Evening Star Newspaper, January 9, 1927, Page 47

DECLARES U. S. NEVER HAD BETTER PUBLIC OFFICIALS Yale Professor Denies Course in Polit- ical Science Would Put Higher- Grade Men BY WILLIS J. BALLIN AT onr I official k train! make mon ¢ wisdom. The quality men fn_public life than today. Our Ame 3 has seded beyond the wild dreams of its founders and today i the envy and 1 2l of the world.” Dr. Charle ell, Americ: philosophe TUniversity, w replying to a charge made last week about the condition of our politics by another philosopher—Dr. Will Durant, { the author of the book, “The Story of Philosophy.” Last week Di American democ VER. ding public in college | generally €« and practi nd abili never bette ican democ Durant told me that | cy was a flat polit- fcal failure, because we have failed to elect brains to office. Everywhere, | said the noted thinker, we are ruled | by political bosses, professional poli- ticlans are more than ever our m: ters today, everywhere intelligence ha fled from the hustin; of democracy as from an engulfinz torrent and to- | day iIn the saddles of fools riding mankind. coming from a man of Dr. Dur: tellectual reputation. was startling. I turned to another philosopher for an opinion on the chiarges of Dr. Du-| rant. Dr. Bakewell Questioned. Dr. Bakewell is an impressive per- . He is tall, broad-shouldered, strikingly vigorous and with a rapler- 1ke mind. in his study en 1 knocked &t his door. I found Dr. Bakewell a good deal more than a book-philoso- pher. I found that he had been ac- tive In public life for a good many years and had been a State Senater for two terms. He Lad been deputy commissioner of the American Ked Cross in Italy during the World War. His experience exteaded from books to man, and before I had gone very far in putting my qus to him I felt that Dr. Bakewell was a very practical philosopher. His rotorts to my quer- fes bristled with keen observations on evervday life. Dr. Durant, T said. thinks that we should send our politicians to school. He thinks that if we made our poli- ticians take degrees in government and not permit anv ore to run for office who did not possess a degree that this would solve our problem of getting brains into public office. We don’t let the doctor, the lawyer or the engineer operate at will on the pub- He, Dr. Durant said to me, “why, therefore, should we allow our poli: ticians to continue to be untrained “What do you mean,” said Dr. Bakewell, “by degrees in govern- ment?" “Dr. Durant,” I said, ‘“‘complains about the growth in the difficulties of government, the scientific nature of the many problems confronting the average legislator today and the tre- mendous. lack of any scientific knowl- edge on the part of our public officials who must pass on such scientific prob- lems. Need Men of Vision. “‘Of course,” replied Dr. Bakewell, *“we want in public life able, honest and fearless men, clear thinkers and men of strong intellect; but most of all men of large vision whose contact with realities. and knowledge of hu- man nature and of the practical con- ditions to be met, enables them to dis- cover what is the next step possible to lead us forward to more ideal con- ditions. Often the next step possible is one that leads but a short way in this direction, but if it is the next step possible it is the only step that ‘will lead in that direction at all.” “But should we not secure such men by requiring of all a degree in vernment as Dr. Durant proposes?” asked. “The suggestion is absurd and fan- tastic,” said Dr. Bakewell. “In the first place the people will never abdi- cate in favor of such pretended ex- perts. . Their experience with experts in courts of law is not such as to in- spire confidence in the authority of expert opinion. But in the second place, cloistered training in a graduate school would rather unfit than fit one for practical statesmanship. One can- not learn the game of chess merely by looking at a chess-board or read- ing books on chess, but only by play- ing the game “Similarly, one can only learn the sclence of government by actually playing the game, Finally, there is not, nor ever can be, a coursa of study in government running through a few years which is at once thorough and comprehensive enough to cover the whole field of requisite knowledge. The fleld is vast and one's own little corner where one can gain expert knowledge is very limited. The only result of such graduate school train- ing would be to produce a lot of nar- rowly trained experts, of the kind of men who every day know more and more about less and less. Specialist in Public Life. “From my own experience I should say that generally speaking the most helpless and hopeless and useless man in public life is the narrowly trained spectalist. His vision is restricted, he sees facts in his little corner of knowl. clearly, but (perhaps for S n)'is apt to be filled with a conceit of knowledge in other flelds, that distorts his judgment and makes him inefficient in public life. He 18 apt to be condescending, to talk down to the people and expect them to kow-tow to his assumed superior wis- dom; and he is almost always im patient of compromise, necessary to reach results. We might put it in this way: Every man in public office ought to keep his head in the air, where it | belongs, and at the same time his feet on the ground, where they belong. | The narrowly trained expert may keep his head in the air, but rarely has his feet on the ground " “But_the situation bad,” 1 interrupted thinks that the Senat ple Dick as the most y in eur politics, is only per cent brainy. Moere than that, Dr. | Durant says that we are thoroughly ruled by bosses. and implies that our public men today are nothing more than puppets “Non snapped Dr. his disapproval of Dr, Duran ment showing plainly should