Evening Star Newspaper, October 23, 1927, Page 47

'CRITICS OF U: S. FOREIGN SERVICE STIR PRESIDENT Executive Action “Reforming” Present System of Promotions Held Likely in Official Circles Her BY FREDERIC WILLIAM WILE. T ‘can be stated on first-hand authority that President Coolidge is mot only ‘upset by current naval, military and political com- ment and criticism, but is bitterly disturbed by incessant attacks upon the Americah forsign service. Ob- servers who have had opportunity of gathering the President’s views pre- dict he may not wait fcr the State Department and the foreign service to ‘‘reform” themselves, but may issue a series of executive orders designed to accomplish that purpose. “ Mr. Coolidge set himself a notable precedent in that direction. On June 7, 1924, by way of giving effect to the newly enacted Rogers law, the Presi- dent issued an executive order con- stituting the “Foreign Service Person- nel Board.” This board has virtually supreme control over advancements below the rank of minister. It pos- sesses power of recommendation for all promotions, including .counselors and secretaries of embassies and lega- tions and all grades of the consular branch. See Congressional Action. Authorities who feel that President Coolidge may be induced to take the bull by the horns in order to stifie annoying criticism of the foreign service seem convinced that Congress will act to that end if the White House does not seize the initiative before- hand. The Personnel Board consists of the Undersecretary of State, chair- man; an Assistart Secretary of State wko has come from the diplomatic branch of the foreign service, an As- sistant Secretary who comes from the consular branch, and the members of the executive committee of the Person- mel Board. The attacks whick: have aroused the President’s interest have been directed mainly at the “career-man” system. They have persisted for a long time, but. never stirred up the nation-wide attention the subject has receiwed dur- ing the past year. The Nicaraguan and Mexican messes turned the lime- light on it full force. Vice President Dawes tilted at the “career-man” pol- fey hammer and tongs at a college commencement address in St. Louis last June. He declared that “career men” either serve abroad and in the State Department so continuously or become so fixed .in their attitude |’ through strictly technical diplomatic training that they are frequently out of touch with An.erican public senti- ment. The Vice President is especially op- posed to the system of promoting “career men” on the seniority basis. He asserts that “seniority in promo- tion ruins the effectiveness of a peace- time army when thrust into war.” By the same token, Dawes argues, Ameri- can interests in a grave emergency ‘ight be fatally jeopardized by ‘*‘ca- reer diplon.ats” intrusted with respon- =ibility simply because tkey rose to their places on the seniority ladder. Reorganization Favored. One of the constructive changes ad- wccated in the foreign service is that the make-up of the Personnel Board should undergo nization. It is to private life, or that ever some mem- ber of ghe public who has never been in the foreign service should be on the board. The idea is that such mem- bers would introduce an element into the appointment system unlikely to be hedged in by either State Depart- ment or foreign serv] traditions, prejudices or obligations. * Those who make this concrete sug- gestion are friends of the foreign serv- ice. They freely acknowledge that as now constituted it is ‘full of highly capable, experienced men. It is urged by these proponents that a newly con- stituted Personnel Board should in all cases give ample cousideration to the qualifications of service men for pro- n.otion. But it is urged with even more emphasis that promotion should henceforth not be confined to service men. One hears in this c-nnection a good deal «f “knocking” of the so- called “State Department clique.” Rogers Act Stirs Feeling. Observers who went abroad this year have returned with the news that the Rogers act provision co-equalizing members of the diplomatic and consu- lar branches is not working out as happily as was hoped. The ancient theory that diplomats outclass and outrank consuls can apparently not be lived down. They are co-ordinate and on a level under the law, but just as the Army has always outranked the Navy—because established .earlier— so the diplomatic folk are a little in- clined to look down upon the consular prople. Eye-witnesses report that this is seriously underminimg the morale of both foreign service branches. There's said to be no single secretary of lega- tion anywhere overseas who nowadays doesn't open the State Department pouch with fear and trembling, lest it contain the dire tidings that he's been transferred to the consular branch. ‘The appointment of Dwight W. Mor- row as Ambassador to Mexico is now widely heralded as a sign of President Coolidge's determination to break with the “career-men” program, which dur- ing the past year has been in full swing. Nearly a dozen vacant ambas- sadorships and ministerships were all filled from within the foreign service, including important po: like Brus- sels, Constantinople, Ottawa, Buda- pest, Stockholm, Dublin, Athens, Bern and Buenos Aires. “Career Men” Pientiful. There was no dearth of ‘career men"” candidates for Mexico City, as there is now no shortage of such as- pirants for the ambassadorship at Ha- vana. But just as Mr. Coolidge went into the non-service field for an envoy to Mexico, ‘it is confidently expected that he will reach out into private life for his cmissary to Cuba. The Senate will have two specific ard ideal opportunities to discuss the foreign -service personnel issue from both the ‘‘career” and mnon-career standpoints.. It will be asked to con- firm the nomination of Joseph C. Grew, former Undersecretary of State and one of the very ablest of our “career men,” as Ambassador to Tur- key, and of Dwight W. Morrow, non- career man, as Ambassador to Mexico. Grew typifies the professional diplo- mat Who, Vice President Dawes thinks, has outlived his usefulness, while Mor- reorgai P that there be added to