Evening Star Newspaper, September 25, 1927, Page 41

' EDITORIAL PAGE - NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATURES Part 2-—16 Pages DAYS OF HOHENZOLLERNS DECLARED OVER FOREVER They're Through and Theyll N Come Back, Study German BY EMIL LUDWIG, Distinguished rapher, author German o of “Life of Napoleon Kaiser Wilhelm HI heen, German people have and they still ure. They experienced a prope: revolution. re only revolution they have ever had they “Refo mation,” as tho of the more violent word. They have always Dbeen ready to defend themselves from external attack. but scarcely ever from internal assault. Thus it is not only criminal but im- becile to speak of the stab in the back which the revolutionary people supposed to have dealt the victoriou army. The number of re cialists was very small, and ur Autumn of 1918 they were certainly not strong enough overthrow monarchy. And even Socialist Jes the last of that the c ent by neve to s late as November 8 the were proposing to e imperial chancellors own should he transferred uncle and that he regent. A few days| earlier Ferdinand of Bulgaria had been clever enough to abdicate voluntarily | in favor of his son, who rules today. Wakes Up in Doubt. But Scheidemann, the imperial min- ister, woke up on the morning of No- vember 9 not knowing whether he| would-proclaim a German republic at | midday or not. But even in those days, when Wil- helm's prestige was irrevocably shaken, devotion to the Prussian mon- archy was still enshrined in every heart. It was the person and not the dynasty that had to be overthrown. ‘Wilhelm's flight provided the finish- ing blow. No one could understand it. Something heart-breaking and incredi- ble to the Prussian mind had hap- pened. The King, the chief war lord, the ruler who had always appeared before his people in uniform, had actually run awa a moment of danger, leaving his fighting army behind. It seemed as if the spirits of Fred- erick and Wilhelm must turn in their graves at the news of such a betrayal. But even more astounding was the fact that in the course of eight brief days every one of the 23 German princes had given up their holdings and their titles without opposition | and without struggle. Not a single shot had been fired from their castles. Not an arm had been raised in de- fense of their ancestral crowns, their majesty and their possessions. Thus the German thrones were left to collapse while their owners de- parted without a struggle. And today no one returns to claim them—a sigfiincant fact, and one that ‘explains why the return of the Hohen- zollerns is impossible for many years to come, and probably forever. For the man who loses one battle can al- ways hope to retreve His position next day. But he who runs away finds | it extremely difficult, both morally and practically, to regain what he has lost. Old Rivalries Remain. A further reason may be found in the perpetual rivalry that has alw existed between the royal houses Germany. It is true that the old jeal- ousies between the Hohenzollerns and the houses of Saxony, Bavaria and Wurtemberg will still’ remain. Already toward the end of the war the latter were suspected of secret negotiations with the. Hapsburgs for the German throne. historian_and biog- | {and on their private estates, incapa remain, | ble of wor r subservient people and obedi- | make the | have allowed the lg | by without lifting | themselves i life that is both sullen and sensual, | I | | when the need fo | they are hampered and distra | feuds. ntful So- | 1 the | | cannot granted to all princes, and, in fact, applicable to the Kaiser himself, may one day prove a great mistake. traditions now secretly gherished by hundreds of thousands will be revived, and kings once again will become military commanders and thus regain their prestige. their power without a struggle, and And it is quite impossible in real life to copy the circus trick of mount- ing and riding six horses at a time while dynastic_jealousy forbids one to mount while the others look on. And so the unity of Germany remains, as | always, impossible of achievement. The third reason why the Hohen- zollerns cannot return is to be foun in the fall of the house of Hapsburg. These cousins became firm friends and allies of Prussia during the last 50 years. But today it is impossible 1o imagine that the Hapsburgs will ever return to their former position, while as rulers of a small Hungary | they will not command any more| power and influence than a_medium | sized German principality. Thus th impetus for a revival is lacking for- | ever. The fourth reason is provided by the attitude of the Kaiser himself, the chief personage in the drama. Thank God that the foreign powers have not made a martyr of him' Nothing has damaged Wilhelm so much as his second marriage, which took place very quickly after the death of the Kaiserin, that popular | Jady whose life ended in such great| unhappiness. | This hasty and the sale | at some people | still call the “enemy alliance” (Fein- | hund) has destroyed all confidence in the strength of character of the de- throned Emperor. Weakens His Case. He has weakened his case still fur ther by the fight he has put up for his so-called private property and by the efforts he has made to get as much money as possible from the new republic. For if the Kaiser, together with the other princes, had made the magnifi- | nt gesture of giving up half of their int fortunes, say, in favor of the