sa 90_per cent of in the Senat cher intelligence than the sensational critics of our es 1sting or, despite the fact that our “Senate has lost in popular prestige. Thinks Bosses Necessys “As for ‘bosses,’ they are necessary. You must remeniber that we are run by & party governm This involve party responsibility. This in turn calls for organization which requires manager, who i scornfully described @8 @ boss. \We ean no more get rid of organization and leaders in_politics (call them ‘bosses’ if you will) than can a business prosper without or- ganization and manager. Our so-called eformers’ should get out of their heads the idea that the hoss can be dispensed with, and then b their energles toward se t posi tion good and responsibl fact 8 we have as good bosses as we deserve. If they arc not better than they are, it is because of our apathy end neglect of our civic responsibili ties. Furthermore looks Dr. which te rather Durant many ectual bout 10 ! Ay ce, 1 it 1s not true that those | The | in Charge. our public officia I have served with a good many them and have found them encourag ingly independent. What has im-| pressed me most about our State leg islators is their Intense d to find | thing to do and to do it. ined to be pessimistic, him only compare conditlons as | are today with conditions were—say, 30 vears ago—and | mendous progress that has | hrough reforms introduced as to be almost imper- | i possible ex- | n some Legis: | nd winked | s are mere puppets. of | one is in imples, 30 vears ago latures hribery was open 1. Legislators were recipients of free passes and expensive gifts, which were | reate a friendly atmos- later, measures were in- roduced by the donors. Those days have gone for good. ‘The fact is that | political morality today is on a_higher | level than at any time in our history. | There are, of course, striking in. stance& of corruption in_ individual | public servants. but the wholesale ac- | cusation of present.day public officlals as corrupt s simply silly.” Election of Trained Men. “Why,” 1 asked, “is it that more people with high intellectual training —the kind that Dr. Ditant sponsors— are not elected to office in America?” | “The answer replied Dr. Bake- well, “that people with high intellec- tual’ training do get elected to office, though it is not always the kind of training given in the academic cloi The people have, in general, been wi enough to recognize *he able and fe less leader when they see him, and to | prefer him to either the loud-mouthed | demagogue, or the political quack doc- tor, or to the narrowly trained expert. Furthermore, our bet(er men in public life today are perpetual students of government. Their training lasts not for a few vears in a graduate school, but for a lifetime, and is, moreover, | received from the vantage ground of | actua! contact with affairs and with | concrete problems of government “Dr. Durant thinks that rotation | in office is a besetting sin in our political orgder. Heé thinks that gov- ernment is so complicated today that only a man who stays in office for a| long time can acquire any useful | skill,” T said. Rotation in cffice,” said Dr. Bake- | well, “was approved by Aristotle and | Lincoln as a necessary condition of | good government. Rotation does not | displace the competent legislator or official. Al it does is to weed out the unfit in politics. We have plenty of men who stay in public office for quite long stretches.” Hope of Ending Corruption. “Dr. Durant thinks that if we only made our public officials pass a sci- entific training in.government that this would tend to insure the public more agalnst corruption in govern- ment than where we do not so train our candidates for office. He feels that there is a higher code of moral-| ity among scientists than among poli- ticlans. What do you think of that belief?” T queried. “The records of history are strewn with examples of men of keen and highly trained intellect who were nevertheless notorious for their im- morality both in public and private life,” said Dr. Bakewell. “There is| nothing more preposterous than to| suppose that mere training of the in- tellect will insure sound moral char- acter. Some of the most immoral | men have been the best educated. Caesar_Borgia was no exceptional case. Every one's experience teaches that the educated man is not by virtue of his education more moral than one less highly educated. Char- acter 1s not an affair of the intellect only, but of the heart, or, if you prefer, the will. Just as a man may know all the rules of logic and yet break them all in his own reasoning, s0 he may know all about all the theorids of ethics and yet violate every ethical code in his own con- duct. “No, what we need today s not special schools for politicians, nor any new machinery of government, but rather more loyalty, more devotion, more willingness to serve on the part of the individual citizen, less apathy, a better civic consclousness and a greater willingness to take part in the political life of the Nation—to do the many little and thankless, gnd often discouraging tasks that must be done at the bottom, in the small group, In one's own community, in caucuses and primaries, for what comes out at the top is determined by what we have put in at the bottom.” Servant Girl Problem Arises to Vex Vienna ma | supposed to phere when, Vienna also has its servant-girl problem. - They are fewer by 40,000 than before the war, when there were more than 100,000 servants. Much of the loss is due to the wiping out of Vienna's middle class by the war and inflation. Many people ascribe it ta the progressive city tax, which makes it almost prohibitive to have more than one servant, although servants themselves do not command more than from $8 to $10 per month, For one female servant there