Evening Star Newspaper, September 11, 1927, Page 43

MEDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATURES p— Part 2—16 Pages . EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday COMING OF FALL REVIVES SUNDAY LAW AGITATION Pressure From New York Group Ex- pected to Be Brought Against Sabbath Activities in Capital. BY BEN McKELWAY, ABOR DAY marks, in a way, the end of Summer day dreams and the beginning of grim realities. Trucks laden with expensive coal block the alleys. Frantic mothers, with one eye on the family budget and the other on little Alger- non's ragged trousers, besiege the bar- gain counters in preparation for school. Those dedicated to making the world a better place to live in quit the Chautauqua rostrums and head for Washington, here to polish their armor shine their shields against the opening of Congress. Leaves turn from green to gold and flutter to the guiters. The antis gather in their council rooms and plan the Winter's camp n. The pros assemble and in- form their bright young men of what to include and what to forget in the statements for the press. Morris Hacker, at the District Building, soon Wwill be telling the reporters how he will remove the snow from the streets this Winter, if any. Once again the Nation’s spotlight s being focused on on Washington, and one of the many interesting per- formances in store for those who fol- low its rays will be the struggle for and against a Sunday closing law for the District of Columbia. Those who favor such legislation have held and are planning to hold further confer- ences. Tho: agin” the legislation are even now issuing statements teem- ing with such fine words as *zealots,” *“fanat “intolerant” and ‘“sancti- monious tyrants.” But these are only the preiiminaries—sparring matches, 88 it were—in preparation for the big fight to take place when the Congres. sional referee enters the ring. Stacks of Legal Opinions. Proponents of the Sunday law are already outlining their contentions. ‘They point to the fact that the Dis- trict is one of the few large cities in the country which has no law regu- Jating labor and commercial amuse- ments on Sunday. They assert that a growing disregard for the Sabbath results in a lessening of the influences of religion and of the church. They say that as the family owes its strength to the institution of mar- riage, so the church owes its strength in part to the reverent observance of one day in seven for the worship of God. As there are laws regulating and controlling marriage, so there should be laws. regulating and con- trolling the observance of Sunday, and there are stacks of sound legal opin- fons upholding the validity of such Jaws. One of the arguments is that the jails are filled, that crime has in- creased in the last decade and that the Russian Soviet, and certain sects and organizations in the United States, are teaching that religion is a myth and Christianity a superstition, 4 Opponents of the proposed legisla- tion call it a “blue law”; an attempt to legislate morality into the souls of an overworked -populace which must District. But such The Lord's Day the Lankford bill, which last Congress after receiving a favor- able report from the subcommittees which held hearings on it in the House. The signs point to the fact that the Lord’'s Day Alliance will sponsor a similar bill in the next ses- sion of Congress, and will make its plans and direct its campaign inde- pendent of Washington clergymen or laymen. This is a case where it is difficult to find the alleged “powerful church lobby,” popularly supposed to rai through Congr form upen whi agreed in principle. % Lord's Day Alliance of New York, and principally Dr. Bowlby, .constitutes the “powerful church lobby the Lord’s Day Alliance seemingly has taken the responsibility for having the District bill enacted. The wishes of the people of the District are not at all_important. 3 The history of the participation and eventual leadership of the Lord’s Day Alliance of New York in the fight for a District Sunday closing law cannot be set down here in chronological order, nor can it be guaranteed as ac- curate in detail, for accounts differ. But several years ago some one de- cided that as the residents of the Dis- trict were not making any appreciable progress in obtaining such a law for the District, and as there seemed to be no unanimity of opinion on the mat- ter in the District, the time had arrived to get action through the N: tional Lord's Day Alliance and Dr. Bowlby. is not the « Meeting was Called. A meeting was held to organize a local committee, to which the presi- dent, at that time, of the Washington Federation of Churches, was invited. It is understood that he attended. Be- fore another meeting of the committee was held a new president of the Wash- ington Federation of Churches wa elected, but instead of sending the in- vitation to the new president, an in- vitation was, sent to the old president. Therefore the new president did not attend. At any rate, there seems to be agreement on the fact that the Washington Federation of Churches was not invited officially to participate in the movement being launched to se- cure the Sunday closing law. Later there was some talk of the formation by the Federation of Churches of a ‘“‘committee of one hundred” promi- nent citizens of Washington who ‘would meet on the subject of a Sun- day closing law for the District, and which would work in harmony with the Lord’s Day Alliance in getting one through Congress, provided there was found to be a demand for such legis- lation here. For some reason the com- mittee of one hundred was never ap- pointed, so the Lord’s Day Alliance took the reins and has held them more or less since and has gone for- ward with its plans for the coming find Sunday recreation. at the ball park or the picture show. They allude to such laws as exemplifying what they believe to be a growing tendency of the church to trespass on the rights of the state, and they label