ex- | then they would have rea al and id this weald with a stacting political pathy have provided them point for their return. The fifth reason why the Hohen- zollerns are unlikely to return is that jn many parts of Germany the Junk ers and the reartionar restored to favor. As lor remained resentful in the background on their estates, without spirit, with- | out influence and without hope for| their sons, so long were th together y ready to combine to ore their whom they could hope to obtain every sort of appointment, from rura cilor to minister of state But today, owing to the deplorable lack of strong leaders, or, in other ords, owing to the i Juate politi cal education of the Gern their star is again in the ascendanc: and they see no reason why they should curtail their own power return of a King for whom they ve no further use. Lack of Real Talent. zastly—and this is perhaps the nost important factor of all—there is he remarkable lack of real talent and ability There are at present ¢ of the dethror “chieving since the deba Not one of them has set himself to learn a profession, to become vy T or a journalist, a horse breede a film star, so as to show the German sple that he can at least earn his own living. No, they have had onlg | beginning to admit to themselves, if ave been | as they | 1 coun. | an people, | by | | typically sver Convinces Famous Historian. one idea—to negotiate with the repub- lic and to get k as much of their money as is possible. And so they live on in their castles , refusing to Such men as these inspire their people with feelings of loyalty. For they t 10 to p: finger to win for or fame. A n never ent distinction given over to sport, rural pursuits, vel and association with old officers this they all e in common. But united action arises old traditional the! jealou: Service to Republic. this reason Hindenburg, whose we Republicans at fir has done a greater service to the republic than we ever imagined would he possible. During the last two years millions of people who used k of German leaders with con- < “Reds” have begun to re- republic. v now look upon the new form of government as something that can be accepted, merely because the Kaiser's old field marshal has taken the oath to the flag. In fact, one might almost say that Hindenburg has made the republic acceptable at court. This, however, is immaterial, for the peaceful return of the German princes, achieved by means of a popu- lar vote, safeguarded by every form of control, is as impossible as the miracle of turning night into day. You lose an ancestral throne in three days and then have it returned to you by means of logic and legal contracts. It is true that in Bavaria the hopes of a small party are concentrated upon the possibility of union with Austria. In such circles, composed v of those who think of them- before they think of Germany, there is open talk of the formation of a south German kingdom under Ru- precht of Bavaria. It is suggested that in this way a Catholic alliance could be cemented which would hold the balance against the Protestantism of north Germany. Fortunately, how- ever, foreign opinion has realized dur- ing the last 10 years that a parti- tioned Germany would be much more dangerous to world peace than a Ger- | many that is peacefully united. Depends on War Alone. It is war alone that can give the Hohenzollerns a chance to return. But it must be immediate war. For this reason the existence of these political circles is highly dangerous, while the permission to live in Germany, For election posed, For when war breaks out the old in Germany The princes, it is true, gave up the consequences, therefore, were peaceful. But an attempt to return could never be made so noiselessly and without bloodshed. Twenty million Republicans, a third of the whole nation, have for the last nine vears been schooled and organ- ized for action. Previously, as the op- position, they were much more pas- sive. Now, however, they will shoot where the princes did not shoot. And they will fall in battle! But they know now that it was the kings who, | wielding autocr power, used to send them to their doom. This has nothing whatever to do with the question of war gullt in the | last war, but expresses the national | division on the question of war in general. X\Iil.llnnu Share Opinion. Today it is an opinion shared by millions, with the result that more and more of the old monarchists are not to others, that neither the advan- ing a king at a wedding review nor the pleasures / ' \] Star he Sunday WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 25, - 1927. The Story of Civilization Note: The third installment of Dr. Durant's “The Story of Civilization,” to be published next Sunday in the Editorial Section of The Star, will deal with Chinese civilization, European exploita- tion of it, and the rising of young China. CONFUCIUS AS A PHILOSOPHER. HAT Confucius wished to do was to putan end to disorder and barbarism in his state. Like Plato, he had his theory of political reconstruction, but he believed that reform should start not with the nation and its institutions, but with the individual and his desires. The core of his philosophy lies here in one paragraph: “The illustrious ancients, when they wished to make clear and to propagate the highest virtues in the world, put their states in proper ovder. Before putting their states in proper order they regulated thelr families. Before regulating their families they cultivated