Evening Star Newspaper, May 23, 1926, Page 49

= EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORIAL SECTION NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATURES Part 2—14 Pages ATTACK ON MUSSOLINI EMPHASIZED HIS POWER Thrilling Incidents of Day When Premier Was Shot Showed of Revolution and BY FRANK #. SIMON OME.—Wnther viswed as a mere spfnitacle, taken as the evidenc® bi' a national state of mind, of accepted as a series of exciting episodes, the inci- dents of the day on which the attempt was made against Mussolint’s life were for me the most interesting and thrilling I have ever \witnessed in peace time. Prince Caetani, formerly Ttalian Ambassador at Washington. later compared the sudden and star- tling esplosion of national feeling to the consequences of suddenly kicking | a beetiyve violentl d the figure is as exuct as I can imagine. B it is from the point of view of the Present state of mind of Italy, of th& Immediate feelings of the Fascisti, of e popular emotion with respect of Mussolini that this day's happenings are most illuminating. One might read volumes and endles: columns in magazines and pers on the present situation ifi Ital of the histor and _philosophical meaning of mo, of the enthusi- asm for Mussolini, of the men who with him have made the great adven and still never for a moment eciate the depth and extent of ion that has becn excited, of the reality of the statement of those who im that the whole Fascisti affair is nothing less than revolution and real tevolution, not cons Dlosive. Events of Morning. It is, then, from this point of view that I shall try te describe what I saw happen or knew happened memorable afternoon, in the morning, just after he had com- pleted a public address, Mussolini shot at and wounded by a mad B woman; that he was hastily taken to his home and that there wi fir: &, certain measure of confusion and doubt as to the extent of the injury, | which fortunately proved in the end to be wholly insignificant. At 10:30 on this morning I had set | out from my hotel for the foreign | office, which is the Chigi Palace, on | the Corso Umberto, one of tha main | streets of Rome and in the very heart ®f the business quarter. It was like one of the hot, indolent mornings Which come in Washington toward | the end of June, and Rome was tak- ing an early Summer day with full | Bouthern calm. A good deal of the | business ot the day had beon done | already, and people were preparing | for the lonz and comfortable’ noon | rest. 1 The Chigi Palace itself was as silont | and quiet as the State Department in | Washington in late June when Con- gress has adjourned and the American public has turned its attention from politics to base ball. I waited in the | little anteroom while my card and | credentials went upstairs and hope- | fully counted that they would bring me an interview with promptly, perhaps t very after- | n0on and there in this palace in which | he transacts most of his public busi- ness, although he lives simply enough in an insignificant street on the slope of the Quirinal Hill. The was quite that of the ment on a dull day, *=xpected to see " Savoy com- | g presently to admit the visitor. | Mussolini | Excitement Begins, I must have waited upward of hal | an hour, with that resignation which | the war taught all of us to have in | approaching _public officials, when, | without warning, automobiles began to crash through the archway leading into the courtyard of tha palace, Look- ing out the door, I saw men dashing back and forth, ‘all of them as they entered raising their left hands to salute, charging up- automabiles ruptness. an half a minute the court- ch had been as quiet as that anish house at high noon in Summer, became as animated as a pier when a steamer is sailing and as noisy as a boiler shop. Moreover, I noticed that the faces of all the peo ple whom I saw were drawn with ex- citement and that it was not pleasant excitement. Mussolini had been shot. All this time I was secluded in the little waiting room and it was bigh noon when at last I was per- mitted to go upstairs, there to meet Warren D. Robbj counselor of the American Embassy and for the moment In charge, since Mr. Fletcher was away. He had hurried at once to make the necessary official call and already diplomats and journalists were beginning to congregate. Coming out of the palace a few minutes later and walking north along the Corso, it was interesting to note the first evidences of the spreading of the news. The earliest extras were just being cried, flags were be- ¥inning to appear on the fronts of buildings, people were leaving their shops and offices and straying into the streets. But for the moment the news had something of a paralyzing effect. People stared at the headlines, studied the newspapers, stood rather dumbly, but with every evidence of having suddenly become aware of a fact of tremendous importance. Clouds of Flags Fly. Two hours later when I came out into the Corso again the narrow “treet was actually shaded by the clouds of flags which hung from every bullding. Not since the war have T seen so many flags anvwhere, and not even during the war have I seen more. There was not a shop from the Plazza del Populo to the Plazza Di Venezia, more than a mile long, which did not have at least one flag before it. Many had more and already the windows of the shops were decorated with mictures of Mussolini himself. Even more significant, the bare walls were beginning to blossom with notices addressed to various Fascisti organizations “Combattant Groups,” they call themselves—sum- moning them to assemble. The Corso, indeed all the streets, were by this time filled with crowds of people who were beginning to sterm down toward the Chigi Palace. One could hear the hum of voices, there was a sense of animation, of »xcitement. You knew instinctively And at once that something had hap- neped and that something more was #olng to happen. There was a sense of anger in the sounds of