as “bigots” those who contend otherwise. They refer to the proposed legisla- tion as “shackles” and “straitjackets” on the movements of a liberty-loving people, and they threaten to produce as a witness at the proposed hearings on the measure no less an authority than the versatile Clarence Darrow of Chicago, who somehow has won re- nown by bhis personification, of the last stand of the freeman against the *“vicious activities of the powerful re- ligious lobhy.” Residents Are Non-Combatants. - Buch argument for and against Sun- day legislation are well known and often cited. But the most interesting ing about the proposed law for the rict, and aside entirely from its merits or its demerits, is the fact that the District is concerned because it happens, accidentally, to be the battle- ground. One of the big reasons for obtaining a law for the District is that it will put the National Legislature on record as favoring a reverent observ- ance of the Sabbath, guaranteed by statue. The residents of the District are non-combatants who by chance “live within the area of hostilities. They perforce take the position of in- nocent bystanders. Whether or not they are consulted makes no differ- ence. The big guns of the fight are ‘brought from out of town. The main pressure for the law will come from out of town. What Washington thinks of the bill is neither here nor there. ‘Whether a bill if passed would be ad- wvantageous or disadvantageous de- pends altogether on the point of view. But the manner pursued in pushing the bill is an enlightening study of the unique position of Washingtonians in a supposedly free and popularly governed Republic. The fight for a Sunday closing law for the District is now being waged chiefly by the National Lord's Da Alliance, an organization with head- quarters in New York City. Its ex- ecutive officer, its spokesman and its main directing force is Rev. Dr. Harry L. Bowlby, a Presbyterian minister, who for many years has been prgm- inently identified with the Sunday leg- islation movement. His offices are also in New York, except when his presence is demanded here to manage the fight on Capitol Hill. The Na- tional Lord’s Day Alliance has a con- stituent body in the District, but it exists, as a matter of fact, on paper #na in theory only. It has never held a meeting here. It maintains no local headquarters. Its representatives on the New York body are figure heads, according o one of them. The New York oryanization has a membership scatterei throughout the country, whose dues pay the operating ex- penses of the headquarters. It serves Winter without consulting the local pastors or asking their help. Several reasons are advanced. con- cerning the difference of opinion which undoubtedly now exists betweeri the ‘Washington Federation of Churches and the Lord’s Day Alliance. One is that the Washington Federation of Churches has taken the Christian at- titude of keeping its hands off rather than to endanger the success of the measures by offering advice which may not be accepted. Another reason [is that the Washington Federation of Churches does not relish the idea of seeing outsiders come into Washing- ton and ride roughshod over Washing- tonians in trying to get a bill through Congress which affects Washingto- nians alone. Still another opinion is that the local pastors feel that they have never been invited to join the movement actively, and they have no intention of butting in where they are not invited. A very unkind view of the matter expressed by an official of the Lord’s Day Alliance is that there is a certain amount of human jealousy over the question of who should be who and why in managing the cam- paign. At any rate the Lord’s Day Alliance at present is playing a lone hand. The question of what law will be sought at the coming session of Con. gress has not come before the law and legislation committee of the Wash- ington Federation of Churches. Later there will be a meeting of this com- mittee at which the subject may be broached. Later there will be an at- tempt, it is understood, to secure the opinion of Washington church mem- bers on what law, if any, they desire. Pressure From Outside. But the Lord’s Day Alliance is not idle. Recently a meeting of a com- mittee to discuss Sunday closing leg- islation for the District’ was held in Pittsburgh, attended by two repre- sentatives from the District, neither of whom is affiliated with the Wash- ington organization of churches or pastors. It is frankly stated by ofii- cials of the Lord's Day Alliance that pressure for the bill at the coming session of Congress will not come from Washington. There are no Voters in Washington, so the pressure that they can exert upon a Congress- man lacks a certain force. The pres- sure for the bill will come from the districts which send Congressmen to Washington. The good people in these districts have been receiving the literature, and they have been hear. ing the speakers sent out by the Na- tional Lord’s Day Alliance. They are being urged to write, to telegraph if need be, to their Congre: en. They are being told that the National Capi- tal, of all p , lacks a Sunday ob- servance law. The; re being urged to do something about it. And un- doubtedly they will, Whiile all this is going on, nothing apparently is being done in Washing- ton toward solidifying the sentiments as a clearing house and central ncy for the bodies throughout the iand which are working for Sunday closing laws, but it does not repre- sent or control all of them. The Mary- 1and Lord's Day Alliance, for instance, is an independent and separate body, holding no allegiance to the New York organization. New Bill Planned. 