Evening Star Newspaper, December 31, 1928, Page 16

'CO-OPERATION FORESEEN AS POLICY OF HOOVER Governmental “Interference” to Play Small Part in His Administration, It Is Predicted. BY DAVID LAWRENCE. i HERE are two phases of gover ment which interest the average business man—government co- operation and government in- | terference. To appraise the forthcoming vear it is necessary to recognize that there are as many opportunities nowadays to prevent business expansion by inter- ference, namely, by the exercise of the Tegulatory power, as there are chances to stimulate business by rendering a service of co-operation | The principal duty of the Government - mowadays in respect to the co-opera- tive function is to render accessible | information which will hélp business to | understand the domestic field and at | “the same time data which will assist in | .. developing or maintaing %n export trade #'sbroad. © But the element of interference is the ' "“one which causes most apprehension. | During the lats campaign there was much discussion as to what might be | & expected from a pdssible Democratic victory, and it was constantly denied by the Democrats that they would do | »-anything “to disturb business.” By the | r-same token the Republicans were ss-.\ i suring the country that business would | be safe and prosperity would be main- % tained. | | monopoly, but unles: recorded, and where a deviation was a matter of accident or complexity which made it difficult to determine in ad- vance. Co-operation Vital, The outstanding fact is that if Col. Donovan, who is slated to be the next | Attorney General, should ask business | to take the Department of Justice into its confidence, more will be accomplish- ed by co-operation than by interference. Congress, on the other hand, may take the view that some of the large | combinations are really tending toward the law is made | more specific than it is, a certain meas- | ure of immunity will probably ccme | from the executive branch of the go ment. Members of the House and Sen- ate have been confronted for several years with petitions from small business {men to legislate with respect to large combinations of capital, but it is diffi- cult to find a legislative remedy which is not already covered in the general statements of the anti-trust laws. In fact, there is pressure from the larger business institutions to have some of the anti-trust legislation repealed so as to permit expansion and theoretically greater prosperity. No President in recent years has been more closely identified with the aspira- tions of modern business than Herbert Hoover. He knows all the pitfalls, be- cause in the Department of Commerce he has had an opportunity to study the diffucities of expansion both in do- mestic and foreign trade. It has been his specialty. He has been elected, moreover, by such a big vote that it is | campaign of 1920 was reached—just a | ica, TEN YEARS R BY WILLIAM BIRD. UROPE at the close of 1928, 10| years after the armistice, is at | last convalescent. | 5 Many of the | wounds of the war have entirely | healed. The patient is able to | take mild nourishment and strong med- icine and to some extent attend to | business. The most encouraging sign is the gen- | eral cheerfulness of the patient. Every doctor knows that in a long illness the most important factor is a will to get well. This Europe has acquired. It may be said that Europe mentally is now about where the United States was in 1920. The United States recov- cred from the war very much more quickly. By the time the presidential year after the peace treaty was signed— Europe rather had the impression that the United States had not only recov- ered from the war, but had forgotten it. This seemed quite obvious to Eu- ropeans when soon after they beheld the spectacle of the United States sign- ing a separate peace with the common enemy. ‘What had happened was that Amer- almost as soon as the war was over, came to the conclusion that it| would be impossible to keep on being | mad at Germany forever. When na-| tions have to live together in the same world they must sooner or later come | to terms with each other. Not So Easy for Europe. 1 It was not so easy for Europe to take | a realistic attitude toward the liquida- tion of the war. There was tco much misery left in the wake of the titanic| struggle and too much rancor, and too little hope that order and prosperiiy | of the EQUIRED TO REGAIN POISE ABROAD Foreign Nations Are Now About Where United States Found Herself in 1920. and pressure could always be brought on France and French policy by friends and foes alike, by the simple process of attacking or threatening that weak paint. France having accomplished the prodigious feat of placing the franc firmly on a gold basis, and without any considerable foreign assistance, there remains no important country in Europe with a speculative currency, and that is a fact that makes the difference of _night and day between the Europe of, say, 1923, and the Europe of today. The adoption by the principal nations of the Kellogg anti-aggression pact was the greatest diplomatic event of the year. That pact does not, to be sure, ‘outlaw” war, nor even attempt ac- tually to insure universal peace. But it is a prominent factor in the world's struggle toward tranquility and pros- perity, because it is the expression of a state of sentiment. That the nations orld only 10 years after the most _violent war in history. can be moved to make such a declaration and to reveal such a sentiment_is a remark- ably significant thing. 