Evening Star Newspaper, February 27, 1927, Page 47

BOARD FACES CHOOSING U. S. WORKERS Fingerprints Big A Commission in Finding Honest Employes. BY EDWARD 1 United States Civil S N these days when crime is recog- | ed as one of our Most pressing | problems, it is well to g.ve more | than a sing thougiht to the | character of the half million or more men and women who assist Uncle Sam in the huge and va-| ried task of carrying on the i tion’s business. It is obviously desirable to have a Federal ploye devote his evenings to se ¢ work or highway robbery =eriously, tor the Government to em ploy eny person whose honesty has | not_been tnoroughly probed. Every day in the vear and other dishonest persons strive to | enter the Government's employ where | they can expand their activities from petty larceny or burglary to the wholesale operation of stealing valu- able mali or robbing the public funds. Bribes offered for Government positions range all the way from a carton of cheap cigarettes to several hundred dollars. Faith in Humanity Firm. Forty-four years of dealing with men and women, during which it has examined more than 5,000,000 of them, hasn't destroyed, or even shaken, the faith of the United States Civil Service Commission in hu- manity. On the contrary, the com- mission's experience has been that most people are honest, some of them even to the degree of absurdity. Are Government employes honest? One might as well ask if the Govern ment itself is honest. The integrity of the letter carrier. a type of Federal employe with which everybody is fa- miliar, is proverbial. He comes and goes as a friend. Yet the trusted letter carrier might well be a desper- ate criminal, even a fugitive from jus- tice, were it not for the precautions which are taken in hiring him. 3 The confidence of the general public in its emploves is seldom misplaced. Companies which bond postal em- loyes say that the claims issued on Eond.! of this type are much smaller than those made in the case of fidelity bonds generally. If this were not true, they point out. postal bonds could not be written at the low rate that prevails. Character Searched. More than 50 per cent of all Gov- ernment positions are in the postal service, which, Incidentally, is practi- cally self supporting. Because of the nature of post office work, particularly searching tests are made of the char- acter of applicants for employment. ‘As the first step in Investigating the character of applicants for postal positions, the Civil Service Commis- mion sends confidential inquiries to former employers, school teachers, and others who may be in a position to furnish helpful information. In a group of 1,000 prospective Federal employes in Chicago, 62 were dis- qualified as the result of information disclosed in answer to these inquiries and information was obtained with respect to a number of others which was of great value in making selec- tions for appointment. The fingerprinting of applicants for postal positions in large cities, a com- paratively recent innovation, discloses & number with criminal records. Ar- rangements have been made to take fl nts in New York City and Chicago, and it is probable that the system will be extended to other large eities In the near future. Eliminated By Records. One hundred and ninety-nine appli- eants for postal employment in Greater New York and Chicago were eliminated from consideration last year when fingerprinting disclosed they had criminal records, although they had denied them. Fifty-three had been convicted of larceny, 19 of robbery, 3 of gambling, 1 of murder, 22 of assault, 23 of disorderly con- duct and 78 of miscellaneous offenses, all of actual record in the courts. It is significant that about 17 per cent of the persons who pass the mental tests fail to report for fingerprinting. A striking illustration of the value of fingerprinting was experienced in the New York City Post Office during the Christmas rush, where the weed- ing out of applicants for temporary ‘employment by means of the finge: rint system reduced mail losses fully gfl per_cent. In Boston startling results have followed the checking of names of aspirants for Federal employment with the index of residents of Massa- chusetts who have court records, which is maintained in the State Pro- bation Office. One applicant who wrote a beautifully rounded “No” in answer to the query in the appli- cation form regarding court record had no fewer than 37 arrests against his name. Another similarly “for- getful” person had 29. Several were found to have as many as 15 or 20. Practically every crime and misdemeanor imaginable was repre- sented. Nine hundred and twenty ap- plicants for Government employment living in or near Boston were found to have lied with respect to the ex- istence of court records. Field Narrowed Down. ‘Bach successive step which the Civil Service Commission takes in the | investigation of character is marked | by a number of eliminations. The field of eligibles is being constantly narrowed until finally it may be said | | { BENNETT. rvice Commission « criminals to include only those who are in all probability honest. In addition to the methods described, others which may be available and desirable in par- ticular cases are followed. The need of such elaborate pre- caudons as fingerprinting and ex haustive search through criminal| records is confined to large cities. In| small communities the lives of appli-! cants are ordinarily open books to the postmaster and to members of | the local civil service examining | board. These local examining boards | represent the Civil Service Commis- sion in more than 4,000 cities and towns throughout the country. They stand ready at all times to make in-| vestigations and because of thel familiarity with local people and con ditions often discover evasions and; misstatements which might otherwise | ercape detection. i Besides handling mail, Government employes perform a_great variety of other tasks, all of which demand workers who are not merely honest but faithful as well. The Govern ment’s “servant problem” is by no means a simple one. The United States Civil Service Commission in meeting the personnel needs of the Federal service is required to hold | examinations hundreds of posi- lons, ranging a