Evening Star Newspaper, March 4, 1928, Page 29

Editorial Page | o simceisesciilll EDITORIAL SECTION he Sundiy St Art andWA‘r-tistsw ' Reviews of Books " Part 2—14 Pages WASHINGTON D. (., SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 4, 1928. EUROPEAN CARTELS SEEN FRAMEWORK FOR PEACE Movement in Industry Abroad Is Used as Instrument by Sponsers of World Amity. BY JOSEPH B. PHILLIPS. EACE is never so secure as when 1t pays dividends. That truism has given reason to. the count- less assertions by irfdustrialists, from Berlin to Brussels and Paris, that the tendency of European | industry toward international combina- | tions in the form of cartel agreements | yojcomed by governments. :’;A:‘.‘&;&;‘:&’& ""n",;c‘;“;‘]‘:““ n‘;f (’Rc The organization of t‘he steel cartel - - % among the producers of France, Ger- heart of the still nebulous creation upon | HONE FHC BIAVERE, BF T e, ceme which much oratory and ink has been | poens : DRIy | burg: " the operation of the Europear: showered—a “United States of Europe.” | pajl ' Makers' Association: the com- The reason for and justification of | S ‘ the cartel movement were to be found | LR L b e in the map of Europe left by the | German producers of dyestuffs, wifh peace - conference. From that map. |pneland probably to join later, and rawn to political hypotheses rather |'‘rurnor agreements now in the making han economic facts. sprang another. of | yogarding artificial silks and nitrates. & Europe sliced and mutilated by ab- | cyyght the popular imagination and normally high tariff walls. Behind them | Saatoned E“‘;o‘;! o oot tlonEaEs ot smoldered and flamed the old na- | o R | Tional antagonism and jealousies, Across | Le $50pe and importance of the cartcl the dangerous barriers of the two the Movement Watched. | cartels of industry have drawn new 1 Governments, including the United | able in some measure to steady careen- | ing markets by mutual aid. The re- flections ot their success upon dividends and bank accounts allayed much of the public fear of the giant combination. Cartellization became a movement defi- nitely taking its place in the economic and political life, publicly proclaimed, of alliance based upon mutual | | States Department of Commerce, fol- lowed the movement with interest from its inception. It was evident industry in the United States could not remain continually aloof. Months ago legisla- need. Industrialists First. The heads of the great producing in- dustries of Europe are industrialists first and peacemakers after. They are | {00 was reported to be brewing to fa- no more inspired by illusory dogma for | cyjitate the participation of American €octoring the post-war world than their | jyqusiries in cartels affecting their Drototypes west of New York. Vet their | maykets For three years American followers in both the civil and political | commercial agents abroad have kept fields gradually are finding a powerful | washington informed of the mafo: instrument in their work for the weld- | gariale in process of formation, ! fne of & sound peace. There is a story of a young American mre fact that Industey and Mot Deacrs | whoso employer detailed him to con. | aking was Ahe movIng Tact o e Jit: | firm the organization of the great steel cartel is emphasized by the eritical lit- | (100" (02 and a haif ago, "He found grature that has grown up along With | ype offices in Paris where the leading " Tt " | French, German, Belgian and _britich No_international cartel” savs One|tecl producers were in conference, saw paragraph of this literature, His StTONCr | the champagne glasses on the table, | than its Belgian link. ‘_x’our Belgian in-. was invited to drink, and was sent | custralist, caught between France and | away with no icformation | e oot Hhaiaratiane! S:i};ix:;"‘:.‘,; Nevertheless, within the hour his | We | cable was in the home office declaring | T N e B O R ed to | the steel cartel had been formed. Later | are not setisfied.’” It was applied to | % llinan. | he was asked where he found the leak. O L oy thnes | “In America,” he said, “we sometimes | It could be fitted as well into any other ! national boundaries on ths European | take a cocktail to sharpen our wi's fcr side of the world. a deal. In Germany you might serve & > beer while things were being talked “We Are Not Satisfied. over. When the French bargain they _ *“We are not satisfled” was the secret s'::g:e dg;s,s and toast when they've s ustrial gianis | St . :;:::‘;u“::g :rtxe uc’gml a sfirnm- When widespread cartellization began cance, political as well as economic, in | 10 Win attention there was an inclina- | the task of reconstruction. | tion to describe it as “aimed at Amer There were three sources of dis- ican industry” and to see in it a threat . Tariff barriers, unsteady (0 crush United Statcs competition. In- :fi‘r‘:e‘&“fi?m l};e remnants of war-time | 9uiry among American representatives snimosities still lurking in politics abroad in the large metallurgical and memories. Obliterating the first twd chemical industrics, the subjects of the has made inroads upon the third, | most important cartels, revealed that Nationalism, which remained intensely A Scarcely an agreement had been formed | b-llicose, shackled the efforts of peace- | Without the actual participation of makers and cost European industry | American interests in some manner, and | much in lost profits; Pighting to over- thet none had been formed without in- | eome economic difficulties through the Vitation to the Americans to join. | carte], industry has accomplished a Beco task before which governments faliered. | Ipe s REas, Today the great producers in two or | Through the holding of <tocks or the | more European countries are known to | controlling interests in Europcan _com- | be operating under cartel agreements in , panies indusiry in the United States the majority of the heavy. mass-produc- €asily became a part of the cartel move- tion interests. and in numerous s cial- | ment whenever its interests demanded. $>cd industries. There ara cartels ‘or Restrictions imposed by Federal laws at rzils, stee! forms, tubings, bolts and times have made participation difficult, screws, dyestufis, cement. The cartel but never impossiole. 