1t could_not | have happened five years ago—nor even two years ago. Even Russia was moved to join in hat manifesto. the first important ges- ture of solidarity with the rest of the world that the Soviets have made since they came into power. It opens the creaking door to Russian trade an inch wider for the nations of Europe as well as for the U . States, and strength- ens the chances that, in spite of differ- ent political and economic ideals, a working basis for normal commercial and financial relations with Russia can be develop The Naval Disagreement. The chief disappointment of the year & . | natural o assume he will have some Now that the Republican party has. | {00 come the confidence of the "by overwhelming vote, been granted | American people. Acting with a knowl- “power for the next four years, the ques- | edge of that confidence, it is reasonable . i | to expect that Mr. Hoover will make i i yecommendations with respect to Gov= any, to business may be expected. might soon be brought out of the ruin| and chaos that lay on every hand. In two years America had recovered from the war and was ready to begin the march toward prosperity. But Eu- rope could not recover so quickly and | was the failure of the pi al naval powers—the United States, Great B: ain and Japan—to come to an agree= ment on the limitation of naval arma« ments below the capital ship class. That failure appears to destroy the hope of It | ernment co-operation with business or it a curious thing that those who are | sensitive about possible interference do not expect it to come from the execu- tive branch of the Government, but from the legislative. This is because there is no telling what the minority in Congress might do, and there is no .ctelling, either, what a minority inside -the Republican party might start. Veto Power Largely Used. One of the most infiuential factors ».in maintaining equilibrium under the »-Coolidge administration has been the " determined use which the President has swomade of his veto power. It mattered little how radical Congress might be- .~come, Mr. Coolidge would not hesitate ~-t0 use his veto to prevent Government s.excursions into business or undue in- =~ tereference by Government in what he -considered legitimate enterprise. But already the pressure in Congress .«for a revision of the tariff has begun, .- and nothing is quite so disturbing to arthe business man as to hear about a -1tariff revision. It is not that some of v the schedules should be revised on a| frbasis of too much protection or too | ~z:little, but that the financial community 4n New York wants the status quo maintained. Too many securities have i been floated on the flssua};fl%fl that + earnings in past years wol 3 con- t,ll'm(‘d.gs To upset a tariff schedule ight upset the financial condition of ~companies which are earning large wsums. This, in any event, is the argu- » ment from those who believe in a status :quo. From the other side comes the s-cry that the ultimate consumer is the =~one whose interests must be given para- . mount consideration. But whatever the argument, the fact . remains that talk of a revision of the ~otariff is not accepted as a healthy sign by the business elements. And _that's why, at this writing, every ef- -ifort is being made to postpone tariff revision until next September, when an extra session may be called, or to the regular session December, 1929. This suggestion has been made by business zimen on the theory that if tariff re- Lovision is postponed for several months, enough time will have elapsed to study those schedules which need revision | ““and hence the whole tariff structure| ~will not be imperiled nor will there o, undue apprehension or uncertainty fi business about schedules that are Vmot to be touched. Government Competition. Government interference in business “gometimes takes the form of Govern- ““ment competition. The electric power companies have been fearful that out of Muscle Shoals and Boulder Dam would grow Government-owned power | plants which would lead to public ownership or distribution and hence compete with their business. The view of President-elect Hoover is that where- | “ever private industry can accomplish | @ result at a fair profit to the investors, | the Government ought not to be a/ competitor. It is safe to assume that | “'he would veto any legislation which | put the Government into business it | already has not entered. Perhaps the greatest pleasure to keep the Govern-| ment out of business has come from the merchant marine groups and the | Jones-White act is considered a com- | . promise piece of legislation which pre- | serves Government operation until such | time as a merchant marine can be sus- | tained by private capital. But the | objective is, nevertheless, to get the| Government out of the shipping busi- | ness. | “There are other instances in which | Government competition is looked upon | by private interests as disturbing, but | by and large the influence of the Gov-| ernment upon business is not so in-| ~ tensive in this direction. Government | interference comes rather from the exercise of the regulatory function, mnamely, the protection of the ccnsumer | and the preservation of fair trade re- lations between competitors. ‘The | owth of chain stores, the mergers of | rge institutions, and the launching of | several large enterprises with unprece- | dented sums as capital have raised some interesting questions as to Gov- ernment interference. Will wealth be| concentrated into the hands of a few | people? Will the small business man | be crushed beiween the upper and | Jower millstone? Are mergers a sign - of forthcoming monopolies? All these points have been given careful consideration at the Depart- ment of Justice and will continue to be the major subject before that. de- - partment under the new administra- tion. Col. William Donovan, Assistant Attorney General, who has charge of anti-trust cases, is hold the view that more can be ac-| complished by preventive action than by prosecutions. He is of the opinion that when a merger is in prospect, the principals should bring_the facts to the attention of the Department of Justice and lay all the cards on the ; table, and in return the Attorney Gen- +-eral should say frankly whether the proposed combination appears to con- travene existing laws. It is true that this does not guarantee immunity, be- cause in the development of a merger -:some fact or contingency might happen © which would be a violation of the law and hence the Department of Justice reserves the right at all times to prose- cute, even in those cases which had previously appeered free from wrong. There is no doubt, however, that the the exercise of the regulatory power. Such recommendations will have more weight with the public than they did with Presidents in the past. Simiia; they will affect Congress more acutel: In other words, Mr. Hoover, as a bu iness authority, will not as readily be challenged as would any other Presi- dent without his background of know edge or training. His objective is a business administration, and that does not mean merely reorganizing the Gov- ernment machinery, but extending the aid of the Government in co-ordinating | business in industry. Mr. Hoover does | not believe in Government interference | or the use by the Federal Government of the power that ought to be exercised by the individual company or trade asso- ciation. Nor does he believe in Gov- ernment competition with business. He has achieved his results at the De- partment of Commerce by bringing to- gether warring elements and developing a policy of voluntary co-operation or moral suasion. It is not a form of pa- ternalism, because when agreement is reached between warring elements, the | Government steps out of the picture en- tirely. It is merely that Mr. Hoover be- | lieves that the influence of the central | Government can be exerted to bring to- gether groups that otherwise would hes- | itate even to negotiate or consult each | other. The next administration will make a major effort to develop the business of | the United States, both at home Bndi abroad, by policies of voluntary co-oper- | ation rather than undue interference or | excessive legislation. (Copyright, 1928.) next President. 4. Gov. Alfred E Havana. 6. Honorio Pueyrredon attendance at the Pan-American confel Premier Poincare, who held the reins of international obligations have been Japan’s 124th Emperor. 1 as provisional President of Mexico. vember, which resulted in the election his finzl year as President of the United States. Smith, who ran a gallant race for the presidency and though defeated, endeared himself to millions of voters. E. Hughes, long a devoted public servant, who rose to greater heights through his masterful conduct of America’s part in the Pan-American conference at the post he held at Washington as Argentina’s ambassador followed his 7. Aristide Briand of France, generally credited as the man who broached the idea of universal out- installed as Archbishop of Canterbury. 10. Foreign Minister Stresemann of Germany, whose policies of reconciliation and fulfillment 11. Pre mier Mussolini, miracle man of the age, who put into effect during the last year his reorganization of the Italian governmental machine. 14. Alvaro Obregon, Mexico's president-elect who met death at the hands of an assassin. Gen. Frank McCoy, who served as Uncle Sam’'s representative in supervising the Nicaraguan elections in No- 18. Dr. Vincent Colindres, elected President of Honduras. 21. Dr. Jose Guggiari, elected President of Paraguay. 