y from an-| atomist to zoologist and including such unusual occupations as xylotom- ist, forest ecologist, nematologlst and windtunnel mechanic. Salesm ne Years. What do you thizk of a vouth in the early iwenties who has charge of an Important office with a ore of employes under his supervision? Rather unusuai? The Civil vice | Commission thought so. and was still further surprised when, caleulating | n the number of years which this ptain of industry” claimed in vi rious business capacities, it arrived at the astounding conclusion that at the tender age of nine he had heen employed as a traveling salesman by la HUGE JOB i(l tofi(livil Service | { 1 ] | hardware concern. In- | disclosed a few v clerking at $18 a week as the total of his experience. Iis name went on the “barred list,” or voster of those who by their own dish had forfeited the right to compete in civil service examination Applicants te about age, education, experience, physical nmu-] lon, residence, and. in fact, practical- Iy everything concerning which the ave questioned. They forge recom mendations and medical certificate: ume new identities, and submit | zinal” theses in the form of ver-! wholesaje ves!igation sty | rthplace, | o batim copies of published works oc- | casionally having the effront copy from Government Some who pass the application stage | fully make the mistake of ing in the examination room, notwithstanding the express warn- ing printed on the little blotter with which each candidate is supplied The commission has in its files a large number of books, slips, papers and other exhibits taken from com- petitors caught in the act of cheating. Weight Schemes Detected. Many ¥ to attain weight require- ments by illegitimate means. One competitor, who to all appearances had just visited the mint, had in his pockets a small fortune in silver dol- lars, the weight of which was just suflicient to induce the scale to reg- ister the avoirdupois for which he was striving. Another tried gold dust. Still another was found to have two window weights suspended under his shirt from the ends of a cord, which encircled his neck. He ex plained confusedly that he had just purchased the weights and was mere- Iy carrying them home in the most convenient way. Leaden belts, shot- filled vests and other paraphernalia are found from time to time. A court record does not necessarily bar a person from Federal employ- ment. Where a candidate tells the truth, his case is given every pos- sible consideration. The fact that a man has a court record may, of course, mean much or nothing. No general rule is followed in disposing of cases of this kind, but each one is decided strictly upon its merits. Persons who attempt to enter the Government_ service by illegitimate means and those who abet them in such an atempt are liable to prosé- cution under the Criminal Code of the United States. In flagrant cases fines and sentences of imprisonment have resulted. “Barred List” Growing. The “barred list” grows with every vear. When a person is barred from | competing in e civil-service examina- tions cards bearing his name, perti- nent data, and the nature of his of- fenses are dispatched to all points in the country where applications are examined for approval. These cards are maintained in a permanent index. to publications | business { run the cor } 100 many Jof comn S J. BALLINGER. ge of the radi- business men is ome ¢ ator tha erica like lenst to face— the charge that the ownership | of wealth in America is concen- | trated. But Alfred P. Sloan, jr., presi “ dent of one of the three largest cor- | porations in the world, was willing to | tackle this traditional bogey of owner- | ship concentration in the United States | nd to point out that the danger that | faces today Is not so much | ownership, but lack | of the stock | who actually | concentration of of such a concentrati in the hands of those tions. of ownership, certain degree the only safeguard | against the inefliciency resulting from | cooks having their fingers | nd and direction n the pie | oan fs among the | ‘e of doubt about | the movement of employe | ownership of our corporations and to | 'detect a very deflnite limit—a border line where numbers of owners would imperil efficiency-——a condition where our corporations might be turned into playgrounds for owner-politicians and a situation where the notorious para- | lyzing consequences of democracy and politics on_efficien would be intro- duced into business. P Concentration to alf of product first to 1 the heralded Somewhere in a book about the prince of industrialists—Henry Ford— I read about his famous scrap heap of executives composed of men who were all in from the terrible pace demanded of them from the enormous business of Mr. Ford. Somewheye else I ad that the tremendous strain imposed on the modern business man is taking a frightful toll in the short-livedness of our American executives, Mr. Sloan impressed me as a man working under terrific pressure. I found out that he spends half his time in Detroit and New York. Every minute of his day is claimed by in- tense concentration on_difficult prob- lems of corporation policy or an ex- acting drudgery of routine administra- tion. And Mr. Sloan himself—a tall. lank soft-spoken gentleman of 51, with a long aquiline nose (wasn't it Napoleon who said, “When T want difficult work well done, find me a man with a long nose?”) and a smile of tremendous hu- man sympathy “Pity the poor laborer” ought to be revised to read “Pity the poor execu- tive, who works after hours and be- fore hours, lives a life that too ofen speedily exhausts him physically and mentally and casts a man frequently in his prime on the scrap heap of used-up executives.” * ¥ kK The enormous scale upon which business is now done, Mr. Sloan be- lieves, has not only changed the methods of industrial management, but it has also brought about an entlrely new conception of the rela- tion of business to the public. There was a time when corporations of large size were so new that it was natural for the men who created them to feel that they owned them in the old sense of private ownership of a purely personal business. They re- sented the idea that the public should Recently, after having been barred from examinations, a