2zreements controlling the production = The governments of Europe have de- end marketing of electric lizht hulbs veloped definite political policies re- 2nd of looking glass are remarkabi~ for garding the cartellization of their in- their strength. A cartel has been formed | dustries. M. Bokanowsk!, the French o acquire and use the Owens machines | Minister of Commerce, sanctioned t:om for blowing bottles. The aluminum car- the platform such combinations do | 1el, which has had s sensational past not tend to raise prices artifivially or | #nd at one time included the Aluminum Oppress workers. German cartel legisla- | Compeny of America, has been re- tion is a model, and the government has formed since the war. done much to inspire the heavy indus- | Most of the 80 or more cartel agree- (ries toward cartels erasing as much as ments in effect before the war imong Potsible the effects of loss of territory | » marine transport companies nave Of great economic worth. Out of some- n revived. The North Atlantic What indcefinitc beginnings Great Brii- eamship Conference and International 2in is shaping a clear poli cantile Mzrine are examples of their ' cordance with which 1t bel <ent power. There also arz cartels d - inz various degrees of control ments with those of the Continent. The n. marketing or prices of International Economic Conference at still were too long—found themselves | BY BEN McKELWAY. ALF a hundred idle men, smoking, rest- ing first on one foot and then on an- other, are grouped around a frame structure erected as a commissary by the United Mine Workers of America. In the background are rows of unpainted wooden barracks, where the families of these idle men, their women and their children, are living in the demoralizing atmosphere of idlencss, the filth and squalor of poverty. Draped across one side of the union commissary is a weather-stained “Those That Strike With Us Strike Sitting in an upholstered chalr in a richly fur- nished room of a luxurious hotel {s a man who fulfills in every way the qualifications of a gentleman. He is a prominent lawyer, a man who gives of his money and of his time to social work, polished, intelligent and the executive head of a great coal corporation. “You under- stand, gentlemen,” he is telling a committee of the United States Senate, “that I am an ‘office man.’ I am responsible to my board of directqrs and the stockholders who have invested their money in this enterprise and who are entitled to a legitimate return upon their investment. We have tried to deal with these union men, and we are through. Now we are mining coal and sclling all we mine. We offer employment to those who want work. There is plenty of work for them.” That is another side of the picture. In a room, perhaps 8 by 8 feet, filled with all the curious gimcracks and odds and ends that go to make a home, sits Joe Lubreskl, tell- ing his story: “So they come an’ say to me, ‘Joe, vou get outta here the 15th’ and I say, ‘All right, I get out’ Tree days before the 15th I am sick on my back, and nex' day the woman get sick: but come along the 15th, and we get out just the same and comma herc. No heat. no stove, no food, no nothing, and me sick and th: woman sick. Tree days later the woman die.” And Joe begins to cry. ‘That is another side of the picture The head of another great coal company fs talking: “Gentlemen, we didn't evict these people from their homes. The barracks you have scen are not typical of all the mines. There are none here, for instance. When we began work- ing our mines non-union we invited our employes to retain their homes and we offered them em- ployment. Those who chose to move we moved at our own expense wherever they wanted to go our homes are still living in them.” That is another side of the picture. A tired mine superintendent is trying to listen through one ear to a violent mixture of Itallan and English spouted by an enraged and disre- spectful miner who charges that somebody has stolen, and received credit for, all the coal he mined that day. Through the other ear he is hearing the request of a Senate committee to muce his pay roll. He pacifics the miner and g8 out the pay roll. Money Miners Received. “Now let us have,” a Senator say: he amount paid miners for the last two weeks after deduct- ing their indebtedness w the company.” The pay roli is read as follows: Deductions. Net (paid miner). $35.74 $4.76 29.91 4.75 30.90 19.27 24.38 18.30 26.53 16.71 11°05 61 30.56 17.21 410 510 6.30 16.00 2610 3.05 10.00 9,60 4910 19.31 105 It is explained that deductions are for board, rent and other supplies drawn from the company. Ten per cent of the union miners who occupicd The wages vary according to the number of days the miners choose to work. ‘That is another side of the picture. Back to the hotel room again. The president of a coal company is speaking: “We believe our men are working now under a good wage scale. They are making $10 and $12 a day. They are warm and well fed. They are making a good living. Where: can men go and make that much money in any other industry? We provide work for them 290 days a year.” That is another side of the picture. Picture With One Side. But there is a picture that has only one side. It shows a woman, weeping hysterically. She stands in the door of her barrack room, her dirty children tugging at her skirts, and she waves at the procession of shining automobiles bearing a committee from the United States Senate. She knows nothing of dividends to be paid to stock- holders. She knows nothing of the highly tech- nical and difficult business of operating a mine in the face of ruinous competition. She