their own selves. Before cultivating their own selves they perfected their souls. Before perfecting their - souls_they tried to be sincere in their thoughts. Before trying to be sincere in thelr thoughts they extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such investigation of knowledge Jay in the investigation of things, and in see- ing them as they really were. When things were thus investigated, knowledge became com- plete. When knowledge was complete, their thoughts became sincere. When their thoughts were sincere, their souls became perfect. When their souls were perfect, their own selves be- came cultivated. When their selves were cul- tivated, their families became regulated. When their families were regulated, their states came to be put in proper order. When their states were in proper order, the whole world became peaceful and happy. * K K K What sort of man was it that this Baconian- 1y objective knowledge would produce? Not th merely “good” man; “your goody-goody people, said Confucius, “are the thieves of virtue. Like Socrates, he wanted the just and intelli- gent man, and, like Nietzsche, he puts an ele- ment of aristocracy into his conception of the superman. .It is only the man with the most perfect divine moral nature who is able to combine in himself quickness of apprehension, intelligence, insight and understanding—qualities necessary for the exercise of command; magnanimity, generosity, benignity and gentleness—qualities necessary for the exercise of patience; original- ity, energy, strength of character and deter- mination—qualities necessary for the exercise of endurance; dignity, noble seriousness, order and regularity—qualities necessary for the ex- ercise of self-respect; grace, method, delicacy and lucidity—qualities necessary for the exer- cise of critical judgment. Thus all-embracing and vast is the nature of such a man. Profound it is and inexhaust- ible, like a living spring of water, ever run- ning out with life and vitality. All-embracing and vast, it is like Heaven. Profound and in- exhaustible, it is like the abyss. As soon as such a man shall make his ap- pearance in the world, all people shall rever- ence him. Whatever he says, all people will believe it. Whatever he does, all people will be pleased with it. Thus his name and fame will_spread and fill ‘all the civilized world, ex- tending even to savage countries. Wherever ships and carriages reach, wherever the labor and enterprise of men penetrate, wherever the heavens overshadow, and the earth sustains, wherever sun and moon shine, wherever frost and dew fall—all who have life and breath will honor him. Therefore, we may say, “He is the equal of God." * % ok ok But the “superior man” is no “blonde beast,” ruthlessly strong; such a conception would have seemed barbaric to any cultured Chinaman. On the contrary, Confucius accepts the golden rule, and states it perfectly: ‘“What you do not wish others to do unto you, do not do unto them.” “When you see a good man, think of emulating him; when you see a bad man, ex- amine your own heart.” This does not mean humility or meek surrender; Confucius here parts bravely from the quietism of Lao-tse. CONFUCIUS. Laotse had taught his followers to meet evil with good; Confuclus asked: ““With what, then, will you requite good? Return good for good, and for evil, justice.” “Love all, but cultivate friendship. only with your equals.” In the voice of Confucius hear now the overtones of Aristotle and Spinoza: The superior man is catholic, not partisan; the ordinary man is partisan, not catholic. The superior man wishes to be slow in his words, for men are easily ruined by the mouth. He acts before he speaks, and then speaks in ac- cord with his actions. - He does not dispute. He conforms to the path of the mean. Over- passing is like coming short of the mark. Shun, indeed, was very wise. He took hold of two extremes, determined the mean, and employed it in the government of the people. Now there is no end of things by which man is affected: and when his likes and dislikes are not subject to rule, he is changed into the nature of things as they come before him. The higher man seeks all that he wants in himself; the lower man seeks all that he wants from others. The thing wherein the superior man cannot be equaled is simply this—his work, which other men cannot see. He is distressed by his want of ability; not by other men’s not knowing him. He is anxious lest he should not get the truth; he is not anxlous lest poverty should come upon him. * sk ok Produce such men, Confucius argued, and everything else will be added unto you. The old morality would remain; every Chinaman would still worship the tomb and memory of his parents, and honor his mother limitless} but in his heart.of -learts’ there would be a higher law—the accord of his own life with that universal moral law whereby the part must co-operate with the whole or perish. And now it is the voice of Kant that we hear when Confucius speaks: The moral laws form one system with the laws of which heaven and earth support and contain, overshadow and canopy all things. These moral laws form the same system with the laws by which the seasons succeed each other and the sun and moon appear with the alternations of day and night. It is this same system of laws by which all creative things are produced and develop themselves each in its order and system without injuring one another; BY WILL DURANT, Ph.,D., Author of “The Story of Philosophy.” by which the operations of nature take their course without conflict and confusion, the lesser forces flowing everywhere like river currents, while the great forces of creation go silently and steadily on. It is this—one system running through all—that makes the universe so im- pressively great. 