1t would be natural to suppose that the Lord's Day Alliance, coming down to Washington from New York to lobby in behalf of a Sunday clos- ibg law for the District, would find a host of allies in the ministers of Washington, the majority of whom naturally_indorse, as a principle, oyoper observance of the Sabbath. Fut such is not the case. an organization as the Morals, which, as its name implies, s a watchful eye on the measures r.eflea%ung the morals of the Nation, would immediately allign itself with the Lord's Day Alliance and help it sehlsve a Sunday closing law for the a It would natural again to suppose that such > . Methodist Board of Temperance and Public of those who naturally would indorse a Sunday closing law here. If the bill reaches a hearing again this year, as t did last, representatives of Wash- ington religious organizations un- doubtedly will appear and deliver themselves of statements. At the same time representatives of other Washington organizations will appear and deliver themselves of statements against the measure. The base ball magnates and the moving-picture | owners will probably shed tears at the thought of depriving the working man of his innocent recreation. The Seventh Day Adventists will { marshal their forces and demand to i know by what authority the Natjonal Legislature should proclaim Sunday as the day of rest, when they prefer Saturday.” And the youthful National Assoclation Opposed to Blue Laws will issue scathing statements and flery denunciations and, if possible, produce as an ace in the hole the-fa- mous Clarence Darrow, whose opinion on any subject, it has been estimated, is worth the combined opinion of 10 or 15 plain, ordinary men. This last organizati n& e Associa- ti K with- a suddenness and a magnitude hat is almost without paralle] in his- ory., ' WASHINGTON, D. e —“ e Star C, SUNDAY' MORNING, SEPTEMBER 11. 1927. Flying in Europe Safe and Simple Note—This fs the first of a series of four articles by Col. Davis giving his impressions of the development of commercial aviation in Europe And_the status of radio abroad. = Col Davis at- aded international aviation and radio conferences in Europe during the Summer and also the dis- armament conference. The second article, dealing with aviation tendencies in the Balkans, will be published tomorrow in The Evening Star. BY LIEUT. COL. W. JEFFERSON DAVIS. Y wife and I regently completed a 20,000~ mile journey by air which took us into all the countries of Europe but four. The experience brought us an aston- ishing -conviction of Buropean supremacy in commercial aviation. X Air travel abroad is so simple, so safe, so amazingly systematized. Planes in regular service depart on schedyled time. They arrive on scheduled time; Weather is ignored. The planes go anyway. Journeying by air in Eu- rope is as much 4 matter of ‘course as travel by rail in this country. " Some of the ships carry as many as 28 persons. Accommodations approximate in com- fort the Pullman accommodations in this coun- t The planes have easy, reclining chairs, excellent meals are served, and many of the ships have bars. The rail may be missing, but scenery takes its place. There are several great trunk lines—the French lines, the Dutch (K. L. M.) lines from Paris to Amsterdam and Malmo, Sweden; the great German Luft Hansa System, which vir- tually covers all Europe, and, of course, there is the Imperial Airways operating between Paris and London and London, Cologne and Basle. I used all these trunk lines and innumerable shorter. routes. One particularly interesting trip was a 3,000-mile air journey through the Scandinavian countries and around and across the Baltic. ‘We had-no forced landings, and our planes departed and arrived on unbroken schedules. Only once were we delayed by fog, hanging low over the mountains between Prague and Vienna. . One brings a chaos of impressions from a journey like this, but there is one observation which seems to me more important than the rest. Flying is safe. * k % X And as a commercial undertaking, flying in Europe pays. Rates have been lowered vir- tually to those for rail transportation. I flew from Paris to Berlin for $50 and was allowed 60 pounds of luggage. I paid $12 for 80 pounds excess luggage. The first-class train fare for the same journey is about §50. The average planes carry about 2,000 pbunds of freight or express in addition to 10 or 12 passengers. Burning from 10 to 25 gallons of gasoline an hour, they find a safe margin of profit. All over Europe flying schedules are per- fectly articulated with'motor and train sched- ules. On the German lines the co-efficient of accidents in 1925 was 0.003 per cent, and there was no loss of life in 1926, The number of airports is constantly increas- ing. There is not a city of economic importance in Europe which doés not have an airport. These flying ' flelds, with their fine appointments for the convenience of ppssengers, are more like country clubs. One is wafted down gently to the field— European pilots have amazing skill in land- ings—and descends to surroundings of such well ordered ease and convenience as to suge -gest afternoon tea and then. perhaps a round of golf. You pick ouf your luggage as you " NEW POLITICAL ERA IN SOUTH URGED WITH ECONOMIC REBIRTH Ra'pid Industrial Development of Recent Years De- clared to Have Brought Old Issues to Front—Stiate Rights or Centralized Control Is Problem. T BY ALBERT C. RITCHIE. Governor of Maryland. Changes” are ‘coming In tlié South betterment and in a more resolute and heartening attitude towards State en- terprises and State pride and toward the ‘monstrosities of intolerance, of class feeling, .of Iynch law, of ignor- ance and the like. pass through an exit and are conducted to a ‘motor by an attendant. As our plane reached Berlin on its flight from Parls the wheels touched the ground at almost the exact second of the flight schedule. The swift, orderly handling of traffic and con. duct of passengers went forward with military precision. There was an exchange of salutes, a clicking of heels and short, sharp commands as subordinates appeared. Other planes were arriving and departing. There was no confusion. Officials and attend- ants seemed as perfectly mechanized as the engines which drove the planes. * ok K ok The morning