is no tax; for two female servants the tax is about $7. For three the tax is $50: | for four, $130; for five, $245; for six, nearly $400, and for nine over $1,000. If there is one male servant the tax begins with $14, and climbs quickly to $1,600 for nine maids and one chaut- feur. If there are two male servants, the tax starts with $100, and is $21300 for nine maids and two male servants. | And for those well off enough to af- ford 10 maids and four male servants, the is $4,400. Hence a large num- ber of servants out of employment, ewelling Vienna's large army of un:| employed. Auto Sales in French | orth Africa Growing nch North Africa fs becoming a | considerable market for automobiles | nd agricultural machinery and im- plements. Already the grain produ tion in Algeria, Tunic and Morocco is such that they can deservedly be lled the granary of France, and the | colonial group is making big efforts {to develop other valuable natural re. | sources, including phosphates, ores, |cork and esparto grass. But industrial life in these three countries is still in its infancy and hence they make big customers for the manufactured products of foreign countries. - During 1925 Algeria alone tmported 1,483 vehicles, valued at more n $2.000,000. ‘The imports in rench North Africa from the United States in that year amounted to 197,- 000,000 francs (the franc is now | around 32 to the dollar), of which 60, 1000,000 franes represented mineral | ot | The exports from the three coloni ched 60,000,000 francs. The Ameri- as | | mal THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. O, JANUARY 9, 1927—PART 2. The Need of Social Blueprints BY HENRY FORD. OST of the things which people say they see are actu- v seen. There is no im- zination about it. The pe: simist who sees things going to pieces is not deluded; he is corr: ly reporting what he actually see The optimist, who sees things soaring up to the helght of perfection, is an equally good reporter: he is not fool- ing us or himself; he sees what he ays he sees But the trouble is, too many people loing all their seeing within too ow limits, and while their reports of what they see are true, they are not comprehensive. There is nothing more likely to be misleading than a field of vision so narrow as to leave out part of the points. It is like se: ing the elephant in so limited a way as to report only his tail or tusks. The nimal appears quite differently In a | comprehensive view. Now all this has an important ap- plication to the many people find thems There are perhaps more minds focu on economic problems than ever fore, more people thinking, or perhaps it is more truthful to say they are wondering about the conditions which have befallen human affairs. * Kk x * true that though we are all lookin a wondering, we do not see very much as vet; but it is still a mighty fact that the minds of the people are focused on their affairs. Formerly we left it all to the govern- ment or destiny: but now the govern- ments have failed us, and destiny is not a thing to take without co-opera- tion. And there is a millionfold more chance of seeing when we are looking than when we are not. That is the attitude of people today; they are looking and presently they will see. Some people see certain things going to pleces. They see correctly. Certain established customs, meth- ods, processes, institutions, tradi- tions, which we have been accus- tomed to lean upon, are undoubtedly going to pleces, and they are going to pieces irrecoverably, too. It is that last element, the irrecov- erability, that strikes fear to many people. They thought that ‘nor- " meant the recovery of the old things, the re-establishment of the old way, the restoration of the old habi- tual leaning-posts. Most people thought of “normaley” in that way, as vesterday come back. But yesterday s not coming back. The old world is dead, dead, dead. It s beyond recovery. God himself will not restore it, and Satan cannot. That is the a-b-c of the new alpha- bet; namely, the old world is dead. Not dying, but dead. The things you see going to pleces are its funeral, its decay. dt is probabl * k k% It people would only learn this ab-c, it would save them from a great deal of confusion. But the point Is this: those who say that everything they see s going to pleces are telling the truth, because their eyes are fo- cused on the things which belonged to the old era. The old era is dead and Is being buried, bit by bit. Every day another fragment of it falls into dus Now if that is all that you see— and it will be all that you see if it is all that you look for—no wonder you have the feeling that everything is going to pleces. But it vou turn around and see what is coming swiftly up behind your back, as you gaze apprehensively into the past, you will get the other half of the field of visio) vou will see the things that are to be. * % ® % Perhaps you have seen the oak take color in company with other trees in BY HENRY W. BUNN. HE following is a brief sum- mary of the most important news_of the world for the seven days ended January §: * ¥ % % Denmark.—In_the recent elections to the lower house of the Danish Parliament the Liberals and Con- servatives made slight gains, while the Socialists and Radicals suffered slight losses, so that the Liberals and Conservatives together boast 76 seats in the new lower house, as against 69 for the Socialist-Radical combination. The Soclalist government, “which had Radical support in the late Parlia- ment,” therefore, resigned and is being succeeded by a Liberal govern- ment, to which the Conservatives have pledged support. ~ Whether under a Socialist “so-called” or a Lib- eral government, Denmark {s per- haps the best managed country in the world, the people enjoying the greatest measure of rational hap- piness. * X% ¥ % France.