voices, of many thousands of voices cheering afar off. Passing through side streets 1 came down to the edge of the Quirinal and suddenly turning a corner saw a street filled from end to end with sendarmes. There must have heen several hundred of them. Following the example of other wi shied out of the street aga ering on_ looki: newspa- | CAITYIng thelr guns at the uncom- | itutional, but ex- | on this | n recalling the | single essential fact that at 11 o'clock | h ' ume of thousands of voices mount- | | sands were marching. { of grass. True Significance Fascist Movement. door of the residence of Mussolini himself, the house to which he had been taken after the shooting and in which he was now meeting his | triends. Rome Rising in Tumult. I wandered to the Capitoline and clambered up the marble steps of the straight down into the broad stretch of the Piazza Venezia and up the long Corso. Behind me the old Roman forum slumbered in the sun, inhabited only by ruins and American and Ger- man tourists, who, Baedeker in hand, were studying ancient Rome, while on the other side modern Rome was ris- ing fn full tumult. Already a great change was begin- ning to take place in the square. As far as 1 could see in all directions troops were moving in, regular troops | with bayonets, lining the sidewalks, fortable position, which in our army | manual we call “ready.” Never have ! | I seen more soldlers in any city since | the memorable May 1, 1919, when the | Reds of Paris announced that they | would parade and Clemenceau an- | nounced that there would be no | parade and brought a certain num- ber of thousands of troops in from the old war zone. There was no parade. Between these lines of troops, too, one could now distinguish marching lines. It was as if all the male—and a goodly part of the female—popula- tion of Rome had begun to march. Wheeling in from side streets they came thronging iIn regular lines, again and again raising their left hand in the Roman salute, cheering, great war memorial. . Now 1 looked | The Sunday Star WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 23, 1926. BaCkward _Bl’iL o | SChOOlS BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS MAN was summoned at Lewes the other day because he tried to give his child a better education, in his opin- ion, than she was recelving at a coun- ¢il school. There are many people who share this man's bellef that the education the schools are giv- ing their children today is inadequate, and that some of it is useless, and, consequently, wasteful. Yet the taxpayer is called upon to pay a vast annual sum for it. * %k % Xk ‘We are spending vast sums of money every vear on our national system of education, but, looking at the results, one is tempted some- times to believe that it is mostly wasted. Even when we include our public schools and universities, not paild for out of the na- tional exchequer, but costing very dearly to the parents of our modern youth, the general re- sults are poor. In many ways, we are the worst educated people in the whole world among the great na- tions, barring, perhaps, the Americans, whose standard, I should say, is about level with our own. We have, it is true, many brilliant schol- ars, many highly educated men and women, many fine scientists, many circles of intelli- gent people who have read largely and ob- served much. But they are small minorities in the general mass of people who are supposed to be educated. How rarely it is that any English man or woman can speak any foreign language, or even half a dozen decent sentences in a for- eign tongue! Yet vast numbers of them *have spent years In trying to acquire a little French. Even our great statesmen, with one or two exceptions, like Sir Austen Chamberlain, can- not exchange an idea with foreign diplomats unless English is the language. But in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Ger- many, Holland and many other countries, many boys and girls who have never been beyond their own frontiers learn to speak English re- markably well, and probably know another language besides. * ok ¥ K In our public schools for §pe sons of the well-to-do, and in our universities like Oxford not violently, but steadily, the vol- | | ing steadily, the cheers occasionally ; being drowned for a moment the | + wild bursts of the Fascisti song, also by thousands. Disorders Begun. So far the whole demonstration had | been more or less orderly. It was | spontaneous, it obviously disclosed a | violent emotion, but it had been in a | sense canalized. But now, from an- | other direction, huge motor lorries | began to arrive carrying scores of | vouths wearing the inevitable black | shirt and waving in their hands the | equally inevitable clubs. They were | arriving from the scene of the first | considerable explosion of wrath. On a | nearby street they had suddenly in- | vaded the office of the opposition newspaper, the Mundo, thrown all | the furniture into the street, gutted the building and burned the wreck- age in the street while the solemn policemen and the equally impressive | soldiers had stood stolidly by, totally | oblivious to the destruction 1which | was going oi about them. Coming down from the Capitoline 1 crossed the square and the broad street running &t right angles to the Carso, along which the marching thousands were moving off to the river. Now the noise had become | deafening, thousands and more thou- | row and then had a_sense of rising passion. Back of me under his windows one man stood watching. Suddenly a dozen men sprang from a lorry, dash ed up to him, seized him and start- ed to draw him aw Never have 1 seen such a sudden, abject, completely paralyzing fear as the man's face showed. Was his flag too small, hung wrong, had he otherwise offended. I do not know, but I do know he was scared into pitiful appeal, and when at last he was released, unhurt, he leaned against the wall weak with continuing fear. Workers Made to Stop. Elsewhere I saw men who had