knows little of the theorics, the philosophics or the rights of labor to organi Sha does not under- stand the strict, colorless law of supply and de- mand. What she does know is that her husband belongs to the union. The union has said, “Do not work,” and her husband does not work. If he does not work he is not paid, but it is wrong to work when the union says, “Do not work.” Some other family, alicns in the community, lives in the home she and her family once oc- cupied. Somebody else gets the wages her hus- band used to get. If, driven frantic by the sight of her children, she runs into the street and makes faces or curses at the “dirty scabs going into the mines, a policeman, armed with re- volver and blackjack, employed by the company. threatens her away. She is told she must not interfere with those who want to work, for that is the order of the court. All the forces of the world she knows are allied against her. But here come the Scnators! They are from Washington! They are from the main Govern- ment! Now, thank God. the Government is coming here to do something! Now everything will be all right again, no more strikes, no more * fights, and there will be food and shoes again for the children No wonder she weeps, and hope shines through Ler tears. Turn Eyes to Washington. There are thousands of embittered men and women in the mining camps of America who are turning their eyes to Washington with a faith that is tragic because it is such implicit faith. Destroy that faith, and what is left> Whether they are right or whether they are wrong makes little difference. They are victims of an involved cconomic situation. They are looking to the Government to untangle it. That is only one reason why the hearings which are to begin Tuesday before the Senate interstate commerce committee investigating the soft coal situation are vitally important. The rather abecedarian facts uncovered by the subcommittee of the interstate commerce com- mittee in its five-day tour of the coal flelds will do little toward diagnosing or suggesting a cure for the coal industry, which is sick from a com- bination of deep-seated diseases. All the sub- committee did was to hit the first pages with some human interest stories, and a lot of these stories were one-sided. The reason they were one-sided was because the committee centered its attention on human beings instead of upon sta- tistics relating to costs of production. If a bare- foot, hungry child and a statement on the eco- nomics of mining are competing for a place in the headlines, the barefoot child will win every time. What the subcommittee did was to obtain a very human and graphic picture of some of the sore spote. which demonstrated beyond a doubt that there is something very wrong and very dangerous lying bencath them Wiong May Be Righted. As far as the facts relating to the coal in- stry generally are concerned, the United States Miners’ Faith in Government at Stake; “Mailed Fist” Needed in Coal Fields y,;,. and compiled a report of 2,719 pages a few years ago to point them out. But nothing has come of this report. Perhaps the storles of suffering men and women and children, obtained in Penn- sylvania by the Senate’s investigating subcom- mittee, will do more to right what is wrong with the coal industry than all the charts and graphs and tabular sla The prolonged di: of the bituminous coal industry in the United States, the findings of the Hammond Coal Com- miss and the statements from operators, miners and others famillar with the industry have brought out the following facts which are generally accepted as true: The greatest problem is overproduction; too many mines and too many miners. There are more than 7,000 bituminous miners in the United States. -« The production is between 30 and 40 per cent of the world's output. West Virginia. Pennsylvania, Illinois and Kentucky are the chief bituminous-producing States and their output is about 70 per cent of th total output of the United States. “fen in the Industry. The men employed in the industry have ranged between 575,000 and 702,000 since 1920. During the past seven years the number of days worked each year has been between 142 and 220. Very few coa: properties are really profitable operations. ‘There has not been sufficient stability in the industry to previde a foundation for the methods of managemcnt which have improved service to the public and to other industries. The labor policy of the industry is based on conflict as opjosed to co-operation. There are not enough companies under one management fo provide any substantial leadership within the industry itself. The managers of the industry have no confidence in each other. Their gospel is confict Where comjp.etition is free and flerce any sav- ings made by lowered ccsts are not used to increase wa and profits, or to bring about greater efficicacy, but are lost in efforts to cut prices, underbid somebody clse and get business away from rival concerns. Conditions in Central District. The conditicns in _the central bitumi- nous district around Pittsburgh studied by the Senate committee result from a num- ber of causes. This district. it is charged, has been suffering from discriminatory freight rates which cut the district out of its normal, natural, close-to-home markets. For 30 years or so the operators in the Pittsburgh district dealt with union labor. But the Southern fields of West virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama, operating on the open-shop principle, were able to sell their coal cheaper. The work of vears on the part of union labor to build up and obtain from the operators the minimum wage scale of the Jacksonville and preceding agreements was lost when the overators of Pennsylvania, beaten out of their markets developed in all these years, cut loose from union labor and took to the open shop. Conditions in the Pitisburgh district are found in northern West Virginia and Ohio, where the operators are doing what the Pittsburgh operators are doing. And over all this hangs the threatening cloud of further complications on April 1 of this ycar, when some 183.000 union miners, now at work in the fields of northern West Virginia. Illinois, Indiana, Kansas. Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Michigan, Iowa Montana, Wroming and Washington, may lav down their shovels and picks and stop work Many of them are working now under extensions of the Jacksonville agreement, which expires on that date. Cause of Break With Union. More than one Pennsylvania coal operator told the Senate investigation committes that the reason they broke with the union and went open shop was because they could not sell their coa! at a profit and pay the Jacksonville wage scal The Southern coal operators were cutting their throats_and_the Pennsylvanta_operators_began (Continued on Fifth Page.) 7inc, magn-sia, wire tacks Geneva last spring dissected the polt H ico-economic connotations of the ca:- | tels with enthusiasm A cartel Is an opportunist’s instru- very corner of ment. As a business agreement it usu- h and Amer- ally 1s loosely knit, flexible. Unltke the oduczd many lrust, it requires no great concentra- | months zgo tion of capitzl. It does require larze 1 Germen synthetic chemical concentrations of business friendship, | 5 compieted an agrerment with overcoming the obstacles of conflicting | two Jea -Saxen oil com- national sentiments patents and pro- Despite the importance it has as-| tic petrolenm—an “umed It remains a fragile and volatile uncqualed In potentialitier form of international allience. Scarcely cment in existence before tihe More than a year old, the steel cartel| ween the General Electric Co. was all but wrecked at its meeting Jast | - German A, E. G, was revived November in Brussels, when the French | 2nd vas extended to include and Belglan producers demanded in- ! patent processes. ‘The cartel creased sales quotas | ke over the Nobel pat- . i yufacture of expiosiver BESINy Wns. ongist in existence. Be- Less rigidly bound than trusts or 1ts work 1s for the gov- Monopolistic corporations, the cartel is ved 3t i one whout susceptible to the interplay of i u’,nlrl;: m]-m alkav barometric ¢ nxm\" reements in vogue today are ©f national markets and industrial con- | S eaen " ney iy b ditions, In' individual Instances its| for the prowection of domestic markets Carcer usually is checkered. Today | 244 the diviston of sales in other mar~ L#0-5core of the industries suffering s They may stbempt price fixing, , f7om chaotic markets may have entered ty or by comurol of | production | 5ome form of international agreement 1ol i fing of production quotas | TOMoTTow half & dozen or more of them sl 3 One of the essen- | DAY have sickened and weaned away. s of Viriually every agreement in ex. |, his fugacious nature of their stric- | Tk ) The thira type provides for | UTe 3% i one respect thelr saving qual- tis pooling of patents end commercia) M. JU 13 @ bartler against o much o ey acquisition of power, New as the word 1s in daily parlance, I0 this regard, the findings of the thi iistrial carie) is not | GFHEVE economic conference are inter- e e Sach Combit. ©ng They represent the opintons of Vons may be traced biack U 1883, Forty | Practical economists of most of the na- o more were in existence during the UONS. large or small, which have bren | g decide of the Just century ang O are likely 1o be uffected by the cartel 318 were bnown v be i effect ai the TOvement.' Even the Soviet delegate | withresk of the wer. Cartels before the GeClared his government had become | constdercd from the purely | 2lied S1th phuses of the movement view To i the part ties fase | The conference recognized the cartels | '« political seheme whien | #* Products of necessity. ‘They could | attention vo tem sinee BOU “be regarded us & form of organi- zation which could by itself alone re- | mave the causes of the troubles from which the economic life of the world, | und particularly Europe, is suffering " | Lut they could “secure 8 more method- @ustris) alliances. T (i) organization of production und s someti ve. Popalar Smagination | 1eAuelon in costs by means of & better s ot sything bearing the | WHIZaM0n of extsting equipment and u | more rational grouping of undertak- | Lings. and act as s check on unec nomic competition and reduce the evils | resulting from fluctuations in industrial | activity ™ | e provlem of contro) was treated o recomstrucvion | 10 devadl 1f allowed o encoursge | Slitons whick were | monopolistic wendencles, the conterence | sruprded with skepliciem u Qecade sgo 810, cartels could retard techulcal | ore wes wathed Whiter \han Uhe | progress, become “dungers to the le- | el Vol markels were n chaos | Umste Interests of nportant sections Lochmbges were erratlc Produciion | of soclety and of particular nationr Costnped buying power. Dimping e i Ganf wulle wrose pri oot remdeled et o e T avold the latter dunger, the reso- | G s Gumplng by tutions declared, curtels should not | ny of the producing ni temper Anordiniely with prices, and | o o1y counwry, partculsrly | shpuild, pot, appre “The dele- | e 11 the mase DIgMICt ciyy | wales sgreed U ke & cen- B L e i [rul wgency of contro) conld be set up In Aerperstion snguished Sndustry | keep cartels in order, since the mem - Prielved e mumonities rought bome | s were under e supervision of Uhelr [ Srom tie bettefeids pid injected pew | OWh gOvements 1L recommended (o VU it disewiaed interneionsl com- | 1Dose governments s watchiul eye for L Thy screrded Tnaustiisl- | monopolistic tendencies, and suggested 1 of countries wiieh hed been ene Ls.. and i whien plitics) memonies Little Known of Them. OBer s e fact of tieir existenee very Litte wes known of the eatly i comeentyetuns 1 wower Cartel wdvertislng wnd e ot them faded mnwsy at i o wImed combit, Few way neies (Continued on Third