—Nine of the 13 ministers of the Poincare government are authors, some of real distinction. Poincare himself and Barthou, minister of jus- tice, are members of the French Academy. Painleve, minister of war, is one of the most distinguished sclontists in the world. ~ Herriot's writing includes a delightful biog- raphy of Mme. Recamier, volumes on political science, a pleasant essay in “nature writing” (“The Norman For- est”) and sketches of travel in Ger- many, Russia and the United States. Leygues, minister of marine, has written two volumes of verse and a life of Colbert. Ferriar, minister of the colonies, 1s a Waltonian and has discoursed of anglings. Among the congratulatory messages received by Briand on his return to Paris from Geneva, where he struck an agreement with Stresemann on the vexed business of supervision of Ger- man armament, was one from head- quarters of the National Federation of Republican Combatants, thanking him for his accomplishment and declaring | that the organization heartily backed bis efforts for Franco-German proachement. The French army at present totals about 600,000 men, including 450,000 “metropolitan” troops, or troops sta- tioned in France, and 150,000 troops stationed outside France. Consum- mation of the proposed reforms would cut the grand total by about 100,000 The population of France in 1911 was approximately 38,500,000 Today it is approximately 38,250,000. The above is exclusive of allens, of whom the present total is about 2,500,000, an increase of 1,500,000 since 1911. Note, too, that the figure 38,250,000 includes 1,700,000 added through the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine, a little more than offsetting the total of war doad. rap- Sk e e Hungary.—On November 16 last, the Hungarian National Assembly elected in 1922 was dissolved and a new Parliament, including a House of Commons and a_re-established and drastically reformed House of. Lords, will meet this month. The old House of Lords or Mag- nates had 400 members—that is, 244 re I-an trade, though rather small, yet Is on the ine v Ase every year. taxpaying nosies, 88 high clerics, 50 members nominated by the King, all ate of mind in which | HENRY FORD. ) the Autumn. Then came the rains, and the other trees let go their leaves: not so the oak; only a few did he let fall. Then came the winds, and the branches of the other trees were left ragged; but the oak held most of his leafage. Then came the frost, and all the trees were stripped clean and bare | of leaves; but the oak leaves shriveled a bit and took on the tone of old cor- dovan leather, but for the most part clung to the parent boughs. They are a cheering sight in Winter, those shriveled leaves that defied the frosts of Autumn; they are a cheerirg sight us they defv the Winter's snow and blast. Then Winter begins to wane, and Spring is a promise in the air, and green things begin to appear; but still the oak holds tenaciously to last year's foliage. A little later and the leaves begfn to fall—in Spring. If vou had not looked around upon the earth to see what else was happen- ing there, if you did not know what compensating” work was being done, the Hapsburg archdukes and 16 high dignitaries of state, all holding office for life, except the dignitaries of state, who were ex-officio members. The new House will have 240 mem- bers in six categories. The first cate- gory will number about 38 and will include representatives elected by the former hereditary noble members and those Hapsburg archdukes who have resided five years in Hungary, own land in Hungary, speak and write Hungarlan and are of age. (Of such Hapsburgs there are only four— namely, Frederick and his son, Al- brecht,” and Joseph and his son, Franz). The second category will consist of about 80 members elected for five- year terms by city and rural councils. The clalm of a democratic character for this category (at any rate, as re- gards the near future) is not taken too serlously, as few of the councils have been reconstituted by elections since the war. The third category, numbering 30, will consist of representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and two Protestant churches and two repre- sentatives of the Jewish faith. The fourth category will be com- posed of a dozen or so high digni- tarles of State, including senior judges, the attorney general, the commander in chief of the army and president of the national bank (all ex-officlo members). The members of the fifth category, 40 in number, will be elected by sundry bodles such as the chambers of agriculture and commerce, the stock exchange, the universities, the academies of science and the arts, ote. Half the seats of the category will be refilled every five years. The-sixth category will be made up of a maximum of 40 members desig- nated for life by the head of the state (Regent Horthy) on nomination of the government. The powers of the new upper house will be limited much as are those of the British House of Lords. The reconstitution is seen to be a mqye in the democratic direction, but, like every move made under the guid- ance of Count Bethlen and Admiral Horthy, a very cautious one. Premier, Bethlen has not yielded to the clamor’ for extension of the secret ballot to the rural constituencies. *‘Democ- racy,” says he, “does not fall like a ripe plum into the lap of the peo- ple.” He would postpone such exten- sion until the political education of the peasantry has progressed consid- erably beyond its present stage. It remains to see what really is the tem- per of Count Bethlen, whose tenure of power seems secure for a good time ahead. Is he for gradual evolution toward genuine democracy or is he at ( heart a reactionary? * kK K Australia.