after our arrival in Berlin we visited the offices of the Deutsche Luft Hansa System. The company owns and occupies a luxurious modern office buiing. Its system is a complete, spiderlike network, covering virtually all Europe, radiating from Berlin to Moscow, Stockholm, Hamburg, Am- sterdam, Paris, London; Vienna, Rome, Koenigs- berg, Petrograd, Basle, Geneva and Madrid. The planes for the most part are Junkers, all- metal planes, Fokker monoplanes and planes of the Dornier Wal and Rohrbach types. The Albatross is virtually the only biplane in use in Germany The Luft Hansa ships are flying about miles a day. They consume 875,000 gallons of gasoline daily. In our air tour of Germany we traversed fields, lakes, forests, mountains, cities, villages— every known terrain, through all weather. We looked down on Hamburg, Stettin, Munich, Frankfort, Innsbruck, Strasbourg, Nurem- burg—all of Germany. 1 doubt if any American train service could have taken us the same distance with such unfailing punctuality. The big ships rode un- waveringly through storms; radio direction finders steered thom unerringly through fog and night; compasses and charts seemed in- fallible, as did pilots and mechanicians working as impersonally as the instruments under their hands. Noise is being rapidly choked to a minimum, and we talked easily across the aisle of the luxurious car. Women were flitting about here and there, shopping or visiting, and village bankers were getting their first acquaintance with big cities and big finance. There was on every hand evidence of a new German unity coming out of this commingling of isolated peoples. I am no Utopian, but I see in all this a far advance toward European and possibly world unity as well. * k k Germany was limited by the Versailles treaty to the construction of commercial air- planes, and for this reason and through eco- nomic necessity has taken the lead in com- mercial flying, leaving all competitors far in the rear. In France and England the emphasis still is on the subsidized government routes to the colonies. France has two great systems. One reaches from Paris to Prague, to Constantinople and the Near East, the other from Paris to’Berlin and Moscow, alternating daily with ‘the Luft Hansa. Another French colonial line crosses the Mediterranean, via Toulouse, Casablanca and down the west coast of Africa to Dakar. Two factors have combined to stay the de- velopment of aviation within Great Britain— one the perfection of the train service in an area of congested population, the other the prevalence of fog. . However, the Imperial Airways has brought its air liners to a high state of perfection in passenger and mail traffic with the continent, class so-called If the South lags |S¢t accomplished BY WILLIAM HARD. The unique feature of Washington’s present week end is that some high- “trust-busting” in this country particularly to Paris, and England is sending planes to the farthest reaches of the empire. Mussolini has announced he is going to get every Italian into the air. Italy is at the crossroads of the great European air routes, and the Italian government is fostering both commerclal and military aviation with all the resources at her command. The projected line from Milan to Munich, across the Alps, will be one of the best in Burope. Everywhere in Europe I found a calm ac- ceptance of airplanes as something useful and safe in everyday life. . When flying in these big passenger planes one heard easy casual talk such as takes place on a American rallway train. As I flew from Paris to Berlin there were two garrulous old women aboard. One had bought some yarn to knit a jacket for her grandchild. She was worrying lest the child might have fallen downstairs. Somewhere back in the fuseclage a hen was cackling. “Bilderbuch ohne Bilder,” murmured a kindly old German professor as we salled up the Rhine-~leisurely it scemed—with the world moving slowly far below. I knew he had in mind the old tale of the nightly vision of the moon, 1n which men and events and all human concerns passed in the silent pageantry of eter- nity, in which all small endeavors fade. X koK ¥ A little French shopkeeper flew with me from Paris to Berlin. The next day I found him in a German cafe, laboriously trying to explain a French joke to the German whole- saler with whom he was doing business. He finally got the point over, and they laughed uproariously. I saw Innumerable little incider:ts like this. In their bearing on great human and racial equations are they not more significant than all the evasive and disingenuous language of diplomacy? Seeing BEurope from the sky, I have a profound conviction aviation is a heaven-sent agency for the final abolition of war, Both safety and commercial utility have been brought about through Europe’s realiza- tion that a war plane is one thing and a peace plane something else. The “Germans, for instance, in developing commercial flying, have adopted the single-wing design, triple-engined planes to reduce hazard, and light, high-powered radial engines, increas. ing lifting power, range, fuel economy and safety. And radio has been so improved that at night or in fog planes constantly get their bearings from the air. I talked about the “flying business” with Herr Otto Merkel, director of the Luft Hansa System. “I believe one could say commercial avia- tion is safely established in Europe,” he said. “I don't mean that the Luft Hansa, for in- stance, is on a sound dividend basis. But that does not bar it as a sound commercial enter- prise. There are still some government sub- sidies. “‘Assuming that swift and economical trans- portation of goods and passengers is urgently needed and commercially profitable—and no one can deny this—we abolish all the intangible factors at once and our problems narrow down to definite and tangible requirements. They are technical problems. We know we can solve them. “The next forward step in aviation will be in the laboratory and testing field. We have absolutely no misgivings about the result. Without exception, there is no line in our 8y tem which has not been opened on grounds of commercial expediency.” n (Copyright, 1927, American”Newspaper Allisfice.)” TELEGRAPH-RADIO COMBINATION HELD “TRUST-BUSTING” STEP Union of Mackay and Federal Companies to Inten- sify Competition, Rather Than Create New Monopoly, Officials Believe. / the Western Union has 83 per cent. The Postal. hereafter, however, with the help’ of the Federal Telegraph Co.’s radio patents, proposes to com- ey | pete with the Western Union on land BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. AST week I discussed at some length the outlook for tho ses- sion of the assembly of the League. 