the board either an ambassador or minis- ter in active service, or an ex-ambas- sador or ex-minister who has returned row personifies the business man who, Dawes believes, should be put into the foreign service. (Copyright, 1927.) ‘The Significance of Navy Day (Continued from First Page) ing oil production, 1,090,000; manu- facturing and Mechanical industries, 12,800,000; * transportation, 3,063,000, trade, " 4,240,000; fessional dollars’ worth of manufactures sent abroad each year, it is not difficult to understand that a sudden cessation of this trade would inflict the greatest upon the people of America. An adequate Navy and merchant ma- is and also the cheap- any time, countries, like the great' coal strike in England 1926, may throw the transportation system out of gear. War, as in the case of the war between the allies and the central powers in 1914, may make shipments of Ameri- can goods abroad impossible for the very lack of bottoms in which to transport them, unless there be a real American merchant marine. During the British’ coal strike ton- nage under the British flag, ordina- rily available to American farmers for the shipment abroad of wheat and cotton, was deflected to the coal- carrying business, to import fuel to keep the British people from freezing and the industries of England from halting entirely. If it had not been for fhe fact that the United States had a certain amount of tonnage available, and the Shipping Board was able to commission a number of ad- ditional ships then laid up, American farmers and cotton growers would have stood to lose heavily on their erops through their inability to reach foreign markets at the proper time. i * ¥ ¥ % Another instance of the value of a real American merchant marine was found in the Fall of 1924, There was a great wheat crop. The country was faced with an exportable surplus of 250,000,000 bushels. No immediate market was in sight. The surplus threatened to demoralize the domestic market and to force the price of wheat to less than a dollar a bushel. There came a sudden demand from the for- eign market, This demand had to be met promptly. No carriers were available for the wheat—that is, no regular carriers under either the American flag or any foreign flag. To meet the emergency the Shipping Board outfitted and put into commis- sion a fleet of Government-owned ships. They were sent to the Galf ports in September and October and successfully broke the tic-up, thereby | aiding the American farmers and the people abroad who necded the wheat. In America the tendency has al- ways been, and properly so, to have business conducted by private individ- uals and private companies rather than by the Government. If the ship- ping business can be placed entirely in private hands, so much the better. But if it cannot—and under present conditions it does not appear that it can—then surely the Government will not he 8o shortsighted as to take away its backing from the merchant fleet which now carries a considerable por- tion of American overseas commerce. 1t is estimated that about 30 per cent of America’s foreign trade is carried in “American flag ships, including those now privately owned and op- erated. But the aim of the Shipping | shipping ‘the Board has been to bring this to at least 50 per cent. * % %k % Suggestions have been made re- cently that American railroads should be encouraged to purchase overseas lines and operate them, just as Canadian railroads operate shipping lines. There is nothing in the laws of the land to prevent this. The only check is the fact that the railroads hesitate to <invest in ships, fearing that they may prove a losing pre n. Congress can, at its coming ion, take steps looking to- ward ship aid, the railroads might pe encouraged to enter upon the owner- ship of vessels and operate them in overseas commerce. The railroads would prove ‘admirable feegers for their own ships, and should be in a position to make the shipping lines pay more effectively. Sea power is indispensable to the United States. The American people, with the great development of their industries and agriculture, have made it impossible a in the ex- treme for the Nation to hazard a lack of adequate naval strength or a lack of merchant marine. - D. C. Group to Join New England Tour (Continued from First Page.) the National Park and Planning Com- mission will be adequately repre- sented in Commissioner Dougherty, chairman of the Board of Commis- sioners; Edwin C. Graham, president of the Board of Trade, Frederic A. Delano, president of the American Civic Association und a member of the park commission, and Maj. Carey H. Brown, assistant director of the office of Public Buildings and Public Parks ,of ‘the National Capital. THE_SUNDAY The Story of Civilization The Workers of Egypt. N the Egyptian desert, west ol ‘Thebes, o colosdl stand, glant statues of an ancient Pharaoh. Amenhotep IIL Centuries of sand and wind have worn then. down, o that the lordly features of the King can hardly be discerned; and careless generations have battered them al- most to fragments, leaving great holes like wounds in the apparently impene- trable stone. On one of the figures may be read the scribbling of Greek STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €. OCTOBE 99 2. 2. 