—The commonwealth gov- ernment of Australia is about to take over from the State of Western Aus- tralia all of that state north of the twenty-sixth parallel of south latitude (i.e., almost half the state) and to add | it to the Northern Territory, which has an area of about 524,000 square miles and a population of about 4,000 whites and 20,000 aborigines. ‘Western Australia has been unable to find the money to develop her northern half, whence a separatist sentiment in that half finding expres- #lon in a secession league. The area P | most under doom? | one who focuses his vision only on the might well think that at last leaf in the world was about you every to go. e But this is the fact: The leaves that stayed longest, that we had learn- ed to associate with stabllity, those are the leaves that fall before the new leaves appear. In the social order is it not our seemingly most strongly established things that are beginning to flutter down? Are not the most solidly es- sential services the ones that are now passing things will tell you. It is the collapse of the most dominant methods and institutions that alarms most peo- ple. Well, it need not alarm any one. When the leaves of the strongest tree fall, Spring is here. If you will widen rour fleld of vision you will soon see other things springing up to take the place of that which is passing. So you have a choice. You can sit of Western Australia is 976,000 square miles, its population about 333,000. Its capital and largest town is Perth, with a population of about 155,000, The only other towns of any consid- “erable size are as follows: Boulder, 8,200; Kalgoorlie, 7,900; Claremont, 5,650; Cottesloe, 5,400; Midland Junc tion, 4,900; Bunbury, 4.500; Albany,, 4,000; Northam, 3,600; Collie, 3,300. I United States of America.—Radio- phone commercial _service between London and New York was inaugu- rated on Friday with appropriate cere- monles. (Commercial transatlantic cable service was inaugurated 68 vears ago) There was an immediate rush of business, private calls having been booked weeks ahead. Deals to a total value of $6,000,000 were ef- fected through the new channel, on the opening day. Some difficulty in- volving delay has been experienced trom static, but on the whole recep- tion has been distinct. We have here, of course, an epochal advance in the sclence of communications. There is, however, to be sure, room for much improvement. How to neutralize “fading,” that phenomenon of twi- light? “How to eliminate the factor of publicity, that fatal bar to courting by radiophone? On Friday' the House turned down, 183 to 161, an amendment to the naval uppropriation bill proposing “'in face of the President’s advice in his annual message to Congress” an ap- propriation toward commencement of work on three crulsers, authorized by the naval act of 1924, but toward work on which no appropriation had been made. This is a very important development in a business whose larger aspects I hope to set forth in a future issue. WIth the reinforcements recently ordered to join him, Rear Admiral Certainly, as any- | Latimer, commanding for us at Nica- ragua, has, I understand, at his dis- posal 15 vessels and 4,700 officers and men, a strength no doubt adequate “to enable him thoroughly to protect American interests and the lives and property of American and other for- elgn citizens In Nicaragua. The Mexican slant on the situation, 1s, of course, peculiarly interesting. It is of whatever significance you please that our fleet in Nicaraguan waters is within easy steaming distance of Tampico, In the region of which are the most fmportant Mexican oil prop- erties held by American citizens. The Agricultural Department esti- mates that the total value of our most important crops in 1926 was less by $1,148,000,000 than that of the corre- sponding crops in 1925. The value of the cotton crop fell by $581,000,000; that of the corn crop by $263,000,000. It Is sald, moreover that the farmers’ capital fell from $47,000,000,000 in 1920 to $32,000,000,000 in 1925; and that the return on capital investment in 1926 was only 314 per cent. As against the above one is apt to point to the $145,- 000,000 net earnings of the United States Steel Corporation for the first nine months of this year This is the fiftleth year since ‘the ! publication of the epochal work of Josiah Willard Gibbs, entitled “The Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Sub- stances” and it is pleasant to note that European universities and scien- tific socletles are therefore doing signal honor to the ‘memggy of that greaf man. Gibbs was the father of thermodynamic chemistrg, His is tar and look at the fading out of all that made the old normalcy, and you can wall about calamity to come, or you | can stand up and watch the new era come in, looking for your place in its ranks. If you do the latter, you will see an entirely different state of facts. It will not be imagination or mental suggestion or the foolish mysticism of pretending things are all right wheth- er they are or not; it will be fact—the thing that is true, the new era is here. * ok kK A business man in a small town sald 1t all very well the other day. Said he: “I just try to accustom myself to the thought that I have waked up in a new world. 