mechanic filed applications for Federal employment successively under six aliases and at three different points, but was de- tected every time. He finally gave up in disgust. Upon presentation of evidence that for a certain time a person debarred from examinations has conducted himself creditably the Commission may consider restoration of the privilege of competing for the Federal positions. During the last year the names of approximately 1,700 persons were add- ed to the barred list. In addition to these, applications from a number of persons who admitted having criminal records and from others who were found unsuitable for various reasons were rejected. Even burglars with years of experience find it hard to break into Federal service nowadays, for the United States Civil Service Commission spares no pains to make the Government burglar-proof against the invasion of the criminal and dis- honest element. The very vigilance which is exercised in guarding against the entrance of the unfit discourages attempts on their part to secure Fed- eral positions. 40,000 Engaged Yearly. Forty thousand men and women, recruited from every State in the Union, pass annually through the wicket leading to Federal employment. These are appointed from among the quarter of a milllon who compete in examinations. On this small army of neophytes, which represents the turn- over caused mainly by deaths, re- movals, resignations and retirements, the searchlight of investigation has been turned and their records have stood the, test. Those who experience difficulty in finding one or two trustworthy serv- ants can sympathize with the United States Civil Service Commission, which wrestles with the “servant problem" of the largest employer in the world— Uncle Sam. This commission is confronted with the troublesome task of finding yearly 40,000 employes who must not only be capable of carrying on efficiently in hundreds of various kinds of oc- cupations but must be honest and faithful as well. New Uses for Cotton Now Being Sought jute products are put. It is a somewhat peculiar situation when the cotton in- dustry itself uses imported jute in wrapping cotton bales. In 1926 the United States paid nearly $15,000,000! for raw jute and jute butts, and it| paid $82,000.000 for burlap imported from abroad. This country in the last calendar vear paid $6,157,000 for im- ported bagging for cotton bales as compared to $3.473,000 in 1925, It has been estimated that if cotton cloth were used for covering the raw staple, it would require 2,000,000 bales of cot- ton to make this cloth each year. It is in the industrial uses of cotton that the greatest hope of those in- terested in studying increased con- sumption is placed. 1t is realized that the so-called home uses of cotton are practically static. As a matter of fact, household use of cotton on a per capi- ta basis has been decreasing. It is only because of the enlarged industrial uses of the staple that per capita con- sumption as a whole has not declined, Experts will begin immediately to givg attention t5 an intensive study of every industry, trade, art and pro- fessfon in an effort to discover new fields for the use of cotton, calling not only upon trade statstics, but upon laboratories. The cotton industry very apparently is entering upon an era of self-analysis and aggressive effort to help itself which promises to become felt in every section of the country and, directly or indirectly, in the life of every individual. . CHIEFTAIN ALFRED P. SLO. be told anything about their business, just as much as they would have Tesented the idea that the public should be told anything about their Intimate family life. ‘“The public be damned” was a natural enough reac- tion of these pioneers in corporation management. A “Corporations are no longer aloof.’ said Mr. Sloan, “to the suggestion that they give public accountings of themselves, because of the fact that our corporations today are in the process of being owned by the people.” pet A “Few people know it,"” 1 interjected, “but American business is going through a process of socialization | without socialism. Ever since the | Communist anifesto the radical | agitator has railed at the entrepren- eur who has seized from the crafts- man his tools of production. Today the entrepreneur remains—but he is no longer a creature of flesh and blood—or blood and iron, as some have been pleased to picture him. He has | become an impersonal organism—the corporation. The organism retains possession of the tools, but is falling into possession of the worker due to customer and employve ownership. This amounts to a social recapture of the tools by the worker and also ex- plains why the modern corporation is far on the road to conducting its business with glass pckets, as Pier- pont Morgan predicted they would.’ AR & “This ownership of our corpor: tions by the worker,” Mr. Sloan continued, “and the public has been growing at a tremendous pace. 1 need only cite a few examples. Once business’ was charged with being in the grasp of a few ruthless oligarchs. As a noted writer on business has said: ““‘One need not have a gray beard The Story the BY HENRY W. BUN HE following is a brief summary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended February 26: s Great Britain.—The British govern- ment has sent to the Russian govern- ment a sharp note of protest, inviting attention to ‘‘continuous breach” by Russia of the Russo-British lrad(: agreement, particularly in T spect o5 anti-British _activities (pro) andist | and other) in Chfna and in connec- tion with the British coal strike. The note ends thus: “The British government consider it necessary to warn the Union of So- viet Socialist Republics in the gravest terms that there are limits beyond which it is dangerous to drive public opinion in this country and that a con- tinuance of such acts as are here complained of must sooner or later render inevitable the abrogation of the trade agreement, the stipulations of which have been so flagrantly vio- Jated, and even the severance of or- dinary diplomatic relations.” * k k% —Following like action by the Frle‘:gl government, the Italian gov- ernment has replied unfavorably to President Coolidge's memorar'.du:; suggesting that the governments heE