would lose his job”; and heé took up the other sug- gestion by Mr. Madden that “these committees of Congress are always composed of the ruling majority, and have, therefore, been more or less indifferent.” | Carrying this line of argument to a logical conclusion, Mr. Connally proposed that the contemplated “one committee on expenditures ymposed of a majority of ty party. The committee would then be actuated by no desire to conceal anything. If the appro- priation was properly expended, it could find nothing wrong; if improper- ly expended, it would have an in- centlve to expose it." Mr. Madden, who is recognized as | one of the most powerful men in | the House, besides giving emphatic, unqualified approval to the proposi- | tion as quoted above, said he thought that under one directing head, large experience and integrit work could be done comprehensively | through subcommittees much more effectively than by 11 committees act- i ndependent entitles.” He in- sisted that a great deal depends upon the man to be selected as chairman of such a committee, and sald he should be “a man of industry, un- doubted courage, not to say integrity,” and that such a man could not fail to make a record for himself if he would go to work. Gives Historical Precedent. Out of anclent history Mr. Moore drew an illustration of what he pro- posed: “It is like the plan that was | thought of when the Greeks were arranging to fight the battle of Mara | thon, when there were 10 generals of equal authority; but finally it was decided that the only sensible thing to | do was choose a single general, and they chose Miltiades, and the army | won a victory Quick to safeguard against too much power for the domirant party and to strengthen the check against the ap- propriation in the interests of the tax payers, with his always alert faculty | for neatly turning an argument, Mr. Connally clinched his proposal by say- |ing: “Miitiades, after he was appoint ed, defeated his enemies; but, beinz in the minority, I do not care to maka | Miltiades too strong, if the committee |is to be controlled by the dominant | party. That is why it would be wise to give the minority control of the committee. The disposition of the committee at present is to refuse to investigate themselves or their own | party. To strengthen that disposition by merging the power into one chair- man will make it easier not to investi- | gate unless the minority controls the | committee.” He approved the plan proposed by Mr. Moore, but stressed that “the reason for this condition is that these committees have not per- formed thelr duty and will not per- form their duty o there the matter rests—with lead- ers of both Democrats and Republi- cans favoring the proposal, which would become effective on the closing day of the present Congress. - | Budapest Finds First Known “Radio” Crook ‘What with new broadcasting sta tions appearing all over Europe and long-distance tests with Americ: Budapest has developed a radio thief. Police on the Andrassy Ut. seeing a man carrying a suspicious-looking bundle, stopped him and asked for a look inside.. The man dropped the bundle, hit one of the policemen and ran. He was caught after a hot chase. In the police station he made a con- fession. His plan, he explained, was to examine roof tops for antennae. When he discovered an intake the rest of his work was easy. First he drummed lightly on a window pane with his fingers. If the people inside were not listening to a program some one would be aroused by the tap ping and would approach the win- dow Then the thief would slip away. no one came he would open a window, slip in and make his haul. He said when a program was on, every one in the household, even the cook and the maid, would be listening. By using the radio method he had robbed many apartments. e Greece and Jugoslavia Jugoslav officials have declared that Jugoslavia has not the slightest fin- tention of claiming from Greece that part of Greek territory inhabited by Slavs. That territory, they assert, 1% Greek by treaty and there is no reas son why Slavs in that region should not become good Greek citizens. However, in order for Greeks in. habiting Jugoslavia to be permitted to have Greek schools, it is necessary for the Greek government to accord the same privilege to the Slavs in Greece. It is pointed out that Greeks forced thelr way into a Slav school In the Slav locality of Sorovitch, an burned all the Siav bool Gen. Pa; galos, speaking for the Greeks, saj he considered the rights of the minor ties as gacred and to be protected by the state. These two statements show the offi- cial points of view of the two govern- ments on one ticklish question that is preventing the two countries from getting together. Until this problem and others, as, for instance, the Jugo- slav outlet through Saloniki, are set- tled, there is no chance for a Balkan Locarno.