1 don’t know just what kind of world it is golng to be, but I know it is my duty to keep on the watch to find out, so that I may be ready for it. I know there is going to be a new way of salesmanship, and I am trying to find out what it is. I know I shall have to keep wider awake and I am trying to find out on what lines. I am in a new world and I have got to learn about it all over again. The only things that have carried ;ross from the old world into the new ‘0 service and honesty—but you can drop the ‘honesty’ and save time, for when you say ‘service’ you say It all.” That Is the attitude! That man was awake to the fact that the new era 18 here; he wanted to be alert in all his senses when it tried to teach him something. He says he hasn't learned much yet, but he has learned the basic thing, without which he could not learn anything at all; he has learned that the world is new. If that plain fact could be dinned into people’s heads and hearts so that even without understanding it completely it could become the time beat of their think- ing, a great deal would have been ac- complished. . Certainly many things are going to pleces. They ought to! And if you look at them long enough you may get the impression that everthing is going to pieces. You should turn around and look the other way and see the New Era marching up the side of the hill. Then you will see that although the ruin of all our own stupld, inefficlent, unjust and unpro- ductive methods is unavoidable and good, the real cause of their disap- pearance is the New Era, which is pushing them out. While you are looking, be sure and see it all. Almost any one you may chance to meet will tell you that ‘‘something ought to be done” and will assure you that it must be done very soon. But you will travel a long way before you will meet any one with a plan that has a single point of practicabil- ity. *Many plans, so called, are mot plans at all; they are pleasant pictures of conditions as they may be after all the planning, ail the preparatory work and all the constructive labors are done. A blan is not an ofl paint- ing of a complete object; a plan indi- cates the “how" and the “where” and the “what"” of every joist, joint and pillar. You cannot build a house from a charming photograph; you will need a blueprint. o Every thoughtful man has an idea j of what ought to be; but what the world is waiting for is a social and economic blueprint. There is something deadly exact about a blueprint. It is not a speech; it is not a propaganda; it is not a burst of enthusiasm; it is a simple thing of lines and signs which tells you what to do and just where to do " (Continued on Fifteenth Page.) The Story the Week Has Told and away the greatest name in Amer- ican science; he is, indeed, one of the princes of first rank in science. The debt of applied science to his mighty generalizations in the fleld of pure science is simply incalculable. The steel magnates and others, whose fortunes are largely traceable to that imperfal mind, should mark thelr gratitude by presenting an en- downment to Yale with which Gibbs' life was so completely identified. Yale should not consider the world lost be- cause of her temporary loss of foot ball supremacy. After all, Yale's glory is less beholden to achievement in bowl or stadium than to such men as Eli Whitney, Samuel F. B. Morse, and Willard Gibbs in sclence; Kent in the law, Gilman and White in educa- | tion and Fenimore Cooper in literature. By the way, this is the hundreth year since the publication of “The Last of the Mohicans,” and an immense debt of gratitude s owing the man who has preserved forever the smell and feel of the primeval forest in that most beautiful country of the Six Natlons. Clearly a worthy memorial to Fenimore Cooper “indicated.” * k x % Notes.—U. F. A., Germany's and Europe’s greatest film concern, is having hard financial sledding, de- spite backing by the Deut:che Bank and a loan from the Paramount Co. of $4,000,000. A too exuberant expan- sion, it would seem. One hears with pleasure that the elements of friction between the Czechs and Slovaks of Czechoslo- vakia are being'smoothed away. The government of Czechoslovakia is agrarian. Answering an appeal from a certain region of Italy to be made a province, Mussolini declares that he won't make any more new provinces before 1932; but then, says he, “I'll reward those regions that have shown themselves laborous, disciplined and prolific.” I propose for next week a survey of Chinese developments of the pre- vious six weeks or so. The world is now anxiously watching the situa- tion at Hankow, which Is of an ex- treme tenseness as regards the for- elgn residents, especially the British. It is to be presumed that the safety of American residents in Hankow and Wuchang is fairly insured by our naval contingent. A group of American capitalists is undertaking to make the cultivation of sisal a leading industry in Haiti. Economic conditions in Venezuela are reported to be remarkably pros- perous. 5 It is rumored that Brazil will soon®| seek to float a loan of the equivalent of $100,000,000 on either the New York or the London market to aid toward stabilization. é The 1925 output of rayon was 185,000,000 pounds, or about twice that of silk. The United States led with 51,800,000 pounds. After us came Italy, with 80,000,000; Great Britain, with 28,000,000; Germany, with 27, 100,000; France, with 14,4000,000; Bel- glum, with 11,100,000. The 1926 world output is estimated at 245,000,000 pounds. Rayon is made of almost pure cellulose, whereof the most popular source is woodpulp, he- cause of its cheapness. Cotton, how- ever, is a r source. The thread of rayon fnade. from cotton fiber is 25 per stronger than that made from pulp; moreover, cotton is almost of resin, 3 A AUTOIST IS BEGINNING TO DEMAND BETTER LAWS United Drivers Are Backing Bills in 42 Legislatures BY WILLIAM ULLMAN. ORE_ legislation never has been an attractive picture to the too often overregulated automobile owner, but in backing a record-breaking number of bills for {ntroduction in 42 Legislatures this year, he is pursuing a new course. He will seek the sort of legislation he wants. This is the first time, perhaps, that the American car owner has demand- ed wholesale legislation in his own be- half. Heretofore legislation along au- tomotive lines has been initlated by legislators themselves, more or less with