con- tinued working—although orders had . forth that the rest of the day to be a holiday, a time of thanks. , ng—forcibly persuaded to “down and join in the demonstration. Houses were Invaded by still other delegations, and what was done be- hind the ls I do not know, but of sporadic acts of violence there cer- tainly were many. Presently 1 took a cab and tried to! drive up the Corso to the Chigi Palace, but the crowds had become so dence in the narrow street that prog- ress was totally impossible and I had to dismiss the carriage. Coming back into the Corso by a side street 1 found the troops drawn up along both sidewalks. They checked me and refused to let me enter a shop, where I had been intending to make a pur-; chase earlier in the day. After much protest they finally consented and 1 crossed the street. As I entered the shop there was a new burst of shout. ing and confusion and looking back ward I saw the crowd trying to break through the cordon ard noted that the troops were now formed across the street to close it to all traffic. ‘While this was going on a motor car came thundering through the crowd, half a dozen men on the running board, pushing its way recklessly for- ward and scattering the crowd as a mowing machine goes through a fleld Once more the soldiers stood firm and tried to halt the car, but they were swept away, the car crashed onward and the troops en- deavored to form again. But the crowd was following fast behind the car and the troops had a rough time of it. Several people were knocked down and I saw one boy, selling newspapers, thrown violently to the ground and his papers scattered to the four winds. . Bayonets Halt Crowd. Then the soldiers drew their broad- knife bayonets, rested the hilt against their body, and pushed the point out- ward, making a formidable wall of cold steel. At last, before this bar- rier of bayonets, the crowd halted. By this time, too, the shopkeepers were patently becoming alarmed and were pulling down the heavy iron shutters before their windows. ke It was evident, too, that something now was about to happen, for behind the cordons the crowds were gather- ing ever and ever more densely. There were now many thousand people in the crowd and every moment more great motor lorries were halting in the square about Trajan's Column and discharging loads of black-shirted and shouting youths. And now every eye was fixed upon the little balcony two stories up and overhanging the street. There pres- ently was a stir and then coolly and deliberately Mussolini walked out fol- lowed by several men, and as he stepped clear of the window and stood looking down at_the thousands, he gave them the Fascisti salute, the udden raising of the left arm half P - {of arms surged up and now at last i famous gladiator had made his kiil, and Cambridge, there is stlll a strong alle- gilance to classical education, and hours every day are devoted to Latin and Greek. But among all the boys who are turned out by our great schools, how many can read a Greek play with any ease or pleasure? How many can read more than a chapter or two of Caesar without a crib? Not one in a hundred thousand. The whole thing is a fetish and a farce, which has no educational value except in rare cases of students who have exceptional genius and industry. There must be something wrong somewhere when one finds that boys who have been to the best schools in the country come away with only a lamentable ignorance of the world's science, and hardly any guidance to the great masterpieces of art and literature throughout the ages. There are admirable exceptions among our public and private schools, but this general statement is, I think, accurate. * k ok X ‘What about elementary education for the masses? It is true that every boy and girl learns reading, writing and arithmetic at the expense of the state. Judging from the accom- plishments of the boy clerk and the girl clerk, before they have been taken in hand during office hours, the state money has not been well and truly spent. Their reading has not made them acquaint: ed with many simple and much-used words; they spell atrociously. They write vilely—with again some admirable exceptions. They, too, have dabbled a little in elemen- tary science, glanced at various subjects with high-sounding names, and learned bookkeeping, shorthand and typewriting at the end of their schooling. But all those great buildings which haveg cost the taxpayers immense sums, all that elaborate equipment of laboratories and class- rooms, all those beautifully produced text books which are put at their service, have failed to produce anything like a good standard of gen- eral knowledge or anything remotely resem- bling a love of learning, a sense of beauty, a good standard of taste, an intelligent judg- ment or a solid foundation of character. * k k% Our national education for the masses is poverty-stricken in its ideals, though lavish in expenditure. Tt does not teach boys and girls how to pronounce thelr own language, which is becoming more and more degraded by Cock- neyisms and all sorts of vulgarity. It does not teach them what to read as well as how to read. They are turned out without any formation of good taste or any revelation of the splendid adventure of knowledge. And because chance of education is given to them without payment, without the need of any sacrifice, they take it as a_matter of course and they do not value it. We are producing a nation of clerks and office boys, glib-tongued, sharp-witted, fairly good at clerical work, but unable to make any- thing with their own hands, profoundly ign rant of real wisdom, utterly careless of the higher range of knowledge, very much inter- ested in the divorce court news, the sensational titbits of soclal scandals, the tidal outflow of cheap sentiment and shoddy ides * X X % This mass-production of semi-educated peo ple 1s having a lowering effect upon our stand- ards of civilization as they may be put to the test by art, literature