United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan empower their delegates at the forthcoming meeting at Geneva of the preparatory disar- mament commission, ‘“to negotiate and conclude at an '.amy dmel an greement further limiting naval ar- riments, supplementing the Wash- ington treaty on that subject and cov- ering the classes of vessels not cov- ered by that treaty.” ke the French note, but with less m—l;x s, the Itallan note declares that the question of further limitation of naval armaments ought not to be dis- sociated from questions relating to Jand and alr armaments, and that limitation should apply to all powers possessing navies (“further measures applying to five great naval powers only” are not to be desired), recalling in the latter connection that “the example of Washington has not been accepted by the smaller powers and that {he conference held in Rome in | 1924 with a view to extending the principles of the Washington treaty fo powers non-signatory thereto did not meet with success. With what significance you please (Mussolini is generally thought to lack enthusiasm for the League), Mussolini omits mention of the League of Nations. (Solicitude lest the procedure urged by President Coolidge should prejudice the author- ity of the League was the main con- sideration urged in the French note.) There was about the French note of refusal a certain philosophic air of disinterestedness. Not so of the Italian note, which is chiefly remark- able for the engaging frankness with which it urges considerations pecu- liar to Ttaly. The Italian government believes that there are peculiar and powerful geographical considerations to justify its refusal to acquiesce in President Coolidge’s “suggestion.” Attention is invited to Italy's “enormously long coastline, with populous cities and vital centers at short distances from it,” her “two large islands (Sicily and Sardinia) and the Dodecanese Archi- pelago, bound to the peninsula by lines of vital traffic”; her “four im- portant colonies, two of which (Eritrea and Somaliland) are beyond the Suez Canal”; her dependence for supplies on unimpeded navigation through the Straits of Gibraltar, the Suez Canal and the Dardanelles. Italy —must frame her naval policy with reference Chasing the Seasons. From the Hamilton Spectator. The girls are wearing straw hats, we notice. The first thing they know the styles will be so far advanced they will have caught up with the seasons again. to those ‘“other states (no doubt France is particularly glanced at) which are in peculiarly favorable po- sition for threatening her essential lines of communication or which have under construction many naval units of varfous types or are elaborating wval programs of great _ll}porh.hq_n“ The Japanese government cordially accepted the President’s proposal. Comdr. de Pinedo's great feat of supervolating the Atlantic was some- what marred by circumstances beyond his control. Finding it Impossibié to take off from Bolama, Portuguese Guinea, with his required load of fuel (for a curlous technical reason relat- ing to the intense tropical heat), he flew to Porto Praya, Cape Verde Is- lands, with a reduced load, tanked up there, and, after several unsuccessful attempts, finally took off thence at 1:10 a.m. on Tuesday for Natal, in Brazil. At 2:45 p.m. he was over the Island of Fernando Noronha and pro- ceeded on. But a contrary wind slowed him down and vividly pre- sented the peril of fuel exhaustion, so, after a_space he turned and flew back to Fernando Noronha, where, with the aid of a Brazilian ship, he anchored in the harbor at about 5 p.m. The dispatches convey the im- pression that ,without such aid_the machine would have been wrecked. As it was, she sustained considerable damage. On Thursday the com- mander flew to Natal. « The distance from Porto Praya to Fernando Noronha is_about 1,430 miles, and thence to Natal is about 270 miles. The non-stop flight of Capt. Alcock, in 1919, from Newfound- land to Ireland (1,960 miles) continues to be, for several reasons, the supreme classic of supra-Atlantic fying, but Comdr. de Pinedo has apprecably added to an already great reputation. * X X % China.—On February 19 an agree- ment respecting the British conces- sions at Hankow and Kiukiang was signed by Eugene Chen, forelgn minis- ter of the Chinese Nationalist (Wu- chang) government, and Mr. O’'Malley, British charge d'affaires at Hankow. The agreement provides that on March 15, the British munieipalities at Hankow and Kiukiang shall be converted into Chinese municipalities, the administrations whereof shall be In general modeled on those of the old British municipalities, but with Chinede instead of, as of old, British representation preponderating on the municipal councils; assurances, of course, being given as to safeguard- ing of British Interests. Simultane- ously with the signing of the agree- ment, interesting mnotes were ex- changéd. Mr. Chen reasserted - the claim of his government to represent all China and its resolve to recover Chinese sovereignty in toto, while redeclaring its intention to use nego- tiation rather than force to secure its ends with respect to the foreign powers. Mr. O'Malley declared that his government does not recognize the Chinese Nationalist government’s claim to represent all China, and in precise terms reserved his gov- ernment’s right to use its military and naval forces in whatever ways it SOUNDS WARNINM Business orators have been boasting about the manner in which stock ownership has been diffused in this country and how the ownership of corporations has been coming gradually into the hands of an army of small investors. Now the head of perhaps the largest industrial organization in the world—the General Motors Co—is the first big business man ' to liit his voice against this. Mr. Sloan in the accompany- ing interview points out that stock diffusion has gone too far and insists that business re- examine itseli in order to have responsibility in management fortified and strengthened and steadied by actual ownership of stock. He fears an era in which the American's weakness for politics will make itself felt in our busi- ness corporations. s were just t of certain to remember when railroa instruments in the tool picturesque adventurers. “Yes,” I