8o, finally, Confucius comes to government, which is at once the child and nurse of intelli- gence, character and morals. ket only the fit be eligible to rule, and let all be free to make themselves fit. “Instead of being concerned that you have no office, be concerned to think how you can make yourself fit for office.” (Let us emblazon this on every school and senate chamber in the land) If such fit men at last find office their very example will be stronger than law. *“He who rules by his virtuous char- acter is like the polar star, which rests in its place while all the other stars revolve about it. If you judge the people by rules and correct them by penalties, they will evade them and lose their sense of shame; but if you guide them by example and correct them by Your own loyalty and honor, they will keep their con- sclence and imitate you.” g o Chi-kang-tse questioned Confucius on a point of government, saying: ‘“Ought I not to cut off the lawless in order to ablish law and order?” Confucius replied: Sir, what need is there of the death penaity If you showed a sincere desire to be good, your people would likewise be good. The virtue of the prince is like unto wind; that of the people like unto grass. For it is of the nature of grass to bend when the wind blows upon it.” When Con- fucius, in his years of exile, thought of set- tling among some barbaric tribes, a pupil said: “How can you live there? They are savages.’ But Confucius answered: “If a higher type of man dwelt among them how could their savage condition last?” So Confucius visioned the coming of philoso- pher kings, and, perhaps because, like Voltaire, he thought it would be easier to educate one than to educate all, he labored for the ending of feudal chaos and the establishment of a unified central rule. He knew that this, like every form of order, was dangerous to liberty, but without “an all-pervading unity” there could be no real order, and no lasting liberty. Only with such a central government could the economic life of the people be guided into pros- perity, and their mental life into intelligence and wisdom. Perhaps the concentration of government would be the only way of prevent- ing that natural concentration of wealth which seems to lead by a fatal cycle to periodical revolutions. “The concentration of wealth is the way to disperse the pepole; the distribution of it among them is the way to unite people.” Scholars tell us that Chinese governments have repeatedly interfered to prevent the accumula- tion of wealth in the hands of a diminishing minority.. Through wealth would come the means to universal education, and through this at last a civilization worthy of man. “That whereby man differs from the lower animals is little; most people throw it away.” To cherish that little, and make it grow in every soul, should be the highest ambition of any government. * k k % The St,tesmnn. And now, like Plato, Confucius sought a ruler who would permit him to test his plans with prdctice. Most statesmen laughed at him: these ideas were pretty on paper, but in actual operation they would be ruined by the inevit- able rascality of men. Confucius waited pa- tiently, and at last, when he was 51, oppor- tunity came. In 501 B.C., a century and more before the execution of Socrates, we find Kung the governor of the city of Chung-tu. If we may believe the Chinese historians, “‘a marvel- ous transformation ensued in the manners of the people.” Confucius was promoted to the difficult position of minister of crime, in the Duchy of Lu. Here, if anywhere, his ideas should have failed; but again the historians (Continued on TFifteenth Page.) of court balls and the bestowal of court orders are sufficiently great to| outwelgh the disadvantages of an in-| evitable civil war, the results of which ! would be unaccountable. { For this reason one cannot do more than hope that Hindenburg will live to be a hundred. He inspires the | monarchist element of the populaticn, who are in the majority, with the feel- ing that he represents the invisible legendary king who lives at “Kuff- hauser” ~ and whose beard grows longer and longer as the years go by. That he should be turned down at the next election is impossible. He will remain President until he dies. | After his death it will not be a noble- man or a general who will be elected, hut a man from the middle classes, perhaps even a Cathslic. In neither | case will the republic be in danger. | There will be no more steel-helmet ‘putsches.” Germany is at peace, and because | she works' she flourishes. The house of Hohenzollern has done | more for Prussia than for Germany. | The 200 vears of their history show that they rose to princely power in Germany from their more humble origin as margraves in Franconia, the bresent Bavaria, by energy and thrift. | Thus, while Austria expanded by the | intermarriage of her princelings, Prus. sia grew by conques The Hohen- zollerns were conquerors, but their s can scarcely be blamed, since rope of that period knew no Father Laid Foundati 1. Concerning the gene: of their rise to power, it is a highly debatable point whether Frederick 11 was ghtly nan “the