and popular tsate. One sees the degradation of the drama by the continuous success of musical revues, de- ~vold of wit, filled with the stale humors of so- cial impropriety, badly written, without any attempt at artistic construction, but relying en- tirely on the physical charms of pretty girls who can't sing and the audacities of comic young gentlemen who dance very nicely. One sces the degradation of literature by the enormous output of weak and immoral novels which give unhealthy thrills to the young girls who read them and have no pre- tense to good style, a truthful presentation of Mfe or any intellectual value. Our magazine are mostly beneath contempt, because their editors take the easy way of get- ting big circulations by pandering to the lowest standard of intelligence of the largest number rather than to the good taste and artistic in- stincts of the well educated few. It is a most lamentable fact that in this country, as well as in America, the stage, the cinema and popular fiction are becoming domi- nated by an overwhelming interest in the prob- lems of sex, treated, for the most part, with a levity which is alarming. I am not Puritanical in these things. I don’t believe in the early Victorian method of hushing up that side of life as if it didn't ex- ist. T am all for a certain frankness and fear- lessness. But I belleve also that there are cer- tain limits of good taste and decency imposed by the laws of art itself,“to say nothing of morality, and life anyhow is so full of tempta- tions and weakness, even for the strongest and most spiritual among us, that it isn't fair on youth—or middle age—to be always concen- trating attention on that subject and lossening the ordinary safeguards of the mind by all this morbid, suggestive and non-moral stuff. o * %k k Xk Well, that is the black side of the picture. There is another side, which in fairness and truth 1 gladly admit. In spite of what 1 be- lieve to be the low standard of our national education, there is an increasing number of men and women who are reading the best books rather than the worst, who are taking & more intense interest in the serious problems of life. These groups of people, upon whom our standard of civilization mainly depends, are be- ing enlarged. They are finding recruits in every social class—even the unemployed. . Not long ago I had a letter from a ship- worker on the Clyde who had been out of work for something like four years. He had not wasted his time. He sent me a list of books he had been reading at the public library, and T was amazed not only by the number, but the quality of all these volumes in which he had been searching for truth. Down in the East End of London I have come Into touch with working men and women who have an enthusiasm for writers like John Galsworthy and Joseph Conrad, Thomas Hardy and Bernard Shaw. On the whole, too, I think that this wire. less habit is raising the standard of public in- telligence and taste. It is now not only the concert hall, but the university of the people, and will have, I believe, a very great effect upon our national mind. There are many other agencies at work to give us all more knowledge and better taste. But they are outside rather than inside our educational tem, which needs overhauling and speeding up. (Copyright. 1926.) way, with a peculiar snap, stretchin, it to the angle of an acute accent. Crowd Greets Mussolini. Instantly in the crowd tWousands there burst out the full-throated roar) of the masses. It was something of the cheer that used to greet Theodore Roosevelt in his greatest days, some- thing T imagine of the shout of the Roman crowd when the favorite and HEN } Hippogriff, alighted on the mountain ‘top where was Speaking of the World’s Work Astolpho's Trip to the Moon—The Alien Registration Plan. BY JAMES M. LYNCH. Astolpho, riding the pho's! self. What an opportunity was Astol- For such a chance to serve men I would risk a trip to the moon my- there. His aggressive militarism, {while in control of the government, forced Paderewski to resign. Pade- r#wski had promised the allied pow- ers that Polapd would abstain from any aftempted conquests of addition- {al territory. Pilsudski refused to ablde by this and made an unsuc- cessful effort to add some of the Russian territory to Poland. When his attempt failed, it required the in- terference of the allied powers to prevent the Russian forces from fol- but more than all, I fancy the cheer that greeted Napoleon when he pass. ed on horseback before his old guard on the evening of a famous victory. It was the sjgout of fighting men to a fighting leader, it had all the vol- ume of the cheer which once greeted Babe Ruth when he made a home | run, or the hero of a Harvard-Yale | But in the boundless enthusiasm there | was something else, a note of ferocity, jthe unmistakable not which only | comes when the man cheered is a |leader in the full sense, the hero of | a struggle and of a real struggle. | T had thought to see in Musso- iini something of the theatrical, to see him caught up by the emotion and | passion of the crowd as even the late President Wilson was once on a mem- orable occasion when he, too, encoun- tered an Italian crowd. But Mussolini | was calm, quiet. His face was partly | covered by the white plaster which i protected his nose, the mark of his recent experience. This served to | heighten the effect of darkness his photographs show. Nor was thre any evidence of that physical weakness which has been so frequently sug- | gested. Rather he stood forth, a me- dium-sized, powerfully bullt figure of a man, vigorous, alert and to use the most familiar of all present Italian adjectives, virile. Cheering Drowns Everything. For minutes on end cheering con- tinued, spread down the street, into the nearby square and then in all directions, rising and falling in volume. While it continued, Mussolini waited, quietly, patiently, looking intently down at the sea of faces below him, his own face lighting up