16. Brij Cuba, who was re-elected to succeed himself. of Argentina, whose recaill from rence in Havana. lawry of war, an idea that has culminated in the signing in Paris of the Kellogg treaty. of government in France. upheld by the German people. of ( Gen. Jose Moncada. 20. Dr. Hipolito Trigoyen, elected President of Argentina. 1. Frank B. Kellogg, Secretary of State, whose name is identified permanently with the world treatly of peace outlawing war. 3. Herbert Hoover, nominated by the Republican party and elected by the people of the United States as their 8. Dr. Cosmo Lang, 12. Ahmed Zogu, a commoner who became a King of Albania. 15. Emilio Portes Gil, inaugurated December 2. Calvin Coolidge, serving 5. Charles 9. 13. Hirchito, who was enthroned as 19. President Machada of especially could not so promptly adopt that calm and calculating attitude that is the first requisite of business success. It has taken 10 years instead of 2 for Europe to recover her mental balance and to look at things as America could look at them in 1920. The man who can “keep his head while all about him are losing theirs and blaming it on him” is, of course, never popular. America has not been popular in Europe during the past eight years, Europeans have fairly raged at the sight of America’s impassiv2 seren- ity and at the prosperity that has re- sulted from it. But that is changing. Rancors Largely Gone. The rancors left by the war have largely disappeared. It is no longer pessible to lift a Germaa crowd to riot pitch by denouncing the Ficnch. French politicians who today should at- tempt to repeat their diatribes of a few years ago against Germany would run the risk of being lynched. This means that all the complicated financial and economic problems in- volved in the liquidation of the war can now be tackled dispassionately, and therefore can have some chance of be- ing solved. Adding machines can now be substituted for fiery speeches and pro- vocative newspaper - litorials. The stabilization of the French franc a few months ago, while it imposed enormous sacrifices on the Prench peo- ple, has done much to enable Europe to take this new and healthy realistic view of affairs, So long as France's currency was subject to fluctuation, it was a weak point in the nation’s armor, 'EDUCATION IN 1928 STIRRED INTEREST Great Strides in National School System Are Recorded Dur- ing Year. BY UEL W. LAMKIN. | President, the National Education Associ- ation, Written for the Associated Press. The most outstanding educational achievement in 1928 has been the in- arease of public interest in education. This was particularly noticeable in the eighth annual observance of Ameri- |can Education week, November 5-11, lunder the joint auspices of the Ameri- can Legion and the National Education Association. American Education week is of inestimable. value in acquainting the people of the country with the work, aims, ideals and needs of the schools. Teaching Standard Raised. The teaching profession itself is re- sponsible for st of the advances made in educati The task of guid- ing the growth of 28,000,000 voung lives now in school belongs to the teacher. Therefore much attention has been given in the past year to raising the standards of teacher training. This movement has been led by the Ameri- can Association of Teachers’ Colleges, a department of the National Education Assoclation. Last February the association made. for the first time in the history of American education, a list of accredited teacher training institutions. It is hoped that this will have on the teaching pro- fession an effect similar to the accredit- ing of medical schools by the American Medical Association. Never before has there been so much general interest in safeguarding the mental health of school children. It is significant that approximately 20 courses have been introduced into our colleges and universities to train visiting teach- ers, workers who are equipped with an understanding of psychology, mental hygiene and social adjustment. The visiting teacher will in time replace the attendance officer. Instead of main- taining a police force to keep children in school we shall draw them there by the intelligent and friendly guidance of teachers who understand the problems of childhood. Visible Education Is Aid. ‘There has been a marked advance in the use of educational devices for vitalizing teaching. The year 1928 has seen the beginning of Dr. Damrosch's radio hour for school children once each week. Visual education has been given new impetus by the improvement |of teaching films. An effort to serve all the children is {seen in the larger support for continu- |ation programs for pupils who must be- gin at an early age to earn money. Provision is made whereby those pupils may find remunerative employment and still enjoy some of the beneflts of free schooling. Added to this program there is the evening school offering educa- tional opportunities to adult men and women who missed them in former years. The outlook for a United States de- artment of education with a secretary |in the President’s cabinet to carry on | necessary research and scientific fact- finding has never been more promising. We are rapidly moving toward the 2 courts would weigh favorable the facts of a case in which every effort and intent to observe the law had been v |goal of the National Education Associ- BY KIRKE L. SIMPSON, Assoclated Press Staff Writer. Anno Domini 1928 goes down the cor- ridor of time marked as perhaps no year before it with the budding prom- ise that the era of peace mey be dawn- ing at last. Within the pages of its history are written developments that stand like signposts, marking progress along the highway toward world peace. In all that has been done toward realization of that never-dying hope of mankind, the sovereign will of the American people has led the way. Resistlessly it has impelled doubting statesmen to action; called hopefully across the seas to stir the wills of other peoples, and goaded inert govern- mental bureaucracies at home and abroad out of lethargy. As the New Year dawns aroused pub- lic opinion seems a concrete force for peace with which governments must reckon as never before. For the American people themselves the dying year saw giant strides made on the peace pathway. Three times within the year international situa- tions that were tense with grave pos- sibilities yielded to pacific national policies. Within the year also there has been born of American initiative and offered to the world for universa: acceptance an anti-war pact of incal- culable significance. It took years of labor to bring the American iraditional policy of peace to the fruition of 1928 in the projected worldwide anti-war pact. The cycle of formal treaties aiming at peace began under Secretary Root. It was widened and expanded by Secre- tary Bryan with the even more drastic conciliation pacts that bound Americh and cach individual signatory power to delay and cool thought, however grave the question in dispute. But it remained for Secretary Kel- logg in 1927-28 to complete the picture for America through more forceful bi- lateral arbitration covenants and more widespread bilateral conciliation com- ?acts and then to superimpose on this loundation the vision of a world uni- versally pledged to abandonment of war as an agency of national policy. ‘When the Root arbitration treaties | were framed and put through, the limit- ed pledge they embodied represented the extreme point to which even | Americen opinion was ready to go. A domestic question, that of the status of foreign obligations of the Southern Confederacy which became valueless paper when the North tri- umphed, dictated the reservation from arbitration of those matters touching national interest or honor. For 16 of the post-Civil War years, however, the political party, the chief strength of which lay in the “Solid South,” held sway at Washington and no hint of a move to saddle the re- united Nation with an obligation to make good the foreign indebtedness of the vanished Southern Confederacy de- veloped. This was the underlying situation that made possible in 1927 Secretary Kellogg's move, beginning with France, to modernize and strengthen the Roof arbitration treaties one by one as thé time for reaffirming each arrived. In the new form, the vague reserva- tions as to national interest and honor disappeared. Only those issues affect- ing domestic jurisdiction, the interests of a third party, the Monroe Doctrine, and obligations under the covenant of the League of Nations, are excluded from arbitration in the new form. In addition, set out in the preamble of each new bilateral arbitration pact, is the declaration that the two powers renounce as between themselves resort 1o war for purposes of national policy. That declaration lacks treaty force in its bilateral assertion, however great may be the moral obligation imposed. But it is the foundation stone on which the multilateral anti-war pact, restating it as a definite treaty commitment hav- ing the full force and effect of interna- tional law and open to universal ad- herance, was footed. « It was not until this revision of the arbitration treaties was begun in 1927 Giant Strides Toward Universal Peace In 1928 Were Inaugurated by America that full significance of the Bryan con- ciliation pacts was realized completely even in the State Department. In the new light of a decade or more later they took on a new significance, rounding out and completing the peace machinery being set up and filling, temporarily, at least, gaps in the arbitration frame- work. At the end of 1928, the situation is this for these double peace precaution: designed to safeguard America from war. The original 14 Root arbitration treaties have been translated into 11 of the revised Kellogg pacts already signed. and 20 more are under negotia- tion, soon to be signed. The 11 orig- inal Bryan conciliation treaties have been reinforced with 7 new onmes al- ready signed and 14 more under nego- tiation. On the heels of this progress toward rmanent peace came the Kellogg an- i-war pact. As the great