Great.” The pros and cons of this question depend en- iing, stnce he was the one man from ' . : | tirely upon the angle from which it is viewed One thing, however, is certain—it was not Frederick, but his father, who laid the foundation of Prussia’s great- ness during cighteenth century. vas @ conscientious er, a thrifty and decent man, cour- ageous but not brilli: It was he who developed and gave expression to everything that is now regarded as and traditionally Prussian, while his more talented and fascinat- ing son, imbued with French and in his youth so antagonistic to his father as to desire his execution, succeeded more than once in_endan: gering the coun | sake of his ow! In Frederick at his wits ends to know how to return the blows which had plunged the country into three successive = It was only s he grew older and as age whitened his hair that he gained wisdom and became to a certain extent “great.” It is popularly supposed that the ¢oontinued on Fifteenth Page) i well, in fact, that radio broadcasting —that grown night—is bogie, and one that is certain to make itself heard in the halls of Congress when the spokesmen for the people get together early in the Winter to determine lation for 1928 will take. Radio used to be a plaything of the mechanically- minded, an indeterminate something, and something of a puzzle to the many | who could not fathom out how a few wires and a few batterfe: rious contrivances called “tubes’” could pull music out of the air. til certain commercially-minded gentle- men got together and quickly saw the commereial possibilities of this new method of selling merchandise, whether it be artistry, canned pickles or wom- en's dress the radio conversation, by way of ad- seeds, and farm utensils, and no little propaganda for radio itself. But in the East at least it is disguised, somewhat ing. gotten on the nerves of some broad- | dollars every year for radio in some {early days, frowned horribly down on FRAUD IN RADIO ADVERTISING IS NEW POSER FOR CONGRESS Federal Commission Adheres Holding Censorship Is Unallowable~Victim Is Seen Without Remedy at Present Time. BY W. R. McCALLUM. Advertising pays and pays well. So infant industry which has to man’s estate almost over- beset today with “a ne what form radio legis- vith myste- go. It was so un- Strictly - to Law of the experts, as late as last year when the fourth national radio con-| | ference again adopted a platform of | opposition to direct advertising. All this while Congress was giving birth to the new radio law- which the Federal Radio Commiss now controls the air. Congress, whether wisely or unwise- Iy remains to be seen, failed to write into the radio law any provision for Federal censorship of programs, ex- cept to say that political speakers must have .qual opportunity to pre- sent every slde of their case through a broadcasting station. Further than that Congress did not It. said nothing about direct ad- vertising, and the Radio Commission, going _strictly nounced that it could not consistently he law under | working conditions in on | gy bring about certain particular bargaining. by the book. an.| Salaries, goods. Lately much of vertising, has turned to rugs, and thinly to be sure, but still traveling under the guise of indirect advertis- Out in the open spaces of the Middle ‘West, where men speak their minds, the phrase “indirect advertising” has casters and they have taken the bull by the horns, flown in the face of. public opinion, literally twisted - it around until now it sits on their door- step and proceeded to reap the golden harvest by directly advertising mer- chandise and all sorts of marketable commodities via the air. And the queer part of it is that the farmers and the non-farmers—in fact, virtually every consumer of a commodity for sale—like it. Or at least the direct advertisers say so. Tt must be good, and it must fill the -bill in some | measure, at least, for it is spreading throughout the West and finding its way into the East, with some sta- tion going ‘“on the alr’ to advertise a product directly almost every day. Bugaboos of Radio. 1 Direct advertising, as such, has been | ime of the bugaboos of radio since the | magical new science reached out and | touched public fancy on a tender spot —a spot so tender that John X. Public reaches down into his jeans and spends something like a half billion | wver form. The fathers of the art, in the direct advertising via the ether route. holding that no listener would care to | hear the merits of a particular kind of canned fruit juice, the market | prices of lima beans, or what not And § was so, at least in the min (Continued on Third Page.) GENTLEMAN, whose name is so well adverti that pre States is about to enjoy 100 of perity. When that prediction was pub- lished, | ha n “Why not?” | expected him to show me a hart or say something about e “business cyle” or “economic will not be a century of ninterrupted good times, 1use the universe is not ar- + more enduring men. {Such men are not'dsveloped < hen everything is easy. T come out of countri ere the sun shines every day. Is develop them; program. classification, Hard Times BY BRUCE BARTON. from growin& d not mention it, has Years ago a cl represented national uninterrupted pros- y church membership. cidedly inte ppened t:' be with a rolls in too ea t their churches, but work and ple form extra t take long chanc Then come: ome of But he took an entirely proach. of economy, wo Sometime the to a point