with the in- evitable gratification of this tre- mendous tribute. Several times he undertook to speak and each time the cheering interrupted him. Certainly it was 10 minutes after he appeared before the crowd were at last willing to give over their expression of joy at seeing him, and hear him. ‘With his first words, too, one had the immediate and complete sense of being in the presence of a great orator, who knew his audience, his own mind and the impression which he purposed to produce. This voice was only at rare moments audible to me, yet the effect of it upon the crowd was unmistakable. You could see hundreds and even thousands of faces eagerly thrust forward, hang- ing on eyery word and every syllable, lighting " up with pleasure and ap- proval. Never did a speaker seize his audience and carry it off and along with him more completely and more instantaneously. In the midst of the speech, which flowed on smoothly, quietly, but with ever-increasing effect, there suddenly came an interruption. From the fringes of the front some one called: “What about the stranger?” It was a question obviously in all minds; it was a question which producedean in- stant and impressive pause. For a moment Mussolini paused, too. Then squaring himself off, taking something which might be described as a fight- ing posture, an old Rooseveltian atti- tude, he answered in sharp, incisive tones. ~ “Will Face Stranger.” “And it the stranger has to be faced —he will be faced. That is what you wanted me to say, isn't it?” Then a sort of shiver of sheer delight passed over the crowd and once more it burst into full-throated applause, with a new note of passion in it. You had suddenly a startling glimpse of how szaly, the Italians, this new, enor- mously vital and insistent Fiscismo is looking out upon a world in which it believe « ntinued on Third Page. foot ball game scoring a touchdown. ! aly has so far fared badly situated the terrestrial par- adise, a patriarch greeted him warmly, as he was just then in need of a messenger to perform a service on earth. This service, it is recorded by the good archbishop who preserved the legends of Charle- magne, was planned in behalf of the famous paladin Orlando, who was roaming the earth a madman, attack- ing all whom he met, uprooting trees and_performing other extravagances, all because of his wicked and unre- quited passion for a Saracen maiden, Angelica. Heaven had sent the mad- ness as punishment, but was now ready to grant relief. otk e It would be necessary, the patrisrch told Astolpho, to make a trip to the moon in search of the remedy. To that end he ordered a chariot, the same that carried the prophet Elijah to Heaven, and the two were soon soaring toward the moon. Arrived on this planet, Astolpho perceived many marvels. The moon, it appeared, serves as a receptacle for the futile things of earth. 'There he saw great heaps of windy bladders—the remains of lost empires; hooks of silver and gold—the gifts of ambitiolis courtlers to princes; garlands of flowers equip- ped with hidden snares—the flatteries of false friends; grasshoppers that had burst their lungs chirping—the odes and tributes of bootlicking poets to the rich and powerful. * kK Astolpho also saw a great number of small vials, containing a liquor, very light and sealed tightly to prevent evaporation. These, he was told, con- tained the good sense that had es- caped from men. One vial bore the name of Orlando and this was intrust. ed to Astolpho with instructions for its return to the heroic champion. It was quite full. On the shelves were vials bearing the names of men of vast reputation for dignity and wis- dom. Some were nearly empty, some | half full and others almost full. Dis- covering his own name, Astolpho seized the vial and quickly inhaled the contents. For some vears afterward he was accounted a man full of wit and sagacity, but the faithful arch- bishop adds that eventually much of ithe liquor found its way back to the vial. - BY HENRY MORGENTHAU. Former Ambassador to Turkey. The American people have been startled during the last few days at the revolution in Poland. Those of us who know Marshal Pilsudski were not at all surprised at the drastic methods he employed in displacing the government. Pilsudski is a man of very strong and determined char- acter and also of a superstitious na- ture. He told me that about 10 years ago, while he was a prisoner in Madgeburg, a gypsy queen proph- esled that he would eventually be a dictator of Poland. The gypsy found that the lines at the base of his right forefinger formed a perfect star and that that was a sure sign that the lucky bearer would rise to mastery. He told me that he posi- tively belfeves this. and 1 think it in- ,fiuences him in his present attempt T know right now what I would do. T would select the vials of sincere, but sometimes misguided, political leaders and bear them back to earth, {even though they made quite a load. (Nor would I neglect to follow Astol- pho's example as to my own.) Among those to whom I would play good fairy would be the zealous stu- dents of immigration reform, who are erying out for an alien registration law. All these men want is a spy system, patterned after the super-efficient po- lice system of the late Czar of Russia. Under the proposed law_the 5,000,000 foreign residents of the United States would be tagged and card indexed against the needs of the police and politicians. * ok ok X Each foreign resident would be re- quired to register once each year and to report on his progress in American- ism. He would also be subject to oc- casional visitations by bureau agents, bent on investigating his industry, di- versions and his attitude toward his employer. In short, the alien would be always under the thumb of a gov- ernment operated by politicians, whose interest in party affairs is keen. ERE N A companion proposal of the allen registration bill would make any allen subject to deportation at any time after hearing—and the