paace year of 1928 closes, the ground work is laid in Washington for a separate Pan-American multi- lateral treaty of arbitration and con- ciliation. Such a treaty would extend between | any two or more Pan-American States | the same pledge to seek peaceful settle- ments as already existed between the United States and cach other member of the Pan-American group. | IENCE (Continued from Fifteenth Page.) superpower units has also been notable in many sections of the country. Tunnel construction has recently oc- cupied the limelight. The Holland ve- hicular tunnels perhaps takes first place in view of its successful colution of the ventilation problem connected with mo- tor vehicle use. The Moffat Tunnel in Colorado is notable because of its length, 6 miles, and the tunnel through the Cascade range east of Seattle for nel the length is 8 miles, and, although it will not be open for use until January 12, it may properly be called an achieve- ment of 1928. Chemistry. Perhaps no more interesting thing in chemical advance can be pointed out than it invasion of related fields. Much progress has been made by chem- istry in cancer research and the work of chemists on irradicated foods and the like should appear under biological or medical progress. A noteworthy change that has come over the chemists, as represented in the chemical industries, is the renuncia- tion of the attitude of secrecy. In the end this is sure to result in healthier chemical industries and in direct bene- fit to the consumers of the products. ‘The chemists have made their most spectacular contributions this year by going back to the farm for raw mate- rials. Cornstalks are now converted into artificial silk and are also used in the manufacture of paper. A build- ing board is also being manufactured from straw. Besides assisting the farmer by using his waste material the chemist has also supplied him with tion, “a falr start in life for every child.” cheaper fertilizer. Nitrogen fixation has reached such a stage of commercial the same reason. In the Cascade Tun- | success that this method now produces enough nitrates to control the price which always previously had been con- trolled by the natural nitrate deposits in_Chile. Coal has been shown to be useful for many things beside heating. Motor fuel from hydrogeneration of coal is now a commercial success. Synthetic rubber also has been produced from coal. Much progress has been made in the preparation of a smokeless fuel from coke, and the use of powdered coal has been greatly extended, even to use as fuel for ships. The greatest advance in rubber chem- istry has undoubtedly been the method of producing an inner tube for an au- tomobile tire directly from the latex, thus avoiding the intermediate steps of coagulation, drying, milling, calen- dering and subsequent fabrication by hand. A method of vulcanizing rubber directly to metal will undoubtedly re- sult in an extended use of rubber as a structural material. Anti-oxidents to prevent what is usually known as_the hardening or crystallization of rubber are now generally used. New alloys have been introduced, notably carboloy, a material so hard that it can be used as a_tool to ma- chine glass or porcelain. Perminvar, a material of peculiar magnetic proper- ties, but somewhat similar to permal- yoy, is also a newcomer. The element beryllium has also been produced in small quantities. Mechanical Engineering. In mechanical engineering there are two notable trends. Grinding is being used more and more as opposed to ma- chining for surfaces, while welding, both gas and electric, is replacing riveting in many places. Buildings and bridges are now being constructed entirely by weld- ing and forgings and castings are being of welded steel. hydrogen atmos- phere in brasing has been found useful, the hydrogen being an excellent flux. The day appears to be passing when metal will be dealt with as though it were wood. Its ability to melt and flow u;]zether is being made use of gener- ally. A high-pressure machine capable of developing pressures up to 600,000 pounds per square inch has been built. While at present this has only experi- mental possibilities, much useful knowl- edge will undoubtedly come out of it. Biology. The discovery that new varieties of animals could be produced as the result of tréatment with X-rays has greatly stimulated biological research during the last year. By treatment of the sex cells of plants it also has been found possible to produce new varieties here as well. The result is that the biolo- gist no longer finds it necessary to wait for evolution to produce new varieties, for he can greatly speed up the process by X-rays. Use has also been made of X-rays to study the structure of cell walls of plants and much information of use to the botanist has resulted. Much important research has been done on the production of new plants from wild varieties. Particularly suc- cessful results have been obtained with wild sugar cane, a variety having been produced which is three times as pro- ductive as that now generally