15: 7. PART tourists who came there some decades || before the birth of Christ: already these monuments were gazed upon as relics of a distant past, ancient even to antiquity. Behind them lie two fragments of massive stela or slab, pockmarked where once it was in- crusted with precious jewelry and gold, and béaring a proud inscription by Amenhotep, the king: “My majesty has done these things for millions of years, and I know tnat they will abtde in the earth.” Yes, as we shall all in the earth. Bb'llg}?om statues were built about 1400 B. C.; the immense temple of which they formed one approach was de- stroyed two hudred years later by Amenhotep's descendants. To the Greeks the statues seemed very old, and yet they were nearer in time <0 those Greeks than to the great Pyra- mids, which had inaugrated Egypt- ian history thyee thousand years be- fore. Can we ever realize that Cheops was as ancient to Pericles (who heard with wonder Herodotus' account of Egypt) as Pericles is to us? How the centuries were buried, slowly and patiently, one after another, by those wind-swept sands! Still today the sands are burying therm; and while we write and read the Ryramids struggle to preserve themselves against the eddies of the desert. Greece flared up and died away in halt a thousand years; Rome lived little more than a millennium; but the epic of Egypt begins with the intro- duction of the calendar in 4241 B. C., and does not end till the conquest by Rome in the generation that saw the coming of Christ. It is to the ry of Greece what Homer’s “Odyssey”s to a Pindaric ode. Nowhere has a civiliza- tion lasted longer. Could anything be more rediculous than an attempt to compress within a little hour those forty centuries of struggle. passion, labor and creation? As you enter Egypt at Alexandria you pass (now by \dusty train, once by weary foot and caravan) southward along one of the mouths of the Nile. Looking on either side you see the verdant basis of Egyptian civilization —the rich, dark son made fertile by the periodic overflow of the most his- toric river in the world. On every side are irrigation canals, some of them as old as the Pyramids, Here and there water is being raised from its natural level as it was raised in the time of Cheops—with leathern buck- ets poised on poles and lifted by coun- terweights/into the rivulets that feed the soil. Peasants run about, indif- ferently on land or through the streams; they are not much concerned for their clothing, since they make no concession to fashion beyond a loin-cloth. They are called fellaheen now; once they had another name, and before that, another still; but im- memorially they have been there. It is astonishing how long one must ride before reaching Cairo. One thought of it as mear the coast; but it is a hundred miles to the south, at the' lowest corner of that fertile tri- angle which the Greeks (from their letter D) called the Delta., Doubtless that triangle—which looks on the map like the leaves of a lofty palm held up by’ the slender Nile—was once a bay; slowly: the great river filled it with alluvial deposits from its endless bed;, and it became the granary of Egypt. Even at Cairo the Nile has but be- gun; steamers run from the capital six days upstream to Assuan, where the waters are dammed to regulate the overflow; and yet Assuan itself is far nearer to the river’s mouth-than BUILDING THE PYRAMIDS. to its source. All in all the Nile winds through mountains, cataracts and sand for four thousand patient miles. No wonder the Egyptians themselves never knew its origins. and waited for Alexdnder’s scientists to discover the melting snows of the distant Abys- sinian peaks as the cause of that vernal flood which made civilization possible in Egypt. On either side the desert lay, where only barbarism could subsist; for the first requisite of civilization is water. Five miles (and often less) to left or right of the river one comes upon the sand, it flles up bitl..gly into the face, and only the veiled Bedouins can bear it. From the mouth of the Nile to ‘Thebes, where the ancient capital lay, habitable Egypt was a ribbon of river and soil, 750 miles in length, but in total area less than little Belglum, * %k X And yet in that narrow strip man felt himself favored and built many temples of gratitude to the gods, for nothing could have been so beneficent as that providential overflow. Hero- dotus described the inhabitants jealous- ly—they “obtain the fruits of the field with less trouble than any other peo- ple in the world, since they have no need to break up the ground with the plow, nor to use the hoe, nor to do any of the work which the rest of mankind find necessary if they are to get a crop. But the husbandman waits till the river has of its own ac- cord spread over the fields and with- drawn again to its bed. Then he sows his plot of ground and turns his swine into it freely. The swine tread in the corn, and the peasant need only await the harvest.” During the overflow “the country is converted into a sea and nothing appears but the cities, which look then like the islands in the Aegean.” And even those cities were built of bricks from alluvial clay, so generous was the Nile. Thus encouraged, Egypt made at an early date that passage from nomad herding fo settled agriculture which is the beginning of civilized so- clety. Men could live in one place now, building houses, churches, schools and states, They ¢ould put behind them the barbaric chase— nurse of cruelty and greed—and give themselves to the pacifying quiet of the fields. * x x ® Slowly, as the peasant toiled, an eco- nomic surplus grew, and food was laid aslde for workers engaged in industry and trade, Some men found their way across Suez to the Peninsula of Sipal and opened up great copper mines there. Within a, century those mines had made Egypt master of the Mediterranean, First, of course (since already there were kings), the metal was used for war. Bronze The Story the BY HENRY W. BUNN. HB following is a brief sum- mary of the most important news of the world for the seven days ended October 22: Great Britain.—So Miss Dor- othy Logan, the London physician, did not swim the English annel, ing a new woman's record. The business, it seems, was “a fake to end fakes,” to show how easily the.public could be fooled, “to show the neces- sity of independent umpires to pre- vent possible abuses.” Miss Logan entered the sea at Cape Griz Nez, France, and swam until be- yondpossibility of observation. Then she was taken into a waiting boat. The boat proceeded toward England, and at the proper time, when three miles from Folkstone, Miss Logan slipped into the water and swam ashore, where she was greeted with wild enthusiasm. Miss Logan thinks she has “shown the desirability of an international commission to supervise and certify all Channel swims.” The results of recent parliamentary bye-elections have extremely de- pressed the Conservatives, and by the same token have caused immense joy to the Liberals. Of the five most recent elections the Liberals won three. In the fourth they lost by less than 