sald, “Willlam K. Vander- bilt once boasted that he owned 87 per cent outright of the stock of the New York Central, and thissboast led to a State investigation. “The Great Northern at one time was a sort of registered trade name for James J. Hill. It was not long ago when six men owned more than 51 per cent of the Standard Oil Co. “But today contemplate the increase in owners of our corporations. The Great Northern, over which the great figure of James Hill once hovered, has 44,905 stockholders—the 20 largest of them hold a little more than 10 per cent of the stock and Hill's son, the president, is not among them. “In the New York Central, where Vanderbilt once owned nine-tenths of all the stock, the Vanderbilt family now owns only about 6 per cent. The dominant figure is George F. Baker and his holdings are but 57,530 shares out of 3,048327. One hundred and forty-five thousand persons today own the Pennsylvania Railroad. = Two decades ago-the General Electric had only 3,000 owners. Today it is owned by 36,000 stockholders. The public utilities of the Nation are owned by 8,000,000 or 9,000.000 stockholders. “The corporations today are being owned by the people. But what about the charge of the agitator that we have a menace of wealth concentra- tion in this country which is eating like @ canker into the heart of social stability * ok k% “Our problem today is not so much one of wealth concentration as it is of wealth diffusion,” replied Mr. Sloan. | "It is the small investor that is af- fording the sinews for production for our corporations. For instance, if every man in the Nation with an in- come of over $50,000 a year were to put the whole sum into a great pot the total would be but little over a billion and a half. If every income over $10,000 were to be piled up the total would be about. $6,000,000,000. But it we take the incomes under $10,000 a year and pool them we get a gigantic total of about $40,000,000,000. The wealth of the Nation is very widely diffused. And this is ], ng up to a very important problem for our cor- porations. ® - A “We are experiencing a tendency to diffuse stock ownership to a peint where it affects the efficiency of man- agement and the responsibility of the corporation. There is a point beyond which the diffusion of stock owner- ship gnfeebles a corporation by de- privink it of virile management upon the part of sgme cne man or group of men to whorh its success is a matter of personal and vital interest. At the same time the public is unable to lo- cate some tangible personality within the ownership which it may hvold re- sponsible for the corporation’s con- duct. “We are deliberately averting such a conditlon in General Motors. To- day, while a large part of our stock is owned by over 50,000 stockholders, the remainder is actually owned by a very small group, This small group regard the smaller stockholders fully as partners in the enterprise ahd has full regard for the happiness and health of our 175,000 employes, but they constitute a buffer to the, nroads of democracy in business and’give to General Motors a concentrated owner- ship that sareguards efficiency. “In this small group of people who control General Motors are the senior executives who must formulate our big, broad policies and direct their execution. They are directly ('lvd un with the success or failure of G eneral Motors in which they form such an important part, and in addition to this they have at stake a personal invest- ment of a substantial amount repre- sented by stock ownership. It is only fair to recognize that irrespective of the important contribution to the cor- poration’s success a tremendous re- sponsibility rests on the major execu- tives who must take the responsibility of formulating policies and directing the corporation’s affairs. Men must be available who have initiative, perience and ability. It is believ d that the best results will be obtained if these men have a definite financial investment in the success of the cor- poration as a whole.” ERE “I gather from our talk, Mr. Sloan.” I said, “two points—business today is in the good graces of public opinion— 150 much so that we can look forward to an era of great prosperity. Instead of having a dangerous problem of wealth concentration in business today, as the radical agitator would have the people believe, we are realiy faced with a serlous preblem of such a wide diffusion of the ownership of our corporations by millions of small investors that unless we begin to regulate and control such diffusion of ownership it may have very detri- mental consequences on the efficiency of business.” To this he agreed. (Covyright. 1927.) eek Has Told might consider necessary toward protection of British lives or prop- erty in China. Now, since Mr. Chen alleged the British naval and mili- tary dispositions anent Shanghai to be the cause of his delay in sign- Ing the Hankow-Kiukiang agreement, his signing, at last, of that agree- ment may properly be interpreted as implying acquiescence in the British reservation. The following observations upon the outcome of the long negotiation between Mr. Chen and Mr. O'Malley seem appropriate: That moderation has gained the ascendant, at least for the present, in Kuomintang counsels; that British prestige has not been impaired, but to the con- trary has markedly been enhanced, by the agreement and understandings, it being fairly apparent that the moderate Nationalists, having re- gard to the future, are eager for friendly relations with Britain, though, of course, ith the least possible loss of “face” to themselves. and that Mr. O'Malley has proved him- self a great negotiator. It was up to Mr. O‘Malley to make in the name of his government certain con- cessions which that government was very willing to make on large grounds of equity and which happened to coincide with immediate consider- ations of expediency, and he must make those concessions without detriment to - British prestige’ and without prejudice to the present position or the prospects of British trade in China. Mr. O'Malley has triumphed: in seeming. And, indeed, I feel fairly confident that the general British policy, which ig being pursued with intelligence, magnanimity and hu- morous aplomb, will triumph in the end. But as regards the