grown. Many plant and animal ailments pre- viously supposed to be caused by bac- teria or by fungi have been shown to be virus diesases. While the virus acts like a living animal in being able to reproduce, it behaves like a simple chemical compound when treated chem- ically. It may eventually be shown to be an even simpler organism than the bacteria. Respiration ferment, which may be described as being largely that which gives the driving force to living mat- replaced on every hand by fabrications | ter, has been identified as to its chem- ical nature. two hormones. One of these, concerned in growth, has been known for years; the other has recently been shown to regulate sexual maturity. By feeding with this hormone, infantile rats, mice :nd birds have been made sexually ma- ure, A motion picture was made during the year showing the actual fertiliza- :mn of a sandfish egg by the sperma- 0zoa. Medicine. Perhaps no greater advance in scien- tific knowledge has been made than the isolation of ergosterol, which has been definitely identified as that sub- stance which when irradiated with ultra-violet light produces vitamin D. “Sunshine pills” containing this ma- terial are now sold in England, and some similar material will doubtless be sold in this country in the near future. It may help compensate for the lack of sunshine’ from which residents of large citles suffer. On the other hand, the use of win- dow glass to transmit ultra-violet light from the sun has lost ground since the Bureau of Standards has reported that practically all of them lose much of their ability to transmit this light after 2 short use. It has also been shown that the ultra-violet content of the sun's rays, especially in cities, where it is most needed, is small. It has been found possible to trans- mit yellow fever to the African monkey, so that it is no longer necessary to carry on dangerous human experiments. Copper has been found to be of im- portance in the human diet. Liver has come into wide use in the treat- ment of pernicious anemia. Tannic acid for burns has replaced all other materials such as olive oil and the like. It is no longer true that if one-third of the body is burned the patient cannot be expected to live. Much ad- vance has been made in the knowledge (Continued. on Seventeenth. Page.), FEW BOOKS OF NOTE PUBLISHED IN 1928 Distinguished Publications Below 1927 Standard, Is Van Doren’s View. BY CARL VAN DOREN, Author, Editor and Critte. NEW YORK, December 31 (#).—The year 1928 has on the whole not been so striking as 1927 in the number of particularly outstanding books pro- duced. Hardly a single book has swept the world of readers so that all of them, no matter what their ordinary tastes, have felt obliged to reaa it as they read “Trader Horn" or “The Bridge of San Luis Rey.” Nor has there been any striking shift served. A few changes, however, do 1928 has carried them along. One of these changes. not yet very far along, is in the fashion of biography. For the past eight or ten years all sorts of writers, no matter what their special gifts or preparation, have been scampering through history looking for conspicuous figures about whom they could write books which would prove that the good and grear were not what they had long been thought. Fashion Set by Lytton Strachey. No doubt Lytton Strachey set the fashion with his “Eminent Victorians" and his “Queen Victoria.” But whereas Strachey was really learned in the sub- jects which he chose and wrote with the greatest precision, he nhas been imi- tated by writers who have frequently known little and have written loosely. All that many of them have really tried | to catch from him was his irony, and that they have frequently turned into :h;esome sarcasm or conventional cyn- cism. ‘The publication of another book by Lytton Strachey, “Elizabeth and Essex,” ought to call the attention of the pub- lic to the great difference between the work of the master and his followe: There are already signs that the dread ful type of writing known as “fiction- ized biography” is passing out of favor. It is to be hoped that favor may like- wise be withdrawn from ignorant and cheap biographies. Fiction List Reviewed. ‘The year 1928 has probably no more distinguished books to show in fiction than Aldous Huxley's “Point Counter Point” and Herman Melville’s “Shorter Novels.” The first of these may be con- sidered the most “modern” book of the year, in that it represents a group of characters who live in what is known as the most modern fashion and who have the most modern thoughts about themselves and their fates. It is almost | a complete mirror of advanced opinion and behavior in the present. Even when manners change, as they pre- sumably will, this book will remain a brilliant picture of the strange life of the post-war generation. . Melville'’s “Shorter Novels,” on the other hand, were all written many years ago, and in a sense belong to no par- ticular time whatever. The discovery of one of them and the reprinting of the others must be regarded as important facts in the