200, having greatly increased their vote; in the fifth, though only third in the poll, they alone of the three contesting parties increased In addition there will be Dr. John M. Gries, chief of the Division of Building and Housing of the Depart- ment of Commerce; John Delamater, secretary of the Committee of One Hundred of the Federal City; Miles Harlean James, executive secretary of the Committee on the New York Mrs. Albert Lee Thurman, assistant secretary of the American Civic Asso- clation, and Miss Sybil Baker, head of the recpeational center work of the public_school system. In addition to these Washingtonians there will be in attendance Thomas Adams, director of the Committee on the New York Regional Plan and Its Environs; George B. Ford of New York, a prominent city planner; Col. 8. P. Wetherill, jr., president of the Reg- jonal Plan Association of the Phila- delphia Tri-State District; Dr. J, Hor- ace McFarland of Harrisburg, Pa., a past president of the American Civic Association; Morris Knowles, chair- man of the Pittsburgh Planning De- partment; Francis H. McChesney, chairman of the County Regional Planning Board of Syracuse, N. Y. Eugene Tuylor, scretary of the Chi- cago Plan Commission; Arthur H. Shurtleff, president of the American Society of Landscape Architects; Rob- ert 1. Whitter, New York zoning ex- pert, and a large number of city planners and others intercsted in the subject. Traveling Movies in Russia. Traveling moving picture shows are {the latest cinematic development in Sovlet Russia. At present there are more than 1,200 such units traveling from one village to another. The pop- !ularity of the exhibitions may be judged by their rapid growth in‘num- ber during the past two years. At the end of 1925 there were less than 400 traveling movies. This figure rose in 1926 to 900, and for the present year :t is planned to produce 2,000 projee Ens (s s ’ their vote. At Bosworth; of the total of 31,500 votes cast, the Conservative candidate received only 7,685, whereas at the general elections of 1924 the winning Conservative candidate re- ceived over ten thousand. The trade unions bill was chiefly in issue, to which both the Liberal and the Labor candidates declared themselves opposed. The result goes some way to falsify the oft-asserted Conserva- tive claim that the country favors that-legislation. The genéral indica- tion would seem to be that the country regards apprehensively the trend of Conservative policy, yet hesi- tates to transfer the power to Iiabor (Labor made some but not very con- siderable gains at Bosworth); but whether, were general elections to be held tomorrow, the country, desirous of a middle course, would intrust the conduct thereof to the Liberals is very, véry doubtful. * % %k ¥ France.—The French note of reply to our Government’s note of October 8, re tariffs, was delivered on October 15. It would seem that in the Octo- ber 8 note our Government asked that the additional “discriminations” im- posed by the French government de- cree of August 30 be discontinued pending a general settlemegt. Official publication of both notes is withheld. Some press accounts allege that in its note of October 15 the French gov- ernment makes compliance with the request just mentioned conditional of certain reciprocal American con- cessions pending a settlement, again, afirming its unshakable adhesion to the principle of reciprocity, But we are much to sea. I am doing my best o keep the reader in touch with the course of these very important ex- changes, but that best is not very sat- istactory. * k% Spain.—At the instance of King Alfonso the Sonder yacht races be- tweem the United States and Spain ¢ | glorious of sporting institutions. are to be renewed—one of the nl:)om er- haps the King and Dictator. Primo De Rivera will be in New York to witness the start of next year's race, New York to Santander. - Certainly the King and dictator are working with resolution and energy to reknit the ties (le., the economic, social, cultural and spiritual ones; not, of course, the political ones) be- tween Mother Spain and the Daughter Hispano-American republics. The In- ternational Expesition at Seville, (which will open on Columbus day, October 12, 1928) will be a development in that sense. It is pleasant to note the gesture of extraordinary friendll- ness to the United States in that con- nection. Ours is the only non-Spanish- speaking country to be represented at the exposition. Our Government has appropriated $750,000 for building and exhibits, the building to be preserved as our consulate. Spain has recently financed a loan of $40,000,000 to Argen- tina, i8 in negotfation for a loan of $20,000,000 to Chile and contemplates a like service to Venezuela. ““House of Spain” foundations in the Central and South American countries are zealously active. ‘An ambitious project to establish in New York City a great center for the interests of Spanish-speaking peoples, lacks funds for its realization. It had been proposed to purchase the Grand Central Palace for this purpose; but the price was prohibitive. However, since 1904 the Hispanic Soclety of America, established _through the munificence of Archer M. Huntington, with its fine museum and library for housing Spanish art and literature, has been doing splendid work toward fostering American appreciation of Spanish culture. Spain is making a grand bid for the American tourist. This year the Spanish Royal Mail Line put a passen- ger liner on direct service between New York and Spain, and two more fine ships will be added to that serv- ice next year, an enterprise made pos- sible by a government subsidy. The Guadalquivir has been deepened from Seville 10 the sea for the accommoda- tion of deep-draft ships. The railroads have been improved, hotels; American style (much needed), have been built, and provision has been made for 5,000 miles of good motor roads, d, we are told, is being rebuilt in a style at once of splendor and of good taste. * kR X Germany—In the firsgt seven months of this year the Lufthansa lines car- ried 58,000 passengers, with only one fatal accident, in which 3 passengers were killed. In over 95 per cent of cases runs were made on time. Berlin is eminent if not pre-eminent in respect of proportion of females to males, and in respect of number of saloons and size otl lallnlcll;fll debt in proportion to population. In a popu- h!lg?