1n later articles from Geneva I shall hope to deal with the varlous phases of this meeting. In the present article I si:all try to set forth the basic facts in whai consti- tutes not merely the chief problem for this seasion but remains the most important question to be faced in the whole LEuropean situation, namely, that of the evacuation of the Rhine- land. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailies, allicd cecupation of Ger- man territory was to endure for 15 years and cvacuation was to take place in three separate movements. The Cologne arca w io ke left in 1925, the Coblenz sector in 193¢ and the balance in 1935. In this last year, too, the plebiscite in the Saar Basin was to determine the final allocation of this region, temporarily erected into a political urit at Paris by the peace settlement. Treaty Still Holds. Technically, the Treaty of Versailles still holds. The Cologne area has been -in all countries. by, the .Npsth ., Statisticians estimate _that during the last 10 years there has been-an in- crease of more than $30,000,000,000 of wealth in the new South, with stillun- developed resources .of a .potential value that are beyond computation. The railroad mileage, which is always a fair test of growth, alone has- in- creased four fold in the last two dec- ades, with a still larger ratio of in- crease in business ‘and earnings. One- half of all'the coal mined in the United States came from five Southern States, and the growth in textiles, metalurgi- cal and other lines has been simply enormous. The value of manufac- tured products in 1925 is put :at $9,- 500,000,000, and Southern farm prod- ucts in the same year are valued at $6,000,000,000, of which less than one-| fourth is represented by cotton. ' Like impressive figures could be marshaled as to building operation, foreign ship- ping, motor purchases and the like. Economic Rebirth Shown. These few figures suffice to illustrate how real is all the talk about the eco- nomic rebirth of the South, and many are convinced: that all this is but a mild forerunner of what is ahead. Those who love the old romantic South of the blue grass and the cotton fields may have mixed feelings as to the out- come, but the fact is that the star of industrial-empire is definitely moving southward. Every economic force is driving it that way. With its natural resources, its climate, its access to the sea and favorable location for foreign markets, and its fine labor and living conditions, we are bound to see in the South an almost unlimited industrial development. . New forces are éverywhere at work in the South besides those involved in its industrial rise. We see them work- ing in the field of education and social — e tion Opposed to Blue Laws, is typical of the times and of Washington. Wherever there is formed in Wash- ipgton an organization favoring a principle, there must be another or- ganization formed to oppose it. The Association Opposed to Blue Laws is officered by Dr. Joseph A. Themper, a dentist, who {8 president, and Linn A. E. Gale, who keeps a book shop, as secretary. Its chief counsel, accord- ing to the letterhead, is the excellent Mr. Darrow of Chicago. Sinclair Lewis, author of “Elmer Gantry,” and Rupert Hughes, who wrote a noted book intimating that George Washing- ton had certain leanings, are listed as “honorary vice presidents.” Recently Prof. Henry Flury, a high school pro- fessor who won fame by getting into an argument on socialism with Maj. Gen. Amos A. Fries, soldier and patriot, has been enlisted as a giver of statements. The organization has set itself up to arouse sentiment against “all such fanatical and tyrannical schemes” as Sunday closing legisla- tion, or “blue laws,” and has sent cir- culars far and. wide appealing. for funds with which to combat the “well financed, well directed and determined anywhere now it is in politics. Can Assert Leadership. In a very real sense some of the oldest political issues of our history are again brought to the front by this development and process of in- dustrialization; and in their solution the South is once again in position to assert political leadership. From the very beginning of our history two great elemental political forces have striven for mastery in our national life. One force, impelled by Hamilton, found expression in what we still call federalisny, The other, impelled by Jefferson, found expression in what we still call democracy. The one force is strong for an all-powerful cen: tralized government; the other for what it calls government of, by and for the people. Both concepts have their elements of weakness, both are again in vivid conflict, and the political problem of today as of yes- terday is how best to harmonize th= two. As applied to the industrialization of the Seuth, the issue is whether our progress, our liberties and our gen- eral welfare can best be subserved by looking toward Washington or toward our local capitals for govern- mental control, protection and guid- ance; whether an industrialized South prefers to have its larger politics shaped by itself or by Federal bureaus. Sees Mussolini Lacking In Pilsudski Humor One’ difference bstween Joseph Pil- sudski, Polish dictator, and Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator, seems