whe be- have still ” he said. of Antioch, on martyrdom ringing m colleague or marke! Stand like a b It is the men problems e B 9 t ing develops stand like Or are wrapped the gentle soft: (Copyright, 1027.) BY W. J. VOSS. A comprehensive program of reme- dial legislation will be urgéd upon the Seventieth Congress by organized Fed- eral employes, who are m?mem that the ice of the United States are any- | thing but what they should be. These employes look to Congress to changes in ex- isting conditions which, in the Gov- ernment service, they declare, are in some quarters thoroughly unsatisfac- tory and many decades behind the advancements which workers in pri- vate industry have obtained through the continuous efforts of co-operative as might be constitute an important item on this Despite the ado over re- Government enough setbacks to keep the race altogeth f oger Babson made t on which one wavy and the other wavy line showed It was di ng. When money y and too long men drift away, not only from from living; t g erity all the time, but in Bur Poresent state hard times their needed work to do. “gnatius, the grand old Bishop essage Polycarp, the Bishop nvil” who have done But men can’t anvils they're made of French pastry. up always s of prosperity. FEDERAL EMPLOYES TO SEEK MUCH REMEDIAL LEGISLATION qu, Reclassification, Leave, Overtime and Exten- sion of Saturday Half-Holiday Are Points at Is- sue—~Congress to Be Asked for Assistance. still feel they are underpaid. Retire- ment also is the ground for some of this remedial effort, together with | various phases of the subject of work- | ing hours and the amount of leave. Program Recently Mapped. The program of organized Govern- { ment workers was formulated at the recent national convention of the Na- tional Federation of Federal Em- ployes held at San Antonio, Tex. In regard to many of the items, the federation is on record as advocating them. But it reaffirmed its stand and served notice that the organization is prepared to exert the greatest pos- sible endeavor to have as many of the changes effected as practicable at the forthcoming session of Congress. Summarized briefly, this program proposes the following: Abolition of the Personnel Classifi- cation Board and transfer of its func- tions to the Civil Service Comimission. Establishment of a civil service court of appeals. Salary increases in all grades, with the stipulation that no full-time em- ploye shall receive less than $1,500 a year. Liberalization of retirement law so as to increase the maximum annuity and make a greater number of em- ployes eligible to retirement at an earlier age. Extend the Saturday halt-holiday throughout the year. Establish annual leave for Federal employes as a matter of right and not as a privilege, which it is at present. Granting of sick leave at the rate of 15 days a year with pay, cumu- lative to 60 days in any one calendar year. Observance of the six-day week in the Government service. Payment for overtime work, now largely performed without extra com- pensation. Classification Board Opposed. The National Federation of Federal Employes is unalterably opposed to the Personnel Classification Board. It views that body as “manifestly not in harmony with the will of Congress as expressed by legislation.” This stand is based on the fact that the classifi- cation act of 1923 provided for: the classifying of all Federal employes. But the federation poiiits to the lapse of four years without classification be- coming a reality for any but the work- ers in the District of Columbla. The organization repeatedly has urged the classification of field positions, but not even a survey has been made looking | to_the extension of the system. This is by no means the only ob- jection, however, which organized Federal workers have to the personnel board. Its tactics generally 1. ve been | distastetul-and its handling of ratings (Continued on Fifteenth Page) civilian expected, ‘workers soft perity hard t ffer younger if i Society News WAR SPECTER SEEN AS BIG BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. ENEVA.—Last week I de- scribed the growing skepti- cism and dlsappointment all over KEurope resulting from the double phenomenon of mounting international friction and diminishing prestige of the League of Nations There is a steadily developing sense that new wars are possible. Along with _this has come the feeling that the League, so far from increasing its power to meet this situation, is losing its authority. ‘This sense of dissatisfaction has sup- plied the main action of the recent meeting of the Assembly itself. Some- thing little short of revolt against the strangling control of the great pow ers was precipitated by many of the smaller powers, whose efforts centered about proposals coming on the one side from Holland, on the other from Poland. 