a view to regulating the motor- ist, often regardless of whether such regulation was justifiable. Acting through hundreds of strong automoblle clubs and their national afMliations, approximately 1,000,000 car owners will seek various forms of protection in the interest of better motoring, and it is belleved that the result wiil so startle the rank and file of motorists that there will be & new interest in mass action by car owneras and further opportunities to rescind bad laws and substitute sensible ones. Uniformity Is Sought. There are a number of ends which the motorist would attain. Most im- portant of all, he desires uniformity of trafic regulations, warning and safety signs. He recognizes the im- portance of exceptions to any rule of uniformity in order to take care of local conditions. e favors a certain amount of competition between cities in an effort to improve uniform regu- lations, but wants definite assurance that any changes are improvementa. Assurances of success along these lines already have been given the mo- torist through the action of the Hoover conference on street and highway safety. Absolutely perfect results are not hoped for, but a number of influ- ential organizations and individuals are pledged to urge uniformity, and with the united backing of car owners undoubtedly much will be accomplish- ed In this line. One of the important objectives of the motorist is legislation to prevent cheating in oll. For years motorists have suspected numerous evlls in the marketing of inferjor grades of lubri- cants, but it remained for a New York investigator to prove that the chances of getting bad oll at some filling sta- tions were surprisingly great. One of the leading State automobile associa- tions already is committed in favor of a law requiring that all ofl stations post a placard naming the brand of oil and gasoline they sell. ‘Would Protect Parkers. An unusual demand of the motor car owner and user, but one which has grown out of natural conditlons, is some assurance that open-air parking can be indulged without too great a risk. Property damage has become quite a feature of this short-time ga- raging a la nature with a great many irresponsible proprietors operating these parking grounds. Just as there are laws preventing repairers from charging more than $50 for repair work unless the car owner specifically agrees to it when ordering the work, 0 i3 it proposed to pass a law to fix Which Would lability for property damage inflicted at_public parking spaces. Such legislation, it s belleved, wiil encourage stricter control over thess outdoor garages and place them on a better basis. With the public streets more largely given over to moving trafic in the congested centers any control extended to the parking grounds should be strictly in the pe tron's favor. Legislation demanding that all po- lice officers or persons participating in the control of traffic, either on high- way or street, be uniformed probably will be brought to the attention of the varfous State Legislatures during the coming sessions. Many complications have resulted from drivers not know ing the ununiformed person enjoyed police powers, and accidents have re sulted from drivers mistaking persona in citizen garb for unauthorized indi viduals with a_penchant for playing the role of traffic officer. Slow Driving Opposed. The slow-moving vehicle will be the object of considerable legislative ac tivity Upon the recommendation of the average motorist. Already cars are barred from some localities if they are incapable of sustaining a speed of more than 12 miles an hour, but new legislation will be sought to deal with drivers whose cars can_travel tast but who choose to dally along ai speeds that block the highw The motorist simply Is out to get a square deal. He is not convincerk in spite of all the agitation to the contrary, that he ls a lawless individ ual who needs curbing on every side Some of the regulations that have been passed with this thought In the minds of the law makers he is deter mined to overturn as discriminatory. In asking a square deal the motoris: seeks it not alone from the legls! tures. He wants it to include pedes trians and his fellow motorists as well, One of the arbitrary decisions that he resents i3 that which reserves the def inition for “traffic” for the motoris alone. “Traffic,” he maintains, includes everything {n motion on the street and highway. Idea Held Discriminatory. This is recognized in many of tie more progressive centers. Others however, continue to reserve it for motordom and give the pedestrian the greatest leeway. This leeway, the driver declares, is what gets the pe destrian into unfortunate juxtaposi- tlon with automobiles too often. It is discriminatory, he holds, in that It puts the burden of proof in such mis- haps upon the car owner, which 1s contrary to the theory of justice as held in America. Motordom realizes it has become a mighty force. It is aroused to the con- viction that it must have a voice in its legislative needs and concerns. Once granted this voice, it is pre- pared to say it will co-operate more readily in enforcement, because the regulations by which it must abide will be free from many of the seem tngly arbitrary and discriminatory pro vislons that now abound in the varf ous traffic codes throughout the coun- y. BY ROBERT WILBEFORCE, Director. British Library of Information. The report by the recent British Imperial Conference on interimperial relations has been variously heralded as the first sign of the break-up of the empire, the beginning of an en- tirely new, epoch in empire relations, | the charter of the British dominions and even, in some of the anti-govern- ment organs in Great Britain itself, as doing nothing at all but substituting a comma in the title of the