Pey» ) . {airdrome at 1:59 p.m.” appeared in nl- 1;#nd the rellability of the present day | Uhat The Lengiie of Nations kel ac- | fioming pigeon atinet BY THOMAS CARROLL, Chiet Test Pilot National mittee for pnanitics (Written for Science Service.) “We" is probably the most famous pronoun ever known. And yet there may be some doubt as to just what it means. Ambassador Herrick, as its first interpreter, has sald that it Is the man and the afrplane. But what a man and what an alr- plane! When you call Col. Lindbergh simply a pilot you do an obvious injus- tice. When you consider him as a pilot who simply drives an airplane you do a greater injustice. He recently finished his tour of Cen- tral and Bouth American countries, ‘I'he line, “Col. Lindbergh landed at the Advisory Com knows it what in_one. most every news dispatch. Behind that | the ptlot line lies a great lesson in the safety alrplanc in capable hands. 100 Per Cent Pilot. With “We" In the alr you have much more than just a pilot and an airplanc. When Lingbergh is in the air it does not matter that he is the perfect ambassa- dor, the perfect American gentleman or #ny of the attributes that he possesses; he s a 100 per cent pilot. You think of the pllot as one who takes an air- plane into the air, manipulates the controls and brings it to a safe landing S0 do most pllots. Lindbergh's abili- Ues are far more than that. He alone selected the equipment, as- tisted 1n its design, its construction and ansemblage of his airplane. He knew more shout thiat airplane than uny one an earth, probably more than any one man ever knew of any modern alrplane. He alone has ever flown It Having seen | It bullt and tested with complete sutis- faction to himself, with its mission in view. he completed the frst big job, one which if he had gone no further. but had turned it over to some other pilot to carry on with, would have been orthy of your consideration an a mus- erful Joh. " He there completed the first nportant step to permit his landing al 159 pm ™ on the schedule Lo the minute His mechanical plloting has been manterful. - With the eyes of the world on him he has uever placed himself, his equipment nor any of his public dunger ont. \tructure, er 400 pendent magnetos and fall, may ay (0 operate or othe Good Navigator. Include 1 hits greater abilitles as a plot, his performmnce as w nevigator A only aid he tmmm Blmself with the hestof navigational equipment, bhut he set himself to master 1bs use. And this Included Jong and tedious study of the tnstruments until he knew theh every part and function. It nclided study of maps, courses and great ch- cle plottings, which ook duys and uights on end. The day he Look off from Ban Diego on his tp enst he was probsbly the most completely equipped wlr navigator who ever Look the uwh He s that, and more, now. And lo thuat add that he has also that some thing that woodsmen sometimes have, that abliity to sense direction, that chine ut 2 u schedule Col Louts, “Helence He s entirely different from most as LINDBERGH CALLED ‘EXAMPLE ‘ OF EFFICIENCY IN AVIATOR| Flyer’s Reliability in Arriving on Scheduled Time ¢ = Viewed as Great Lesson in Safety & of Present Day Plane ‘an operator of an engine ected and learned his engine, he fur- ther learned its limitations. In operation he learned exactly the amount of fuel that was being consumed glven condition; he has attuned himself | to its every move and beat. takes off his engine is right and he When he lands he knows if anything, and it 1s done. Lindbergh's afrplane is many things The design is adapted to a certain purpose. the qualities to make it suitable to the ' purpose. 1t is efficient in the carrying | such questions as are involved in the | Mississippl River problem should no longer hang upon such slender thread: of great loads to a high degree. maneuverability and controllability are | | Rood. If ecriticism of its visibility-—that | | 1s, the view of the pllot—may be well|as the gencral welfare clause or the | founded, at least it is satisfactory to ' With its light welght that has allowed its use for the flights that | it has accomplished, it 1s a rugged lttle | “hip, with no hint of faflure or wearing Heart of Structure. ‘The engine is the heart of the whole ‘The one in the Spirit of St. | Louls is obviously a very go engines have flown over 40,000 miles, « hours, ordinary attention and without a sign of letting down It 1s almost beyond conception how umuir things go to make up an engine not how many nuts and bolts, conn g rods and pistons, accessorles assembly of an engine ‘The things that make engines stop are beyond mere bolts and nuts. may become switch may do the same thing fuel pump mluv wrench its shaft loose The from the vibratlon and pressure fuel stralner may be the lines from t same things that . tanks and pumps ca tem loose from vibration or fall And there are other things Of course, the mont prevalent cause of overheating from loss of water, auses 1 water-cooled engine are not present in this aie-cooled engine But none of these things have hap- pened, not because the: adays, but because they have been care- (ully guarded agalust by the destgne the manufacturer, and Inst wnd not ke by the pllot himself, Ho when you see that landed at 1:60 pm." you should know that he planned to step out of his ma- lock there ardinated factors that are present Lindbergh and the Sphit “We' I a crowd, Al of Same Bor Pinm the New (i 15 tiying 1wing 8o often look allke and act alike.” While they a also attempt Clans Appesr to have heen in thiough (e same bullet mold o learn Government spent more than a million dollars TE‘L(iOi) CONTROL AMENDMENT HELD VITAL FOR PROTECTION uch Measure Would Make Fair Solution Pos- sille, Say American Engineers—Cite Present Limit of Constitution. Having se under any report, given out at When he requires attention mittee. eclares, Ih it are blended all|the Feport d Its onstitution, but that Government