to be that the former has a sense of hu- mor. He’ lets himselt be laughed at on the music-hall stage for instance. Also, if rumor can be credited, some grave deputations have not had their suggestions treatsd with the serious- ness they would have liked. A group of monarchists came to him one day to point out the great advantages of changing the. republic into a king- dom once more .They went on to in- dicate that the only suitable person for the throne was Marshal Pilsudski himself. He listened with respectful silence and meditated a moment. “There is much,” he finally replied, “very much, in what you say that ap- pears to me to be strikingly true. But there s one great difficulty. A King, to my mind, should bs a monarchist, nd I am not!” Then with a sud- id2n smile he added, as though he { had solved the difficulty, “But my daughter Wanda is—try her!” Wan- da has reached the romantic age of 11. “L’arnin’ ” Going Up. From the Lowell Courier-Citizen. «~ The.-University of Vermont has raised its tuition $25 per semester, and there are fine old Vermonters bigotry lobby,” against which it is always prepared to issue a blistering statement for the newspapersy who say it cost a lot these days to study some outlandish subject like _ | States only some 17 per .cent, while through the remarkable process of tacit permission- given by the Gov- ernment to the formation of a great so-called “combination.” The combination is the one between the Federal Telegraph Co. of Califor- nia on the one hand and on the other the Mackay Companies, a Massachu- setts organization which operates cables in the Atlantic and the Pacific and which operates also, Within the United States, the widespread tele- graph system commonly called simply “the Postal.” . The institutions at which this new combination is aimed are the dominant American telegraph system called the Western “Union and the dominant American wireless communication sys- tem called the Radio Corporation af America and also called by radical and alarmed members of Congress “the radio trust.” The Federal Telegraph Co. of Call- fornia is already, in a restricted area, giving a radio service which the Radio Corporation of America does not anywhere give. This is a point- to-point service, not over sea but over land, from Portland, Oreg., down through San.Francisco to Los Angeles, Calif, Only one other such service— a regular commercial land-area wire- less service—is given anywhere in the United States. » In giving it on the Pacific slope the Federal Telegraph Co. of California has been competing locally with the wires of the Western Union and of the Postal. Increased Competition Seen. Now the Postal is .to absorb—by purchase—the whole plant of the Fed- eral Telegraph Co. of California on the Pacific slope, in so far as that plant is devoted to the transmission of wireless messages. This might seem to be a diminish- ing of competition, but it is also by a grand paradox a tremendous incrzas- ing of it. The Federal Telegraph Co. of Cali- fornia, besides conducting a local commercial wireless business, is the proud and ambitious owner of a con- siderable flock of radio patents which it has long aspired to send into bat. tle against the flock owned by thé Radio Corporation of America. Is the Radio Corporation of Amer- fca a “trust”? “No,” says the . eral Telegraph Co. of California, “not if our competitive patents are prop- erly financially backed against it.” So now the Mackay companies— which is to say, in practice, the Postal—will not only take over the Federal Telegraph Co.’s immediate commercial business but also will un- dertake to buy from the Federal Co.'s laboratories and factories the radio equipment, which it hopes will justify it in going into the commercial wire- less-message business all over the United States and across all oceans and seas. Intensifies Land Service Fight. The Postal is now competing with the Western Unioh in land service only by messages on wires. Of this sort of business it has in the United service not only by wires but by wire. less. It has informed the Govern- ment: ‘“The Western Union, by reason of contracts with railroad companies, is enabled to reach a number of locali- ties which, for economic reasons, the Postal has never been able to enter. As a result of this situation, there are many communities in the United States which the Postal System could serve if it had radio facilities to sup- plement its present service. If the presént proposed program is adopted by the Postal System, it will mean that many communities will enjoy a new wireless communication service at_attractive rates.” But even this large job of taking on a new and expanded fight with that vigorous and veteran organiza- tion, the Western Union, does not satisfy the Postal in its present mili- tant mood. It also yearns to take on the Radlo Corporation of America and grab off a competitive part of ship-to-shore and shore-to-ship and ship-to-ship radio service and also an equally competitive part of trans- oceanic radio service to Europe and especially to the Orient. The Federal Telegraph Co. of Cali- fornia is already competing with the Radio Corporation of America on ship service in the Pacific Ocean off our Western coast. It already has a con- siderable proportion of that business in that region. The Postal proposes to try to increase that proportion— there and elsewhere. Monopoly in Ocean Radlo. In transoceanic radio service from the United States to foreign coun- tries the Radio Corporation of Amer- ica _has no radlo competition at all. It has maintained,. frankly and con- sclentiously, that a monopoly in transoceanic radio service is neces- sary. Its president, Maj. Gen. James G. Harbord, has said: b “It is both inexpedient and economi- cally impractical to have more than one such system for each country on account of the limited number of ether channels available and the large amount of capital required.” This argument seems to have made no impression on the