burden of proof would be upon the allen. As an ald to police effectiveness, such a law would be extremely useful. However, the United States has long been advertised as the “land of the free,” and certainly the cause of free- dom would not be promoted by con- stant espionage of a large class of citi- zens. The law would serve also as a precedent for spreading the scheme to y cover all citizens. In addition, it would be costly, cumbersome, unjust and a nuisance. It is really unfertunate that some of those who are loudest in their de- mands for such an enactment are men who have accomplished great good in the handling of our immigration prob- lems. For that reason I am hoping that a modern Astolpho will soon re- store their good sense, which, I am sure, can only have escaped tempo- raril; SUPERSTITIOUS NATURE BACKS PILSUDSKI IN COUP ATTEMPT Was Told by Gypsy 10 Years Ago That He Would Rise to Power and Firmly Believes He ! Cannot Fail. . to secure control of the Polish gov- ernment. Pilsudski is a huge, rather forbid- ding man. He has a big, square jaw that he thrusts out below his thick lips. His face 'is abnormally broad, with high, prominent cheek bones, and his cropped hair stands up like bristles, while his eyes snap from under a thicket caused by his heavy eyebrows that meet across his fore- head. When I was in Poland, Pilsudski scolded me roundly for being there. He deeply resented the interference by the American Governmen in Po- land's_internal affairs. He ‘tlaimed that President Wilson had no more right to send a commission to inves- tigate the alleged pogroms in Po- land than he, as the chief of the Polish State, had a right to send some of his people to our ‘Southern States to investigate the lynching lowing up __their success and march-, ing into Warsaw. The recent de-{ velopments in Poland's affairs show | that Pilsudski is endeavoring to make his assumption of the control of the | Polish government a legal one. He apparently intends to be a candidate for president at the coming election. | He has seen Mussolini in Tuly,! Rivera in Spain, Kemal in Turke: Pangalos in Greece, and the new Shah in Persia, severally take advan- tage of the weakness of their exist- ing governments and usurp the pow- ers and make themselves the virtual | rulers. He sees that this last Po-| lish government was. incapable of | mastering the situation and finds that the agrarians cannot agree with the various labor factions. He knows that none of the leaders have a ma-| jority behind them and he probably | feels convinced that it is his patriotic | duty to assume the relns of govern. | ment and hold them firmly against the weaker leaders of Poland as well as against Germany and Russia. One really must have known the leaders that were supplanted in these other countries, like Italy, Turkey and Greece, and also those of Poland, to fully appreciate the temptation they create for a strong man to step in, stop their drifting and make himself the leader. This is one of the in- cidental stages in the transformation of the various autocracies into democ- racles. . There has been no opportunity in these countrles to train or produce! feaders or experts in the science of government, so usurpation of power by strong men, generally backed or: abetted by the military elements, is | becoming ‘the fashion of the period. | (Copyright. 1926.) 1 Mussolini’s Policy Against Birth Control “Down with birth control!”” shouted the crowd in Tripoli in response to Mussolini’s declaration: “We are a| prolific people and intend to remain prolific.” Italy's net increase of pop- ulation of half a million a yvear is the recurrent theme of the officlal Ital- fan expansion campaign and her de- mand for new colonies. The increase, of course, progresses at compound interest. In 10 years Italy will have nearly fifty million in- habitants. and in 20 yvears a good sixty million, if the present increase is maintained and new openings for emigration are not found. Birth control is not specifically for- bidden in Italy, although it is contrary to the Mussolini policy. The Fascist government no need to resort to legal prohibitions. The love for chil- dren and the craving for them con- tinues strong in the whole race. The political consequences are another matter. g R e e Louvre Loses Curios. A curfous lawsuit has just been con- cluded whereby the Louvre is ordered to give up some priceless art treas- ures and return them to the heirs of the man who was their original donor. The treasures are mostly sarcophagi, statues and vases from Syria, the am- phora of Emese, some Phoenician an- CUBA’S GREAT PROGRESS MARKED ON ANNIVERSARY Republic, Launched by U. S. on Own Resources May 20, 1902, Reaches Enviable Heights in 24 Years. BY HAROLD K. PHILIPS. T high noon on May 20, 1902, the veteran troops of the 7th United States Cavalry stood at attention in the plaza before the anclent palace in Havana and raised their sabers in salute as the emblem of Cuba Libre rose to the | masthead where a few minutes before | the Stars and Stripes had fluttered. Thus, as the guns of an American naval squadron boomed in the harbor, a new republic was embarked upon an uncertain career in the Western hemisphere. Few governments, perhaps, ever came into being under less auspicious circumstances. Only two years before the military dictators of a foreign, blooded aristocracy had ruled it with the whip and sword. It was torn by many more years of bitter guerilla warfare before that. No need to won der that the rest of the world looked on with doubt as the United States granted Cuba's request for freedom and autonomy. But the United States had seen something that the rest of the world knew nothing about. The American Military Governor, Leonard Wood, who now holds the same position in the Philippine Islands, had seen 2,000, 000 souls freed from the yoke of op- pression, filled with the hope and am- bition of their new and dearly earned freedom. The achlevements that have accumulated in the 24 years