the and adi to one. Few without more than of river improveme tecton be wssured. but the nvolved In Inds the The the ‘The grounded, Government fuel breuk The us The the fuel happen to | The control throttles lines may asserts, altogether wued hipy e fon s I now Ttiver Col as the ¢ e proble mersures adopted for do not now- conalat of five or & appointed by the whose services may ol Lindberg) aber@lh | ar limited ter To maintain such I vequived the co- n of ML . appolntment of mue wothom @ Vinen Vicayune o find out why Investlgating they might why all politi- An amendment to the Federal Con- stitution making possible effective mea- | sures of flood control is urged In the |, i cjon and river improvement the headquarters of the American Engl- neering Council here, prepared by the council's Mississippt River flood com- “It 15 the opinion of this committee,” “that the authority of the general Government to deal with regulation of commerce clause of the the tion of these United States should be ! amended to confer upon the general tat authority inister the national waters and 55 demages and allocate benefits and costs in connection therewith. “It {8 our further opinton that only by the procedure which such an amend- ent, followed by the passage of ‘ederal water control law, would make possible ean an equitable or justifiable distribution or allocation of the costs ent and flood pro Asks River Commission. fhe committee, headed by |8 Willtams of Ann Arbor, Mich, v president of the counell, recommend: | et the appointment of & Misstssippl River conservancy board as well as u thovough ceonomic survey by the United State: | “The datw now avatlable,” the report n nsuffictent warrant the laying out of a permanent plan of flood protection for’ (he Mix- tsnippl Valley, and the cost of such pro- g vecommended excesd that suggested by the Misstssippt | sston by at least as much tmates of that those of the chief of engineers solution of the Misatssippt River v and the adminiat viver should bo placed I the hands of & Musatasippl River conservatory board, to on members to be sldent from among the most eminent hydraulle englneers | be obtained. members of the satd board to hold ofee o b appointed rotation, cach o recelve neceasary ex- venses and veasonable compensation for such portion of thele tme as may be necessary 1o conduct the wark of the board: they to have authority 1o appoint a chlef engineer and provide for the salatants an may e needed o carry on the work amstgned body Actlon Needed Now. “Hamediate steps should be taken (0] Hanter L. Bown, 8t copuly dumage o preaent conatietions and do mch further work as may be wgently necessary - the judgment of the above named bhoard and which will % not watertally interfere with the pos- | O Antlech - College, Vellow Spriogs. | sthle develypment of future plany, (he Ohlo cost thereof to be borne by the National Government “Before any general plan of flood national | qdopted, and before the Natlonal Go crnment commits itsel{”to a_policy of financial responsibility for flood con- wol, a thorough economic survey hould be made of the conditions. needs and resources of the flood-affected re- glons, to furnish & basis for the distri- butions of cost and a decision of the nature and extent of the improvement Justified. “rhe work of topographic mapping provided for In the Temple act should |be pushed as rapidly as possible hroughout the Mississippl basin, and complete mapping of the flood-affected the immediate future, more terms should be offered the Sta in that area to secure their co- operation. “Any hydraulic or other laboratories to be established in connection with the solution of flood or other ! problems should be under the contro, and management of research sclentists with conditions insuring continuity of effort through long periods of vears, and not subject to the changes due to rotation in office or frequent modifica- tions of policy. Calls for Complete Study. “Every remote possibliity for the con- tral of the Missiastppl should bo ex- {amined until fts feasibility has been rmined or its consideration eltm- Inate “There 18 nstitu- | area fn ral to control Jardn no evidence tending to | waters wre tributary to the Misstssippt LHver system for adding to or aftecting mensurably the magnitudes or extent of floods beyond those naturally existent “Reforestation as generally under- stood 18 not a practieable method of dealing with flood couditions on the Mississtppl River, but the destruction or removal of vegetable cover in reglons mubject o eroston has inereased the sedimont carvled by the streams dratn- g them, and, thetefore, the cultivas ton of vegetable cover, or other meth- ods of eroston control fn such regton may be & factor worthy of constdera- ton as tneldental to the ultimate solu- ton of the Misataippt flood problem, “Hlorage reservolis o the vemote head-waters of tributary streams have oo Hmited an efteot upon the fonds of the Mississippl River o juatify thetr melusion e the food-protection pro- sram for (hat river “The adoption of any specific plans for diversion ehannels should watt upon far more complete studies of (he areas volved and of the probable eteots of el diverstons.” Other members of the commitiee are Louls, John R Freeman, Providence, R L, past preat- dent of the American Hoclety of Cwil Engineers: Arthue B Movgan, prestdent may exceed A ton of the control the 1f necessary to accomplishment of the | hydraultc | vlaes responsibility on the Stutes whose | 'GERMANY IS OVERCOMING HER INTERNAL PROBLEMS oward BL FRANK H. SIMONDS. ERLIN.