\ of about 4,000,000 the females outnumber the males by about 320,000, The city has 18,000 saloons and the bonded municipal debt is 418,000,000 marks. { * ok ok kN L Italy — Osservatore = Romano, Vatican o1 recently created a sen- sation by demanding restoraf poral power to the the swords, helmets and shields gave the soldiers of Egypt an advantage over every foe. Then came industrial tools—wedges, rollers, wheels, levers, windlasses, pulleys, screws and lathes; drills that could bore the toughest diorite and saws that could cut the massive 1ids of the sarcophagi. Egyp: tian workers made bricks, cement and plaster of paris; they glazed pottery, blew glass and glorified it with color. They knew the arts of enameling and varnishing and developed chemistry for many industrial purposes. They made tissues of the fines weaving known in the history of textiles. Spec- imens of linen woven by them 4,000 years ago show to this day a “weave so fine that it requires a magnifying glass to distinguish it from silk. The best work of the modern machine loom is coarse in comparison with this fabric of the ancient hand loom.” (Breasted.) “If we compare the tech- nical inventory of the Egyptians with our own,” says Peschel, “it is evident that before the invention of the steam engine we excelled them in scarcely anything.” ‘With these aids transport grew and achieved marvels without precedent. Canals were dug between the impass- able cataracts of the Nile, great ves- sels were built that could carry logs of cedar from Lebanon across the Mediterranean; blocks of granite 30 feet in length and®60 tons in weight were borne over land and water for hundreds of miles. Everywhere along the Nile the picture was one of lively industry and trade. x X koK Who these people were, or whence they came, no man can say. ‘The Semitie structure of their language in- dicates an Aslatic origin, but language and race are not always one, and per- haps it was an alien invasion tlat left a Semitic stamp upon Egyptian speech. Very probably the people of the Nile, like most “races,” were of complex origin; some of them were of Semitic = descent, some came from Libya, on . Egypt's west; some were blacks from Ethiopia, on the south; nm perhaps had come in from central before ethnographers had begun to. divide the human race. Gradually they became a people, alike in speech and feature, capable of one order and one state. Most of them, it seems, were serfs or slaves: men and women personally controlled by baronial lords, or bound for debt, or captured in battle; the de- velopment of agriculture made slavery profitable “und put an end to the slaughter of fhe conquered in war. An old relief in the museum at Leyden pictures a long procession of Asiatic captives passing gloomily into Egyp- tian bondage; one sees them' still alive on that vivid slab, their hands tied behind their backs or their heads, or thrust through clumsy handcuffs of BY WILL DURANT, Ph. D., Author of “The Story of Philosophy.” wood. Diodorus Siculus describes them working naked in the mines, Every- where they toiled, that Egypt might have food, and pyramids and kings. * ok x % Kings. ‘Where there are pawns there must be kings. Kings were never so plenti- ful as in Egypt; they are so common there that we lump them into- dy- nasties, and, even so, their history is the dullest story in the world. Yet they gave Egypt order, a boon un- felt by those who have had it long. “I made the woman of Egypt,” sald Rameses III, “go with uncovered ears to the place which she desired, for no stranger, nor any one upon the road, molested her.’. . . I took a man out of his misfortune and gave him breath. I rescued him from the oppressor who was of more account than he. set, each man in security in his town; 1 settled the land in the place where it was laid waste.” It was one side of the royal story; the other side was war. The, history of Egypt begins with Menes, who won his way to fame in the way dear to crowds by coming out of the South, conquering the Delta, and forging South and North for the first time into one kingdom. Menes built a cap- ital near Memphis (20 miles upstream from Cairo), and established the first dynasty there in 3400 B. C. (The wise reader will insert the word “about” before all dates in Egyptian history.) After him comes a dreary desert of dynasties, with tragic relief supplied chiefly by war; in the third dynasty (29802900 B. C.) King Kha- sekhem hoasts. of taking captive 47,209 rebels.” Nevertheless it was in this dynasty that King Zoser be- gan the characteristic architecture of Egypt with his “step-pyramid” at Memphis. It was, like every pyramid a tomb; but, unlike its predecessors, it was made of stone, not brick, and rose to a height of 200 feet in five stages, each smaller than the one be- neath. From this quaint structure came the pyramidal form of Egypt's most famous monuments. Toward 2900 B. C. the figure of Cheops (or Khufu) emerges dimly from the chaos of kings. We know him only as the builder (or master of the builders) of the first and great- est pyramid, which stands with three others in the ‘‘cemetery” of Gizeh, outside the modern Cairo. Here stones have been piled Pelion upon Ossa as if they were the most abundant of Egypt's natyral resources; 2,300,000 blocks, averaging 214 tons in weight, measuring in all one-seventh of a mile in length, one-tenth of a mile in width, 481 feet in height, and in area 525,000 square feet. The mass fis solid; only a few stones were omitted to leave space for the royal tomb. And every stone was fitted to the next with indistinguishable joints. It was a miracle of masonry. * K k% Historians have marveled at the me- chanical skill, the economic organiza- tion, the royal wealth and power re- vealed by this monstrous mausoleum, and philosophers have marveled at,the patience of the 100,000 laborers who remained tied to this heavy mass for 20 years. Herodotus has' preserved for us an inscription which he found on one of the