sovereign. None of these interpretations is correct. The fact cannot be too fully emphasized that the report is essen- tially a clarification and interpretation of already existing relations. The process in other countries would have |been reversed. There principles would {have first been laid down minutely {and practice would have followed upon the lines laid out for it. But here we have the well known British legal maxim that principles are evolved from practice. Practices established in a multitude of ways in interdomin- ion relation are given definition. As a concrete example, take the establishment of diplomatic represen- tation by individual dominions at foreign capitals. There was, of course, no precedent for this even a few vears ago, but in theory it was well recognized that the dominions po: sessed this right in their capacity as self-governing communities. Now, however, that the Irish Free State and Canada have actually ap- pointed ministers to Washington, the matter is removed from the realm of theory to actuality. The time, there- fore, has arrived to consider the na- ture of the right and to indicate how BRITISH EMPIRE’S FUTURE ROLE FORESEEN IN OPTIMISTIC LIGHT Adaptability to .Clmnging World Conditions Held Proven by Larger Individuality Conceded to Dominions at Recent Conference. its operation by simgle dominione could be reconciled with the diplomatic unity of the empire. o Take again the treaty-making rights of individual dominions already exer- cised by Canada with the United States. One might, at first, be iu- clined to think that such a power would be of a disruptive character The report considers it fully and in terprets it in a manner which suff. ciently safeguards the diplomatic i tegrity of the empire whilst full admitting the absolute freedom of it= component self-governing parts. It has been thought wise in this article to speak rather more of the political resuits of the conference than its economic work owing to the funda mental importance of'interimperia relations. But it must bg remembered that this was only one of many sub jects considered. Even if we had not the bonds of comnron sentiment and tradition, which indissolubly weld the empire together, we should still findi a powerful motive for imperial unity in enlightened sel” interest. In short this imperial conference, like it~ predecessors, must be considered a® a severely practical affair. All other empires, so far as the writer's memory for historical paral |1els serves him, were constructed on preordained lines, and consequently perished from inability to adapt them- selves to changing environment. But this British Empire, on the contrary like nearly everything else English has refused the limitations of written formulae, and will therefors survive by easy adaptation and natural growth, (Continued from First Page.) tion to sallent and pertinent facts. For countries arm and maintain mili- tary and naval establishments with an eye single to the real dangers which are in front of them. ‘The question of communications for the British is very real. The possible dangers from French or Itallan sub- marine warfare, both in the Channel and in the Mediterranean, are very great. They could not be met by an inadequate cruiser fleet, and reduc- tion of that fleet to avold the possible expansion of the American would be sheer folly. It would be just as sen- sible as reducing cruiser strength to suit the situation with relation to the man in the moon. ‘Whether the United States needs a crulder fleet equal to the British is an- other question. It is a purely na- tional problem which must be faced on the basis of the problems of na- tional defense and national interest. The money which would be required is wisely spent if the dangers which are incident to weakness in this branch are great. But the fleet will, in the end, have to be bullt, if at all, on the basis of national interest and the expense cannot be avolded by any effort to obtain limitations in other fleets. One Way to Accord. It is true that a limitation could probably be ebtained based upon the British and Japangse estimate of their own present and prospective needs. Competition could be avoided in this way. But it is open to ques- tion whether both the British and the Japanese would T 0t suggest that real \ U. S. Strength in Cruisers No Concern To Britain or Japan, Says Observer limitation should be based upon present strength, not upon capacity to expand. In this direction we are handicappe! by the arguments which we pressed against both the French and Italians in the Washington conference. There we insisted that they must accept as a permanent ratio the strength which they then had. Now all four nation Britain, Japan, France and Italy, may not impossibly turn the argumen: against us. J But in any event it must be clea: that neither the European states mo: Japan are much interested in the present {ssue. It is purely and simply & question of saving the money of American taxpayers. Such v would be at their expense it in- volved lowering their naval strengti below the minimum necessary for their defense. And in any event there is no incentive to agree, be: cause, no matter how many cruisert we build, we shall not use them against these countries and they know it. And if we try to have a conference, since we want something, since wi cannot get it without the consent of other countries, we shall have ta bargain for it and pay for it—and our ayment will have to be outside of any naval area, for our Navy i not an international menace . an: therefore not an international prob- lem. It troubles a whole lot of old: admirals and young flag lieutenants In the British admiralty, it offers a wonderful fleld for technical discus slon, but it is domestic, not foreign. in its significance. (Copyright. 1037.) . S i