—Just after the Dawes Plan was put into operation and long before Locarno, I made my first post-war visit to Germany. It by the measuring rod of { my experience then that I shall try to | describe the economic condition of Ger- many at the present hour. .Calculated | | by that standard, German recovery is little short of a miracle and German prosperity today unmistakably on the | m. Three years ago, even on the Unter den Linden, the electric lights were just | beginning to shine again after a long period of darkness. The stray auto- | mobile which passed drew attention. ! | | | i still darkened and half deserted as a consequence of the proximity of the conflict. But the physical eircumstances were not as striking_and depressing as the psychological. Defeat, revolution, infla- tion. had marked the successive steps in the humiliation and dejection of a | great people. The occupation of the Ruhr still continued. If masses of people ¢ no longer actually hungry, the memory of hunger was still recent. On their faces, in their clothes, in every circumstance of daily life the people of Eerlin of February, 1925, showed the | consequencas of suffering and dis- :;ln‘ud the mental effects of this suf- ering | Recovers Self Confidence. Today the German has recovered his | s*lf confidence. He believes in him- | self. in his country, in the future. He no longer thinks that his former ene- mies can or will prevent his recovery. He is consclous of the enormous dis- certainty of the return of Germany to | prosperity and to power. Beyond all clse, I place the psycho- | ogical reintegration. It is essential to | pareeive that this rebound is not in any |scnse accompanied by political reaction. Monarchy is as dead in Germany as in | France. On the contrary. the Germans |more than any people which I have ceen in Europe since the war. have ad- dressed themselves to busil as the battlefield of the future. Having thus addressed himself, the German has begun to obtain astonish- ing results. Already the bulk of people are adequately fed. properly clothed, fully emploved and enjoy a de | aree of well-being which has no parallel | since the early days of the World Wa { Between tha atmosphere of London, where the consequences of a long period of depression are still continuing and {that (f Berlin, ere the boom stil! endures, the contrast is between op- m and pessimism, between confi- ce and anxiety. Economic Recovery. What France had done in the vast stated region. where cities and ns were obliterated. Germany has done in the domain of economic, so- cial and political life, where the de- uction was hardly less complete. onomically. Germany has reorganized great industries, rationalized them. | in part on American lines. Socially, she { has passed through a revolution. exer- cised the danger of bolshevism. which was for a moment real. Politically, she | has stabilized under republican form of government. With these stupendous | achievements she has found tranquility. | Today the German seems mentally the i calmest of Europeans The more one analyzes the funda- | mental economic conditions of Germany |today, the more one is bound to see {that while the actual achievement has {been well nigh incredible, the world's imate of the existing facts is boti: nexact and characterized with exag- seration. | It is the economical estimate of the | German situation that seems most | ciaggerated. Germany has recovereti | her balance, psychologically. politically, | cconomically, but she is a very long | way from having recovered her bal- ix\_n(‘e of trade. What she has so far done she has largely done on borrowed | money. which must be repaid. This | present boom. which excites envy | abroad, 1s a boom limited to the do- mestic market. In part, it is unsound, it has been accompanied by what, mdging by post-war experiences, we | hould have called tnflation. It is the | common agreement of all qualified ob- orvers that the boom must be {checked: that there must be a meas- urable liquidation, if Germany s to accomplish in the world markets those things which are already confidently | forecast by Germany's rivals. | Can Borrow Cheaply. | What are the causes of the boom? Primarily, Germany has been able to borrow abroad largely and cheaply It was {nevitable. The liquid capital of | Astronome A star that exploded, and {s now | changing to a nebula, in reverse of the usual process of stellur evolution, |t the rare spectacle being observed rat the branch station of the Harvard College Observatory at Bloemfontein, South Africa. This unconventtonal | behavior of nova Pictorls, as the star s ealled. was discovered by Dr. ). 8 ley, divector of the observatory, an- | nounced today through Science Service. Conflrmation of the discovery has just {heen recelved from the Observatory of |La Plata, I Argentina 1o be seen with the junatded eye. Then 1t suddenly flaved P AS W nOVE OF Cnew star”and was discovered by R. Watson, a South Affican amateur astronamer. The stat | o the contellation Pictor, the | patnter, A group ot visible from Novthern latitudes “The evolution of stars,” Dr. Shapley fexplained. “Is generally thought (0 be | [ the divection from’ nebula to star, but I this istance, and i two or three others, the transtormation s in the oppsite - direction, wnd, wstiv- | nomically speaking s very rapid. Al Of these reversed cases are associated | WHD the so-called hovae, o new stars. VENAmMation of earlier plates tn the great collection at the Harvar Observatory, i Cambridge, Wh the Southern photographis are stored showed that before its outburst 1t b been of the twelfth wagnitude, and | astronomers bolleve that 16 will gead- | wally veturn (o that same degree of tatntness “DE Paraskevoponlos’ diseovery based on photogiaphs of the stat made under vavlous canditlans, with | the rapid photographic teleseopes | WIICH he has vecently (ranaterted frm | the former Wothe new site In South Afvica A H0g o shell of nebulous watier ap was too fatnt ¢ was Seven years after the war Berlin was | tance already traversed and sees the | Paraskevopoulos, who 1s in charge of | | the branch station, Dr. Harlow Shap- | till Left With Unfavorable Trade Balance, Has Made Big Strides Stability. Germany was largely the war and inflation. But the bor- rowing has not bsen on t hole regulated. Much