since Old Glory was lowered from the masthead in Havana have more than vindicated Amerlca’s faith in Cuba. Record Wins Admiration. Last Thursday marked the twenty fourth anniversary of Cuba's inde- pendence. In those few years the patriots who staked their lives in the | insurrection have built a nation that enjoys the respect and admiration of the whole world. Her population has grown to more than 3,000,000 prosper- ous, vigorous people. Cuba set out | with scarcely a dollar in the treasury jbut in 1924 her commerce with the United States alone amounted to $560,000,000. In 1920, during the aftermath of the World War, it was $1,310,245,000. Now, under the leadership of one of the men who fought and bled in the insurrection, Gen. Gerardo Machado, Cuba has set out upon a program of development which, when completed, the island to commerce. Its public buildings will be second to none in the {world in beauty; its highways will thread every section of the country. ated at the cross-roads of the At- lintic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, Cuba is preparing | to bid for the world’s commerce. i The story of Cuba's climb to emi { nence in the New World is a romance | of history. The republic, set in the | azure seas of the tropics, began its | career with a treasury that was vir- i tually empty. But fts patriots had stalwart hearts, visions born of suf- fering and tempered in the terrible | fire of insurrection. And Nature had | endowed the land with rare gifts. Rich Natural Resources. Its climate ascended to the heights of the ideal, plentiful sunshine com- bining_with sufficlent rain to enrich its scil and offer rare opportunities for agricultural development. Sugar was a sure crop, and all the world kne Abajo tobacco. ple, So an ambitious peo- quished foe to the land that was yet to be conquered. Dense tropical forests stood where great fields of rich sugar cane and mellow tobacco were soon to thrive, and the timber line even extended down to areas where mighty indus- tries were destined to turn out prod- uce for the world’s markets. The very spirit and energy with which the people turned to the task created its own prosperity, and almost overnight commerce began to find its way to the docks of Havana. In such an hour Cuba welcomed the co-operation of an American military governor, always looking forward, however, to the day when her free- dom would become complete. Leonard Wood was a highly respected and generally popular governor. With his help Cuba prospered and at the same time learned the first lessons of self- government preparatory to the time ‘when she would pilot her own ship as an independent nation. In four years the treasury had taken in enough money to pay all of the veterans of the \War of Independence in full, and $26,000,000 more lay in the treasury, waiting to be used for badly needed public improvements. Com- merce thrived, and even before the scars of the War of Independence had been erased altogether Cuba's credit was definitely established. Then came the hour when the cup of freedom was filled to the brim. United States Stood Ready to Aid. Cuba had ionged for her freedom for more than a century. There are still some persons who declare that had Cuba been retained as a protege of the United States a little longer—even five years—her position in the world today would be even stronger. But, anxious to see this ideal realized, and possibly irritated a little by insinua- tions against its altruistic motives, the American Government turned the helm over to the newly formed gov- ernment and merely “stood by,” like a true pilot, to make sure that the newly commissioned craft was in the roper hands. P O‘;fly once was the United States compelled to intervene, and then it was only after the President, Tomas Estrada Palma, “had repeatedly re- quested it. Political differences arose which the government was unable to cope with, and a revolution broke out. Even then the United States refrained from physical interference. When the provisional congress and the Presi- dent resigned, however, the American Government was obliged to intervene to prevent anarchy from seizing the reins. ‘Willlam Howard Taft, then Secre- tary of War, and Robert Bacon, Act- ing Secretary of State, were sent from ‘Washington to act as mediators. All efforts at peace failed, and the United States was obliged to assume a more serfous role. The government was continued under the Cuban flag, how- ever, and troops were used only as a passive background to the govern- ment. The revolutionists subsided immedi- ately, and as quickly as possible ar- tiquities and other valuable acquisi- tions which have been looked upon as public treasure for many years. But they were originally given to the Louvre by M. Durighello, then French consul in Syria. An old law says that if children are born in the family of a donor he may provide for the return of gifts to his heirs. Duri- ghello’s will contained some such pro vision, it_was found on his death. rangements were made for new elec- tions. Gen. Jose Miguel Gomez was elected President, and on April 1, 1909, the American troops once more em- barked. That was the last time they ever entered Cuba in their official capacity. At no time since has the new, government shown signs of dis- rupfion, and its stability is now recog- nized throughout the world. Agriculture has thrived. Sugar is will cpen the remotest provinces of | and coveted the famous Vuelta | rid of war and civil strife at last, | turned their machetes from the van- | the main industry of the island, and Cuba supplies the United States with most of the sugar used here. The to- bacco industry of Cuba is another rich source of revenue, and cattle ralsing has become an important occupation Now there is ry reason to believe the hills are about to yleld even richer exports in iron and copper Great quantities of iron ore have heen found so close to the surface that mining expenses are comparatively negligible. In 1902 Havana