1In all frankness, one must that in the end neither produced useful results. Both combined to show that the League is for the mo- ment dominated by the influence of the great powers, and, in fact, was halted in its work by the solute refusal of Great Britain to permit any reconsideration of the protocol or ex- tension of the idea of a mutual guar- antee against aggression. Attempts Revolt Against Britain. In a larger sense, the Assembly has therefore little more than attempted a revolt against British domination. From first to last the League mem- bers have disclosed their resentment of Britisk policy. Nor could any one exaggerate the discomfort of the role which Sir Austen Chamberlain was forced to play. At every turn he was conscious of the fact that the vast majority of League members held his country responsible for stifling any attempt to general arbitration of mu- tual guarantees, and thus far barring all attempts at disarmament. Almost without exception, the small powers of the League, together with France, advocate the application of the principles of the protocol accepted by them in 1924 with vast enthusiasm and abandoned only because of Brit- ish veto in the next year. The pro- tocol would have bound all the mem- ber nations to agree to arbitration of disputes, to mutual action against any aggressor, and on this basis to undertake the work of disarmament. But the British are unprepared to accept arbitration, alleging that the responsibility for this lies with the dominions and America. They are unwilling to agree to mutual assist- ance because they maintain that neither their people nor the citizens of the dominions are willing to guar- antee frontiers in remote regions of Europe. But without arbitration and security, disarmament has been again :m:‘i again demonstrated to be impos- sible. Plea of Small Powers. | As a consequence, all the small | poivers have clamored and continue to clamor for new action. The proposal of the Dutch foreign minister was to resume a study of the principles of the prototol. ‘But against this pro- posal the British set their faces. For them it took on the character of an attempt of the League members to interfere with British policy. British . influence, as expressed in the present British cabinet, would keep the League of Nations an avail- able something which could be used when the great powers desired, but could be just as utterly neglected whenever Britain, France and Ger- many preferred to do their interna- tional business directly. Europe, however, so far as the small powers are concerned, sees in this policy the ruin of the League eal force. It is only a minor agency, without right or authority to act. In fact, condemned to serve, it is only as an instrument in the hands of the great powers that the League would be employed. See Necessity for Unity. Today most Continental nations feel the necessity for unity—for unity not merely in the prevention of war, but in organization of a system of Euro- pean order. But at the bottom of the whole probleny lies the question of security and disarmament—and no disarmament is possible while secur- ity is lacking. Yet every single at- tempt to arrive at security so far has been blocked by Britain, and every effort to get disarmament has as a result gone by the board. British success in the latest Assem- bly was due to several circumstances. In the first place, the Germans are opposed to any agreement which might fix beyond change those east- ern frontiers of their country which no one accepts. Until the Polish cor- ridor is suppressed, Danzig restored to Germany, upper Silesia as well as Germany must oppose any form of un- dertaking which would seek to give to Poland the collective guarantee of Europe against any change. France, on the other hand, has just received British aid in the allimpor- tant matter of the evacuation of the Rhineland. With British approval,| the reduction of the army of occupa- tion has been restricted ta a scant 10,000. This satisfies France and dis- pleases Germany, but British support of France leaves Germany helpless. As a consequence, Briand, whose every personal and national sympathy must have been with the Dutch and Poles, is forced to join Chamberlain and Stresemann in preventing the League from any real action. Status of League Defined. Here, then, one sees clearly what the present status of the League is. It is controlled by the great powers. France, Britain, Germany, make their bargains outside and use the League to ratify them, as in the case of Locarno. The great-power game is played consistently under the shadow | of the League. But all this is at the expense of the League, and as a con- sequence not merely all the smaller peoples but many groups within the great countries which believe in the League as a force are becoming more and more indignant and resentful. It is clear, however, that so long as Chamberlain remains in control of the foreign office—and so long as the present Tory government holds power —British policy will be, if not hostile to the League, in effect utterly para- lyzing. Chamberlain is an old-style politiclan. He believes in the great- power combinations of his pre-war tradition. Moreover, the Naval Con- ference showed the spirit of his asso- ciates, as did the statements of Lord Robert Cecil in his later letter of resignation. Until there is a cabinet in Britain which is sympathetic with the real purposes of the League Brit- ish policy at Geneva will steadily and even increasingly block all real effort at European readjustment. While it is apparent that British power is on the whole deolining, the Tocarno ‘pacts have put in British hands an enormous advantage. Both POWERS DOMINATE LEAGUE Small Nations Claim They Are Not Get- ting Square Deal at Geneva Assembly. Disarmament Plans Lagging. France and Germany have been put in a situation where neither can move save with British consent. For France, British security is all impor. ant, particularly so long as the League Is impotent. For Germany, British ald can alone mitizate the character of French occupation and restrain the French