immediate future, it is by no means certain that Mr. Chen can make good on his promises in face of the Nationalist wild men. The Shanghai strike, organized by Nationalist agitators, which began on February 19, and in which at its peak something over 100,000 workers par- ticipated, was intended as a kind of rehearsal, and reflects credit on the technique of the organizers. Sun Chuan-Feng's chief of police, however, had a Roland for the Oliver of the agitators. He sent about the Chinese city (not, of course, the foreign set- tlements) “‘execution patrols” of sol- diers, each followed by an executioner with a broadsword. These patrols, when they saw a native who seemed to be agitating, seized him, and the executioner plied his sword; no trial and no time wasted on fussy exami- nation. This procedure appears to have spoiled the strike, which was called off on Thursday. ‘Wu Pei-Fu's doings and intentions are still swathed in mystery. Ap- parently he still holds up the advance of Chang Tso-Lin's forces through Honan against Hankow. One report Parents Often Shape Child’s Personality Without Being Conscious of Process How parents shape the personalities of their children for good or bad by simple methods is explained by Dr. Leslie B. Hohman, psychiatrist ot Johns Hopkins Hospital. Parents should know that th- bul ing up of emotional patterns in chil- dren is not in the hands of whimsical fate, Dr. Hohman declared. The emo- tional adventures of young children, which become so firmly established into life patterns, are built up -by methods that may be easily under- stood. A baby is born with the simplest of emotional equipment, the speaker pointed out. It shows signs of anger if it is held so it cannot move, and it shows fear if its ears are assailed by a loud noise or if it feels its support slipping from ft. “Fear of anything can be aroused In a child by assoclating it with a loud noise,” Dr. Hohman explained. “If a baby's blocks are given to him Just as he hears a big dog barking outside he will be frightened. Not knowing the cause of the sound, he may become afraid of building blocks. Fear of cats, furry objects and even of goldfish may he established tirmly in a young child by just such asso- ciations.” The child who developed a terror of goldfish by watching them while a thunder storm was in progress was retrained to like these pets, the ‘psy- chiatrist showed. The child’s meals were given to him, with the goldfish at a cautious distance in the same room. Gradually he became accus- tomed to seeing them, and they did not thunder at him, and in time his fear vanished. “We are apt to regard a child as naturally willful, or sullen, or day- dreaming,” he said. “But if the emo- tional patterns are inherited, they can be shaped or changed almost at will, and we will have to become used to his lot with the Nationalists requires_confirmation. tion of Hangchow Sun Chuan-Feng (Lord of Shanghai) made a stand at Sungklang (on the Whangpoo), about able position for defense. was, it seems, in part due to treachery Tuchin of Shantung, to send him re- inforcements, not only promised, but even paid for in advance. There is little doubt that Chang hoped for Sun's defeat as affording a pretext for occupation by himself of Shanghai; it is even hinted, plausibly enough, that he inspired the treachery of Sun’s subordinates. At any rate, Chang is now Lord of Shanghai, hav- ing made a very rapid advance thither via Nanking, and report has it that 40,000 of his troops are at Sungkiang on the line established by Sun Chuan-Feng. Presumably he has taken command of the remnant of Sun's army. Some reports have it that Sun has patriotically placed his services at Chang's disposal; others, that he has gone into retirement. The latter seems the more likely. A clash between Chang and the Na- tionalists is momentarily expected. Within the week 800 more British troops (of the British Suffolk Regi- ment, from Hongkong) were landed at Shanghai, French and Italian marines were landed and there ar- rived in the Whangpoo five Japanese warships (a_cruiser and four destroy- ers) with 300 marines aboard, four United States destroyers and the transport Chaumont, carrying 1,200 American marines. * K ok ok United States.—The President has vetoed the McNary-] - lle;_hbllL ry-Haugen farm re. e President has signed the Me- Fadden branch bflnll{lngg bill. = On Thursday the House reversed its actlon of January 7, by voting an appropriation toward commencement of construction of three cruisers authorized by the naval act of 1924, but toward construction of which no appropriation had been made. The naval appropriation bill carrying an amendment 1o the above effect is now in_the President’s hands. .Rsnresenlallves of the United Mine Workers of America and of operators in the “central competitive field” were in conference at Miami from February 14 to 22, with a view to an agreement to supersede the unhappy Jackson- ville agreement, but failed to come to terms. It is, however, expected that the difficulties will he patched up be- fore March 21, the date of expiration of the Jacksonville agreement, settle- ment by districts seeming probable. A note from the British charge d'affaires at Managua to our Minister there contains the following interest- (ngIm&:.‘ter:bse “In the absence of guarantees f the Nicaraguan and United St:e"u‘ governments for the protection of the lives and properties of British sub- Jects in the event of further street fighting, incendiarism and pillage, in the threatened districts of this re- public, his Britannic majesty's gove ernment are reluctantly contemplating the dispatch of a man-of-war to the western coast of Ni o The action contemplated has been taken. Our Government has been notified through Ambassador Howard that the British man-of-war has been dispatched for moral effect and to serve as a refuge for British subjects, should such be needed. “It is, of course, not intended to land forces.” On February 21 the House passed, 259 to 43, the Porter resolution pro- posing certain negotiations with the Chinese, the which resolution I ;om.'tleed in some detail in a previous Our Government has accepted the League of Nations' invitation to par- ticipate in a meeting in Geneva for the purpose of preparing the rough draft of a convention