was an orderly and well managed but terribly crowded city. Today it ranks with the beautt ful capitals of the world. Its park are magnificent examples of troplcal development, and many of its resi- dences are exquisite palaces of marble. Lovely boulevards and avenues thread Havana with arterlal highways. The public buildings are all attractive and substantial, and some are gems of architectural perfection. Havana is nqt a city of cabarets and saloons, managed entirely for the benefit of thirsty and pleasure-seeking Americans, as some persons in this are wont to believe, It ¥, normal community of people, who have the san sions and the same high ideals th: the better elements in this coun profess. It has been termed Paris of the New World,” and becau: of its wonderful climate and enjoy- able life it is fast becoming the “Riviera of the Caribbean.” The achievements of the island re public have furnished added vindica tion to the doctrine of the United States that only as a confraternity of free and autonomous states will the nations of the Western hemisphere at tain their greatest possibilities and win their real triumphs. | Now, under the guidance of Gen | Machado, Cuba has set out to attain | even greater tr s. The govern ment contemplates carrying forward « | tremendous building program. one of | the main features of which will be i proving means of communi making the interior provinces easy of access by motor highway: A great central highway is planned which will bring the principal centers of population and consumption in ready intercommunication. But this is to be done, President Machado has declared, without subjecting the credit of the nation to unjustified and un. | necessarily onerous obligations. Cuba | plans virtually to pay as she goes Then, too, Cuba is looking forward to the day—which the people confidently {believe is coming—when the geo. graphicsituation of I a will make it one of the world's great storehouses from which distribution may he made easily throughout the Western Hem | isphere. | Gratitude for United States Aid. | Nor in preparing to put this pre tentious program into operation has Cuba ever forgotten the nation that helped so generously to make that freedom possible. On his visit to the United States last vear President lachado, in an address in New York , declared that ‘‘the bonds of com mon affection and eterna confra ternity between both peoples were thus irrevocably sealed” on the flelds of Caney, on the hills of San Juan and before In that address the newly elected President outlined in | the following words the spirit of mu tual understanding and respect that xists between the United States and | Cuba—a spirit that. it is hoped. will exist to the same degree of sincerity | between all of the nations of the New World in thegnear future. It is the prophecy of the future toward which the United States is working, together with the states of Latin America. Gen. Machado said: “The recent action of the great American nation in recognizing, by the vote of an overwhelming majority of its Senate, Cuba's sovereignty over the Isle of Pines is a new and evident proof of its purpose to deal justly wi its sister nations of this continent. both great and small, in order to main- tain good will among them and that the incomparable benefits of p 3 may be more and more fruitful avail myself of the fresh opportunity which is offered to me on this occa- sion to reiterate our gratitude to the American people. Tribute to United States Officials. “If the endeavors of the Cuban Am- bassador in Washington, Dr. Cosme de la Torriente, in accordance with the wishes of the government and the hopes of the Cuban people, were crowned with success, it was not only because of the benevolent and just sentiment of the members of the Sen ate, but also because of the rectitude of the very honorable President, Cal vin Coolidge, and of the co-operation of his illustrious Secretary of State Mr. Charles Evans Hughes, and his feminent successor, Mr. Frank B. Kel- logg. Some persons, taking an exag gerated view, may say that we should not be grateflu for what we receive ‘when {t is just, but history has taught us until now by repeated examples that when a people are powerful and are not compelled to yield by neces- sity they are apt to put that which is for their convenience before that which is just. It is, therefore, inspir. ing for the weak nations and for hu manity, which in the end is the victim of the excesses of force, to see that a natlon which possesses power, as you do, voluntarily inclined toward jus. tice. “‘Cuba, which is almost within sight ‘0( the coasts of the United States, but confident of the rectitude of her neigh- bor, whose tendencies are typified by the’ personalities of Washington ardlly i Lincoln, is both able to and desirous of co-cperating with this great Nation toward the realization of the great work of this, the ‘American era.’ The E Pluribus Unum of the United States may find a new and fruitful interpre- tation in this century, when steam and electricity have reduced and dafly shorten all distances. “All the nations of Latin and Anglo- Saxon America, while maintaining their frontiers and their separate in- ternational personalities, may com- bine to develop their wealth and to promote the well heing and peace of their respective inhabitants. With guarantees for territorial rights, with the spirit of fraternal justice to settle differences by means of arbitrators. with tranquillity at home and with re- spect for the obligations required, the nations of this continent may find in thelr own territories and in the United States the material resources for the development of the immense wealth of their lands and their subsoll. Amer- ica, our continent, will thus evidence to the rest of the world how it is pos- sible to realize in a harmonious broth- erhood of nations the high purposes imposed on men by their Creator—to live in peace and to contribute with a common effort toward the progress.”