Postal. The Postal states to the Government that it is distressed by the present policy of the Radio Corporation of America, that it has been unable “to purchase radio equipment from the Radio Cor- poration of America for commercial use,” and that now, with the patents of the Federal Telegraph Co., it is absolutely determined “to compete with the Radlo Corporation of America in _transoceanic radio communication.” Tt i operating at the present time a cable from the United States to the Orient. It proposes in particular to supplement that cable by setting up wireless stations in China and else- where for the establishment of a new cqupetitive spacific commercial radio service in parallel both to its own 5 m.,fi.dflp Corporation of stations and con- pon, the Western Union as- serts that it will immediately lay a tresh, cleared, and the next evacuation would not take place before 1930 had it not been for the understandings which ac- companied the Locarno affair. There was a very definite understanding that following the acceptance of this ad- Justment by the Germans and German entrance into the League of Nations the question of evacuation would be reopened, to the end that allied troops might be withdrawn more speedily. For the German people this >cncep- tion was one of the most attractive details of the whole Locarno pacts. Continued’ occupation constitutes a great.and growing grievance to the German mind. This sense of injus- tice is intensified because in all ques- tions since raised German perform- ance has been exact and no basis for protest has been supplied. It will be recalled that a year ago in the famous Thoiry conversations between Briand and Stresemann there was mention of a rather elaborate program, by which Germany was to issue bonds for her state railways, to be sold apon the markets of the world. The proceeds were to be distributed among her creditors, in conformity with the reparations clauses of the Treaty of Versalilles and the program of the Dawes .plan. This proposal found instant and widespread French approval, because France was at that time in the midst of the very grave inflation crisis. Nothing came of the proposal, how- ever, because it involved flotation of ecurity issues upon the British and American markets, and the Brit- ish were opposed. American approval was therefore not sought. Following Thoiry, there was a marked change in French opinion. The arrival of a new ministry in Ber- lin, in which the Nationalists became the dominant party, aroused French .apprehensions. Meanwhile, the French financial crisls was passed and the French need for money rapidly de- clined. And, inevitably, the sense of danger again came to be the controlling ele- ment in the French mind. Looking back over all the years since the Paris conference, one can note that there has been this see-saw of French concern. At certain moments finan- clal difficulties have dominated. At others the problem of security has controlled. In the periods of money difficulties French willingness to make concessions has been marked. In the times of fear for security ‘French opinion has hardened, There is, however, another circum- stance. The French, like all Euro- peans, are perfectly aware that a crisis in the operations of the Dawes plan is likely to arrive within the next two years. So far the payments have not been large, and Germany has actually financed reparations by foreign loans. Expansion of Expenditures. This process cannot continue. As Parker Gilbert has indicated in his last report, there has been an enor- maus expansion in the ‘domestic ex- penditures of the German govern- ment. Nor is it less disturbing that the balance of trade against Germany not only has been steadily great bt has steadily tended to rise. Germany is buying abroad vastly more than she is selling. And she has not now, as in pre-war days, foreign invest- ments, while the earnings of her ships are much less than in 1914, But Germany can only pay her reparations in goods and services. If she cannot sell abroad, she cannot pay abroad. And since she can no longer hope to buy abroad, the prob- lem becomes grave when her repara- tions payments mount suddenly, as they will in the next two years from $300,000,000 to $625,000,000.” Moreover, under the Dawes plan it is rigidly EVACUATION OF RHINELAND WAITS ON GENEVA RULING Problem Constitutes One of Chief Con- cern for Diplomats Gathered in Eighth Assembly Session. wito hold more than 50 per cent of the reparations claims against Geymany. perceive that within the period ir. which they can still cccupy hoth the remaining sectors of the Rhineland reparations may again become an i ternational problem. And In that sit- uation they reason that they would be Detter placed at Colienz and Mainz thar. behind their cwn frontiers. To the F' 1-~to the Euro pean mi ly—the total liquidation of debts and repara- tions is a sinzie disposed cf -re wili come n pro- portional sc ), lown of del and, for them the British & debts alone have importance. The French are perfectly aware that occupation of the Rhineland to the end of the treaty period is a danger- ous adventure. But they are unwill- ing to go empty handed from the occupied area. And they are doubly unwilling to go before the hour ar- rives when debts and reparations must be adjusted. French Ready to Trade. In principle, as Thoiry disclosed, the French are prepared to trade their right—that Is, the legal right—to stay in the Rhineland for financial consid- erations. The sale of German securi- ties and the reversion to nce of most of the proceeds was an attrac- tive proposal. Even now, when their financial situation has improved, the difficult process of permanent stabili- zation might be hastened and assured by such an influx of foreign capital. JThere are naticnalist elements in France who would oppose evacuation on any terms. For them the fear of Germany remains irremovable. On the other hand, a vastly larger sec- tion are prepared to accept a perma- nent adjustment