Pyramids-recording the quantity of radishes, onions and garlic consumed by the workmen who built it. Strong food was necessary for such toil. 2 That is all we know of Cheops, and of Chephren (or Khafre), who fol- lowed him and Dedefre on the throne, we know again only the story of his It stands near Cheops’, just part of the granite casing which once adorned it survives at the top to sug- gest how the Pyramids looked in their primeval glory. Smaller still is the Pyramid of Chephren’s successor, My- eerinus, and its cover is no longer of proud granite, but of prosaic brick, as if the flood of wealth that poured into Egypt with the copper of Sinal had trickled into a thinner stream. Nearby the Sphinx looks calmly at (Continued on Fourth Page.). eek Has Told to resume relations of amity, (with|lombia in 1926 were 19 per cent the Italian government) without de- manding guarantees by the foreign powers or international courts. The official Fascist organ, Foglio D'Ordini, has replied, brusquely con- demning the proposal. After the examples of Germany and Britain, the Italian moving picture in- dustry is to be protected by legisla- tion. ~ Very promising before the war, the industry has since been almost extinguished by the invading Ameri- can fllm, * kK K China—The failure of the attempt upon Peking by Shansl forces appears to have amounted. to a debacle. All the territory lost by Chang Tso Lin’s forces has been regained. It is plausibly asserted that Yen Hsi Shan, “model” governor of Shansi, was the dupe of Feng Yu Hsiang, the “Chris- tian” general. Feng, whose headquar- ters has been at'Chenchow in north- cast Honan, is now “up against it,” being threatened 'by Chang Tso Lin from the north and Chang Tso Lin’s ally, Chang Tsung Chgng, tuchun of Shantung, from the northeast. He is said to be retiring in a northwesterly direction for Shansi, where, apparent- 1y, he is not wanted; indeed, the pos- sibility is indicated that Yen Hsi Shan may now make common cause With Chang Tso Lin against Feng, that professional duper. On the other hand, one hears that the Nanking government is_undertaking to rush aid to Feng Yu Hslang along the line of the Pukow Tientsin Railway and has ordered Gen. Tang Shen Tse to co-operate in a new northern drive. This Tang Shen Tse was commander- in-chief_of the forces of the now de- funct Hankow government (merged in the Nanking government) and still has his headquarters at Hankow, where he disposes of what is cele: tially considered a formidable force. Nominally he is now the servant of the Nanking government, but appar- ently his real status is semi-independ- ent; at any rate he has to be wooed. Quite so. You never can tell what may happen overnight in China to change the whole face of things. Scarcely had I written the above when word arrived that Tang Shen Tge had refused obedience to Nan- king’s orders and that the Nanking government had dispatched a puni- tive expedition against him. This force must include a large part of Nanking’s available -strength, that the project to assist Feng Yu Hslang must be renounced for the present. Silently, invisibly for some time past the British authorities have been reducing the Shanghai defense force from 20,000 at the peak to a pres- ent 6,000, ‘Rumor has it that the British resi- ¢t | dents at Hankow are clamoring for better conditions in the Sino-British municipality at Hankow which, last s‘:mmm 'rplwod the British conces- sion; ng British government should resume the .concession. * ok kW Latin America—. to a-re-| go spectable authority, United. States investments in Latin . ,500, tion of fabout greater than in 1925, and imports from Colombia 40 per cent greater Imports of crude petroleum rose in 1926 from practically nothing to the value of over $7,000,000 and coffee imports Jdncreased 33 per cent, to a total value ot.ov,;ar‘S‘I:.oofl;oao_. United States.—The National Air Transport Co. operates' more commer- cial aircraft than any other organiza- tion in the world except the Deutsche Lufthansa; the latter, moreover, re- ceiving a, subsidy from the Reich government. There are 18 planes in its New York-Chicago service alone, and 5,000 miles are flown daily on its schedules. In respect of air express service we easily lead the world, and, though at present we are behind sev- eral Buropean countries in respect of air passenger service, we should ere long be in the front in every depart- ment of commercial air service. It is generally thought that the coming Congress must deal decisively with the question of the merchant marine. The problem would be much simplified if the fleet could be sold at reasonable prices with iron-clad provision . for continuance of the present services. But supposing this cannot be done, or is not desired, com- petent authority estimates that an expenditure of about $300,000,000 for replacement would be required if the fleet. is successfully to meet foreign competition, The sentiment of patriot- ism is not powerful enough to cause American _ shippers to patronize American shipping at financial loss to themselves. Our paper money is to be reduced one-third in size, Strange that an im- provement obviously so immensely desirable should not have been made before. So inert a creature is man. The size of the bills now in use seem to have been adopted quite at ran- dom. Moreover the designs on the new bills are to be new and the num- ber of categories will be greatly re- duced. The portraits on the present bills are largely of forgotten worthies. The portraits on the new bills are to be of Presidents only and those on the most commonly used denominations will ‘be of the giants—Washington, Lincoln, Cleveland, etc.; a safeguard for the gbsent-minded. There are al- ways about a“billion bills in circula- tion. On the average, bills. wear out in a year. * kK ¥, Notes.