history of fiction. But these particular short novels are inter- in public taste which can be easily ob-| apnear to be taking place, and the vear | reducing naval budgets, and hence the hoped-for benefits of the Washington naval agreement largely disappear. If a man promises to give us whisky, and then promptly takes to gin, his wife and dependents may well say they have reaped little benefit from the pledge; | and so the agreement to limit the build- |ing of battleships will do nations but | little good, if the money thus saved is to be_spent on cruisers and submarines. It 1s particularly regrettable that ad- vantage cennot be taken of the present | opportunity to nip naval armaments competition in the bud. No continental natlon at present has a considerable navy. But as their financial conditions improve, they will all slump back into the custom of spending all they can afford on warships. France, a few years L-fore the war, had the second largest navy in the world. Germany went ahead of her several years later, ii‘.nd subsequently the United States | captured the position of chief sea rival | of the British Empire. A building race | between France and Italy is impending, and nothing but a general limitation agreement seems likely to prevent those two nations from ruining themselves in an orgy of submarine and cruiser construction. Germany is watching h]er chance to get back into the swim also. When these three powers have got | well started on their programs, when their shipyards are rebuilt, re-equipped and working on full time, it will be much harder to check the evil than it is today. Reparations Problem. Experts are now at work again en- deavoring to settle the great repara- tions problem once and for all. If they succeed—and the principal govern- | ments concerned are determined that | they shall—the last trace of the finan- | cial havoc of the war will disappear in | about 20 years—that is to say, so far |as relations between European coun- tries are concerned. What may be left over—the last ac- ccunt to be balanced—is the debt of Europe to the United States. It will seem anomalous that the United States, the first power to shake |ofi the fettering “war psychosis,” the | first power to get “back to normalcy’ |and to wipe out its grievances against { the commen enemy, should be the last | to close fts books and write “Finis” to ‘:hc financial chapter of the war's his- ory. | The rights and wrongs of the debt question have been sufficiently dis< | cussed. What Europe finds hard to | understand is that America should say, apropos of reparations: “Quit wrangling about who is right and who is wrong; forget impossible demands and prom- ises; agree on a quick and practical settlement and wipe your slate clean.” But when it comes to the debt ques- | tion, in which America is the only ulti- | mate creditor, the attitude, according | to the European view, changes; the | rights and wrongs of the matter, re- | gardless of practicality, become para- | mount. These payments are made now, and | will doubtless continue to be made, with | American money loaned to European | industry. The original public debt is | being transformed into a multitude of | private debts, which in 62 years will | reach staggering proportions. Some | uneasiness may be felt at the prospect of having so large a slice of America’s capital invested abroad. (Copyright, 1928.) Sees Bright Future BY WILLIAM BUTTERWORTH. President of the United of Comimerce, o Chamber By the Assoclated Press. The business situation continues to be characterized by those elements of Iundamep!al strength that have sup- ported business activities nationally at a good level through four consecutive years. The last four years were earned by the unsparing efforts which were made in the years preceding 1925. Having been earned, they have been appreci- ated for the chance they have given for more hard work. In entering upon 1929, we could not ask for better auguries for the coming 12 months than we find in strong un- derlying conditions, and the devotion of business men to the discharge of thgxl_;“responslbilmes. s is not a period of prosperity in the sense thatpeproma lge R:Hb: earned easily, or in the sense that it is an era of large profits. A period when results are obtained only by hard work and unremitting attention to sound principles and to sound prac- tice, is not a time of prosperity in such a sense. It is something better. For its level of activities affords those in- dustries and those sections which are suffering under handicaps, their means for forging ahead and obtaining an equality of opportunity with other in- dustries and other sections. ‘There is every reason to belleve that this is a period of building securely for the future. There is no evidence in the fields of American production and distribution that this is the kind of riod that culminates in inflation and n the disaster which inevitably follows esltll’:{ wl'.hn;cd r&ferenee to the lg: W] produ em or which broug them. to. life.. i 4 . the sort of prosperity that comes from a P y