money has bes | plied to industrial undertakings. much | has been employed by the cities and | communes to build new buildings. to imake parks, to gratify the desires of the inhabitants. This municipal expenditure has greatly stimulated industry. the build- ing has produced a boom in iron and steel. Employment has gone up rap- | idly—indeed. one justification for the municipal ecxpenditure was the n-rd to supply employment. But as emplov- ment has increased, wages have in- creased. As wages have increased con- sumption has increased, but from t! practical point of view, costs of pro- duction also have increased. Germany. then. has seen a rise of prices, infinite- | ly pleasing for the moment at home. but manifestly handicapping German | exports. | This domestic boom is slackening. be- | cause the i market has | reached the point of saturation. Along | with this has come the rapid contrac- | tion of the volume of borrowing. par- ticularly on the part of the munici- | palities by reason of the protest of S. Parker Gilbert. agent general of | Teparations pavments. What is dis- turbing is that foreign exports have no more than kept pace with the ex- pansion of imports. Last year Ger- man trade had an unfavorable bal- ,ance of $1,000.000.000. Thus Germanv fnanced a domestic boom on borrowed money. Her exports have steadilv risen for several vears, but the gain has been offset by the expansion of imports. Hit by Crop Failure. One must say in all fairness that one of the causes of the expansion of imports has been the failure of two | out of three of the last crops. A good harvest would undoubtedly insure a | very considerable constriction of im- | ports. since foodstuffs count very large- Iy in the total. | Fundamentally, the German eco- nomic situation is sound. Government | finance is sound. The strength of the | rentenmark is unshaken. The foreign debt is relatively inconsiderable, less than $2,000,000.000 in the aggregate. If ons compares the experience of France with that of Germany the sit- | uation is clarified. Prance has prac- tically stabilized her franc, balanced her budget, increased her exports until they are in excess of her imports— very greatly in excess if one reckons the profits of tourist trade and other “invisible items" lacking in the German case. While France has a considerable foreign debt. she receives annually on account of reparations more than she pays to the United States and Great , and her claim against Ger- v will doubtless alw: exceed the claims upon her of her American and British associates of the war. France has accomplished this with- out foreign borrowings. Her economic rehabilitation has been sclf-contained And it is the judgment of sober observ- ers that within a year or two France will resume her old practice of lending money abroad. She will have com- pleted the task of restoring her own | capital. Germany. on the other hand, has stabilized her currency only by foreign loans. restored her industrial | machine by the same method. She is ! bound by reparations agreements of the | Dawes plan to pay $625,000.000 annual- | Iy after the current year.and, as I have said, the gap between export and im- | port is enormous. Harnessed to Business. German statesmanship, too. is har- nessed to German business. The most | considerable task of the foreign office is t0 make commercial treaties which will reopen world markets to German production. More than any other con- tinental country, Germany is practic- ing economic politics internationally | Even with Poland. with whom her quarrels are greatest and most embit- tering. the German government is now negotiating & commercial agreement i the teeth of Nationalist recriminati Given the problems which ex nothing is less likely than that G many will suddenly, full eq! economically frresistible. jump forth to conquer the world markets. It is v true that this has already happencd 1f the worst is over, if the greatest ob- stacles have been surmounted, it still | remains true that Germany has a lo period of vears of hard work before h of relative poverty, of effort more sus- tained and more exacting than that which is imposed upon the British or French people. much less the American. for Germany has still to recover her capital and thus her econamic inde- ndence and ultimate e momic sound- ztingy d by s Now Watch Exploded Star Change to Nebula. Reversing Process peared around the outer edge of the image of the star, and has u grown larg d mare dist e phenomeno: v indicates that the outburst of the nova, and 1ts raptd in- crease three vears ago to 10,000 its former brightness, was actual jexplosion of the star. which blew cuter parts away from the nucleus. “The ring of nedulosity now odsery is the former outer d with & velocity of miles ‘A second will show whe | formation w > Permanent d typieal planetary ¥ cha hundred or so are he stars, or whether the Anown smong Until the Spring of 1923 this star ) receding atmospheres sradua n | dissipate tnto space. as A typical sta The normal tion," Dr. Shapley o be in the du and for per billans of vears CXPALSIE ITARSOTmATons Teverse sense, tequite but A few vea and may be exceedingly wriant Knowledge of the developent of losttal Dwties The observatian from the of 1a Plata, which conftrmedt vard astronamers detection of panding gaseous shell arcund v torta was made by Prof Hartmann direvtor of the National Observakuy of the Amgentine His observations weie made visually with a large tefvacting telescope. He cabled that the angulay fameter af (he FOE 18 HOW ane-secs nd of are I Paraskevoponle’ de seaription of his observations s being » n‘flm by the obwervatary . Things Lelt Undone leaving the University he Hars e e [Ram b Bosion Trans Chatles Kvans Hughes teceives the Ehanks of the Govenument for his waik At Havana And not A little af the Harvard atation I Bererediv due Bin is because of the thing “ were lelt Al that wight have been wadvie but