—A wave of reform is spread- ing over the world. Czechoslovakia BY EDWARD P. WARNER, HE airplane carrier has bggome a vital element in naval Acsistant Secretary of the Navy for Aero- ‘nautics, strength and particular cos- nizance of its importance should be taken with an eye to the future. Assuming that the five-year alr- craft program, designed to enable us to look forward with confidence to a moderate but steady growth of naval aeronautics both in personnel and in equipment, will be carried to fruition, we might still be rather sadly lacking in this essential arm of naval avia- tion. We have at present but one ship. the Langley, that can be classi- fied as an aireraft carrier, and that is a converted collier of slow speed and small plane-carrying capacity. Two Carriers Being Built. Aside from the Langley, two car- riers of vast size, the Lexington and Saratoga, are nearing completion, but even when they take their place we shall have but three flying decks for the whole fleet. When we realize that even one or two small bombs might seriously damage a whole flying deck as far as operations are concerned and consider also the possible necessity of spreading a fleet over a large area and consequently of dividing aerial strength into several parts, we begin to realize the importance of the num- ber of separate carrier decks. The building of the two new car- riers has consumed more than six years. While that time could be short- ened in constructing new units, at least three years would have to be allowed from the laying of the keel to the fin- ishing of the work on the ship. Even if action to authorize an appropria- tion for them were to be taken at the next session of Congress, we could not hope for the incorporation into the fleet of more than two vessels built originally as carriers and devel- oping a satisfactorily high speed, be- fore 1931. Ships Should Be Air Bases. To have airplanes available at all times and all places for instant opera- tion with the fleet, it is indispensable 1/PLANE CARRIERS HELD “Flying Decks” Seen as Having Important Bearing on Future Naval Strength—Only One in Use Now. as a part of the fleet if the airplar to have a fair chance of showing 1 real capabilities as an integral part of the fleet and as an instrument of sea power. Plans must therefore be made far in advance, with references not merely to the present status of aircraft but to their numbers probable importance several hence. As for the airplanes themselves, the naval aviation program, now in its second year, is progressing substan- tially in accordance with the require- ments Jaid down by Congress June, 1926, in the five-year program. The carriers and other ships which go with them stand on a somewhat dif- ferent footing, outside the scope of the aircraft program bill. It pro- vided specifically that there should be, as the result of the orders placed up to the end of June, 1931, one thousand airplanes “useful in time of war” ac- tually on hand in the naval service. It provided, by implication, that there should be aviators to fly the machines and mechanics to take care of them. 600 Planes in Useful Class. On_September 30, 1925, the Navy had 851 airplanes on hand, but of this number there were less thay 300 m: chines which could properly be co sidered as useful in war, by compal son with the best that could then be built. Gradually since then the war- time obsolescent planes have passed into the salvaged group. The first of the present October brought us to a total number of machines on hand still approximately constant at a little under 900, of which 600 can fairly be considered as in the “useful” class. It is reasonable to expect, if appro- priations continue to be made avail- able to purchase new airplanes in ac- cordance with the original fi plan, that the number of useful m. chines on hand will continue to i crease, after ‘all wastage h been made up in each year, at the i.te of approximately a hundred a year and that we shall come in due course to our thousand. However, for that pur- chase we shall need to expend from $15,000,000 to $18,000,000 a year on new airplanes and engines, as against $13,- 500,000 provided during the present year. The amount of money for main- tenance and for experimental work years that there should be provision for launching them from on shipboard and operating them to and from ships as a matter of course. To accomplish this the airplane carrier is of utmost importance in naval strength, and must be present in sufficient numbers must also be increased. Provision for ships and bases must also be made. for an airplane cannot be “useful in war" by its unaided self. Its usefulness de- pends upon men, and upon adequate basea from which to operate. FOREIGN-MADE WOMEN’S SHOES FINDING MARKET IN AMERICA Importations Likely to Total Million Pairs Before End of Year, Commerce Department Says. Figures Given to Support Prediction. BY WILLIAM RUFUS SCOTT. English shopgirls touring the United States praiséd the feet and ankles of American girls, whereupon some edl- tors suggested to the visitors that they could improve their own appear- ances by wearing smart American shoes. Thé question is: Were the American girls so admired wearing American-made shoes? More than 1,000,000 pairs of forelgn- made women’s shoes will bave been imported by the United States by the end of this year. Department of Com- merce statistics for the first six months of 1927*showed 492,897 pairs of women's~ leather shoes imported, and the prospect was for a heavier impoggation in the last six months of the year. Miss America, therefore, is wearing Miss Europe’s shoes in ever-increasing numbers. The total importations of shoes in the first half of this year reached 721,587 pairs, including shoes for men and children with the wom- en’s shoes? These' figures refer to footwear™ on which no duty is col- lected.” Leather footwear enters the United States duty free, while shoes with cloth tops pay a tariff. Source of Fancy Shoes. Czechoslovakia and Switzerland send us most of the fancy women's shoes imported, with France close be- hind. And since these shoes are also on sale in England there would be no reason for the English shopgirls to buy in this country. Czechoslovakia and Switzerland have catered to the extreme fangies in women’s shoes, but they make all kinds. - So rapidly are imports of shoes mounting that American manufactur- ers are expected at the Capitol in the approaching session with pleas for a tariff on leather footwear. Foreign competition not only is hurting Amer- jcan manufacturers