on the. private -of arms and munitions, bmitted to an International nce on the subject. . oy has it that he has definitely cast in it much After his re- cent defeat and consequent evacua- 28 miles from Shanghal) and estab- lished there a strong line in a favor- His defeat of subordinates, in part to the treach- erous failure of Chang Tsung-Chang, BINGHAM TO BY STUDY | ~ 3 SET STYLE OF FAR EAST Proposed Recess Tour Planned to Give Senator Greater Light on Foreign Relations. BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. ENATOR HIRAM BINGHAM, Republican, of Connecticut, is about to set an example to his fellow members of Congress by spending practically the entire forthcoming long recess in exploring foreign affairs. Within a few hours after_adjournment on March 4, Sen- ator Bingham will start for San Fran- cisco at the outset of a trip to the Far East whlch is to last throughout the Spring and Summer. He will visit Hawall, Guam, the Philippines, Japan and China. The main purpose of Bingham's expedition s to equip himself with first-hand knowledge of conditions in the Philippines and China. He believes that the Govern- ment and Congress of the United States during the next year and afterward will be concerned in very large degree with developments on the other side of the world. “®hat,” says the junior Senator from Con- necticut, “is why I want to inspect them at close range.” Plans Arouse Interest. Senator Bingham's plans arouse particular interest in Washington be- cause of the apparently abortive at- tempt of Senator Borah to take the Senate foreign relations committee on a tour of official investigation to Mexico and Central America. What- ever Congress sees fit to do in the way of formal missions of inquiry into American interests abroad, it is Senator Bingham's view that Indi- vidual members of the House and Senate should omit no opportunity to Increase their personal knowledge of international relations. The country will probably be sur- prised to know that two United States Senators who are always in the forefront of discussions of world affairs are men who know nothing of them from personal contact. One of these authorities is Senator William E. Borah, Republican, of Idaho, chairman of the foreign relationg committee, and the other is Senator James A. Reed, Democrat, of Mis- souri, archpriest of the *“non-en- tanglement” and isolationist school of American politics. No two men had more to do with keeping the United States out of the League of Nations than Borah and Reed, in co-operation with the late Henry Cabot Lodge. » Senator Borah acknowledges a longing to “see the world” and a deep gret that conditioris hitherto have made it impossible for him to do so. He informs this writer that the gen- tleman from Idaho will probably *“do’" Central America on his own account some time this vear—possibly soon— no matter what the Senate foreign relations committee's plans are, or the objections of the State Department. Borah has always wanted to visit Eu- rope, South America and Asia. “I'm likely to go to Asia first,” he says. Bingham Has Sentimental Reasons. Senator Bingham has many senti- mental reasous for wanting to go to the East, apurt from his immediate desire to study Chinese conditions of the present turbulent hour. Bingham was born in Honolulu, the son of an American missionary. His grand- father was the first American mis- slonary to Hawaii. All of the Sen- ator’s boyhood friends and playmates were young Chinese in that island and he grew up knowing and liking their people and their ideals. Senator after graduation from Yale in 1924 to equip himself to become an authority on the Chinese language and Chinese affalrs. Senator Bingham himself is an inveterate explorer and globe-trot- ter. He has visited all of America's insular possessions except Guam and the Philippines and has crossed Souti America fu most directions on several occasions. He capped his interna- tional experfences by serving in the American Aviation Corps in France in 1917 and 1915. Once Bingham wrote a book decrying the Monros Doctrine; but has since recanted, and mnow espouses 1. “China is bound to loom conspic- uously in the affairs of the whole world from now on,” says Senator Bingham. “I am an apostle of the John Hay theory of the open door. 1 am saturated with feelings of friend- liness for the Chinese people, but 1 believe they have many experiences to weather and a good many traditions to imbide before they can expect to find themselves or command at the hands of the outside world all the concessions tNeir more enlightened leaders are now demanding. Points to 0ld Reglmes. “When T was a graduate student at university the hook that made the most lasting impression on my mind was ‘The Psychology of Peoples,’ by a French philosopher. It sets forth the theory that there are certaln deeply rooted ideals and habits In na- tions. In the Anglo-Saxon peoples, for example, the spirit of local self- government and decentralized author- ity is embedded. That is why it was relatively easy for the American col- onjes after the Revolution to become a going concern under an entirely new form of government. “China for a thousand years before she dethroned her ancient dynasty knew mnothing but a regime which handed down ready-made laws to the people. The world has no right to expect that a nation of hundreds of millions of people, largely {lliterate and mainly impoverished, can ov night wrench itself away from a civilization steeped in the centuries and become a country and a_ govern- ment founded on modern, enlightened 1ae 'l ‘What can the United States and other friends of China do to help her to her feet?” Senator Bingham was asked. Needs Lesson in Citizenship. “One thing at any rate must hap pen,” he replied. “That is, that China must be taught the sacredness of citl- zenship. When a man could say in past ages, ‘[ am a Roman citizen' the assertion commanded respect everywhere in the known world. Since time immemorial—I am speaking par- ticularly of some personal observa- tions In South America in our own day—a man in most parts of the globe has only had to observe, ‘T am a Brit- 1sh subject.’ in order to insure himself a decent regard for his rights. “China must learn that when a man nowadays proudly declares ‘I am an American citizen,’ it means something that must not be lightly ignored or flouted. That is the policy which our Government at this hour, as I view it, 1s carrying out in China, and also in Nicaragua. Because it is doing so, 1 have no sympathy with Senator Borah's criticisms. “When China has brought herself to a complete realization of the in- allenable rights of foreign citizens within her domains, she will have At present Senator Bingham's old- est son is completing a protracted sojourn at Peking, where he went taken a long acd fruitful step in the direction of her own salvation, (Copyright. 1927.) Policy of U. S. (Continued from First Page.) in Latin America need not be decried or defended. The situation is a psy- chological one. and prejudices and fears are therefore as real as material facts. Most of the feeling in Latin America is incohate, of course, but basically it has this theme as its source. Solution Ts Not Easy. The solution is not an easy one— there are no easy answers to the interwoven problems of inter-American diplomacy. But the road, at least, is clear enough, and time is working to: ward the solutic The fetish of the United States ‘“citizenship” of the dollars invested in Latin America must be destroyed in the Latin Amer- ican mind. The power to cure the suspicion and unrest of Latin America on this score lies only in part with the Department of State, however. There, there has. always been scrupulous care not to attain the appearance of unfairness in its touch on financial dealings with Latin America; the department tends, actually, to lean over backwards in defending the rights of the smaller natigns of America in negotiations with bankers and investors here. Te prevent the imposition of onerous terms has been a baslc policy in the supervision of international loans. But the banker and investor, in both na tional and private loans to Latin America, have been inclined to over- emphasize the risks and the need of commensurate gains, and so to ask for more than the situation justifies or than they expect. The duty of correction of the feeling in Latin Why Latin American Nations Watch With Anxious Eyes America remalns, then, as much with the banker and business man as with the Department of State. Because this is so, the solution is perhaps surer, than if it were a diplomatic problem alone. Diplomacy cannot casily reverse itself, while business can, ‘and new concerns can learn from the failures of old concerns, while a government never has a successor, who is free from the necessity of changing policy only with tact and wide circles of adjustment. The United States investor and ex- porter are much more on the job than either the governments of Latin America or that of the United States are well aware, however. They will ultimately solve the problem of Amer- ican Investments, and will come to. the era of taking the risk with the’ profits. The diplomacy of the future is turning slowly (as diplomacy must) into a diplomacy of friendly business, and the momentary excitement, the momentary overemphasis on negoti tions with Mexico and Nicaragua in- jvolving the sanctity of the United States dollar abroad, are only a pass- ing phase of adjustment. Latin Amer- fca Is uneasy now, and it would be we]l to assuage that uneasiness, but in no great time the outward urge of. American business and investment. into Latin America will have lifted’ those old diplomatic subterfuges out of their tracks and cast them back into the onrushing sea of new Amer- ican dollars that are willing and anxious, in the new era, to become Argentine pesos or Nicaraguan cor- dovas, Guatemalan quetzales or Mexi canypesos. and to play the great game of international business on a basis of equlity of opportunity alone, e Chair of Roman Commander in British How the iron chain belonging to the commander of Rome's British exped tion against Queen Boadicea has been preserved for almost 1,900 years Is told by its present owner, E. J. Selt- man, in Art and Archaeology. Such a chair is one of the rarest of his- toric objects, because there was only one to each Roman army, and the chances of iron being preserved so long in good condition are slim. Mr. Seltman also owns the only complete example of the famous Roman stand- ards which were held sacred by the soldiers of Rome. These two objects were at the scene of Rome's defeat by the Britons at }:mdprmnt site of Colchester, Eng- nd. “Presumably,” says Mr. Seltman, “these personal insignia, with other property from the commander’'s tent, were carried in the rear, where the ‘was set upon and overpowered y enemles eager for loot One of them, attracted by the glint of the gold and silver, possessed himself of the standard and chair. As he could not carry them safely away, he cov- ered them with earth, marking the spot so he could return later and dig up the booty. But this barbarian was undoubtedly killed in the fighting that followed, and his treasure remained hidden until, after nearly 1,800 years, a kind fortune yielded it up.’ Tnnmuuhurl:tducnm lbed as an exact counterpart one shown in the relief carvings of the Arch of Constantine in-Rome. It was made War Carefully Preserved 1900 Years. to fold ingeninusly into two long pleces for easy carrying. The iron legs were resplendent with gold and sllver inlay and, even though the metal has blackened with time, it shows that great labor was spent by the artist. The covering of gold and silver is malnly responsible for the good preservation of the corrodible lro’lr‘nhthrouxh .io many centuries. e general's standard, which is ., ;: r?;mxlvw' belrld n;; head of the En? 2 r Nero, ane e de: - Inlg Wl!h‘ preclous melfl‘l:fn! i ven fragments of standards of Rome are mlha. lz'mé-.{!’ man states, because when Rome be- came Christianized the sacred stand: ards were, with their pagan ‘worship, @eclared anathema and destreyed. Church in Holland . Seeks Modest Dress A grave morality crisis prevails fn. the country dl'trlclyfl of l.i’olhnd. wlm;‘: the church has started a vehement campalgn against the modern fashions of women. The church wardens of- the Netherlands Reformed Church at Putten, a small place in the province :lf mm'"me:“’ decided not to less any bride- is Econ% me" Pl ven has hain, her wedding will be denfed P by .tRe chupch. . . m