on the tasis of the Theiry scheme. It wants peace with Germany, but not at a price which seems prohibitive. ‘The Germans, on.the other hand, are convinced that they have paid the full price for evacuation. They feel that Locarno was a moral, if not a legal, promise of prompt evacuation. They not unreasonably argue that having fulfilled all requirements they are entitled to obtain what they paid for without new concessions or sacri- fices. The fact that the League of Nations has done nothing to hasten evacua- tion has unmistakably cooled German enthusiasm for Geneva. There is, too, a distinct German feeling that British policy, which during the Locarno era was manifestly sympa- thetic, has changed, and that since the British quarreled with Soviet Russia not only have they endeavored to drive Germany into an anti-Russian combination but, failing this, have compromised with the French on the basis of French support against Rus- sia in return for British complaisance in the French non-evacuation policy. German opinion was shmzi)’ aroused over the visit of the President of the French republic to London and the consequent renewal in the British and French press of the note of friendli- ness, which seemed to indicate a re- newal of the Anglo-French entente. Locarno had no greater promise than that it would abolish all danger of a combination of the two nations which were the backbone of the anti-German coalition both before and during the ‘Waorld War. # Occupations Are Bad. The present situation cannot con- tinue without gravely compromising both the prospect of a Franco-German reconciliation and that of the larger European readjustment. Occupations are always bad things, and always they have been shortened after peace has been restored. The allied troops left France after 1815 within three years. The German retirement from France after-1871 was equally prompt. By contrast, the allied troops have now remained in Germany nearly nine years since the armistice. Co-operation between France, Brit- ain and Germany, anything like real international co-cperation in Europe, all development of the League of Na- tions as an effective agency for ad- Jjustment—these things remain contin- gent upon the friendly settlement of the evacuation_difficuity. Obviously; it cannot be adjusted by the League itself. There is no fashion in which it can be brought before the council of the assembly, because the Treaty of Versailles remains the law of Europe. On the other hand, all the states- men of Europe are meeting at Geneva. Stresemann, Briand and Chamberlain Wwill be present. . Thus the scene is set for the next act in the drama which bégan in London with the making of the Dawes plan in 1924, was continued at Locarno in 1925 and carried on at Geneva last year, when Germany en- tered the League. It now awaits what fixed that German reparations pay- ments shall never be permitted to digturb German exchange. It follows, then, that the French, Peking Ban Against Government officials in Peking have decreed that no specimens of birds may be exported from China and only three scientific specimens of any other species of animal or plant life. These regulations, very recently enforced, will greatly hamper foreign scientists who are studying Chinese birds, fish, Insects and other creatures, according to Arthur de C. Sowerby, editor of the China Journal. The bird law is a hangover from customs regulations established some years ago to préevent wholesale expor- tation of pheasants for their skins, he points out. It was never intended to apply to scientific collections, and its revival cannot be attributed to any need to save the Chinese birds from extinction at the hands of foreign sci- entists. Permission to send three specimens of other species back to the —_— — Orient and will compete for trans. pacific electrical communication busi- ness both with the Radio Corporation and with the Postal. ‘Thus an almost limitless prospect of new competition in electrical com- munications is opened up through the “combination” of the resources of the Postal and of the Federal Telegraph Co. of California. Neither the Depart- ment of Justice nor the Federal Radio mmission, after study, is lifting a to thwart that “‘combination.” An official has remarked: 'l'o”%w can't fight giants with dwarfs. of its own to. the ail’ Bk g WA in many ways must be the final de- velopment in the restoration of normal relations between Germany and her two great opponents of 1914. Removal of Birds From China Hinders Scientific Work museums of Europe or America for study and classification is not an ade- quate allowance for this purpose, since it is unsafe to describe or classify & species on the basis of so few samples. The inconistency of the law is point- ed out by Mr. Sowerby, who writes: “Every year tens of thousands of skins of antelopes, deer, foxes, wild cats, leopards, raccoon dogs, marteow, civets, badgers, squirrels and many other animals, and the reathers (not the skins) of all sorts of birds in huge quantities, are shipped out of China in the course of trade. IFor immense numbers of game birds were shipped out of the country in cold storage for consumption abroad, IM‘ tod.l‘y url::‘:lsd game of all sorts ix sent out, while passenger steamegs load up with their supplies of game in China without let or hindrance. “Millions upon millions of fish are taken from the streams and rivers every year'and consumed as food. Thousands of musk deer are kilied every year in China and the musk pods exported to the perfumeries in Europe and America. Thousands of deer are killed every season for the sake of their horns when in velvet, which are used as medicine. “All this without the vestige of a regulatior: centrolling the slaughter. China has no museums or librarles adequate for identification and classi- fication of new specles, and unless specimens can be shipped to fe n Institutions it will be many years fore the useful and dangerous wild lite of China can be understood, he