Polish policy. In the meantime Chamberlain fg- nores the League, and in th: Europe this is dangerous. Thu ish encouragement sent Mu: into the Albanian controversy recently threatened European and the new effer: enc gary is charged to the forc in} which Hun. offica whose sn for ntiers various incidents ening European order, Britain at neva, year afte and with all its intluence ity, seeks to keep the Leagu, ing strings, to make without independence in itself. Effect of British Veto. It is a sel of this British of its own development which plains the revolt of the League agalnst Britain. But such revoit can come to nothing so long as Britain is able to make bargains with France, Germany and Italy outside of Geneva which in- sure support or passive acquicscence within the League. The small powers are not strong enough to act against the great, even if they were united. No great power is at the moment ready to break with Britain and cham- pion the cause of the small powers and the principles of the protocol. In this situation one must recognize that the latest session of the League not only is a disappointment but in a sense a disaster. Once more spon- taneous efforts within the League coming from Poland, Holland and Norway have been suppressed ruth- lessly. Chamberlain, Briand and esemann working together have made the League a sorry accessory of great-power pol All chance of any disarmament achievement has been postponed for at least a year. And this has been done in the face of European conditions which manifestiy become ly more difficult, if not more dangerous, Not only will there be no progress toward disarmament in Europe this vear but all hopes which centered about the League have been frus- trated. European peace itself is at least measurably more precarioua because of growing cynicism with re. epect of the League. No one will ate tempt to minimize the value of the League as a meeting place between representatives of powers. No one will undertake to question the useful. ness of the League in dealing with minor problems of international im- portance. Larger Problem Suggested. But there remains the larger prob- }lem of European peace—the task of finding ways and means to bring about increased = confidence and reduced armies, to abolish the sense of inse. curity and apprehension which alone compel peoples struggling under ter rific financial burdens to waste their substance in armaments. And just here the failure of Geneva this year has been complete and almost stars tling. The cause of this failure cannot be disguised, the responsibility cannot be hidden. The -eighth assembly of tha League has failed because of the course pursued here by Chamberlain, faithfully interpreting the opinions of the die-hard ministr | _Viewed through American eyes, too, | the League has never seemed to me less to present a field where American participation could usefully be em- ployed. True, American representa- tives might join those of the smaller powers in seeming to restore some confidence in the League among the masses of people for whom it has been —and perhaps remains—the single promise of escape from new catas- trophe. But the recent experience of the Naval Conference discloses how far we could hope to proceed in such an undertaking. Becomes Happy Hunting Ground. President Wilson’s new organiza- tion which was to break the control of foreign offices over international relations and restore to the people some measure at least of control has hecome the happy hunting ground of the foreign offices themselves. The mall countries have been pushed aside; the great powers make their bargains outside and act in unanim- ity within. But over this whole posi- tion the eloquence of the orators of the great powers casts a smoks screen of a vague, even hypocritical, appeal to League ideals. That is the League of the eighth assembly. (Copyright, 1927, by MeClure N yrig] Tim bl qdoClure. Newspaver o California Warned Of “Mouse Disease” Guardians of public health in the sections of California that were over- run by migrating hordes of mice last Spring are warned to watch out for a mouse diseasa that may possibly be, communicable to hogs and to hu- man beings. Many of the mice that swarmed over the agricultural districts around Kern ~ County, Calif., were ob- served to be suffering from some dis- ease, the United States Department of Agriculture experts sent to stem the invasion reported. Laboratory research on the afflicted rodents by the United States Public Health Ser= ice has revealed that the contagiom was spread by a germ closely re- sembling that which causes swine erysipelas which in turn is capable of infecting man. The virulence of the organism va- ries greatly, but it is thought that the stock owners In the regions af- fected would do well to keep a look out for mice as a possible source of infection. ar tmporianca veto ex- Cuba Big Candy Buyer. Cuba is Uncle Sam's best customer for chocolate candy, the island re- vublic consuming yearly more than ten times as much as any other country. The best all.round buyer of candy generally is the United King- dom, which imports some four or five wmillion pounds a year. The next best is tiny Porto Rico, which buys about 75 per cent as much. Cuba is third on the list, Alaska fourth and Canada fifth. — e His Habit. ¥rom the Boston Transeript Former Emperor William says an other World War is coming in 1937. The throne may be lost, but the habit of rattling the sabor is not cureds