in this country, it s driving American manufacturers out of foreign maykets. “ur exports of shoes dropped more than $2,000,000 in 1926 from the figures of 1925. In 1926 we exported 6,047,070 pairs, worth 1$13,279,014, whereas in 1925 we exported $6,874,601 pairs, worta $15,665.277. Cheaper labor abroad is responsible for the slump in American sales. One of the largest New England manu- facturers of fine shoes, becoming wor- ried by the failure of his salesmen to get orders in the Far East and other foreign markets, made a trip around the world himself, and discovered that sSwitzerland and Czechoslovakia tvere getting the orders at prices he could not meet. * TImportations in Six Months. During the first six months of this year the United States imported 252,- 107 pairs of shoes from Czechoslo- vakia and 136,804 pairs from Switzer- land. The remainder of the imports came from the United Kingdom, which sent 104,728 pairs; France, 97,584 pairs; Germany, 41,110 pairs; Austria, 54,620 pairs; Canada, 15,577 pairs, and smaller figures from other countries. “These shoes are imported, madam,” the salesman will say to his American customer, and it has weight, just does the same remark about a gown or hat. In addition to shoes, the United States in the first half of the year imported 288,731 pairs of leather slip- pers, worth $246,251. Footwear with cloth tops or tops other than Jeather are dutiable, and 426,865 pairs of dcti- able shoes were imported in the six months, valued at $114,884. The total imports of footwear of all classes, free and dutiable, was 1,437,183 pairs, valued at $2,968,169. The way the imports have leaped is shown in comparing half-yearly fig- ures in 1923 with 1927, the number of pairs imported in the former year be- ing 165,681, while for the latter year the pairs numbered, as stated, 721,587, Men’s and boys’ shoes in the total for 1927 numbered 125,630 pairs, while children’s shoés numbered 103,060 pairs. The foreign manufacturers, therefore, are reaching out after every branch of the American market. Switzerland leads in selling children’s shoes to America. Britain Makes -Popular. British-made shoes are enjoying in- creasing popularity Wwith American buyers, although of the 104,728 pairs imported the major portion were for men and boys, while, as might be ex- pected, most of the 97,584 pairs im- ported from France were for women. It may surprise some persons to learn that the largest foreign buyer of- American shoes is Cuba. In fact, Cuba purchased more than three times as many pairs of American shoes in the full calendar year 1926 than any other country. Some of the big fig. ures wet Cuba, $5,148,086; Mexico, $1,400,476; Canada, $1,253,077; United Kingdom, $813,182; Panama. $690,346; Colombia. $560,5: Dominican Repub- lic, $378,548, and the following coun- tries above $100,000 each: France, Germany, Norway, British Honduras, Nicaragua, Honduras, Bermuda, New- foundland, Labrador, British West In- dies, Dutch West Indies, Philippine Exports went in smaller amounts to scores of other geographical designa- tions. Portugal footel the list with only $14 worth of shoes bought in the United States. Tourists’ Pride Due for Fall. Hundreds of thousands of American tourists in Europe see stores in Paris, London, Berlin, Rome or other cities featuring American shoes, and may swell with pride at this apparent prowess of American industry, but it is an fllusion. Our shoe industry is on the decline abroad, and is being challenged at home. Europe has de- veloped as great skill as America in making shoes, and has the advantage of a much cheaper labor market. The result is told in the figures quoted. The Far East is selling footwear here in spite of the tariff wall, for apan sent 342,955 pairs of dutiable 'ootwear in the first six months of this year: China, too, sent us 13,041 pairs, despite the civil war. There probably will be plenty of talk in the next session of Congress about the situation. Civil Flying’s Growth Makes Johs Attracting Many Thousands of Men ‘The prospect of a job in aeronautics unow is attracting many thousands of men who believe there is greater op- land Turkey have prohibited face |portunity for them in this new indus- which, they urge, the | PUl make-up to school girls, the stage censorship in Japan has been made severe, Bulgaria is putting numerous checks *on_the ! Mussolini is usly considering prohibition’ of after 10 p.m., and vernment P A r can’t we some trifling curb at least on ln'n.fi« A -| tion has Itry than in others long established. ‘The rapid growth of civil flight is cre- | ating many openings. It is true that the number of applicants will be as great or greater, but generally it may be prophesied that there will come in the train of the airplane and the air- ship some proportion of the same ac- tivities that have the prog- ress of the automobile as used for pleasure and for transportation, both of passengers and dise, with of the features of railroad survey of aeronautics as a voca- been made by the Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Com- merce which, under the air commerce act of. mf..‘vu created to foster air the airways. There will be pilots en- gaged in miscellaneous air services, such as flying schools, local and long- distance sightseeing tours, etc. Indus. trial corporations will need cross-coun- try pilots for the movement of execu- tives ahout the country, and private owners of aircraft will need pilots their various travels. All of thesc phases of air traffic are already in ex- istence in varying stages. . Obviously, all the foregoing require a rather high degree of experience arid ability. As the demand increases and as pilots advance to executive posi- tions, there will be opportunities for those now learning to fly. In'the meantime, graduates of flying schools must galn experience in some way to meet governmental requirements for licenses and the demand by em- ployers for experience and skill. The present rate of pilots’ pay averages from $35 to $100 a week. Schools of flying are scattered about the coun- - try and are advertised in the aero- nautical magazines or are listed in the the industry. Islands, Australia and New Zealand. "